“I’m still not sold on them having gotten into the prison,” Mana states with a frown, “but I guess that doesn’t matter right now. We do need to go there regardless.”

“Then we should get moving immediately,” Charybdis said, “the sooner the better. If things are as bad as they could be we need to have been there yesterday to start fixing it.”

“You keep saying ‘we’,” Mana pointed out, “I don’t think that means what you think it means.”

“It means all of us,” she clarified with curt tone, “you, your friend, myself and the rest. I don’t have the time or patience to argue this with you, either we all go or I get there myself and you stumble around in the forest trying to catch up.”

“You won’t get in without someone to authorize you.”

“Which is why it’s faster if ‘we’ go. This is an emergency. Use your rights as a royal guard. Regardless, I’ll find a way without you if I must. Those mages did.”

“They won’t let Nivalia in,” Thunder pointed out, “seeing someone like that would lock the doors on us instantly.”

“It’s a changeling,” Charybdis reminded, “I’m sure it can work around that.”

“Not once were inside. They can detect that kind of thing. It’s a super max prison after all.”

“A fun surprise for them then. I’m sure they’d be interested to know what helped subdue their escapee. Either way, if you can’t see the value in something that can imitate a face and a voice then you’re a fool. We bring it.”

“You’re face is a fool.”

“You sounds suspiciously like your giving orders,” Mana seemed annoyed, “I’d like to remind that none of us are yours to command. Half of us aren’t even obligated to be involved.” He turned to the rest. “We can’t drag you further into this if you don’t want us to. If you don’t want to go but would still like to help then I’d ask you to go to Corona and speak to the mayor there about what happened. He’s looking into things and would probably like to be informed about this. With the train station wrecked it would probably take around a week to get there on foot. If you want to walk away that’s fine too, just please don’t go shouting about this to everyone you meet. We’ve seen the people responsible now so they’ll probably be moving to disappear and a panic would just make it easier. Keeping those investigating under as much cover as we can would be good as well. If you want to come with to Tartarus, is well... I guess warning you off hasn’t done much so far.”

“What about me?” Asked Arum asked with Charybdis answering.

“Keep an eye on Laurel. When things are settled here I want you to have get him taken care of then go to Berylsburg and check on things. After you’ve got a good grasp on the situation there send a messenger out and I’ll decide on a place where we can meet.”

Arum nodded then focused herself on the town and whatever needed doing.

Nyx listened as well, and stepped forward after Nivalia spoke. "I'm coming as well. And I agree with Charybdis, a changeling ally would only be asset. Though I imagine she's more likely to help us if we could all treat each other with respect."

She glanced at Mana. "Tartarus is the highest security prison in the nation, yes? The ponies who made the portal seem too smart to strike the same target twice, but if there aren't any other comparable places, they'll hit it again anyway. If there are other threats, that particular attack  could have been meant to lead us all to Tartarus so they can portal out creatures from anywhere else they please." Nyx knew a bit about Tartarus, and with its size and notoriety, it seemed most likely the best place to go to catch these guys, even if they had already tried that trick once. Even so, they could leave no stone unturned until the whole problem was solved.

Foxtrot and Nivalia would take inventory of their equipment a short distance away from the meeting spot. They don't bother asking for help. The looks they get confirm that they won't be getting any. Nivalia's pack is full of medicine and emergency aid. Foxtrot keeps his green jacket; special order from back in his Frontier Guard time. His Royal Guard patch on one shoulder, Equinox on the other; his lieutenant ranks are pinned on his collar. His badge is tucked neatly in his pocket. Armor plates lined inside his coat keep him safer. His machete holstered by his side.

The stallion looks over to his sister. She was disguising herself. He wasn't sure if it was to make it easier to get into Tartarus or if it was more... personal. Her gaze is distant. Distracted. Placing a hoof on her shoulder, his smile calms her down. With everything set they return to the rendezvous point.

Nyx goes her own way, legs still a little shaky from all the energy she had expended. She would return to the rendezvous group a couple of hours later, a bounce in her step. She looked very energetic, almost hyper. It's amazing what a good meal, a quick nap, and few energy donations could do.

Several civilians had seen the role Nyx had in taking down the cyclops, and were more than happy to let her take a bit of their magical energy. She took more than she usually did- about 10%, but it had gone well and Nyx was confident here would be absolutely no adverse effects. She asked the ponies to keep quiet about it, still wanting to keep what she did and who she was under wraps. Normally this would be enough, but Nyx knew that if it came to another fight, she needed to fill up her store completely. A bracing wind had swirled about for a short time, and Nyz had harnessed the natural energy to make sure she was well prepared.

She had also procured some plain saddlebags with some food and water for herself, as well as a notebook and some pencils. There was never a bad time to take notes! She bounced up and grinned at the others. "This is going to be so exciting! Don't you guys think so? I mean, something could go wrong and we could totally die, but what a way to go, y'know?" She was speaking very quickly. "If I die and any of you get out, I want you to make it known that I want inscribed on my head stone: 'Here lies Onyx Lotus'," she intoned dramatically. "'She died in Tartarus because she was just that cool'." She was normally not quite this flippant, but having so much energy had gone to her head a bit. "I mean, we could-" she came to a dead stop, falling silent as she suddenly became hyper-focused on a butterfly that happened to be passing by, her head turning at odd angles as she watched its path of flight.

Distracted by Onyx's erratic behavior, Thunder abandoned the argument with Mana and smirked in her direction. "What did those mares at the Green Lion give you?" he asked in reference to her sudden shift in energy, "Your habits are tearing this family apart, Onyx!"

Expecting it to be another towns person coming to give their opinion on the cyclops matter or offer a poorly thought out offer of assistance, Mana was left to only raise an eyebrow at the mare claiming to be a reporter. "Even out here theres no escaping the press..." Mana mumbled under his breath, Thunder's ears perking at the mention.

"A reporter?" he trotted over with a beaming grin, "I love the press! I can give you an interview! To start off, we can describe my perfect sunday..."

"I'm not sure we have time for an interview, Miss Quill," Mana spoke, denying Thunder from rambling, "We can simply summarize instead that it was fortunate we all happened to be present and capable of handling the dangers encountered. Anything further I'm sure you can fill in given you were so close to what happened," yes, he'd recognized her, "jot 'no comment' down as our answers for your questions."

"I don't think I've ever heard of anything called Equestria Daily," Thunder commented, earning a snort from Charybdis.

"Its a rag in the bigger cities," she claimed, "fades in with everything else. Gossip and fluff pieces." Whether or not this was true was up to those more familiar as Thunder only read his choice sources and Mana - one to always avoid anything that involved opinion over fact - didn't know any better. "Is no one else bothered that people seem to know where we're going? Looks like we need to get moving sooner than we thought if we want to stay ahead of the info leak radiating from this place. Especially if reporters are already writing their pieces on you."

"We can't take you with us," Mana explained to her, "we can't worry about a danger seeking reporter getting in the way in case theres more trouble."

"Well, now, hold on," Thunder cut in, "we can make use of a reporter. If anything it would help us keep track of everything if shes jotting it all down and building my lege- uh- I mean... Keeping an eye on the facts."

"Until it gets spun for the story and drama," Mana said, skeptical and unconvinced.

"Well... If she comes we would at least keep her from publishing any stories for a while." Thunder pointed out with a shrug.

Right after her poor introductions, under her wide grin Equilibrium was already mentally bonking herself for coming up with such poor reporter backstory. She was sure her cover would be blown in an instant. "Should have chosen some known paper dummy" she repeatedly said to herself. Still, trying to salvage her situation, she quickly did her best to recover from the minor setback only she was hopefully aware of at this point. Hearing one of the guards sigh at her fictive reporter status, she was about to responds to Mana's sighs, before the other guard cut in.

"You can?" Equilibrium asked enthusiasticly, turning to Thunder and bopping her book open to record all those fancy details on the matter, only to raise eyebrow in confusion when Thunder went all the way back to last sunday. If it was even the last sunday he was referring to, with the prefix perfect. What made a sunday perfect? A day off? A fine plate of food? A fine- Equilibrium was pulled off of the train of thought to nowhere by Mana, with his refusal for an interview. Trying to not lose her composure from Mana recognizing her, she tried her best to be an "investigative reporter", and launched a question back to Mana "Fortunate, or suspicious? I saw a group of seemingly trained individuals, despite dressing like civilians, take down a hellspawn from tartarus. Surely there's more to it than simply a stroke of pure luck" She said with a curious glare, noting her words down just in case any of them were to question her about her words later on. "I cannot simply write no comment to everything. I want the full story!" She said eagerly, slamming the book shut and tightly pressing it against her chest, grinning at the alert guard. One could even hear her squee a bit, as she grinned.

The more talkative guard's question brought worry back to Equilibrium, as the chosen name for the publication was now being questioned. But as Thunder got corrected on the matter, much to her own surprise as well, such newspaper actually seemed to exists. Considering this a small scale victory, she then began to doubt if it was a good thing that she accidentally referred to an existing publication. She had no clue how they wrote, but the guards seemed to be eager to fill her in on those details.

She hopped up, facing Charybdis "I only write down the hard facts!" She proclaimed, almost doing so in the name of history and science, almost blowing her cover "Not some... Made up stories..." she then continued with lowered voice from her outburst. She was probably only one to follow the group, and the chance of actual reporters being there and still alive were dim. "Well, a reporter" Equilibrium corrected. "I suppose it was just fortunate i happened to be there" She said, giving a small grin to Mana.

"Why not?" She said in a whiney tone right after Mana was denying her from joining the group. Perhaps the grin was too much. "I am fully capable of taking care of myself" She  said defensively "And won't get in the way of your guards duties" She looks at Thunder who chimed in, and immediately taking the chance and getting behind his argument "Yeah, what he said!" She groaned "Only. Facts" She repeated, swinging her book in the air to emphasize that it was only filled with important things, not fluff. "Why did i go with a reporter story...?" Equilibrium questioned herself, as the guards went back and forth.

Happy to hear yet another pony support her coming along as well, she made a mental note on the red mare, who seemed to have a deathwish, constantly coming up with quotes for her future tombstone.

"So?" She then said, interrupting the guards. "Most seem to be in favor of facts and full stories and all that. Can i come?" She asked with beaming eyes

Equilibrium happily hopped onto her hooves, ready to move out. She gave a sly smile to Mana, accompanied by a "But of course" on his terms for allowing her to tag along. She was already ready to move out, but turned her attention to Thunder, when the guard addressed her. "The more heroic, the better" She said with a chuckle. "I promise to add some extra detail to immortalize you on the pages of history!"