Chapter 14: The Guild

The Cutie Mark Crusaders made it to Hoofington without incident, but were baffled by the busy crowds of grown-ups walking every which way. They collectively realized that money wasn't among the things they'd thought to bring, and hoped against hope that this wouldn't be too much of an obstacle.

"S'cuse me," said Applebloom to an elderly mare. "We're lookin' fer the train station. Would you mind pointin' us in the right direction?"

The older pony looked around. "Where are your parents?"

"For us, that's a troubling question at the best of times," said Scootaloo dismissively. "The important thing is that an evil alicorn named Misty has built a giant wall around Ponyville and started killing innocent unicorns, so we need to get to Sustria and warn Princess Luna so she can come back and rescue everypony."

The mare looked even more concerned now. "I did hear about the wall, but not a killer alicorn…"

Scootaloo turned to the others, looking fearful. "I guess none of the refugees from Ponyville came here."

"Look, whatever's going on, I'm sure you fillies shouldn't be traveling across the country on your own…"

"Someone has to tell Princess Luna what's going on!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle.

"Well, I'm sure we can see to that…"

Applebloom was about to reiterate the seriousness of the situation when she noticed something over the old mare's shoulder, and shouted "The train!" The fillies galloped towards it, ignoring the pleas to stop that followed them as they slipped on board amidst a dense crowd of much taller ponies.

As they took their seats, Applebloom said "I wonder if she'll send anypony to tell Luna what's going on?"

Scootaloo shook her head. "If somepony she's never met comes along and tries to see her but she's busy, she might not talk to them right away. We kind-of-sort-of got to know her when we were in Maneheart, so that'll help us get an audience with her."

As the train rumbled across the countryside, the fillies tried to focus their attention on their goal, and not to think about what might have happened to the older ponies.

Meanwhile, Misty cruised through the skies over Ponyville before landing on a cloud and surveying her domain. As she was looking around, she noticed something new on her flank—well, sort of new. Are you back for good, old friend? she thought as she studied her skull-shaped cutie mark.

Earlier that day, a hydra had wandered near Ponyville from Froggy Bottom Bog, and Misty had chained it to a group of thick trees. It might be useful, she decided, to keep her subjects in line by threatening them with something large and menacing, and she hoped to catch more such creatures in the future.

She had also been sacrificing more unicorns to herself, but at the moment it didn't seem there was any way to adequately test how much stronger her magic was getting. It would be best to simply err on the side of caution, she decided before flying off into the distance in search of new victims.

In the dungeons, Rarity kept glancing at Pinkie Pie uneasily, hoping she wouldn't notice. Finally, she decided to ask: "Pinkie Pie?"

"Yeah?"

"Hypothetically, if someone were bringing you extra food, you'd tell us, right?"

Pinkie's eyes widened. "Of course I would, Rarity. Wouldn't you?"

"Well, yes! That psychopathic Wonderbolt hardly gives us anything to eat, and I'd never let my friends starve…"

-"Neither would I!"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "What's all this about extra food, now?" Rarity directed her attention to the crumbs scattered in the corner of their cell. Pinkie Pie suddenly wore an expression of barely concealed panic.

"There must be some other explanation," said Fluttershy. "I know none of us would hide food from each other."

"That don't explain the crumbs, though," Applejack pointed out.

Rarity realized that Pinkie was staring at her, though she looked away immediately after they made eye contact.

"Some extra food would be nice," sighed Fluttershy. "I've been feeling so faint lately…"

Hardly thinking, Rarity blurted out "It was Pinkie Pie!" In less than a second, all eyes were on her. Not daring to look any of them in the eyes, she stared at the ground and continued: "When we were asleep, I woke up and saw her brushing the crumbs off of her mouth. I'm sorry, Pinkie, but I just couldn't…" she trailed off.

Pinkie was flabbergasted. "Really?" she asked in a tone of utter disbelief. "I didn't think it was possible, but you actually decided to frame me!"

"Frame you?"

"Yes! I first noticed the crumbs on my mouth days ago, and I swear I didn't put them there, so at first I thought somepony was trying to frame me, but I decided it wasn't possible that"—

-"Why would I frame you?"

"Why would I hide food?"

Suddenly, they a foot away from each other, glaring fiercely. For the first time since they'd met, each felt seriously threatened by the other.

When next they slept, they did so in shifts of what seemed like a couple hours. Rarity's turn came third, and passed without event, and she was followed by Pinkie Pie.

If someone's going to bring her food, it'll happen now, thought Rarity as she almost-closed her eyes and began pretending to sleep. Some time passed without incident, and just as she was beginning to drift off against her will, she heard soft hoofsteps coming from somewhere in the dungeon.

She stiffened as the sound drew closer, until finally their source was in plain sight and she leapt to her feet shouting "She's here! It's Misty!"

Immediately, the other three were bolt upright, and saw the Wonderbolt standing near the bars of their cell and levitating a muffin.

"Of course!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, slapping her forehead. "How could I have thought it was Rarity?"

Rarity's stomach sank—however briefly, she had seriously suspected Pinkie of betraying her.

"O' course it was you!" spat Applejack at Misty. "What is yer major malfunction, anyway?"

Misty shrugged. "I suppose it's probably that I lack basic empathy and display sociopathic tendencies, but enough about me. I really must applaud you all for not eating each other alive like I'd hoped."

"It's because we're not sick in the head, like you," retorted Pinkie.

"I suppose I can't argue with that," admitted Misty, "but I do expect we'll get better results from our next game."

With that, she opened the cell door, dragged Fluttershy out, and locked the others in. She hovered directly in front of the pegasus's face, and gleefully breathed just one word:

"Run."

A vast distance away, Rainbow Dash had just finished saying her goodbyes to Gilda and taken off with her teammates. She'd picked out the biggest, shiniest-looking diamonds to give to Rarity, and Gilda had convinced her that the mine followed a "finders keepers" policy (though in retrospect, she wasn't entirely sure this was true).

They'd considered heading into the mountains, where (according to Celestia) dragons were supposed to roam, but thanks to Tyco making a critical error in plotting their direction, they had ended up much further south than they'd intended, somewhere near Sustria. Since they already had ample maps of the area (and little desire to visit the pigs again), they'd plotted a course for a largely unexplored continent even further to the south.

"…and you're sure it's there?" asked Spitfire as they left Sustria's coast.

"Positive," replied Tyco. "It should be too big to miss."

Sure enough, it wasn't long before they could see a vast expanse of grasslands, dotted sparsely with unfamiliar, highly asymmetrical trees.

"Well, now what?" asked Blast. No one had an answer, so they spread out to cover as much ground as possible, always staying in each other's sight. After just a few minutes of searching, Soarin' alerted the others to something he'd spotted in the distance.

As they drew closer to what appeared to be a large village or a small town, they saw that everything was centered around a large, stone building with a small moat to hold a stream that meandered through the town. Most of the houses, however, took the form of huts that seemed strangely familiar to Rainbow Dash—and once she was able to see the huts' inhabitants, it became clear why.

"Zebras!"

They were all looking up at the Wonderbolts, curious about what business their strange new visitors might have. As they landed, Spitfire began to speak to the striped assembly:

"Greetings to all of you. We are the Wonderbolts of Equestria, and we come in the name of Princess Twilight. We wish to"—

She was interrupted by severely distraught zebra running about. She cried "A dead body!" again and again, and all eyes were quickly on her. The Wonderbolts looked confusedly at one another before following her to the scene of the crime.

The victim's body lay in the floor of his small hut, his legs sprawled awkwardly about. There was no blood and no large wounds, but a small dart protruded from his neck.

"The work of the assassins' guild," muttered one zebra, spreading tangible dread through the room. "Someone he knew must have paid for his death."

"That didn't rhyme," said Rainbow Dash before covering her mouth with her hooves as the zebras looked at her. Embarrassed, she explained: "I have a zebra friend back home, and everything she says rhymes."

"She belongs to the herbalists' guild, then," explained the same zebra, "and you are quite lucky to know someone who can brew potions. As for what has happened here…" he trailed off. As the crowd pulsed with terrified mutters asking questions about the victim, Soarin' motioned his companions to step outside with him.

"We need to be careful," he told them quietly. "We don't want them suspecting us."

"Why would they suspect us?" asked Rainbow Dash. "We just got here!"

"Exactly. We're strangers in their village, and so far we've done nothing to earn their trust."

In an instant, words from a zebra Dash had once known came back to her: In the land where I come from, far, far away, there are certain zebras who act normal by day… by night, however, they sneak off to some unknown place, and consort with wicked creatures of every race.

"I've got it!" she exclaimed. "I've heard of this assassins' guild before, and I know somepony who's hired from them before."

"Really?" asked Tyco, surprised. "Who were they trying to kill?"

"Princess Celestia."

"Oh, right."

Their mission became clear. "Excuse me, everyone," began Rainbow Dash, stepping back into the hut and drawing every zebra's attention, "but I just might have a lead. About two years ago, give or take, a pig named Lord Reginald hired an assassin from the guild. Did any of you see a pony pass through this village around that time?"

After a few seconds, one extravagantly dressed zebra stepped forth and said "I did. He wore a cloak to conceal his identity, but when he came to my home to ask for directions I could tell that he was not one of us. Before then, I had heard of pigs, but never seen one for myself."

"Directions to where?"

"To the assassins' guild. I told him that I didn't know where they could be found, and that I wouldn't help him even if I did. After that, he left—wandered off to another village, though I never knew which one."

"There goes our lead," sighed Blast.

"Something doesn't make sense, though," said Rainbow Dash. "We know for a fact that Reginald succeeded in finding an assassin, which means that asking around and searching eventually led him to the guild."

"They make themselves known to outsiders seeking business with them," explained an elderly pony, "but not to other zebras. That is what makes this killing especially disturbing."

"Wait," said Spitfire, getting an idea. "Rainbow Dash, what was that you said about asking around?"

At first, the question confused her, but then her eyes widened and she said "Of course! If we go to another village and pretend to be in the market for an assassin, then that should lead us straight to the guild, and then we can put a stop to them!"

Suddenly, the zebras were infused with hope. "If your plan works," said one, "then it will mean we no longer have to fear that terrible guild and their dark ways. However, please tread carefully."

The Wonderbolts agree that they would, and then they flew off towards the nearest village, ready to undertake their first great act of justice since they'd gained their freedom from Celestia.

Back in Canterlot, Fluttershy trembled beneath a stone table in a dark room, trying her hardest (and failing) not to think about what Misty might do to her upon finding her.

"Oh, Fluttershy," called out a singsong voice from somewhere, causing her heart to pound so hard she feared it would give away her location. "I'm sure you went somewhere around here, darling. Won't you give me the pleasure of seeing you run for your life?"

Fluttershy closed her eyes and tried to imagine that she was back home in Ponyville, and that Misty was locked away somewhere, and she and her friends were free to live lives of peace away from the pain and the suffering…

"There you are!"

She yelped, and realized with horror that she had just given away her position, for Misty hadn't even been looking in her direction when she'd said that. She scrambled out, making for the door, but Misty's horn lit up and she was wracked with the pain of an electric shock, writhing involuntarily even as she struggled desperately to get away, her legs flailing as the alicorn let out a rich, cruel laugh…

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the pain subsided, turning into a dull throb. In an instant, Fluttershy was on her hooves again, galloping away as quickly as they would let her. Behind her, Misty's taunts reminded her that this would be her life from now on, the fear and the agony would never end, and when her dear friend Twilight returned, Misty would be ready for her, and any remaining shred of hope for Equestria would be snuffed out in an instant…

Down in Sustria, three fillies nervously approached the first of the pigs' towns via the road. Once they had swallowed their fear, they went towards it—first at a canter, and then at a full gallop, refusing to change their minds about what they knew must be done.