My Little Teelo: Masquerade

by Ardwolf

Reconcilliation

In which certain accounts are settled and a new balance sheet emerges.

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Dear Diary it’s um, Thursday? Yeah, Thursday morning,

Sorry I missed a couple of days posting, so this will be catch up. It’s been a bit busy, and more exciting than I wanted it to be. Where do I start?

How about when we teleported from the Bridge of Days to Celestia’s bedroom in Canterlot Castle?

Oh, yeah I guess I should mention that teleportation SUCKS. Human brains go squirrelly when exposed to wherever it is unicorns go during a teleport. It doesn’t last very long—no that’s wrong. It takes no time at all. But when you reappear at the new location you’re dizzy and sick to your stomach. And that’s when you suddenly remember you were in this bizarro place that’s completely indescribable. A place where the senses are all scrambled up. Each time is different, this time the color purple smelled like butterscotch and I could see something that felt like velvet and could feel Twilight under me as blaring trumpets.

Yeah, it’s really like that. Sounds that you smell, colors you feel, touch you hear. Think of the most messed up stories you’ve ever heard about bad drug trips then put them all together in a blender. That’s what teleportation is like.

I’m not a fan, is what I’m saying.

Anyway, once we settled down we went to dinner with Twilight, Celestia, and Luna. Dinner was neat! All the food was on a side table and there was breakfast and supper both. See, Princess Luna stays up all night so for her it was breakfast time. The food at the castle is yummy too! Best I’ve ever tasted, which kind of makes sense, I guess, what with the Princesses being here and all.

Anyway, after dinner Teelo played some songs on her MP3 player that bronies made about Luna. The first couple were really sad, about how she got possessed a thousand years ago and stuff, but the last one was epic! It was an instrumental dedicated to Luna as guardian of the night. She looked really happy when Teelo told her the songwriter said he wrote it because he said she deserved it.

Ok, Mom, Dad, here is where you’re gonna say “I told you so”, and I really thought things were settling down, but turns out I was wrong. After the songs Celestia laid a bombshell on us.

Somebody tried to kill her.

Yeah, I know, I know! You’re gonna freak out on me when you read this, but at least I’m not trying to hide anything, just like I promised.

Apparently when Teelo helped rescue Sweetie Belle they captured one of the kidnappers, some kind of hybrid unicorn mare. She apparently tricked Celestia into her cell to talk to her privately, and then tried to bite her with fangs. How a unicorn has a snake’s fangs (with anti-magic venom no less) is beyond me, but that’s what happened.

Celestia seemed to take it in stride, though. I guess when you’re as old as she is even an assassination attempt is nothing new. Hey, fun random fact, did you know Queen Victoria survived no less than *seven* assassination attempts? So even on Earth things can get pretty hairy. Just saying…

I think Teelo was more pissed off about it than Celestia was!

After that Celestia went to bed and Luna had night court so Teelo asked if I wanted to go clubbing with her. We had jet-lag anyway from the time difference (it still felt like late afternoon) so I was in. I mean, clubbing on another planet???? Who can resist that?

Luna said Faerie Mist (the one who invited Teelo’s parents to Equestria) was up on the club scene and told us where to find her.

Seems like she’s got her eye set on Sun Hammer, and that’s where we found her, having dinner with him in the armory. He hides in there all the time because he’s an outcast in Equestria. I really don’t get it because he’s a hero. He saved Celestia’s life back in the day--and that means he saved the whole world! But to do it he killed the old Troll King and apparently they all treat him like he’s Hannibal Lector or something because of it.

Which I think is stupid, because he’s a really nice pony. Teelo’s very fond of him. He’s pretty rough around the edges but he’s true blue and never runs when things get tough. He and Faerie Mist make a mega-cute couple too!

When Teelo invited them to come clubbing with us he wanted nothing to do with it—until Faerie Mist made with the puppy dog eyes. He was putty in her hooves after that!

Faerie Mist took us to her favorite club—which used to be Sun Hammer’s as well! Is that fate, or what? Anyway, they didn’t want to let Sun Hammer or Teelo’s troll bodyguards in until Faerie Mist started channeling Celestia and broke out with the Emo-Blackmail-Fu. You should have seen it! It was awesome!

Once we got inside Teelo and I danced a little. Ponies have dub-step (they call it the wubs), which is kinda weird, and they dance on all fours, which is even weirder. There were lots of different species in the club, too. I saw griffins and minotaurs and even a few goats!

I got to dance with a few different stallions too, it was a blast! Just call me the Dancing Queen! (Yeah, I heard it on the radio before we left. Unlike you two I didn’t grow up with it! Pfft.)

All that dancing really did us in though, so Teelo and I went back to the table. That’s when Faerie Mist pulled one heck of a trick!

She had the DJ start playing this really fast old-fashioned tune. It sounded like Celtic folk music, if you can believe that. Then she got Sun Hammer to dance with her. And oh, my God! The two of them took over the dance floor and they absolutely owned that club! It reminded me of River Dance, you know that rapid tap-dancing stuff they do? Well, let me tell you when two ponies do it, it is absolutely spellbinding! Apparently they’re both really good at it too, like pro-level good! They were tapping their hooves so fast it was like they were floating, and they did all kinds of fancy spins and stuff. All on four hooves!

By the end of the dance every single pony applauded them! Oh, when ponies applaud they stomp the ground with alternating hooves. It was so loud it made my chest vibrate.

After their dance a griffin came over and introduced herself as Lady Silkwind. She’s some kind of bigwig diplomat, and regularly has tea with Princess Celestia. Faerie Mist knew her, so she wasn’t laying it on thick to impress us. Teelo tells me she’s some kind of spy, which for griffins is like a national pastime or something. But she’s very refined, and let me tell you, she’s impressive. She’s half lion and half eagle and is a little bigger than a normal pony, but still shorter than me, although I bet she weighs three hundred pounds or more. But so very lady-like, she could give Rarity lessons!

She’s actually travelling to Hejm with us, something about safety in numbers. Which brings me to another little adventure you’re not going to like…but don’t freak out.

Lady Silkwind asked if she could walk home with us because her house was on the way but Sun Hammer and Faerie Mist decided to stay at the club. Good thing they did!

Now keep in mind it wasn’t just Teelo, Silkwind, and me. We had Skrent and Flint with us (Teelo’s troll bodyguards) and twenty pegasus guards.

I also want to say that I’m perfectly safe and haven’t been hurt in any way, so while things got a little—exciting—I’m ok!

Anyway, on the way back to the castle we got jumped by a pack of shadow wolves. How they ended up in Canterlot I have no idea but Teelo pulled out some new super powers and blasted one of the wolves as it was about to attack a passer-by that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then things got—uh—busy.

By the way, I learned how to fly. Can’t say I’m going to make a habit of it. See, to get me to safety Teelo had me grab Crush and used its magic to throw me.

Straight up—fifty feet straight up. In the air. Yeah…did you know I was afraid of heights? Me neither. Two of the pegasi caught me and settled me on the back of a third. Turns out pegasi can hover—carrying a rider no less. The guards train to do it in case of chariot accidents. By the way, Teelo mentioned she rode a pegasus the second time she was here.

If I hadn’t been so petrified I’d have enjoyed it a whole lot more. Still, looking back it was kind of neat. The guard’s name was Blazing Sky, by the way. I really need to send him a thank you note when I get to Hejm…

Anyway, once everybody was sitting on the roof things calmed down quite a bit. Teelo and Stormwind were debating what to do about the wolves when lo and behold Princess Luna teleports in and surrounds the whole pack with this telekinetic bubble and starts juggling it. I am not kidding. I guess she got bored while the guards made sure she got the entire pack. Once they were sure it was safe Blazing Sky flew me down. I was never so happy to see cobblestones in my life! Laid right down in the street and kissed them!

Anyway, we went back to the castle and the Council was assembled. Yet another thing I am not a fan of. Guys, when it comes to political bickering humans have got nothing on ponies! They got going and it was a full on shouting match for a good fifteen minutes. They didn’t calm down until Celestia showed up.

Long story short, the good news is this little stunt brought a formal military alliance between Equestria and the trolls which gave Teelo’s mission a serious boost. So…Yay, I guess?

Oh, that reminds me. I guess I should talk about Dustiness--that’s not its name but I can’t remember the real one. They’re some kind of cult, the same ones that kidnapped Sweetie Belle. Everyone is pretty sure they sicced the wolves on us too.

Anyway, all that happened on Monday. We went to bed and caught the train early Tuesday morning.

We had breakfast on the train, which was fun. The pancakes came with real maple syrup too. The *good* stuff, best I ever tasted. Well, once I managed to get some, that is. I swear eating with Teelo is a lot like eating with a starving dog. I mean the pancakes were literally a foot across, and she ate six of them in one sitting, drowned in maple syrup too. Not to mention all those scrambled eggs and a dozen strips of tofu bacon!

I am not exaggerating, either. That’s really what she had for breakfast.

Nothing much happened during the train ride. I spent the rest of the trip chatting with the trolls and the ponies. I even met one of Lady Silkwind’s bodyguards, a griffin named Garrasi. He was very military. You know the type—polite but kind of tight lipped. Constant vigilance and all that stuff. Very regal. You could use him as a recruitment poster, he’s all noble gaze and stern expression, you know:

EQUESTRIA WANTS YOU!

One odd thing, I went through all the passenger cars but I never saw Lady Silkwind. Guess she was napping in one of the sleeper cars or something…weird.

After lunch we reached a place called Blue Sky station and added a second troupe of guards to the caravan, they called themselves Rolling Thunder. They’re a mix of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. First time I’d seen a military unit mix the three tribes, they’re usually only one tribe to a unit.

Once the caravan set off I managed to walk about four hours—seven whole miles! But it exhausted me. I told them I could finish the day but Søyle picked me up like a sack of potatoes and sat me on one top of one of the wagons. It was embarrassing but just between us I was glad to ride. My legs felt like overcooked noodles at that point.

Then that smart-ass Stormwind flew by and told me they could have me in Hejm inside an hour if I wanted to fly there in a stretcher! I gave him a piece of my mind for thinking I’d run off and leave Teelo. I think it impressed him because he didn’t make any more snide remarks after that.

We traveled another three hours before setting up camp. It made me feel pretty useless when I offered to help and nobody wanted me to. After that we went to bed.

Which brings us to Wednesday morning. Sorry this is taking so long but I promise I won’t skip any more entries, I’ll even label them by day! See, trying to be helpful, I’m not skipping anything—even the parts that might make you worry.

Anyway, the next morning we both had sore legs and I had blisters. Fortunately Graceful Star (she’s Rolling Thunder’s medic) brought us a bottle of magic liniment—and when I say magic I’m not kidding, it had magical healing power in it!

You remember asking Teelo about pony medicine? Well Graceful Star has had a lot of practice working on non-ponies. The magic seems to work on all living creatures, which is useful. The liniment took the soreness away in like, five seconds!

Good stuff, I’m gonna see if I can bring a bottle back with me.

Anyway, I spent the whole day riding again (bummer) so when we made camp last night I took a short walk down the hill to work out the kinks.

And…here’s another little adventure. They do seem to be happening a lot more often than I thought they would. Don’t freak out, ok? I’m fine and we’re still headed toward Hejm.

Anyway, there were these bird things in the trees—a lot of them. Their calls were really eerie so I told the others about it. Søyle was like, we better check it out, and Stormwind agreed with her. Well, turns out it was a good thing we did because the bird things were actually a humongous swarm of something Søyle called blood birds. They’re actually birds but they act like a cross between a vampire bat and a mosquito.

One of the pegasus scouts must have disturbed them because they started chasing him back to camp, ignoring the rest of us. Some of the unicorns raised a force field over the camp and the rest of us ran flat out to hide under it. Søyle picked me up again and ran with me stuck under her arm like a football. Man, is she fast!

Anyway, we got inside the force field and Teelo does another of her super-hero tricks. Only this time the bang was so big it not only obliterated the entire swarm it also knocked down the force field! Kind of hurt the unicorns that had been making the field too, they had really nasty headaches and won’t be able to cast any magic for the rest of the trip.

We left that campsite as fast as we could in case there were more of the bird things and put a mountain between us and them. And that’s where we spent the rest of the night, hidden under an illusion one of the other unicorns cast. I couldn’t see anything but Myth told me it was definitely there. She’s the unicorn that cast it. Fun fact, her horn glows with rainbow colors when she casts a spell, all the other unicorn horns glow the same color as their fur.

Anyway, that catches up the journal; I swear I won’t forget again, we’re just about ready to set out, so I gotta go.

Love you!

Emma

ooOoo

Earth, Thursday morning, June 6, 2013 9:00 AM

Rosalyn was on her third cup of coffee, nervously waiting for the Treasury agent to arrive. She hadn’t gotten much sleep, too busy trying to plan for the meeting and frankly a bit freaked out by her trip to another world. Another universe? Another dimension?

Wherever it was, they had magnificent cake, she thought with a chuckle. Just then the door opened and a tired looking man wearing an open collared dress shirt and slacks shuffled in.

“You look as tired as I feel,” she greeted the potential customer with a smile.

“Jet lag,” he mumbled, then visibly gathered himself. “Rosalyn Parker?”

“Yes?” She said, realizing who this must be.

“Hi, I’m Treasury Agent John Merriweather. We spoke on the phone last night?” He covered a yawn. “Excuse me. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Me neither,” she replied ruefully.

He brought out a leather wallet and flipped it open, showing her his ID.

“Tell you what, if you can give me an hour we’ll wrap this up, then you can point me to a good place to have breakfast and I’ll be out of your hair.”

“Ok, let me close up shop. I’ll be just a second.”

He waved dismissively. “Don’t rush on my account.” He yawned again and blinked. Before he knew it she was leading him back to her workroom where she turned on the silver lamp and turned off the lights.

“Here we go,” she said, putting the ruby down under the light. Then she frowned. “It was a lot more energetic last night.”

The ruby was throbbing slowly, perhaps once every three seconds. The rainbows didn’t shoot out so much as ooze. But Agent Merriweather’s attention was riveted on the stone. He’d seen the same demonstration as given to the president, and he was aware the stone was showing a much stronger reaction than the trinkets did.

“When you say more energetic, what do you mean?” He asked, staring at the pulsing lights of the stone.

“Well, it was faster, for one thing,” Rosalyn replied immediately, “at least three times faster. Not only that, but the rainbows came out a lot faster, and then vanished, all at once. This time they’re just kind of pouring out. And they look more faded.”

“Hmm. How did you store the stone?” He asked, carefully not touching it as he leaned closer.

“Well, I put it in a gem bag and stored it in my safe,” she replied, holding up a small blue velvet drawstring bag.

“Anything unusual happen after that?” He asked casually.

“What do you mean?” Rosalyn asked, tilting her head.

“Electrical disturbances, static on a radio, hallucinations, strange sounds, catching things moving out of the corner of your eye, stuff like that,” the man said seriously.

“Um—no,” Rosalyn shook her head and couldn’t keep from chuckling. “Just—that,” she said nodding at the gem. “Only faster. So, is it safe?”

“Huh? Oh, the stone? Perfectly safe. It won’t make you turn green and grow an arm out of the middle of your back or anything weird. It’s not radioactive.”

“So can I sell it?” She asked. “A stone of this quality will gather a lot of interest. It’s completely flawless.”

He hesitated. “Let me check with my superiors. Mind if I take a video of it?”

“Be my guest,” she said, gesturing to the stone. Taking out his smart phone he took a two minute video of the stone and its reaction to the lamp.

“Ok, you can bring the lights back up,” he said. Wordlessly she did so, turning off the silver lamp and returning the stone to its bag.

Agent Merriweather excused himself and went into the front part of his shop to make a phone call. Rosalyn sat on tenterhooks until he returned and smiled at her.

“All right, everything’s taken care of. You can sell the stone but when you do I want you to contact me and provide detailed records of who, where, when, and how much. In the mean time I want you to check the stone every night before you go home and contact me the instant the stone reacts more strongly to the lamp, ok?”

“Ok,” she smiled in relief. “I was very afraid you were going to confiscate it. That would have put me in a very bad financial position.”

“The Treasury department isn’t in the habit of theft, Ms Parker,” the man said, frowning. “If we had to confiscate it you would be compensated for the price you paid for it. Didn’t you say it’s worth a couple of hundred thousand?”

“At least,” Rosalyn nodded. “I actually bought it on consignment. I’m more interested in the contacts I can make than the selling price.”

“I’m not an expert on gems but it’s a very pretty ruby,” he said smiling. “I hope you get a good price for it. Now, I’d say we’re done here, but I have one final question.”

“Yes?”

“Where’s the best place around here for breakfast?”

ooOoo

Emma put the journal in her bedroll and rolled it up. She stowed it in Kusken’s wagon with her other stuff as the ponies and trolls began to assemble to resume the march. Oddly, once everyone had assembled they just stood around and waited, so she wandered over to Kusken.

“Hey,” she greeted the hulking troll. He nodded to her.

“What’s going on? Why aren’t we moving?” she asked.

“Wait for scouts,” he grunted.

“Scouts?” she wondered aloud. He nodded.

“Ah,” she nodded wisely, “because of last night?”

He nodded, gazing down the trail they would be following.

“They’re making sure we won’t run into any more blood birds, right?”

He nodded again.

Rolling her eyes slightly Emma said, “Good talking to you, Kusken. I’m gonna try walking some today but I’ll probably end up back on top of your wagon. Sorry about that.”

He glanced at her and the ghost of a smile appeared.

“No need be sorry, you tiny. I not notice,” he said. There was the slightest lift at the corners of his mouth but Emma had the feeling he was laughing at her on the inside.

“Glad to know I’m not a burden,” she replied drily and went looking for Graceful Star.

She found the medic waiting patiently with the rest of Rolling Thunder.

“Hi,” she said, smiling. The unicorn returned her smile.

“Feeling better this morning?” the slender unicorn asked.

“Yeah, I am. Listen, would it be all right if I tried walking today?”

The unicorn pursed her lips, examining the girl.

“As long as you don’t push it,” she finally replied. “You should probably walk no more than a couple of hours. But if your feet start to hurt get on a wagon immediately, ok?”

“I promise,” Emma said, nodding. “Any idea how long before the scouts get back?”

“They left at dawn, so I’d imagine they’ll be back any time now,” the unicorn replied.

“Thanks, Graceful Star,” Emma replied, waving as she went to find Teelo.

Teelo was having a meeting with Søyle, Stormwind, Heavy Hoof, and Meteor Swarm when Emma arrived.

“Damn dragon,” Teelo muttered as Emma joined the group.

“Dragon?” Emma asked, perplexed. “What dragon?”

“Thunder,” Teagan replied. “He’s the one who worked for Sweetie Belle’s kidnappers. He’s blocking the trail about an hour’s march from here.”

“That’s not a coincidence, is it?” Emma asked with a sigh.

“Nope, the question is, what are we gonna do about it?” Teagan said with a frown. “He could barbeque the lot of us with a single breath and he’s sitting in a bottleneck so there’s no way around him. We’d have to backtrack all the way to Blue Sky Station and take a different route—one that takes two weeks to reach Hejm. And that’s on top of the two days we’ve already been moving and the two days it would take to get back there.”

“We cannot delay that long, Dronning,” Søyle rumbled. “We should already be in Hejm. I say we fight this dragon.”

“My shield unit is out of commission, Søyle,” Heavy Hoof said. “Not to mention they’re also our long range punch. Hoof-to-hoof combat against a dragon without our shields? It would be suicide. Even at full strength I’d rather not fight a full grown dragon.”

“Meteor Swarm, you and the other three can’t do any magic at all, right?”

“Just enough to lift our rations at meal time,” Meteor Swarm agreed, “and that only because telekinesis isn’t real spell casting. When you took down our shield, Your Majesty, the backlash was like being kicked in the head. It gave us minor concussions. Even small spells could cause complications, and a combat spell might be fatal.”

Teagan winced. “Yeah, sorry about that, you’re all going to get Purple Hearts once we reach Hejm, or whatever the troll equivalent is.”

“The bottom line is, fighting this dragon is not an option,” Heavy Hoof said firmly.

“Neither is retreat,” Teagan said, “so what does that leave?”

“Negotiation?” Emma suggested into the silence that followed.

The three stallions all snorted derisively and in unison.

“He’s pretty pissed off, Emma,” Teagan said, shaking her head. “He’s not happy with Rolling Thunder for gluing him to the ground during the rescue. And he’s really angry with me for forcing surrender from him while he was laying there helpless.”

“What did you do?” Emma asked curiously.

“Used Crush to convince him I really could kill him if I had to. Gotta remember we’re ants to him. He’s as proud as a cat too. Forced to surrender to ponies? If the other dragons found out he’d be a laughing stock.”

“Ouch,” Emma said, grimacing. “I see what you mean.”

“Yeah, anybody that got close enough to talk to him would be charcoal before they could blink.” Teagan agreed. “Negotiation isn’t an option.”

“Too bad we don’t have one of those amulet things Twilight used to talk to Princess Celestia,” Emma commented, frowning. “That way we could talk to him from here. After all, didn’t you say Dusty stole his horde? I wonder if he knows that?”

Teagan stared at Emma, mouth hanging open.

“What?” Emma asked.

“Emma, You’re a genius!” Teagan hugged the surprised girl hard enough to force the air from her.

“Hey, Heavy Hoof, didn’t you say the Fixers were general-purpose mages?” Teagan asked with a grin.

The big stallion nodded, eying her curiously.

“Well, I think I have a plan. As long as Perfect Sky and his brother are up to another mission this morning…”

ooOoo

He dialed the phone as he settled back in the driver’s seat. The car was hot, even with the windows open, but he bore it silently.

“FinCEN, Director Saxon-Kalb speaking,” A middle-aged woman’s voice said brusquely.

“Director, its Agent Merriweather. I got your text.” He said, blinking back tiredness. “I’m done here. I’ll be taking the first flight back.”

“Are you alone, Agent?” She asked. In the background he could hear the sound of a closing door.

“Yes,” he said, starting the car and turning on the air conditioning. He rolled up the windows.

“I saw the video of the ruby,” she said quietly. “Congratulations on being the first agent to succeed in Project Silverlight.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he responded. “As per protocol I kept the interview light and non-confrontational. Ms Parker was extremely cooperative and will alert us to any change in the ruby’s status. She didn’t have a problem when I asked her to send us a copy of the transaction once she sells it. My hunch is her involvement is accidental.”

“Hmm, most likely. I’m more interested in who sold it to her,” the woman said. “I’m told Admiral Spears is leading the investigation on that, but I offered your expertise to their local resources. I want you to stay in Kansas City and await further instructions. I’m smelling dirty laundry, Agent Merriweather. And you know my nose is never wrong.”

“Understood, Director, I’ll email you when I know which hotel I’ll be staying at.”

“One more thing, Agent. Admiral Spears has stressed this investigation is to be handled with the upmost discretion. When I asked why he informed me there were diplomatic complications, although he refused to say which country was involved, just that it would be a disaster if we poked the wrong hornet’s nest. Be invisible, Agent.”

“Yes, well, accountants are good at being invisible,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ll leave the cloak and dagger work to the spooks. It’s safer that way.”

“Very good. Any final thoughts before you go?” the woman asked calmly.

He hesitated. “Ms Parker did note the ruby acted differently than it did last night,” he finally said. “She said it was pulsing much more slowly, the rainbow wasn’t nearly as energetic or colorful.”

“Any idea what that means?” the Director asked.

“According to the documentation it means the stone had less charge than it did last night, a lot less. But you saw the video, it still beat the stuffing out of the demos we were shown.”

“Any idea why? I’ll take hunches or wild speculation at this point.”

“No. Assuming the documentation is accurate the stone lost two-thirds of its charge overnight. It’s like it was used for something.”

“What do you mean?”

He paused, wondering what that itch at the back of his mind was telling him. “I’m not sure…but I doubt sitting in a safe overnight would pull that much charge out of it.”

“Are you saying the stone is some kind of battery?” she asked in surprise. “I know we call it charge but that’s just because no one knows what else to call it.”

“No, I don’t have any proof, just a feeling,” he replied. “I’m short of sleep so maybe my brain’s fuzzy.”

“Well, get some sleep and I’ll pass on your feeling to Admiral Spears. Since the NSA didn’t tell us jack about Project Silverlight feelings and hunches are about all we’ve got. Good-bye, Agent.”

“Good-bye, Director.”

Putting the phone away he put the car in gear and went hunting for a hotel.

ooOoo

Early in the dark morning hours the unicorn jerked awake from a nightmare. He saw several blurred shapes and in a panic instinctively tried to teleport across the room, only to be rewarded with a blinding migraine caused by magical feedback. Cradling his horn in both hooves he felt the heavy metal ring at its base.

“Adept Glory, you are under arrest for high treason,” he heard a voice say though the flashing lights, bright spots, and throbbing pain. “Guards, take him away. Princess Celestia will deal with him at her leisure.”

Bewildered and unable to react the unicorn suddenly convulsed, spewing last night’s wonderful (and wonderfully expensive) dinner all over his bed.

“And make sure you put a bucket in his cell,” the voice said in disgust.

All across Canterlot similar scenes were playing out.

ooOoo

Thunder stirred to alertness as he suddenly caught a whiff of pony, right under his nose. Lifting his head he peered down, seeing nothing but the glitter of a shiny stone in the sunlight. Peering closer he saw it was a rather nice sapphire, but badly cut, and thus nearly worthless. Some idiot had cleaved the jewel entirely in half!

The dragon shook his head, regarding the ruined stone. It offended him someone had destroyed such a beautiful (and delicious) gem. It wouldn’t even be worth eating now, all the mana completely thrown out of balance.

“Hello?”

The dragon’s ears flicked forward, unsure if he’d actually heard anything.

“Thunder? Can you hear me?”

The sound was coming from the stone. Intrigued he lowered his head to lay it beside the stone.

“Is this working? Thunder, I’m trying to talk to you. Can you hear me?”

The dragon’s upper lip curled, revealing a gleaming fang.

“I hear you, queen of the trolls. I see you are as cowardly as ever.” The dragon’s voice was cold and mocking, but didn’t convey the rage beginning to glitter in his eyes. He closed his eyes so he could concentrate on the tiny voice coming from the gem.

“The word is prudent,” the queen’s voice corrected calmly. “I have vital information to give you, Thunder, and I’m perfectly aware you’d roast me before I could even open my mouth if I simply walked up to you. I’m not so proud I’d willingly throw my life away to no purpose.”

In spite of himself the dragon chuckled.

“You are not wrong, queen of the trolls. Your offense against me was a mortal one. I will not forgive it. Come to me and let me send you to the next world with a clean soul.”

“Not going to happen, Thunder.” The queen said drily. “But perhaps I can ransom myself and my companions with the news I bring.” The queen’s voice was calm, something the dragon was sure it would not be if she were pinned bleeding under his claws.

“Ransom? You are most humble now that I hold the advantage,” The dragon said in amusement. “What could you possibly offer me that could persuade me to forgive you?”

“Because I know why you were working for Rimor, and I also know who was responsible for forcing you to do it.”

The dragon stiffened, and growled involuntarily.

“You have my attention,” he said ominously.

“I thought that would do it.” There was satisfaction in her voice. The dragon growled again at her impertinence.

“Food shouldn’t taunt the diner,” the dragon warned her.

“Are all dragons cannibals or is it just you?”

“You are rapidly trying my patience!” The dragon snapped loudly. “Not a wisest thing to do, troll queen.”

“All right, I’m sorry. The reason you were working for Rimor is because your horde was stolen,” she said in a serious tone. “Tell me I’m wrong, Thunder.”

The dragon was silent.

“Rimor was working for an organization called Duisternis,” the queen continued. “They are a secret society that has existed since the dawn of time. Their inner circle are the original founders of the order, founders who never actually died. They opened the veil for Tišina who then promptly destroyed the world, plunging it into eons of ice and death. Duisternis survived, transformed into demons by Tišina’s actions. And while not all demons are part of Duisternis, the driving force behind them, their inner circle, are.

“You remember Nightmare Moon, the demon that possessed Princess Luna? Nightmare was a member of Duisternis, and was attempting to bring back the darkness that Tišina created. The full name of their secret society, translated into Equestrian, is The Immortal Order of Darkness Eternal. They use undead as minions, and dupe the living to become their agents, who aren’t told what the end goal will be.”

Thunder stiffened.

“Duisternis stole your horde, Thunder, and hired you by paying you with your own gems. The reason we came to your cave in the first place was because they kidnapped a unicorn filly, the sister of one of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. They were trying to manipulate Rarity just like they manipulated you. By stealing the most precious thing you had.

“We have a common enemy, Thunder, one that’s trying to remake the world in their image, a world where the rest of us wouldn’t survive. No life at all. No dragons, no ponies, no trolls, no prey, just demons, undead—and corpses.

“So tell me, Thunder. Is that the world you want to bring about? Or are you willing to forgive me and help us save the world?”

Thunder was so enraged he could barely think. Even a dragon as old as he was reacted instinctively to certain threats: theft of horde, attack against mate or eggs, and most violently of all, risk to his own survival.

“Just stay out of my way,” he hissed. Then with a mighty thunderclap his wings snapped downward, hurling him into the air. His roar was so loud it caused a minor landslide, burying the gem under a foot of loose gravel and sand.

Back at the caravan Teagan blinked at the stone in her hand as it simply disintegrated from the overload.

“All is forgiven?” She asked Søyle, who shrugged.

Heavy Hoof turned away and bellowed orders to get the caravan moving.

Comments

[More Dakka]

Every time this fic updates it makes me angry for how few likes it has. It's bloody criminal.

[Ardwolf]

6401130
Well, what can you do? (shrug)

Maybe tell your friends?

[Foxfax]

Methinks the dragon may find himself o'ermatched should he try to push too hard at his erstwhile employers. Why I'm Olde Engrish-ing, I don't know.

[Verequus]

Actually, the eye color defines the magic aura, not fur color.

[Ardwolf]

6401689
Emma stands corrected.

[Krazyfan1]

Brilliant as usual