Where Loyalties Lie: Ghosts of the Past

by LoyalLiar

VIII - Flying Blind

VIII

Flying Blind

- - -

At four-forty in the afternoon, two pegasi shuffled up to the Ponyville train station, just as it was pulling in. The stallion of the pair was carrying a rather weighty messenger bag around his midsection. The mare, in turn, had just made a brief trip to the ticket counter, and was in the process of returning with three tickets in her mouth.

She sat down beside her partner on a bench, and started looking around. The tickets fell onto her forelegs when she began to speak. "She made a big deal about four forty-five, but now she's not even here."

"Relax, Rainbow. I'm sure she'll turn up. She might already be here."

"I don't see any super-giant guardsponies here. Do you?"

"Look again."

The feminine voice in her ear, from no more than an inch away, caused Rainbow to leap a full dozen feet into the air, and remain hovering there. "H-hey! No fair!"

Dead Reckoning fell off the bench chuckling, which only sent more heated blood into Rainbow's cheeks. Soldier On, however, wasn't laughing. Only the slightest hint of an upward curve existed on the corners of her cheeks.

Without waiting for permission, she picked up one of the three tickets that Rainbow's departure had sent falling the ground. She then hefted Reckoning's bag, in addition to the saddlebags over her own back, and progressed onto the train as if she weren't carrying any load at all. After recovering, Reckoning stood up, and Rainbow swooped down to join him.

"That wasn't funny," the young mare muttered.

"Keep telling yourself that. Come on, let's get on. Seems like On is in a hurry." Reckoning pulled himself to his hooves, grabbed a ticket, and clambered onto the train. Rainbow followed shortly.

The Wild Southwest was a larger train that Rainbow had been on with her friends during previous trips to Appleloosa, Dodge Junction, and other cities in the southern parts of Equestria. Large private cabins gave room for four ponies to bunk together in relative peace and quiet. Two separate dining cars provided for the food needs. At the rear of the train were three baggage cars. Overall, the train was a full fifteen cars long, plus engine and caboose.

The third car back held the ex-guardsponies' assigned cabin, though by the time they actually located the room, the train had already started to chug along. The pegasi found Soldier On was inside, sorting through the bags she had brought on board. Her eyes flicked up briefly as he team entered. "You got me six full sets of shoes?"

"Rainbow got us access to an honest-to-Celestia forge, so I had some time to work."

"Excellent." The earth pony rummaged through the bag further, and then pulled out a short, curved weapon in a padded cloth sheathe, visibly lined with cloud. "Is this Rainbow's weapon?"

Reckoning nodded. "She made it herself. Great craftsmareship for a first shot too."

On was clearly not impressed as she offered the stallion a level glare. "You let her make a short scimitar? A boar will take her head off before she gets close enough to use this."

"Hey! I'm way faster than any boar!"

On shrugged. "The sort of speed you have is not the same kind I'm describing. But for now, I would like to know why this weapon–" The mare had clearly intended to continue her point after drawing the sword, but her thoughts instead simply hung incomplete in the still air of the train car.

In her teeth, where she had been expecting a skysteel blade, she saw only the outline of a weapon. Slight glimmers from the cabin light were all that could show the presence of material at all, rather than empty air. After staring in something like awe for a few moments, Soldier On sheathed the blade and passed it to Rainbow.

"You made a glass sword?"

"Transparent skysteel," Reckoning corrected. "Made of water vapor from saltwater. There isn't much salt in the blade, of course, but it's enough to conduct like nimbus, without all the extra weight. The blade is on the inside, like a kukri, rather than a scimitar."

"Also, its invisible," Rainbow emphasized. "How cool is that?"

"It could prove useful," On admitted, analyzing the mare before her. "Does it have a name?"

"Uh, no? It's a sword."

Reckoning chuckled lightly to himself before speaking up. "Swords have names, Rainbow. Sometimes, they even get really famous. Have you ever heard of Procellarum?"

"...should I have? I don't even know what language that is."

The one-eyed stallion shrugged. "It's the most famous sword in the world. The Gladius Procellarum, named in ancient Cirran–the predecessor to Bitalian."

"The sword was Commander Hurricane's," Soldier On added. "Masquerade has it now; the Commander inherited it, just like Hurricane's Armor. It's called 'The Sword of Storms' in modern Equiish"

Rainbow's eyes widened. "Oh! Okay. The one he made by flying into the center of a hurricane and unwinding the clouds from the inside?" At that, Rainbow looked down at her own hoof-forged weapon and pouted slightly. "I should have done that..."

At the comment, Soldier On actually rolled her eyes. Barring her outburst of emotion in the Crusader's clubhouse, it was the most genuine emotion Rainbow had seen from the mare. "Pegasi," she muttered, without even bothering to conceal the word. "Relax, Rainbow Dash. You're armed, and that's what matters. What you call the sword does not. Now we need to make sure that you can use it."

Rainbow actively winced, but she nodded nevertheless. "Hopefully we won't have to fight any boars, right?"

"It isn't the boars I'm worried about," Soldier On answered. "Not yet." Then her head swiveled slowly to look at Reckoning. "I ran into a guardspony in Ponyville while I was getting our clothes. She and Twilight Sparkle tried to catch me."

"Hold on, what?" Rainbow leapt forward, putting her forehooves up onto On's chest, and still struggling to look the mare in the eyes. "Did you hurt her? Did you hurt Twilight?"

"We didn't fight, and I was able to make her see reason. But I did tell Rarity that I was going to San Palomino with two friends. Sparkle is too smart not to figure out that you two are with me, and even if she doesn't, Flag will."

Deadeye swore rather potently. Although his words earned a glare from On, she clearly shared his sentiments.

As somepony who hadn't spent years in service to the Honor Guard, Rainbow was somewhat confused. "So we have to outrun some guardsponies? The rest of the Honor Guard or something? I know I can outrun Thunder Crack, and Marathon isn't actually dangerous. Plus, isn't White Flag a unicorn? She's not going to be able to keep up on hoof."

"It's not just going to be them, Rainbow." Reckoning sat down on one of the lower bunks and folded his forelegs across his chest. "Not if Princess Celestia thinks we’re going to start a war. She'll send at least two full platoons of Royal Guards, with airships. I know you're fast enough to outrun one, at least in the short distance, but I'm not that fast even when I don't have a broken wing. Just outrunning them isn't going to be an option, I don't think. Do we have a plan, On?"

She shook her head. "It was only a little over an hour ago, and I spent the time making sure Sparkle didn't do something inconvenient. Her dragon sent a scroll, so I assume Celestia already knows. Even if she sends Marathon, there won't be a team of Rangers waiting for us any closer than Ghost. We will have to deal with them, eventually."

Rainbow struggled to find her words. "When you say 'deal with them' like that, it kinda sounds like you mean we're gonna... ya' know..."

"Absolutely not," Reckoning stated firmly.

Unfortunately, at the exact same moment, Soldier On spoke up with very different words. "I am."

On and Reckoning each turned away from Rainbow, and in the silent air between them, Rainbow was sure she could feel the brutal strikes of their respective willpowers lashing out.

"We don't kill ponies," Reckoning stated, as if it were fact.

"It's no different than killing a griffon or a boar," On countered, in a level tone.

"They're guardsponies," the stallion's voice was barely below a shout. "They're us!"

Soldier On shook her head. "They are soldiers, and they are the enemy. What difference does their race make?"

Reckoning's functioning wing flared open, and the very tip of it ignited with a tiny fire. A shaking voice, clearly on the verge of shouting, spoke up. "Rainbow, you explain it to her. I'm going up on the roof for some air. "

Without another word, Reckoning flapped his wing to get rid of the fire, and then stormed out of the room.

The door slammed behind him, and the latch on the sliding door bounced back, only catching on its third try. That was all the noise the pair of starkly different mares heard for some time as they stood in silence, watching one another.

Rainbow felt a fire building in her wings. Her hoof twitched to itself, ready to lash out. Rather than the darkness of unconsciousness, there was throbbing bloody red lurking at the corners of her vision.

Her hoof caught Soldier On across the face with enough force to turn the mare's head to the side. The pegasus wasn't quite sure why she had done it, but some of the heat went away. Still, the fire demanded more, and she gave in. Hooks and jabs all fell upon Soldier On. She retained as stone a face under Rainbow's blows as Masquerade had months earlier.

Only when Rainbow was done, panting and staring down at her own hooves, did the Stalliongradian mare move. A huge and heavy hoof settled gently on Rainbow's shoulder. It pressed down and forward, until the somewhat younger mare fell backwards onto her haunches in a strange approximation of a sitting position. A moment later, On lowered herself into the same pose. Then she spoke.

"This will not be like Smog."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "How–"

"Months of working at Sweet Apple Acres. Every time your friends pulled you aside to tell your stories, I listened. There are holes, of course, when you met at the library, but I know enough to understand. So I want you to understand this, Rainbow Dash. If you want to come with us and save your father, you will have to face the truth that we will be fighting guardsponies. Mares and stallions who are doing their jobs, trying to protect Equestria, just like Reckoning and I. And you also need to understand that I will kill those ponies without hesitation, because if we fail, the Commander is gone forever."

"But–"

"Hold your thoughts, Rainbow." Her words moved like the ocean, with depths and surging waves. She spoke with the tone of a mother, calmly but bitterly explaining exactly how the world wasn't fair. "I am telling you right now, Rainbow Dash, that you have a choice to make. If you stay with us, you will have to make a choice. It might be between your father's life and somepony else's. It might be between my life and some guard's. I don't know the future, but I can tell you that the choice will come."

Rainbow watched the bottled intensity behind her eyes. She spoke with force, but also with a sympathetic tone that the pegasus hadn't been expecting.

"I'm offering you a different choice right now, Rainbow Dash. You can still leave. I won't say that we wouldn't miss your skills, but the choice is yours. If you stay on this train and come with us to Suida, you will kill. Not by accident, but with deliberation and intent. There will be blood on your hooves, and it might never wash off. That's the cost we pay for the safe, pretty Equestria you've grown up in. Right now, that's what it costs to save your father's life. If your mind and your heart cannot handle that weight, this is your chance. Fly away."

Rainbow took a moment to think, and the settled herself. "What happens then? What if you need me?"

"Then we die. It's a fact we're both comfortable with. Luna's spell leaves Reckoning's soul wandering the desert until the end of time. I burn in Tartarus for betraying Luna."

"And you just expect me to fly away? With that on the line?"

"If you die here, Rainbow, the same thing happens to you. But I already told you I wouldn't be... Red Ink. You deserve a chance to try and save your father. I just want you to understand exactly what that means."

"Fine. I'm still going."

"I'm... glad to hear it."

She could not have lied any more blatantly, but Rainbow saw no need to call her out on the truth. "I still don't want to kill anypony."

"Neither do I. But what we want rarely comes true."

"Can't we just hide from them? Or run away?"

"No," Soldier On answered. "Perhaps we could hide if that was our only goal. But the desert is too flat and too open to keep out of sight. This isn't something I want, Rainbow. I don't take joy in it like Red Ink or Baron Frostbite. But I've been in too many bad situations to pretend that there's always another option."

"I..." Rainbow felt a weight in her stomach. "A last resort, okay? For now, at least. Do you promise?" She nodded sternly, but Rainbow wasn't sure she could believe the motion. She held her tongue from the topic just the same. "Now what?"

"See if you can explain all of that to Dead Reckoning. He'll listen to you better than me. And tell him I'm sorry."

Rainbow's brow rose. "For what?"

"Nothing. But it will make him feel better just the same." The notion didn't sit well with Rainbow, but Soldier On stood up before she could make a further comment. Her hoof slid open the door to the cabin before she turned over her shoulder to speak again. "Tell him I'm scoping for marks. Should I bring back dinner?"

Rainbow's answer came to her mind in an instant. "No, I'll take Reckoning and get something later."

On nodded. "Probably for the best. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry to you too, Rainbow Dash." The door latched shut.

- - -

When Foresight returned to Luna's room only a short time after his previous departure, he was shocked at what he saw behind the doors. Red Ink was gone, but Luna was most certainly not alone.

"Approaching," muttered an almost in-equine voice from a purple coated mare at Luna's side. The alicorn herself had her head tilted forward and hanging slackly. Between her spread left wing and her shoulder, Foresight could see one of her eyes, staring blankly toward the ground. Her strange guards distracted him when she spoke again. "Second, fifth, stand ready." Bat-like wings flared as the purple armored mare stepped forward, and licked her lips. "Show me your cutie mark, dear. We'll start there."

"It's just Predvidenie, Eldest Sister. We can trust him."

The Night Guard whirled. "I don't recall asking for your input, Third."

Third Brother sighed and rolled his eyes–an unnerving motion for slitted pupils. "With respect, Eldest Sister, I can save you trouble here. Predvidenie, I delivered a letter for you. Who was the recipient?"

"Rainbow Dash."

"It is him," Third Brother muttered to his leader, before turning back toward Foresight. "I delivered it safely, by the way. Although I assume you already know that, since our Mistress survives now."

"Third, we will be talking later. Previdenyay,–"

"Please, Foresight is fine."

Her brow rose, as the slit of her right eye contracted. "Right. Well, Foresight, the Princess is monitoring the realm of dreams. If you have a message, I can deliver it to her. Otherwise, leave the food and go on your way."

Foresight gulped, quite visibly. Then he tensed, when every single slitted eye in the room shot to focus on his throat. "Uh... the message is... rather urgent..."

Eldest Sister scowled. "Then I will convey it urgently to Princess Luna. What is it that's so important?"

With a shuddering hoof, Foresight pushed a bowl of soup forward on his rolling cart, to reveal a folded white letter. "From my father. Make sure she gets it."

"Wonderful. Will there be anything else?"

Foresight started toward the door a little bit too quickly to seem comfortable. One of the Night Guard sniggered aloud. With wounded pride, the unicorn turned back again to face them. "Can I get all of you anything? Food? The castle has more than enough quarters to spare so you don't have to sleep in the Princess' lounge."

"We do not make a habit of 'sleeping' in the sense you are assuming, Predvidenie." Third Brother smiled gently. "We will remain with our Mistress. Still, the offer is appreciated and well received."

Eldest Sister smiled as well, but her expression was more than a bit too wide, and it went out of its way to emphasize the two fangs that dominated her otherwise conventional teeth. "I also doubt you have anything that would serve us as sustenance. "

"We have an excellent selec–"

"You are excused, Foresight, since you don't seem to be getting the idea any nicer way." Eldest Sister watched as he stood slack-jawed, and leapt a full four yards forward on her legs alone to land with her fangs eerily close to his ear, and his throat. "Get lost."

Foresight darted out of the room and down the hall as fast as his hooves could carry him, but they didn't feel fast enough. His heart was racing, and he was sure he could still feel her cold breath on his ear. His glasses were ajar, and he didn't take the time to fix them. Instead, the heavy stones of the castle walls became a continuous grey blur. His motion only stopped when he collided with another pony, and then promptly toppled to the floor.

What followed was a rather simple charm. After one too many losses of his glasses to slips or simply dipping his head too far forward, Foresight had enchanted them to return to his face with little more than a thought. As the gold-rimmed spectacles returned to his face, he caught site of the pony he had bumped into. Silently, he wondered what he had done to deserve such a run of luck.

"Watch where you're going, four-eyes," Serp spat. Quite literally. Foresight resolved to wash his scarf.

"You have my apologies, Governor," Foresight responded, as civilly as he could manage between growing agitation and his towering blood pressure. His gaze flickered from the small pegasus to the burlier earth pony beside him. "Oh, Commandant. Again? Is there some reason you've come back up again?"

"I'm afraid there is, Secretary," Molot responded, as a vein throbbed visibly on his temple.

Serp's sudden interjection was more clarifying, if more than a bit crass as well. "You fucked up, Predvidenie. The rebels busted out."

"What?" Foresight's vision went blurry behind him, and his stomach felt like it had fallen out of his get. He clenched his jaw and held a hoof to his brow. "That... no, that shouldn't be possible. I built those gem matrices myself. The rebels don't have a mage good enough to decrypt them. They'd have to physically beat through the bars, and then–"

Serp growled. "They didn't actually beat the locks. Molot thinks you should see for yourself, since our sorcerers have no idea what crazy magic you did down there."

Foresight stopped in place. His hooves slowly moved to his scarf, and with careful deliberation, he untied the ascot knot he normally wore. By hoof, he wrapped the cashmere into an ornate Mareisian knot, and then cinched it up until it seemed to be nearly choking him. The action helped him clear his mind, and also made it clear to anypony who knew him well that he was not in a mood for games. Seeing a Mareisian knot on Foresight's neck was like a crimson tint on the sky at dawn to a sailor: a portent of terrible things to come.

"The assassin is already here. She's trying to distract us. The rebels aren't good enough to do this alone." Foresight concluded aloud in a hurried tone. "They know Princess Luna is here, and they're playing off last night's events. For now, we will assume the worst likely outcome: they are working with the assassin directly, and Stoikaja has returned as well to lead them." The unicorn's mind throbbed in pain as he forced it to work harder than its normally brutal speed. "What do we do? What now?"

"Secretary, are you well?" Molot asked.

"No, I am not," Foresight snapped, before looking away from the soldier in shame. "Forgive me, Molot. A hard day just got a great deal harder. We need damage control right now, so Roscherk has time to work. How do we set up control..."

Ideas glimmered up and then died in Foresight's mind. History lessons, political studies, ethical dissertations, and complex philosophical treatises all cried out for his attention, struggling amidst the brutal gears of cruel calculus and arithmetic, and the swirling mists of his imagination. Lives could be counted as numbers, just like money or days or pounds of food. All the variables mattered. They shifted together, even as his headache grew far worse. Still, the time he took to think was short indeed, when all was said and done.

"Molot, set up a strict curfew for nine at night, until six in the morning. Get the word out tonight; huddle ponies into their houses, and arrest anypony who tries to resist. Starting tomorrow, assume everypony knows."

"With respect, Secretary, you know that both Commandant Krovyu and the Tsar don't approve of our setting up a curfew, after the Baron..."

"I remember Frostbite's rule! The whole city does!" Foresight lashed out with a hoof, impotently wailing at empty air. The presence of the motion itself was telling, on a stallion who normally exercised excellent self-control. "We don't have time to worry about seeming nice. Take all the guards you can spare from the castle. I'll get Princess Luna's escort to fill the gaps. Get as many patrols on the streets as you can, but remember to keep sizeable groups. We can't afford dead soldiers in the streets."

"Oh, so you know about dying–"

"Damn it, Serp, shut up!" Foresight snapped. His panting form heaved up and down for a moment, before he shook his head. "You're going to go back to Saraneighvo, and set up the same system. And if we end up with another riot like two years ago, you'll be relieved of your command and your membership in the Black Cloaks."

"You can't do shit to me, Secretary," the pegasus responded.

Molot growled with primal force. "For once in your life, Serp, just listen to Predvidenie. Get back to Saraneighvo, and go on the hunt. Perhaps it will clear your mind."

The pegasus scowled at Foresight before he turned back to the empty castle hallway and began to fly away. Only in his absence did Molot speak up again. "May I speak freely, Secretary–"

"Now isn't the time for formality. Spit it out."

"I'm not comfortable going in the face of the Tsar's commands."

Foresight groaned. "Or what? He'll preach at you? I'll speak to him, but I need to go see Roscherk first. And remember, Molot, you're the Commandant now. If you're worried about my father, remember that you are leading my brother's Black Cloaks."

Molot shook his head. "I think they're always going to be your brother's, Secretary. We aren't named after my jacket, after all."

Foresight let his head swing left and right as he wandered away. "If that doesn't change, Molot, they'll end up being Frostbite's soldiers."

- - -

No sooner were Celestia's eyes shut that her mind swam with visions of a starry void. The change was jarring, and for a moment, her vision swam and her balance shook. "Please, Luna, give me a moment to adjust first. I didn't realize it was your spell at first, so I downed two cups of coffee before I realized you needed to speak to me."

The mistress of the night walked closer across the dark space on shoes of silver, bearing concern and worry across her expression. "Take what spare moments you need, Sister, but I fear our concerns are growing more urgent by the second."

"Oh, believe me, I know. Now–" Celestia's eyes finally came to focus on her sister. "Luna! What happened to your face?"

The younger sister pressed a hoof to her cheek, and felt the growing bruise. "We had a... disagreement with Krenn."

"He hit you?"

"Hold, sister, and I shall explain." Luna waved a wing, and in the empty air beside her, a black bag of dirty leather swirled together from the aether.

Thump, thump.

Celestia's expression only grew more worried at the sight. "Is that–"

"The Centaur's Bag, Sister, yes. It brings back old memories."

The sour expression on Luna's face made it clear that she meant only a single millenium. Celestia smiled, and set about twisting her sister's words toward a happier time. "Do you remember those days? When Krenn was small enough to ride on my back?"

"Indeed, I recall such days, Celestia. Were that he still had such a stature. Perhaps then I might not look the part of such a sorry mare. Truly, I do find it hard to imagine that he lacks the powers of Endura. But I am already telling you the end of my tale. Where do I begin?" Luna waved her wing again, and soon she and her sister stood atop one of the turreted towers of Burning Hearth Castle. They wandered amidst frozen figures of ponies and dragons, plucked cleanly from the younger sister's memory. Krenn's face was contorted in fury as he stared into the bag, midway through some furious shout. "Earlier today, Krenn came to show us some prize he had been given by Tsar Eye. When he brought forth the bag, I assumed that he shared my past intentions."

Celestia took the effort to walk across the castle turret, sit down before her sister, and wrap both forelegs around the smaller alicorn's neck. "The Nightmare is gone, Luna. Twilight's friends and I sealed that darkness away in one of our castle's vaults."

Luna pushed her sister's embrace away. Her face was dripping with determination. "I know that it is not in the bag. I learned that when Krenn struck me across the face for trying to stop him. My mistake is not our cause for concern. Our concerns are very different." Luna glanced over toward the effigy of the draconic ruler, and a haunted sheen seemed to cover her eyes. "He threatened Equestria with war, Celestia."

"No," Celestia muttered, in complete denial. "No, Krenn wouldn't. He'd never..."

"Sister, please, listen to me. Perhaps before I left, we could stand on pretense that I had no need for the knowledge of what drove a wedge betwixt you and he. But now I must know. What happened, in this war a score and two years past, that he should come to loathe you so when once we were the best of friends?"

"I don't know," Celestia responded, shuddering with each word.

"Sister, now is not the time to play games–"

"Luna, I truly do not know. I never spoke to him while the war was raging, at least directly. All I know is that the dragons had nearly reached Canterlot when, out of the blue, he forced them all back himself, under pain of death. I went to ask him what had happened, and thank him for his intervention, but he'd sealed himself up under his volcano for a nap. His regent was... less than pleased to speak with me."

"What reason should Krenn have to hate you so?"

Celestia took a moment to stare at the figure of Krenn. "If I were to guess, he blames me for the death of Naslednik, just as he loathes the Commander."

"Wait, your bodyguard..."

Celestia nodded. "I know you've heard Red Ink speak of it. How he and 'his mentor' are the only two ponies to ever best grown wyrms alone."

Luna's eyes widened. "So he assumes that you were the one to guide such an action. Did you have hoof in–"

"Of course not, Luna!" Celestia shied back after the admonishment, looking away with not so much an expression of shame as regret. "It was a war, and he is a soldier. What else would you expect?" The elder sister regained her composure, and once more returned the featureless expression she favored from day to day. "In its own way, that's ancient history too, now. We should be concerning ourselves with the present. You said that Krenn threatened war. What did he want?"

Luna closed her eyes, forcing a calm over her features. "Firstly, he demanded we deliver him Discord. I have no doubt he will demand that the curse be undone, but it would be no surprise to me if he followed up a cure with the draconequus' death."

Celestia shook her head slowly. "Discord did not deserve to be returned to stone. We already made such a concession for him. Perhaps we will see about undoing the dragon's curse, but I will not see Discord done harm."

"Do we have a choice?" Luna asked. "Can we fight the dragons if it comes to that?"

"There will be another solution, Luna. There always is. We simply must be strong enough to pursue it. Perhaps we can play off his other demands. What else did he want?"

"I... am not sure. He spoke as though you had taken something from him; something personal. Perhaps some treasure from his hoard?"

Celestia shook her head slowly from side to side, leaving her ethereal mane to drift back and forth like a pendulum. "Krenn's hoard is not in gold or jewels, though I have no idea what it actually is. I do have some idea, though. In your... absence, he grew more and more obsessed with finding a cure for the curse of greed. There were years where he stayed in Canterlot, and even studied at my academy. Perhaps he found some artifact like the Elements of Harmony which could undo the damage."

Luna's brow rose. "Now that the Elements have new wielders, why do we not simply ask Sparkle and her friends to undo Discord's magic?"

"They tried, when they resealed Discord. If my suspicion is correct, the Element of Kindness failed. After being forced to turn against her friend, Fluttershy could not call on the magic to help Krenn."

"It still amazes me that she holds the spirit in such consideration." Luna shrugged. "Then again, Kindness was not mine to wield, even so long ago. Magnus certainly has changed since those days."

"I think we all have, Luna." Celestia turned toward the frozen effigy of Krenn with a pained frown of memory on her face. "Though perhaps some more than others. Now, I have news for you too, Luna, and I'm sorry to say that it isn't any happier."

"Perhaps it is better to finish our sorrows in a single sitting. What is the modern parlance? 'Rip off the bandage'?"

Celestia couldn't help but smile slightly. "Yes, Luna. That's right."

Luna smiled widely, and Celestia couldn't help but soak up the exuberance of her little sister. Then, as if a bubble had finally popped at the surface of a bath, awareness of the mood returned, and Luna's smile was gone.

"Very well, Sister. Speak your grave news."

Celestia took a slow breath. "The pony behind Masquerade contacted me."

"What." The word wasn't even a question.

"When she escaped, I thought to use a scrying bowl so I could figure out her method. There was a letter; I won't bore you with the magical theory. I copied it down, and it was addressed to me."

"So the coward finally shows herself."

"Or himself, but yes. I'm not sure how much of the letter to take on faith, but it was revealing in its own way. This pony claims to be motivated by a misguided prophecy warning of a coming war."

"Why should we care, Celestia? In truth, either they still see me as a monster, or their true motive is madness. I do not care which; not after what this pony has caused. Did you gain any information that could actually serve us?"

"Riddles, and nothing more. Do you have any idea where Electrum's Orb is?"

"In truth, Celestia, I have no clue what Electrum's Orb is. I would assume it belonged to the unicorn king of the same name, but that only tells us that it was here in Stalliongrad back when the city was still called River Rock."

"Eight thousand years is a long time for things to get moved around," Celestia responded. "Though it does give us a starting point. Here's something you probably will know. Have you ever invented a language?"

"Celestia, do you truly ask me such a question? Have I invented a language? Surely you jest. I can hardly seem to adapt to this one."

Celestia gave a deadly serious look in her sister's direction. "I didn't mean to sound like I was making fun of you, Luna. My divinations told me that Masquerade's directions were written in a language you had created, some time ago."

"Perhaps you failed your spell, Sister, and the magic of the world gave you a false answer as a taunt. Even we are not perfect mages, after all."

"Maybe..." Celestia frowned. "Well, there is one more thing to realize. Shining Armor is likely dead."

"I was saddened to learn that as well."

Celestia cocked her head. "Did you guide him to the Summer Lands?"

"No, Sister. Captain Ink informed me of Armor's fate."

Celestia's eyes widened in sudden concern. "Luna, listen to me very closely. Was he wearing his black jacket? Did he have the helmet from Platinum's Ward?"

"He wore the jacket, but I saw nothing of the helmet."

"Luna, you need to wake up right now. That isn't Red Ink. Masquerade spoke to you."

Rather than disappearing, Luna glanced aside. A moment later, a shimmering spot of purple and gray became a distinct pony with gold, slitted eyes and purple tinted bat-like wings. "You called, Princess?"

"Yes, Eldest Sister," Luna responded sternly. "It seems that the assassin Masquerade has made her way within the castle, disguised as Captain Ink of the Honor Guard. Sniff her out. You are to apprehend her or kill her. Ensure that enough of the Night Guard remain for me to finish my conversation with my sister in safety."

"Whatever you say, Princess." With those simple words, the mare faded out of the realm of dreams again. With her brief concern dealt with, Luna turned back to Celestia. There, she saw a disapproving scowl.

"I told you not to bring those things with you."

"The Night Guard are not your concern, Celestia," Luna countered. "But if you insist on complaining of them, let me remind you that they cannot be deceived by the assassin, as it seems even I can. By sunrise, I would not be surprised if Masquerade were in our hooves again."

"I hope so, Luna. If your safety is assured, then we need to plan our next step with Krenn. We don't know what he wants, but we will need to find some way to calm his anger."

"You spoke of Steel Lining. Do you think perhaps that he–"

Celestia winced visibly, before tucking her face behind her mane. "Luna, he is dead."

"Sister, this argument is ridiculous. I have searched–"

"You know why, Luna, if you would only think!" This time, the flare of Celestia's agitation was not followed by shame or regret. Luna wilted under the elder sister's glare, but Celestia's rebuke was not yet finished. "Do you think I took pleasure in admitting he was gone? Do you think I for a second that I pronounced him dead without considering every other option? I was not happy to endure the pain of saying goodbye to a friend, and especially not one who stood by my side while you were gone. But I will not cling to childish fantasies when they come at a cost of Equestria's safety."

Luna was hurt. Her eyes held firm, but her jaw shook as she struggled to build words, staring up toward her older sister. "So that's what he was, then? My replacement?"

Celestia's jaw dropped. "No, Luna, I didn't mean–"

"You know, with such a dark blue coat, he nearly looked the part too. Did you dig up Hurricane's Armor to protect him, or as an aid, that you could play pretend?"

Celestia cringed. "You don't understand, Luna. Please–"

"What? What reason have I to listen, Celestia? Now at least I comprehend his loathing for me. Who was he to you, but an understudy for my role, as so many before must have been as well. Yet he was made to live through my return. Well, Celestia, if you miss him so very badly, then I see no reason not to bring him back. After all, now we see that our nation's safety hinges solely upon a childish fantasy." The younger sister turned her back and began to stride away. "Concern yourself not with the assassin, or Krenn's war, or the well being of my would-be replacement, sister. I shall solve Equestria’s troubles."

- - -

Masquerade dropped the earthly remains of maid Plumeau on the cold stone floor, deep within the bowels of the earth under Burning Hearth Castle and sagged, panting. In technicality, the maid wasn't dead, but leaving her in such a state would be a cruelty that the assassin could not condone. If Luna weren't physically upstairs, the mare would already be dead, but the risk of the Princess asking questions of a departed soul so close by was too great. So instead, Plumeau was left to suffer as the assassin went about her business.

She jumped when the voice spoke. "You've made it," observed the contractor. She'd never heard him speak before; his tone was unnatural, tinged with magic and yet somehow recognizably equine all the same. Though there was a hint of Stalliongradi in his accent, the way he trimmed the ends of the three simple words suggested a control over his voice, as if the accent were itself a choice, rather than a constant companion.

The assassin spun toward the shadows. Their previous correspondence had always been by letter, dropped off in some secure and obscure location that she would have to track down. But in place of a pony, she saw only a sphere of blue crystal, glowing lightly as it hovered at head level. A strip of cloth had been laid over the top of it gently.

“Screw you,” Masquerade snapped. “First you don’t give me any directions until I’ve already had to stick my neck out meeting with Luna totally unarmed, then you leave me to sneak around the halls with those creepy bat guards everywhere!”

“I knew you would be fine in both circumstances. I wouldn’t risk your life so carelessly.”

“Oh really?” Masquerade spat on the stone floor, and then hissed. “I’m not sure how much I trust your ‘prophecies’ anymore. They sure didn’t work out for me in Canterlot.”

“Oh, there were no prophecies involved, Masquerade; I wouldn’t risk such powerful magic on such a minor issue. No, we’re still playing off my directions from your original contract.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I’m sure you can understand it if you take a moment to think.”

Masquerade lunged forward toward the ball of light. It failed to flinch at her approach. “You’re gonna give me a straight answer right now. I spent six months as a bucking statue for you!”

“We can discuss your failure to follow simple orders later. I suppose I can afford you an explanation.” The orb orbited her slowly, glowing brighter and dimmer in time with the artificial voice. “In Canterlot, I directed you to rip off the wings of the pegasus guardspony you killed, and put them on your back. I don’t enjoy mutilating corpses. Frankly, I found the act disgusting; however, it was also necessary.”

“It was so they’d think I had to use them when I was taking the shape of a pegasus, right?”

“Precisely,” the contractor responded with a chipper tone. “That was the seed for a deception far more valuable than your magic. We planted the idea that you were only an illusionist, and for the moment, that idea still persists. Luna looked for Arcana to mark your disguise.” The orb’s orbit ceased a few feet from the front of Masquerade’s face.

“Well that’s great, but what if I’d blown playing Red Ink? What if she’d known him?”

“Then you would have failed at a basic task, and would be of little use to me.” The contractor seemed entirely unconcerned with the implications. “Red Ink spent September through December of your imprisonment in Ponyville, and thereafter occupied his time almost entirely in dealing with you. That, and it was my understanding that you had experience playing his role. Five or six years ago, if recollection serves, when we first met.”

“Ponies change.”

“Not really;” the contractor responded. “But philosophy is not the point of our discussion. I believed you would outsmart Luna, and I was correct, so I don’t see why we’re discussing the topic at all.”

“Because I want to know why in Tartarus I should still be trusting you! What about the Night Guard, huh? They almost caught me when I was sneaking my way down here.”

The orb dimmed momentarily. “You fooled Luna, and you fooled them in Canterlot. I see no reason to fear them now, barring the unconscious maid you were carrying on your back. Even then, such a thing would not be out of character for Red Ink.”

Masquerade’s deadpan glare made her thoughts on the comment clear. “I was able to work with them in Canterlot because I had the Commander’s armor; they can see through me, or smell me, or something.”

“...intriguing.”

“That’s it? Intriguing? That’s all you have to say?”

“On that topic, yes. You can wear your own face now; I have no desire to hear Roscherk's voice at the moment."

Red Ink's wings extended, and from the tip of each came a spark of emerald flame. The fires engulfed the stallion's body, and his flesh fell away in blood and ashes that faded before they hit the floor. Rather than a skeleton, a mare was seen underneath. An indigo mare with eyes of sparkling pale sapphire and a mane of swirling ink trailing down her back.

"I see no call for theatrics," the contractor muttered, evidently unimpressed.

"A mare has to have her art, doesn't' she?"

"I wouldn't know," the stallion's voice answered.

“Well, she does. Also, you don’t need to hide behind the orb; I pretty much know who you are, too.”

“Is that so?”

“It isn’t too hard to guess from where I’m standing. Not too many ponies have access to this place, right?”

“More than you might think,” the contractor responded.

“Alright. How many of them actually call Red Ink by his real name? Rowshirk?”

The orb released a tired sigh. “Roscherk. And, again you’ve eliminated fewer possible identities than you probably believe.”

“Fine. How about this? Luna wasn’t the only pony I had too fool getting in here... and that other pony knows Roscherk an awful lot better than she did.”

The orb faded momentarily. “You would be wise to stop your guessing game now, Masquerade, and remember that your other illusions are a boon in smoothing over such issues. If you attempt to contact me in public, I will arrange for your death, and if you are wrong in guessing my identity, the pony you speak to will turn you over to a tragic fate. Am I understood?”

Masquerade nodded as his orb began to glow more brightly. A moment later, with a clinking of coin, a rather large sack fell to the floor in front of the assassin. "Before we go any further, this is the payment for Shining Armor, as agreed. Two million bits, minus the expenses of extracting you from Canterlot comes to seven-hundred-fifty thousand. Three quarters of that sum are Stalliongradian banknotes, and the remaining value is split between actual bit coins minted by the Domains of Canterlot, Trottingham, and Cloudsdale. That should let you spend them without fear of being tracked down."

Masquerade would normally have checked the money, but something about the stallion's voice lent her to trust his statements. Or rather, to fear for her own safety in sitting down to count the money right in front of his 'face'. "Right. Thanks. So what's the plan for Luna now?"

"Plan for Luna?" The orb rotated slightly, shifting the band of cloth. Somehow, the action seemed reminiscent of a dog cocking its head in confusion. "There is no plan for Princess Luna. You failed to follow my instructions, and as a result, for the time being, we will move on to other targets."

"What? You said she'd turn into Nightmare Moon again, and–"

"And that will not happen until the war starts," the contractor finished calmly. "Fortunately, Lord Krenn was kind enough to lay out an incredibly specific timetable for that event. We have six months to arrange Luna's demise. Our other goals will not wait as long." The gem floated toward a nearby door, whose surface was covered in similar shimmering crystals. "If you would be so kind, Madame Ball. I'm afraid I can't manage this particular door on my own."

Masquerade turned toward the door in question. A trio of ponies were depicted in gems across its face. She recognized them all from a lifetime of overdone pageants. In her youth, the assassin had depicted one of them herself.

"Is this one of those doors that only the princesses can open?"

"They're called 'Alicorn Doors', Masquerade. Fortunately, the name is a bit misleading, as alicorns are not the only beings in the world capable of bypassing their magic. This particular example dates back to not long after the ponies it depicts, and as a result, its combination is rather simple. The unicorns put themselves first, so Platinum gets your Arcana."

Masquerade's horn lit up as the contractor continued his speech. "The earth ponies followed their lead for thousands of years, or so the unicorns preferred to believe. As such, Puddinghead is next, with Endura."

Platinum's diamonds and pearls began to glow with the mana from Masquerade's simple spell. The assassin's hoof was placed firmly onto one of the smoothed pieces of amber that made up the stallion's coat. A warm glow filled that assembly of gemstone as well.

"Hurricane came last, with the Cirran migration from modern north-western Zebrica. I assume you understand the pattern."

Indeed she did, and short push of raw Empatha later, the glistening glassy onyx and obsidian that made up the ancient Commander's coat and armor took on an even shinier sheen.

Then came a mighty rumbling, as the two enormous doors pulled apart under their own power. Completely unbothered by the ancient magic, the orb took up a place floating in the center of the doors. Its blue light gave a shallow island of visibility, but nothing more.

"What's down here?" Masquerade asked.

"Privacy," the contractor responded bluntly. "Now before we continue, Masquerade, I'd like you to put on this blindfold. Then we can speak, face to face."

"What? You expect me to trust you?"

"We are co-conspirators in attempted regicide," he observed. "I would prefer to preserve my anonymity. That way, if you make another mistake the way you did with Celestia, she won't be able to gain my identity, and I'll still be able to save you from trouble."

"Right..."

"Would you rather I had left you in Celestia's hooves? I'm sure she'd welcome you back if you asked nicely."

The assassin rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever you say. I still don't see why we don't just talk through the orb, though." A little bit of telekinesis grabbed the fabric and made quick work of it. Soon, the world was dark. Sound, scent, and the ripples of mana brushing against her horn replaced sight. The orb was floating away in near-total silence. She followed it as closely as she could manage.

Her hooves reverberated on solid stone floors. Wherever she was, the place was huge, and cold. Then again, the latter wasn't surprising for Stalliongrad. Bouncing from off in the distance in a thousand different directions were ripples of mana from countless strange and inexplicable sources, all vying for her attention. If it weren't for the orb's proximity, she would have been instantly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the magic. Far behind her, a volume of a different kind picked up when the doors began to grind shut.

She tensed, and the orb stopped. "Worried about something, assassin?"

She shuddered and shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Liar." His false voice grew in intensity with every subsequent word. "You heard the doors slide shut. Now you're down here, lost in the dark, and even if you took off the blindfold, you wouldn't be able to escape. So you assume that I've brought you here to die. Perhaps because you failed with Luna?"

She hesitated, but then nodded slowly.

"That would be wholly idiotic of me. I'd be delivering you straight in Luna's hooves, after all. And while you don't know my identity, you know enough to give her a good guess. I'd like to avoid that. So you can trust me when I say that I have no intentions of killing you."

She sighed, until a jolt of pain surged through her horn. It was brief, but forceful enough to wet the edges of the blindfold on the insides of her eyes.

"That isn't to say I'm not unhappy. Having Luna out of the way would have given us much more room to maneuver now. She wouldn't be sitting upstairs in this very castle, restricting your movements. So let me ask, firstly: were my instructions too difficult for you? Was it so hard to do things in order? I suspect I could not have been any more clear when I told you that you had to have Hurricane's heir out of the picture before you moved on Luna. So explain to me exactly what part of my directions were confusing."

Masquerade lurched back from the orb, and felt cold stone behind her. It hadn't been there a moment before. Her response was simpering and defensive. "You didn't tell me which one of Hurricane's heirs to get rid of! I did my research, I promise! I thought you meant Steel Lining; that's why I drugged him out and dragged him all the way down to Suida. The princesses didn't get to find his soul because he wasn't dead, and I had an opening to go for Luna."

The contractor's mild anger disappeared, and his orb spoke instead with a tone of curiosity. "Steel Lining is a descendent of Commander Hurricane?" As he asked the question, the orb continued its forward motion. It took Masquerade a moment to pick up the willpower needed to follow.

"I didn't find out until after Celestia had already caught up to me, but Steel Lining is Rainbow Dash's dad." Without really thinking about the motion, Masquerade flexed her right forehoof. The strange scar where Rainbow Dash had severed the limb would never really fade. "He kept that pretty secret, too. I went through all his files in Canterlot, but he never talked about her, except with the other Elements of Harmony."

The orb stopped suddenly, but it was not the source of the next voice to speak. A pony's tongue gave her words without the tiny twisting of magical interference. She felt as if she knew the voice, and yet all her struggles failed to place it. She slowly grew sure that there was some magic behind her inability to recognize the voice.

"Rainbow Dash is Steel Lining's daughter? That might be the best news I've heard all day."

Masquerade's eyebrow climbed up from beneath the blindfold. "What? Why does that even matter?"

"It doesn't matter at all to you, but it may be useful for me later. Don't concern yourself with it for now, Masquerade. You'll have plenty of information to ponder over by the time we're done today." He paused notably. "You're welcome to sit; there's a cushion behind you."

Masquerade stuck out a hind leg, and sure enough, found a padded surface in an empty space where she had been standing mere moments before. It would not have been a surprising revelation, except that the contractor's voice had not moved from a singular spot a few feet in front of her, and she'd felt no aura of telekinesis. Momentarily setting aside her surprise, she lowered herself down and did her best to relax.

"Comfortable? Good. Now, on to new business. Do you have the crystal with Commander Hurricane's memories?"

"Yeah." Masquerade's horn pulled the spindle-shaped white crystal out of Red Ink's jacket, and levitated it in the direction of the other pony. She'd been expecting a telekinetic aura to take it from her grip, but instead, the crystal was suddenly gone, as if it had been teleported away. After she shook off the eerie feeling of grabbing thin air with her magic, she voiced a question that had been bothering her since she put the crystal in her pocket. "What's in there, anyway?"

"I have no idea. Taking these memories was not an exercise in gaining information, after all. We're merely denying Celestia the knowledge she needs to oppose us."

"Did your crystal ball tell you that?"

She could hear the disapproval in his response. "I would not tempt looking into the future for such an answer. Divination told me which of the crystals to take, but I discovered the existence of the shards by a far older magic. Namely, by reading, and research."

"Okay, whatever you say," Masquerade responded, making it perfectly clear that she didn't follow his explanation. "What's the deal with Commander Hurricane, anyway? I mean, he was just the racist pegasus from the Hearth's Warming story, right?"

The contractor shook his head, with a smile that spoke volumes in condemning Masquerade's ignorance. "Do you assume his story just ended when the Windigoes were defeated? That he dropped dead that very day, or that he flew off into the sunset and lived happily ever after? Ponies like that don't just disappear. I don't claim to know his role in history any better than most other ponies, but I can tell you that the troubles we are fighting against are ultimately his fault."

"What? You mean with Princess Luna and the war? He died like nine thousand years ago. How could he have anything to do with the modern day?"

"Clearly, you don't appreciate history," the contractor responded with more than a bit of a jab to his words. "Perhaps this example isn't quite so old, but consider that ten thousand years ago, Suida was a beautiful paradise like the nicer parts of Equestria. Then, when he took power, the Warchief Khagan went to war with the elk, who he saw as weaklings. Now Valdria does not permit the land to yield food. Because of what Khagan did those ten thousand years ago, the boars are barbarians where once they were a glorious people, and Suida is a wasteland with only hardy, bitter plants and crumbling ruins, rather than the seat of a beautiful empire."

"The elk can do that? Just make plants stop growing?"

"Just as Celestia moves the sun, and Luna the moon, Lady Valdria permits life to come into being. Not to grow, mind you; any earth pony can cause such a thing. The elk allows life to reproduce."

"Weird..."

"Perhaps. But enough of the past for now. We need to concern ourselves with Equestria's future."

"Right. That's what I'm here for. So what's the mission?"

"The million bit question," the contractor answered calmly. "Also, the reward I'm offering this time, for each of my contracts. I have four tasks for you, but only two are assassinations."

"For a million bits, I don't really care if you're just expecting me to steal Celestia's shoes or something."

"I can hire a thief it that's what I need," the contractor noted. "I'm asking you to use the special talent you once had emblazoned on your flank, Masquerade. I need you to be an actress."

She cocked her head. "Okay, lay it on me."

"Firstly, the two assassinations. I need you to kill the Honor Guard Stoikaja, known as Soldier On."

"It would have been great if you'd told me that one while I was still in Canterlot."

"At the time, she wasn't a threat. Neither was Shining Armor, which is why I had you spare him on your last task as well. Now, with him gone, Stoikaja is one of two ponies in the world with a very peculiar secret. She is a liability, and so is the other pony who knows."

"Okay, so who is it?"

"The Night Guard who goes by the name of 'Third Brother'."

Masquerade sat up on stiff forelegs, casting wide eyes forward despite her blindfold. "Hold on, a Night Guard? Princess Luna will be all over me!"

"Then devise a means to draw him away from her side. You have four months, Masquerade, and I'm sure that gives you enough time to come up with a plan. Unless you aren't up to the task?"

"Hey! I damn near killed one of the princesses! Nopony else can claim that!"

"I'm not entirely certain that is the truth, Masquerade. Regardless, your third task is a bit different. I want you to find the real Roscherk Krovyu, and 'accidentally' reveal your secret to him."

"What?!" The assassin stomped a hoof on the cold stone in front of her pillow. "You want me to give away my trick?"

"Celestia already suspects it, unless she is far less capable than I give her credit for."

"Look, I'm not just going to–"

He cut her off with a louder volume in his voice, though his actual tone remained calm and collected. "There aren't very many creatures in the world that can wield all three forms of magic. If she does not know now, she will soon. So let me make myself clear. I am not actually asking."

"Well that's too bad, because I'm not–"

And then she felt it. The slow spreading chill. But by then, it was too late to even scream.

She heard the contractor's hooves step forward toward her, and she felt when he gently rapped a hoof on the dull gray stone that was her muzzle. "I'm afraid I don't have the skill to make marble, so we'll have to make do with what we can. I have to say I'm disappointed. You don't have much of a sense of figure; your pose in Canterlot was much more impressive. It really is a shame Celestia didn't put you out in the garden. You'd have fit right in."

He paced around her slowly, though the blindfold that still remained over her eyes kept her from seeing him even then. "I'm sorry I had to do this; I didn't want to. In just a moment, I'll free you again, but for now, I'll take advantage of a captive audience while I can.

She felt his breath on her ear, and the weight of his body on her shoulder as he climbed up to reach it. He spoke softly, but firmly. "I said before that we have to trust each other, but the truth is that you do have another choice, if you want to take it."

His weight disappeared, and he took a few pacing steps around her again. "As I'm sure you remember, Celestia and Luna have the capacity to interrogate the souls of ponies on the way to their final resting places. I don't know how that works for you, so I'm not taking any risks. When I taught you the simple mental enchantment to prevent other ponies from betraying your secrets, I placed a similar enchantment on you. Even without actually meeting you face to face, your knowledge was a liability. However, I can't actually allow you to die. This was my solution."

Masquerade wanted to squirm, to scream, to do anything but be trapped as she had for the past months. Yet no option was presented. The object that was the assassin simply stood and listened, staring blankly into the fabric of a blindfold as she was lectured to.

"Now you have two options. You can go to Celestia and Luna, and betray me, in the hopes that they will spare your soul from the fires of Tartarus. Not a secure bet, but one you can make if you want. Your other choice is to trust me, and help my plan to succeed. Because if it does, we will both be heroes."

Masquerade didn't respond. She couldn't. Her foreleg was flaring with phantom pain, and her mind was filled with months of memories, staring at a blank stone wall in near-total darkness.

"Now, there isn't any real means by which I can convince you that I don't mean you harm. However, I consider myself a stallion of reason, so let me explain things reasonably. If, in fact, I were planning on betraying you when this is all over, it would still be in your best interests to pursue my contracts. Any attempt to have the spell removed will end just as the last few moments did. In the best case, Celestia and Luna find you quickly, and you move on to burn for the rest of time. If not, I'm sure some archeologist will dig you up... eventually."

Masquerade was ready to cry at the terror of the thought, but the contractor wasn't done.

"In contrast, pursuing my targets will at least afford you a few months more to live, and enjoy both yourself and the money I've just given you. Obviously, if I truly do intend to spare you, your best interest is still to pursue my ends. Understood?"

Masquerade heard the stone crack, and she felt her motion return. Her first action was to fall to her cushion, sobbing into her blindfold. She was surprised to feel a warm foreleg drape itself over her neck.

"Get away from me!"

Slowly, the limb was pulled back. "Perhaps it would be unfair to ask your forgiveness. I did not mean to hurt you, or force bad memories on you. I had merely hoped to... explain my position." A moment later, she felt something soft and gentle placed atop one of her hooves. "A handkerchief," the contractor clarified gently. She lifted it to her nose with her hoof rather than a spell, and blew heavily. Then came a terribly long silence.

"Are you okay?" the contractor asked.

"...yes."

"Good," he responded with the same unexpected sympathy that had guided his actions. "Now, as I stated, I have your best intentions at heart. That means letting Roscherk Krovyu know your little secret. I understand if this seems unreasonable to you, but I haven't led you wrong before, have I? Once he's carried that message back to the Princess', I'll be able to arrange some... deceptions for you. You'll have much more freedom to carry out your work. That space should dovetail nicely for your final task."

She paused, building up the courage to address him again. He waited patiently for her to be ready. "Which is...?"

The contractor 's voice lost its sympathetic edge. "I need you to go to Grivridge, and take care of another... large target."

Masquerade was fast enough to put two and two together. "You want me to kill the Griffon Emperor?"

"No, in fact. I want you to fail. Deliberately, and publicly. And, more importantly, I want you to be wearing a very specific disguise when you do so." For just a moment, there was a faint blue glow on the inside of the assassin's blindfold. Then, before her eyes, she saw the illusion of a vaguely familiar stallion.

"I think I recognize him," Masquerade noted. "He's one of the Honor Guard, isn't he?"

"Was," the contractor responded. "He died in Grivridge several months ago, and the griffons know that."

"Then won't they think it's strange that a dead pony is trying to assassinate their leader?"

"I hope they do, Masquerade. Tell me, if you knew that a dead pony had returned, and attempted an assassination, who would you blame?"

Masquerade's mind raced. "But... I thought we were supposed to be protecting Equestria! That's going to start a war!"

"And are those mutually exclusive?" the contractor responded. "I have said that I intend to make this world a better place for ponies, and always the assumption is that I mean to prevent a war. Stopping such upheaval would certainly save lives in the short term, and it would preserve the status quo, but I have no interest in either. You're thinking in the same mindset that Celestia does: war and death are the greatest evils, and must be avoided at all costs. The truth, though, is that without war and death, nothing will ever truly change. Celestia's rule has been largely peaceful, and she does a good job of making the world seem comfortable, and because of that, ponies have become complacent. Fixing that is why we are here."

"We? I don't know what you're assuming, but I agreed to this to protect Equestria from Nightmare Moon! I don't want some huge war!"

"Then you are ignoring reality. I've seen the future, and there is going to be a war."

"So that's it, then? You assume there's going to be a war, and you're too afraid to try and stop it?"

The contractor chuckled lightly. It was a haunting sound, slithering its way down Masquerade's spine and unsettling her hooves. "The dragon who gave you your magic taught you of prophecy, I see. Interesting. I may have... misled you, with my words. I did the same with Celestia, in fact, but then, such a deception was intentional with her." She could almost smell the smile on his face. His amusement was certainly palpable. "I know I could stop the coming war. Or at least delay it. Honestly, even fighting the magic, it wouldn't have proven so hard; given what we've already accomplished, it would be now, but that's another matter."

She felt a hoof settle gently on the bottom of her jaw, lifting her head up as if to look into the eyes of a taller stallion. Blindfolded, she saw no purpose to the action, but she made no action to stop it all the same.

"If I were to stop the war, I would be leaving Equestria exactly the way it is. And if you have the courage to look beyond the shallow surface, you will see that the way Equestria stands today is a teetering spire of blocks without mortar that has only stood together this long by dumb luck, and the intervention of ponies like us."

His hoof was pulled away gently, teasing her chin as it moved. She shuddered at the brief sensation, which would not have been so troublesome had she been able to see.

"What if Discord had broken out of his imprisonment a mere two years earlier than he did? Or twenty? Or forty? We had no ponies to wield the Elements then. Or perhaps consider the last time dragons came to Stalliongrad. Celestia was too frightened to defend our nation herself, and we came to the very verge of total destruction, before Krenn spared, for no act we took on our own."

"So your plan is to use the war to force Celestia to make the country safer?"

"No, that there is exactly the issue. We can't count on Celestia. Take the Blizzard Revolution. Celestia knew perfectly well that a war was raging in Stalliongrad, and her response was to send a single pony. Not to end the conflict, but simply to arrange for the 'correct side' to win.

The contractor stopped briefly, collecting his thoughts. "What I want, Masquerade, is a world where ponies aren't the slaves of spirits and monsters, dragons and griffons. I want a world where when a threat faces us, we can stand and fight it and protect ourselves, instead of running between Celestia's legs like frightened foals. As the world stands today, our species stands at the mercy of fates far beyond our control. Without careful planning, a war with the dragons would simply devolve into a battle between Krenn, Celestia, and Luna. I have no doubt we would win, but how many helpless ponies would be dead in the meantime?"

He huffed. "I want a world where we answer to our own desires. Where, with struggle, we can carve our own fates, rather than living at the mercy of our god-princesses, or our prophecies, or the ridiculous marks on our flanks. In short, I want a world where free will is a reality, rather than a foal's fairy tale."

Masquerade took a long slow breath as his words sank in. And then she spoke. "Well, that's nice, but how is a war going to help us get any of that? If anything, a war is exactly what you're worried about! Tons of ponies dead when they can't help it. Krenn and Celestia and Magnus and who knows what else fighting while the little pony gets ground down under their hooves."

"That is why we're here, Masquerade. To rig the game. To make sure that things come out exactly the way we want. And yes, there will be blood on our hooves. But I have a hard time imagining you suffering for that. You've killed plenty of ponies in your life, haven't you?"

"Yes, but not en masse! And it's not like they're innocents."

The contractor sighed. "Innocence is irrelevant when we know of the Summer Lands as an all-but-proven fact. The ponies who die are making a sacrifice for the benefit of Equestria, but they are also gaining the glories of a perfect afterlife in exchange. They may suffer, but only for a short time." The contractor paced slowly in front of the blinded assassin. "This may be a great deal to take on faith, Masquerade, but my plan will work. So now I'll ask you: will you help me, now that you know my intentions?"

Masquerade paused midway through a nod. "What happens at the end?"

"Well, that's for Equestria to decide. But we'll be their heroes, once they learn what we've given them."

"No, I mean the end. Even if we win, Luna and Celestia still get us when we die, right?"

The contractor laughed, suddenly very close to Masquerade. She felt his hoof on her shoulder, and his breath gently tickled her ear.

"You won't need to worry about that. I'll give you the moon, Masquerade."

- - -

The wind rushed through Rainbow's mane as she walked along the roof of the rushing train. Ahead, lush jungle green feathers at the tip of a rather gangly wing were dancing in the very same wind. Closer to the stallion's body, a dirty brown mane embraced the same motion.

She walked up to his left side. From there, she saw a crippled stallion. A broken wing and a missing eye covered with a flat black patch. Some of his magic must have been working its will on the air, as it parted wide around the stallion to pass in white streaks a wing's width from both sides of his body. The roaring was not deafening, but its volume still kept Rainbow's approach hidden until she wrapped a wing around his back.

"You okay?"

"Just bad memories."

"Sorry."

He smiled, just a little. More of a tug on the corner of his cheek, really. "Thanks, Dash."

Then followed silence. Not true silence, with the roar of the wind, but a deeper lack of noise, where nothing was truly being thought between the two. Rainbow only spoke up when the bottom edge of the sun touched down on the horizon. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not much to talk about, really."

"Okay."

Reckoning turned, so that Rainbow would be within the vision of his still-present eye. "Let me teach you something, Rainbow, okay?"

She simply nodded.

"When somepony is feeling bad, and they say there isn't much to talk about, you should ask them what there is to talk about."

Rainbow chuckled lightly, though most of it was lost to the train's speed. "If that's what you wanted, why didn't you just say so?"

"I didn't live almost seventy years to hear snark from a filly like you," the young stallion answered with a smile.

"So, are you going to say something?"

"Well, to start with, what did On send you up here to say?" Rainbow turned to stare at him directly, eyes widened. She didn't even have to ask her question. "I've been playing the game a lot longer than she has, Dash. I know all the little speeches and the tricks. I used to have a platoon of scouts down in Zebrica, going on forty years ago."

"Really?"

"They're all dead now. It was a war of attrition, really. We'd stumble onto a griffon encampment. Take out six or seven. Lose one, or two. That's what made it hurt. The slow death. A thousand cuts. One by one, watching them drop like dominoes until I was the only one left. It took me a long time to see that it wasn't my fault. I never screwed up. They didn't die from my bad calls. They died because I made all the right calls, but that didn't change that it was still a war." He sighed audibly despite the rushing wind. "I took their tags, but I usually had to leave the bodies. And as the weight around my neck got heavier and heavier, I started wondering when it was going to be me. They weren't any different in my eyes. Maybe I was a little faster, or a little stronger, but in the end, that didn't matter when you were staring down a griffon. Every time I watched one of my stallions die, there was that question. Who next?"

Rainbow lingered in silence, having no idea what to say.

"I can't be on the other side of that, Rainbow. I can't be the one answering that question."

"Then don't," Rainbow answered, with more conviction than she really felt. "We can do this without killing anypony."

"I hope so, Rainbow."

"I know so," the young mare told him. "Nopony died when we beat Nightmare Moon. Nopony died when we beat King Sombra. Nopony is gonna die here."

Reckoning smiled and nodded along, though there was something hollow to both his expression and his motion. "I wish I could hold you to that."

She wrapped her wing tighter over his lanky frame, and added a hoof. He pulled away from the contact, leaning into her wing and away from her body. "Trust me, Deadeye. We'll be alright."

The stallion couldn't help but laugh. "Just like we were in Zebrica?" It was Rainbow's turn to wince, as the stallion finished his thought. "I'm glad you're with us."

"Thanks," she muttered, as a slight blush reached her cheeks.

The setting sun caught Reckoning's jaw in a peculiar way. The rough fringes of his coat left shadowed orange ridges across the blinded side of his face, painting over his eye patch and the trio of parallel scars along that ran down his cheek. Rainbow stared at him, and the heat in her cheeks grew. That same heat drove her actions. Her hoof slid off his shoulders, and wound its way down until it came to rest atop his.

For more than a moment, Reckoning stared down with a wide blue eye, where his hoof was trapped. Finally, he pulled his gaze away, to look her in the eye with surprise.

"What are you–"

"Deadeye," Rainbow interrupted, as she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes in satisfaction, "shut up."

Reckoning was left to embrace the young mare's warmth as he stared into the sunset, as the Wild Southwest chugged off toward the horizon. With a heavy heart, he wrapped his left leg over her shoulders, and held her closer yet.

Author's Note:

A HUGE thanks to Ruirik for his assistance in writing my first ever 'romance' scene. Also, for the awesome pictures on my blog, which you should check out if you haven't already.

Comments

[Willsons]

As always amazing

[LoyalLiar]

2215725

Thank you!

Oh, I just remembered something important: adding an author's note now.

[Willsons]

I hope you continue updating every day and I just relised I wasn't following you, that error has been corrected.

[LoyalLiar]

2215830
Tragically, I don't actually write 10k words a day. This and the previous chapter were meant to be just one; I wrote them as a single, 23k document, and then realized that was too long, even by my standards. I staggered them so that my pre-readers could come up for air.

On the other hand, next week, I have Spring Break. Maybe I'll get a chapter or two... or three... out then.

[The 24th Pegasus]

Great work, great work. I'll type up my thoughts tomorrow when I'm not on my phone and it's not midnight, as well as probably send a message your way.

One thing though: RIVER Rock, not HIGH Rock. It's only been about 8 chapters that I've mentioned the name.

[Ruirik]

A good update as always. Dialogue heavy chapters are a trick to write so that they remain interesting. So well done on that. And it was my pleasure to contribute to a quality series

Rainbow's sword should totally be named Charleen. Or Sword. Sword's a good name too.

[Literature]

Okay, the contracter being Foresight is too obvious...
It has to be someone unexpected.
Really, really unexpected.
Hmm...
...
Yep. I knew it.
It's Rainbow Dash.

[Tom the bomb]

Absolutely love it. Dash is gonna rip those boars a new one.

[Willsons]

Okay
I thought there might of been a reason for having a chapter a day.

Looking foward to what ever you end up writing, when ever you end up writing it.

[AnonymousBrony]

I get the feeling that Foresight is the contractor. Or Red Ink, somehow. Still hate Masquerade's guts. Contractor guy is a fool despite his "knowledge." Everyone in this story is a jerk. Not a lot of honor to found anywhere, frankly.

[Fuchsjunge42]

so from what i understand, this whole thing could have been avoided had some idiot not decided to look into the future

[repoman]

Masquerade as Princess of the Night? Shudder.

[LoyalLiar]

2215883
That's what I get for playing a Breton in Skyrim (Bretons are from 'High Rock' in The Elder Scrolls). I'll go ahead and fix that one right up.

2215901
Be careful if you go into any dark alleys. They say Occam is pretty fast with that knife of his...

[My lawyer advises me to remind you that the above sarcastic statement is neither a confirmation, nor a denial that the unicorn Predvidenie, known as 'Foresight', is the same entity as the individual identified as "The Contractor". Any similarities may or may not be unintentional and/or coincidental.]

2215898
I think it ought to be named 'H.G. Wells', or 'Griffin'...

[The Hero Pony]

2215942 Holy... I hadn't expected... What... I... Thank you.

[djthomp]

Good guess whoever it was that predicted Dash's sword would be made out of the transparent skysteel. Really have to hope that Dash's mission to save her father doesn't end up getting any guardsponies killed.

"They tried, when they resealed Discord. If my suspicion is correct, the Element of Kindness failed. After being forced to turn against her friend, Fluttershy could not call on the magic to help Krenn."

Oh I hope so. Delicious karma if true.

There we go. Luna and her guard know, but I suspect that Masquerade will have abandoned the Red Ink disguise quite quickly. Huh, that conversation could have ended better.

Youch, poor maid.

"Before we go any further, this is the payment for Shining Armor, as agreed."

Hmn, Soldier On and Third Brother. Interesting.

Well now, this guy doesn't think small.

[zaponator]

My excitement for the 'Rainbow and the gang' arc continues to increase!
Invisible sword? Yes please!

I think I know Masquerade's secret trick!
I only just realized that she can actually use all three varieties of magic. (As opposed to some manner of trickery or bypass)
Hint: She's not an alicorn... but she might not be a unicorn either.

I gotta say, you're doing romance right. Not rushing it, letting it develop at a natural pace.
Of course, Ruirik is one of the best authors at pacing romance, so I guess that makes sense.

Another great chapter. I know that the circumstances were special, but getting two chapters this close together was extremely fun.
The pieces are falling into place. The players are getting into position. It won't be long now.

[Miki]

Foresight really is too obvious, but it can't be one of the show canon ponies. That would just be ameteurish in my opinion.

Hmmmmmm.........

[LoyalLiar]

2216427, 2215901
Hit me with your best guesses, people. I'd love to hear who you think 'he' is.

2216007
Not quite sure I get what you're quoting here.

[Miki]

2216452
Riddle me this then buttman, is he at least someone you have introduced us to in either act one or two?

[LoyalLiar]

2216481

Hmm... would it be really fair of me to say 'yes' or 'no' definitely?

Oh, wait, I'm going about this wrong.

images.zap2it.com/images/tv-EP00000490/batman-adam-west-0.jpg
Clever as always, Mr. Edward Nigma, but your sinister riddles are no match for the mind of the world's greatest detective.

Once again, your propensity to leave hints in your taunts has made your plot all too easy to foil.

Firstly, I noticed that you failed to capitalize your juvenile play on my name, Batman. Then I observed that you also did not capitalize 'Act', 'One' or 'Two' as Loyal Liar usually does while describing his work. This gives me 'B', 'A', 'O', and 'T' to work with; good, but not enough.

I then considered that your taunts are usually above childlike, posterior-based humor. From that, I deduced that you could be hiding something in 'Buttman'. But what? Pulling off the improper letters gives me a 'U' and a 'T'.

Then, with my mastery of linguistics, I realized that the letters you provided form a perfect anagram of 'Bat Out' - the catchphrase of the Gotham street movement opposing me on grounds of vigilantism. But what would you do with them?

Your choice of the word 'us' gave away the next step too, 'Riddler'. You're consorting with the rest of the League of Evil on this one.

Then it hit me. You're using the same scheme as before. 'League of Evil' is an anagram of 'Vile Ego Fuel' - which of course refers to Scarecrow's psychoactive toxins popular amongst your organization. So Scarecrow is targeting the 'Bat Out' movement with his toxin? Good thing I know exactly when they'll be having a debate with Comissioner Gordon next week to discuss whether or not I'm a threat to justice in Gotham City.

But you and the rest of your 'super-criminals' have known Gordon since the very beginning, haven't you? So there! That's the answer to your riddle, Riddler. You've got to know him!

Go ahead - make your plans. Come after Gordon next Tuesday at the Chartreuse Cafe. But the Dark Knight will be waiting to send you back to Arkham where you belong.

[Miki]

2216574
You haven't seen the last of me Loyal Liar!

[DualThrone]

The more information we get, the less sense the entire plot makes. Although I now feel sort of bad for Masquerade; she does evil but doesn't seem to mean evil, if that makes any sense, and now she's essentially tied to a completely insane pony who's holding a sword of Damocles over her head. Neither his intentions nor his plans have the slightest chance of achieving his stated goals, and his goals are nonsense in the first place. If ponies don't cower behind their gods when threatened, they'd find some other strong, fearless protector to hide behind; such is the nature of people, always seeking a leader and/or a hero when troubles come. Unless this fool can magically eliminate the possibility of heroes to rally behind or ponies born with a particular gift that sets them far apart and above their peers (Twilight Sparkle), he's planning to sacrifice legions pointlessly because he's obsessed with some tarot card reading.

I'm getting a vague notion of a bullet train of incredible suck barreling down the tracks...

By the way: I applaud the impending death of Soldier On; I've been heartily sick of her as a character since she popped onto the scene. Please oh please give her a death where she has a moment to experience the despair of being completely helpless... that'd be satisfying and nice.

[AsiagoUnicorn]

2215938
I think the moon might look better today with a giant laser cannon on it. Yep, there is no possible way this could backfire, even with the everyone I hate and thus hates me trapped on the moon with no one to keep them in check.

Why Masquerade would ever do something the stupid I do not know, but I felt like saying it so be quite.

[AsiagoUnicorn]

2216452
It's Masquerade isn't it. She can be her own contractor right? It's not like she his limited by space and time to be in one place at once... Maybe she is Mirror Image's twin sister who can also split in two, but she did it at birth and never knew she was actually one pony. Then do to the draw the two halves must feel towards one another it could have lead to her employing herself. What if the part of her known as The Contractor split again and half of him/her made the proficy and that's why The Contractor needs her help, because he's now only a fourth as powerful where as she is a half. Maybe he/she even knows that they are actually the same pony, but doesn't want to believe it, as it would invalidate his/her opinions on free will if he/she had multiple consciousnesses. Maybe this whole plot is just an incredibly complicated way to kill Masquerade and possibly the pony who made the proficy... The plot thickens!

[Ruirik]

Here's a theory for us all:
What we "know" The pony known as the contractor (henceforth referred to as Connie) is a unicorn stallion. Unless Connie is in fact a mare using an illusionary spell of some type, but then we're getting into M. Night Shamalan levels of plot twists, and the universe doesn't need more of that. So Connie is a unicorn who knows advanced spell craft and is someone known to Celestia. How else could he have such a strong knowledge of her habits and history. Furthermore, Connie knows Celestia's petrification spell, something that we've not seen any other pony capable of so far. He also knew exactly where Masqurade was being kept and how to free her, so this is clearly an aristocratic pony who is very wealthy and highly intelligent.

So who is Connie, really? I think there's a strong chance it is Cadence's Father. There are several clues I spotted in various chapters that draw me to this conclusion. Firstly, why would Shining Armor suddenly need to be killed when he wasn't percieved as a problem in Act 1? The answer seems to be vengeance. Cadences Father (Referred to as Connie cause I can't remember his name and I'm not gonna bother looking for it this early in the morning) saw Shining Armor as an asset in Act 1 as Shining could petition Celestia to pass Luna's power to Cadence, thereby granting her immortality. Shining Armor refused in front of many powerful characters which negated his status as an asset and put him on the hit-list.

That leads us to another clue:

"You won't need to worry about that. I'll give you the moon, Masquerade."

Since we know from act 1 that Celestia can bequeath the gifts of an alicorn onto another pony, it stands to reason that Connie will try to maneuver himself into Celestia's power. Hence why he could make a legitimate offer to Masquerade for the moon. He could (presumably) offer her Luna's powers, especially if he keeps his word to her. Why he would actually do that is beyond me, but I trust a traitor to betray everyone when it suits them. Not many other characters would have a knowledge of this ability, so it further narrows our suspects.

Now the plan itself: this has a lot of hallmarks of the classic supervillain plot insofar as it is very complicated and requires other characters to react in very specific ways. Now in my experience the more complex a plan is, the higher the probability it will fail. A simple pony wouldn't have relied on slow acting poisons to kill Luna, they would have added in strychnine, cyanide, or hemlock to ensure the phage seeds killed her. Or they would have had Masquerade (while wearing the commanders face) sneak up to Luna and slit her throat. After all, an assassin is expendable in the end. Only a highly educated mind would think of all these elaborate plans "kill him, her, and the other guy, then get caught over here and purposely fail over there".

So Connie is Cadence's Dad. Vindictive, powerhungry, and slightly insane. Prove me wrong LoyalLiar

[roflknief]

Well I'll take a guess at who the "Connie" is..... The Tsar. Yep Red Inks dad. He would be able to open the Alicorn doors, has access to the stuff in the castle vaults, all the reasons Masquerade gives for him being Foresight work pretty well for the Tsar, and no one really seems to be keeping an eye on him. Just my guess.

Now on to the more important point

If my suspicion is correct, the Element of Kindness failed

YOU TALKING SHIT ABOUT FLUTTERSHY?!?! NO PONY CAN QUESTION HER KINDNESS!!! *INSERT MORE RAGE*

[The 24th Pegasus]

Most excellent chapter. Really looking forward to Rainbow's segment, as well as what's happening in Stalliongrad.

Of course Rainbow would want to try and copy Hurricane and getting a sword from his namesake. Can't wait to see what name she gives her own.

Liked the segment with Masquerade. It's nice to know that under that cold demeanor is a pony who actually feels something. I'm actually looking forward to more with her than I was before. Third Brother better be careful, especially if she's going to go about it the way I think that she's going to kill him.

Here's to more chapters coming in the near future!

[RainBoomEffect]

So lets think who this 'Contractor'. At first I thought that it could some how be Krenn but he's not a pony so it leaves alot of gaps. But then I got a brainwave and everything became clear. The 'Contractor' is a unicorn who is very rich and powerful. She/he is also really intelegent and knows alot about magic. From this we can make some guesses at who Connie is and one pony that comes into my mind is the one from Celestia's memory stone thing (Chrysanthemum in chapter 3).

[Literature]

2216452
Darn.
Hmm...
...
R63 Rarity?

[Ruirik]

2219728

Connie

[TheAndyMac]

Hmm, able to use all three types of magic, perfectly copy another pony in a manner that is apparently not pure illusion, and has been seen shedding her disguise in 'emerald flame'...

It seems she was a normal pony once, but I'm starting to think she might be something rather different now. I wonder if it has anything to do with the events of the royal wedding.,.

[The Hero Pony]

2216452

I just hasn't expected a new update so soon! Also, I totally called it

The Hero Pony
#23 · 1 day, 22 hours ago · 1 · ·

I would think she would use the clear Skysteel, since why else would you introduce something without using it?

[SnowyNightt]

[ponygrad]

And tell him I'm sorry."

Rainbow's brow rose. "For what?"

"Nothing.

RED FLAG. Why are they still trusting On like this when they know she has secrets.

Now it's very hard to keep track of the lore for me but only because I read so many fics, so this might not be 100% right, but I thought it was implied in earlier chapters that Celestia had been in a relationship with Hurricane. I'm not reading Snow and Shadows unfortunately, for lack of time, but I did read the one before that, where Hurricane hadn't met Celestia and had a wife. Will reading snow and shadows clear this up or am i missing something?

[LoyalLiar]

2237466

Depending on your interpretation, it may have been implied that Celestia was in a relationship with Hurricane.

As of Snow and Shadows, Hurricane is happily married with two grown children.

I don't want to tread on The 24th Pegasus' toes (hooves?), so I'll only state something that he has already stated in the forums of our shared universe group (which you can find via my profile if you so desire).

Snow and Shadows is the second story in a trilogy about Commander Hurricane.

Read into that what you will.

As for trusting Soldier On, I will simply observe that Dead Reckoning knows her secrets - at least, most of them. He certainly knows her motivations for her act of 'treason' from Act 1. He even said as much, in his discussion with Rainbow about 'Honor Guard secrets' way back near their introduction in Zebrica.

As for why Rainbow trusts her, my response is "how much does Rainbow really trust her?" Clearly, enough that she doesn't feel threatened by her, but that much comes simply from the fact that Reckoning has vouched for her. But would Rainbow trust her with something more personal? It's certainly a debatable subject, but I would say not.

A good point and a great question, even if I very much had to hedge around answering it. Thanks for the interest!

-LL

[The 24th Pegasus]

2237466>>2237745

All in due time, my friends... all in due time

[Nopony in Particular]

Okay. I want to say that the Contractor is Foresight, but that is so obvious. TOO Obvious, so we can ease off of him. Building off of what 2217230 said, the contractor could reasonably be ANY of the Unicorn stallions present at that meeting that have had political gain from this some how. Sforzando Eccessivo, Foresight, or even Blueblood(if he had had more appearances). I REALLY doubt that Shining Armor is the contractor because, while it would be the ULTIMATE plot twist(M. Night Shyamalan has nothing on that!), it would be completely OoC. The Tsar could also be 'Connie' but it doesn't match up with Connie's mention of Third Brother. The Tsar, Sforzando Eccessivo nor Blueblood(if I was seriously considering him) have had interaction with Third Brother. Foresight has had a private encounter with 3rdB. This places him BACK under scrutiny. He has been shown to have magical skills that surprised his father. He also is the person setting up the curfew in Stalliongrad and Saraneighvo despite Red and Watchful's dislike of curfews. Now what gives the him the power to do that, since he is the Treasurer of the State of Stalliongrad. Yes, his father is the Tsar, but the Tsar wouldn't approve(I think he wouldn't; then again he allows the BCs to exist) of such blatant nepotism.

So my suspects are Excessive Force(is that the proper translation?) and Foresight. I am leaning towards Predvidenie despite him being so obvious

[Night Sky]

"Then we die. It's a fact we're both comfortable with. Luna's spell leaves Reckoning's soul wandering the desert until the end of time. I burn in Tartarus for betraying Luna."[\quote] Did I miss something? A spell was cast when?

[LoyalLiar]

2262703

It wasn't actually 'shown', but I had hoped one could infer that his being alive again was the result of magic, rather than... I don't even know, luck?

[Night Sky]

2262974 actually... I was thinking luck.

[LoyalLiar]

2263083

He took a deep breath, and then looked from Crack to Flag, before returning his singular gaze to Rainbow. "Yeah, okay. I lied. Rainbow, I'm in the same boat as you. Different Princess, but the same idea."

-Chapter 4

Took me a bit to remember where Reckoning actually outright said it, and admittedly he's beating around the bush here because of Scootaloo's presence, but that's the text you're looking for.

[Night Sky]

2263227 Ah. The Princesses love Necromancy, apparently. Also, couldn't Celly have just brought Lulu back from the dead?

[LoyalLiar]

2263290

I'm not going to go dig up the quote at this point, but no. Which is to say: yes, she could. But because Luna is 80,000, and would no longer be 'immortal', she would then immediately go back to being dead because her body would be nonfunctional.

In theory, Celestia could raise her as a zombie or something, but I really hope it's clear why that isn't a solution.

[AsiagoUnicorn]

Just re-read this chapter, and knowing the bit about the boars from the RPG thread I only have one thing to say. You are devious, and I would never want to be on the receiving end of an evil plot made by you.

[LoyalLiar]

2443344

Is it bad that I'm not sure which plot you're alluding to, since there's so many being prodded at in Chapter 8?

Don't answer that!

[arancaytar]

2263344

"Your princess enjoys this 'brains'!"

[SolidFire]

This chapter had a lot of stuff happen in it. The 'contractor' is interesting, and I'm incredibly curious about who it is. I've got my own ideas, and I think it very well could be correct. Third Brother, On, please be safe. I hope the Night Guard manage to catch Masquerade, or at least scare her shitless. I don't know why everypony is so creeped out or just against the bat-ponies/thestrals. I love them, especially those little tufts at the ends of their ears. Rainbow x Reckoning is OTP now! Too bad he'll end up dead, because he escaped the chopping block last story, and you won't let Dash have a happy ending. Onward I read!

~SolidFire

[FancyFan]

Soldier On shook her head. "They are soldiers, and they are the enemy. What difference does their race make?"

Yeash really? That's cold. Probably unhealthily so.

But I already told you I wouldn't be... Red Ink

Even if Red has done worse things in his past than Soldier On, I think he's grown past them. On, on the other hand, seems to be completely incapable of letting things go.
Celestia's insistence on Steel Lining being dead baffles me. She has to know hes not in the Summer Lands or Tartarus. The only thing I can think of is that she is sure the boars would kill him, and that she did the same thing she did to Rainbow at one point, so him dying without her undoing it makes his soul lost forever.

That, and it was my understanding that you had experience playing his role.

That is going to be important.

Hmmm. The first appearance of the pony behind everything. He's an interesting fellow.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Okay I think all these near godlike leaders need a freaking time out and grown up lessons. How can you be millenium old and be this stupid?

and the contractor? He is insane incredibly insane. He reminds me of this guy

But at least M Bison made more sense then this guy