The Awesome Pony Rp: Under the Shadow of War (IC)

[Amistrinal]

Gretel and Gregory

"And I don't know what got your cousin into this. Really it all looks nasty no matter how you look into it." Gretel replied with a shrug, "Guess we're gonna have to find an inn or a tavern. Got to be some cheap places in Canterlot to look into."

Meanwhile, little Gregory, utterly startled by what was going on, had a very frightened look on his face and he glanced at Applebloom. "What are we gonna do, Applebloom?" he asked worriedly, "I-i'm scared. W-what if the scary ponies come for us?"

"I sure hope there are." Applejack said, and sighed. "There are some other Apples in the area, but I'd rather not see them considering the recent news. It's all they're gonna be talkin' about, and I'd rather not listen to them talk about it for hours."

She glanced around, and thought for a moment. "Why don't we go find a hotel? Seems like our best option right now."

[Pherdistan]

Sand Changelings

Chief Lightning Blitz nodded. "You are very welcome. Though know you must leave the next morning in secret after being given food and water." he spoke before looking to his servants, "You two, please escort our guess to their rooms and make them comfortable, please."

The servants nodded and began to escort Fancy and the others. Meanwhile, Lightning's advisor watched as they left and looked at the cheif. "Are you sure it's wise to allow them to stay here?" he asked, speaking in the tongue of the Sand Changelings, "They are at war. We don't want to send their enemies the wrong message."

"Of course, which is why we're making them leave in the morning. Not to mention we would have done the same if they were imperals." Lightning Blitz replied in the same tongue, "And we must warn them not to tell anyone outside this desert of their stay."

"Agreed." the advisor nodded, "Now what do you think of Visionary and his ilk? They almost make Chrysalis's claim legitimate about ponykind."

"Chrysalis is just as irrational as Visionary in rhetoric." replied Lightning sharply, "That being said, I do believe that Visionary's actions will send a clear message to both allied and neutral changeling territory. ...Chrysalis's army grows even as we speak and with Visionary in the picture, I'm afraid Equestria's days are numbered if things don't turn around. We must pray to the our Spirits that things do turn around. Ether way we must meet with the other tribes and unite our forces in immediate preparations against the coming assault that we've been so kindly warned about."

The night passed uneventfully, and Fancy was glad for the dreamless sleep that had followed. She felt young, fresh in the morning, having drunk what water the sand changelings had offered. The rest of her squad also appeared in better shape from the rest. Giving her final thank yous and goodbyes to the guards, she transformed back into a pegasi, having changed to her natural form for the night, and summoned a cloud for their departure. She had accomplished her task. Now, it was a matter of getting home and shoving it in her snooty brother's face.

---

Parliament

---

Radiant wearily entered the building. His rest had been tormented, plagued by nightmares both literal and figurative, cackling changelings and awash in green flame. Despite his best efforts, he had found himself unable to sleep, even after having retired early from the ceremony to rest, and now came to Parliament more tired than ever.

Getting to his office, he made to call for a coffee, but winced as he remembered his argument with Frantic that morning. He'd told her that he needed to do the job alone, that he needed some time to think. It had gotten heated, but in the end he'd prevailed, and she had agreed to stay home. Muttering to himself, Radiant poured himself a cup of coffee from the nearest pitcher, black, and forced himself to swallow the whole thing.

He checked to make sure the files for the Committee were in his saddlebag, downing the rest of the coffee and tossing away the cup. While he had always thought of the committees as the real place where work occurred, he was now glad for having a formal meeting of the full chamber, with the privilege of snoring mentally while listening to the obligatory pro forma words needed to bring the Parliament into session. Finding himself a seat, he sat himself down on his haunches, sighing in relief at another chance to rest, but kept his eyes open, the images of green flames still in the back of his mind as he waited for the Princess to begin.

[The Flutterlands]

Twilight's house

The children became heartbroken upon the possibility of their lost pets, Spot and Olive Oil. Spot looked at Twilight with sad eyes, trying to fathom what has been told and Olive Oil broke down crying with Pitch trying to comfort her in his arms. Even Bounty had a very distraught look on his face. The brown unicorn colt sighed sadly. "W-we can mourn tomorrow." he spoke, his voice noticeably choked up, "L-let's all go to bed now."

The children nodded and began getting ready with the best of their emotional capabilites. Pitch Black and Olive Oil shared a couch together while the others lied down alone on the other comfty chairs and couches. Spot meanwhile, sadly followed Twilight to her bedroom and noticed the strange smell in the blankets as well.

After curiously watching his step-mother change the sheets, Spot climbed into the bed. He snuggled right next to Twilight made a squeak-like yawn. "Mph. G-goodnight Mommy." the young Earth colt mummbled before dosing off into sleep and into the world of dreams.

---

Parliament

Blind Justice, the blind deputy in the Cornucopia Party, was also among the politicians at the parliament building. The young mare was deeply disturbed by the Temple Cult and share the sentiment that this group is nothing more than a bunch of terrorists who need to be squashed quickly. She stood with her aids, speaking with Triliby till the time had come for the meeting to begin.

Princess Luna took a deep breath before entering the hall. One could tell that the Princess of the Night have been under a lot of stress these past few days and deeply troubled. Nonetheless, she looked among her subjects and cleared her throught. "The Chamber of Deputies is now in order." She said calmly in her royal canterlot voice, "As we all know this past weekend has been most tragic, despite it being a time of celebration, with the lost of Cloudsdale, Fillydelphia and Baltimare, as well as the seemingly countless terror attacks by both a new foe, The Temple of Visionary, with the lost of Ponyville. My sister, Princess Celestia is currently working on plan to take Ponyville back. With that in mind, let meeting of delegates begin..."

---

Canterlot Hotel

"I sure hope there are." Applejack said, and sighed. "There are some other Apples in the area, but I'd rather not see them considering the recent news. It's all they're gonna be talkin' about, and I'd rather not listen to them talk about it for hours."

She glanced around, and thought for a moment. "Why don't we go find a hotel? Seems like our best option right now."

Gretel nodded. With members of the family being part of the Temple group and the lost of the farm, things would be quite hectic for them. "Ya right." she spoke, taking AJ's hoof, "I guess we should look for a place we can both pay for, but I'm sure that Granny and Big Mac will be okay... I hope."

Gretel led the group through town with Apple Jack at her side and Gregory and Applebloom in tow. When they arrived at nice looking hotel, they walked inside, greeted by a changeling a desk. "Hello." he greeted, "Welcome to Canterlot Hotel. Are you going to stay as a group? We have a half-off discount tonight for families thanks to the Summer Celebration."

Gretel smiled. "That sounds good for our pocketbooks." she spoke cheerfully, looking at AppleJack, "What do ya think, hun? Wanna stay at this nice looking hotel?"
---
Later that morning, Flying Fancy would be escorted to one of Canterlot's hotels upon her return. She was sent Razor Wing's room, where the young king was pacing eagerly in the living room. Razor Wing instantly turned when Fancy entered and rushed to give a hug. "Oh sister I'm so thankful to the Spirits that you have arrived." he greeted, his voice showing the stress he's in, "It's gone, sis. Everything's gone. P-ponyville has fallen into the hands of that friking band of terrorists while you were gone with our Colony Mound utterly destroyed and countless of us killed..."

[Pherdistan]

Parliament

Blind Justice, the blind deputy in the Cornucopia Party, was also among the politicians at the parliament building. The young mare was deeply disturbed by the Temple Cult and share the sentiment that this group is nothing more than a bunch of terrorists who need to be squashed quickly. She stood with her aids, speaking with Triliby till the time had come for the meeting to begin.

Princess Luna took a deep breath before entering the hall. One could tell that the Princess of the Night have been under a lot of stress these past few days and deeply troubled. Nonetheless, she looked among her subjects and cleared her throught. "The Chamber of Deputies is now in order." She said calmly in her royal canterlot voice, "As we all know this past weekend has been most tragic, despite it being a time of celebration, with the lost of Cloudsdale, Fillydelphia and Baltimare, as well as the seemingly countless terror attacks by both a new foe, The Temple of Visionary, with the lost of Ponyville. My sister, Princess Celestia is currently working on plan to take Ponyville back. With that in mind, let meeting of delegates begin..."

Sighing, Radiant got up, eyes half-closed, secured his committee files, and stumbled his way to the meeting room. The Appropriations Committee room was quite large, and Radiant usually enjoyed basking in its glory, but right now he was simply defeated. Ears down, eyes unfocused, he glided listlessly to the chairpony's seat, at the center of the bench, checked that the gavel and customary glass of water were present, and then proceeded to let his thoughts drift as other committee members began coming in. Some of them seemed openly concerned about Radiant's off demeanor, but nopony questioned him on it.

Canterlot Hotel

Flying Fancy would be escorted to one of Canterlot's hotels upon her return. She was sent Razor Wing's room, where the young king was pacing eagerly in the living room. Razor Wing instantly turned when Fancy entered and rushed to give a hug. "Oh sister I'm so thankful to the Spirits that you have arrived." he greeted, his voice showing the stress he's in, "It's gone, sis. Everything's gone. P-ponyville has fallen into the hands of that friking band of terrorists while you were gone with our Colony Mound utterly destroyed and countless of us killed..."

Fancy had known something was up when she'd been escorted to a hotel, instead of the palace proper, but didn't know how bad things were until Razor bear-hugged her before she could cross the threshold. "Um..." All the saucy comebacks she'd meticulously prepared on the trip back dissolved, and she simply returned the hug. Still holding him, she quietly patted his withers. "Yeah... things... things are bad, bro. But... but I'm sure you've got something to make them pay, right?" she asked, her voice breaking, as she sniffled quietly into Razor's mane. "You've... you've always got a plan, you'll do something," she continued, more to herself than to her brother.Taking a few deep breaths to ease her crying, she pulled in a final breath, then did her best to put conviction into her voice, barely above a whisper. "I love you, bro. I love you, and I know you'll get us through this." And then she pulled him in closer, her face going over his neck, wrapping everything to the withers with her own neck and forearms. And she breathed.

[Frenequesta]

Parliament

Lopesy Neigh was the first to rise. After being acknowledged by Princess Luna, she took out a small stack of papers, tapped a side on her desk to align them, scratched the hole in her ear, and began.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts, we live in scary and precarious times. The Empire has pushed against our defenses and has taken over Cloudsdale, Hollow Shades, and Fillydelphia. If that alone were not enough, the Temple of Vision, a cult which seeks to reverse the course of history, has gone militant. It has taken over Ponyville, and based on intelligence from the Justice Bureau, is heading west to expand its territory and further undermine the foundations of Equestria. I praise the brave stallions in the Royal Guard stationed at Los Pegasus for their swift response in preparation for the defense of those cities and towns. I wish them and the local law enforcement the best of luck as they battle today.

"But here we must focus on the larger picture. The troops that are fighting the Temple today are troops that could be reinforcing the battles on the Eastern Front. Moreover, the Temple has repeatedly and systematically violated the Third Treaty of Tripony, which is no comfort to our new allies. It is clear we must find a way to remedy these situations. The intelligence from the Justice Bureau also indicates that these developments are in fact related--one reason for the Temple's growing popularity is a festering dissatisfaction over the way the Equestrian government is handling the war against the Empire--and a few even believe that Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis are actually conspiring to undermine the principality itself.

"Over the past couple of days I have worked with many in my own party and a few in others to find those ways. This has resulted in several proposals.

"First: Our last couple of of appropriation measures for the Royal Guard have proved to be insufficient. We are no longer fighting against small skirmishes and half-baked takeovers of strategically unimportant villages. Our progress on the Wall has been utterly fruitless and we need a new approach. That is why I have proposed an amendment to the current Royal Guard Appropriations bill, ordering an average of a 25% increase across all parts, with up to 50% for new research into the changeling magic that keeps up the Wall and disables our attacks.

"Second: we will not tolerate any of the great purges and massacres that plagued our past and were stoppered by the Third Treaty of Tripony. But most of all, we will not tolerate any attempt to overthrow our great Princesses and the democratic order of this nation. But it is clear that the Temple will stop at nothing to rid the world of changelings, or dismantle our political structure and implement a reign of theocratic tyranny. Therefore, I also have a new bill that will keep changelings safe from the Temple and ensure their lives until we can figure out what is going on. I propose safe havens for Equestrian changelings in undisclosed locations, to which all of them, except those in the Royal Guard, are required to go. Such measures will not only keep changelings safe from the Temple's harm, but will aid us in searching for Empire operatives.

"Third: Our recruitment efforts have not kept up with the pace of Guard casualties. A couple of days before I was laughing at suggestions of implementing a draft, but with the attacks everywhere I have reconsidered my position. We will implement this draft slowly but immediately, starting at one thousand recruits a week of persons ages 18-25, and will expand up to ten thousand a week as necessary and up to age 35.

"I will say a few more things since my time is running short. We will have to make significant sacrifices to make this plan a reality. This bill includes a 1% income tax increase across all brackets with some standard exemptions and others. We have also made some minor cuts and cost-saving adjustments to Equestriaid and Housing Assistance, some of which I had to make with a heavy heart--particularly the contractor leverage provisions. But the majority of cuts have been to pork projects that we cannot sustain at this time. The non-appropriation provisions will have a two year sunset, so the taxes and regulatory adjustments will be temporary unless we vote to continue them.

"I hope that this proposal rises above the myriad of others that have crept up over the past several days and receives Parliament's-- and particulary Radiant's--blessing. We have had some friction lately in the Appropriations Committee but I hope this will smooth over the tensions and avoid insult to injury.

"Thank you very much. I now open the floor to any questions Parliament may have."

The room stirred for a while. Most members didn't have a copy of Lopesy's proposal with them, so they couldn't zero in on any particular language.

Cherry Ranger, of course, did. Some of the ideas were easily questionable, but she had already come to expect them and had tried her best to coax her out of them. But one new cut particularly irked her. It was too personal to question on the full floor. She must have gotten that one from Thunderstorm, she thought.

---

The Crystal Empire

It was something of a miracle that the Empire had not reached Princess Cadance's realm. Of course, Shining Armor knew that the Empire intended to save them for last, as they would be much more easily taken if Canterlot fell. But given how Whinnyapolis kept changing hooves, it was surprising that nothing ever spilled over to the border. In fact, it was even more of a miracle that Whinnyapolis had been peaceful for the past two months, with Equestria finally securing its defenses for good. The increased activity in the Eastern Front diverted Empire troops, and no activity had been reported for the last week.

Cadence looked over her Empire of Love from the north balcony of her castle. Changelings buzzed and laughed in the streets alongside the Crystal Ponies, and it no longer felt strange to her. After the Gala Attack she realized that she had let her wedding kidnapping acquiesce her in rising anti-changeling sentiment, and even encouraged it through the way she framed the Canterlot Wedding documentary. She knew that changelings were more complex than just shape-shifting parasites. She knew that sharing Love was possible for anybody. She was determined to make amends. First, she publicly apologized for the "mischaracterizations and biases" that plagued the documentary. She immediately went far beyond Parliament's nondiscrimination standards, forming a special Commission of Integration to regularly study subconscious discrimination against changelings and to learn how to best accommodate them on an equal footing in pony society while still appreciating their unique biology and culture. Among the Commission's innovations, with Professor Valleyfall as a special consultant, was a public house that was able to centralize Love to keep it in storage in case a changeling was not able to share enough of its own. In addition, those who unlawfully discriminated against changelings were forced to contribute a little of their own Love to the house as part of their punishment. But they were assured that the Love would be paid back "as long as you let it." Fortunately, with the abundance of Love and vigorous educational campaigns, few tensions between pony and changeling rose, and discrimination was rare. Where mainland Equestria wanted to just provide equal protection and redress wrongs case-by-case, the Crystal Empire was an inclusive near-utopia.

A Crystal Guard came to her side. "Your highness, we have just received a group of ponies from Ponyville transporting a substantial number of changelings who seek refuge here. The ponies call themselves the Peacekeepers, defectors of the Temple of Vision. They have heard of our progressive efforts to make changelings political and social equals and hope that you will be able to help them."

Cadence smiled betraying a side of disgust. When she first learned about the Temple of Vision and its doctrines, she did not hesitate to call them a hate group, and decreed that any hate crime committed in the realm and inspired by the Temple would risk the perpetrator permanent banishment from the Crystal Empire. "I welcome all who seek refuge from those who promote Hate instead of Love," she said. "Are they here?"

"Some of them are in the castle now," said the guard. "I take it you want to meet them?" Cadence nodded and followed the guard downstairs.

Cadence and the guard entered the main lobby to find about a dozen changelings, two ponies, and one bat pony gathered in the center. The changelings appeared shaken, and a few were crying. By now she could sense that their Love was greatly depleted. "Welcome to the Crystal Empire!" she began. "I'm Princess Cadence. I have heard that you all have escaped the fury of the Temple. You have come to the right place."

---

Twilight's House

Twilight came down the stairs to see the children eating a rather plain cereal breakfast with some cheese in the middle. Spike was munching on a couple of gems in his bowl of cereal at the counter in front of a few slices of bread, a couple of apples, a few eggs, a cup of sugar, and a bottle of cinnamon. He still had trouble lighting the gas stove that he used to cook Twilight's meals on and the lighter was out. If Silver Shield wasn't still asleep, Spike would have made apple cinnamon french toast.

"Good morning kids, good morning Spike," said Twilight as brightly as she could. She had a whole day ahead of her--she would search the local Canterlot library for the book Cherry Ranger suggested, as well as a few others on police raids and negotiation strategies. She wished that French Pastry had come with Spike and Silver; she had practically left the kitchen for the nursery at the castle and had always enjoyed babysitting the children. Twilight took the box of Oat-O's and poured them into a bowl. She liked her milk to the side.

Spike rose up slowly to Twilight's greeting. "Good morning, Twilight... say, do you think I could go to a doctor soon? I think something might be wrong with my throat."

Twilight nodded. "I suppose we could. I don't know how much Dr. Stable knows about dragons but hopefully it isn't something too strange. What is it?"

"I don't know. It feels like something like a paper is stuck in there, but I'm not coughing."

"That is strange..." Twilight then heard footsteps in back of her, and turned around to find Silver Shield. "Ah, good morning, Silver, long rest last night."

"No, I just went to bed a little later than normal. Anyway, what's the plan for today?"

"Out to the library, and maybe if I have time swing by Parliament."

"So it's me, Spike, and the kids today? I suppose that's no problem. I've dealt with kids a lot when I was doing family law for the Royal Guard, but I never really had to watch over them. Just supervise their parents with child support and visitation and other stuff. Maybe I could take them out pet shopping or to a polo game."

"Pet shopping would be great," said Twilight. "It might lighten them up after these past couple of days." She finished her last few pieces of cereal and rose to go out, but she stopped. "By the way, do you know what happened to French Pastry?"

"We actually escaped the castle together but we got separated after meeting some gunfire in the streets. I hope she's still out there."

"I hope so too," said Twilight. She then turned to the kids. "Well, it looks like Spike and Silver are going to be taking care of you today. I have a lot of research to do, and I don't expect to be back until the evening. But I'm sure you'll have fun. Goodbye!"

After hugging each of her children, she exited out the door and was off to the library. Despite being in closer quarters, she still felt a little too distant from her children. But the threat to Equestria was urgent, and the book might have some answers.

[Fascist Russian Empire]

The Visionary Rebellion,
Salt-Lick City

Visionary and Iron Rose, alongside their contingent of rebel soldiers (veterans from the Appaloosa and Dodge town guard forces), stood outside of the great metropolis of SLC, outfitted with body armor and wielding a variety of firearms. They had also brought several crates full of weapons with them, to distribute to new members of the rebel army. The sun was just starting to rise, and ponies were beginning to wake up and go about their daily routines. The city guard was noticeably far more active and alert than the guards of Ponyville had been; it was clear that the local government had decided to buff up their security forces.

"Looks like the word has spread quite rapidly, and the changeling puppets have taken it quite seriously." Visionary commented as he observed the enemy forces.

"Those extra guards are probably mostly reservists, militia-ponies, really inexperienced soldiers; they almost certainly wouldn't have had time to bring in professional reinforcements." Iron Rose commented, scanning over the city.

"Do you have any recommendations for our opening move, commander?" Visionary asked.

Before Iron Rose could respond with a suggestion, a voice, barely over a whisper, echoed over the group of rebels.

"Leave that to me, my champions: I will personally guide you to victory against the abominations and their puppets." the unmistakable voice of the All-Maker whispered, heard by all the rebels.

"All-Maker, you have seen fit to personally intervene on our behalf?" Visionary exclaimed, rather surprised to see his master get directly involved in the Temple's battles. Everyone, excluding Visionary and Iron Rose (who had already heard their master's voice before), was surprised to hear the All-Maker's voice at all, and many were filled with confidence and courage, hearing proof that their war truly was divinely ordained.

"Indeed; my assistance will prove invaluable in the upcoming battle. The puppets who run this city have decided to mobilize all the forces at their disposal to try and protect their own regime, and defend their changeling masters. They have concentrated their guard patrols throughout the outer perimeter of the city, most likely in anticipation of you all trying to walk into the city on hoof. I will take advantage of this fact by teleporting you all directly into one of the city's most crowded roads, in the city center, bypassing most of their security forces. Then...well, suffice to say I'll have a few personal surprises in store for them. The puppets think they're prepared; they have deluded themselves into thinking they have advance warning of what to expect. It will be most amusing to see their preparations crumble at my hands. Now, it is time, my champions; we will show these puppets the true meaning of Havoc." the All-Maker dictated to the rebels.

Without any delay, the rebels found themselves teleported into the middle of a very large, very crowded street full of ponies starting their daily routines. Needless to say, there was a lot of surprise at having a band of armored ponies with guns appear out of nowhere in the crowds. Before anything could be said or done by the rebels, the loud, booming voice of the All-Maker appeared, heard across the entire city.

"Ponies, listen, hear me and obey: A foul darkness has seeped into Equestria; a darkness you will destroy!" the All-Maker's voice rung out, causing immense confusion and panic amongst the citizens of Salt-Lick City. As he spoke, the sky began to darken, with black clouds appearing in vast quantities.

"The vile changeling abominations defile this land; they bring destruction, slavery, and death, everywhere they go! They have wrought corruption and degradation upon the pony nation, seeping evil into every corner of Equestria. You ponies invited them into your society, gave them shelter, offered them a chance to live in peace, and they have repaid your generosity by backstabbing each and every last one of you! The lucky ones amongst their innumerable victims have been killed; the rest, enslaved, forced to endure the cruel yoke of changeling tyranny! These creatures are parasites, demons, killers at the core; they survive through treachery, deceit, and evil deeds fouler than the most depraved minds of ponykind are capable of comprehending!" the All-Maker said, thunder beginning to echo from the now-darkened sky.

"Tell me, little ponies, is this the race you want integrated into your country?! Are these the creatures you want living in your cities?! Are these the creatures you want fraternizing with your children?! Are these the creatures you want enlisted into your army, given positions in your government, and granted endless special privileges?! No, of course not! Yet, the traitor Princesses of your government still go out of their way to pander to these parasites, allowing them to get away with increasingly despicable atrocities, doing everything in their power to defend them! In fact, they go so far as to arrest anyone among you who so much as reveals a changeling to be a changeling! Why do they do this, you might ask? Well, little ponies, the answer is plainly seen; Celestia, Luna, Twilight Sparkle, and Mi Amore Cadenza are all puppets of the changeling abominations, in the pocket of the deceiver-King Razor Wing!" the All-Maker continued, crowds of ponies starting to get impassioned by his words.

"Now you have it, ponies, the cold, hard, bitter truth of the matter; your leaders have betrayed you, and turn blind eyes to the grievous crimes being perpetrated against you by the parasitic abominations that call themselves changelings! They allow death and misery to seep into Equestria, for their own personal gain, reveling in their own corruption and degeneracy. Well, ponies, the time has come to strike back against these foul abominations, and their alicorn puppets! All of you, take up arms; crush the parasites, and cleave through the armies of the puppet-Princesses to get to them! Kill the changeling vermin wherever you find them, kill their puppets, kill all who sympathize with them; show no mercy to them, any of them, for they are all wicked to the core, deserving of nothing but death! Join my champion, Visionary, and forge a great army of the righteous; march to the ends of Equestria, hunting down the transgressors, slaying them without mercy or hesitation! The All-Maker commands you!" the powerful voice of the All-Maker ordered.

Havoc quickly ensued throughout Salt-Lick City; thousands of ponies throughout the streets of the metropolitan city took up arms with Visionary and the rebels, inspired and impassioned by the divine voice which had filled the city. Militias were swiftly formed throughout the city, with ponies picking up whatever weapons they had available and bringing battle to the forces loyal to the Princesses. Defections started spreading amongst the ranks of the city's reservists and amongst parts of the Royal Guard, with soldiers turning on the government and switching sides in favor of the rebels. As pandemonium began to spread throughout the city, a violent storm began raining down from the dark sky, with lightning pouring down onto the city's guard stations and fortifications, igniting fires throughout the city. Powerful winds simultaneously started blowing through SLC, further fanning and expanding the fires.

Gunfire started filling the streets of the city, as firefights started breaking out between the guards and rebels. The whole city swiftly became a giant battleground, with large-scale fighting taking place throughout SLC. Ponies started dying in large quantities, and it was clear that the battle for Salt-Lick City was going to be a spectacular one.

Ponyville

"You stand accused of the grievous crime of harboring abominations, a most foul crime against ponykind. What say you in your defense?" Deep Insight decreed in the Ponyville town center, addressing yet another changeling sympathizer he and his fellow Inquisitors had rooted out, surrounded by hundreds of gawkers. The Inquisition had been very active in following Visionary's orders to hunt down the Peacekeeper heretics, and were able to do so quite effectively with the use of Deep Insight's extensive knowledge of spells and enchantments. Magic was traditionally used for more mundane, day-to-day uses, such as levitation or teleportation, to make average daily tasks easier, but Deep Insight and the other wizards of the Temple had been studying magic in more obscure fields for some time for the sake of advancing the All-Maker's agenda. Wards, enchantments, and spells which disabled shape-shifting magic, thus revealing changelings, were among the most impressive creations of the Temple, and served them well in their quests to root out abominations and their sympathizers; they had been able to use their detection spells, alongside scrying activities, to provide a swift and decisive means of discovering enemy presence.

"You ponies are crazy! How can you so remorselessly kill so many innocent changelings?" the Peacekeeper exclaimed, earning a soft laugh from Deep Insight and some of the other Inquisitors (who surrounded the bound prisoner).

"Innocent? These creatures are abominations; parasites, who gain sustenance from draining the life out of innocent bystanders. There's no such thing as an innocent abomination; only a traitor would think otherwise. Thus, you will die a traitor's death." Deep Insight calmly said before lighting up his horn and delivering a powerful bolt of magical lightning into the body of the prisoner, electrocuting him as applause echoed from many of the spectators.

"Let this be a lesson to you all: Consort with any abomination, and the Temple Inquisition will hunt you down." Deep Insight declared before the crowds began to disperse.

"You've certainly been making short work of all these abomination-sympathizers." Broken Promise commented, approaching the unicorn.

"We're the All-Maker's champions; what more is to be expected? Failure is not an acceptable option. We must constantly remind these ponies that death is the inevitable end-result of these unholy pacts with demons and abominations. I just wish we were able to further expand the reach of the Inquisition; as it stands, Ponyville is vulnerable to spies from the Celestial snakes, and it's only a matter of time before our security is breached." Deep Insight replied.

"What's stopping you? If you suspect somepony of treachery, why not just pay them a visit and deal with them in the traditional fashion?" Broken Promise asked.

"Not here; I know we're being watched." Deep Insight said before teleporting the two into the basement of the Great Temple, inside the large storage room and armory it contained.

"Braeburn is what's stopping me. I'm almost entirely certain that the local Apple Family is conspiring against the Temple; directly or indirectly, I see a very high probability that they are serving as enemy operatives. After all, they have close connections to Applejack, a well-known abomination-sympathizer; a friend of Twilight Sparkle, a changeling-puppet. Applejack has even gone so far as to establish a romantic relationship with a former soldier of Chrysalis's army, and yet her family has continued to support her. It's abundantly clear to me that they are a major security risk; I want to preemptively kill or jail them all, but Braeburn has been serving as a roadblock, on account of his connections to their family." Deep Insight explained.

"I say take your underlings and raid Sweet Apple Acres, regardless of what Braeburn thinks. He's a nice stallion, very devout, but he has no authority over us; we have been divinely ordained to find and destroy both the abominations and their sympathizers, wherever they may go. We need to investigate the local Apples and, if we find evidence which suggests they are agents in the employ of the enemy, execute them all. What's Braeburn going to do about it?" Broken Promise replied.

"You know what, you're right. I'm taking some of my agents and I'm going to conduct a surprise search of their farm; I know they're up to something, and, by the All-Maker, I'm going to find the evidence to prove it. I know there are Celestial spies here in Ponyville, and I'm going to root them out; we cannot allow our intelligence to be compromised. By the way, in case you're interested...well, I've done some research into the rumors we've been hearing from the buffalo; the rumors about abomination activity near Appaloosa. I've discovered the existence of a sub-species of changelings which exists somewhere in the San Palomino Desert, known as Sand-Changelings. I haven't been able to pinpoint an exact location, but I've been able to confirm that there are indeed colonies of abominations in the area. Unfortunately, few sources about them exist, and I have been unable to find specific information which could be of assistance in an extermination mission. I recommend that you and the other Knights of Foresight take the utmost caution when you head southwards to wipe them out; they are a mysterious, and, thus, dangerous foe." Deep Insight said.

"Do you have any leads on how we can find their colonies?" Broken Promise asked.

"No, not at the moment, although I will be offering your order some assistance in tracking them down. Everyone has a price...and a pain threshold. The Inquisition will start delivering captured abominations to the Knights of Foresight, where you and your comrades-at-arms can interrogate them to potentially gain valuable information. Now, I have a raid on Sweet Apple Acres to arrange; you ought to be out finding new changeling-hunters to induct into your order." Deep Insight replied before teleporting the two back into the streets of Ponyville, where they went their separate ways.

Lord Philip Blackwing,
Fillydelphia

"So, you're some sort of sea-captain? You own your own ship?" Philip asked his new minotaur friend. They had each gotten some magical healing from some changeling army medics, along with the other wounded Blackwings, and were busy collecting some spoils of war. The two were in the damaged remains of a jewelry store, and were hard at work looting the valuable jewels inside. Fillydelphia stood in ruins around them; the city had been nearly leveled by the changeling forces, with collapsed, burned-out, and damaged buildings filling the once great metropolis. The city's populace had been decimated; tens of thousands had been butchered in battle, the rest brutally subjugated by the changelings. Thousands of pony slaves had already been put to work repairing the husk of a city, and fortifying it to serve as a strong bastion of changeling presence in Equestria.

"Yep; I've lived on the high-seas for some time now, with my very own caravel. Assuming your little bug friends haven't blown it up, yet, and that it wasn't stolen by one of those little ponies, my ship should still be docked at the city piers." Turrak replied to Philip.

"Would you mind using your ship to transport my family and I over to the Griffin Kingdom? Sailing would certainly be a lot easier than flying, on account of all our gold and slaves; flying over the sea, hitched to carts full to the brim with plunder, would be quite the inconvenience." Philip said as he found a box full of diamond jewelry, buried in some debris, which he immediately proceeded to stash in his bags.

"I'm afraid I can't; I don't have any crew mates to operate the vessel. Otherwise, I'd be glad to help out." Turrak answered.

"We could put some of my pony slaves to work; they might be feeble, and pathetic in battle, but I should own enough of them to man your ship." Philip suggested.

"Ah, well, in that case, sure; we can set sail as soon as we finish plundering this pony city." Turrak said.

"Good...Good...It will be most excellent to return to my Kingdom, and once more bring battle to the Cursed King who defiles the Throne of Griffonstone. I yearn to be back in my home country, fighting to restore the purity of the Crown and bring the Griffin Kingdom back to its former glory." Philip said.

"What exactly happened to your country?" Turrak asked.

"I suppose I should start at the beginning: Many centuries ago, the griffin race was divided into dozens of petty-kingdoms, with numerous minor lords fighting amongst one another for control over land and resources. That era of division ended with the rise of the greatest griffin warrior the world had ever seen; King Grover, unifier of griffinkind. His might and valor were legendary; his strength and martial prowess were unparalleled, and he crushed all who stood before him on the battlefield. He built a grand army, and waged war against all the griffin petty kings, subjugating realm after realm. He was able to successfully defeat every other griffin ruler, leading his army to victory across every corner of our homeland, forcing them all to acknowledge him as the sole ruler of griffinkind. Thus, the Griffin Kingdom was born; Grover had become King of the Griffins, ruler of all our kind." Philip explained.

"Sounds like a warrior of true mettle." Turrak commented.

"Oh, believe me, he was; there's never been a finer warrior in all of recorded history. Of course, he was special; he had the Gods themselves on his side. Divine blood ran through him, and gave him an incredible strength unlike that of any other griffin in the world. He even had a magical artifact to prove it; the Idol of Boreas, it was called. The Idol was, supposedly, a gift to Grover from Lord Boreas, the chief God of our pantheon; the Idol brought luck, fortune, and splendor to griffinkind, and it helped give Grover the riches to create a vast army with which to unify our people. My family, the Blackwing Clan, had served as his finest soldiers on the battlefield, and we were rewarded, as such, with aristocratic titles and vast holdings of land taken from some of the more uncooperative old nobles. Grover's dynasty ruled for generations, consistently producing the finest kings in the world...Then, one day, everything changed. During the reign of King Guto, mere decades ago, a monster by the name of Arimaspi attacked Griffonstone, our people's capital. As a result of Guto's incompetence, the Idol of Boreas was stolen, lost in the bowels of some Gods-forsaken abyss. A curse was put on the Kingdom on that day, and us griffins have suffered from destitute poverty ever since." Philip continued.

"So, how exactly did ya become King, then? And how did your Kingdom get taken away from ya?" Turrak asked.

"Well, Grover's dynasty has been cursed, and I knew that the only way to save the Kingdom was to remove them from power; the Crown needed to be worn by a griffin of true mettle, once more, in order to restore its purity. So, I used my family's vast riches to raise an army, and I marched on Griffonstone; I cast out the Cursed King, Guto the Second, and triumphed over him on the battlefield. I declared myself to be the rightful King of the Griffins, and a great many of my kinsmen joined me in my quest to purify the throne. A glorious coronation ceremony was held at Griffonstone; I was officially crowned, by the priesthood, as the true King. I even used Grover's original regalia; Guto left behind Grover's golden crown in his haste to flee the city. The people recognized me as their King, but, unfortunately, I made some fatal mistakes during my attempt to enforce my right to rule. I was too aggressive with my army, and tried to gain ground too quickly; I overextended my forces, and ended up facing defeat on the battlefield as a result. But, now, I have the resources to rebuild my army and fight to take back my Kingdom. The people recognize me as their true, rightful monarch; I simply need to return to them, with my riches, and lead them in battle against the Cursed King." Philip finished.

"Well, what're we waitin' for? Let's pack up our loot, hop on my boat, and set sail for the Griffin Kingdom; there's plunder and glory to be had!" Turrak said, eager for an opportunity for more battle and spoils of war.

"I just need to take my leave of the changelings, first. I'll resign my post in their army, and then we can get going." Philip said.

After finishing their ransacking and looting, Philip and his comrades-at-arms returned to the changeling second-in-command.

"Any further orders, commander?" the changeling asked.

"Yes; the time has come for my triumphant return to the Griffin Kingdom. I'm taking my family, my money, and my slaves, and I'm going to head across the sea back into my homeland. Find a replacement commander; I have a vendetta to settle, and a throne to reclaim." Philip ordered, much to the shock of the changeling.

"But...but...You can't!" the changeling babbled.

"And why not? Who's going to stop me? I am the King of the Griffins; I will go where I please and do as I please. I am subject to the will of the Gods alone, and they aren't particularly vocal about their demands; you have no authority over me."

"Well, surely you wouldn't leave without collecting a reward for your services?" the changeling asked.

"I've upheld my end of the bargain, and I've already taken everything I need from the ponies; our contract is, for all intents and purposes, fulfilled." Philip asserted.

"Before you go, I insist you visit Manehattan. Our most glorious Queen Chr-...actually, I suppose it's Empress Chrysalis, now; she decided to change her title, recently, I hear...anyway, as I was saying, our most glorious Empress Chrysalis would be delighted to meet you in person. I'm sure she would also have a most spectacular reward for everything you've done." the changeling said.

"I'm not a soldier of fortune. I, by the grace of the Gods above, have the honor of serving as King of the Griffins, and it is my most sacred duty, by the long-standing traditions of my people, to return to my realm and protect it from the Cursed-King as soon as possible. I don't care about your rewards; all I want is to watch Guto's head roll away from his lifeless body as I return to my rightful place on the Throne of Griffonstone." Philip said.

"It is a near-certainty that whatever reward Chrysalis offers would be of assistance to you; would it really hurt for you to spend a day going to Manehattan so you can see for yourself?" the changeling asked.

"Well...Fine; I'll prepare a visit to Manehattan at some point soon, and see what your Empress has to say to me. Now, I go; I have no further business in this city." Philip conceded before starting to make the preparations to depart Fillydelphia.

[Amistrinal]

Ponyville

"You stand accused of the grievous crime of harboring abominations, a most foul crime against ponykind. What say you in your defense?" Deep Insight decreed in the Ponyville town center, addressing yet another changeling sympathizer he and his fellow Inquisitors had rooted out, surrounded by hundreds of gawkers. The Inquisition had been very active in following Visionary's orders to hunt down the Peacekeeper heretics, and were able to do so quite effectively with the use of Deep Insight's extensive knowledge of spells and enchantments. Magic was traditionally used for more mundane, day-to-day uses, such as levitation or teleportation, to make average daily tasks easier, but Deep Insight and the other wizards of the Temple had been studying magic in more obscure fields for some time for the sake of advancing the All-Maker's agenda. Wards, enchantments, and spells which disabled shape-shifting magic, thus revealing changelings, were among the most impressive creations of the Temple, and served them well in their quests to root out abominations and their sympathizers; they had been able to use their detection spells, alongside scrying activities, to provide a swift and decisive means of discovering enemy presence.

"You ponies are crazy! How can you so remorselessly kill so many innocent changelings?" the Peacekeeper exclaimed, earning a soft laugh from Deep Insight and some of the other Inquisitors (who surrounded the bound prisoner).

"Innocent? These creatures are abominations; parasites, who gain sustenance from draining the life out of innocent bystanders. There's no such thing as an innocent abomination; only a traitor would think otherwise. Thus, you will die a traitor's death." Deep Insight calmly said before lighting up his horn and delivering a powerful bolt of magical lightning into the body of the prisoner, electrocuting him as applause echoed from many of the spectators.

"Let this be a lesson to you all: Consort with any abomination, and the Temple Inquisition will hunt you down." Deep Insight declared before the crowds began to disperse.

"You've certainly been making short work of all these abomination-sympathizers." Broken Promise commented, approaching the unicorn.

"We're the All-Maker's champions; what more is to be expected? Failure is not an acceptable option. We must constantly remind these ponies that death is the inevitable end-result of these unholy pacts with demons and abominations. I just wish we were able to further expand the reach of the Inquisition; as it stands, Ponyville is vulnerable to spies from the Celestial snakes, and it's only a matter of time before our security is breached." Deep Insight replied.

"What's stopping you? If you suspect somepony of treachery, why not just pay them a visit and deal with them in the traditional fashion?" Broken Promise asked.

"Not here; I know we're being watched." Deep Insight said before teleporting the two into the basement of the Great Temple, inside the large storage room and armory it contained.

"Braeburn is what's stopping me. I'm almost entirely certain that the local Apple Family is conspiring against the Temple; directly or indirectly, I see a very high probability that they are serving as enemy operatives. After all, they have close connections to Applejack, a well-known abomination-sympathizer; a friend of Twilight Sparkle, a changeling-puppet. Applejack has even gone so far as to establish a romantic relationship with a former soldier of Chrysalis's army, and yet her family has continued to support her. It's abundantly clear to me that they are a major security risk; I want to preemptively kill or jail them all, but Braeburn has been serving as a roadblock, on account of his connections to their family." Deep Insight explained.

"I say take your underlings and raid Sweet Apple Acres, regardless of what Braeburn thinks. He's a nice stallion, very devout, but he has no authority over us; we have been divinely ordained to find and destroy both the abominations and their sympathizers, wherever they may go. We need to investigate the local Apples and, if we find evidence which suggests they are agents in the employ of the enemy, execute them all. What's Braeburn going to do about it?" Broken Promise replied.

"You know what, you're right. I'm taking some of my agents and I'm going to conduct a surprise search of their farm; I know they're up to something, and, by the All-Maker, I'm going to find the evidence to prove it. I know there are Celestial spies here in Ponyville, and I'm going to root them out; we cannot allow our intelligence to be compromised. By the way, in case you're interested...well, I've done some research into the rumors we've been hearing from the buffalo; the rumors about abomination activity near Appaloosa. I've discovered the existence of a sub-species of changelings which exists somewhere in the San Palomino Desert, known as Sand-Changelings. I haven't been able to pinpoint an exact location, but I've been able to confirm that there are indeed colonies of abominations in the area. Unfortunately, few sources about them exist, and I have been unable to find specific information which could be of assistance in an extermination mission. I recommend that you and the other Knights of Foresight take the utmost caution when you head southwards to wipe them out; they are a mysterious, and, thus, dangerous foe." Deep Insight said.

"Do you have any leads on how we can find their colonies?" Broken Promise asked.

"No, not at the moment, although I will be offering your order some assistance in tracking them down. Everyone has a price...and a pain threshold. The Inquisition will start delivering captured abominations to the Knights of Foresight, where you and your comrades-at-arms can interrogate them to potentially gain valuable information. Now, I have a raid on Sweet Apple Acres to arrange; you ought to be out finding new changeling-hunters to induct into your order." Deep Insight replied before teleporting the two back into the streets of Ponyville, where they went their separate ways.

Sweet Apple Acres
"This isn't good, Granny." Big Mac said, looking out the window of the farmhouse and watching some of Visionary's soldiers that were hanging around. "These ponies are crazy. They could execute us for no reason."

"Don't worry too much, Macintosh." Granny replied, rocking back and forth. "Braeburn may be on their side, but he's an apple at heart. Just a little confused right now is all."

Big mac continued looking out the window silently, and after a minute, Granny spoke. "At least Applejack, Applebloom, Gretel, and Gregory are safe. And besides, if they were gonna kill us they'd probably have done it already."

Canterlot Hotel

"I sure hope there are." Applejack said, and sighed. "There are some other Apples in the area, but I'd rather not see them considering the recent news. It's all they're gonna be talkin' about, and I'd rather not listen to them talk about it for hours."

She glanced around, and thought for a moment. "Why don't we go find a hotel? Seems like our best option right now."

Gretel nodded. With members of the family being part of the Temple group and the lost of the farm, things would be quite hectic for them. "Ya right." she spoke, taking AJ's hoof, "I guess we should look for a place we can both pay for, but I'm sure that Granny and Big Mac will be okay... I hope."

Gretel led the group through town with Apple Jack at her side and Gregory and Applebloom in tow. When they arrived at nice looking hotel, they walked inside, greeted by a changeling a desk. "Hello." he greeted, "Welcome to Canterlot Hotel. Are you going to stay as a group? We have a half-off discount tonight for families thanks to the Summer Celebration."

Gretel smiled. "That sounds good for our pocketbooks." she spoke cheerfully, looking at AppleJack, "What do ya think, hun? Wanna stay at this nice looking hotel?"

Applejack nodded. "Probably the best option we've got right now. Don't want to spend time looking around for any more, and we should probably get a room as soon as possible."

[The Flutterlands]

Parliment

Blind Justice listened to Lopesy Neigh's proposed bill and frowned a bit. The bill sounded disturbingly incomplete as if Lopesy wasn't telling everything about the bill which really irked her deeply inside. The blind mare rose and Luna nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Princess Luna." she spoke as she begun, "Ms. Neigh can you explain more about the bill you're proposing? There's some things that you are not telling. What will the standards be of it being safe for the changelings to return from their havens? This bill would include inpounding changeling property, right? Not to mention that the draft would include interrogation with no oversight for the inquisitor, right? If I'm not mistaken this all sounds like an excuse to harass our changeling allies to appease Visionary's terrorist group. Shouldn't we be taking measures to defy them instead?"

---

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper was comforting one of the changeling refugees when Princess Cadence arrived. He turned to the Princess of Love and smiled weakly. There was a glimmer in his eyes mixed with a glow of sadness. "Greetings you're highness." the young bat-stallion greeted, bowing his head, "We came from Ponyville. A town well known to you due to relations with Princess Twilight. We were recently attacked and overrun by Visionary's Temple Cult I broke away from and hereby denounce as a ruthless terrorist group. We are very blessed by the true All-Maker to have ourselves and our changeling refugees welcomed here in this sanctuary of love you rule over."

---

Canterlot

The children slowly climbed out of where they slept one by one each with long faces. Even Spot feeling reluctant to get out of bed only to find, once again on this Wednesday morning, the reality of no longer living in Ponyville and the events of yesterday no longer seeming like a terrible nightmare. They gathered in the kitchen for breakfast, saying good morning to one another with hugs and sad glances.

"W-what's gonna happen now?" asked little Spot sadly, looking at his step-siblings with big curious eyes as he ate his ceral, "Where not gonna go home anytime soon are we?"

Bounty smiled weakly. Though, he wasn't so sure about this himself. "I-i don't think so, buddy." he spoke calmly, "But things will be okay. We just got to be patient..."

"Hmph. Something should be done now." snarled Black Hawk with anger, "Those cultist jerks took our home and maybe even killed our friends! I hate having to wait to do something about this awfulness."

Bounty looked Black Hawk and sighed. "I know how you feel, but we're just kids. We can't do anything like fighting. So we're just gonna have to wait..."

The griffin sighed, with Eclipse comforting by placing a hoof on the shoulder. The children glanced to see Twilight and greeted her with a nod and a "Good morning, Mom." As they resumed eating, each of the children listened to their mother speak with Spike and Silver Shield, before watching her leave after a hug for whatever business she had to do.

Spot looked down. "S-so what are we gonna do?" he asked, his eyes furrowing slightly, "I don't want another pet. I want Shelly back."

"I understand." Bounty spoke, calm as ever, "But maybe seeing the animals at the pet store could cheer us up anyway."

Spot looked down sadly. "I-i guess you're right." he spoke with a sniffle, before smiling weakly as Olive Oil gave him a hug, "I-i wish I had teddy with me though and I hope that Ms. Pastry is alright..."

---

Canterlot Hotel

Razor Wing began sobbing as held tight to his younger sister. For the past few days, the prince had been a broken changeling who's great work with Princess Twilight to improve pony/changeling relations was becoming all but undone. "I-i love you too, Sis and w-we're thinking of something." he spoke softly, "The Princessed and I along with other allie leaders are working on plans to challenge Visionary's Cult. We just got to do while simultaneously fighting Chrysalis."

Razor Wing broke the hug with a weak smile. "S-so how did your mission go?" he asked, "What are the Sand Changelings like?"

Meanwhile, Gretel, intertwined beneath the bedsheets with Apple Jack, woke up, finding herselfs still at the hotel. "Great and I was hoping that it was all a dream yesterday." she spoke with soft glumness before nuzzling her lover with a kiss, "Wake up my doll. It's morning. Wanna wake up the little ones or let them sleep in for now?"

[Frenequesta]

Salt Lick City

It was too late for a posse comitatus.

As the battle outside raged on, Mayor Waterforge Brace was pacing in the bunker under a Wainwright's Union hall. He, the Justice Bureau intelligence officers, the prefectors, and the city council had heard the voice of the All-Maker even from fifty meters underground. In the cold concrete room the officers transcribed wires from the front lines, telling of downed troops, widespread defections, sudden storms with lightning bolts perfectly targeting Guard outposts in defiance of basic electrostatics, and rapid fires destroying large swaths of the city. Sapphire Quill, the Temple council member, was finding it easier and easier to make converts. But skeptics still remained.

"--But you heard His voice yourself! All those reports we're getting, that's the All-Maker's intervention!" Sapphire boomed to a fellow council member, pointing and shaking a hoof higher and higher.

"Pfft, if that were really the All-Maker he'd have already killed the Princesses and all the establishment himself," sneered Whitestable, twirling his bow tie by his horn magic. "I wouldn't say an all-powerful, all-perfect god would be so inefficient in achieving his plan."

Sapphire leaned towards Whitestable with angry eyes toward the tie-twirling. "You know nothing about the great All-Maker and the way He works through his faithful! The All-Maker, just as he did in Creation, does nothing in expedience. There is a purpose and that purpose is--"

Waterforge had enough of it. He needed a solution, and mulling the options in his head was getting more difficult with the more frequent reports and Sapphire's proselytizing. "Sapphire! Whitestable! Everypony really... We can't just sit here and bicker. There's a city up there that's falling to pieces and we need to save it now."

Sapphire turned to Waterforge in annoyance. "Well, if you really want my opinion, Mr. Mayor, you should just surrender the city to our high priest and resign. Listen, Waterforge, you haven't fooled a single pony in posing yourself as a conservative on the changeling question. By complying with Parliament's laws you are the most liberal of the most liberal."

"Tell that to the Crystal Empire," Whitestable interjected.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Sapphire retorted. She turned back to Waterforge. "Anyway, I think you got a little too touchy-feely about changelings when you were down in the cave even though there were thousands of them out there trying to kill you. And now it's all coming back."

"Sapphire," Waterforge said firmly. "You cannot be serious. Those ponies up there are traitors, pure and simple. I don't care about the changelings; your cult has blown up Guard posts unprovoked and have repeatedly called for the abdication, if not outright slaughter, of the Princesses."

"You obviously care enough not to order them out of town."

Waterforge snorted. "B-zh... please, Sapphire, lay it off with the damn changelings. Hey, tell you what, why don't you go up there and tell Visionary that the Mayor's willing to talk."

"Oh, invite him to some tea party and talk diplomacy? I'd gladly do that if I didn't hear the voice of the All-Maker himself." Sapphire said as she strutted around the mayor, eyeing him down in condescension and deviousness.

"Don't try anything funny now, Mrs. Quill."

"I meant what I said, Mr. Brace. That is the real thing up there. You don't. Argue. With. A god. Pony's laws don't apply to the All-Maker, and it would be fruitless to force them. He created you and me and everypony here; if anything he controls us."

Grapevine took Waterforge aside and whispered something into his ear. Waterforge nodded, whispered something back, and returned to Sapphire. "Sorry about that. Anyway, I'd sure like to see what laws it follows before I consider him legitimate."

Sapphire facehoofed. "You're being so dense, aren't you, Mayor? Remember I've got seven councilors on my side and three of the prefectors."

"Not enough to override me," countered Waterforge, tallying the supporting nods in front of him. "Besides, I've got my own executive powers," and he went up to the telegraph table and dictated a message on a rather old machine:

Read to Visionary or agents fill as needed STOP Mayor Waterforge Brace writing STOP City council district prefectors and I awed by power and might of All Maker words and acts STOP Hope He not wish His creation beat each other more than necessary STOP But understand His word unswerving His followers devoted STOP Therefore proposal offer take it or leave it STOP If All Maker and Temple devotees agree cease hostilities we likewise do same STOP We offer Temple members positions on SLC School Board Zoning and Variance Board Police Oversight Commission Health Department and most importantly Legal Division including District Prosecutors STOP Posts will allow you real completely legal power to help achieve your goals STOP Council has nearly supermajority Temple members including recent converts I pledge not veto any bill passed with their support STOP Also one council seat of non adherent at stake this year and a candidate of yours at this rate have very good chance of winning it STOP If you have any questions about this plan do not hesitate to ask me STOP Response Urgent STOP

Grapevine took a copy of the transcript and grimaced. "Sir, this is suicide."

Sapphire also took a look. "You still didn't get my point did you Mayor? If the All-Maker wants changelings dead He wants changelings dead."

"I'm sorry, Sapphire, I just can't believe that actually was its voice. I did not even know it had one of its own. But enough of this theological babbling--"

"Mayor, really," said Grapevine. "The Justice Bureau will not endorse this. Even if their killings are done under a legal veneer that's defensible in court we'd know better, and we'll turn on you for conspiracy and even direct liability."

"Tell your superiors I'm actually keeping a close eye on them. Then when they think they're at their apex, we'll call you back and let you lock them in," said Waterforge.

"That's assuming Visionary doesn't think the same way," said Sapphire.

"And that the leaders will actually take up the posts," added Grapevine. "But then again, if we get people close enough, we can easily bargain something out of them. But still, we're probably putting more changelings at risk than we should. I'll keep my options open."

"So should I tell them the Justice Bureau might not go after them?"

"I suppose. But only for this incident."

Waterforge returned to the telegraph and typed out a new message:

Update for Visionary and group STOP Justice Bureau seriously considering dropping all charges committed in this incident STOP

He looked down at the lever, gritted his teeth, and put down several more periods.

Fifty meters up, a journalist in battle armor in a tent under the union hall's back portico got the last message as he delivered the first through a megaphone, creating a slight pause as he checked. He updated the message immediately.

---

Parliment

Blind Justice listened to Lopesy Neigh's proposed bill and frowned a bit. The bill sounded disturbingly incomplete as if Lopesy wasn't telling everything about the bill which really irked her deeply inside. The blind mare rose and Luna nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Princess Luna." she spoke as she begun, "Ms. Neigh can you explain more about the bill you're proposing? There's some things that you are not telling. What will the standards be of it being safe for the changelings to return from their havens? This bill would include inpounding changeling property, right? Not to mention that the draft would include interrogation with no oversight for the inquisitor, right? If I'm not mistaken this all sounds like an excuse to harass our changeling allies to appease Visionary's terrorist group. Shouldn't we be taking measures to defy them instead?"

Lopesy looked to Blind Justice and gave a slight, annoyed nod.

"We can't do anything about the Temple just yet, since we are still investigating their structure, assets, history, doctrines, and other things that we can use to better target them. Rest assured, the Justice Bureau is hard at work as well; they will update us if their strategies are inadequate. But for now we can do something about the Temple's potential victims.

"I believe it to be in the best interests of this country to not only have an effective strategy, but also an efficient strategy. This plan, and a lot of the appropriations measures, were taken from a letter signed by ten of Equestria's top military command, including the Head of the Defense Bureau, and Lieutenant Captain Pea Wit. They believe that the relocation will save many resources and manpower over other ideas, effective in combating both the Empire and the Temple at once.

"So let me put it this way: I am not proposing changeling relocation because of hostility to changelings. I am proposing it because we are at war with the Changeling Empire, because we fear yet another takeover of another strategic city, and because we must listen to our wartime leaders more than ever. We've seen evidence of disloyalty, and we need urgent action to combat it, and we will not let hindsight regret our inaction.

"Any other questions?"

Trilby lifted himself a little from his wheelchair and leaned over. "Mrs. Neigh, of all of the ponies who signed the letter, why did you emphasize LTC Pea Wit? His dissatisfaction with the integration of the Guard is well known. And Shining Armor's not on there, is he?"

Lopesy shrugged. "I have no idea if the relocation was Pea Wit's idea. And no, Shining Armor isn't on it, but our military has made it clear what policies they want."

---

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper was comforting one of the changeling refugees when Princess Cadence arrived. He turned to the Princess of Love and smiled weakly. There was a glimmer in his eyes mixed with a glow of sadness. "Greetings you're highness." the young bat-stallion greeted, bowing his head, "We came from Ponyville. A town well known to you due to relations with Princess Twilight. We were recently attacked and overrun by Visionary's Temple Cult I broke away from and hereby denounce as a ruthless terrorist group. We are very blessed by the true All-Maker to have ourselves and our changeling refugees welcomed here in this sanctuary of love you rule over."

"The Crystal Empire is the safest place for a changeling right now," said Cadence. "Nopony here has ever organized a chapter of the Temple as far as I know. And I don't think they ever will." She looked again to the dozen changelings that Peacekeeper had brought. "They're not the first changelings to seek refuge here, but they are the first that expressly come because of the Temple. All the others are from the Eastern Front as Chrysalis' Empire ebbs and flows. We're constructing a few housing projects in a proper changeling style; I understand that the one in Ponyville has been destroyed."

---

Canterlot

The children slowly climbed out of where they slept one by one each with long faces. Even Spot feeling reluctant to get out of bed only to find, once again on this Wednesday morning, the reality of no longer living in Ponyville and the events of yesterday no longer seeming like a terrible nightmare. They gathered in the kitchen for breakfast, saying good morning to one another with hugs and sad glances...

"We don't have to go to the pet store if you don't want to," said Silver to the children. "I'd rather go to the polo game myself. I don't think they've cancelled today's match against Wingscotting. Unless you have something else in mind."

[The Flutterlands]

Parliament

Blind Justice, still not entirely convinced spoke up. "May I remind you that this sense of disloyalty among our allies only began since these Temple Attacks began?" she asked, "Many changelings have already began to feel disenfranchised among us, feeling betrayed and stabbed in the back. We can't really blame them though. The way these cultist act are no different than what has been done a thousand years ago. Do you really think that this proposal will show our changeling citizens that we do in fact have their best interest in mind?"

---

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper nodded sadly. "Indeed. Ponyvillie where we just came from. The death toll was... terrible. I am deeply saddened by the followers of this false All-Maker Visionary is leading." he spoke solemnly, "The death and destruction they're causing will only make things worse for Equestria and easier for The Changeling Empire. I pray that we can do all that we can do help in this time of crisis and I thank you for your great generousity.."

---

Canterlot

Spot looked up at Silver and smiled broadly. The idea of going to see a game actually sounded appealling to the little earth colt. "Okay, Silver." he spoke sweetly, "A game sounds like fun."

Bounty smiled broadly and nodded. "I think a polo game would be quite relaxing." he said, "Anyone else want to go?"

The other children all nodded in agreement. "We would love to go." they all replied happily, "Are we gonna go now?"

[Pherdistan]

Canterlot Hotel

Razor Wing began sobbing as held tight to his younger sister. For the past few days, the prince had been a broken changeling who's great work with Princess Twilight to improve pony/changeling relations was becoming all but undone. "I-i love you too, Sis and w-we're thinking of something." he spoke softly, "The Princesses and I along with other allied leaders are working on plans to challenge Visionary's Cult. We just got to do while simultaneously fighting Chrysalis."

Razor Wing broke the hug with a weak smile. "S-so how did your mission go?" he asked, "What are the Sand Changelings like?"

Fancy hugged Razor ever tighter, her arms straining, but eventually Razor broke the hug, and Fancy likewise stepped back, giving her brother a watery grin. "I-it went super great!" she began, regaining some of her lost smugness. "They were all aloof and noble and stuff, and also really shiny and gold and red. And I got them to be totally aware of those psychos who want to shoot them up," she finished, chest out and wings spread, her smile curling up from self-satisfaction.

[Frenequesta]

Parliament

Blind Justice, still not entirely convinced spoke up. "May I remind you that this sense of disloyalty among our allies only began since these Temple Attacks began?" she asked, "Many changelings have already began to feel disenfranchised among us, feeling betrayed and stabbed in the back. We can't really blame them though. The way these cultist act are no different than what has been done a thousand years ago. Do you really think that this proposal will show our changeling citizens that we do in fact have their best interest in mind?"

"Yes, I think it does," said Lopesy. "You agree that we must keep our changeling citizens safe from all threats. But the cultists are fervent and set to kill, and the long process of investigating them will mean they'll have more opportunity to do so. If we act now, and I do mean now, we will minimize the harm to what is most important to our changeling citizens. And may I point out that the changeling that shot up our cafeteria made no reference to the Temple? He talked of Chrysalis." She was starting to sweat. "We don't really know where the sentiment began, but it sounds like it has much deeper roots than just last weekend."

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper nodded sadly. "Indeed. Ponyvillie where we just came from. The death toll was... terrible. I am deeply saddened by the followers of this false All-Maker Visionary is leading." he spoke solemnly, "The death and destruction they're causing will only make things worse for Equestria and easier for The Changeling Empire. I pray that we can do all that we can do help in this time of crisis and I thank you for your great generousity.."

"You're very welcome. We have a love bank a few blocks away on Corundum Avenue; the changelings look like they need it. The local hostels have usually been able to take changelings until they can find a new home, but it seems you have a lot with you."

"It's at least a couple hundred," said the nearby guard.

"Okay," said Cadence. "Get one of the large tents from the storehouse and set it up in Central Square and bring some stoves and cots too." The guard nodded and left the room. Cadence turned back to Peacekeeper and the changelings. "We'll have something set up for you shortly."

Canterlot

Spot looked up at Silver and smiled broadly. The idea of going to see a game actually sounded appealling to the little earth colt. "Okay, Silver." he spoke sweetly, "A game sounds like fun."

Bounty smiled broadly and nodded. "I think a polo game would be quite relaxing." he said, "Anyone else want to go?"

The other children all nodded in agreement. "We would love to go." they all replied happily, "Are we gonna go now?"

"The game doesn't start until one P.M. so we have a bit of time," said Silver.

"Maybe we could go to Dr. Stable's first?" asked Spike.

"Wouldn't you have to make an appointment?" Silver queried.

"No, Dr. Stable takes walk-ins. At least, he did when we were living here..." Spike tried to forget that even then it usually took several hours to see him in non-emergency situations.

"Well, I suppose we could try, but then again the seats to the game can fill up quick and we don't want to be stuck on the grass. We should get there at least an hour early. Does that thing in your throat hurt?"

"A little. I'm just worried about not being able to breathe fire. What if I need to send something to Celestia?"

"Alright, we'll go. But if we have to wait too long we'll have to put it off for tomorrow..."

---

Fortunately the trip to Dr. Stable didn't last too long. He was able to see Spike immediately. After running through some tests he found that Spike's fire glands were scarred and even burned in spots, and that he would need to go into surgery to fix them. Dr. Stable had never done surgery on a dragon before (like almost all pony doctors), and his own understanding of dragon anatomy was still fairly basic, so it would be a couple of weeks before he could do anything. In the meantime Dr. Stable prescribed an antibiotic, to be taken every couple of days, in case an infection sprouted up. If he couldn't figure out the surgery within a month, he would have to start looking for other surgeons to recommend.

Silver, Spike, and the children came to the Canterlot Polo Grounds at fifteen minutes past noon, and were able to get an luxury suite facing one of the smaller sides of the field--not optimal but still giving a view of the whole field at a glance. Usually these suites came with all-you-can-eat buffet catering services but with the rationing system the arena owners charged extra and several rationing stamps for it. Silver didn't think the extra cost was worth it, so he simply paid for the room over Black Hawk's objections. So Silver, Spike, and the children would have to go down to the concession stands like every other spectator for their lunch. The lines were long before the first chukka, but it looked like the group could get their food before then.

In front of the children was a metallic-brown coated and patina-green-maned pegasus colt with his mother, pacing around her and occasionally expressing his impatience. By chance he saw Pitch Black among the ponies behind him, and flew out of line and over to him. "Hey, you look like the kid my dad's been talking about. I'm--"

"Copperfield, come back or you'll miss your place!" his mother called.

Copperfield blushed. "Uh, why don't you come up with me, I'm sure my mom won't mind," he said to Pitch, and turned back and flew back to his spot.

[The Flutterlands]

Razor Wing

Razor Wing chuckled at Fancy's boasting. If things really did work out great like she said, his sister deserved this moment to boast. "They sound wonderful Sis." he spoke cheerfully, "And I'm happy to know that they've been warned about the impending danger. Anything else about the sand changelings? They're such an extraordinary people yet so mysterious... Are you hungry? Perhaps we can speak more of this during a nice brunch."

---

Parliment

"I don't know where the sentiment came from ether." Blind Justice replied, "However, the shooter have not been recognized by any of our allies. So it maybe a random sympathizer, as they do tend to exist. Or it may be a spy. Ether way, it's completely possible that shooter was never loyal to us to begin with."

The purple mare sighed. "Anyway, when will our changeling citizens be allowed to return and have their property returned?" she asked, "Can we think of ways to do this without making them feel... unwelcomed?"

---

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper bowed his head to the princess of love. "Thank you, your highness." he spoke politely, "Every bit of help you offer affects most greatly. Hopefully there's a way me and my people can repay you for your great kindness and love. I understand that some of my people have already settled here a month ago to spread our word of love and altruism."

---

"The game doesn't start until one P.M. so we have a bit of time," said Silver.

"Maybe we could go to Dr. Stable's first?" asked Spike.

"Wouldn't you have to make an appointment?" Silver queried.

"No, Dr. Stable takes walk-ins. At least, he did when we were living here..." Spike tried to forget that even then it usually took several hours to see him in non-emergency situations.

"Well, I suppose we could try, but then again the seats to the game can fill up quick and we don't want to be stuck on the grass. We should get there at least an hour early. Does that thing in your throat hurt?"

"A little. I'm just worried about not being able to breathe fire. What if I need to send something to Celestia?"

"Alright, we'll go. But if we have to wait too long we'll have to put it off for tomorrow..."

---

Silver, Spike, and the children came to the Canterlot Polo Grounds at fifteen minutes past noon, and were able to get an luxury suite facing one of the smaller sides of the field--not optimal but still giving a view of the whole field at a glance. Usually these suites came with all-you-can-eat buffet catering services but with the rationing system the arena owners charged extra and several rationing stamps for it. Silver didn't think the extra cost was worth it, so he simply paid for the room over Black Hawk's objections. So Silver, Spike, and the children would have to go down to the concession stands like every other spectator for their lunch. The lines were long before the first chukka, but it looked like the group could get their food before then.

In front of the children was a metallic-brown coated and patina-green-maned pegasus colt with his mother, pacing around her and occasionally expressing his impatience. By chance he saw Pitch Black among the ponies behind him, and flew out of line and over to him. "Hey, you look like the kid my dad's been talking about. I'm--"

"Copperfield, come back or you'll miss your place!" his mother called.

Copperfield blushed. "Uh, why don't you come up with me, I'm sure my mom won't mind," he said to Pitch, and turned back and flew back to his spot.

Polo Game

Pitch Black and the other children were gathered in line at the concession stand, chatting to one another. Black Hawk was still somewhat upset about missing out on all-you-can-eat buffet, but glad to get food nonetheless and was excited as much as the other children about watching the big game. As they continued waiting, the talk turning to Spike's condition, Pitch Black cought sight of a metallic-brown coated and patina-green-maned pegasus colt. He blinked upon hearing his name 'Copperfield' and nodded. "S-sure." he spoke, before turning to his step-children, "I think I see some family. I'll see you guys later."

Without saying much else, Pitch Black galloped towards Copperfield and his mother. "Hey, you use to be my Dad's wife, right?" he asked the mare upon approaching me, "Copperfield spotted ne and offered me to come over..."

[Frenequesta]

Parliment

"I don't know where the sentiment came from ether." Blind Justice replied, "However, the shooter have not been recognized by any of our allies. So it maybe a random sympathizer, as they do tend to exist. Or it may be a spy. Ether way, it's completely possible that shooter was never loyal to us to begin with."

The purple mare sighed. "Anyway, when will our changeling citizens be allowed to return and have their property returned?" she asked, "Can we think of ways to do this without making them feel... unwelcomed?"

"Ah yes. Our military needs flexibility for that. We can't dictate a date, for some of the work may not yet be done. I would imagine that once the Temple situation can be taken care of, they will be able to return. But the concern is valid. I hope we can work something out in committee," said Lopesy blankly. As far as she was concerned, Blind Justice was from but a small minority, who couldn't appreciate special measures for special circumstances.

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper bowed his head to the princess of love. "Thank you, your highness." he spoke politely, "Every bit of help you offer affects most greatly. Hopefully there's a way me and my people can repay you for your great kindness and love. I understand that some of my people have already settled here a month ago to spread our word of love and altruism."

"If they have I have not heard of it," said Cadence. "But your group is more than welcome nonetheless.

"And I don't expect anything in return," continued Cadence, shyly smiling. "Our protections are a matter of law and the services are publicly funded in one way or another."

"That means they'll eventually have to pay taxes," said one of the guards.

"We can deal with that later," replied Cadence. Turning back to Peacekeeper, she said "Anyway, a state's first duty is to look out for the welfare of its people, whether they have just arrived or have lived there their entire lives. In fact, I'll be sure that the new mounds give priority to your refugees."

The guard who directed the set-up of the tents came up to the Princess. "Your highness, everything is outside and underway. It should be up within the next thirty minutes."

"Excellent," said Cadence. She turned back to Peacekeeper. "Again, you all are very welcome to take advantage of our asylum. Central Square is right on the south side of the castle."

Right then an advisor came in and approached the Princess. "Your highness, is this a good time?"

"I'm just about finished," she said.

"Good, we've just got some reports from the special Parliament session down in Canterlot that you probably should know."

"Alright," she said, and, saying goodbye to Peacekeeper and the group of changelings in front of her, departed with the advisor. They came to a nearby room and sat opposite each other, the advisor conjuring up a short stack of notes from her pocket dimension.

"Okay, the leading proposal that's circulating in Parliament is quite troubling on more than one level. First, based on a suggestion of some of the top military command of the Royal Guard--but curiously not your husband--is a wholesale relocation of all changelings in Equestria. Everything about it seems nothing more than their discrimination and harassment."

"That's very troubling..." Cadence gasped.

"Indeed. Fortunately, because the Crystal Empire, as you know, has a greater degree of sovereignty than other municipalities in Equestria, they shouldn't be able to reach the changelings here. I wouldn't put it past them to try though. There's no express exemption for the Crystal Empire anywhere in this. But there's a couple of other things that are going to have an immediate impact... for example, the funding for Housing Assistance has been cut 15% across the board, and the contractors on the projects--future and current--can order a renegotiation procedure at any time and for practically any reason, stopping any performance during that time. And since the Office here is run directly from Canterlot..."

"The mounds and the Ruby Road Project might just be left to rot?"

"Or at least significantly scaled down. Now, this is just the first draft, but I know that many provisions in big bills like this often get overlooked and therefore not scrutinized. If this does go through, you might have to make some big changes...."

Princess Cadence listened to the advisor's descriptions with a troubled conscience. Should she tell Peacekeeper about this? Should she speak out against it? Should she just tap her hooves and hope that the legislative process will weed all the bad provisions out? Usually the Crystal Empire deferred to whatever mainland Equestrian programs and laws did come in to the realm, but this certainly seemed different.

...In front of the children was a metallic-brown coated and patina-green-maned pegasus colt with his mother, pacing around her and occasionally expressing his impatience. By chance he saw Pitch Black among the ponies behind him, and flew out of line and over to him. "Hey, you look like the kid my dad's been talking about. I'm--"

"Copperfield, come back or you'll miss your place!" his mother called.

Copperfield blushed. "Uh, why don't you come up with me, I'm sure my mom won't mind," he said to Pitch, and turned back and flew back to his spot.

Polo Game

Pitch Black and the other children were gathered in line at the concession stand, chatting to one another. Black Hawk was still somewhat upset about missing out on all-you-can-eat buffet, but glad to get food nonetheless and was excited as much as the other children about watching the big game. As they continued waiting, the talk turning to Spike's condition, Pitch Black cought sight of a metallic-brown coated and patina-green-maned pegasus colt. He blinked upon hearing his name 'Copperfield' and nodded. "S-sure." he spoke, before turning to his step-children, "I think I see some family. I'll see you guys later."

Without saying much else, Pitch Black galloped towards Copperfield and his mother. "Hey, you use to be my Dad's wife, right?" he asked the mare upon approaching me, "Copperfield spotted ne and offered me to come over..."

Iris Glider looked down at Pitch Black with a frown. "Hmm. So you're the kid my ex had kept from me. Well then," she said, and turned around and faced the concession stand.

Copperfield raised an eyebrow and turned to Pitch. "I-I don't get it. Dad has said so many great things about you and I've told her all about it." The line moved along without Iris turning back, and Copperfield continued to pace, albeit much more quietly and further from her.

---

Griffon Kingdom

Sparkling Coffee had been running on empty for months. No matter how much she tried to cajole Guto II and his officials into helping Equestria she was met with delay after delay. Of course, she knew why: the Griffon Kingdom was in shambles, more concerned with trying to revive its domestic economy than working on foreign policy. Even a promise of more favorable trade terms was worrisome to Parliament back home on one hoof and undercut by the blockades of the eastern ports on the other, however weak they were before Philip started helping the Changeling Empire.

Philip.

The wisteria-coated, dark brown-maned unicorn diplomat had finally found a new tactic. She had just gotten intelligence from the Defense Bureau indicating that Philip had struck the deal with the Empire specifically for them to aid him in his return to the Griffon Kingdom to reclaim the throne. The Griffon Kingdom was now facing a direct threat; if that would not persuade them to join nothing would.

She went up to a guard in front of the rotting doors to King Guto II's throne room, and addressed him. "Sir, I know that the King's been very busy mulling over his options, but I have something very important to tell him--an old enemy is coming back."

[The Flutterlands]

Parliment

Blind Justice sighed. "A couple last quesions." she replied, "What makes you think changelings won't see this as pure discrimination and harassment? Will this bill affect the Crystal Empire? It has been for some time a great haven for changelings everywhere and they're currently undergoing major projects building changeling homes. These projects won't be made to be left in the dust by these tax increases will they? Nor will the changelings there be made to be relocated, will they? Lastly, you said that many high military commanders support this bill, but you didn't mention Shing Armour. Is there a reason for this?"

---

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper smiled and bowed his head thank you, your highness." he said earnestly, "You have our most sincere gratitude."

The bat pony watched Princess Cadence leave and gathered with his followers and the changelings to leave for the camps. Outside, he began hearing word of another group of changelings and Peacekeepers entering the region. "Strange." he muttered, "I wonder where they came from. Could they be more refugees from Ponyville?"

In Cadence's roomSuddenly a guard bursted inside in a rush. "Your highness." the guard cried out urgently, "We have a new group of changelings at our borders led by more Peacekeepers. They have said they came from Salt Lick City due to warnings of yet another Temple Terrorist Attack."

---

Polo Race

Pitch Black shrugged. "I don't get it ether." the young black unicorn colt said, "I'd guess she's still upset about dad doing... well, you know... with another mare. I mean I'm sure my girlfriend, Olive Oil, would be upset if I started dating another girl."

Pitch Black sighed sadly. "So how are you doing, brother?" he asked Copperfield, "Things have been kind of down since those temple jetks took our home away, but I'm getting excited for the game. Are you getting excited?"

---

The Griffin Kingdom

The guards sighed as they saw mare approach them, but they raised eyebrows as she spoke. Really, they were getting annoyed by the diplomat's constant begging. As much as they wanted to help, the Griffin Kingdom just didn't have the budget or resources to join a full-scale war on behalf of a forgien state. However, as they listened to their vistor, debated one another before ultimately letting her in.

Inside, Guto II was discussing domestic policy with officals and signing bills as he always have been doing. He glanced to see the diplomat and sighed sadly. "For the last time, Madman, but we don't have the resources to help you in your troubles. We just don't have the capabilities to fight your war." he said, "Unless of course, you wish to speak of something else..."

[Frenequesta]

Parliment

Blind Justice sighed. "A couple last quesions." she replied, "What makes you think changelings won't see this as pure discrimination and harassment? Will this bill affect the Crystal Empire? It has been for some time a great haven for changelings everywhere and they're currently undergoing major projects building changeling homes. These projects won't be made to be left in the dust by these tax cuts will they? Nor will the changelings there be made to be relocated, will they? Lastly, you said that many high military commanders support this bill, but you didn't mention Shing Armour. Is there a reason for this?"

"What makes you think that the projects will be "left behind" by a tax increase? And the changes to Housing Assistance have actually been talked about for years, and nothing's stopping the Crystal Empire from putting up more of its funds. I do not know why Shining Armor's name isn't on that letter, but it hardly is relevant to the merits of this proposal."

Lopesy's ear with the hole twitched. The enfranchisement of Crystal Empire denizens had actually been a plank in the Rose Party's platform--though one that was more relevant to places like Whinnyapolis and Vanhoofer--and remembered Smoky Topaz's private, subtle hints on that point. "W-we still are trying to figure out whether the Sovereignty Nexus Doctrine of the Crystal Empire should limit the powers of Equestria in this case."

She was sweating even more. She hoped Radiant would speak up soon.

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper smiled and bowed his head thank you, your highness." he said earnestly, "You have our most sincere gratitude."

The bat pony watched Princess Cadence leave and gathered with his followers and the changelings to leave for the camps. Outside, he began hearing word of another group of changelings and Peacekeepers entering the region. "Strange." he muttered, "I wonder where they came from. Could they be more refugees from Ponyville?"

In Cadence's room

Suddenly a guard bursted inside in a rush. "Your highness." the guard cried out urgently, "We have a new group of changelings at our borders led by more Peacekeepers. They have said they came from Salt Lick City due to warnings of yet another Temple Terrorist Attack."

Cadence looked up from her notes from the advisor. "Set up another tent at Beryl Park and direct them there."
---
A short time later Cadence came outside to the Central Square tent to search out Peacekeeper. She saw him sharing a hot pea and carrot soup with a changeling. "Peacekeeper, I think I should tell you... The special meeting in Parliament today is not looking great for changelings. There's a general relocation of changelings going around and we'll be losing funds for the mounds projects. For now you should be safe here though. I just hope Princess Celestia will reject it."

Polo Race

Pitch Black shrugged. "I don't get it ether." the young black unicorn colt said, "I'd guess she's still upset about dad doing... well, you know... with another mare. I mean I'm sure my girlfriend, Olive Oil, would be upset if I started dating another girl."

Pitch Black sighed sadly. "So how are you doing, brother?" he asked Copperfield, "Things have been kind of down since those temple jetks took our home away, but I'm getting excited for the game. Are you getting excited?"

"I sure am!" Copperfield buzzed with excitement. "These games are so exciting with the way the players chase the ball and whack it around. I'm actually a Number Four in a junior league during the spring and it's a lot of fun! I hope I can make Number Three someday."

The line moved on and Silver, Spike, and the children got their food--a variety of tofu-bean veggie burgers, soy-falafel frankfurters, curly hay fries, polenta chips and cheese, oat poppers, grilled alfalfa salads, and sodas--just two minutes before the game was to begin. As the children got their food, Copperfield begged his mother to go up with them.

"I don't know, who's looking after them?" Iris wondered.

Silver noticed this and came up. "I am," he said. "Major Silver Shield, counsel to Princess Twilight Sparkle and former head of the Royal Guard in Ponyville. It's very nice to meet you, Miss Glider."

"It's nice to meet you too," replied Iris unenthusiastically. But she nodded. "He seems good enough, sure, you can go up, Copperfield."

"Yay!" Copperfield cried, and followed Pitch up to the suite.

The Griffin Kingdom

The guards sighed as they saw mare approach them, but they raised eyebrows as she spoke. Really, they were getting annoyed by the diplomat's constant begging. As much as they wanted to help, the Griffin Kingdom just didn't have the budget or resources to join a full-scale war on behalf of a forgien state. However, as they listened to their vistor, debated one another before ultimately letting her in.

Inside, Guto II was discussing domestic policy with officals and signing bills as he always have been doing. He glanced to see the diplomat and sighed sadly. "For the last time, Madman, but we don't have the resources to help you in your troubles. We just don't have the capabilities to fight your war." he said, "Unless of course, you wish to speak of something else..."

"Actually, yes," said Sparkling Coffee. "The war in Equestria has taken quite a turn. The Empire has taken most of Eastern Coast in just a few short days. And they have a new commander--Philip Blackwing."

She paused to let the name sink in, and then took out a couple of files from her pocket dimension. "I have some intelligence from the Defense Bureau indicating that Philip is using his alliance with the Empire to personally gain from the spoils of war. He's already accumulated enough to raise a small army of his own... and given the last civil war you've been in, he might be coming after you next. If nothing else, you should remain on guard for him."

[Fascist Russian Empire]

His Royal Majesty, Lord Philip Blackwing, King of the Griffins,
The Griffin Kingdom

"Keep working, you filthy gits!" Lord Philip shouted at the dozens of exhausted pony slaves operating the small naval vessel, his commanding and intimidating demeanor helping to keep them hard at work. The mountains and forests of the griffin homeland could be seen, on the horizon, growing ever closer as the ship drew nearer. Far in the distance, the massive spires of Griffonstone were visible; even after decades of abject poverty, and recent devastation by civil war, it still stood as an everlasting testament to the strength and perpetuity of the griffin nation. Much closer, on the coastline, was a moderately large fishing town, Philip's intended destination. After a while of further sailing, the ship reached the large docks of the town, and was anchored.

Leaving behind three of his kinsmen to guard the vessel (and keep the slaves in check), Philip, Turrak, and the rest of the Blackwings stepped off onto the pier; it was clear that the structure had seen better days, with the wood showing a pretty clear lack of proper maintenance. They had arrived in Clawston City; formerly, the Griffin Kingdom's first and foremost coastal settlement and a major commercial hub, a prosperous and populous city, with shipyards, shipping companies, and fisheries all thriving. After the failure of King Guto to protect the Idol of Boreas, it had turned into a husk of its former self, like all the rest of the Kingdom's localities; where wealth used to flow like wine, the city was now plagued with overwhelming poverty and unemployment, with nearly all the businesses having closed their doors and moved elsewhere. It was the strongest center of support for Philip's claim to the throne, with reactionary sentiment being especially fueled by the city's particularly desolate economic situation.

"The King has returned!" one of the griffins on the docks cried out, with a huge crowd of people suddenly rushing to see the return of King Philip for themselves.

"I have indeed returned, and I come bearing the news that the death of Guto's degenerate son is fast approaching! I have triumphantly marched to victory against the pony nation, and return with vast riches in the form of both coin and slaves. The spoils of Equestria's crushing defeats shall now fund the demise of the Groverian dynasty, and the purification of our kingdom." Philip declared.

"Gods save the King!" the crowds shouted.

"So, our rightful monarch is back from his escapades across the ocean?" an elderly griffin wearing a white military uniform (decorated with many medals) and a small crown said, the crowds parting to make way for him. It was the local lord, Count Troius Clawston; King Philip's strongest supporter amongst the griffin aristocracy.

"I've heard about your recent martial accomplishments...Most impressive, to say the least. Feats of true mettle, carried out by a true griffin warrior. Why, I reckon the world hasn't seen such tremendous glory since King Grover himself!" the Count continued, walking in front of Philip.

"By the grace of Providence, I am a highborn Blackwing; divine blood flows through my body. Glory is my birthright, my sacred destiny as King of the Griffins. Would you expect anything less from me?" Philip responded.

"Of course not, my King. It would be ridiculous to imagine anything less than the very best coming from the noble houses of our kingdom; excellence is in our nature, bestowed upon us by the Gods themselves via our highborn blood. You and I, we understand this fact; we recognize our inherent superiority over the peasantry, and all lesser classes. I wish that some of the other nobles could come to the same realization." Count Troius said.

King Philip was quite popular with most of the griffin nobility, on account of his steadfast support of feudal hierarchy and his unyielding dedication to the belief that the aristocracy is entitled by divine right to enjoy a uniquely privileged position in society. The rural aristocracy, especially, tended to be very supportive of the Blackwing cause, and was generous in offering Philip support during his initial war for the throne. The nobles in the capital city, however, alongside some of the other urbanized noble families, had much more of a pro-Guto leaning; not only did the city-griffins have access to far nicer living conditions than the griffins in rural villages (making them far more likely to be content with the status-quo), it was largely in their political interests to keep Guto II on the throne. The Cursed King was quite easily manipulated, and, having easy access to his court, the nobles in Griffonstone had been hard at work for years engaging in intrigues to advance their own agendas; having a strongman like Philip secure the throne would shatter their ability to take advantage of the weakness of the royal family, thus making it more desirable for them to volunteer their levies in defense of the status-quo.

"The die has been cast; everyone has decided what side of the firing line to stand on. When the Cursed King lay dead at my talons, and I sit, unopposed, upon the Throne of Griffonstone, due punishment will be delivered to those who stood against me and my rightful claim to the Crown. Our sacred tradition dictates that only the strongest griffin may sit upon the Throne, and my strength has been made evident for the whole world to behold." Philip responded.

"Indeed, it is so. The race-traitors will suffer the consequences of their actions once their corrupt, decadent, disgustingly libertine regime has been toppled once and for all. Speaking of which, I suppose your return means we have war-related business to discuss?" the Count said.

"Of course." Philip answered.

"Well, then, follow me, if you please; we can speak further in my manor, where we won't be surrounded by gawkers." the Count replied.

After a brief walk through the dilapidated streets of Clawston City, overrun with poverty and full to the brim with run-down or abandoned buildings, Philip, his family, and Count Troius arrived at the large mansion at the center of the settlement which served as the place of residence for the city's ruling family. It was clear that not even the aristocratic elites of the Griffin Kingdom had escaped the major economic drain created by the loss of the Idol of Boreas; the building was in far better condition than the rest of the city, but it still had a somewhat poorly-maintained appearance, and only had a very small number of servants and staff. It was a residence of merely moderate luxury, a big downgrade considering it used to be one of the finest estates in the world, with the Clawston family formerly having an abundance of wealth.

"Alright, now that we have some privacy, I suspect you'll want some intel about our current situation?" the Count asked.

"That is correct." Philip responded.

"Well, it's about what you would expect from a spineless coward like Guto. The Cursed King and his army of race-traitors may have given us a few setbacks on the battlefield, but, as is typical for his administration, he has failed to make any sort of real effort to solidify and consolidate his control over the Kingdom. After our army's failure to overcome the enemy, and the Cursed King's subsequent re-occupation of the Kingdom, their idea of preventing further agitation against the illegitimate rule of Grover's dynasty was what they called disarmament. They seized whatever weapons they could find from my own army and the armies of the other aristocrats who recognize you as the legitimate King, and wrote some pathetic law limiting the size of our retinues." the Count explained.

The Griffin Kingdom had always had a somewhat decentralized military force. Every noble house had its own army, and operated independently from the King's personal army. While the feudal lords were obligated to lend their armies to the Crown in the event of war, the military as a whole still had a decentralized structure, giving a lot of leeway for nobles to have control over their retinues. The system was old, created during the early days of the Griffin Kingdom's unification, as a way to keep the aristocracy happy; ending the semi-autonomous status of the nobles, after many centuries of feudal privileges, would have created a lot of internal turmoil and discontent. Indeed, whereas Equestria had had a powerful central authority for quite some time, the Griffin Kingdom had always had a much more decentralized system of governance; the King still possessed a lot of political power, being the strongest authority in the country, but feudalism was a deeply ingrained facet of griffin culture, with the rights and privileges of the nobility being a traditional expectation.

"Ha! As if some worthless piece of paper is going to stop true griffin warriors like us from raising armies to crush the race-traitors and take back our country. It figures that a degenerate coward like him would be too afraid to actually take real action. A true griffin never backs down; the Gods favor the fearless and bold above all others. While it's true that budget constraints would normally be an obstacle blocking us from rearming our military and driving the race-traitors out of our Kingdom, I have, of course, found a way to bypass that problem, as is to be expected of someone of my birth and stature. I have millions of bits and a hefty amount of valuable goods, looted from the pony nation; enough to buy thousands of firearms, along with provisions and supplies for our army. All we need to do is get a contract with a supplier, then we'll be able to rearm our armies." Philip said.

"I believe I have a suitable company in mind. I've been researching arms dealers for a few days, now, with the intention of eventually rebuilding my army. We were, of course, able to hide a portion of our weaponry from the race-traitors, but we still need to buy a large quantity of new provisions in order to recreate an effective fighting force. Money was the only problem; our economy just doesn't produce enough cash for us to afford large-scale weapon transactions. I suppose you've resolved that issue, now. Give me as much money as you can afford, and I'll set about buying all the guns, ammo, armor, and rations I can; we should be able to swiftly outfit a proper army, here, and drive out the enemy. We can worry about funding the armies of the other lords later; for the time being, House Clawston can make use of your budget." the Count said.

"Right; see to it at once. I've got entire cart-fulls of loot waiting at the docks, take it all; I've been needing a place to store it all, anyway. Build the finest army you possibly can, no expenses spared. In the meantime, I'm crossing the sea once again, on a...state visit of sorts, in Manehattan. With any luck, I'll be able to get an ace in the hole to use against the Cursed King; not that I would count on it." Philip ordered.

A few million bits wasn't a particularly massive sum of money by Equestrian standards; not when it came to government expenditures, anyway. Equestria was a quite wealthy country, and could easily afford to spend top dollar on its endeavors. The Griffin Kingdom, however, had no such luxury; the taxpayers were poor and, by extension, so was their government. With destitute poverty being so rampant, the government had a major problem when it came to raising funds; as such, a sudden influx of several million bits would make a large difference by griffin standards.

"I'll get to work straight away. We shouldn't need to worry about interference from the race-traitors; not for the time being, anyway. They don't have enough money to fund garrisons in the settlements loyal to our cause, so we should be able to operate with impunity. Even when word reaches the enemy about what we're up to, it's doubtful that they'll be bold enough to come and face us on the battlefield." the Count said, giving a salute before heading out with Philip to begin the first steps towards rearmament.

Without delay, Count Troius and some of his workers gathered up all the bits and valuables which Philip and his comrades had looted in Equestria, storing them in the town's treasury to be swiftly spent on weapons and other military provisions. Once that was finished, Philip and his entourage got on their ship and set sail for Manehattan.

The Visionary Rebellion,
Salt Lick City

As the course of the battle proceeded, the rebels gradually extended their zone of control throughout SLC, securing strategic positions throughout the city. Frenzied, and filled with zealous fervor from the intervention of their patron deity, the rebel militias struck relentlessly at the Royal Guard across the city, rather swiftly advancing. Mercy and hesitation were rare commodities, to say the least; the commanding voice of a divine entity was certainly a strong motivator for ponies to shoot to kill. Needless to say, the sudden and quite lethal interventions of the All-Maker had a much different impact on the enemy; wanton destruction carried out by a godlike figure was most certainly not particularly beneficial towards the morale of Celestia's soldiers.

"Onwards, soldiers of the All-Maker; strike at the transgressors, no mercy for the wicked!" Visionary shouted, firing a rifle at a group of Royal Guards, alongside many other rebel soldiers.

The sounds of battle were omnipresent; the rebels never let up, making a constant advance and continuously assaulting the enemy. From time to time, small natural disasters would strike throughout the city, always selectively targeting loyalist positions, much to the benefit of the rebel army. The progress towards the occupation of SLC was being made at a decent pace; it would, of course, take time to happen, but the rebels were making steady progress. Then, the sounds of a megaphone filled the area, coming from some enemy operative in armor.

"So, the Celestial snakes are trying to worm their way out of justice? So swift to turn their backs on what few values they had left; so swift to switch sides when they realize they've chosen incorrectly. Pitiful, simply pitiful. And, yet, we're expected to believe that they're the good guys; that Celestia and her government are here to protect us. Hmph." Visionary commented, taking a brief break from battle, alongside Iron Rose, scoffing at the fickle nature of the politicians loyal to the diarchy.

"They must take us for fools. We are the winning side, we're routing the enemy in every engagement; the city is falling into our hooves, street by street. We'll crush Celestia's garrison like the worthless vermin they are, soon enough; then, the city will be ours in its entirety. Our victory is inevitable; it's within our power to take everything here, yet they're foolish enough to expect us to settle for almost nothing." Iron Rose commented.

"I suppose they're simply incapable of comprehending the fact that we fight with divine jurisdiction; that our cause has been ordained by Providential decree. We fight in the name of the All-Maker; as He wills it, so it shall be, and the All-Maker settles for nothing less than total victory. To think, these snakes expect us to betray the lord of creation for the sake of a few worthless office jobs; pathetic, simply pathetic. I must wonder, do they honestly believe we're stupid or greedy enough to abandon our cause for such a pitiful bribe, or are they just so utterly incompetent at diplomacy that they legitimately believe this to be a fair and equitable deal? Or, perhaps they are just out of touch with reality, and fail to recognize our dominant position here. Either way, I'll never make a single compromise with enemies of the All-Maker; I've dedicated my life to serving His will, and certainly don't intend to stop for the pathetic promise of a worthless desk job." Visionary said.

"What a bunch of privileged little snowflakes, expecting us to blindly follow whatever they tell us. I doubt they'll be making these sorts of pathetic offers when they're burning at the stake, or hanging from the gallows. We compromise with neither abominations nor abomination-sympathizers; that is the All-Maker's will." Iron Rose said.

"As if we could trust anything they offer us, anyway. Celestia is a snake, a traitor, the biggest deceiver in our nation's history; her little goons are equally untrustworthy. I ought to tell them just as much." Visionary said.

Before Visionary could actually prepare a response of his own to the offer provided by the city's government, he was beaten to the punch by his superior.

"Lies...deceit...treachery..." the All-Maker's voice emanated throughout the city; it was barely a whisper, yet simultaneously heard throughout all of SLC.

"The Celestial snakes think themselves to be cunning; they believe they can weasel their way out of any situation...Unfortunately for you, Waterforge, I see straight past your pathetic little attempt at subterfuge. As I speak, Celestia's lackeys here in Salt-Lick City offer their pitiful replication of diplomacy; they provide lies, seeking to fool me into walking in their trap. Fools, all of them...I have lived for millennia; I've seen every kind of treachery imaginable, and more. Yet, these imbeciles still delude themselves into believing their idiotic plan will work..." the All-Maker whispered across the city.

"Pathetic! Waterforge, you worthless parasite, I refuse your little 'offer'! I will burn away corruption from all the dark corners of the world; I will massacre all the transgressing peoples of this world! I will purge Equestria of both abominations and their sympathizers, and nothing will stop me because I am a God! Stand in my way and I will crush you! Summon your armies, summon your pathetic Princesses; I'll destroy anything that stands between me and a purified Equestria!" the All-Maker shouted, dramatically increasing in volume. As he did so, the ground started vibrating throughout the city, softly shaking.

"I make no compromises, period. Do as I command and the rewards will be immense; defy me, and I can promise nothing but suffering and death. Let there be no mistake; my mercy does not extend to those who wage war against my truth. I am firm and unyielding against degeneracy of any form; I will strike at the profligates until transgression is no more, and the entire world has been made pure. Heed my command, ponies of Equestria; kill evildoers and abominations wherever you find them, strike relentlessly at them! Massacre the monsters of this world until death has befallen all who would dare to wage war on righteousness! Do this; this is the All-Maker's command!" the All-Maker finished.

Ponyville

"The time has come for justice to be enacted against these traitorous vermin. I'm certain they're feeding information to the enemy; we're going to find the proof, and when we do, we're going to execute every last one of them for their crimes." Deep Insight said to his fellow Inquisitors (all dressed in distinctive red robes). About nine of them in total (including Deep Insight) stood in the vicinity of Sweet Apple Acres, each well armed with guns (with the exception of Deep Insight, who preferred to utilize magic as a weapon).

"Let's move in; we're going to surround their farmhouse, break in, and detain everypony inside. Once the locals are subdued, we'll start a comprehensive search for any sort of incriminating evidence we can use against them." Deep Insight ordered, he and his squad of Inquisitors proceeding to trot up to the Apple Family's farmhouse and surround it; armed Inquisitors took positions all around the building, to ensure nopony could escape their grasp. Once everypony was in their position, Deep Insight magically forced open the door to the house and, with two armed Inquisitors by his side, marched into the building.

"Hold it right there, criminal scum! The Inquisition has found sufficient reason to suspect the Apple Family is perpetrating espionage activities against the Temple of Vision; we're here to conduct a thorough search of the premises to confirm our suspicions. You two are to remain right where you are, under armed guard; a lack of cooperation will earn you a summary execution. Do I make myself clear?" Deep Insight shouted to the two Apples inside the house.

[The Flutterlands]

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper frowned deeply upon hearing the news from Cadence. He got out of the chair he was resting in while sharing soup and began to pace around, thinking about the proposal in Parliament. "Mph. This is terrible." Peacekeeper muttered, "What exactly would relocating accomplish? What we did was evacuation, but this sounds different and sounds more like a form of harassment to appease Visionary..."

Peacekeeper looked around, glancing at the many changeling newcomers. "I assume that you have heard of this second wave of refugees that came in from Salt Lick City." he spoke sadly, "They left before Visionary attacked them with a great army. What could be driving such reckless hate?"

---

Polo Game

"Oh cool!" repled Pitch Black, excited to here Copperpot's , "I've been wanting to join the Polo team at my school. Looking forward to doing so next year at Middle School and gonna try to be the best Polo playing unicorn wizard ever!."

Pitch Black smiled as Iris allowed Copperfield to join him and his friends and led him to the suite. "Hey guys!" he shouted, as the young black unicorn galloped inside, "Meet my brother, Copperfield."

The other children, each enjoying their food, all smiled broadly upon seeing the young pegasus and stepped forward to meet him. "Nice to meet you, Copperfield." Bounty Hunt greeted, "I guess being Pitch Black's half brother makes nine, now. Including Spike, that is. My name's Bounty Hunt. I've known Pitch since we were infants."

Bounty then introduced the others to Copperfield and Olive Oil happily stepped forward. "So you're one of Pitch's brothers" she asked with a sweet smile, "Such a plesure to meet you. I'm Pitch's girlfriend. Your brother is such a gentlecolt and sweet, too."

---

Griffin Kingdom

King Guto blinked and cocked his head at the mention of Philip. Great concern came to his eyes and he gave his officals a nod of dismissal. Once the room was empty save for Philip, Sparkling Coffee, and the guards, the king approached the diplomat. "Your news chsnges everything, mam." he whispered harshly, the terror evident in his voice, "Philip is a war mongerer and conquerer. I thank you greatly for this news and I'll be sure to increase security. I just now wish I could ask for Celestia's aid, knowing how busy she is in that bloody war of hers."

---

Manehatten

Philip was quite welcome in the Changeling Empire. He was escorted by special guards along a path to avoid the ongoing Siege from the Equestrian Alliance still in a stalemate long since it had begun. Once inside tne Imperial Capital, wrapped in the web-like slime of the Changelings, the Griffin Lord was brought inside Empress Chrysalis's throne room, decorated with the traditional decore of ancient Changeling Tradition going back thousands of years.

Inside, hundreds of Changelings did gather, many of them were of Nobility with about a dozen obviously being Kings and Queens from their own hive or colony. These rulers have obviously sworn allegiance, willingly or not since the beginning, and have been at the Empress's side ever since.

Empress Chrysalis, meanwhile, sat on her throne of black stone, which swallowed all other magic except for changeling magic. One with the knowledge could tell that this was one of the causes of the great stalemate between the Empire and the Alliance. As long as the throne remained in tact, there could be no hope of victory over the once great City by the alliance.

Chrysalis smiled as Philip approached and raised her holely hoof. "Welcome, Lord Philip." she spoke with great authority, "I've had been wanting to meet you for a long time since you came under our ranks. I wish to grant you a special reward for your great service to the Empire, especially the most impressive taking of Fillydelphia. Lord Philip, I wish declae you... Head and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Military. All of my forces from the highest general to the lowliest private would be yours to command. Continue your great work, giving victory to the Empire to take back what's rightfully ours and I'll give you full permission to use my army to take back what's rightfully yours. Does this sound like a deal? You will be supervised of course so you don't do anything foolish and you'll have to answer to me... I'm not an idiot, I'm just impressed with your history and ways of conquest."

[Frenequesta]

Salt Lick City

The voice of the All-Maker boomed again to the bunker below the hall as the leaders listened to his condemnation. Waterforge stood petrified, his head cocked up to the ceiling and his mouth agape.

Sapphire trotted up to Waterforge's back. "Well, what'd I tell you? You do not argue with a god. You do not argue with the All-Maker. His commands are over your powers."

Eventually he could not hold it any longer, and his true beliefs came out. "This, this is impossible! The All-Maker was supposed to have sacrificed itself when it made the universe! Its death is why we are supposed to revere all his creation and not abuse it so wantonly and cruelly!"

Sapphire paused in a state of animosity and confusion. "What heretic taught you that nonsense?"

"My father. He was a professor at Canterlot University. He was also a lay preacher for the Fellowship of Life, but got caught up in the Bucko Flats Standoff and was put in prison for his supposed crimes..."

"Well, he was a false prophet who taught you false things. Otherwise the All-Maker would have been on his side. And by the way, we had two more conversions while you were trying to confront your delusion, and... we voted you out."

"What? Sapphire, you can't do that! I can only be removed early by recall! Submit it to the voters!"

"Your base is either dead or too scared to defend you," grinned Sapphire, as she pulled out a revolver from her pocket dimension.

"Oh, no you don't, you brainwashed theocratic tyrant!" cried Whitestable, who galloped to her right side.

"Whitestable, no!--" Waterforge and Grapevine called out simultaneously. But before they could do anything, Sapphire quickly put the revolver back into the dimension, faced Whitestable, grabbed his bowtie, spinned it until she put a tight grip on his neck, and threw him to the ground and choked him. It took only a few gasps and cracks for his body to lay lifeless on the floor. Grapevine and the other intelligence officer were soon pinned down as well, with Sapphire's converts right at her back.

She grinned again, revolver at her side. "And in case it wasn't obvious, this is a coup. Do you want to share the same fate as Mr. Twirly-Tie? I'm giving you one more chance to join the Temple of Vision of the True All-Maker, and I'm only giving you ten--no, five--no, thirty--well, no more than a minute to cast your wrongheaded beliefs about Him. And it starts... now!" She stared at him in intimidation, and the thinking began.

As it turned out, the prefector who pinned down Grapevine didn't quite do what Sapphire intended, and Grapevine was only playing dead (or unconscious). He slowly opened an eye to see his partner motionless on the ground and a few of his devices strewn around him. He thought up a plan as the showdown continued.

Thirty-seven seconds into the silence Sapphire decided she had enough. "Well, wh--" she began, only to find herself thrust to the ground by something coming from her left blind spot. The revolver dropped to the floor and Waterforge picked it up. Grapevine, meanwhile, fought off a prefector and a council member as he got to one of his partner's devices, and hoofed it over to Waterforge.

"Mayor, I need your magic for this! Pick it up, press the blue button twice, then the one that says '500,' and point the domed end at me!"

Waterforge dropped the revolver, confused again as Grapevine continued to fight off the councillors and prefectors. "What--"

"Just do it!" cried Grapevine. Waterforge did as he said, picking up the small silver rod with his telekinesis and punching in the buttons as fast as he could. Sapphire stirred as Waterforge pointed the device at Grapevine, but before she could intervene, the two had disappeared from the bunker.

Eventually, repeating the cycle several times as they dodged the crossfire and divine intervention, the two found themselves on top of one of the cliffs overlooking the city. "Now what?" Waterforge asked.

"We need to get you some real security," said Grapevine. "Now that Cloudsdale is gone the nearest Justice Bureau office is in Whinnyapolis. It'll be a long trek, but we should get a train in Buckmark by tomorrow. We just need to follow the tracks east..." And they swiftly left for Buckmark, knowing they were no longer welcome in the Dessert Valley.

---

Meanwhile, Sapphire Quill emerged from the union hall, megaphone in front.

"Attention citizens and visitors of Salt Lick City! The incompetence and corruption of Waterforge Brace and his Celestial allies have been exposed! City Council has removed him from his position by an overwhelming majority. I, Sapphire Quill, have been appointed Acting Mayor.

"As a member of the Temple of Vision myself I find myself more convinced than ever about the power of the Living All-Maker and the Truth of his Word. Therefore, I call for the police and the Royal Guard to cease their fight against the Temple as we draw up a new city charter. In it we will make Salt Lick City a haven for believers, an oasis in the desert of blasphemy. We shall remove all of our ties from the Equestrian government, for it has betrayed us, and we have a right to rebel. We shall be free--no more will our government be limited to writing building codes, zoning regulations, curriculum variances, and other piddling ordinances. No more will the snobs in Canterlot force us to be friends with those we hate. We will finally have a chance to exercise our rugged, pioneering spirit. We will have what the Crystal Empire has by corrupt and arbitrary privilege--sovereignty! We shall be free, and bound to none but the All-Maker!

"The leeching deception of the changeling will end. Our new charter will make clear that they cannot respect the dignity of other beings and shall see them as the parasites that they are, pests to be controlled. Those who coddle and shield them will too receive strict and severe penalties. Not one of them will be welcome in this new utopia in the Dessert Valley! We shall be on guard and fight against them, far better than the coddling captain of the Royal Guard and husband of the flip-flopping Princess Cadence ever could!

"Unfortunately, Mr. Brace is still at large. He has slandered the great All-Maker, calling him dead and without a voice. That's right, dead and without a voice! His heart is so dense, so corrupted by the changeling menace, that he can only see his own deceptions. He is no war hero--he's a war traitor. If anyone is able to bring him back to me, he shall receive swift justice.

"With the blessing of the All-Maker I declare Salt Lick City to be reborn, to rise from the ashes, and to be greater than ever before. Death to the abominations, and death to all who sympathize with them!"

---

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper frowned deeply upon hearing the news from Cadence. He got out of the chair he was resting in while sharing soup and began to pace around, thinking about the proposal in Parliament. "Mph. This is terrible." Peacekeeper muttered, "What exactly would relocating accomplish? What we did was evacuation, but this sounds different and sounds more like a form of harassment to appease Visionary..."

Peacekeeper looked around, glancing at the many changeling newcomers. "I assume that you have heard of this second wave of refugees that came in from Salt Lick City." he spoke sadly, "They left before Visionary attacked them with a great army. What could be driving such reckless hate?"

"Yes, I have," said Cadence. "They'll be accommodated at Beryl Park for the time being." She paused to think, tapping her hoof and looking down at it. It all seemed so sudden, the rise of the Temple of Vision. "Hate is its own force. I wouldn't be surprised if something got released from Tartarus, something slinking around and making its way throughout Equestria. But it should have been reported by now, so I really don't know."

Polo Game

"Oh cool!" repled Pitch Black, excited to hear Copperfield, "I've been wanting to join the Polo team at my school. Looking forward to doing so next year at Middle School and gonna try to be the best Polo playing unicorn wizard ever!."

Pitch Black smiled as Iris allowed Copperfield to join him and his friends and led him to the suite. "Hey guys!" he shouted, as the young black unicorn galloped inside, "Meet my brother, Copperfield."

The other children, each enjoying their food, all smiled broadly upon seeing the young pegasus and stepped forward to meet him. "Nice to meet you, Copperfield." Bounty Hunt greeted, "I guess being Pitch Black's half brother makes nine, now. Including Spike, that is. My name's Bounty Hunt. I've known Pitch since we were infants."

Bounty then introduced the others to Copperfield and Olive Oil happily stepped forward. "So you're one of Pitch's brothers" she asked with a sweet smile, "Such a pleasure to meet you. I'm Pitch's girlfriend. Your brother is such a gentlecolt and sweet, too."

Copperfield nodded to Bounty and Olive Oil. "Dad told me Pitch has a lot of brothers and sisters. I didn't quite think this many. And yeah, I can tell. I don't know how, but he seems to carry himself well."

A cheer came from the crowd below and a horn blew. "Hey guys, we're missing the game!" And he flew over to the edge of the glass wall overlooking the field, and caught the Wingscotting Number Three in a bump with the Canterlot Number Two.

Griffin Kingdom

King Guto blinked and cocked his head at the mention of Philip. Great concern came to his eyes and he gave his officals a nod of dismissal. Once the room was empty save for Philip, Sparkling Coffee, and the guards, the king approached the diplomat. "Your news chsnges everything, mam." he whispered harshly, the terror evident in his voice, "Philip is a war mongerer and conquerer. I thank you greatly for this news and I'll be sure to increase security. I just now wish I could ask for Celestia's aid, knowing how busy she is in that bloody war of hers."

Sparkling Coffee smiled. She finally had her breakthrough. "If she or Captain Shining Armor is smart, the Royal Guard will be refocusing its efforts on Philip. So our interests are converging. Now, I'm no expert in strategy, but I know Philip is a careful planner and with a great degree of foresight. That might require catching him off guard. After all, as I understand, he still hasn't stood trial for treason against Griffonstone, is that correct?"

[Fascist Russian Empire]

Lord Philip Blackwing,
Manehattan

"I'm sure I would be very impressed with the title of supreme-commander of the changeling army if I were a citizen of the changeling nation; however, I'm not one of your subjects. I am a griffin, and my loyalties solely lay with the Griffin Kingdom; with its laws, its traditions, its Gods. I have no interest in serving as your subordinate, or anyone else's subordinate, for that matter, and there is no force in the heavens or on Equus which can change that fact. I could waste time with formalities, theatrics, and general pleasantries, but I think we would both prefer to simply cut to the chase. I fought for your army because we had a contract; I would wage war on the pony nation, and, in return, would receive resources with which to finance a reclamation of my lands across the sea. Well, hundreds of thousands of ponies lay dead by my talons, and my war chest is currently full with the spoils; I have fulfilled my end of the bargain, and claimed my reward. My contract with the changeling nation, with you and your government, is, for all intents and purposes, fulfilled, no longer binding. I have the means with which to achieve my own goals, through my own labor; there is no reason for my continued employment with your government." Philip declared.

"You can offer bribes in an attempt to convince me to become one of your little servants; I guarantee you, there is no price you can offer that would come close to creating a sufficient incentive for me to delay my own conquests any further for the sake of assisting a bunch of foreigners. You can offer threats in an attempt to coerce me into doing your bidding; I guarantee, nothing in this world can frighten me into submission. You can say or do whatever you please; I've already set the stage for my continued war against Grover's dynasty, and I fully intend to see it through with no distractions. If you actually care about removing Guto from the throne, thus purging Equestrian influence from the Kingdom, you can speed up the process by giving me money to buy weapons with. If you are only interested in turning me into a soldier of fortune for your army, I promise you're wasting your time. I am solely focused on slaying my enemies in my homeland, and nothing will dissuade me from doing so in a timely manner; certainly not a dubious promise of sending armies of outlanders to invade my Kingdom. Bringing in foreigners to wage my wars for me would be disgraceful, an insult to my family; it would create the image that I am nothing more than a weak puppet, unable to win my own battles. Well, I haven't dedicated my life to ousting an Equestrian puppet from the throne only to replace him with a changeling puppet. You can keep your armies, I neither need nor want them; I have many proper griffin warriors ready to take up arms in my name." Philip said.

The Visionary Rebellion,
Salt Lick City

Small pockets of particularly dedicated loyalists of the Equestrian government continued resisting in parts of the great Salt Lick City, but, with the government either fleeing or defecting in droves, a large majority of the city's defenders either joined their mayor in making a hasty retreat or joined the new Acting Mayor in switching sides. It didn't take long for the rebels to extend their control over the entirety of the metropolis, their banner being raised in every corner of SLC. As the word rang forth from the Acting Mayor that the city was under the Temple's control, and as the Equestrian army's power rapidly waned, a large quantity of clouds appeared over the city and began raining, the fires raging throughout the city being swiftly extinguished. Many ponies had died, and much destruction had occurred, though the loss of life and damage to the city was negligible compared to what the changelings had inflicted upon Cloudsdale and Fillydelphia.

With the enemy driven from the city, Visionary and Iron Rose took the time to visit the new government at their hall; with the city wrested from the control of the profligates, it was time to finalize the details of the Temple's regime in the Valley. Approaching the new Acting Mayor, Visionary was the first to speak.

"You must be miss Sapphire Quill. I am Visionary, messenger of the All-Maker and the primary caretaker of the Temple of Vision; it is my most distinct honor to address any who take up arms in my master's name. There are many in this world who condemn the Temple, its truth, and its justice; ponies so accustomed to corruption and degeneracy being normalized in society that they fear justice being wrought upon the wicked. It is good to see you are not among them. I would offer a reward for your heroism today, but I have no earthly possessions to give; I bear nothing but the arms and armor with which I wage war against the transgressing peoples. I can, however, offer assurances that the All-Maker takes notice of all righteous deeds, and ensures they are rewarded either in this life or in the next." Visionary said to the mare.

"I'm sure you must be delighted to speak with the Prophet, but we have pressing issues which must be attended to first and foremost; I'm the pony you're really going to need to get acquainted with right now. My name is Iron Rose; former Captain of the Fillydelphia Royal Guard. I am the overseer of the Temple's army and foremost commander of all the rebel forces. It's a near certainty that Celestia is going to be sending an army to try and retake the city, very soon, most likely from Las Pegasus; we need to be prepared to fight them. The Dessert Valley is home to multiple military installations, full of valuable weapons and munitions; I want you to send detachments of troops to secure them and their weapons before Celestia's soldiers can get to them. Getting access to several large weapon caches will be a major boon to our cause, and allow us to outfit a much larger and more deadly army. I also want you to get together as many workers as you can to continue working on the fortifications Waterforge started building; entrenchments will be a big detriment to the enemy. On the double, if you please; our progress today will mean nothing if Celestia catches us unprepared." Iron Rose declared.

Meanwhile, the last flames throughout the city were put out and the rain began to stop, the city's cloud cover quickly disappearing. Rays of bright, golden light shined down from the clear sky as the All-Maker's voice once more echoed throughout the city.

"It is done; a great victory has been won, today. Celestia and her vile servants have been driven from Salt-Lick City, a city which now serves as a steadfast bastion of righteousness; this is as it should be. This is because of you, all you ponies who heard and answered my call to arms. Thanks to your actions today, a major blow has been dealt to the forces of evil in Equestria, and its aftershocks will be felt in every corner of this land. You, ponies, have proven your dedication to the cause of eradicating transgression. Well, just as I punish the wicked, so too do I reward the righteous; just as I burn away that which is wicked and debased, so too do I build up that which is well and good. In recognition of the courage, strength, and zeal shown today by its denizens, I hereby declare Salt-Lick City to be my divine capital on Equus! From the ashes of Celestia's corrupt depravity, an impenetrable fortress of purity shall rise here in Salt-Lick-City; my Sanctum in Equestria, a refuge for all the righteous peoples of this world!" the All-Maker's voice proclaimed across SLC.

"Behold the power!" the voice shouted as a blinding flash of light appeared across the city. When the light faded, multiple neighborhoods full of burned-down buildings in the center of town had vanished; in their place stood a massive new structure. It was a huge rectangular structure, made of glistening marble, eclipsing every other structure in the city, with six large towers protruding into the sky (three in the front of the building, and three in the back). Atop the tallest tower, the middle tower on the building's front side, was a golden statue, depicting a draconequus holding a sword; a bright beam of golden light emanated straight up from the statue, piercing the sky, serving as a beacon, visible for miles in any direction. In the center of the same tower was a large golden plaque bearing the words A light shining in the darkness; a light to burn away the wicked. Surrounding the structure was a thick, twenty-foot tall stone wall, and a courtyard full of pristine ponds and vibrant gardens, and a few smaller buildings. Floating around the massive structure was a large number of golden clouds, forming small islands, atop many of which were towers and small complexes. Encompassing the entire area was a gold-tinted magic shield, similar to the ones conjured by Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.

"There have been several shrines built by ponies in my name across this nation. This is my temple, the result of my labor; a monument to my glory on Equus. It is a light shining in the darkness, a beacon for all the civilized peoples of this world; a refuge, a sanctuary for all ye faithful. From this day forth, Salt-Lick City shall be my Holy City, and my Salt-Lick Temple shall be its crown jewel. Inside its walls, impenetrable to abominations and transgressors, is food, shelter, medicine, and protection; it is a place where all who raise the banner of righteousness may find safety. Inside its wall are vast libraries, where all who seek my truth may find wisdom and knowledge. Inside its walls lay altars, where all the believing peoples may offer their tribute in exchange for my blessings and guidance. This is my Sanctum, a place where no evildoer may tread; an everlasting oasis, where all who follow my ways may find paradise." the All-Maker announced.

"Let the light of my Covenant forever illuminate the path forwards, my children; uphold my laws, revealed through my Prophet, slay all those who transgress, and bear witness to all nations to my glory, strength, and righteousness. Do this, and the day shall come when all the corrupt and debased peoples of this world lay dead; on that day, peace shall prevail across all nations, and an unending era of piety and prosperity shall be ushered in across the whole world. Fight until transgression is no more; destroy the wicked, and leave none but the righteous; only then will the world know true peace. Go now, my sons and daughters; all who are able, take up arms, under the guidance of my champion, Iron Rose, and crush the enemies of my truth. Those who are unfit for battle, go forth across the land and spread my message; tell all the peoples of the world about the fate befallen by the abominations in Ponyville, and the vile servants of Celestia here in Salt-Lick City, and proclaim Sic semper qui operantur iniquitatem; thus always to the workers of inequity. Go forth with the knowledge that passage into the greatest of heavens shall be guaranteed to all who die in defense and service of righteousness." the All-Maker finished.

[The Flutterlands]

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper thought about it. Memories came to him of during the time when served as Visionary's most loyal lieutenant. "Well, Visionary have spoken of hearing voices from the All-Maker." he said, "After leaving him I've came to the conclusion that he was insane. However, there have been reports of others, even entire towns, supposedly hearing the All-Maker's voice. Perhaps there is a being that escaped from the Tartarus Prison, acting as a false All-Maker..."

---

Polo Game

With cheers, oohs and awes, the children gathered to the glass wall and looked down to watch the game. They giggled and cheered as they watched the players duke it out among each other. Pitch Black smiled and looked at Copperfeild. "So what are the orher brothers like?" he asked, "I... I actually forgot their names really."

---

Griffon Kingdom

Guto sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "No he has not faced trial for crimes against the kingdom yet." he said sourly, "One of the problems is his support from the nobles who wish to have their armies back. I greatly fear that his return would spark a civil war that would leave the Kingdom in crumbling ashes no matter who wins. We can't afford another war. I could only wish to be a... a stronger lesder than I have been."

---

Manehatten

Chrysalis frown at Philip's defiance and shook her head in disappointment. "A shame." she spoke solemnly, "And I thought I could have a more competent leader for my army and a future King to have a more healthy relationship with than I've hoped for. A nation can't stand on it's own without strong allies after all and the changelings and griffins have been great allies long since the first recorded moon."

Chrysalis then made a small smile. "Not to mention we both want what's rightfully ours and therefore our interests are aligned." she spoke in her convincing voice, "I wasn't hoping to make you my puppet, young Phillip, but rather my partner and equal. That being said, I am more than willing to give aid in that wretched Guto's downfall on one condition: that you afterward continue to grant us aid in our own war against the ponies. Deal?"

[Frenequesta]

Salt Lick City, Several Months Earlier

Sapphire Quill could not get that letter out of her head:

To My Little Bug:

Love is like a negotiation--taking a little here, giving a little there, staying strong for your own, but always working for mutual benefit. I've enjoyed sharing mine with you, and not just because of who we are--you've revitalized me and given me new hope. I hope you too feel the same.

I was thinking that we could go to the playhouse next Friday. I got two free tickets to Hockmilton and the troupe isn't going to stay in SLC much longer. Otherwise I'll take Sapphire, but she doesn't like theatre much anyway so I'm not sure who else to take.

All the Best,

Tinker

So much made sense to her now--his insistence that they keep separate doctors, his preference for small lunches, and especially these new Friday "outings." She stood at the dinner table, looking over a freshly-prepared meal of tofu steak and garden salads. Holding a small vial filled with white powder with a sour, bitter grimace, she mixed its contents into the saltshaker. As soon as she did so the clock rang seven chimes. Her husband would be there at any moment.

The front door opened and Tinkering Wrench came through and smelled the tofu. "Evening, sweetie! Smells good as usual!"

Sapphire quickly hid the vial and met her husband in the hall. She gave him a peck on the cheek and led him to the dining room. "Good evening honey. Talks gone well?"

"Oh yes. Management finally raised the base pension for floor workers and agreed to build a new shed for the paint. They cut the grievance period by a week again, though, but at least it isn't the month they were originally going for," said Tinkering. "Oh, and I heard the higher-ups are thinking of putting me on the National Board," he added, as he sat down, picked up the saltshaker with his magic, and sprinkled the salt over the tofu.

"Oh, that's marvelous!" said Sapphire with an air of pride. Her smiled then flipped a little. "We...we won't have to move if they do, would we?"

"No, no, I'd just have to go to Detrot every six months. I'll still mostly be in charge of the local," he said as he took his first bite of the tofu. "Mmm. Salt?" he asked.

"No thanks, I'm good. The doctor says I need to watch my sodium anyway," she replied, trying to keep as straight a smile as possible.

"Oh, I see," said Tinkering. He sensed something was a little off, but soon shrugged it off. "I don't remember that, did you tell me? Oh yes, that's right, you did tell me from the last physical."

Sapphire nodded. "Speaking of... I found a letter left in the parlor the other day. I didn't know you got tickets to Hockmilton. How'd that happen?"

"Saturday Night Bingo," said Tinkering, still eating the tofu. "Funny story, I thought they called B-5 instead of B-9--wait, you saw that letter?!?"

"Did a little cleaning before I went to work yesterday. I was going to talk to you about it earlier but I've had a lot to do at both the law office and City Hall. But... is there something you want to confess?"

Tinkering put down his fork and froze. He did initially forget it but thought that Sapphire had went to the law office straight after breakfast that morning when he swiftly returned back for it. "It's not what it looks like," he began. "Flywing, you know him? The night shift floor supervisor? Sometimes I call him Bug. We talk about the initial uptake of grievances all the time, sometimes it feels like love with all the misunderstandings and..." Sapphire looked at him with mean eyes. He silently took another bite of the tofu, his tail hiding his right gear and wrench cutie mark. "Do... do you still love me?"

Sapphire stood still with a stern face for a moment. She then sighed. "Well, it depends if you're willing to stop now. I mean, you know I don't dislike all theatre, I just find a lot of it derivative and predictable these days. But I've heard Hockmilton is amazing and unique. If you had told me about these tickets I would have been more than willing to see what the fuss was about."

"Really?" He paused, looked down at his food, and then looked back up at his wife. "Okay. I'm sorry I mistook you after going to Last Unicorn on Equus that one time. So do you want to go on Friday?"

"I would," Sapphire replied, smiling. "But only if you promise to cut off this relationship with your 'little bug.'"

"I will," said Tinkering, and they resumed eating. Sapphire still felt deeply betrayed and hurt, as well as confused over how he could have kept such secrets from her for so long.
---
A few days later, Tinkering and Sapphire were sleeping in bed together. Suddenly Tinkering woke up, felt a great pain near his heart, and wheezed out. "Sapphy! Sapphy! Sapph--" he cried, before it all stopped in a fizz.

Sapphire woke up in alarm. She put on the light and turned around to see her husband lying motionless with his mouth agape, a black, holey body, greenish but well-formed wings, and teal eyes without pupils. She stared at him for a while. So much for deception, it's who you are.

She then heard a knock at the door. She knew it could only be one person at this hour. She got up and opened the door. "He's on the bed."

The cloaked unicorn that came nodded and walked in with Sapphire. He looked down at Tinkering's body. "Mhm. Before I do it, I just want to let you know I've been forced to charge extra now for internal illusions."

"Not a problem," she said, and the cloaked unicorn worked his magic, restoring Tinkering's unicorn form. Sapphire looked down as she was finished, and shed a tear.

---

The Present

Sapphire Quill listened to Visionary and Iron Rose with awe. Though she had not been an official member of the Temple for very long, she had long anticipated the Prophet and his apostles' visit. The Temple in Salt Lick City had been writing to Visionary to make a visit, but a response had been wanting. She had heard of the pilgrimages that Visionary had led the faithful on and the great wonders and miracles witnessed. She would have joined if her legal and political work did not consume her life. But now, before her was an even greater miracle than the stories she had heard--a great sanctuary, built from a mystical interplay of ash and magic by the All-Maker himself, towering over the city. All of the faithful would surely be proud to worship there.

Of course, now she had even greater responsibilities as the pioneer of the new Salt Lick City. "Will do," she replied. "Now if only the Works Commissioner were here..." One of the other councillors emerged from the hall behind her. "Ah, Roseprick?"

"Yes, Ms. Quill?"

"I have decided on my first two executive orders of office. Take some notes." Roseprick found a notepad and pencil from her purse, and awkwardly put the end tip of the pencil into her mouth and the lead tip to the paper, and nodded. "First: I direct the Works Commissioner to procure plans for a comprehensive system of trenches and walls around the city limits--time is of the essence so we need to expedite things--call for contractors immediately and take the first one that applies with a bid of less than ten million bits and at least 500 workers. Of course, the city workers will also be put on this project. Once the bid is accepted work will begin immediately. Second: I direct troops who have declared their loyalty to Salt Lick City to immediately embark on a search of the Dessert Valley region for Celestial weapons caches, with orders to either steal or otherwise sabotage its contents. I expect reconnaissance and reports within three days. You got both of those?"

"Yes, Ms. Quill."

"Good. Formalize and send it out." Roseprick nodded and left. Sapphire turned back to Visionary and Iron Rose. "It's a great honor to meet the great Prophet of the Temple of Vision and one of his most loyal disciples," she said. "I've not been an official member long and I thought it might be forever before I would ever meet you. By the way, come on in, I want to show you something..."

She led Visionary and Iron Rose into the union hall, through the lobby, and down the central hallway. The hallway had photographs of all of Wainwright's Local #477's presidents, past and present. She stopped at the second-to-last photograph, depicting a perky, grinning tan-coated, gray-maned unicorn in his blue denim floor shirt and a black sports jacket, with no tie. The plaque at the bottom read "Tinkering Wrench--Member, 989-1010, Secretary 999-1002, Vice President 1002-1005, President 1005-1010."

"Tinkering Wrench was my husband," she began. "He was a wonderful guy on the surface--he always stood up for his fellow workers, always was rising the ranks, charming, handsome... but he was a changeling. A changeling who lied to me for years. A changeling whose polyamory knew no bounds, all craftily hidden right under my nose! He just had to go. So I poisoned him. Nopony has ever suspected me--the coroner conclusively declared the cause of death a heart failure.

"But as the months went on I started questioning why I did it. I would stare at my work just thinking about him, thinking about what I did... and then I found the Temple. I never told them what had happened, but after a few sermons I realized that I was merely doing the All-Maker's work."

She stared at the portrait for a few seconds, and then suddenly ripped it off the wall and smashed it to the floor. Shards of glass sprayed all over the floor, and the frame splintered apart, leaving the picture open. She took a hoof, stomped on it and ripped it. With the last stomp and rip she looked up to the wall in front of her. "I hope he's burning in the nether sphere of Tartarus."
---
The Works Commissioner was pacing over the executive order in a shelled-out office near City Hall. As one of the few members of Salt Lick City's nascent Peacekeepers chapter to remain in the city, Rock Mason was deeply troubled by the new theocracy that ousted his boss. He had been reluctant to be open about his faith ever since Sapphire Quill joined the Temple and seemed especially enthusiastic about its anti-changeling rhetoric. Of course, Sapphire assumed that he was still a loyal Temple member--he in fact was the one who introduced Sapphire to the Temple after noticing her depression at one city council meeting. He had always thought the words of Visionary and the local minister on changelings were just hyperbolic and didn't think they would amount to much, but in the recent weeks, with anti-changeling rhetoric getting more extreme and more frequent, he could not proudly associate himself with the Temple. A few members like himself began to have small group sessions offering an alternative to mainstream Temple thought, and once the Peacekeepers became known they immediately, but quietly, declared their affiliation.

He could not call for his workers, or call for bids to build the walls under his new boss in good conscience. "Oh no, oh no..." he muttered. "If only Waterforge..." He then realized something. Even with Waterforge's ownership interest put in blind trust, his company had been excluded from public works contracts ever since he took office. It would certainly be happy to get a contract now that the conflict of interest technically no longer existed, and perhaps even more so by their likely outrage at Waterforge's removal--he knew several of Waterforge's fellow board members still spoke well of him in private, and perhaps would be more than happy to try to get him back--maybe not in public office, but the motivation was strong enough.

So he went several blocks over to the equally burned out offices of the Rolling Boulder Construction Company, and recognized several executives huddled in front of the building. He hailed one of them. "Peachy Keen!"

"Huh? Rock? What are you doing here?"

Rock came closer. "As you know, Sapphire's the mayor now."

"Yes, and?"

"Well, her first order of business is building a wall around the city. Now, I've got a call for bids to execute, so be sure to get yours in as soon as possible."

"What?"

"Just put up what you can now. You got 500 workers, right?"

"Well, with all the carnage around--"

"Doesn't matter. You're going to need it anyway for this project." And with that, Rock left. Peachy Keen and the other executives looked at each other, confused. But soon, each one began to smile.

An hour and a half later, after the call for bids was promulgated, the first bid to come in was from Rolling Boulder. Rock opened the envelope and read the contents. 500 workers? Check--502. Under ten million? Check--9.6 million. Plans? Check--Looks a little shoddy, but just what I want.

He let a few more letters in before closing the gates. Now with his own public workers--and a few new hires--the work would begin....

---

Parliament

Lopesy Neigh trotted into the appropriations committee room. From what she heard the plan was well-received--several members from all sides of the spectrum expressed their support, and her stress from Blind Justice's questioning dissipated. She came into the room proud of her work, hoping that the hearing would be easy with a quick report and an even swifter approval by Parliament. She then saw that the room was empty save for Radiant Tapestry, Cherry Ranger, and Trilby.

"Cherry? Trilby? You're not on Appropriations."

"Well, I was, you know," Cherry joked. "But enough of that. I thought we all need to have a little talk before the hearing on this new bill of yours--and a few other things. Radiant, would you like to start?"

---

Crystal Empire

Peacekeeper thought about it. Memories came to him of during the time when served as Visionary's most loyal lieutenant. "Well, Visionary have spoken of hearing voices from the All-Maker." he said, "After leaving him I've came to the conclusion that he was insane. However, there have been reports of others, even entire towns, supposedly hearing the All-Maker's voice. Perhaps there is a being that escaped from the Tartarus Prison, acting as a false All-Maker..."

"I've heard that there's a special division of the Justice Bureau that's supposed to take care of such things. They're secretive about their work, but hopefully they're investigating that possibility," said Cadence. "Well, I've got other things to do. If there are any problems with the shelters just call me," she said, and left the tent for the castle.

Polo Game

With cheers, oohs and awes, the children gathered to the glass wall and looked down to watch the game. They giggled and cheered as they watched the players duke it out among each other. Pitch Black smiled and looked at Copperfeild. "So what are the other brothers like?" he asked, "I... I actually forgot their names really."

"Greylark's my older brother," said Copperfield. "Mom has really pushed him hard in school--and he's already a hard driver. He's really good at making storm coulds--he's made it rain on me many times--and he hopes to join the Canterlot Local Weather Bureau once he gets out of school. He's a pretty good cook too, sometimes makes dinner if Mom's too tired. Then there's Opal Shine--she's my sister--she's kind of loud and argumentative but she's a great musician--she's studied six different instruments already and has actually composed a couple of pieces for the her school's band." He then sighed, and looked at his blank flank. "I'm kind of jealous--I have no idea what I'm good at really."

Spike then remembered Potter once saying that Greylark and Opal were with Iris all the time. "How come they didn't come with you to the game?"

"They don't really like sports all that much. Greylark did polo a few years back, but he suffered a bad accident and had to go out for a whole season. He hasn't really been interested since."

At that moment, Wingscotting scored the first goal of the game, and the first chukka ended.

Griffon Kingdom

Guto sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "No he has not faced trial for crimes against the kingdom yet." he said sourly, "One of the problems is his support from the nobles who wish to have their armies back. I greatly fear that his return would spark a civil war that would leave the Kingdom in crumbling ashes no matter who wins. We can't afford another war. I could only wish to be a... a stronger lesder than I have been."

"Yes, that is a problem," said Sparkling Coffee. "Tell you what: I'll make a plea to Celestia to give you some direct aid out of our general budget shortfall fund. How much do you think you need to get your military back on the ground and able to defend against Philip?"

---

Canterlot Library

Twilight was deep into Looking Into the Light. Its first three chapters made the subject clear: an account of the Fellowship of Life and its demise in the Bucko Flats Standoff. She had not heard of the Bucko Flats Standoff, despite it happening ten years before she was born and apparently being well-publicized at the time. Chapter Four speculated on some of the deeper origins of the cult:

...Force Foster has traced the development of some cults to the continued effects of "magic sentients" that arose not too long after Princess Luna's banishment...

After banishing her sister to the moon, Princess Celestia only intended to take over her place temporarily. Handling both bodies at first strained her. The unicorns, especially the elite, balked at taking over as they did in the past. Hoping to automate the lunar cycle, Parliament and Princess Celestia approved of the first of the Moon Grants, to study new ways to channel magic and make spells more efficient. The elite also set up private foundations to fund these endeavors, hoping that they might find it before the government and hope to profit from it....

These researchers never found a way to efficiently engineer magic into its alicorn state in a stable form long enough to complete a night cycle. However, many new methods were found for smaller uses, from Cloud Nebula's Parallel Pathway to Sparkling Joy's Wind Catalyst. Some of these are still taught in magic academies today, especially those made under Celestia's grants....

The research, however, was not particularly well-regulated, whether through public or private funding, and neither was its general use when the systems were promulgated. The Cutie Mark Interference-Translation Problem was not well understood at this time, so even the most astute wizards were generally unaware of how idiosyncratic the methods they developed were, with many subtleties lost if a method was performed by another wizard (and especially unschooled unicorns). The lost subtleties often manifested by small energy byproducts made in use, usually invisible but exerting a substantial influence over the user--and others....

Byproducts with similar characteristics have been found to attract each other. For reasons still unclear, enough of them together will have a consciousness emerge from them, forming a magic sentient. In some extreme cases it may also have the ability to intentionally perform magic itself....

The effects of these byproducts touched many aspects of Equestrian life. Pegasi often had more trouble bringing rain to Canterlot than other cities because of resistance from the concentrated energy... Wild fluctuations in food production, even accounting for other environmental conditions, were traced to some forms of the byproducts...

In short, the magic was starting to get out of control. One Fillydelphia MP even feared that "another Discord [would] soon be upon us" if something was not done about the mess.... A five year moratorium on the use of some of the more problematic methods was enacted…

By the end of the next century, the Enviromental Bureau had established solid procedures for the waste product removal, and the Domestic Bureau created a comprehensive system of regulations on certain methods of practicing magic. Previously liberal admissions into magic academies became much stricter, allowing only those demonstrating genuine talent in magic either by their cutie mark or beyond it... Even the already strict Royal School of Magic (Now Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns) raised its qualifications, leading to their infamous “impossible” entrance exams….

Even nearly a millennia later clean-up still goes on. Magic sentients have been especially difficult to eliminate entirely....

Force Foster's conclusions come from a comparison of the several cult founder's motivations to start their cults, usually by "receiving a vision" or discovering some new, extraordinary ability out of the blue to contemporary reports of unicorns on the behavior of fellow unicorns upon learning a new method during the pre-regulation era....

Twilight read with interest. She knew that certain spells required extra steps to guard against "side effects" but the academies always downplayed what they were. But most importantly, she realized why Cherry Ranger had directed her to this book. If she could find a way to exorcise this 'magic sentient' from Visionary, the Temple would likely dissipate. That is, assuming that the All-Maker was a magic sentient...

[Fascist Russian Empire]

The Visionary Rebellion,
Salt-Lick City

Visionary listened to the mare without interruption, quietly letting her explain her story. It was actually one of the tamest stories he had heard about the changelings; he was accustomed to hearing testimony after testimony about mass-murder, slavery, rape, and other abominable crimes being perpetrated by their kind. Adultery was, of course, among the things the All-Maker's law forbade, but it paled in comparison to many of the changelings' more high profile crimes.

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid, what you experienced was but an insignificant drop amidst the vast oceans of despicable atrocities committed by the abominations. Entire families, murdered without rhyme or reason; entire cities leveled, their inhabitants either killed or forced into slavery. Every single day, tens or hundreds of thousands fall victim to the abominations; the lucky ones die quickly, the rest either killed in horrific manners or reduced to slaves or worse. I've heard the same tragic story, over and over again, coming from hundreds of ponies; innocent bystanders, attacked without mercy with no provocation. Their crimes are more numerous than raindrops in a storm, and they grow more and more in depravity and boldness with each passing hour, for they are the antithesis of all things civilized in this world. It is for that reason that our movement is so important; if we stand idly by and do nothing while these savage abominations perpetrate their foul deeds, we would be dooming Equestria to a future of death and enslavement. That is why we fight them, why we must remain vigilant and unyielding against them. Every dead abomination is a victory for all the civilized races, one less threat to peace; to kill an abomination is the most righteous thing one can achieve in this life of ours. None of us want to kill, none of us want war, but this is the reality we live in; to save our world from an eternity of perpetual misery, we must take up arms in defense of righteousness." Visionary said to Sapphire Quill, recalling the innumerable testimonies he had heard from both his closest disciples and visitors to the Temple alike about the countless unforgivable crimes committed by the abominations.

"A new day is dawning, and we us must be its heralds. It is no easy task, to destroy such numerous adversaries, to undo centuries of wickedness and degeneracy, but it must be done, lest this world of ours fall into irreparable darkness." Visionary proclaimed.

"In the best of all possible worlds, they would just leave us in peace, but everyone living in reality knows that they will never stop until every last civilized being in the world is either dead or in chains. None of us enjoy killing, of course, but, when done righteously, it is just a chore, like any other. Practiced hooves make for short work, and the All-Maker knows there is much to be done in Equestria." Iron Rose commented.

"War against the transgressors is, of course, the first and foremost of our duties as servants of the All-Maker, but let us not forget that we also have other obligations which must not be neglected. Wherever you may tread, fight against the forces of injustice and strive to destroy inequity wherever is to be found, to quote the Book of Vision. It is our duty not only to kill the transgressing peoples, but to burn away the inequities which they have sown upon the world. This is the All-Maker's holy city, and, thus, His laws must be made manifest here; we must shape Salt-Lick City into a shining paragon of justice unlike any other in history, purging the corruption and inequities created by Celestia. We can start by revoking the Celestial restrictions on marriage, under which same-sex marriage was banned; the Temple has always supported monogamous marriage between civilized beings, without regard to matters such as sex and race. Now that the tyrants have been driven from the city, the time has come for an end to government-sponsored discrimination, and meddling in sacred affairs; the Temple shall recognize everyone's right to a monogamous marriage, and Celestia shall be powerless to stop us. It will be a great start towards bringing to life the dream of a divine paradise in Equestria." Visionary declared.

Lord Philip Blackwing,
Manehattan

Philip closed his eyes and slowly ran a talon back and forth across the floor as he contemplated the offer presented to him by the changeling monarch. The griffin was a nationalist to the core, very strongly and adamantly believing in a Griffin Kingdom led by griffins for griffins; his vision for the griffin nation was a self-sustaining, self-strengthening country standing purely on its own merits. The idea of an alliance, tying the griffin government to a foreign nation, contractually obligating him and his army to wage foreigners' wars for them was definitely not particularly appealing. It was a griffin tradition for individual citizens to travel around the world as soldiers of fortune, but the landed elite had obligations to solely represent griffin interests. Still, Chrysalis was offering, potentially, a great financial incentive for such a move; money upfront to fund his army, and spoils of war once the griffin army came to invade Equestria.

"Very well. You will provide an agreeable sum of money to the Blackwing Clan, and, in return, once Guto is dead and his army dismantled, I will send my forces to pillage and plunder the pony nation and bring battle to the Equestrian military. This is an acceptable arrangement. I must insist, however, on a couple of terms before signing my name to a contract. Firstly, all spoils of war gathered by the Griffin Army will be recognized as the sole property of the Griffin Kingdom, and the changeling nation will make no effort to hinder looting by my forces. Secondly and finally, I want a new griffin naval base in the Celestial sea; as such, the Griffin Army shall be given exclusive mandate to invade and annex the pony town of Trottingham and the isles it inhabits. If these terms are agreeable, I shall have no objections to this arrangement." Philip said.

[The Flutterlands]

[spoiler]Polo Game

Pitch Black listened to his younger brother speak about his siblings as he watched the game. He found their activities to be quite interesting and even fun at times. Listening to Opal play one of her music pieces sounded wonderful and he would love to watch Greylak work with clouds like Rainbow Dash. However, the young black unicorn wished that they were here at the game so he could meet them like Copperfeild.

Pitch Black then looked at Copperfeild when he spoke of wanting something to be good at. He glanced at his flank and noticed the lack of cutie mark on his flank. "You haven't gotten your cutie mark yet." he noted, before showing his own, "I got my cutie mark not too long ago. I'm very good at magic and mom say that Bounty and I will be one of the greatest unicorn wizards ever. What do you think you're good at? Is there anything you like?"

---

Griffion Kingdom

Guto smiled and placed a hand on Coffee's shoulder. "Thank you." he spoke gently with a warm smile, "Equestria is much very generious. If Celestia could be so kind, could you ask her for a shortfall of 100 million bits? I assume that could be enough to fund our war against Phillip and his armies."

---

Manehatten

Chrysalis smiled. She knew that she could create an alliance with Phillip somehow. The spoils of war would be meaningless to her as long as her people reclaim their rightful place as rulers of Equestria and finally united under her imperial rule. Trottingham, on the other hand, would be something she'll begrudgingly give up for this alliance. Still it's all simply part of diplomacy and such. "Very well." Chrysalis exclaimed, extending her holish hoof, "It's a deal. Now today begins a new era for Changelings and Griffins once we begin the binding legal procedures our contract. First off, how much of our resources are you asking from us to retake your land?"

[Frenequesta]

Salt Lick City

Sapphire Quill nodded at the suggestion to recognize same-sex, monogamous marriages. "I shall see to that in our new charter."

Sapphire was in fact a bit hesitant. She disagreed with the Temple's official position, believing that the official Equestrian rule served to give children both father and mother figures, not to mention make it more likely that couples would indeed have children and thus increase the population and better replace the labor force. She had no particular objections to homosexuality per se, but thought that the state, in its economic and social interests, should encourage heterogeneous marriages. Even if it was a discrimination, she thought, it was a perfectly valid one.

She brushed aside the debris on the floor and spoke up again. "I suppose you two would like to have some input in drafting the new charter? If the Council and I are to draft it in accordance with Temple doctrine, I'd think of nopony better to vet it."
---
Meanwhile, Rock Mason, several other ponies, and a couple of changelings were huddled the basement of Rock's charred but still-intact house, conscious that time was short and sweeping changes to Salt Lick City could jeopardize their lives. As these Peacekeepers passed around a bag of oats to share, they wondered how they would cope with, and resist, the new regime.

"...So here's what I'm thinking," said Rock. "We can't move all of the changelings out without eventually getting caught. In fact to do so would undercut the message that we have been trying to spread--that all sapient beings, even changelings, can live peacefully with ponies without fear. And I'm going to need more workers to build the wall and dig the trenches. I think the best course would be for me to employ as many changelings as possible for the project--in disguise, of course. They would, essentially, be hiding in plain sight, in the last place Sapphire and the Council would expect to find changelings."

"And what's that going to do?" asked a well-dressed earth pony with a manila folder cutie mark. "This sounds like it'd just be preaching to the choir once they do find out you've been employing changelings."

"It's just a way to buy them time," explained Rock. "And naturally, we'll be expanding that choir as long as we keep the changelings working. And I think we've got a good shot. I doubt Sapphire actually obtained her power legally and the Temple is still not all that popular."

"A lot of ponies have been fooled by that voice that claims to be the All-Maker," said the well-dressed earth pony. "How do we convince them otherwise?"

"From what I've heard, the 'All-Maker' has only ever manifested itself in Visionary's presence. And he's most likely going to go back to Ponyville--or at least somewhere else--soon. It'll only be a matter of time before Celestia's forces come and attack the city, or some other catastrophe comes around. When that happens and the city forces become more vulnerable, the Council will pray to no avail, and all but the most fervent will come to believe that the All-Maker has forsaken them."

"So you're saying we won't?" asked a pegasus mare.

"I... I suppose I am," said Rock, hesitating.

"And I asked you how we would convince them that the voice is not the All-Maker," said the well-dressed earth pony sternly. "If you ask me, we need to expose something about that voice or... or even Visionary as you say."

Everypony in the room thought for a minute until the pegasus mare thought of something. "Peacekeeper was one of Visionary's apostles once. Perhaps he knows something."

"I doubt he'd know much more than any of us. But it's worth a try," Rock nodded.

"And I think we should get a hold of him anyway. Honestly Rock, this plan of yours... it seems well-intentioned, but we are supposed to live by the Element of Honesty, and this plan just doesn't seem honest."

"I'm sure the Peacekeepers down in Ponyville have had to lie to Temple agents there whenever asked if they were hiding any changelings," said the well-dressed earth pony. "I'm sure it's okay."

"I'd rather not take any chances," said the mare.

"Well, I agree with you, Brief," said Rock, addressing the well-dressed earth pony. "But I'd still like to hear what Peacekeeper knows." Many of the other ponies in the room nodded.

Rock continued. "I am worried though that the Council's going to be really policing my hiring efforts. In Ponyville there are some Temple agents that know spells that can reveal changelings' true forms, and they might teach the police that. How do we keep them from finding out they are changelings?"

Again the room went silent as the rest went into thought. This time Brief spoke up. "Sapphire defended a client at my firm who apparently could conjure up all sorts of illusions about the physiology of ponies. I don't know if he'd be willing to help us, but I think I could persuade him."

"Alright," said Rock. "I'm guessing... he's from the criminal underworld?"

"Well, I don't know for sure. I don't think it should matter, though."

"I was just wondering," said Rock, before turning to the group as a whole. "Okay, so what do we all think of my ideas? Sending a letter might be too risky; who wants to go find Peacekeeper?"

Polo Game

Pitch Black listened to his younger brother speak about his siblings as he watched the game. He found their activities to be quite interesting and even fun at times. Listening to Opal play one of her music pieces sounded wonderful and he would love to watch Greylak work with clouds like Rainbow Dash. However, the young black unicorn wished that they were here at the game so he could meet them like Copperfeild.

Pitch Black then looked at Copperfeild when he spoke of wanting something to be good at. He glanced at his flank and noticed the lack of cutie mark on his flank. "You haven't gotten your cutie mark yet." he noted, before showing his own, "I got my cutie mark not too long ago. I'm very good at magic and mom say that Bounty and I will be one of the greatest unicorn wizards ever. What do you think you're good at? Is there anything you like?"

"Well... I kind of like collecting rocks," said Copperfield nervously. "Rocks, metal, gems. Anything from the earth really...." He trailed off, feeling a little embarrassed and ruffling his wings. "I've got fifty pieces of rock and stuff in my room, sorted by color in bags. But what am I supposed to do with that?"

Griffion Kingdom

Guto smiled and placed a hand on Coffee's shoulder. "Thank you." he spoke gently with a warm smile, "Equestria is much very generious. If Celestia could be so kind, could you ask her for a shortfall of 100 million bits? I assume that could be enough to fund our war against Phillip and his armies."

"That's a bit hefty," said Sparkling. "But I'll see what I can do. I'll let you know once Celestia responds." She then left the room for her office back at the embassy. It was a small house not far from Guto's palace, well-kept up compared to the crumbling buildings around her.

She quickly drafted a letter:

[{24APx42}]

Embassy of the Co-Principality of Equestria
Griffonstone, The Griffon Kingdom
NOTE: SENSITIVE INFORMATION WITHIN. [REDACTIONS] RECOMMENDED BEFORE ARCHIVAL. URGENT RESPONSE NEEDED.

June 23, 1010

Her Majesty Princess Celestia
Canterlot Castle
1 Royal Loop, Canterlot, Equestria 00100

Your Majesty:

I write to update you on my negotiations with the Griffon Kingdom and to make a small, but urgent request.

I have informed King Guto II about Philip Blackwing's alliance with the Changeling Empire and his use of it to return back to the Griffon Kingdom. As you may be aware, Philip had several years ago waged insurrection against the Kingdom, playing to many griffins' frustrations about their economic depression and longing for the glory days of the past. He is especially popular among the nobility there, and, as a noble himself, has been very aggressive in building back up his own army to seize the Griffon throne.

Naturally, the King is very disturbed about this development. He has indicated that he would help Equestria in its war against the Empire but still does not have the wherewithal to send his own troops. [His current plans appear to be to fight Philip on Kingdom soil, and then, if all goes well, finally put Philip on trial for treason.]

As Philip has been very swift and successful on the Eastern Front it could be any day now before he returns back to the Kingdom. I therefore believe that Equestrian and Griffon interests will be better served if you could authorize a transfer from the General Budget Shortfall fund to the Treasury of the Griffon Kingdom, The King requests 100 million bits [to rebuild his own army to fight Philip and perhaps even aid us on the Eastern Front].

Personally, I think that 100 million is a little on the high side, given how much is in the fund, and I think that 75 million bits would be more agreeable. But I also wish to honor the King's request if you will allow it. I also expect that you or the Foreign Aid Office will attach some conditions and oversight on its use.

Time is running short. This may be our best opportunity to stop Philip and the Empire before they start moving inland.

Sincerely,

Sparkling Coffee, Ambassador to the Griffon Kingdom

She rolled up the parchment and the turned her magic to a small metallic hoop on a pedestal on her desk, which began to glow purple. She released it and a swirling array of blue and white filled the hoop. She then picked up the rolled parchment and put it through the hoop. The parchment burned as it went through until it was gone. The blue and white array disappeared as well, and the device gave off a red puff of sparkles that dissipated into the air.

Sparkling coughed. "I better get that fixed someday..."

The parchment would soon show up in Princess Celestia's study, unrolling itself on a desk--though upside down.