Chapter 16
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"Hey, Kuthrine." Kuthrine looked up from a book detailing the history of something called "The Griffin War" to see Anderson taking a seat by the campfire. "I can't figure these aliens out. First they all but enslave us. Then they treat us nice, or at least as nice as aliens can be, all things considered. Then they leave us with nothing but a lighter for a fire and sleeping bags? Why don't they let us use the emergency supplies in the ship?"
Kuthrine went back to her book. "You'd be better off asking Kelly about their motives, to be honest. He's the one studying them. As for the supplies thing, they probably don't want us signalling for rescue."
"Where is the kid anyway?"
"Tiamat took him into a nearby village to steal more books."
"Hmph. At least that Tiamat makes some sense. I can't figure out Tyr's angle, though." Kuthrine raised an eyebrow at him. "He talked to me a bit when I caught him stalking Tiamat. He seemed to be going through some existential crap. No idea how that started."
Kuthrine thought for a moment. "Hmmm. Kelly said something earlier. Remember Tiamat's quip that she wouldn't talk ethics with a human?" Anderson nodded. "Well, apparently that didn't last long. She and Kelly got into some discussion while we were hunting the other day. Kelly said that she said something about beginning to sympathize with Autonomous, so maybe she's got Tyr questioning himself too."
Anderson gave her a blank look. "Autono-what?"
"Apparently that was the name of the rebel faction in the Escape a thousand years or however long ago. Which reminds me!" Kuthrine's eyes lit up. "Guess what other little nugget of information Tiamat apparently leaked to our young scholar?"
"What, that she's in love with him?"
Kuthrine rolled her eyes. "I mean besides that. She's already made it clear she wants him for "provision". No, Tyr is apparently working as a part of a coup. She said something about Tyr enlisting her help to "repair the High Instruction", which is clearly Dras double-speak if I've ever heard it."
"So... what?"
"So, we have a chance to seriously impact a high-stakes situation here. How this coup plays out will seriously effect The Escape and, by extension, The Empire. We need to find out more about Tyr's plans. Since he seems willing to talk to you, you should try to find out more. Try to be subtle about it? I don't want Tyr to think you've become a liability."
"Don't patronize me. I'm more subtle than you'll hopefully ever know."
******
'No one ever mentions how uncomfortable bushes are.' Kelly extricated himself from the offending shrub via a poorly timed tripping maneuver. After peeling his face off the street, he looked around to see if any small horses had noticed him. 'Smooth as ice and cool as sheet metal.'
The streets were practically empty at this hour. A building that looked like candy a few blocks away looked pretty busy. 'Must be the party that Tiamat mentioned. I wonder where the h-' Kelly winced, and then berated himself for being too well-trained. He saw the tree that Tiamat said was a library, and cautiously made his way to it.
'I'm sneaking around a village populated by small, colorful horses on an alien planet in order to steal books to assist a coup against another alien civilization that I'm essentially at war with. This is seriously fucked up.'
He noticed that the library's lights were out. There probably wasn't anyone inside. 'Although, Tiamat had said it was doubling as a home, so someone could be asleep inside.' He slowly opened the door, wincing as it creaked. He didn't hear any movement, and slipped inside.
He closed the door and realized that it was almost pitch dark inside. 'If only I had a flashlight or a candle or some-... duh...' A quick light spell revealed walls covered with bookcases. He gave a low whistle. 'Gotta say, this civilization must be something if even a small town like this has a library of this size.' Caution and common sense abandoned, Kelly began browsing the various shelves. The section labels and titles were all in English, or at least appeared English, if Kuthrine was right about this planet.
A sudden knocking at the door reminded him that he was trespassing. "Shit!" He ran upstairs and entered what appeared to be a personal study and bedroom. He grabbed a few of the books laying around and ran to the window before realizing that his light spell would give him away. "Shit!" He quickly cancelled it and peeked outside. A Gothic looking carriage harnessed to two small, bat-winged horses in dark armor was parked in front of the library. A relatively large, midnight blue winged-unicorn stood in front of the door. It knocked again.
"Twilight Sparkle, are thou home?"
This wasn't good. This horse looked important. And powerful. And big. And that sharp, pointy horn looked a tad bit dangerous. Nope, the situation was about as far from good as such a situation could be. As far as adjectives go, good is very far from the top of the list. he was in trouble.
He decided to hide under one of the beds, on the off chance that it might increase his odds of survival.
"Twilight Sparkle, if thou are home, We are coming inside now."
'Shit!'
******
"You know, Trixie, I didn't really expect you to be that subdued. I mean, I didn't even know that subdued was something you were capable of."
"Quiet, you. I'm still recovering, after all. Besides, given recent events, it was probably for the best."
"Trixie being self-aware? That's new."
"I'm a showmare. What do you expect? And since when have you been so snarky?"
"If I'm being honest, I guess since I don't feel like I'm treading on eggshells around you."
Trixie was about to retort when she noticed the carriage and guards outside of Twilight's library. Luna's carriage and guards. Trixie's train of thought went a little something like the following:
'Luna's here?! Why? The creature! She wants to know about the creature star dragon connection to Nightmare Moon incident it's not dead Luna still senses it they are waiting for me to return this is risky I have everything on me this is risky gotta leave gotta run dangerous that creature will find me Luna will find me the creature offered safety the forest!'
Twilight was about to ask Trixie why she had stopped when she was suddenly blinded by smoke. After clearing the air and coughing a few times, Twilight looked around. Trixie was nowhere to be seen, but she finally noticed Luna's carriage. 'Is that why she ran? Weird. Well, I can't leave Princess Luna waiting. Trixie will just have to handle herself, I guess.'
Meanwhile, Trixie was currently galloping at full speed towards the Everfree Forest with little besides "run away!" going through her mind. Panic was not conducive to effective decision-making. At the edge of town, Trixie came across a cart filled with various foods. The sight brought her to a halt. 'What.'
"If you're going to meet Tyr, bring that along with you." Trixie jumped and turned to see Epona. "We could use the supplies. I would bring it, but I must rescue one of his pets."
Trixie glared. "I'm not a pack mule!"
Epona just tilted her head. "As the only herbivore in our group, you're going to be needing it the most."
"Hmph. Fine. Is... Tyr still by that metal airship in the forest?"
"There or near. It is where we are staged." With that, Tiamat took off in the direction that Trixie had just come from.
Trixie paced back and forth. 'Crap crap crap this is bad! Luna help me! Actually, Luna ignore me! By Discord's magic fingers what am I doing?' She shook her head and slipped into the cart's harness, and resumed her journey to the forest. 'By the stars of Luna's mane, both figurative and literal, let me live through all this!'
******
Twilight entered the library to see Luna sitting patiently at her table. Luna greeted her with a wide smile. "Ah! Twilight Sparkle! I apologize for entering without your permission, but it seemed more prudent than waiting outside."
"Hello Princess Luna! It's alright, my home is always open to the Princesses of Equestria. Um, if I might ask, why are you here? I don't recall you announcing a visit."
Luna got up and began walking about. She was a fairly animate speaker. "I wanted to meet with thou and the unicorn that defeated the disturbance in Everfree. Where is she?"
"Um, well, funny you should mention that. I was actually returning from a party with her, but once she saw your carriage, she ran off. I'm not sure where she went."
Luna's face became serious. "Hmm. This is most troubling. I had wanted to ask her more about the encounter, since I think there is more to this threat than the single creature. That she has fled makes me think that she does have something to hide."
Twilight looked shocked. "What? But, Trixie... I'm pretty sure she wouldn't... I mean, why would she do something like..."
"It is an unpleasant idea, and one that may be incorrect. This "Trixie" is not helping the situation by running away, in either case. Dost thou - sorry - do you have any idea why she might have fled?"
"Hmm. I'm not really sure. I do know... well I assumed, really, that she is part of the Night Clan. She might be nervous about meeting you. When she found out that I knew you personally, she also seemed... shocked? It pains me to admit it, but you could also be right about her not wanting to reveal something about what happened in the forest. But I honestly think you are mistaken.
"Explain thine self."
"Well, for all her flaws, Trixie actually seems pretty shrewd when she needs to be. Like you said, it doesn't paint her in a very positive light. I don't think she was thinking in those terms. She might not have even thought that you would want to talk to her. She probably assumed you were here to speak with me alone. Besides, let's say it is that she is hiding something. I really don't think it's something malicious. Anything she left out would only be things that would make her look bad. If there actually were multiple creatures, she would have lied by saying that she defeated more of them, not only one."
"You seem eager to defend this unicorn, Twilight Sparkle."
"What? No I d-" Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "Maybe I am. I'm sorry, Princess Luna. My relationship with Trixie is... complicated. I'm afraid I might be biased when it comes to explaining her motives. Still, we can't assume the worst without finding and talking to Trixie. I'm sure when we make it clear to her how important the situation is, she'll help us."
"Very well. Do you know where she might have gone?"
"Well... no. It's hard when we don't know why she ran off. Let's assume she's fleeing because she doesn't want to be questioned, since the other scenarios I can think of will involve her coming back on her own. So, fleeing to hide. Hmm...
Twilight started pacing. "I don't really know all that much about her. I know that she has parents - powerful parents - in Canterlot. I think the mayor here knows who they are. But, I don't think she would want to involve them at all. I think she ran away from them. They might have some ideas, though. She could be anywhere, though. Oh! When she first came to town, she mentioned something about saving Hoofington, for what it's worth. The saving part was a lie, but she might have some connection there."
"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, but... I don't think these leads will help me. My investigation is meant to be very low-key, and if I was able to actively start investigating any of these towns, I'd be able to just send a team into the forest directly."
Twilight looked at her, concern etched on her face. "What do you mean? What's wrong?"
Luna winced. She didn't want to tell her too much, but at this point it was probably best to tell her everything and plead for her cooperation. "I haven't informed Celestia of what has happened yet."
"What?! Why not?"
"Because I am an alicorn too, Princess of the Moon and Ruler of the Night! These are creatures of my domain, and I alone hold responsibility! I'll not hide behind Celestia like a foal, nor shall I let her take over my duties while I am capable of performing them myself!"
Luna closed her eyes and exhaled. When she opened them, she saw Twilight cowering on the floor.
"I-"
Luna sighed. "I cry your pardon, Twilight Sparkle. 'Tis a sore subject for me. I wish to handle this situation on my own, and prove that Equestria is right to place its trust in me. If I can-" Luna was interrupted by a loud bump from upstairs. "What was that?"
"Huh? Oh, that was probably just Spike."
"Spike? The young dragon that Celestia assigned to you as an assistant? The library was empty before you arrived."
"Oh, right, Spike stayed behind to help Pinkie clean up the party. But then... I don't know what that could have been."
Luna and Twilight exchanged glances and began creeping upstairs. When Twilight reached her bedroom door, she threw it open and jumped inside. "Trixie!? You in here?"
The room was empty, though she did notice that the window was open. She ran over to it and looked outside, but saw nothing. "Whoever it was, they must have escaped."
******
Tiamat wished that humans weren't so heavy. This one had knocked itself out when she had grabbed its arm. Dragging it out the window was hard enough, and now she had to carry it all the way back to the camp. 'Why can't they have hollow bones, or less muscle. For creatures so small, they are exceedingly bulky. They make Tyr seem frail in comparison.'
The human moaned as she dragged it over some uneven ground. 'You had better thank me later, Kelly.'