The whole town of Knothole crowded around as a familiar blue streak came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the well-kept huts and gardens that surrounded the raised stone platform that made the town square. Sonic and Sally stepped up onto this platform and surveyed the assembling Mobians, while Bunnie, Tails, Antoine, and Rotor joined the crowd to see what the leaders of the recent raid would say and to add their own comments as was needed.

Sally's face was worried, and she signaled to Sonic to let her talk first. Sonic had just about gotten himself warmed up to deliver his slightly embellished version of the mission, but the look on Sally's face made him change his mind, and he stepped down into the crowd as well to hear what the Princess had to say.

"The raid was a success," said Sally to open, and there were some cheers and clapping, but they died quickly when her expression was seen. "But we lost two of our Freedom Fighters. Dulcy!"

The teenaged dragoness tilted her head quizzically and used her large bulk to gently elbow her way to the front of the crowd.

"What'cha need, Sally?" said the bemused reptilian marsupial.

"I need you to run a message to Uncle Chuck as fast as you can go. We need to find out if Fillia and Equinus are still alive and if they've been captured or roboticized."

A murmur ran through the assembled Freedom Fighters. They all knew well the loss of friends and loved ones, and the still-worse pain of not knowing what really happened. It was a high priority, then, to find out the final end of any Freedom Fighter who went missing in action and almost any effort would be expended to this end, whether to rescue the hapless Mobians or to mourn their loss.

"No problem, Sally," said Dulcy, as bubble-headed as ever, but still sensing the seriousness of the situation.

The crowd cleared instantly as the awkward dragon started to circle on the ground to get up a good head of steam in order to take off. It was a well-known fact after a number of minor injuries and near-major ones that it was not safe to be around when Dulcy was taking off and landing, and thus there were few who cared to observe the process at close range. But just as Dulcy had started her run a small dun-furred figure ran out onto the runway. Dulcy panicked and altered her course, which had the end result of the dragon making the intimate acquaintance of a nearby oak tree, somehow managing to end her short takeoff run upside-down and seeing stars that wouldn't go away for several minutes.

Bunnie ran up to the downed dragon.

"How ya doin' Dulcy?" she asked, a little worried.

"Just fine Ma," answered Dulcy with her usual bubbly voice. "And I don' wanna take my medicine."

"She's fine," called out Bunnie. Sally grinned as she passed, and then caught Fillia in a hug.

"You had us so worried," said Sally to the ten-year-old filly. "How did you get here? Where's Equinus?"

"It was the owl-lady," said Fillia slowly, picking her words carefully. She had an important message to give, and she wasn't sure how to present it so that everybody would listen. "She sent me back with something important to tell all of you."

The crowd had gathered once more as they gradually realized that Dulcy's liftoff was no longer a danger. Soon their attention was focused on the young equine holding Sally's hand as the Princess led Fillia up to the platform to let her deliver her message.

"Tell us what happened," said Sally, gently rubbing Fillia's back to encourage her. Fillia took a deep breath and stared out at all the Freedom Fighters staring at her, but plucked up her courage and began to talk.

"I went out to the city to see if I could sneak a look at Sonic and my big brother while they were out on their mission. Tails tried to stop me, but he couldn't, so I went, and the SWATbots found me and started to take me away to be roboticized." There were some murmurings of surprise and curiosity, but Fillia continued. "They almost got me to the place where they turn people into robots, but then Equinus showed up with this tall owl-lady in a brown cloak, and the street blew up. Gryf and some of the Underground had set up bombs under the street to save me, and so Equinus, the owl-lady, and I got away in the smoke and noise."

There was a louder round of murmuring at the mention of Gryf. The Freedom Fighters remembered the charming young goat who had tried to steal the Power Crystal that gave Sonic his power rings, without which they would have been lost. To hear him doing one of their own a favor was a surprise, and they were more curious to hear the end of the story. Fillia waited until the talking settled down, and then continued once more.

"We nearly got caught running away, but Oracle, that's the owl-lady's name, found a secret passage, and that took us all the way down to the Underground City where Gryf and all the others live. There were such wonderful things down there, but you'd have to see it to believe it. Oracle talked with Gryf for a while, and told him that there was a way to bring back blue skies and clean air in Mobotropolis. She said she needed Equinus to help her bring back the Last Legion, and needed Gryf to help her get into the Royal Tombs under the old palace. Equinus went with her and they sent me back here to tell you what happened."

Fillia almost had to yell the last part, for there was such a tumult of talking when she mentioned the Last Legion which doubled when she mentioned the Royal Tombs that it was almost impossible for a single speaker to be heard. Sally drew herself up to her full height and yelled over the din.

"Quiet, everybody!"

And suddenly it was quiet.

"Fillia," said Sally, turning to the small filly, bending a little to look her in the eyes, "What did the owl say about the Last Legion?"

"She said the stories were true, mostly," answered Fillia with wide eyes. "She said that only Equinus could help her bring them back, that they'd been gone for so long. She didn't say why they'd been gone, where they'd been, or how they were going to return, but she said they were coming back."

Sally nodded, a little smile playing on her face as she remembered a distantly remembered secret. Something her father had once told her about the Tombs far below the palace.

"And Equinus is with her now?"

"Yes'm," replied Fillia promptly.

Sally nodded again, and then turned to the assembled Freedom Fighters.

"It seems that our lost ones are found. And that makes the mission a doubly-great success."

She then began to relate the actions of the previous few hours, supplemented with details from the other members of her team. The tension of only a few minutes before was gone, replaced by the joy of triumph. Sally couldn't help but smile as she thought of how much of a triumph it might yet prove to be. More than any of them could fully realize.

* * *

"I don't get it, Sal," said Sonic several hours later as the Freedom Fighters were shuffling off to bed. Sonic and Sally were sitting next to the power ring pool, skipping stones across the placid surface. "We haven't even seen the horse back yet, and you think an owl we don't even know is taking care of him?"

"I'm sure of it, Sonic, " said Sally, sending a stone all the way to the other side of the pond. "My father would tell me stories about the Last Legion on the nights I couldn't sleep, after my mother died. I loved to hear them, and I loved having father so near when he was so busy all the time." She looked up at the moon, shining bright and gibbous in the sky. "One night he told me that there was a secret that only the royal family knew about, after I had a really bad day. It cheered me up to hear him share secrets, even if I shouldn't have heard them until I was older." Sally paused a moment as she remembered her kind and wise father, the King of Mobius, but quickly continued before the tears could come, as they always did if she remembered him for too long. "There was a great bier far below the palace, hidden in the Royal Tombs. An empty bier for a Warrior. My father always said that if things ever got bad I should go to the Tombs and wake up the Warrior, and he would make everything better."

"And you think your father's story wasn't just a kid's tale," said Sonic, making it a statement rather than a question as he whizzed a rock over the water to land next to Sally's.

"I know it, Sonic," said Sally. "Somehow, the Last Legion, the heroes in the fairy tales we all used to love, are real. And the owl we saw was . . ."

"Oracle!" grinned Sonic. "You mean to tell me that we were talking with a legend earlier today? Be still my heart." This last was only a little sarcastic.

"Right," continued Sally. "I think that if what Fillia said is right, then things are going to get a whole lot better, soon."

"How do you figure, Sal?"

Sally's fist clenched and then relaxed, and her face wore a tired but determined smile.

"We're going to get more help. Goodnight, Sonic, I need to get some sleep."

And with that, Sally wandered off towards her hut. Tails and Fillia had been tired out from the days activities and had gone fast asleep, so she didn't need to tell any stories. It was only a matter of time before she joined them in a deep, peaceful slumber. Sonic continued to sit by the pond, watching the stars.

"So the Last Legion is real, huh?" he said to himself. "Well, I could use a little heroic competition. A legend should be enough of a rival to keep me in shape for a while." Then he got up and walked to his own hut, laughing quietly to himself.