• Published 2nd Sep 2012
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Harmony Theory - Sharaloth



Rainbow Dash awakens in a strange land and must discover why, and how to return home.

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Chapter 13: Questions of Choice

The third state of the Elements is something I have called Inversion. This is not, ultimately, an accurate name, but it does capture the basic idea of the phenomenon. Inversion is functionally identical to the Active state, but during Inversion the (for lack of a better term) polarity of the Element is reversed. Loyalty becomes Betrayal, Honesty becomes Deceit, Generosity becomes Greed, Laughter becomes Anger and Kindness becomes Cruelty.

I first encountered Inversion during the first time we battled with Discord. He exploited this property of the Elements, using it to corrupt my friends and drive us apart. I assumed at the time that it was simply his own power and hypnotic abilities that caused this effect, but early experimentation with the Elements proved that it was them, and not him, that provoked the radical shifts in personality we all experienced. He merely tapped into a potential that already existed.

...The Inversion of my own Element, Magic, confused me for a time. I know I experienced the phenomenon, but other than melancholic depression there was no vast shift in personality to accompany my Inversion. What is the opposite of magic? Mundanity, perhaps, but that was inconsistent with what I had experienced during my Inversion. It was only when studying the Element of Laughter that I came to a revelation about the nature of the Inversion process, and a further understanding of the Elements themselves.

When we think of the inverse of a trait we usually envision its opposite, but ascribing that logic to the Elements is part of our fundamental misunderstanding of their nature. The opposite of laughter, or joy, would be sadness or despair. Despair, however, is not an energizing trait, and thus cannot serve Laughter’s purpose in creating the Magic of Harmony. Anger, on the other hoof, is an energizing trait, and can serve Laughter’s purpose. Realizing this allowed me to see that the Inversions of all of the Elements kept the same purpose in creating the Magic of Harmony that their Active traits did.

The Inversions of the Elements are not their opposites, but their equals. Mundanity may serve as a conceptual opposite for magic, but the Element of Magic is a directive agent and mundanity is by definition neutral and directionless. After careful study and deliberation I have come to the conclusion that only one trait contains all the qualities necessary to be the directive agent in the Magic of Harmony. Thus the Inversion of Laughter is Anger, and the Inversion of Magic, is Magic.

The implications of this are staggering.

-From the Sixth section of Harmony Theory by Twilight Sparkle

Chapter Thirteen: Questions Of Choice

Astrid stared through the binoculars at the rain-shrouded camp. Dash’s plan was working perfectly, with the perimeter guards pulled in to help with the repairs on the sandbag wall and clearing out the debris of the guard tower. Astrid’s training wasn’t in demolitions, but she knew a good piece of destruction when she saw one, and that lightning strike had been beautiful. For a near-pacifist pony out of her time, the rainbow-maned pegasus was really taking a shine to the violence of the present.

Like the fight with Umbra. Astrid had assumed Dash would balk at her brutal methods, but instead she had barely batted an eye. Afterwards, when Star Fall was losing her breakfast, Dash had seemed to take the whole thing in stride. Astrid guessed that it had a lot to do with fighting Goddesses before, but it was still something she was surprised to see.

She’d lost sight of the two pegasi as they had gone into Cash’s camp, the rain and the darkness obscuring them completely even when she knew about where they should be. She kept looking anyway, wary of the inevitable chaos that even the most well-laid plan fell to. She didn’t have to wait long.

The scream that rose from the camp was like nothing Astrid had ever heard before. It was Dash’s voice, of that she was sure, but it wasn’t a scream of pain or of anger. Or rather, not just of those things. It grabbed hold of some deep part of her that she hadn’t even known was there and squeezed until she couldn’t breathe anymore. She fell to the ground, clutching at her chest as if to cradle her seizing heart. Tears came to her eyes unbidden, falling with the rain down her face. Her mouth opened and she almost echoed Dash’s scream with a shriek of her own before remembering herself and closing her beak with a sharp click. The scream made her feel pain and rage and loss, too much to ever process, too much to ever forget. It felt like betrayal, squeezed down into a sound and poured into her in all its undiluted agony.

Even after the scream faded she found she couldn’t move. She lay on the ground and sobbed as thoughts came unbidden to her. Memories of her attempts to nest, of the failure of her own body to produce even one viable egg. Of the time she learned it was her closeness with Star Fall that was causing it, the knowledge that her friendship and her duty to her clan could not coexist. She remembered praying to Celestia, day after day as the sun rose and fell, and never receiving an answer.

“Get up,” she said between sobs, her voice broken and wavering. “Come on. Get up.” She grit her beak and took in a deep breath. “What are you? A mewling little kitten of a hatchling, or a Steelwing Griffin?” Her voice gained strength, her tears slowing as she drew her will together. “Come on, soldier, on your paws! Fall’s in trouble and it’s your job to get her out! Are you just going to lie here and feel sorry for yourself? Are you?” She slammed a closed claw into the dirt and dragged her head up, the rest of her body following. Soon she was standing tall, head held high and looking out over the camp. “Didn’t think so,” she growled.

She didn’t know how much time had passed as she was lying there feeling sorry for herself, but she figured it was at least five minutes, maybe ten. That was far too much time. Astrid didn’t know why Dash had been screaming like that, but it would have alerted the entire base and with the way the ponies down there were still moving about, it was doubtful it had affected them the way it had her. That meant that Star Fall and Dash were captured. It wasn’t likely they were just killed, Cash would want to question them, get as much information as possible before he disposed of them. That gave Astrid time, but not much.

She couldn’t just go storming into the base and fight her way through all of those guards. They looked like ex-military types. Strength and Toughness Talents for earth ponies, Speed and Flight for pegasi, and maybe some unicorns with the more dangerous magical Talents. All trained in tactics and combat, working together in teams. She would have to do this subtle, which meant more time watching, less time acting. That could take too long to do much good for Star Fall and Dash. So she had to be quick as well.

The answer: ghost tactics. Sow chaos and disarray among the guards, reduce their ability to coordinate and communicate. Slip through the resulting holes in security and try to locate and rescue her charge before they got their acts together.

She scanned the buildings, looking for certain telltale signs, and found one that had several short antennae on its roof. That would be the main communications array, keeping all the guards connected to coordinate their activities. It didn’t look like something the Kingdom would use, too many wires and not enough crystals, but Astrid was sure she could disable it anyway. She couldn’t tell where Dash or Star Fall would have been taken, but she figured that it would be easier to distinguish where a prisoner might be held once she was close enough to see details.

She stretched her wings, feeling the burning pain in the one Umbra had injured that morning. She wouldn’t be able to fly far or high with them, especially not in this downpour, but they would be good enough for what she was thinking about doing. She pulled a tight-fitting harness from her bag and strapped it on, quickly attaching the weapons and other objects she thought would come in handy so that they were secured and wouldn’t interfere with her movements or make any sounds. She pulled on thin gloves and boots that would muffle her steps, and finally a hooded cloak that would hide the white feathers of her head and neck as well as break up her silhouette and make it harder for others to spot her in the dark.

With one last look at the camp to fix a mental map of where the buildings and guards were, she stowed the rest of the gear under a blanket and leapt into the sky. “Hold tight, Fall,” she whispered as she soared into the cold, stinging rain. “Help is on the way.”

***

“Oof!” grunted the pony Dash had been thrown into. It was too dark in the room to see, all she caught of him was a vague shadow of a bound stallion. “Oh, right in the kidney! Good aim.”

The voice was familiar, but Dash couldn’t place it. She didn’t even try to think through where she’d heard that voice before, more concerned with regaining her mobility as she flopped off of him onto the floor. She still couldn’t do much more than that, and her body was frustrating her with how obstinate it insisted on being.

“Buddy, is that you?” the stallion called out into the dark.

“Sorry,” Dash said, weakly trying to lift her head. “I’m not your buddy.”

“Hey, get to know me a bit before you decide that,” he said. Dash could almost hear the goofy grin in his tone. “Let me start, I’m Trail Blazer, but you can call me Blaze.”

Dash flashed back to the Everstorm, to the pony who had been with the Changeling. “I know you,” she said.

“Oh, so you did get to know me before you decided,” Blaze said, his voice sad. “Darn.”

“What?” Dash managed to roll to her stomach, getting her hooves under her. “No, in the Everstorm.”

“I’ve taken you through the storm? Uh, sorry, but my memory’s usually better for clients. You do sound familiar, if it's any consolation.”

“You were with that pony that turned into a bug,” Dash said.

“And you were with the Griffin that didn’t turn into anything, but it would have been really cool if she did!” Blaze crowed with a laugh. “I knew I recognized your voice! Wow. This world just keeps getting smaller. Pretty soon I’ll be able to walk from Stratia to Leo City in an afternoon. But, okay, there might be a little overcrowding problem. Unless everyone starts shrinking.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dash said. “Why are you here?”

“Got caught. You?”

“I... got caught too?”

“Neat! Let’s form a club. I’ll let you be president if I get to pick our motto.”

Dash paused, wrapping her head around that thought and then throwing it out before it broke her. “Are you for real?”

“Last time I checked,” he assured her. “You know, I’m starting to think you’re not here to interrogate me.”

Dash blinked. “Why would you think that in the first place?”

“’Cause Cash is tricky like that,” Blaze replied. “So, what’s your name?”

“Ra... Firefly,” Dash answered, she couldn't remember if she'd told him her real name back in the Everstorm or not, but since he was asking it seemed right to play it safe now. “My name’s Firefly.”

“Pleased to meet you, Firefly,” Blaze said, and there was a shuffling sound as he shimmied himself closer and poked her hoof with his. “Sorry you have to be a prisoner with me, but if I make a daring escape I promise to take you with me.”

Dash snickered. “Not going to be an issue,” she said, flexing her wings against the binding ropes. Strength was returning to them with agonizing slowness, but it was returning. “Soon as I’m back on my hooves I’m busting out of here. I’ve got a friend to rescue.”

“Me too! Or, really, he’s supposed to rescue me, but I figure he won’t be too mad if I’m the rescuer instead of the rescue-ee.”

“Is this your Changeling friend?” Dash asked.

“Yeah! Wow, you’re good. Can you guess my favourite color too?”

“Green,” Dash said without thinking about it, more focused on lifting her body from the ground.

“Nope! It’s no wait you’re right, it is green.” Blaze poked Dash in the side. “Are you a mind-reader?”

“Are you ever quiet?”

“I think sometimes I sleep,” Blaze sagely noted. “Want me to help you escape?”

“I’d love it,” Dash said, grunting as she pushed herself up, only to collapse back on her belly. It wasn’t that she was exhausted or her muscles overstrained, everything was just responding weakly. The strength was there, just inaccessible. “But it won’t do any good unless I can get up and out of these ropes!”

“Oh, I can help with that,” Blaze said. He reached over and bit at the ropes binding Dash’s wings down. “You know,” he said, showing excellent skill in talking with his mouth full. “I should be more surprised to see you here, but life’s been getting really weirdly coincidental lately.”

“You too, huh,” Dash sighed. “Star thinks so too. She thinks it’s all connected somehow.”

“This Star sounds smart.”

Dash chuckled. “Yeah.”

Blaze wrenched his head to the side as he pulled on the ropes. Dash squished her wings down as much as she could to give him slack to work with. A moment later she felt the ropes loosen and her wings come free. “There, that’s one,” Blaze said. “Want me to get your legs too?”

“Give me a bit,” Dash said. She gave her wings a couple experimental flaps and found them still too weak to lift her. “A minute, maybe two, and we’re out of here.”

“Yay! Then we go for pizza!”

Dash paused again. “No. Then we rescue our friends.”

“Well, duh,” Blaze said. “Pizza’s no good when your friends are locked up. Unless it’s the kind where there’s files and lockpicks baked into the crust.”

Rainbow Dash threw her head back and laughed. “You are so random!” A wave of nostalgia and homesickness rolled through her, cutting off her mirth.

“Okay, that started as a happy-laugh and turned into a sad-laugh,” Blaze said. “Wanna talk about it?”

“Not really,” Dash said. “I have a friend back home, and you remind me of her, that’s all.”

“Where’s home for you?”

“A long way away,” Dash said, unable to keep her voice from turning morose.

“I’m from Orion City,” Blaze offered. “It’s a long way away too.”

“Bet mine’s farther.”

“That’s okay,” Blaze said. “That just means we can stop at my home on our way to yours, and you can meet my sister! You’d like her. She’s funny.”

“Why would you even be going to my home?”

“Because we’re friends,” Blaze said. “Friends hang out.”

“Friends already, huh?”

“Well, you know what they say: friends help you move, real friends break you out of prison. I figure this counts.”

Dash shook her head with a chuckle. “You really do remind me of her.”

“Then I should totally be friends with whoever-it-is too! Then, when all us friends are together, we party.”

A light snapped on, nearly blinding Dash for a moment as the door opened and a trio of earth pony guards stepped into the room. One of them was larger than the other two, which was no mean feat, and from the way they stood he was clearly the leader. He eyed the two of them with hard green eyes that were narrowed into angry slits.

Blaze rolled away from Dash and she got her first good look at him. He looked like a wreck. There were fresh burns and bruises all over his body, some still oozing. One eye swollen shut and weeping blood. His yellow-striped mane was matted with dried blood and dirt, Dash was surprised she hadn’t noticed the smell of it before. He smiled at her, though, and there was no pain in it.

The guards took in the two of them, and saw the ropes missing from around Dash’s wings, Blaze's teeth marks all over them. “Looks like he’s still got some fight in him,” the lead guard growled out. “Hold her,” he told the one on the left, indicating Dash. Then he advanced on Blaze.

The guard jumped on Dash. Twice her size and three times her weight he slammed her into the floor with his bulk. She struggled, her wings flapping and legs straining at the ropes that held her, but she was still too weak. The guard punched her in the side and practically sat on her as he held her down. “If you struggle any more,” he whispered, his breath hot in her ear, “we have orders to break your wings first.” Dash froze up, sure that in her current condition she could do nothing to prevent that. “Good girl. Just take it easy and it doesn’t have to be hard on you.”

“What about him?” she snarled back, watching the two guards slowly stalk over to Blaze’s prone form. “He’s not struggling, why hurt him?”

“The boss said make him hurt,” the guard replied. “I don’t know why, and I don’t care. You question her orders, you get her attention. You get her attention, you end up like him.”

“Hey, guys, don't be hasty, there are alternatives,” Blaze was saying to his assailants. “Have you ever tried beating me up with insults? I’m sure my self-esteem needs some bruising.”

"Shut up," the lead guard said, slamming his hoof into Blaze's stomach while the other gathered up the rope that had recently bound Dash's wings and began expertly tying one end into a heavy knot.

"How... about... philosophy?" Blaze wheezed out. "Kick a guy's face and he'll be bruised for days, but shatter his concept of truth and you've hurt him for life."

"Bruising's quicker," the guard said, taking the rope from his companion and giving it a couple test swings.

"Yeah, I was hoping you wouldn't notice that," Blaze said, then clenched up as the guard swung at him.

Dash flinched back as the knotted rope hit Blaze with a meaty smack. He didn't cry out, but couldn't stop a hiss of pained breath from escaping him. She felt her blood surge, pounding hot in her ears. She couldn't just lie here and do nothing, not when someone was getting brutalized a few steps away.

The weight of the guard was like a hundred thousand pounds on her back. The ache of her joints a reminder of how much she'd already been through this day. Ropes bound her legs, and fear threatened to bind her mind just as tightly. Without her strength back any attempt to help would be futile, and would only lead to her getting hurt as well.

Rainbow Dash smirked. As if any of that was going to stop her.

She whipped her head up and back, cracking her skull against the guard's jaw. He let out a pained yelp, but held on tighter instead of loosening his grip. Dash snarled in frustration and snapped her head back again. He pulled his face out of the way to avoid it, but misjudged how flexible Dash could be as she ended up slamming into his outstretched neck instead. This time he couldn't make more than a choking noise and his weight fell away as he reared up, pawing at his throat.

Dash bucked up with all her strength, which was pitifully low and only managed to make the guard stumble off of her. The other two guards had taken notice of her by now, leaving Blaze curled in a ball of pain on the floor, ignored for the moment. Dash quickly bit at the ropes holding her forelegs, tearing at them with her teeth. A pony's teeth were not meant for ripping and tearing, however, and all she managed to do was tighten them before the lead guard slammed into her.

He hit her in the chest, right below her collarbone. He was strong, so strong that he lifted her right up and bashed her against the corrugated metal wall hard enough to dent it. He held her there, one forehoof on her chest applying enough pressure to keep her suspended, rear hooves inches off the ground. He waved his free forehoof in her face. "Bad choice, little bird," he sneered. He looked with disdain on the guard Dash had injured. "Pick yourself up. Are you such a fucking disgrace that you can't hold down one little mare?" The downed guard stared daggers at him, before swallowing painfully and standing up. The lead guard dismissed him with a snort before turning back to Dash. "Now, what were you told? You don't struggle, we don't have to hurt you. Why did you go and ruin that perfectly good arrangement?"

"Got bored watching you prance," Dash said, smirking at him.

"You think you're tough, huh?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"I know I'm tough," Dash replied. "I think you're a little bully of a colt who never grew up."

She saw the punch he threw coming from a mile away, but held like she was there was nothing she could do to avoid it. His hoof smashed into her cheek, tearing it both outside her mouth and in. "You are an idiot, girl," he growled, pushing harder. Dash was getting a little tired of being held down with one hoof today. She could accept it from Umbra, the Nightmare was stronger than mountains, but this guy? She stared him in the eye and carefully spat a wad of blood and saliva on his face. He sneered at her, slowly wiping the offending material away. "It's not going to stop what's coming to him," he said, shaking his head. "And now you're just going to get it too. What could possibly have made you be so stupid."

Dash looked past the guards to Blaze, who looked up at her with shining yellow eyes and a grin that was no less bright for how much blood stained his teeth. She thought of another pony, the one he reminded her of so much, and imagined her in his position. Fire burned in her stomach and rage kindled in her blood. "What can I say? He's a friend."

The ropes around her legs burst as she flexed, snapping with twin bullwhip cracks. She grabbed the hoof holding her between her own and pushed. The lead guard's eyes went wide as he found himself sliding inch by inch away from her. "And I!" she snarled, punching him in the face. He staggered back from the blow, dazed, and Dash leapt off the wall. She crashed into him and bore him to the floor. "Don't!" The uninjured guard rushed at her, swinging the knotted rope. She put a hoof in the path of that rope, letting it wrap around her foreleg and using it to drag the pony in for a vicious head butt that broke his nose and sent him sprawling, out cold. "Leave!" The guard who had tried to hold her scrambled in, turning to buck her in the side. She was so much faster than him there was practically no effort in her response. She bucked him in the ribs even as he was lifting his legs to kick her. Bone splintered and he fell, clutching at his sides and gasping for breath. "Friends!" She turned back to the lead guard, who was recovering from her opening punch. He struck out at her, landing a glancing blow on her side that probably bruised bone. She accepted the hit and grabbed him with her forehooves, lifting him completely into the air. "Hanging!" She leapt up and into a back flip, using her wings to propel her and her hapless earth pony passenger into a rapid spin that whirled in the air a half dozen times before she launched him headfirst into the floor with all the momentum he had built up. He slammed into the ground with the deep ringing of metal, his body propped up on his shoulders for a long moment before slumping down.

Dash hovered in the air above the guard, watching until she was sure he was breathing before she let herself relax. A sharp whistle caught her attention and she looked over at Blaze, who was wiggling strangely. "Yeah!" he said, making another twitching wiggle. "You go girl! Who rocks? Firefly rocks! I'd be clapping now, but unlike some ponies I could mention I can't seem to make ropes explode with the power of my mind."

Dash laughed, the feel of her wings and the strength in her limbs was exhilarating. Her weakness was gone, now she just had to rescue Star Fall and get out of there. First thing was first, though. She flew over to Blaze and quickly untied him. "Are you okay?"

He shrugged. "I've been worse. You?"

She grinned. "I'm awesome. You know your way around this place?"

"Nope," he said, flapping his legs as they were freed to get the blood flowing back in them. "But stick with me and we'll find our friends."

"How?"

"My Talent," he said. "I'm always on the right path, no matter how twisty or turny it gets, and I always get where I want to go."

"And you'll help me find Star?"

"I promise," he said. "I help you rescue your friend, you help me rescue mine. Then pizza."

Dash laughed. "Deal." She took his hoof and shook it. "Now come on, I don't think I can fight this whole base, so the quicker we're gone, the better."

"Truer words have never been spoken," Blaze said, slowly getting to his hooves. "Well, okay, maybe they have, but they'll do for a standard measure of truth for now. I propose we call this system the BlazeFly scale, and we merchandise the hell out of it."

Dash shook her head. "Blaze, you are so random."

***

Everything was happening with a confusing suddenness that Star Fall found she just could not keep up with. Her head was still ringing from the scream that had ripped its way from Dash's throat. There were spots in her vision from the blinding light that had come from Dash's eyes. She had felt something shift, something fundamental that she just could not yet grasp. But as much as she might want to ponder on the subject, her capture demanded as much of her attention as her dizzy thoughts could spare.

She tried to struggle, but the ropes holding her were securely tied and there wasn’t much she could do about that under Charisma’s watchful eye. She still did her best, squirming as she was hauled through the camp across the back of one of the guards. They took her into one of the larger pre-fab structures, guards on the doors snapping to attention as Charisma approached and not even sparing a questioning glance for her prisoner. Two narrow hallways later and she found herself in a small, spartan room. She was unceremoniously dumped on a small bed, barely big enough for an average stallion. The only other furniture in the room was a desk and a chair. The desk held stacks of papers and books, most of them with titles she recognized as being rare pre-Schism volumes. Two separate copies of The Magic of Friendship caught her eye, one clearly an early edition, though not quite as old as Twinkle Shine's prized volume.

“Now, isn’t this cozy?” Charisma said, jerking her head to make the guard leave the room. When he was gone she grinned down at the captive pegasus, folding into a drill-perfect bow. “Does my lady need anything?" she asked in a sickeningly obsequious tone. "Tea, perhaps? I’m sure I could find some dainties for my lady as well, should she find herself peckish at this time of night.”

“Don’t mock me,” Star Fall snapped, glaring at the pink pegasus.

“What ever does my lady mean?” Charisma asked, feigning shock. “I wouldn’t think to mock one of my betters.”

“So is that why you betrayed your Kingdom?” Star Fall asked, deciding to pay viciousness with viciousness. “You’re all sore you weren’t born with a horn on your head and pissed off they were letting me into the club and not you?”

Charisma shrugged, dropping the false servility like a soiled cloak. “Gotta say, it didn’t help.” She launched at Star Fall with no warning, grin wide and gleeful as her hoof snapped out, aiming for Star Fall’s eyes. She was stopped a bare inch from Star Fall’s face by a magenta glow of magic that surrounded her hoof. Charisma backed off immediately, turning to the pony who was standing in the door. “Spoilsport.”

“Blinded ponies are uncooperative ponies,” Max Cash admonished her, stepping into the room. He regarded Star Fall with a cool interest as he shut the door behind him. “Hey,” he said, sitting on the chair by the desk. “You would not believe the day I’ve been having." His tone was cordial, friendly in fact. He seemed as relaxed as if this were a conversation between old acquaintances. For some reason, this unnerved her. "I mean, first this storm, then that huge magical burst, then the rain, and lunch was late, and then my secret dig is crawling with spies. Now I’ve got to entertain? You should have written ahead.”

“Wanted to surprise you,” Star Fall said, trying to watch both Cash and Charisma at once.

“Well color me surprised,” Cash said, chuckling. “Ah, well, since we’ve never met, allow me to introduce myself. I am Maximillion Oswald Cash, businesspony and Republican citizen. You already know Charisma." His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper and he leaned in Star Fall's direction. "You'll have to excuse her, she's from your side of the Storm and I've been told etiquette is a bit different over here.” He winked at her before pulling back to a normal sitting posture, gesturing to her. When Star Fall didn’t reply he leaned back toward her and whispered: “This is the part where you say your name.”

“She’s the Lady Fallen Star,” Charisma said for her. “Adopted daughter of Twinkle Shine, chief adviser to the King.”

Cash let out a low whistle at this news. “Wow, that’s something,” he said. “A celebrity in my bed! I hope you don’t mind me bragging about that completely without context.” Star Fall just stared at him, ignoring the offer to engage him in conversation once more. He shrugged. “It’s a guy thing, like comparing horn sizes, if you know what I mean.” He gave her another wink. “Anyways, what brings you to my humble secret lair?”

“She’s spying on us,” Charisma said this the same way one would speak of a foal doing something cute, but foolish.

Cash blinked in surprise. “Really? Spying? You sure she’s not just an amateur archaeologist?”

“Pretty sure,” Charisma replied.

“Huh. Well how about that.” Cash shook his head. “Okay, Lady Star, I’m going to be direct, because right now I’ve got two spies too many in my camp, and I need to get a move on. Trust me, I’d love to draw this out, but I can’t. So, why are you here, what do you know, and who’s coming to save you.” Star Fall settled back into the bed and smirked at him. He quirked an eyebrow. “Charisma, is she being obstinate?”

“Oh yes,” Charisma said, drawing out the word with loving relish.

“You really don’t want to be obstinate,” Cash warned her. “You should probably talk to me now, or else...”

“Or else what?” Star Fall demanded. “You’re going to let your dog at me?” Charisma bristled. “You said it yourself, you’re in a hurry. She can beat me up, but I’m not going to talk before you’re out of time. You want to know why I’m here? Because I felt like it. You want to know what I know? Take a wild guess. You want to know who’s coming to rescue me? Everyone. Every damn one.”

Star Fall held his eyes, defiant and hoping he wouldn’t call her bluff. She knew she could take a little pain, but she also knew that Charisma had all the best interrogation training the Kingdom could provide. If she wanted to make Star Fall answer, it wouldn’t take that long for her to break.

Cash slumped, relaxing in his chair. “Oh, that is a relief. You have no idea.”

Star Fall blinked, surprised at his response. Charisma seemed similarly lost. “Max, let me question her, I can get it all before morning.”

“Why?” Max asked, frowning at his enforcer. “She’s already said everything.”

“What?” Star Fall shook her head in confusion.

“Well, come on. You went through it point-by-point, just like I asked. You’re here because you feel you have to be instead of just following orders, you know practically nothing of use, and everybody’s coming to save you. If you feel like elaborating, go right ahead, but it seems pretty clear to me.” He smiled happily at her. “Thanks. Want a cookie?”

“I didn’t ... no.” Star Fall shook her head. “You’re trying to confuse me.”

“Not even!" He laughed, a wild sound that made her flinch back. "I don’t need to confuse you when all that pretty little defiance is doing it just fine,” Cash was suddenly on his hooves, looming over her. She shrank back from him, but he followed, coming uncomfortably close without actually touching her. His dark eyes held her like a vice, she couldn’t look away. “You are so far out of your league it’s disappointing,” he said, his voice low and rough, almost a growl. “And you have no idea what you’ve walked into, not a single clue who you’re up against." His eyes held her there, trapped like an animal in a snare. Then, just as suddenly as it appeared all his menace was gone. He hopped back and sat down again, grinning widely. "I, however, know everything I need to about you. You sure you don’t want that cookie?”

Star Fall shook her head, unable to stop shaking as the unnatural grip of his gaze let her go.

Cash pulled back and shrugged. “Suit yourself,” he said, and levitated a cookie out of the slim saddlebag he wore, taking a bite and chewing slowly as he regarded her. “Charisma, the guard told me there were two ponies you found. Where’s the other one?”

“I threw her in with Blaze.”

“Nice. Make sure they’re entertained. Find me Conrad while you’re at it.”

“Max...”

“It’s a polite way of asking you to leave the room, Charisma,” Cash said. “Me and the lady need some alone time.” Charisma’s eyes went from Cash to Star Fall, gaze hard. “Don’t worry, I’ll be safe,” Cash assured her. Charisma snorted derisively before leaving the room. The moment the door clicked closed Cash turned back to Star Fall, his horn lighting up as he magically untied the ropes that bound her. “She’s such a mother hen sometimes,” he said. “You know the feeling, right?”

As soon as the ropes were gone Star Fall scrambled as far away from Cash as she could manage, squeezing herself up against the wall. “What are you doing?” she asked, looking around for some way to gain an advantage on the unicorn. As a pegasus her reactions were naturally faster than his, but he was a powerful Magic Talent, and all he needed was a thought to immobilize her.

“Engaging in dialogue,” he replied. His tone had softened again, becoming almost fatherly. “I know, I know, I said I'm in a rush, but I still wanted to talk a bit. You know, unicorn to unicorn."

"I'm not a unicorn," Star Fall said, frowning at him.

"Aren't you?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow at her. "Don't tell me you think being a unicorn is all in the horn. There are a million ponies out there with horns, but most of them aren't unicorns. Not really. Rip your wings off, are you any less a pegasus? Give my horn to Charisma, is she suddenly an Alicorn? No. Neither of these things are true, so why measure who we are by what we possess? After all, it's what's inside that counts."

"You're quoting Twilight Sparkle," Star Fall said. "But that wasn't what she was talking about. She was talking about appearances, and not judging someone by what they look like. Not ignoring your literal species!"

He shrugged. "So I paraphrased a bit. The point still stands. You're more of a unicorn than most unicorns."

"Why do you even think that?"

"Because I'm more of a unicorn than most unicorns too," he said. "And I know a Magic Talent when I sense one."

"I..." Star Fall had no idea what to say to that. She wasn't actively using her magic, she should have been effectively invisible to him.

"You'd like to deny it. I can see that," he said. "It's probably some big secret for you, something you hide from the world for whatever list of reasons you've come up with to keep your head down. I don't mind that. I understand it. I didn't hide my Talent when I was your age, but I've since learned that there's a lot to be gained by a bit of anonymity."

She shook her head. She had no idea what game he was playing, but she didn't like it. "What's your point?"

"My point?" He smiled. "Is that we have something in common. Isn't that wonderful?" She swallowed hard, something about that had felt ominous. He saw her apprehension and sighed. "Okay, so we'll have to get a few things out of the way first if this is going to be a productive conversation. First off, yes I have you in my power. Evil cackle, moustache twirl, the whole deal. But I'm not going to harm you. I'm not going to let Charisma or another one of my minions hurt you either. Not so long as we're actually having this conversation, at least."

Star Fall tried not to show how much that implied threat got to her. She wasn't sure she succeeded to any degree.

"Second, you're thinking about escaping. Don't. It's a waste of your time, and might be a waste of mine. You're getting rescued, remember? Everyone's coming to get you out of my nefarious clutches, right? Just sit pretty and you'll be breathing the free air in no time." He sounded like he believed that, which was enough to make her wonder what he knew that she didn't. "So, since I'm not going to hurt you and you're not going to escape me, why don't we make the best of it and play nice? Come on, let's be friends."

He extended a hoof to her, welcoming smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. She didn't trust it for a second. she knew there was a trap in there somewhere. There was no reason he’d be talking to her at all unless he thought he could get information out of her. There was, however, the possibility that she could get information from him at the same time, and if she was careful she could limit what he learned from her. Decision made, she relaxed to a sitting position on the bed and met his hoof with her own. “Alright, let's talk,” she said.

"Excellent!" he crowed, grinning like a colt who'd gotten a new toy. "I'm hoping to learn more about you, Lady Star."

"And I was hoping to find out more about you," she said.

"Why not do both?" he said. "A question for a question. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but that means I get to ask another question before you do. Vice versa applies, of course. You start."

Star Fall took a steadying breath. "Why?"

“Kind of a broad question, isn’t it?” Cash said. “Why what?”

“Why are you digging these holes?”

Cash’s eyebrows rose appreciatively. “Ah, a good question. Why am I digging these holes? Well, the simple answer is that I’m looking for something.”

“What’s the complex answer?”

“Complex,” Cash said. “In the extreme. Stick with the simple answer for now, we can discuss the complexities later. If we get the chance to, of course. Have you seen the new episodes of Palace Mares?”

Star Fall blinked at the reference to the popular television series. “No. I don’t watch it.”

“Huh, too bad. I was hoping you could give me some spoilers.”

“Who killed James Bay?”

“Who indeed,” Cash said. “How’s the Professor? Doing well, I hope.”

“You didn’t answer my question. That means I get to go again.”

“Getting the answer to that one isn’t as important as asking the question is,” Cash replied, flashing a toothy smile at her. "But rules are rules. Hit me with your best shot."

Star Fall narrowed her eyes at him. “What do you want?”

“That’s the question,” he said, eyes staring off into the distance. “What does any of us really want? That's your answer, by the way, but let me turn that one back around on you. What do you want?”

“I want you to answer my questions instead of dancing around them.”

“Sure, but that’s a little want. I mean what do you really, really want?”

“To get out of here.”

“Again, little want. You’re going to get out soon enough, hurrying that up will only satisfy a small itch. What you really want to scratch is something else.”

She shook her head, exasperated with his verbal circling around whatever he wanted to say. “Fine, if you know so much about me, what do I want?”

Cash’s gaze locked on hers. “Choice.”

“What?”

“You want choice, Lady Star. You want to be able to choose the path your life will take, the future you will meet. You want some measure of control over your destiny and you want it desperately enough that you are thinking of betraying everything you hold dear to get it.”

Star Fall felt like iron bands had been wrapped around her chest, keeping her from breathing. “How...?”

“How do I know all this? Magic, of course,” Cash chuckled. “In all seriousness, I could put it down to my amazing powers of observation, but really all I needed to know was two things. One, your identity as Twinkle Shine’s daughter. Second your presence here despite having had a close encounter with the Gray Mare herself this morning. The rest just falls naturally.”

"How did you know?"

"You keep asking that. In this case, the answer is ashes," he said, leaning over and touching a hoof to her mane. "Your hair is singed, and your coat smeared with ashes. The rain took care of most of them, but I can still see some in the places where your wings have kept them dry. I can still smell them, too. You've been touched by Ashfire. It has some very specific properties, things that I know to look for. It clings to a person, it feeds from their own innate magic, growing and consuming flesh and spirit alike. Water does not quench it. Sand does not smother it. It will burn even if starved for oxygen. All it needs is the magic of the one it is killing to fuel it. Only being a Magic Talent, having an exceptionally strong will or the timely intervention of someone who knows how to deal with it can save you from Ashfire, and even then it leaves traces. Traces that are clear on you."

Star Fall's mouth had gone dry, and her throat made a clicking noise as she tried to swallow. "I didn't know that," she admitted. The black fire Umbra had thrown at her had clung to her, yes, but she'd ignored it and focused her magic into attacking the Nightmare. If Cash was telling the truth, that had saved her life.

"Not many do," he said. "Only one being can use Ashfire, and the last time she was seen was twenty years ago. Or was it this morning?" He chuckled as he leaned back again. "I figure the latter is the safe bet today."

“I don’t understand," she said, shaking her head, trying to keep to a coherent line of thought. “What does any of that have to do with choice?”

“You want me to spell it out for you?”

“Yes.”

He shrugged. “Okay. You’re an adopted noble. That means a lot of pressure is on you to perform, to have earned that adoption. Your entire life is under one big magnifying glass held by all the right ponies at the upper levels of society. You’ve got to earn their respect a hundred times as hard as a born unicorn. Worse yet, you’re adopted by the greatest magical prodigy of her generation. A direct line to the King. That’s extra right there. How free are you to be who you want to be? To do what you want to do?

“I’m free...” Star Fall said, but it was a weak protest and she didn’t have the heart to carry it through.

“Sure you are. Free to do exactly what you’re told you have to do. I understand what that’s like. I was born in the country, a low-middle class unicorn in a no-class town. As a colt there was literally nothing expected of me, I could have been anything. Then I discovered my Talent, and worse yet, so did everyone else. Suddenly I was under all this pressure to make something of myself, to live up to the thing that made me special. We don’t treat Magic Talents in the Republics like you do here, but there is a saying in the nightlands: To whom much is given, much is asked. I was asked a lot. It’s stifling, trying to live up to everyone’s expectations, trying to please unpleasable taskmasters and reach for a victory whose goalposts are always receding. How much worse it must be for you, well, I don’t want to imagine.”

Star Fall couldn’t help how her feelings resonated with his words. It made sense. He would understand that part. Yet that was only a small part of her life, and one she’d come to terms with a long time ago. “You had a hard life? Boo hoo, poor you.”

Cash snickered at that. “Struck a nerve there, huh? So what changed?”

“What?”

“I told you, I know what it’s like to be under the pressures you are. I also know that you would be a very different pony if that was all that it took to make you desperate to assert yourself. Yet here we are, so what changed?”

“Nothing.”

“Lies,” Cash grinned. “Useful things, those. Keep practicing, though, yours need some work. It doesn’t matter anyway. Whatever changed, it changed big, and because of it you decided that coming here and peeking under my hat is more important than going home and reporting on your experience with the Nightmare Umbra this morning. That’s some serious dereliction of duty there.”

“What do you know of Umbra?”

“Lots. Why, did she send you?” Star Fall frowned at that, but he continued before she could think of a response. “No, of course not. She’d come herself if she wanted to stop me. Not a damn thing I could do if that were the case, so she must have been interested in you.” Star Fall kept her features perfectly neutral, but Cash quirked an eyebrow. “Not you, huh? Something you carry? Nope. Guess again. Your companion? Yeah, there it is. So the Destroyer came for your companion and she survived. Cool, that’s a story I’d like to hear.”

Star Fall stared at him, wondering how much he could really see. She knew Gamma could read reactions like he seemed to be doing, and Cash was supposed to be frighteningly insightful. Yet his own actions weren’t consistent with those of someone who could read his audience as perfectly as he seemed to.

“So here you are," he continued. "Carrying vital information, but choosing to pursue a lesser goal instead. Why?” Cash speared her with his gaze again. “Choice. Your defiance, your anger, your very presence here, all screaming to anyone who cares to listen that you just want a choice. That’s the answer to your question. That’s what you want. Fortunately for you, what I want may just line up with what you want. Then everyone goes home happy.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, unable once more to look away from him. She tried to blink, but her eyelids didn't respond.

“You want a choice, I’m in the mood to give you one. Not a great choice, mind you, but a way to have some control over your destiny.”

“What choice?” There was something unsettlingly alluring in the way he was presenting his offer, but she couldn't pin it down. Every time she thought she had put her hoof on it, it slipped away from her again.

“Well, on the one hoof you can sit here, stewing in your defiance and get rescued like a good little damsel in distress,” he said, shrugging to show what he thought of that option.

“And on the other?”

“On the other you can come with me,” he said.

“Join you? That’s your choice?” She almost laughed at that. It was like something out of a foal's storybook. Yet she couldn't help but consider it.

“Not join, come with,” he said. “You don’t have to sign on and you don’t have to switch allegiances. I’m not offering you a job, Lady Star. Just a choice. Come with me and I’ll show you exactly what I’m doing. I’ll tell you everything, and then you can make your own decision on what to do about it. Stay with me, go back to your Kingdom, head to the nightlands and make a new life, whatever you decide. The whole world will be open and ripe for you to take whatever you want from it. Or not take. Choice, Lady Star. All the choice you could ever want. All you have to do is forget those old loyalties for a moment and take your fate into your own hooves. All you need to do is say 'yes'.”

The more she thought about his offer the more attractive it seemed to her. She told herself it was too good to be true, far too good. Reminded herself again and again that there had to be an angle somewhere that she wasn’t seeing. That there must be some hidden reason why he would even begin to offer this to her. It didn’t make sense. Why would he being serious? Was he just playing her somehow? If only she could figure it out. But his eyes held her and his voice entranced her and she could not help but consider it.

It would be a choice. It would be her own decision, and it could very well be what she needed to escape from the madness of the King. He was right. She hated to admit it, but he was right. The King wanted her to marry, and her mentor was powerless to stop it. Worse than that, she wasn’t even going to try. Twinkle Shine was the most powerful unicorn in the Kingdom, surely she could do something? Yet she wasn't. She was abandoning her.

She did want a choice, wanted some control over her future, and this was the perfect out. What was keeping her from saying yes? Twinkle Shine? Gamma? Her family? Her loyalty to her kingdom?

No. She had no loyalty to them.

She opened her mouth to answer him, but the movement jarred the chain around her neck. Not much, just enough that it tinkled softly against the small golden amulet that dangled from it. The sound gave her pause. Twinkle Shine had given her that necklace to protect her. She had created the Everstorm spells to give her a way out of the Kingdom that couldn't be traced. She had been holding off the King for a decade. How could she have ever thought that her mentor had abandoned her?

Star Fall closed her mouth firmly. She could accept Cash’s offer, she might even be willing to betray her country under the right circumstances. But what would happen to Astrid? What would happen to Rainbow Dash? She might betray her country, but after what they had been through these past few weeks she would never betray them. She knew then that she did have loyalty. Loyalty to her friends. Loyalty to her mentor. Loyalty to her duties, and yes, loyalty to her Kingdom.

“No,” she said, strength filling her as she closed her eyes, breaking the hold Cash seemed to have on her. “I say no.”

Cash frowned as if taken aback, giving a questioning glance to his saddlebag. “Huh. Guess I need more practice. Well, okay. Now I have no idea what to talk about. You sure you don’t want that cookie? I’ve got extras.”

“No, thank you,” Star Fall said, and the two lapsed into uncomfortable silence.

Almost a minute later the door burst open and Charisma stormed in. “Oh thank Luna, that was awkward,” Cash breathed, turning to his enforcer. “Not perfect timing, but close enough that I might hug you.”

“We have a problem,” Charisma said.

“I’ll say, she doesn’t like cookies,” Cash said, pointing a hoof at Star Fall. “What is today’s youth coming to?”

Charisma rolled her eyes at Cash. “No, Blaze and the lady’s companion have escaped.”

“Wow, that was quick.”

“I’ve got the men searching for them, but someone’s knocked out the communications hub, we’re down to word-of-mouth and light flares for co-ordination.”

“Did you find Conrad?”

“He’s just outside,” Charisma said, nodding. Her eyes tracked to Star Fall. “I could use her as bait, set a trap.”

“Nice idea, not today,” Cash said. “Get the word out to evacuate.”

“It’s just two ponies,” Charisma said, but Cash held up a hoof to forestall her.

“Two for now. I’m expecting a lot more soon enough.”

“Why?”

“You were here for that bit, Charisma, try to remember. She said ‘everyone’ so I’m expecting ‘everyone’.”

“She was lying, Max,” Charisma said in an annoyed deadpan.

Cash threw Star Fall a grin that made her squish up against the wall again. “No she wasn’t,” he said. “Come on, I need you to run interference for a bit. This’ll take some set up and I don’t want anyone interrupting me before it’s done."

With that the two left, shutting the door behind them and leaving Star Fall to slump down on the bed.

***

Scarlet Top peered out into the wet darkness with tired eyes, listening to the white noise of rain pounding on the roof of guard tower four. His shift should have been over two hours ago, and he was feeling the strain of it, but Charisma said all hooves had to be on deck so here he was. She allowed no slackers in her crew, and since she enforced that rule with her usual brutal efficiency he was in no hurry to catch her eye.

Still, it had been an exceptionally long day, even by the demanding standards that came with working for Charisma. All because of the damned storm that had come out of nowhere in defiance of all weather predictions.

He sighed and leaned against the window of the watchtower. For all the hassle and boredom of this job, it still beat the Republics Army, that was for sure.

“Hey, Scarlet, you see the two the boss caught?” Quarry Haul, one of two fellow guards on duty in tower four, asked.

“A pair of pegasi, pretty as you please,” Scarlet confirmed. “Didn’t get a close look at them, but I heard the boss say one of them was a noble.”

“I thought only the horn-heads were allowed to be nobles up in the sunlands,” he said.

Scarlet shrugged. “I guess not. Or maybe just her, I don’t know. We could ask one of the sun-heads next time we see them.”

“Nah, they might take offense to that,” Quarry said, waving the idea off. “You know how the sunlanders get about their nobles. Don’t want to start something if it’s not important.”

“I hear that,” Scarlet agreed, looking back into the night.

“You both should be keeping your brains on the job,” said Mark Early, their nominal commander. “Assuming, that is, you’ve got any.”

“I’m watching, Early, don’t get your feathers ruffled,” Quarry groused. Early flared his wings at the fellow guard, but didn’t say anything.

Scarlet rolled his eyes and turned back to his window. Something seemed off to him. He squinted into the darkness, trying to figure out what it was that was nagging at the edge of his awareness. Finally he realized it wasn’t something he was seeing, it was something he wasn’t. “Hey, Early! Where’s tower three?”

Mark walked over to the window Scarlet was looking out of. “It’s right... uh. Okay, they’ve got their lights out. Just what we need, power outages. Give ‘em a call.”

Scarlet turned away, stepping over to the radio. He tuned it to the general channel and hit the call button. “Tower three, this is tower four. We noticed your lights are out. Do you need assistance? Respond.” He lifted his hoof off the call button and waited, listening to the hiss of static. After there was no response for a minute he hit the button again. “Tower three, this is tower four. What is your situation? Respond.” Nothing. He turned back to the window. “Early, they’re not saying anything you think...” He trailed off as he found the window empty of anything but darkness and rain. “Early!” he shouted.

“Top, what are you screaming about?” Quarry asked, turning away from his own window.

“Where’s Early?” Scarlet asked, looking around for any sign of the tower’s commander.

“Maybe he jumped out the window,” Quarry reasoned. “Went to check out tower three when you got no response.”

“Without telling us?” Scarlet shook his head. “No, something’s wrong.”

“On a day like today? What more could possibly be going wrong?” Quarry asked. There was a thump from outside. Quarry turned and stuck his head out the window. “What the hell was...” He never got to finish his thought.

A bird-like claw with sharp, gleaming talons reached down from the roof through the window. It grabbed Quarry by the face, talons sinking into flesh until they punctured bone. He barely got out a yelp before he was hauled out the window and up to the roof. There was a sickening sound, like celery breaking, and the rain that fell across the window turned red.

Scarlet felt his knees go weak. That had been a Griffin’s claw. He flashed back to the stories they told of Griffins in the Republics Army. Tales of berserker warriors, stories of vicious, implacable and carnivorous monsters who liked nothing more than the taste of pony meat.

There was one on the roof.

He turned back to the radio, slamming his hoof onto the call button. “Tower four to all points we have a code yellow! Repeat, a code yellow! Kingdom forces are attacking, I need assistance! Can anybody hear me?” Only the hiss of static was his reply. He stared at the radio, mouth hanging agape at its betrayal, and only then noticed that the antenna was missing, snapped off at its base.

A leonine growl sounded form behind him, making him go cold. He spun, reaching for his knife, but slashing talons put an end to his attempt to fight. Tower four went dark.

***

Calumn slumped in the chair he was bound to. He barely felt the ropes against his carapace, even though they were especially tight due to being tied for a smaller unicorn body. He was too caught up in his own self loathing.

He’d broken. Not only that, he’d broken without effort, without struggle, and within minutes. Charisma’s torture had been nothing, he could weather weeks of such treatment. A short conversation with Max Cash and he was almost willing to throw everything his life had been for out the window. Was his loyalty truly so shallow? Was he really that pathetic?

Changelings were supported by the Republics. Without their help his species would have died off a long time ago. They provided a safe place to build their hives, schools to train their young, and homes and families to give them the love they needed to survive. Most of all, they gave the Changelings purpose.

After the Schism they had been lost without their Queen, miserable and nihilistic. They took and they took from everyone they came across, and were all the more empty for it. But the Republics had remembered their allies and offered them the direction and oversight they lacked. The Changelings had taken that offer and made it their own, reorganizing their entire society so that they no longer served a Queen, but a Senate.

That purpose, that loyalty, was the core of every Changeling. Without it they were worthless, abominations and monsters that served no function other than to consume. Without it he was just another insect.

He almost missed the sounds of a scuffle outside, absorbed as he was in his own thoughts, but the sound of a body slamming into the metal wall brought him out of his reverie.

“Let’s try this one!” The muffled sound of Blaze’s voice cut into him like a knife, making him sob. If his loyalty to his country was so poor as to be shaken by a few well-placed words, how much more pathetic must be his friendship with the Storm-guide? He’d known the pony for a hoofful of days, how did that stack up next to a lifetime of training and devotion?

“You said that for every door in here!” another voice responded. This one also hit Calumn like a blow, but not in the same way that Blaze’s did. He remembered that voice. It had been etched into his mind and never far from his thoughts ever since that disastrous passage through the Everstorm.

“Rainbow Dash,” Calumn said, lifting his head. She was here. Somehow, by some impossible stroke of luck she was within his reach again.

“I’m extra special sure about this one!” Blaze said. He sounded the same as always, overflowing with chipper joviality. Calumn was glad that whatever might have happened to him at Charisma’s hooves, if anything, hadn’t dampened his spirit.


The door burst open and Blaze stepped in. He looked terrible, covered in welts and bruises, but his smile shone as much as ever. “Buddy!” he shouted, rushing over and giving Calumn a squeezing hug. “You’re okay!”

“Not entirely,” Calumn said, not willing to lie to his friend. “But I’ll be okay. How did you get out?”

“Firefly,” Blaze said, gesturing to the door where Dash stood. “She’s awesome. Like, a dozen guards kicked around like they were foals awesome.”

Calumn met the eyes of the pegasus, and saw the recognition in them. She remembered him just as well as he remembered her. There was also revulsion there, the recoiling horror that most ponies reacted with when they first saw the true form of a Changeling. She recovered from it quickly, her eyes flicking to Blaze as he set about removing the ropes before returning to him. She was wary of him, and worried about Blaze, but there was no fear in her.

“Are these your real colors?” Calumn asked her, gesturing with his crooked horn to indicate her coat and mane.

“Dye job,” Dash said. “This the real you?”

“As close as it ever gets,” Calumn confirmed. “What about the name?”

“Firefly works for now,” she said.

Calumn’s eyes narrowed. That was obviously an assumed name. From the way both she and her companions had reacted in the Everstorm he could likely be safe in thinking her name really was Rainbow Dash. “I’ll go with Strongheart then,” Calumn said, getting off the chair as the last of the bindings fell away. A burst of green fire surrounded him as he once more took the comfortable form of the dark gray stallion. His legs were weak from his captivity, but they held up well enough with the thicker muscles and bones to support them.

“Alright, that’s your friend, which way to Star?” Dash asked Blaze.

“Um, that way,” he pointed in an apparently random direction.

Calumn stared at the pegasus, caught in indecision. Her presence here confirmed that she had at least something to do with Cash. Helping Blaze could mean anything, but likely meant that she wasn’t working for the monstrous unicorn. He needed to know more. He needed to question her to get at the answers he’d come so far to find.

Why bother?’ a spiteful little voice in the back of his head whispered. ‘You’re already a traitor, why should you care about your mission?

Was this all that was left of him, then? A miserable failure of a Changeling who couldn’t even complete his mission when it was right in front of him? He’d given up his name, that was all. Yes, it called into question everything he thought he was, everything he had been raised to be. Yet it wasn’t the end of him. He was still Calumn, still a Changeling of the Republics. While his loyalty may have cracked it was still there, and he could repair it. He could atone for his betrayal.

All he needed was to fulfill his mission.

“Yeah, we’ve already been that way,” Dash said. “Pick another one.”

“Okay, um that way?” Blaze said, pointing to exactly where he had before.

Dash sighed. “Fine. You good to walk Strongheart?”

As she turned to him he grabbed her with his forehooves, pulling her head in and pressing his forehead to hers. She was so shocked by the move that she didn’t even try to resist. He pressed his magic into her, overwhelming her mental defenses, such as they were, and tying her mind to his with ropes of green fire.

He staggered back as the spell completed. Something was wrong. The connection he forged was pouring her energy into him in a torrent. Not just her emotions, but the magic innate to her being. She was there, a presence in his mind, battering at him like an explosion that never ended. He’d never felt a power like it before. It ate at his control, demanded his focus every second he maintained the magic, and filled him with a sense of alien purpose and certainty that threatened to drown his will in bursts of multicolored light.

He’d made a terrible mistake, but it was too late to stop now. He forced the sensations down, breaking his attention in two. The bulk of it went to minding the spell on Dash, and the rest left to let him interact with the world. After a moment he steadied, finding the knife-edge balance that would allow him to function.

He looked around, seeing the world through the lens of Rainbow Dash’s power. Blaze stared at him, wide-eyed and concerned. Light shattered in his eyes as if they were prisms, sending ribbons of rainbow into the depths of his pupils. Calumn retched as he looked away, the sucking gravity of the world drawing only stinging bile from his mouth. He struggled back into control, taking slow and steady breaths.

“Buddy, are you alright?” Blaze asked, frowning in worry at his friend.

“No,” he admitted, shaking off the feeling that the world was trying to crush him and pull him apart at the same time. “But I’ll manage. Come on, we’ve got to get out of here.” He staggered to the door, Dash turning to follow him automatically. He couldn’t hold her for long, not if it was going to be like this. He hoped he would be able to hold her long enough. He hoped it would all be worth it.

***

Rainbow Dash was in love. That was the only way she could describe it. It had felt weird when Strongheart had pushed his head against hers, but now she couldn’t help but fondly remember the contact. She wanted to feel it again.

The entire world was dull and washed out, blurred at the edges and indistinct when she didn’t focus on it. Everything except him. He was crystal clear and painted in the most vibrant of colors. Even his gray coat glistened and shimmered with every motion. She could spend hours looking at it.

He left the room and she followed, knowing somehow that he wanted her to keep up. She had no problem keeping up. It wasn’t like that big earth pony body was going to be outpacing her. She remembered that his true form had wings, and wondered how good a flyer he was. Maybe if she asked him he would practice with her. That would be awesome, the two of them soaring through the air. She wouldn’t mind if he had to be in that insect-like shape to do it, either. She could live with it, so long as she could live with him.

Blaze was talking to him, rushing past her in the narrow metal corridor to walk next to him. She felt a stab of jealousy, but knew that they were friends, and didn’t want to get between him and friendship. Blaze’s voice was distant and hollow, almost like he was talking through a long tube. When Strongheart answered, though, his voice was loud and clear and delightful. She focused on that conversation, if only to hear his voice as he spoke.

“What did you do to her?” Blaze was asking. She frowned at the thought. Strongheart hadn’t actually done anything to her, had he? It was kind of strange that she was suddenly in love with him, but there were plenty of stories of love at first sight that sounded weirder, so she shrugged and let it go.

“She’s my mission, Blaze,” Strongheart replied. Dash smiled at that. She was his mission, that was so nice. “I have to find out what she knows, what she was doing at that dig outside of Orion City, and what she’s doing at this one now. I have to find out what her connection to Max Cash is.” Dash nodded along with him. She wanted to know the answer some of those as well, and she was sure that working together they could figure it out.

“But this?” Blaze shook his head. “Buddy, I know I’m not the best judge of these things, but this isn’t right. She was helping us, her own free will and everything.” Of course she was. She’d do anything for Strongheart.

“I know it’s not right!” Strongheart snapped. Dash flared her wings, ready to beat up whatever was causing him distress. “I know. But I can’t stop. I have to. I have to prove I’m not ...” he trailed off, head low. “Blaze,” he said, leaning against his friend. “I’m sorry, but I have to do this.”

Blaze frowned, but nodded. “Alright. If you’ve got to then you’ve got to, but we’ve also got to rescue Firefly’s friend Star.”

“No,” Strongheart shook his head. “I can’t afford that. We have to get away from Max Cash and this place as soon as we can.”

Dash frowned. That wasn’t right. “No,” she said, the words thick in her mouth like she was chewing on toffee. “We gotta rescue Star.”

Strongheart staggered, one hoof going to his head as his face twisted in pain. “We have to leave,” he reiterated.

Dash felt her head trying to nod, but she forced it to still. Of course she wanted to agree with him, Blaze had been hurt, and it looked like Strongheart was in a lot of pain too. They really did need to get out of there, and fast. Yet she couldn’t just abandon Star. “I... don’t... leave... friends...” she said, forcing each word out through uncooperative lips.

“She really doesn’t,” Blaze said. “Buddy, I promised, okay? She’s stuck here, with Charisma and Max, and we’re all that’s going to rescue her. I wouldn’t leave you with that, we can’t leave her either.”

Strongheart took several deep breaths before nodding. “You’re right,” he said. Dash nearly stomped her hooves in joy. “I can’t leave anyone with him, not if I can help it.” He looked at Blaze with wide, haunted eyes. “You tried to warn me. I didn’t listen.”

“Whoa, what did he do?” Blaze asked, clearly surprised by Strongheart’s reaction to meeting the criminal.

“I don’t even know,” Strongheart said, his voice breaking for a moment. He composed himself quickly, shaking his head. “He just talked, Blaze. Just talked.”

Dash frowned. While she was still going to beat up this Max Cash for making the love of her life nearly cry, talking seemed like a really lame reason to wail on a guy for. She shrugged at the thought. Ah, well, he probably deserved it anyway.

“All right, follow me!” Blaze said, but Strongheart put a hoof in his way.

“Do you know where they took your friend?” he asked her.

Dash grinned at the question. He was talking to her, and that was the best thing ever. “The pink one, she said they were taking her to Cash’s room.”

“Okay. You’re strong and fast, right?”

“The fastest,” Dash confirmed, preening at his interest.

“I need you to get us one of the ponies out there, preferably one of the guards. They need to be conscious, and you can’t be followed back here. Can you do that?”

“In ten seconds flat!” she boasted.

“Then go to it,” he said, pointing a hoof down the hallway at the door.

She was off in a pink-blue streak, bursting through the door and up in to the air. The camp was in an uproar. Teams of guards ran through the muddy paths between buildings while workers rushed towards trucks that were being filled with equipment and ponies as fast as they could be loaded. Gunshots rang out in staccato bursts, familiar to Dash ever since her run through the Maul. Several of the watchtowers were dark, another was on fire.

She ignored all that, instead searching for a straggler, some guard on their own or fallen behind. She saw a few likely candidates right away, chose one at random, and dove for him. She thought she heard someone call her name, but she didn’t take the time to make sure, too intent on getting the guard and returning to Strongheart with her prize.

The pony she had chosen was a blue pegasus. He was trotting around the side of one of the buildings, one wing outstretched and keeping the rain off of a tube-device that Dash had learned was the modern age’s version of a gun. He never knew what hit him.

She grabbed him on the run, whisking him off his hooves and into the air. He cried out, but she stuffed a hoof into his mouth to muffle his shouts. His flapping wings and flailing hooves were a nuisance, but one she could easily weather as she rushed back into the building where Strongheart and Blaze were waiting.

She dropped the captured guard at their hooves, stepping on him so he couldn’t get up and point the weapon. “How’s that?” she asked, grinning.

Strongheart blinked at her in shock. “Ten seconds. I didn’t expect you to be so literal.” Her grin only widened. Strongheart sank to his knees and touched his forehead to the guard’s. Dash was reminded of what he’d done with her not too long ago, but couldn’t figure out why.

For a moment the world regained its color, and Dash shook her head, trying to identify the source of a sudden sense that something was very wrong. Then everything went back to dullness and she relaxed. The guard relaxed too, staring up at Strongheart with a green tinted eyes. “Sir?” the guard said, frowning in confusion.

“Let him up,” Strongheart told Dash. She quickly got off the guard, who rose slowly to his hooves, never taking his eyes off of Strongheart. “Do you know where Max Cash’s personal room is?”

“Yes sir, I do,” the guard said, coming to attention.

“Give me directions from here,” Strongheart said. The guard proceeded to do just that, giving a clear indication of where they needed to go, when prompted he even told them where the guards were usually stationed in that building. “Thank you,” Strongheart said, massaging the side of his head with one hoof. “Now, go out there and get as far away from this camp as you can without endangering yourself, and don’t work for Max Cash anymore, do you understand?”

“Yes sir,” the guard replied, saluting. “Loud and clear.” With that he turned and galloped away.

Strongheart sighed, sagging against the wall. “Buddy,” Blaze said, coming close and nuzzling his friend. “You gotta let her go.”

Dash had no idea what Blaze was talking about, but she knew Strongheart was in distress. “If something’s hurting you, tell me about it,” she urged him. “I’ll take care of it.”

Strongheart let out a harsh laugh. “I can’t let her go,” he said.

“Why not? You just did it with that soldier, right?” Blaze asked.

“This is different,” he insisted. ”Because this is the only way.” His voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “The only way to be who I’m supposed to be.”

Dash was filled with a sudden understanding. She might not get exactly what he was talking about, but the feeling behind it was as familiar to her as her own wings. “Is that who you want to be?” she asked, stepping up next to Blaze.

“What?” He looked up at her, his confusion and anguish clear to her now that she knew what she was looking for. She couldn’t let him keep hurting like that, but she knew that the only one who could do anything for him was himself. She could, however, show him the way.

“You’re doing something to be who you’re supposed to be,” she said. “I don’t know what that is, or what it means for you, but I know what it meant for me. It’s kind of silly, thinking about it, but it was so important. I thought I had to be one way, that I was supposed to be a certain person. But I wasn’t. I found out something about myself that just didn’t fit with who I thought I was. I got scared. I felt like I couldn’t be who I was supposed to be with this new part of me I’d discovered, but I couldn’t make it go away either. I couldn’t make the two fit together, so I did some pretty stupid stuff to try to keep them apart. It didn’t work and it’ll never work.”

“So I should just give up?” he asked, shaking. “I should just abandon everything?”

“No,” Dash said, laying her head on his shoulder and drawing him into a hug. “But you gotta figure out if who you’re supposed to be is who you want to be.”

“I don’t understand,” he said.

“Hey, it’s okay. Took me a while to figure it out myself,” Dash assured him, rubbing his neck soothingly. “It’s like this: we so get caught up in things like what we ought to do or who we’re supposed to be that we lose sight of who we actually are. And when that happens we start to forget that who we’re supposed to be isn’t always who we want to be. Maybe something happened that made you think you’re not who you ought to be, that who you actually are is different than what you thought.

“Now, you can be like me and do the dumb thing of trying to keep them apart, which’ll only hurt you in the end. Or, you can look for who you want to be. Really deep down, the best, most awesome you that you can be. Find that idea of yourself and ask if it’s the same as who you think you’re supposed to be. Ask what is important to that version of you, and how he would deal with what you found out about who you actually are. I can tell you one thing: he wouldn’t just give up.”

“Buddy, I know you,” Blaze said. He gestured to Dash. “This, right here? This isn’t you. Maybe, before we went through the Storm together, I would have let it slide. Not now, not when I know how you feel about using other people. A trick like with that soldier? That’s one thing. This, with her? Not you. This isn’t extortion, this is robbery. Remember the difference?”

Strongheart nodded. “I remember,” he said.

“So do you want to be Silas, or do you want to be Trail Blazer?”

“I want to be Strongheart,” he said, the words choking off in his throat. “But I have to be Calumn.” Green fire enveloped him, and when it cleared he was once more in his Changeling form. Dash frowned at the smoothness of his carapace and the gossamer feel of his mane under her hoof. It was at once strangely soothing and disturbingly alien.

“Calumn,” she said, testing the name. It felt good to her. Right.

He pulled back, laying his black, hole-filled hooves on her shoulders. “I have to fulfil my mission, but I don’t want to do this to you. How do I reconcile that?”

She had no idea what he meant by ‘do this to her’, but she figured she could help with the other. “What’s your mission?” She asked, meeting his strange green eyes.

“To find out everything about you. Why you were at that dig, what your connection to Cash is, whether you’re a threat or a possible ally or something else entirely. To bring you back if I can.”

Dash smiled, this she could do. “Okay. I can tell you some of that, but I don’t know all of it myself. We’re working real hard on finding out. Star’s mentor is kinda cranky, but she’s supposed to be the smartest pony around, so when she figures it out I’ll let you know.”

“Star’s mentor. Twinkle Shine?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“I heard you two talking in the Everstorm,” he said. “I’m good at putting things together like that.” He sighed. “She’s the white pegasus you were with, right?” Dash nodded. “She’s special, isn’t she?”

“Absolutely,” she said, happy that he thought one of her friends was special. “Her Special Talent is Magic, just like Twilight Sparkle!” That made his eyes widen in shock. She figured it was her mentioning Twilight again, the people in this era had a lot of respect for the purple bookworm. She probably shouldn’t be namedropping her friend as much as she did, but she also wanted his admiration and approval, and Rainbow Dash knew that one of the many things friends were good for was lifting yourself up, so long as you gave them a helping hoof in turn.

“No wonder she...” he trailed off and shook his head. “Blaze, I can’t help rescue Star.”

“Why not?” Blaze demanded.

“If she’s a Magic Talent she’s resistant to my powers. I can’t even do minor suggestions for sure. We’d have to kidnap her.”

“Hey! No kidnapping friends!” Dash admonished him.

“I’m with her on that one,” Blaze said.

He grimaced, his fangs reminding her of Nightmare Umbra. Only this time they were beautiful and not scary at all. “Who do I want to be?” he said, the question directed at himself, quiet enough that she only heard because of how close she was to him. “I have to fulfil my mission, but you have to rescue your friend. I can’t rescue your friend and fulfil my mission. So... so I can’t fulfil my mission.” His shoulders slumped as he spoke. “I can’t. I have to let you save her.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked, not liking the thought of being parted from him.

“Blaze and I will leave,” he said. “Get away from here. Find civilization.”

“Okay, let’s meet up in giant-new-Canterlot, or whatever it is they call the city with the castle,” she said,

Calumn paused, his green eyes looking at her strangely. “I’m an idiot. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Think of what?”

“Blaze, do you think you can find us a way to the capital?”

The green earth pony laughed. “Well, duh, it is my Special Talent after all.”

“Firefly,” Calumn said, his voice riveting her attention onto him.

“Rainbow Dash,” she corrected. “My name is Rainbow Dash.”

“Rainbow Dash,” he said, sending shivers down her spine. “Listen carefully...”

Rainbow Dash blinked, shaking off the strange sensation that she was forgetting something. ‘Watch out for yourself. Don’t let Cash talk.’ The thought came to her in a voice that wasn’t her own, but one that tugged at her recognition. She looked around, wondering where Blaze had gotten to. A vague memory of him finding his friend and then running off came to her, but she shrugged it away. It didn’t matter, she had to rescue Star Fall.

She rushed out of the building into the pouring rain. The fire had gone out, as had most of the lights not trained on the dig, though she couldn’t remember exactly why she knew there had been a fire in the first place. She turned and rushed across the compound, keeping low. It seemed that most of the ponies had cleared out, though she spotted several guards still rushing about the place. She ignored them, making a beeline for the one door she knew would lead her to her friend.

She burst into the building, zooming past a shocked guard and down a narrow hallway. She counted doors as she went, finally coming to the one she knew should be where Star Fall was being held. The door was locked with a heavy latch, but with an expertly placed kick she burst the flimsy door completely off its hinges.

Star Fall gave a high-pitched shriek as Dash made her entrance. She scrambled against a wall, sitting on a small bed, but quickly realized who had come for her. “Dash!” she gasped out. “Am I glad to see you!”

“Me too, Star,” Dash said, grinning at her friend. “Are you okay?”

“Physically, yes,” Star Fall said. “Mentally? I’m not sure yet. You?”

“I’m good,” Dash said. “A bit confused, though. This place is like a maze, everything looks the same.”

“What’s going on out there? I heard Cash order an evacuation.”

“Seems like they’ve evacuated,” Dash said. “Almost everyone’s gone. A few leftover guards, though.”

“Is Cash gone?”

Dash shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t see him.”

“Then there might still be time,” Star Fall mused. “Come on, we have to get into that dig.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” a new voice cut in, accompanied by a hoof shoving Dash into the room.

Dash sighed, turning to look at the guard she had blown past on her way in. He was standing in the doorway pointing the barrel of his gun at them. “Seriously?” she asked him. “I’ve beaten up a platoon of your buddies already tonight. Are we really going to do this now?”

“So you’re the one,” he snarled, eyes narrowing as he stepped into the room. Dash knew she could dodge any shot he took and knock him out, but that gun was dangerous, and the room was too small. If he started firing he could hit Star Fall. She needed to maneuver him into a position where he wouldn’t hit her. “I’ve lost a lot of good friends tonight. Some real asses too, but friends all the same. Nice to know I can lay all their deaths at your hooves.”

“Hey! That’s not my fault!” Dash protested. “I haven’t killed anyone! It’s you guys who have been shooting all over the place!”

“We know how to aim, bitch!” he screamed in her face, not noticing the shape that loomed behind him in the doorway. “We’re not shooting each other! I’m going to kill you just on principle for that remark. But I would like to hear your explanation, so if it’s not you killing them, then who?”

Me.”

The guard’s eyes widened and he spun. Astrid’s talons met him mid-turn, stabbing into his chest. He gasped, then let out a chilling whine as she lifted him up with one claw, dangling his body from her embedded talons. She stared down at him, naked contempt in her golden eyes. He drew breath into punctured lungs to scream, but her beak flashed down and came away with his throat. He gurgled and kicked, but soon went still. Astrid let the body fall to the floor as she threw back her head and swallowed the gobbet of flesh she had taken.

“Astrid, thank Celestia,” Star Fall sighed.

Dash could say nothing. She could only stare at the dead guard.

“Sorry, Fall,” Astrid said, looking abashed. “I would have been here sooner, but I had to run interference for some pony who was flying all over the place and not listening when I tried to get her attention.” She gave a pointed look to Dash, who returned the look with a blank stare.

“Did you bring my spell-sheets?” Star Fall asked.

“Uh, yeah, why?” Astrid replied, reaching into her bags and pulling out several of the magical papers. Star Fall grabbed them from the Griffin and with a sweep of her leg cleared off the desk.

“I think Cash is still in the dig,” Star Fall explained, snatching up a pen and scrawling out the sigils that channelled her magic. “We need to get in there now, but I need to be prepared for him.”

“Don’t talk while magicing, Fall,” Astrid said. “Explain when it won’t screw up your spell.” Star Fall didn’t bother to reply, devoting all her attention to quickly and correctly setting down the spell-forms. Astrid turned to Dash. “You look poleaxed. You okay?”

“I coulda taken him,” Dash said, quiet and angry. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Astrid glanced down at the body. “Sure,” she agreed. “But Fall might have been hurt, and my way was more certain.”

“Would you kill?” Dash said, thinking of Gamma’s question from what felt like months ago.

“In a heartbeat,” Astrid said. “But only for the right reasons. How about you?”

Dash looked at the body, then shook her head. She remembered fighting Umbra that morning, remembered her hooves breaking bone and pulping flesh. “I don’t know,” she said. “But I’m thinking even if I say yes, my ‘right reasons’ are a lot different from yours.”

“No one’s asking you to be a Griffin, Dash,” Astrid pointed out.

“And I’m not asking you to be a pony,” Dash replied. “But next time, could you at least let me try?”

“Not if it puts Fall in danger,” Astrid said. “Other than that, go nuts.” Dash nodded, it was the best she was going to get.

“There! Done,” Star Fall said, pulling up two completed spell-sheets.

“Where to, Fall?” Astrid asked. Dash pulled her mind from the body on the floor and set herself for whatever action came next.

“The dig, and whatever’s inside,” Star Fall said, determination filling her eyes. “This has gone on too long, and he’s too dangerous to let him keep going. It’s time we ended this. We’re going to capture Max Cash.”

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