The chapter begins with a professional briefing about the recent events. It is clear that while they have no proof that something will happen, they will take no risks and try their best NOT to start further witch hunts. For now all they can do is to investigate and the memories of the last incident with Sunset are still fresh. The rest of the briefing serves to prepare them for the next country, Zebrawa, which is the place where the rhyming zebras live. The biggest danger for this country is starvations because of the instable climate and the infamous Parasprites. Pest control is harder then usual since the environment is instable enough without the massive use of pesticides, not to mention the fear that the pesticides could be used in chemical warfare against zebras and ponies.
Unlike Equestria, the zebras don’t have the Everfree Forest to lure the critters back into. So far the ponies don’t know why the Everfree Forest is still standing. Is there a predator that eats the fluffy bugs or does the forest simply regenerate faster then the bugs can devour it? Shining also mentions that Celestia had to dispatch the Musical Corps to take care of the Parasprite infestation in Filldelphia.
So they land in a civilian landing space and it turns out that from the very start that was their destination and the recent danger had nothing to do with it. The other places could have simply not supported them for the time of their stay. Shining is relieved to see no signs of the Hooviets or the wolf that is stalking him. Yet it is not enough to calm down his nerves after the recent report and he is feeling like his sister before a pop quiz. The interviewers know very well how bad his situation must be if he uses this comparison. The greeting itself is not too special but the local national guard gets his attention. Their armor is white with black stripes which actually mimics the individual body patterns and makes the armor more unique.
Minuette wonders where the Sergeants from the other units are. But their absence is no part of an evil plot but the Dragoons, as sergeants are called in an air regiment, are simply pegasi and above them in the air. Not all members of the Air Regiment are pegasi, there are also earth ponies and unicorns using light airships but the pegasi are of course the majority. But Shining is more worried about the 82nd and the Pegasus Guard. Soon they come closer and the 82nd still has the classic armor style that goes back to Commander Hurricane. The Pegasus Guard however got a new more threatening style that Luna surely absolutely adores. Placing a staring eye where it doesn’t belong is always a classic. But these guards are not yet infused with the essence of the Princess of the Night. So their fur does clash a bit with the dark armor. Both Pegasus units don’t seem to get along so well and their sergeants quickly struggle to get the most attention. And the ponies were complaining about Rainbow Dash’s tendency to grab attention. In the end Cadence greets both Dragoon Maelstrom and Sergeant Thunderhead as politely as possible while Shining tries his best to ignore the behaviour of the soldiers.
It turns out that their guide is a hybrid, half zebra, half Pegasus – a Virgasus. But the Pegasus interviewer points out that not all hybrids get that cool names, for example mules. Maybe Shining should try to think of a cooler name for them and ask Cadence to use her powers of trendsetting to give it more attention. And a pony/zebra hybrid as a guide makes a lot more sense then a deer/unicorn hybrid as the second in command of a racist regime. She is actually a member of the City Watch as well and her cutie mark is normal and not as suspiciously strange and over the top as Makarov’s. It is a compass in the style of the cutie mark of zebras, likely showing her ability to guide and orientate herself. Overall Shining had seen much stranger and hostile things before. The zebra introduces herself in rhythms as Kweupe and the translation would be Good Weather.
In the city itself the unicorn notices that the architecture is a mix of various different styles yet he is too busy to look out for possible dangers. A short talk about plants leads to another painfully unfunny joke from Running Gag and not even Garnet seems to get it. In turn the Pegasus flies a bit away, there was actually no need for him to be here… maybe he wanted to spend some time with his girlfriend? Kweupe is also quick to warn them about flying regulations which were created to keep the weather as stable as possible. Unlike the city, the embassy itself has a more Equestrian style with an impressive garden. Cadence seems to be trying to calm down Shining or the two sergeants… in this case she might have better chances with the properly paranoid unicorn.
In the embassy Cadence meets her old foalsitter, now Ambassador Supermarine as the unicorn is busy with the security. Shining still wonders if the intruders could have gotten even further, but for now security was increased. Supermarine actually reminds Shining at one of the Wonderbolts, likely Spitfire. And by now Cadence has clearly noticed Shining’s paranoia. While they are eating something the unicorn thinks about Supermarine and not only her status as retired Lieutenant Colonel and Ambassador do impress him but especially her being Cadence’s foalsitter. Not because Cadence was such a horrible stressful child (well there was the love poison incident…) but being chosen to protect the young Alicorn that is obviously a target for many, that is quite a sign of trust and very impressive.
On the other hand the two regiments don’t nearly leave such a good impression behind. Phalanx Officer Shooting Star and Second Lieutenant Meteor are responsible for the security. The first one was actually once in the Columbian Marines and even took part in live combat. So she actually has more field experience then Shining himself. But the unicorn did already survive a very impressive battle, so he has the potential to become a similar experienced soldier. And despite the obvious hatred between their regiments, these two try to be as professional as it is expected by soldiers. Yet both still try to say as much as possible once the other one gives them an opening. Security was increased in the compromised area and the protection against flying intruders and teleportation was also improved. One of the problems of the increased security is that now both the 82nd and the Pegasus Guard patrol together and it is only a question until they start to go for each others throats. Their hostility is even noticeable when they are reporting to their superior. So both of them offer to add some of Shining’s troops to their patrols to have at least somebody who is calm within them, it would also mean that the troops of all three Goddesses would be united. Of course they would need to talk with their NCOs and the Princess about it first. Meteor suggests that in return they would offer their troops to replace the missing soldiers when Cadence needs her usual guards. And the unicorn is open for this idea since it could allow them to avoid concentrating on internal problems while he has more then enough external enemies.
After Cadence agrees with the idea as well Meteor wonders about the rather strange title of “Nightjesty”, which is an old title for Luna and refers to her status as the Queen of the Night and is actually not connected with her political title. Celestia has a similar title but doesn’t use that anymore. Apparently Cadence also has one but isn’t using it either and it turns out that Dragon Queen Tiamat actually knows her true title: The 14th, Concept of Temperance. Shining reminds the soldier that the use of the title of Queen could be seen by some as an insult or at least as an attempt to put one Alicorn above the others. They are on a diplomatic mission after all, they have to keep certain standards. If Twilight would be here she would likely love to give a detailed history lesson about the story behind the titles but Shining himself knows quite a lot about them.
It turns out that the four dead ponies belonged to a private weather firm (PWC, surely inspired by PMC) and were already the target of an investigation about illegal mercenary activity. All four of them were killed quickly and efficient, overall it sounds a lot like Makarov’s favourite method. The wounded survivor was a university worker who will actually awaken very soon. Considering that he wasn’t killed, he likely didn’t see anything. On the other hand it seems almost strange that someone working for Makarov would leave a survivor behind, considering all the horrible and widespread collateral damage his troops caused the last time. The post office is a broken mess and they still have no idea what weapon or spell was used to get these results. Even Ellis has no idea what it was, so Shining suspects Makarov again, since he had the crazy advanced tripods the last time. But since he has another duty and this isn’t his field, he leaves the investigation to Bond. Now the unicorn has more time to be paranoid about the powerful foes who want to kill him or to inflict a fate worse than death on him.
After that some diplomatic duties await them, first is a meeting between the Princess and the Prime Minister of Zebrawa, T'Challa. They do however not find a normal panther except Running Gag who gets a few more Cat Scares. Even the increased security here doesn’t help to calm down Shining. Seeing two deer nearby doesn’t help either but in this case it turns out that they are actually observing the unicorn. They also mention some blessings that make it very easy for an Alicorn to detect them and both apparently have a military background. But it still is not answered if they work for Makarov or another party, after all Makarov could have easily send unicorn or zebra spies after Shining, if he wanted more information. The rest of the dinner is uneventful and harmless.
Their next stop is the university where the break-in happened and here they find the same strange remains the post office had. But they still have no idea what it is. Even the professor who had found the items had no idea what was destroyed and there are no further notes of the find left. They will likely only learn what it was when it is too late. But suddenly it turns out that the injured worker has woken up again. Again Shining tries to learn something about the case and decides to go there with Private Gag. The Alicorn agrees with him, yet by now she is more worried then ever about his unrest. Then again she doesn’t know what he is dealing with. While the worker is happy to see his professor, he seems absolutely terrified of Shining. In this moment Bond steps in and takes over the duty.
The reasonable explanation for the panic attack would be that the worker saw Shining’s doppelganger but by now the unicorn doesn’t believe in reasonable explanations anymore. It turns out that he is right and according to Gag the worker said: “The wolf, the wolf, it is hunting you, it is close by.” Now that is extremely strange, what did the worker SEE when he was looking at the unicorn? Was the stalker standing behind him? Unsurprisingly this makes his paranoia even worse.
The next step is another meeting and there they meet the owner of that weather company and he claims that neither he nor his company were involved with the four murdered ponies anymore. Besides that all the delays completely destroyed their original plans but Minuette was able to reschedule their plan, they even have time for a hoofball game tomorrow. Unfortunately by now the paranoia of Shining prevents him from enjoying even something like this and it turns out that the City Watch lost two suspects who were very likely Shining’s doppelganger and the one claiming to be Twilight. The unicorn is incredible frustrated that they are simply not making any progress with this case.
This night Shining has another one of his strange flashback dreams and in this one he meets the Chief of the Clydesdale Police Force and he has such a strong accent that it becomes really hard to understand him. Apparently there is a problem with a dog owner and his aggressive dog but the unicorn can feel that something is wrong with the dream. It feels like something that didn’t take place in the past but was only added in later. Even stranger is that Shining suddenly finds himself in full armor before two soldiers who seem to have no idea where he suddenly came from. It is almost like he just returned to his own (current) present and was not even placed in the place where he should be.
His paranoia continues even into the Hoofball game but for now the feeling is not as horrible as he suspected it to be. But the Wonderbolts will arrive very soon and the tension within the regiments is already raising, not to mention that the stunt flyers will be at the embassy and could easily lead the aggressions to Princess Cadence herself. Even in his position Shining can’t easily relocate them since Supermarine’s daughter is one of them and her husband was a former Wonderbolt. Not to mention that the Wonderbolts will need further protection and because of their advanced training, they can’t simply do that over the town with its flying regulations.
Thunderchild quickly offers to take care of the protection and while the Captain trusts his friend, he also knows how much of a Wonderbolts fan he is and that he would likely talk about Spitfire’s wingspan. So to try to balance this Shining sends Ellis with his friend. For a while everything is calm but eventually the hatred erupts again. One of the 82nd challenged Spitfire to a race and no matter who would have won, the situation would have gotten worse. So Cadence expanded the race into one between the Wonderbolt, Jenkins, an 82nd Pegasus, a Pegasus Guard and herself. This time the Alicorn doesn’t want to use Twinkle Shine as a handicap but she already ran away. And as Shining points out the young Alicorn is actually not that fast by Pegasus standards, so she is definitely not doing this to win herself.
The unicorn is actually optimistic that this race might reduce the tension but once it starts he begins to realise a fatal mistake: This will lead Cadence far outside of his safe radius. And within seconds he can hear the stalker right behind him. There are countless other ponies watching the race and they can do nothing to help Shining. They have likely completely forgotten about him by now. He tries to calm himself down to NOT run away from the one place the Princess expects him to be. This might be his last chance. But being so close to it begins to erase the unicorn and the stalker mentions that Shining’s existence actually meant that another’s light had to be sacrificed for that. But in the last moment the racers return and while Cadence is last, she still wins since the tense battle was avoided and she had photographic evidence of everything. So there is no point of arguing about the result. And neither the Wonderbolt or the Pegasus of the 82nd did win. While Cadence is quite happy about herself, the chapter ends with the reveal that for a moment she actually did see the wolf behind Shining.
