The history of Equestria can be split into five ages. However, most of those ages are completely unimportant with the exception of two. The fourth age, or the Age of Enlightenment, where the princesses Celestia and Luna ruled the land in peace and harmony. And the fifth age, the one where this story takes place. Officially, it was known as the Age of the Everlasting Sun. But to those who saw it differently, it was known by a different name: the Age of the Tyrant. This was when Celestia, the lone ruler, entered a reclusive state. This allowed her tyrannical lords to take control of her kingdom. Celestia, however, remained a figurehead, causing all blame to be centered on her. So, when her lords took her subjects' money and used it to make Canterlot a metropolis of wealth, causing the land outside of Canterlot to be overcome with poverty and turned into slums, she was blamed for it, and earned the name, "The Tyrant."
But sometimes, when a tyrant takes control, there are those who will stand against her. In this case, it was Princess Luna. When she returned, she saw how the ponies she had ruled over were suffering under her sister's rule, or lack thereof. However, when confronted, Celestia refused to admit she was no longer in control, causing her sister to leave and form the New Lunar Republic, her small but loyal and ever-growing army dedicated to freeing Equestria. Celestia, for the sake of conceptual symmetry, renamed her side the Solar Empire. Both sides clashed, with the Republic fighting the losing fight. But they never gave up, and eventually made their comeback.
But with her lords in control, something clicked inside of Celestia. She knew that if she tried to leave the empire, her lords would kill every pony loyal to her. So, instead of leaving, she formed her own personal army, Celestia's Army, out of Imperial soldiers who were loyal to her. But though the army existed, two things never changed. Celestia's strange obsession stopped the Army from fighting the Empire. And, since the army was top secret, she was still blamed for the actions of the lords.
The Republic eventually came up with an idea. That idea was to convince the Elements of Harmony, who remained loyal to Celestia, to join their side. And if that wasn't impossible enough, they would still have to overcome the Empire's massive army. But, as it turned out, those problems could be solved hand in hand.
But how they were solved begins in Canterlot, the capital of the Solar Empire.
*****************************
Sometimes when Celestia looked out her window at the city of Canterlot she couldn't believe what she was looking at. The fact that her city, once so small, had turned into a large metropolis in only five years was crazy. The fact that in that time ponies had invented guns, airships, holograms, machines that played videos, and other high-level things was even crazier. It was hard sometimes to think about how much had changed.
And whenever she felt overwhelmed with change, she tried to think of something that had stayed the same, but she couldn't. Even her relationship with her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, had changed. Though she still wrote her letters, they weren't about friendship, just information, reports on what was happening. It saddened her to not see a letter that began with "Today I learned " in years, especially after they had become so familiar. But Celestia understood that it had become hard for Twilight to think about learning lessons in friendship after her friend Applejack's disappearance, as she thought that learning new ones would be a disservice to Applejack's memory.
The princess paused when she thought of Applejack. Her disappearance was one of the worst things to happen to Twilight. For weeks, nopony saw her, and when they did, she wasn't the same. Her student had become withdrawn, and barely talked to anyone outside her friends.
She stared out the window at Twilight leaving through the castle garden. Oh Twilight, She thought remorsefully. If only I could help you. The only thing she could do was have Twilight come to Canterlot every week, because she knew that nopony should leave a depressed genius alone to her own devices, since there is no telling what she might do.
She turned away, wanting to change what she was thinking of, and let her thoughts turn one last time towards Twilight. She remembered Twilight saying something about how amazing the technology in the airships were.
Celestia smiled. "Twilight, you have no idea." She walked through her door, down a hallway, and passed through a guarded door that led to a room with only a large screen.
At least, if you looked at it, and failed to notice the strange computer chips on the desk in front of it. These chips contained Celestia's personal project: Artificial Intelligences, or AIs. These were more than the AIs that ran programs. These were able to attach to a pony, giving them super pony capabilities, and could present themselves as a pony shaped hologram when needed.
Celestia grabbed them with her magic and placed them in a briefcase, which she handed to the guard outside to take away. She had to make sure that they got out of there fast.
She sat down in a chair and was about to turn the screen on when another guard walked in.
"Ma'am, the prisoner's awake."
********************************
The walk through the Canterlot garden was always hard for Twilight. It always reminded her of all those times she had come here with her friends, all five of them. She sighed as she looked at the palace labyrinth, where the six of them had gone in an attempt to stop Discord all those years ago. Even though it had been horrible, it was enough to remember those times they had spent together.
But no matter how sad it was to look at, it was better than looking up. Massive buildings rose up into the clouds, with airships both colossal and small flying around or in between. All this change. It was sometimes hard to believe. And it made Twilight even sadder. Just the thought of Applejack or anypony else she'd lost encountering an airship was so happy it made her cry. None of those thoughts could ever come true.
So she never looked up. It was always looking at what they did together, not what they could have done.
"Well, well, well. Look who it is!"
Twilight groaned as a white unicorn with a black mane walked up to her. "What do you want, Lord Silver Scroll?"
The unicorn smiled. "Please, call me Damien. And I prefer General, it has a nicer ring to it. I feel like we've been over this."
Every time I've come here and you've hit on me, Thought Twilight. "What do you want?"
"I just want to continue our conversation from where we left off."
"Do you mean the part where you asked me to come to your house, or the part where I said no?"
Damien smiled that same, annoying smile. "I just think that you didn't think it through all the way."
"I did, that's why I said no."
"That's why I know you haven't thought it through. All I'm suggesting is a little meeting..."
"No."
"...Maybe at a restaurant..."
"No."
"...Maybe your place..."
"Nope."
"...Maybe mine..."
"Never in your life."
"...It doesn't have to go anywhere.."
"Because it won't happen."
"...But it probably will..."
"Why are you saying that like it's predetermined?"
"...And then you don't have to do it again, ever, if you don't want to."
"I'm not falling for that again!"
"What do you mean?"
"You said that a while ago, so I went out with you, and you came back again the next day asking again."
"Well, come on, I mean, we only had dinner, that wasn't the full deal."
"And you wonder why I turn you down."
Damien started to get annoyed. He'd give her one last chance to do it willingly. "I'm just trying to make sure you don't do something, or rather don't not do something, you'll regret."
"That's why I'm saying no, why in the hell can't you understand that?"
Damien was done being a nice guy. "Now listen, I'm through with letting you choose. I'm a general, I have authority, I can just give you an ultimatum: You come with me, or I accuse you of treason. Even if you're the princess's protégée, if a general accuses you of that, the princess will have to believe me over you."
"Is that so? I wasn't aware of that."
Twilight brightened. Damien froze. A black Pegasus, clad in body armor except for a helmet, which revealed his blue mane, trotted over to them. "But I think you've forgotten that the princess values her student far more than a general. She's been with the princess far longer than you have, so I'm pretty sure she'd listen to Twilight, not you. Second, even if you try to go through with that plan, there's always the chance that somepony, say the commander of the army, could come forward and say that he overheard your plan to accuse her of treason, which he has, and get you convicted instead."
Damien was scared on the edge of pleading for mercy. "You wouldn't do that Cassius!"
Cassius smiled. "Look at you, one moment thinking you're in charge, the next you're groveling at my feet. No, I wouldn't do that. But if you keep on stalking her, then maybe, just maybe, some more ponies might hear about what you said today."
Damien ran off. Cassius walked over to Twilight and bowed his head. "May I escort you to the train?"
"You don't have to do that, I'm fine."
"Would you rather me walk with you to the train, or deal with Damien coming back by yourself?"
Twilight only considered this for a moment. She followed Cassius through the garden.
Once they left, Twilight decided to ask her companion what was on her mind. "How did you know what was going on?"
"I've been seeing you two out there for a while. At first I thought it was harmless, but after a while I got an idea of what was going on and decided to put a stop to it. In all honesty, ever since he became a general, he's started thinking he runs everything. To put it even simpler, he's become a dick."
He looked at her, hoping to see her react like she used to whenever he said something like that. When she did nothing, he was worried. First she had said hell, the first time he knew of in his life, and then she didn't slap him for saying something like dick. She had changed, and he was worried about it. The worst part was that he knew that right now he could do nothing to help, only smile and pretend everything was normal. It was decided. After she left, he'd try to find a way to help her out.
But for now there was something else he wanted to know. "Why has he been hitting on you if you keep saying no?"
Twilight shrugged. "I don't know. One day he just walks up to me asks me out, I say no and don't think much of it, and he just kept coming back. You know him more than me, do you have an idea?"
"One idea. The guy's persistent and is used to getting what he wants. Guess he saw you one day, liked what he saw, and wanted it. Been wanting it ever since I guess. And, being rich and all, doesn't want to compromise."
They reached the train station. Twilight showed her pass to the conductor, who let her on. Before she got on, she turned to Cassius. "Thanks, for what you did today."
"Any time. Will you be back next week?"
"Always am." She turned to get on. "Oh, and Cassius."
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad I can call you my friend."
Cassius saluted. "Pleasure's all mine."
The train moved away towards Ponyville.
***********************************
"Now's your last chance! Why are you here and what do you know?"
Celestia was growing impatient. Hours later and the green Pegasus still hadn't said a thing she wanted to hear. All she did was stare at her. Not a stare of fear, a stare of boredom. That outraged the princess, somepony high and mighty enough to act bored at her own interrogation. And then again, it was possible she wouldn't talk because the guards had tried some interrogating of their own, which ended in them beating up the Pegasus quite brutally. And they didn't stop there. They were with her in the interrogation room right then, ready to continue what they started if she acted up. Like they did a few minutes earlier, when she had suggested that Celestia do some anatomically impossible things to herself.
The Pegasus said nothing.
Celestia got out of her chair. "You asked for it." Her horn glowed with a strange white and black light and she brought it up to the Pegasus's head.
She had cast a memory spell, which would let her look through the Pegasus's mind and find what she wanted to know.
The Pegasus did nothing.
Celestia soon learned why. When she touched her horn to the spy's head, she immediately recoiled. Somepony had cast a protection spell on her, and the princess had a good idea who.
"Damn it, Luna!."
The guards stared at her in shock. They had never heard their princess say anything like that.
The Pegasus smiled.
Celestia scowled at her. "You're lucky Luna thought you're important enough to cast a protection spell on you. Guards! Take her away."
The Pegasus just looked back at her, smiling. "Before I go, one last thing," she said before she spat a wad of bloody spit in front of Celestia. The guards ran up and forcefully pulled her back to her cell.
Celestia was shaken. Her powerful magic, her last resort, stopped, by her sister no less.
But since that was done, she could return to what she was doing. She left the dungeon, returned to her private viewing room, and sat down.
"Program," she said aloud. "Play File 1."
"Ma'am," a robotic voice intoned out of nowhere. "You've watched this file precisely 3,568 times. What is the purpose to watch it any more.?"
"Just play it again program. I just need to watch this. I have to find a way, a way to do it right this time."
The video played.
******************************
Outside the town of Ponyville, two ponies stood in the rain outside a long-abandoned clubhouse. One was a blue Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane, the other a white unicorn with a violet mane. The three fillies that had called that clubhouse theirs were long gone.
The past five years had been a tragedy for Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Scootaloo, who Rainbow Dash had become like a sister to, had joined the New Lunar Republic with princess Luna. Nopony had heard from her since. Sweetie Belle had been caught in a Republic bombing. There were no survivors.
The only thing left of them was their old clubhouse. In front of it, Rarity and Rainbow had scattered old pictures of Sweetie and Scootaloo, along with any pictures they could find of the Apple family, since Apple Bloom and the rest of her family had disappeared along with Applejack.
Rarity broke down crying. She stuck her head into her friend's back, and Rainbow comforted her with her wing. Even though Rainbow rarely cried, this was one of the times where she almost did. She looked over to her left, where she felt somepony should be. Applejack should be here, thought Rainbow. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo each had a pony there to remember them. Apple Bloom had nopony to remember her.
Rarity straightened up and wiped away her tears. "All right darling, we're done here. Let's go back."
Rainbow looked up. "You go ahead. I have to check something."
"What's wrong?"
"I had Lightning Flash cover for me on weather duty. It's not supposed to rain today, and I need to find out why it is."
Rarity sighed. "I'm sure everything's fine. But nonetheless, good luck darling. I'll see you tomorrow." And with that, she left.
Rainbow flew towards Cloudsdale, knowing that if she wanted to find Lightning Flash, her best bet was to go there. Luckily, she found him on the ground outside the city. But when she approached him, he did nothing. He just stared at the sky.
"Hey, Lightning."
He stared straight on.
"How's my favorite replacement? Lightning?"
No answer.
"Lightning, seriously. This staring shit's starting to creep me out. What's going on."
Lightning said nothing. Instead, he lifted his hoof and pointed at something. Rainbow followed his hoof and stared.
Flying southbound above them was possibly every Pegasus in Cloudsdale. But behind them was what shocked Rainbow and Lightning Flash. Behind the Pegasi was Cloudsdale, on fire. A fire not even the rain could put out. Most of the clouds that made up the city were already gone, and what wasn't destroyed was on fire. And leaving the city was a massive airship, presumably what caused the fire. It sailed away, as if it wasn't leaving a disaster and just calmly sailing around. It had to be from the Republic, no matter how improbable it was that it could be there.
For the first time she remembered in recent memory, Rainbow Dash broke down on the ground and cried. She looked up, tears in her eyes, to look for Lightning Flash, but couldn't find him. He was gone, he must've went south with the rest of the Pegasi.
Rainbow shot up. South! That was where the Republic was. All the Pegasi were headed straight for the enemy that almost killed them. "Wait, Stop! You're going the wrong way!" she shouted, and looked up. They were gone. Every last one of them.
Rainbow couldn't believe it. They had all gone, every last one of them, to their enemy, who would most likely kill them too. And then there was her. Wet, cold, scared, and alone. And all she could do was cry, cry tears that were lost in the rain. She walked back to Ponyville, hoping her friends could at least try to help her.
Behind her, the city of Cloudsdale fell from the sky.
****************************************
A week after the destruction of Cloudsdale, a meeting was put together to deal with the aftermath. But not by the Empire. This meeting occurred miles away to the south, in a massive citadel built in the middle of the Macintosh Hills. It was held by the New Lunar Republic, which also had other business to discuss.
It was in a small, half-circle shaped room. Around the middle sat ponies of importance: generals, admirals, ship captains, and such. In the center stood their leader, Princess Luna, addressing them. Behind her sat a red unicorn with a white fedora over his blue mane. He was currently levitating a bottle of hard cider towards himself, not paying attention to what Luna was saying.
"Commander?" Luna asked the unicorn.
" Huh-What?" asked the unicorn, who was just then realizing where he was.
"We were talking about the refugees from Cloudsdale, and since you've become close with their leader, we thought you could add some more to the conversation," Luna replied calmly. Several of the other ponies chuckled.
"Oh yeah, um, those ponies," he said uncertainly. "Well, their, um, leader, Spitfire, yeah that's her name, she's, um, a good pony, yeah good pony, and, um, yeah."
The ponies on the outside snickered. Better lay off the cider, several of them thought silently.
Luna looked at him and sighed. "Blaze, what are you drinking?"
The unicorn looked at his bottle. "Um, cider."
Luna pulled a bottle of Whiskey out of nowhere and levitated it to him. "Drink this. You know you get nervous in crowds when you don't drink enough." Blaze happily accepted the drink and drank it.
He stood up. "All right you effeminate screw heads, listen up! I'm talking, so you'd damn well better listen! This "Spitfire" pony is a good pony. All she wants us to know is that she's extremely thankful to us for taking in her and her refugees and she's willing to help us with whatever we need to fight the Empire. That's all she told me, so that's all you damn well need to know for now."
He sat down amidst the shocked stares of the others. As he went to take another sip, Luna lifted the bottle out of his magic.
"Blaze you've had all you need for now. Calm down and find your middle ground. Well then, on to the next order of business. Mist. It's been a week since we sent Ambassador Smooth Talker to Celestia to get Mist freed. We still haven't gotten her back."
A grey earth pony in the back stood up. "What do you suggest we do? I went and talked to her, she promised Mist's freedom, she still hasn't done it. There's nothing negotiating can do if she's not willing to keep her end of the bargain."
"Actually Ambassador, that's what I want you to do. You're going to negotiate again, but this time, you're going to be staying there longer."
"How long?"
"As long as Blaze wants."
"Why me?" asked Blaze, who, after a drawn out discussion with himself, had been convinced that he had found his middle ground.
"Because negotiating is going to just be you and the Ambassador's cover. You will conduct our back-up plan while the Ambassador draws out negotiations for however long you need to pull it off."
"Which back-up plan are you talking about?"
"The one that involves convincing Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her friends to join our side."
The ponies in the room grew silent as they stared at Princess Luna. Finally, Smooth Talker spoke up. "How do you expect us to convince them of that? And what makes you think that he'd be able to do it. I'm the Ambassador. Why not me?"
Luna turned toward him. "I don't expect them to do anything. I only see a chance, which I intend to make the most of. And as for Blaze, I believe that he could convince them better than you could. I have my reasons, but I'm 100% sure. Blaze, what do you think?"
Blaze thought for a moment. "I think I might be able to."
"Excellent. Any objections?" Nopony objected. "So be it. Meeting's over."
The room emptied of ponies until only Blaze, Luna, and the Ambassador remained.
Luna turned to the Ambassador. "You two leave tomorrow. I'll have a small airship able to carry seven of you and a pilot ready by then. You know what to do, and I'll brief Blaze on his part." Smooth Talker nodded and left the room.
Blaze turned to the Princess. "You really think I can do it?"
She smiled. "I know from experience you can convince mares to do a lot of things. But in case you need some help -" she pulled out a folder "- this folder has plenty of information on Twilight and her friends."
Blaze quickly looked in the folder. "I'll look at this. I might need to have some things set up to help me convince them."
"Tell me what you'll need and I'll get it."
"I'll let you know when I figure it out. But I'll be spending all night with this, meaning we can't spend any time together until right before I leave."
"What do you mean by that?"
Blaze moved forward and kissed her on the lips. After a minute, he pulled away. "That means that that was the only thing we can do before I get back, which is why I let it last a while. It'll probably be pretty hard to live without those kinds of things."
"Won't be so hard, I've waited longer for less."
"Not for you, for me. It'll be like Hell, except worse, because I'll be stuck with Smooth Talker." Blaze looked petrified.
Luna laughed.
"Oh, and Luna, one last thing."
"What?"
"How fancy do I have to dress? This fedora fancy, or my normal random stuff?"
"Nopony would really care, but the random stuff would attract more attention."
"That's a risk I'll be willing to take."
Luna sighed. "Just like you. I'll see you in the morning."
Blaze wandered down the maze of halls until he reached a familiar door. He opened it and walked into his bedroom. He walked over to the dresser.
"How goes it, Franklin?" he asked something on the dresser. Whatever Franklin was, he didn't answer.
Blaze lifted the fedora off of his head and looked around the dresser. After about a minute, he finally found what he was looking for. He stepped in front of his mirror as he placed the red fez on his head.
"Perfect."
"You sure you can do this?" Smooth Talker asked Blaze.
The two of them were alone in the back of their transport. It was a small, sleek ship, with four seats on either side and a cockpit in the front. It was moderately high tech: instead of being held up by balloons, it had a small Charm engine to power it and a set of wings for gliding. In front sat an orange Pegasus, too focused on the sky to pay attention to his occupants.
Blaze nodded. "It'll definitely be hard, maybe near impossible, but I'll give it a shot."
"It's just nerve-wracking Blaze. I mean, what if one of them tells the princess that you're trying to get them to betray her?"
"Then the plan fails, both of us get sent to Tartarus, and we'll have to hope the Republic can last without us. See, Smoothie, it helps if you don't think about those kinds of things."
Smooth seethed with anger. "Don't call me Smoothie. Ambassador, Smooth Talker, Smooth if you must, but not Smoothie."
Blaze grinned. "Sorry Smooth, I'm just trying to get relaxed. Doing something this hard and putting up an "I don't care" act is a lot more stressful than it seems." He turned to the pilot. "How long until we land?"
The Pilot turned back, grinning. "Funny you should ask that."
The transport landed down in Canterlot garden. When it's back door opened, there were several royal guards waiting for them.
"What will you do Blaze?"
Blaze turned to the Ambassador. "I might as well start with Twilight Sparkle. The file says she's the princess's student, so there's a good chance she'll be around here."
Smooth looked at Blaze. "All right then, I'll see you when I see you. Just make sure that when you finish, I'm the first pony you let know." The ambassador left with the guards.
Blaze turned back to the pilot. "All right then. Get this ship somewhere safe. When we're ready I'll notify you with this." He lifted up his hoof, revealing the screen strapped to it. "Thanks for the ride by the way."
The pilot nodded. The ship took off and flew out over the towering buildings of the city.
Blaze looked around at the garden now that the guards had left. Nice place, he thought. Twilight Sparkle can wait. Right now, there are more important things to do. Blaze walked through the garden until he found a bench. He laid down on it and closed his eyes.
******************************************
Inside the castle, Celestia's student was finishing her report when a guard came in.
"Princess, the Ambassador is here."
Celestia turned to her student. "I'm sorry Twilight, but I guess that's all the time we have for now. It's been great seeing you, and as always, I'll see you next week."
"Are you sure, Princess? Maybe you can let him wait a little more."
Celestia sighed. "I'm sorry Twilight, but the two of us have important matters to discuss. It pains me to end these meetings early, but sometimes, I have to."
Twilight nodded and left the room. As she walked through the halls, a guard spotted her and trotted farther into the castle to notify Cassius. Cassius was in Ponyville, so in his absence he had set up a system to know when she left so he could send a pony to escort her to the train. Though Twilight insisted she didn't need it, she would rather have guards with her than the chance of Damien stalking her.
When she got to the garden, she looked for a place to sit while she waited for the guard. Somewhere it would be unlikely for Damien to find her first. When she got deep enough into the garden that she felt comfortable, she sat down on the first bench she found, an uncharacteristically uncomfortable one.
"You know, nothing against you and all, but you could at least look before you sit," said a voice from below her.
Twilight sprang up, nearly flying, off of the bench, She turned around to see a red unicorn, groggily rubbing his eyes. "Sir, I'm so sor-"
"Gah! Where is it?" shouted the unicorn. He looked around the bench in a panic. "Ah ha, there it is." He turned around, levitating a red fez onto his blue mane.
"Sorry about that. Now, how can I help you?" He turned to face her. Twilight felt a strange feeling come over her and noticed he was moving his eyes up and down.
Twilight was horrified. "ARE YOU CHECKING ME OUT?" she shouted.
The pony smiled. "My apologies, force of habit. I'm Blaze, assistant to the Ambassador of the New Lunar Republic. Now, who do I have the displeasure of accidentally insulting?" He held out his hoof as if expecting a shake.
Twilight didn't know what to do about this strange unicorn. On one hoof, he had just checked her out. On the other, he seemed nice enough, and didn't act like he had done it intentionally. She decided, at least for the time being, to trust him. She bumped his hoof. "Twilight Sparkle."
Blaze's eyebrows raised. "Huh, no kidding. So I fall asleep on a random bench and the pony that sits on me is the one I'm looking for. Talk about luck and deja vu. Hold on a second, let me get the speech out." He held up the screen attached to his leg and pressed it a couple of times. Eventually, words appeared on the screen.
"Uh hem. Greetings, Twilight Sparkle. I, Blaze, am here on behalf of Princess Luna of the New Lunar Republic to convince you to join our side. I extend to you this offer, and a hearty hoof shake, in hopes that you will accept and join us to fight the Solar Empire. It's a chance for excitement, adventure, and really wild things. What do you say?" He put down the screen and looked to Twilight.
An answer came quickly to her. "Are you for real? Would you actually expect me to betray my mentor, give up my home, and leave my friends just become some random pony I've never heard of shows up and asks me to? Why would I ever do that?"
She expected him to back off or al least get a little mad. Instead, he remained perfectly calm. "If it's your friends you're worried about, I'm going to ask them anyway."
"Oh, and what makes you think any of us would do that? We're all loyal to the princess, none of us would ever betray her."
"Yes, but are you loyal to the Empire? Look, I think we'd both be a lot more comfortable somewhere you want to be."
"Why would I do that when I can tell you No here with less effort?"
A voice echoed through the garden. "Twilight, is that you? We have to continue where we left off." It was Damien.
Damien turned the corner and saw Twilight. "Oh good, it is you. I didn't want to keep wandering around. After our talk last week, I decided I was a little to hasty to get mad at you. I mean, I never even told you all of the benefits of being with me. Number one: Being with me. Number t- " Damien stopped when he got closer and saw Blaze. His jaw closed and opened repeatedly. "Bl-Bl-Blaze!" He stuttered.
Blaze took a step forward. "Hello! And who might you be?"
Damien let out a screech like a filly and took off through the garden. "BLAZE IS HERE! BLAZE IS HERE!" he shouted. "HELP! HE"S GOT TWILIGHT! HELP!"
Blaze turned to Twilight. "So where would you like to go? I think your library would be good enough."
Twilight sighed. She might as well go with him. Anywhere was better than here with Damien running around. "That's an idea, but I can't teleport that far in one go. That's why I take a train."
"And I can't teleport for Jack shit, but there is something I can do." he stepped forward, his horn glowing with orange-red energy and touched Twilight's horn.
"What are you doing?"
"It's magic transfer, transferring some of my energy to you for a temporary boost. Try teleporting to your library with me."
Blaze was right. Twilight felt large amounts of magic flowing through her veins. It was like she had the magical powers of two unicorns. She felt like she could do anything. She thought of her library and closed her eyes. She was enveloped in an aura made up of purple, red, and orange. When she opened her eyes, she and Blaze were standing in her library. Quickly, she felt the energy fade, and she and Blaze collapsed onto the floor.
"Woo," said a worn out Blaze. "Magic transfer always wears me out. Got any alcohol or coffee or anything?"
"There's some coffee in the kitchen. Could you get me some too?"
"Sure thing!" Blaze walked towards the kitchen as a thought came to him. "But before I forget, who was that pony back there?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "That's Lord/General Damien Silver Scroll, the biggest prick I've ever met."
Blaze chuckled. "The legendary asshole-in-chief, as we call him. Smooth Talker has a ton of stories about him, all bad."
Twilight finally got her head straight. "So that's magic transfer. I've read about it, but I've never seen it done. It's supposed to be high level magic, how do you know it?"
Blaze came back in with the coffee in his aura. "Well, most of my noncombat magic, like my teleporting, was always crappy. But I wanted to help other ponies with those kinds of things, so I asked Luna for help. It took months to realize there was nothing I could do, but I was persistent enough that Luna decided to teach me magic transfer instead."
Twilight looked up at him big-eyed. "Could you teach me?" she pleaded.
Blaze let out a chuckle. "I could, but we're not on the same side." Twilight's eyes drooped now that her hopes of learning new magic had vanished. "Speaking of which, we have business to discuss." Before Twilight could say anything else, a movement outside caught Blaze's eye. He trotted over to the window and Twilight followed. His gaze was focused on a mint green unicorn and a pony with a pink and purple mane. "Oh, seeing them reminds me of the good old days."
"You know Lyra and Bon-Bon?"
"Oh yeah! We got along great, well, me and Lyra anyway. The crazy shit we got ourselves into, and every time Bon-Bon would have to bail us out and yell at me for hours." He smiled at the thought.
"Why don't you go out and see them?"
"Not a bad idea, but at the same time, a pretty bad idea. I'm part of the rebellion, and they're high up enough in the imperial army to be basically required to kill me on sight."
"Them, high up in the army? A musician and a confectionist!" Twilight laughed.
Blaze was done talking about his old friends. "Let me just say this. I know them in a far different way than you. I know what they're really like, and trust me, they're a lot more dangerous than you'd think. Now, where was I?"
Twilight filed away Blaze's opinions of Lyra and Bon-Bon for later. "You said something about trusting the Empire."
"Seems right. So you say you're loyal to the Princess. But what if I said that Celestia's only a figurehead now, and that the her lords are actually the ones in control?"
"I wouldn't believe you."
"That's understandable. But when you think about it, who seems more likely to destroy Cloudsdale just to enrage their ponies enough to want war: Celestia or her lords?"
"Whoa whoa whoa! What do you mean by destroying Cloudsdale? The Republic did that."
"The Republic doesn't endanger civilians. And, more important than that right now, how could a Republic airship get all the way from the Macintosh Hills to Cloudsdale, especially one of that size, without any pony noticing and raising the alarm?"
Twilight was shocked. It made so much sense. Why didn't any pony think about it? "But, but that's impossible. The Princess wouldn't let that happen."
Blaze sighed. "I just said she's not in charge anymore. She's a figurehead, but whatever she says still goes. But the thing is, she doesn't say anything. She formed her own secret army, Celestia's Army, with ponies like Bon-Bon and Lyra, to fight against her lords, but she still won't fight. You know why she does that?" Blaze leaned closer. Twilight leaned in to hear his whisper. "She's too obsessed with something to fight back."
"What could she be doing that would stop her from doing anything?"
"I don't know. No pony knows. No pony can ever get close enough to know everything she does, let alone every strange thing she does."
"Strange" stuck in Twilight's head, trying to connect something from earlier that had made her think the same thing. Something with Celestia. Something before her meeting
"The video!" she burst out saying.
"What video?"
"This video she has. I once walked in on her watching it, but all I heard was a colt saying something about some pony seeing him again before she stopped it. She's been watching it before most of our meetings. I even heard her program that runs it saying something about watching it 3000 times. Does that seem obsessed to you?"
Blaze put his chin in his hoof. "It's an idea. Those are always good to have. Plus, it's better than anything we've got."
Blaze stood up. "Thanks for the coffee, the info, and the talk. It's always nice to talk to some pony who isn't overly formal to me or just insults me. But I need to have an answer."
Twilight was nervous. She couldn't decide. She had known the princess her whole life, but what Blaze said made sense. "I don't know."
"Let me add some things. If you join us but regret it, we will return you here if you wish. Second, our goal isn't to kill or harm the princess in any way. We have no problem with her, just the lords. And why we're curious about the obsession is because if we can overcome it she can help us. And if you still don't know because you think Celestia's still in charge, I want you to do something. In the castle's dungeon is a pony named Mist. A week ago the Ambassador came here to negotiate her freedom. A deal was made, but Mist is still there. If you still have doubts, find Mist. That should be enough for you to make your choice."
"How long do I have to decide?"
"If you want to find Mist, I suggest doing it fast. But your actual choice, you have until I convince the rest of your friends. In other words, it can be any time."
Twilight paused. "Alright, I'll find Mist. And when I do, I'll make my decision. How will I find you?"
"I'll find you."
Twilight sighed. Thinking about betrayal felt worse than actually doing it. "I never thought I'd be doing something like this. And now that I'm going to, It really makes me regret some things the princess and I did. Thinking of those things make me think that I'm betraying her, even If you're saying i'm not."
"What kinds of things?"
Twilight leaned forward and whispered something in Blaze's ear. His eyes went wide in amazement.
"You fucked the Princess!" he shouted, smiling.
Twilight blushed. "When you word it that way it makes me feel like you're insulting me."
"Far from it. If anything, this gives me a lot more respect for you. We're a lot more alike than you think."
"Great way to make me not regret telling you. Can we drop the conversation?"
"You're the boss. Any thing else before I go?"
"I think that's it." A feeling of realization overcame her. "Cassius! I completely forgot about him! He must be worried about me!"
As if Twilight's call summoned him, Cassius stormed in through the door. "Twilight, how'd you get here so fast. Damien said he saw you with a strange pony and I got wor- " he paused. He saw Blaze. "Blaze?"
Blaze's eyes lit up with recognition. "Cassius!"
The two ponies ran towards each other, bumping their hooves together when they met.
"You know each other?" explain Twilight.
"Oh yeah, me and Cass go way back, We trained together in military school and were closer than brothers ever since. Well, until I left the army."
"It's great to see you again Blaze!" exclaimed Cassius. "But I didn't exactly just show up. I waited outside and heard what you were talking about. What's this about Twilight joining the Republic?"
"Umm, well, you see, um...," began Twilight.
"It's alright, I trust Cass. I'm offering Twilight and her friends a chance to join the Republic."
"And what'd she say?"
"She's still deciding."
"Hmm, well, may I put in my opinion?"
"You may."
Cassius turned to Twilight. "Well then, there's not much I can say, other than good luck with whatever you choose. I hope you end up choosing the path that's right for you."
"Wait a minute," replied Twilight. "You're the leader of the Empire's army and you'll let me leave and join the enemy just like that?"
"Twilight, I'm going to be honest with you. I've treated you like a daughter. And when I started to, I knew that eventually you'd grow up and leave. And I promised myself that I wouldn't stop you."
Twilight was overcome with emotion. "I don't know what to say."
"Then don't say anything. Knowing you was more than enough. And I hope that the next time we meet, it won't be as enemies." He turned to Blaze. "As for you, you'd better watch out for her, because If you don't, then I'll find you, and trust me, you'll be in trouble. Secondly, I told myself that I'd help Twilight. Years ago, If you had said some of what you had said to her before I came in, she would have slapped you at the very least. She's changed Blaze, and if I can't help her, then I want you to. If she goes with you, can I trust you on this?" He held out his hoof.
Blaze bumped it. "Always, old friend. I hope to see you again someday." Cassius left without another word.
Twilight looked surprised. "He said something so personal like that, and he says nothing more about it. It feels a little like he didn't mean it. Like he just wanted to say something."
"Not at all. I know him. Cass is the kind of pony that will say what he has to say, and then think nothing of it. And from my experience, he's only been that emotional twice. And those were very emotional times."
Twilight thought about that. He was right. Even though Cassius barely shed a tear, she'd never seen him be that emotional in all the time she'd known him. "You're right. It's just I'm used to ponies showing more emotion with things like that. But with Cassius, he's always straight-faced when he shows emotion."
"Don't take it personal. I knew him for years, and it took me a year to realize that he knew how to laugh. It's been fun and all, but I should hurry, since Smooth Talker's probably almost bored your princess to death already. And Twilight, before I leave, do you know where I can find Rainbow Dash?"
Twilight shrugged. "She'll probably be on a cloud somewhere around town but I'd be careful, she'll be the hardest one to convince."
Blaze grinned. "Which is why I'm starting with her. Hopefully, I can overcome the hardest challenge first and then talk to the others. I'll be back soon for your decision, hopefully with the rest of your friends on my side."
Twilight watched as Blaze left, and a thought struck her. She had told him everything! What she and the Princess did, the Princess's video. What was it about him that made her trust him like that?
*********************************************************
"No. Fucking. Way."
Blaze wasn't too surprised. From his experience, long speeches, like the one Smooth Talker suggested he use to convince Rainbow Dash, worked about as much as a crack suicide squad. The only thing it managed to do was save him time explaining Celestia's Army and all that boring stuff. "Are you sure?"
"Hell yeah! After what I saw you guys to do Cloudsdale, what makes you think I'd trust you? I'm still loyal to the Princess. I'd never go with you."
"What about Twilight?"
"I don't know why she would go. And even if she does, there's still hope can convince her not to."
"So, you don't want to go because of Cloudsdale, even though I told you we had nothing to do with it, and your loyalty to the Princess. Then may I ask why are you loyal to her."
"She's the Princess!"
"Blind loyalty isn't a good thing. You have to have an actual reason for loyalty. And if you're loyal to her just because, then why would you be loyal to an empire she wants to fight, instead of a neutral side."
Rainbow wasn't a pony who thought a lot. She believed that anything that made sense when she first heard it, or was common sense, was more important than something you needed to think about to figure out. What Blaze had just said made sense to her, but she still had one more thing to say. "That made sense, but still, after Cloudsdale, no way."
Blaze lifted the screen off of his leg. "I'm done here, it's their turn. Return this to me after they're done and give me your decision. I'll be at the Carousel Boutique."
"Hey, wait! What do you mean by 'they'?" But Blaze was gone.
Rainbow stared at where he had gone until a voice from the screen startled her. "You there, Dash?"
Rainbow looked at the screen and was surprised to see a familiar, gold-yellow Pegasus looking back at her. "Spitfire? Where are you?"
"With the Republic. They took us in after the Empire destroyed Cloudsdale."
"Let me talk to her!" whined a white Pegasus. Spitfire shoved him away from the screen.
"Don't mind Soarin'," said Spitfire. "He's just doing this to get on my nerves."
But Rainbow paid no attention to Soarin'. "Back up a minute, okay? Did you say you're with the Republic? You mean the Empire actually destroyed Cloudsdale and everything Blaze said was true?"
"Exactly!"
Rainbow was shocked. "I can't believe it."
"No pony could."
Rainbow uncharacteristically thought for a minute. It couldn't be true. But Spitfire was saying it. Rainbow trusted her. She believed her. "I have to find Blaze."
Spitfire looked hopeful. "You're in?"
"I'm in."
Spitfire almost cheered. "Every pony, she's in!"
There was much rejoicing.
****************************************************
"...So that's it. Twilight and probably Rainbow are in, but what about you?"
Blaze was in a situation he was uncomfortable in. He had been beaten, tortured, stabbed, threatened, shot, forced to write a play for a malevolent dictator and suffer through the scathing reviews, nearly killed, and sworn at, one time all at once. Now, he was knee-deep in enemy territory, a place where he would be killed if he didn't watch his step, and was having a suit made for him against his will.
The unicorn making it didn't seem to notice him struggling with it. She had seen him, and before he could explain why he was there she had taken his measurements and started making a white suit-jacket. She wouldn't let him refuse, saying she felt generous, and ignored his complaints to the point where Blaze just gave his speech.
"Well, darling, that is interesting. But I still won't say anything until you apologize for what you did earlier.
Blaze's hoof went to the bruise around his eye where the pony had hit him. "Sorry. Like I said, force of habit."
Rarity had put on a dress while Blaze wasn't looking, hoping he wouldn't notice. It was a perfectly normal dress, although with a slight modification.
Silently, a red aura lifted a pistol from where it was hidden in rarity's dress and brought it over to Blaze. "You mind if I ask what you were doing with this?"
"You have a very keen eye, darling." Rarity was nervous. So much for hidden guns.
"You know why my checking out mares is a force of habit? When you've been a soldier as long as me, you get into the habit of scanning everything and every pony you come across. I saw the slight bulge in the dress and knew some pony as experienced as you wouldn't leave that in by accident. Why would you have this anyway?"
"For protection."
"From what?"
Rarity searched for an answer and chose the first one to come to her mind. "Haypaches."
Blaze laughed. "Good old fashioned excuse. You've earned yourself a point. Now, why would you want to pull a gun on me?"
Rarity took the opportunity to act. She moved into the center of the room, and in her most dramatic voice, said, "It was my sister Sweetie Belle! She was perfectly innocent, minding her own business, when suddenly -" she gave a long, dramatic pause "- you blew it up. The town she was in, perfectly safe, you blew it up." Rarity was done acting at this point. She ran up to Blaze and started smacking him with her hooves, even if they did nothing to him.
Blaze was unfazed. He calmly put a leg around her for comfort and she took it gratefully, not caring who was comforting her. After a minute she pulled away.
"What town was she in?" asked Blaze.
"What does it matter, it's gone?" sobbed Rarity. After a moment, she added, "North Appleloosa."
Blaze brightened. "Then there's still hope." He saw that Rarity was confused. "The Empire destroyed North Appleloosa, like Cloudsdale, to get a reaction. But the difference between them was that this town was taken prisoner. Somewhere, in some prison, your sister's alive. I know it's not much to go on, but it's a pretty good possibility."
"That can't be possible." Rarity was shocked. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was obvious Blaze was making this up.
"You think I'm lying, right?" Blaze had read her like a book. "Listen to me. Would you rather believe what you've always thought, that your sister's dead, or believe in that chance, no matter how small, that she isn't."
Rarity saw what he was saying. But she had one more thing to ask. "If we find her, can I leave with her?"
"Of course."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Well then, darling, I think we've come to an arrangement."
"I suppose we have. I'll be back when I'm done talking with the others."
He started to take the suit off. Rarity stopped him. "Oh, no keep it. It suits you. But if you want some advice, get rid of that." She pointed at his fez.
Blaze was repulsed. "No way. This hat was a member of the New Lunar Republic far before you. If anything it has the authority to get rid of you." The over the top way he said it made her laugh.
After he left, Rarity thought about what she was doing. Sure, she hated what she was about to do, but the thought of Sweetie Belle being alive was worth it.
***********************************************
The dungeon underneath Canterlot was strangely abandoned. As well as the rest of the castle, which had no guards at all in it. Twilight was worried that they were all waiting for her in the dungeon, or worse, capturing her friends. Even after what Blaze had said about trusting Cassius, she still thought that he could have betrayed them to the Princess.
She put her fears aside as she reached the bottom of the stairs, where Blaze said Mist would be. She set about to looking for the Pegasus.
Fortunately, she was in cell by the stairs, crying on a small, straw bed.
"Mist?" Twilight asked as she approached.
The pony stopped crying and turned towards Twilight, stone-faced.
"Are you Mist?"
The pony said nothing.
"Blaze sent me."
At the mention of his name, Mist perked up. "He knows I'm here! He is coming! I was right all along! He didn't forget me!" She started crying again, this time out of joy.
"I promised I'd come back for you, didn't I? And I keep my promises."
This unexpected voice caused Twilight and Mist to turn around. Mist ran to the wall of her cell and started shaking it. "I knew you'd come Blaze! Can you get me out of here? Please?"
Blaze approached her and stroked her mane with his hoof. "Not yet. But I'll be back later, I promise."
Mist's eyes darkened. "Over two weeks I waited here, for you to rescue me like you promised. Two weeks I hear nothing from you and then you show up just top tell me to wait! Why even show up? Why not just have me wait here until I die, huh? They both do the same thing for me, nothing!"
"We have tried to get you out. Smooth Talker came to negotiate and Celestia didn't hold up her end, so I took matters into my own hooves."
Mist searched his eyes, trying to find any sign of him lying. "You're.. you're telling the truth. You did try."
"And I'll be back later, when I can do more than rescue just you."
She calmed. "Just don't keep me waiting."
"I've already done that enough, old friend." Turning to Twilight, he asked, "So, did you make up your mind?"
Twilight was confused. She was expecting a long story that was actually supposed to convince her to do something. Instead, she had no idea what that was supposed to achieve. "What was that conversation supposed to convince me of?"
Blaze shook his head. "Nothing. Mist isn't the only pony down here you know." Twilight gasped. In each cell there was at least one pony, all looking at the source of this commotion. But none of them looked dangerous. They were store-owners, merchants, other ponies Twilight knew. But what really caught Twilight's eye was that in the cell next to Mist there was a mare, not much older than Twilight, and a young foal that couldn't be more than a month old.
"If you still believe Celestia's in control, think about these ponies trapped here. I wasn't just some low-level soldier when I was in the army. I was high up, I actually knew her. The Celestia I knew would never imprison innocent ponies like this. How about the one you knew?"
"No. No, she would never do something like this. I believe you Blaze. The ponies that did this, they must pay."
"Does that mean you're in?"
"On one condition. You said you have no fight with Celestia, right? Then swear to me that you won't harm her. Then I'm in."
Blaze held up his right hoof. "I swear not to harm Princess Celestia unless she does something where I have no choice. Now, If we want to leave, we're going to have to hurry." He started to run up the stairs, with Twilight following.
"Why?"
"Do you know why there are no guards here? That's because they got sent out to capture your friends. They got Fluttershy, but the rest of your friends are in my ship. We're going to go there and figure out our game plan."
*******************************************************
"So that's the plan. I go into the dungeon, rescue Mist and Fluttershy, and come back to the ship and we all leave. Any questions?"
Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Smooth Talker, and the pilot listened to Blaze as he described his plan. Pinkie Pie was unconscious in one of the seats. Twilight raised her hoof. "What about Spike?"
"Who?"
"My assistant. He wasn't at the library when we went by, so shouldn't he be there too?"
Blaze thought for a second. "Good point. So I'll rescue him too. Any pony else?"
Twilight again. "What if they're aren't there?"
"Then I send back any pony I can rescue, you head back to the Republic, and I go on a near-suicide mission to Tartarus to rescue them." The others looked at him like he was joking. He was completely serious.
"You can't be serious!" shouted Smooth Talker. "Sure their loss would be a tragedy but the Republic needs you Blaze!"
"I made a promise to Luna that I'd bring them all back safe. One missing isn't all of them."
"You and your damn promises Blaze! One day you're going to realize that there are some promises you can't keep. Didn't you promise Luna that you'd come back too. The way I see it, you can either do one or neither, but not both."
Rainbow stood up. "If you're going to rescue Fluttershy then I'm coming with you."
"Seriously, is any pony listening to me?" grumbled an exasperated Smooth Talker.
Blaze looked Rainbow up and down, sizing her up. "Are you sure? Keep in mind that if we end up in Tartarus, it's highly unlikely we can get out."
"Fluttershy's a friend. I'm always ready to do that for a friend."
Blaze smirked. "You really are loyal."
"Just who in the hell do you think I am? I'm Rainbow Dash. I'm as loyal as they come. So are we going to do something or sit here talking all day."
And before any of the others could say or do anything, they were out the door and heading straight towards Canterlot.
"Is she always like this?" asked Smooth.
"Sometimes she's even more impulsive," answered Twilight.
Smooth looked nervous. "Luna help us, it's like another Blaze."
"He can't be that bad."
"About a month ago we got a tip on the location of Imperial spies. Blaze was halfway there before we could look into it. Turns out the place was a pet store. He destroyed the place by the time we got there."
"Did he find anything?" She thought it would help her case a bit if he was a little right with the assumption.
"Nope, nothing and no pony. But that didn't stop him from roughing up the gerbils quite a bit, though."
***************************************************************
It was like they never left the castle. No ponies. No guards. Only Blaze and Rainbow, sneaking in through the underground tunnel Blaze had used earlier.
Blaze was trying to keep them entertained. "So who would you rather do...?" he started to ask before Rainbow cut him off.
"No more of those! You only thought of twenty different ones before you started repeating them."
Blaze sighed. "All right, fine. Who would you rather start a small business with? Sapphire Shores after a safari or TV's Gary Colestallion?"
"This sounds like a sex thing."
"No it is not."
"Then what the hell does a safari have to do anything? Wait, you know what? Enough with the jokes! We're almost there, why don't we just talk? I've been meaning to ask you what that spot on your cutie mark is." She pointed to Blaze's cutie mark, which was in the shape of a large fire.
"What spot?" Blaze put his head near the mark to see what rainbow was pointing her wing at, close enough for her to slap him in the face with the wing.
Rainbow burst out laughing. Despite his best efforts, Blaze smiled.
"I can't believe you fell for that!" she shouted while laughing.
"I've fallen for worse."
"Like what?"
"One time, Princess Luna comes up to me and asks if I can look at a weird dark spot on her back. So, naturally, I put my face near it, and my face was covered in ink for weeks." They both laughed.
"What does it mean, anyway?" asked Rainbow. "The cutie mark I mean."
"Oh yeah, that. Well, the fire is supposed to show my skill with fire and other aggressive magic and the fire is large to show that I'll live a long time. So, I'm destined to live a long time and be good with aggressive magic. That's it!" But Blaze's strained expression told a different story.
"I don't think that's what cutie marks normally mean. And doesn't fire normally mean-"
"No, I'm definitely right about this."
"But fire-"
"Ooh look, a shiny door! Let's go through it!" Blaze opened the door that lead into the castle dungeon.
Rainbow looked at Blaze skeptically. The more she got to know him, the more she was worried. She hoped that as soon as she and the others saw Luna, she could get some actual answers. She left him off the hook for now."
"Things are just too easy!" Blaze exclaimed as he approached Mist's cell. In the cell with her was a small purple dragon, fast asleep. "They definitely knew we were coming."
He walked up to the cell. "Mist! Dragon-guy! Let's go!"
Rainbow quickly saw a flaw in the plan. "Um, Blaze? How do you expect to get them out?"
Blaze glanced at her with disapproval. "Rainbow, you've known me for hours now." He touched his horn to the lock. "Normally, ponies learn to trust me by then." Red light burst from the horn and hit the lock. It turned blue.
Rainbow gasped. The lock was turned to ice. Blaze aimed a buck at the lock, breaking it and causing the door to open.
Mist ran out and hugged Blaze with her wings. Spike, true to form, was still asleep.
"Mist, did they bring a yellow Pegasus down here?"
Mist let go of Blaze. "No, why? Aren't we escaping?"
Blaze looked at Rainbow. "Take Mist and Spike back to the ship. All of you get back to the Republic. I'm going for Fluttershy."
Mist stepped in front of Blaze. "What do you mean? I thought we were all going together?"
Rainbow walked up to Blaze. "There's no way you're going by yourself. If you're going to Tartarus, I'm going with you."
Mist was horrified. "You can't be serious! Why would you go there?"
"The Pegasus we're after is being sent there. And before you try to stop us, I plan on getting Him out too."
A look of hope filled Mist's eyes. "You'll really get Him out? And the others?"
Blaze nodded. "All of them. Our ship's on the other end of that tunnel. You and the dragon go to it and we'll meet you back at the Republic."
Mist picked up Spike. "Just be careful. Both of you." She flew through the tunnel.
Blaze went up the stairs. "You coming? Just as a thought, don't hurry up the stairs. These are going to be our final moments of freedom for now. Savor them."
They walked up the stairs. No guards. They walked to the main hall. No guards. As they approached the door, Blaze turned to Rainbow and smiled. "You ready?" She nodded. He opened the door and they walked out.
Every guard in Canterlot surrounded them instantly. Everywhere they looked around them was a spear, gun, or crossbow pointed right at them.
Blaze stepped forward. The weapons followed. "Greetings guards of Canterlot!" he shouted. "Now, let's hurry this up, and take us to your leader!"
The guards murmured to each other. One part of the circle split and a white unicorn stepped forward. Rainbow gasped. Aside from the fact the pony was wearing armor and had his mane in a rugged style, It was clearly Prince Blueblood with a sniper rifle.
Blaze kept smiling.
Blueblood approached them. "Blueblood, always a pleasure to see you!" Blaze said, smiling.
Blueblood smirked. "Likewise." Without warning, he hit Blaze in the face with the butt of the rifle. He fell to the ground. Rainbow stepped back.
Blaze looked up, bleeding from his nose. "You always were one to hold a grudge, eh Bluey?"
"I told you I'd kill you the next time I saw you. I intend to keep my promise."
"You won't kill me. She won't let you."
"Oh, and what makes you think she'll stop me?"
Blaze smirked. "Call it intuition."
Blueblood was about to lower the rifle again when Celestia came out of the castle. The soldiers lowered their guns. Including Blueblood.
She looked down, her gaze unreadable, at Blaze. "You. Back to the kingdom you betrayed, I see. And you." As she turned to Rainbow Dash, her gaze softened. "Now, what are you doing here Rainbow Dash? You shouldn't be here. My little ponies, get her back to Ponyville as soon as possible."
Rainbow was at a crossroads. She could continue to Tartarus and face near-ceratain death, or just go home. As much as she wanted to just be left away, she couldn't. Her friend needed her help.
"No. I'm not going. I know everything you're trying to do to us. What you did with Fluttershy. I'm not going to let you do that to me."
Celestia was distraught. With a sigh, she said, "Fine then. Guards, take her where she'll be safe. As for him -" she had a strange look in her eyes as she turned to Blaze "- Prep him for interrogation. I have a feeling I can learn a little from him."