//------------------------------// // Cracks in the mirror // Story: Equestrian Landings // by qwefg //------------------------------// Valkyrie I yawned as I felt the slowly steady beats of Peter flying as we were approaching New Terra. Remedy Cross was eating some of the food she had brought with her while she was reading one of the books that she had brought. Steel Halberd was currently looking out the window trying to figure out how much time we had saved or how much further we were from New Terra. I couldn’t help but smile as I saw Midnight wrapped up in a ball like a cat in the corner of the room. I could almost swear she was purring as she was nestled in her spot. I stretched my body as I tried to remember if I had any sort of trail mix left in my bags. Steel shook his head as he said “Do you think he’ll tell us what we’re expecting before we reach our destination?” Remedy shrugged only for Peter to reply “Is everyone up?” Midnight groaned as she had just woken up “Are we there already?” I shook my head “Well we’re all awake now.” There was a soft chuckle as Peter the dragon replied “Sorry about that, but I figured I’d wait until we were near New Terra before explaining why we requested Remedy’s assistance.” There was a small pause as Remedy spoke up “Wait… you wanted my help?” Peter coughed as there was a moment of silence “You are Remedy Cross… the pony doctor who was a part of the Everfree incident and who also traveled with Lockheart?” Remedy slowly nodded her head “Yes… but why did you want my help?” The silence continued for as Peter finally replied “It’s hard to explain… or believe, but we have a situation in New Terra and we didn’t know anyone who could… help.” I took a deep breath “What happened?” Peter sighed “Well at first it started with one of our residents as they just… changed. I mean we were accepting more people as the population grew and one of our changeling residents just… changed.” We could hear the frustration in his voice as he groaned “At first we were just planning on sending her to canterlot until the other non residential changelings became a little bit… possessive. You’d have to see it to understand.” Remedy nodded her head “You want me to check to make sure another Everfree Incident isn’t happening?” “Well Mirage isn’t a bad person.” Peter tried to explain “Still she’s more confused as she’s an adventure… then we started getting strange rumors until another resident changed race overnight. This time it was a donkey who turned into a zebra.” Steel glanced at remedy before saying “Couldn’t that have just been a changeling impersonating a donkey?” There was a small grunt as Peter continued “We thought so at first… until it started to spread. Adventure, Equestrian, and other natives started changing species overnight as each of them claimed they had met a figure in a cloak dragging a cart full of random items.” Steel’s ears perked up as I dreaded what was about to come next. Please don’t say Cursed Clean up. Please don’t say… “He called himself a Trader who specialized in unique items.” Peter spoke out loud “And none of them can remember his face or what species he was.” Steel groaned as I shut my eyes. Of course this was a cursed clean up job. We heard concern fill his voice “A lot of people had been scared to walk out at night. One of the Equestrian citizens we had detained because she was a highway bandit used to be a brown cow named Matilda had turned into a griffin a few nights ago. We’ve managed to keep a lid on most of it, but people are worried or their trying to find this unknown trader in hopes of regaining what they had lost.” Remedy quickly spoke up with rapid interest “You say a cow turned into a griffin overnight? Has her dietary needs changed? Does she still go with a more herbivore based diet or has she changed to a more carnivore based diet? Has her body changed to include the necessary griffin magic to produce flight or has she kept most of her bovine traits?” Peter spoke with a hint of confusion in his voice “You’re not questioning it… or asking if there was memory loss or…” Remedy rolled her eyes “Of course there was memory loss if she couldn’t remember who changed her race. I’m more curious about the effects or transition details! Was it immediate retention of her new form like a race copy spell or was it more of a gradual understanding on learning how her body worked?” She caught my expression of confusion as she shrugged “I mean technically the pony calling herself Brass isn’t actually a pony. Most of her abilities are more of a reinforcement of muscle and bone to make her look like an earth pony in terms of ability, but she lacks the inherent magic every earth pony is born with. It terms of species she might be closer to that of a donkey… maybe a bull or buffalo?” The unicorn sighed as she said out loud “The point it this isn’t the first case I’ve ran into… but everything I knew about that case was written down in a report and Celestia also checked the pony in question before she escaped.” There was an awkward silence as I’m sure Peter was starting to wonder if Equestria knew that all of the adventures were former humans. I mean I’ve been planning on saying something, but things just kept getting in the way… I glanced at Steel and shook my head. Now I’m starting to question myself along with the whole humanity detail question including the fact that somebody had a magical artifact that was changing people’s species overnight! I sighed as Remedy looked at me “Is something wrong?” Steel grunted as he spoke up “No… it just sounds like the culprit behind this is the cursed trader. We’ve been trying to clean up all the cursed items he had ‘traded’ to ponies and other races across Equestria as his standard reason for giving away these items just seems to be causing chaos.” I nodded my head “Like an artifact to help find gems only to turn the gems into crystal golems that try to attack people or a magical artifact to help promote nature growth only to spawn a forest full of Timberwolves. Items that always tend to have deadly side effects.” Peter grunted as he had just been informed that the culprit behind this was a wanted criminal who had a habit of causing chaos and destruction. An item that could help someone change their race would be valuable in a town full of former humans. The only question was what strings were attached to it and if the cursed trader was still roaming about in New Terra or if he pawned off the item to someone else. Peter cleared his threat as he finally spoke up “Well… we would appreciate the help in trying to track this individual down and Remedy Cross’s medical expertise.” A dragon roar filled the air as we all looked out the window. Peter suddenly moved to the left as a gray dragon flew towards us with claws wide open and sparks of fire coming out of his mouth. The train cart we were in was shaking as he just managed to avoid being tackled by the new dragon. Steel managed to look out one of the windows and shouted “Everypony prepare to abandon the cart! Midnight quickly got up and grabbed a hold of Remedy was taking a deep breath and gathering as many items as she could hold in her magic. I quickly finished strapping my armor on. Steel was about to jump out of the cart only for it to shake again. I rushed to put on my armor as I shouted “Where are we going?” “There should be a small outpost nearby!” Peter shouted “Go there while I try to deal with this dragon.” The cart suddenly fell into a free fall as Steel held onto the door motioning for us to jump out. Midnight pushed Remedy out the door and tried to slow her descent. I stumbled forward only for Steel Halberd to grab me as we both went flying out of the cart. Both of us spread open our wings only to hear the cart smash into the ground. I opened my eyes and saw the outpost rushing towards us. I opened my wings as we tried to slow our descent Midnight was doing her best to carry Remedy Cross to the ground only for a second figure to swoop towards them. Steel moved to intercept the creature as I followed his lead. Remedy’s horn flared creating a shield preventing them from being hit, but only to spin into a free fall. Steel moved to help stabilize their flight before they crashed into the ground as I chased after the creature that was preparing for a second strike. It went into a death dive towards them as rammed myself straight into the creature’s back cause us both to crash into a nearby building roof top only for me to slide off and crash onto the ground. I pushed myself up and noticed the empty streets as no one was outside or panicking about the fact two dragons were battling right above this place. “Where is everyone?” I muttered to myself Bits of rubble fell to the ground as I looked up at my latest opponent. My entire body shivered as I could now see what this creature looked like. It had the body like an owl as it was covered in yellow feathers like some sort of savage version of Big Bird, yet it had a patch of black fur covering the creature’s underbelly as bits of hair fell to the ground. I shook my head as the griffin like talons dug deep into the mortar of the rooftop as bits of green scales seemed to cover it’s legs. The creature’s tail whipped about as it seemed to be some crude mixture of a horse tail mixed with feathers as the black mane continued all along it’s back. The face was the strangest part of it all as it looked like one of those old sci-fi wrinkly raisin faced aliens. It didn’t even have a mouth as it’s eyes were a solid red color almost like a changeling. I had inadvertently took a step back as this creature didn’t feel like it belonged in Equestria. I felt the same terror I had felt when I was on the train when we were all trying to reach Canterlot only for the creepy mass of bugs monster attacked the train. A voice screamed inside of my head “Unnecessary complication.” One of the doors to the buildings were knocked down as a griffin covered in armor walked right out. He held a large two handed axe in his talons as he was breathing heavily. The creature on the rooftop looked over to him as the voice spoke again “Kill her.” The griffin turned to me “Steel… Wing…” I stared at him in confusion until it hit me “Steel Tide?” Steel Tide, Steel Wing… we had a steel theme in our RPG party group. I smiled as I prepared to greet my friend only to notice his armor was glowing red as he tightened his grip around his axe. I was the warrior in our party and Steel Tide. He was the berserker. His eyes focused on me as he screamed “Steel Wing!” ****** Steel Halberd Steel looked above the outpost as Midnight and Remedy were safe. He gritted his teeth as he felt the nagging feeling at the back of his neck from seeing the unconscious ponies in the barracks. Each pony was sleeping as a faint blue glow drifted around their eyes as they didn’t wake up. Eclipse Slumber was one of the cursed magical artifacts from the Everfree forest as it made anypony or creature in it’s area have a peaceful sleep only to not wake up. The artifact wasn’t that hard to deal with just as long as you didn’t go to sleep… but with the two sudden surprise attacks the enemy might be planning just to knock them out for the cursed item to work it’s magic. “Steel Wing!” a voice shouted out loud. Steel looked down as he saw Valkyrie trying to dodge a large muscular griffin covered in armor who was currently wielding a glowing red two handed axe. He quickly dived straight towards them and swung his halberd against the griffin’s weapon. To his utter shock the weapon snagged on the handle as the mad griffin yelled swinging both the axe and Steel in one swing. Steel quickly let go of his weapon and recovered in the air. Valkyrie dashed into one of the nearby buildings as Steel grabbed one of the cloth blinds from a nearby window and threw the on top of the crazed griffin during the middle of his next swing. Valkyrie quickly took flight trying to escape the griffin as Steel lead her to one of the buildings to hide in. She shook her head as she kept muttering “I’m sorry… I should have tried finding you sooner…” “Valkyrie!” Steel hissed loudly as he shook her for a moment “What is going on?” She tried wiping the tears from her eyes “I…” She shook her head “I can’t remember his name, but I knew him. We need to move before he finds us again.” Steel glanced out the window as the griffin was tearing the cloth into pieces with his talons and axe instead of simply holding still and unhooking it from his axe. He was acting more like a wild animal than a griffin at this moment. Steel opened up a nearby door and replied “Who is he?” Valkyrie looked depressed as she replied “He’s someone I knew. Well… sort of knew.” “Steel!” The griffin shouted “Come out and face me!” Steel turned his head only for Valkyrie to place a hoof on his shoulder and said “He means me…” They could hear the griffin rampaging outside as Valkyrie took a deep breath. She looked as if she was about to say something only for a part of the wall to break down as the griffin charged. With a back hand he knocked Steel to the other side of the room as he swung at Valkyrie with his axe. She kept doing her best trying to dodge as he was backing her into a corner. Steel Halberd bucked a nearby chair at the crazed griffin at the attack barely phased him. The Pegasus grunted as he yanked a nearby throw rug off the floor and threw it at the griffin’s face temporarily obscuring his vision as Valkyrie managed to evade his attack and flew out the door. Steel quickly followed as the griffin yelled “Steel Wing!” They both flew behind a nearby building as Valkyrie was out of breath… no… he noticed the scratches and dents in her armor. The Mad griffin was overpowering her. Steel took a deep breath “Are you alright?” Valkyrie shook her head as he noticed her damaged wing. There was a gash from where the armored talons had wracked against her wings. Steel quickly pulled out a bandage to help cover the wound as Valkyrie wasn’t looking to good. Steel kept an eye out for the griffin as he replied “Why did he call you Steel?” Valkyrie sighed as she hugged herself while shivering in fear “That’s my character name… I mean… Before I arrived in Equestria a few of my friends played an RPG. Each of us called ourselves Steel… Steel Wings for me since I was the party Pegasus. Steel Tide for the berserker… Steel Will for the mage and of course Steel Copper for the party healer.” Steel glanced back at Valkyrie and then as the general direction of the screaming griffin “What’s with the glowing axe… or the eyes for that matter?” Valkyrie took a deep breath “We need to remove that axe from him… maybe then he’ll return to normal.” “What’s happened to him?” Steel repeated. Valkyrie looked at him as he saw the fear in her eyes “He…” her wings drooped as she hung her head “He wasn’t like this before. Actually he was a skinny guy. Steel Tide… his character… that was the buff griffin berserker.” Steel rubbed his side as he figured the cursed trader had something to do with this. A weak griffin who dreamed of being strong? Now he couldn’t tell friend from foe as his mind solely focused on attacking “Steel Wing” and as he ignored everything else. He paused as he looked at Valkyrie “What gender was your character?” Valkyrie blushed as she coughed “Male…” He looked at her armor as he remembered the mindless rage he showed… how he seemed completely focused on her as he called her out by a character’s name instead of her real name. “I need you to take off that armor.” Steel replied to her shock “He’s after Steel Wings which means anypony wearing your armor he’ll chase after.” Valkyrie nodded as she started taking off her armor. Steel quickly removed his own armor before trying to slip on her chest piece… which felt like the old boot training camp where a particularly cruel flight instructor had tied two bags of rocks to their armor. He wouldn’t be performing any precision flying for long, but it would be enough for now. Valkyrie hissed in panic “What are you doing?” Steel glanced at her “He still saw you so there’s a chance he’ll chase after you… but hopefully a male Steel in this armor will make him change his target.” She quickly shook her head as he stopped her “Look you know him. I’ve played bait far longer than you have and quite frankly… I can’t harm him. He tossed me aside like a rag doll.” He gritted his teeth as his ribs still hurt from that monstrous strength “He if he focuses completely on me than you can hit him with everything you have or can throw at him. Now is there anything else we can use against him?” Valkyrie tapped her hoof against the ground for a moment as she looked up at him “Where do you think they’d store the spare clouds?” ****** Remedy Cross Remedy searched the barracks trying to find something… anything that could help. She stopped as she found a few fireworks in the confiscation bin. It was probably from somepony trying to sell them without a permit or an idiot who thought they could launch them into the air without looking for a no fly zone or checking to see if there were any nearby pegasi or griffins in the area. She quickly gathered up the bundle of fireworks as Midnight replied “Nothing down here… and why do you have a bunch of fireworks?” Remedy glanced at the various items and then at Midnight as she would be a better expert at her current plan “Do you know any signals… or markings thought could help alert anypony in the nearby area?” Midnight shook her head “Well right now it’s really bright outside so nopony is going to see them. We might be able to use those to help distract the other dragon.” Remedy glanced at the fireworks “You think these can harm it?” Midnight chuckled grimly as she shook her head “These are nowhere near powerful enough to harm a real dragon… but it might be closer to a gnat bite.” Remedy frowned as she looked at her failed plan “How does that help us?” Midnight smiled as she cheerfully replied “Gnat bites can be very annoying and being distracted in a fight could be dangerous. The only problem is that we’d need to get someplace high and wait until they get close.” Remedy nodded “So find the highest building and see how the fight is going. Anything else?” Midnight paused for a second before she hesitantly replied “Keep one of them on hoof incase anything attacks us. It would be extremely dangerous to use one of a normal pony or griffin… but it should be strong enough to disorientate or force whatever tried attacking us to the ground just as long as we don’t aim directly at it.” Remedy nodded as she was wishing she had picked up more combat lessons or looked into more advanced magical subjects. Her version of necromancy would help against races she knew about… put the magic was precise like a scalpel instead of a broad sword. The less you knew about the species the harder it was to use. She did have a spell to help apply a mild sedative… but that required hitting the target with a visible magic attack the enemy could see. She shook her head as she wished it was a normal Pegasus or one of those adventure types that was possibly lurking outside. Just a simple curse was all that was needed to take them out. Midnight held up a wing as they saw a shadow pass by as something was flying above them. Remedy saw the malformed creature land on one of the buildings nearby searching for them. “Do you have any idea what that creature is?” Midnight asked with a hint of hesitation. Remedy stared at the bird like creature… it had scales sort of like a basilisk, but it didn’t account for the fur. There were myths about a more bird like version of a Pegasus… harpies as they also had fur and feathers, but that had equine features as most of their body was bird like. They didn’t take into account of scales… or the almost griffin sized height as the creature stood on two legs. As for the creature’s face… she shivered as that seemed completely alien. Still it had a magical signature and was probably using magic to help sustain its flight. There might be a good chance that it had other magical abilities to make it look less alien… of course those stories tended to have the monster eat other ponies and sentient races. “Just try not to make eye contact.” Remedy replied “I can’t tell what race it is, but it does have magic.” Midnight paused as she glanced at Remedy before whispering “At the count of three run to the next building.” They waited at the creature looked down at another street “Three.” They dashed to the next building as more sleeping ponies were left lying about. Midnight pointed at the next building and started the count again. When they reach three they dashed into it and stopped as the entire first floor of the room had dozens of guards. These were not guards that had fallen asleep, but had been forcibly knocked out. Helmets were dented as blood had dried on the ground. There was an abandoned cart resting in the middle of the room filled with objects of darker intentions. Remedy could feel the dark magic just pooled around the cart as she whispered “I think we found your cursed trader.” They heard something crash against the floor and hid behind the fallen bodies of some of the bigger races. The unknown bird creature walked nearby the cart as its talons scraped across the floor. There was another commotion as they heard something heavy being dragged across the floor. Remedy peeked out from her cover and spotted a griffin dragging two ponies down a set of stairs while grumbling “Of course you come after I had finishing up the clean up job.” The bird like creature tilted its head as he snapped back “Yes it was hard to handle! You get X amount of people falling asleep and X amount still awake. Someone starts searching and before you know it you either get a riot or a ton of people trying to leave town.” The bird flapped its wings and readied it’s talons only for the griffin to snap back “Oh no! I had to drag their butts down as you told me they’d be nowhere near here! Turns out they are not in the freaking north like you thought they were in!” Midnight motioned for Remedy to move closer to her while the enemy was distracted. Remedy nodded as she crawled over and glanced at the two unconscious ponies as she recognized the unicorn as he had written a few papers about other races and their medical practices. Mort was a fine doctor, but most of his papers weren’t read due to his shady funding and possible connections to some criminal enterprises. The earth pony on the other hoof made Remedy stare at in irritation… like a bug bite as she was right here in front of her… she could easily be taken back to Canterlot and yet they weren’t able to do anything. Grant it she was being held captive by another unknown group, but it was just the principle of it! Midnight whispered “You deal with the bird and I’ll focus on the griffin.” Remedy nodded as she watched the griffin sigh “Seriously! We could have skipped the whole dragon incident!” The bird seemed to hiss “No I do not care if Remedy Cross is still roaming about. We have the earth pony and she should know where Star Swirl’s magical thingamabob is! We do not need to fix any other miscalculations!” The bird flapped its wings practically hissing as the griffin shouted “We have a dragon fighting another dragon outside with most of the town sleeping! You can’t fit into most of these buildings and I have no idea where Brass could have stuffed it in town. For all we know it could be hidden back from whichever rock she had been hiding underneath for all this time!” Remedy casted the strongest sleep spell that she knew of as it struck the bird creature. The griffin turned to face them only for Midnight to tackle as she had tried pinning him to the ground. The bird creature tried to get back up again as it slowly shifted from foot to foot as Remedy tried casting another spell as the creature stumbled, but refused to fall. It stared at her with his strange eyes and marched forth after her in a drunken stupor nearly tripping over its own two feet. She quickly grabbed some of the nearby shields and helmets and started tossing them at the creature causing it to stumble. It didn’t matter how much force was put behind the attack just as long as it kept the monster off balance. The creature stumbled as one of the attack managed to hit it in the eye causing it to stumble straight into a wall. Remedy quickly searched for any robes or fabric that could be used to help hamper the its movement as she was feeling out of breath. “Pony feathers!” Midnight shouted out loud causing Remedy to turn her head. The cart was now missing along with everything it was carrying as a large mirror was now resting in it’s place. The inside or “reflection” of the mirror had a very annoyed griffin as he was staring at the tail of hair in front of the mirror. By Midnight’s side were Brass and the other unicorn with shorter tails as her wing blades were lying inside the mirror as the griffin was banding up his talons. A few muffles and moans came from the crowd as some of the sleeping ponies started waking back up as Midnight replied “Do you want to still take us on?” The griffin sighed in annoyance as he shook his head “I know when it’s time to call for a strategic withdrawal.” He picked up a sledgehammer and muttered “Until then there’s always tomorrow.” Remedy flinched as she heard the sound of glass break only to open her eyes to see a shattered mirror. A few of the other guards started to get up… and scream as there was a giant unknown creature trying to get back up. Midnight took a deep breath and shouted “The outpost is under attack. Subdue the bird monster! Once it’s been taken care of get anypony that can fight ready to deal with the dragon problem outside and follow me!” Remedy wiped the sweat of her brow as she tried to push all unnecessary thoughts aside. Focus on the current problem… then find some way to ask Celestia what in the world was going on. ****** Valkyrie I looked around the room “So what is this place again?” Steel replied as he readjusted the armor he was wearing which used to be mine “It’s a cloud factory… a low budget improvised one but a factory nonetheless.” I used one of my wings to fan myself as I looked at the large pot resting in the center of the room as the entire place felt like an oven. Steel walked over by one of the cloud storage rooms and opened up the door as I stared at all the clouds. Some of the pegasi were already sleeping on top of the clouds as some almost bathtub sized containers of water rested underneath the clouds. Steel glanced at the collection “So what’s your plan?” I bit the inside of my cheek as most of these were tiny clouds that you saw on MLP and nothing large enough for a house or something. Steel was trying to get a feel for my armor as he walked about as I had to tell him about my… slightly insane plan. “I’m going to use the clouds to restrain him.” I said out loud “I mean… he’s a griffin and they can walk on clouds. So I’m going to wrap him up in clouds.” Steel took a deep breath “You do realize he can also pop clouds just as good as a Pegasus can?” I nodded my head “That’s why I want you to help me make sure they have enough water. Besides… you can easily get yourself out of being covered in snow… but you can still get buried in it and unable to move despite your strength.” “Steel!” my old gaming member cried out loud Steel quickly rushed over to the clouds as he tried to helping me give the clouds enough water to work with. The real trick would be making sure he wouldn’t pop enough of them to prevent us from capturing him or that swinging around that axe of his didn’t mess up our hard work. We could wrap him in clouds… but not his axe. I started gathering together the clouds as I wished I had a set of handcuffs or steel chains. Weapons could go through clouds and unless they were treated to hold items or more likely have items enchanted to interact with clouds… I was using a ball of water vapor to stop someone stronger than me. I pulled up my menu as I thought about cashing in a few memories. My life was in danger as I was fighting a foe who outclassed me as I was trying not to hurt them. I opened up the point menu and tried to figure out which few skills could help me out the most… I turned around as I felt a hoof on my shoulder as Steel smiled “Just take a deep breath Valkyrie. I can distract him. All you need to do is take a deep breath and wait for my signal.” I nodded my head as Steel walked out into the center of the building as I closed the menu and tried gathering the clouds together. The door were kicked open as I saw Steel Tide marching into the building growling as he dragged his axe across the floor. I could hear the metal grinding against the ground as he focused on Steel. “Steel Wings…” He growled as he lifted up his axe and screamed “Steel!” Steel jumped back as the axe tore into the ground as my old friend tried to grab him by the collar of his armor. Instead Steel pulled out his old golden Royal Guard helmet and dodged the attack before shoving the helmet on backwards over the griffin’s face and bucked. I covered my ears as I could hear the sound of metal scraping against metal as he then kicked off the griffin’s head and rolled onto the ground. Steel Tide struggled to removed the helmet as his talons scraped across the metal trying to tear it off instead of trying to calm down and push the golden tin foil helmet off his own helmet. Steel shouted out loud “Now!” I grabbed the mass of clouds nearby and dragged them with me as my old friend was swinging the axe blindly while trying to remove his helmet. I warped part of the cloud around his legs and flew back as the axe nearly got me. Steel rushed for grabbing the end of the other side of the cloud and wrapped it around the griffin’s side. Steel Tide went into a blind rage swinging blindly tearing the cloud off his body as he tried to blow it away. Steel rushed forth and struck him before pulling back as the axe scraped against the armor as I went forth and pushed more cloud onto his body. I felt my heartbeat pounding in my head as the axe nearly went for me only for Steel to scrape the armor against the floor causing the griffin to turn his axe around and try to strike Steel as he had already moved out of the way. I raced into the other cloud storage room grabbing as many clouds as I could as Steel continued distracting Steel Tide. I could fight, but my attempts at dogging were to move into a better position to strike. Steel on the other hoof was like a mosquito or a fly as he kept focusing on just dogging the attacks. I grabbed the last nearby cloud as I heard metal scrap against metal as I saw Steel’s body had stopped rolling on the floor as a nearby axe was embedded in his armor. I rushed forward and shoved the last mass of clouds onto Steel Tide leaving him trapped in the cloud as he was unable to shake free. I raced over to Steel as he coughed “I’m okay… hurts like Tartarus, but…” He kicked the axe free as there was a tear in my armor “Mostly wrist… one Tartarus bent throw… but not enough to cut deep.” I helped him remove the armor as his side was bleeding… but it was more of a bad cut than a life threatening gash. I pulled out some spare bandages and wrapped them around his side as he groaned in pain. He looked at me and smirked “Well we just captured a griffin only using clouds… Let’s make sure their compact enough to prevent him from wiggling his way out.” The door burst open as both of us turned to see what was happening only to see a group of griffins, bat ponies, and pegasi standing outside in armor. Steel groaned as he pushed himself up as I prepared myself for another fight. It was then the leader of the group shouted “Are you alright?” I nearly collapsed to the ground “Who are you?” The leader stepped forward revealing herself to be a griffin “My name is Rebecca and we just arrived after hearing a report about this town falling under some sort of curse… who are you?” “Steel!” a muffled cry came out as I groaned. Maybe I should have used more cloud around his head “Are you with him?” The ground shook as I heard Peter groan “They’re with me.” The soldiers turned around as the griffin shouted “What happened to you Mayor!” The dragon groaned “A dragon attacked me… who apparently didn’t spend a lot of time being a dragon. Are the delegates from Equestria alright?” There were a few more groans as some of the sleeping ponies started waking up. I looked back at the cloud ball as sighed “We need this griffin restrained… and nobody touch the axe. He’s under the influence of dark magic.” The soldiers quickly rushed to their duties as I fell back against the floor. Steel Halberd chuckled as apparently Peter managed to rescue himself. My body ached in pain and judging from the bruises covering his body he’d end up wrapped in bandages like me. Steel took a deep breath and sighed as we both promptly passed out from exhaustion. ****** Maxwell I woke up as it felt like I had a ball of cotton in my mouth. My eyes slowly adjusted to the light as I spotted a nearby barrel… a few plates… as the feeling of hair on my nose. I tried blowing it away as it kept brushing up against my nose. I finally opened my eyes only to see a mess of purple hair right in front of my face. The slight throbbing pain in my head slowly started to subside as I tried to figure out what was going on. My brain was in the middle of trying to piece things together as I remembered wine…laughter… alcohol… a surprise visit from princess Celestia and… The wall of purple moved for a moment as a soft yawn filled in the last detail as I spotted the white coat. Then just because life has a cruel sense of humor Stardust rolled on her side as we both bumped faces as she stared at me in confusion. Cue freak-out in three…two…one… Stardust freaked out as I felt four hooves suddenly kick me in the gut… before she fell to the floor as her kick to my gut had also pushed her off the couch. I felt a blanket fall off me as she quickly rose back up and looked at her surroundings in confusion. My own mind was racing as I tried to remember what happened last night. What did I say? How did this happen? What was going on? The door opened up as Pocket Ace said out loud “Oh good you’re both awake.” Stardust stared at him in panic “What just happened? Did… I mean…” There was a soft chuckle as another familiar voice replied “Told you Ace. Pay up.” My ears caught the sound of a bag of bits being tossed in the air as I saw Stardust’s sister… what’s her name… Stardust shouted in panic/outrage “Comet!” I stared at the multicolored mane Pegasus flying in the air as she was chuckling as Pocket Ace was rolling his eyes. The younger sister landed in front of her sister “Relax nothing happened. I helped escort… Sunny Days back home and when I came back me and Ace found the two of you sleeping.” She pressed her hooves together “Oh you two were just so cute! He was leaning against you and your head was resting up against his shoulder as you were drooling on him.” I checked my shoulder as I found a small bit of drool on it. Stardust was bright red now as her burned while she had a rolled up newspaper in her grasp. She started at her sister for just a moment before trying to hit her with the morning news. Stardust shouted “I can’t believe that you…” “Did what?” her sister cheerfully replied trying to dodge the newspaper “Just what did you think happened dear sister?” Pocket Ace walked over to me and rested his foreleg on my shoulder as he shook his head “You had wine… a nice meal… and you still didn’t even make it to first base… well maybe you did, but I doubt either of you would remember.” I felt my own face burn up “Why did you two leave us like that?” Pocket Ace grinned “First of all because both of you are heavy and it was much easier grabbing a sheet and letting you sleep on the couch than trying to drag you both to your beds. The second reason of course… was because we thought it might be funny.” I looked back at the couch as it wasn’t that bad to sleep on. They were polite enough to give us a blanket and yet they came in right before any misunderstandings formed. I glanced at Pocket Ace who was smiling as he had a good reason for most of his actions. I smacked him in the back of his head with my hoof as he shouted “What was that for?” I pointed at Stardust and Comet “For the bet. Just what were you betting on?” There was a moment of silence as I stared at him “Pocket Ace?” He grinned as I could see the beads of sweat dripping off his face “Well on a completely unrelated topic I’ve been helping Rotifer out and since it will take time for everyone to arrive… I’ve taken the liberality of writing all those pesky letters as you calendar for the day is mostly cleared up.” I stared at him as I just remembered the visit from Princess Celestia “Oh about that…” Pocket Ace held up a hoof “Comet filled me in on the details. The next few days will probably be really busy for you so I took it upon myself to help get your schedule arranged to help out with our client relationship.” I tried to smile, but for some reason Pocket Ace was staring at me as if I was the Joker from Batman. Maybe I was using too much teeth or the fact I knew he was planning something behind my back. I mean he’s a good guy… but he’s not an honesty apple so to speak. “What did you do?” I carefully asked him. “Ow! Ow! I give!” Comet shouted from behind me. Pocket Ace sighed in relief as she replied “We set the two of you up on a date to the art exhibit!” Now I stared back at Pocket Ace as he quickly held his hooves up “Before you do anything distract just listen to me! You still have that pony with the art request to deal with and if we are dealing with feral changelings and one insane bug queen… then it might help if we can hire a few changelings on our side.” I took a deep breath as I tried to stay calm “And how exactly does an art request help us out?” Pocket Ace rubbed the back of his head “Because it’s artsy… and stuff? I didn’t understand all the details when I took up the request, but since I’m writing letters out to everyone and seeing how long it will take to get them here I figured you could help deal with the art job.” I took a deep breath and sighed “You do realize that I do not have that much of an expertise on Equestrian art.” Pocket Ace shrugged “Who does? All that really matters is that you can show Stardust around a fancy place or take some time off while the Yak tries to get his information together as we try to find more people for this mission.” I looked over to see Comet dragging her sister over to me “And besides it’s not a good idea to be messing around with explosive when you have a headache. It’s just life’s little reminder that you drank too much.” Stardust groaned “And here I thought I’d be the one who’d give you that speech.” Comet cheerfully replied “And I’m loving every single minute of it… just give us a moment to bring back some food.” Both of them left the room leaving two tired ponies who just realized that their friend/sister were playing match makers as they were not letting last night’s sudden rush of very important clients ruin the attempt at a date night. I looked at her as she shrugged. Well how bad could an art show be? ****** Stardust glanced at the hallway full of paintings “So… do you know anything about paintings?” I shook my head “I know about art… but I couldn’t tell the difference between a Raphael from a Johannes Vermeer of classical art or the artistic touch. I mean I can understand the value of classical vs modern as some types of art place more emphasis on abstract meaning play an important role as it’s usually combined with the social inequalities or the political atmosphere of the times.” She glanced at me in surprise “So what can you tell by these pictures?” I glanced at a picture of a pony and shrugged “I know the technical terminology… but my terms for art fall in… it looks neat or I really don’t get it.” I stared at the pony wearing the hat before shrugging and walking off. I really didn’t have much of a say in art much less how Equestria would hold their values or versions of art to earth as some paintings held more importance due to their title and historical significance… while others just looked neat. I mean on earth the Mona Lisa is a very important and widely recognized piece of art known by millions… but without the historical tags or the fact a famous painter painted it… would anybody really be able to tell the difference between it and another painting of a woman smiling? I reached the end of the exhibit as I found the client… who oddly enough was a siren. She looked really nervous as she was sitting nearby an empty chair as her hooves were tapping against each other. Beside her stood a tall gray Canterlot build unicorn with a long white mane who seemed to be trying to comfort her. “Ah… Are you the ones sent to help?” The pony spoke with a what sounded like a British accent. I stared at them for a moment as I replied “Pocket Ace was busy as he sent me…” The siren looked up at me as she continued tapping her hoofs in steady beat “Can you help? I mean you’ll be able to help me out right?” I took a deep breath as my first job was to calm her down and figuring out what was wrong “And your name is…” “Jewels…” the siren replied “I… I forgot my real name as Miss Pallet has been helping me out.” I smiled as I held out my hoof “My name is Maxwell and this is Stardust. What’s the problem?” The unicorn sighed “We had a break in a few days ago… one of Ms Jewels paintings was destroyed.” I stared at both of them in confusion “This is about a destroyed painting?” Pallet shook her head “It’s more than just a painting. It’s reputation. Some critics in the art community didn’t like some of the art while others just simply didn’t like the artist… and now that one of her paintings has been destroyed and some ponies are starting to accuse her off destroying her own painting in an attempt to boost her own reputation!” She ran a hoof through her mane “I just need help dealing with the press and for Jewels to have some help.” I took a deep breath as I shook my head “Can I take a look at some of the paintings?” ****** I’ll admit I was surprised at the series of paintings as most of these were what I’m familiar with. I saw the standard dogs of the poker table along with a kitten playing with a rocket… stuff that you wouldn’t need a art degree or social context to understand. I stopped in front of one of the paintings that just… it just struck me odd as I stared at it. Pallet sighed as she saw the painting “Oh The Scream an artist rendition of a classical piece of art. I really don’t understand why it gets attention from the adventure community.” I bit my lip as I stared at the screaming earth pony as my head felt a little bit cloudy. I shook my head as it was probably all the art history lessons coming back to my head. Still Pallet needed a little bit of help with the press and I did know about the painting. I stood beside the painting “The Scream by Edvard Munch shows the neurotic depression he was going through with his father… I can’t remember all the details, but during this century some artists were using paintings as a form of medium to help express emotions.” I saw the look of interest she had as I shook my head “These could be inner thoughts, feelings, or emotions as some artists used bright or exaggerated colors and simple shapes to place more emphasis on the emotion or feeling being placed in the painting than focusing on the level of detail or realism most commonly seen or expected.” I stared at the painting “To one without even understanding the background detail or historical context you can still feel the sense of the scream… the unspoken cry that cannot be heard. Maybe it appeals to the adventures more because some of us may recognize the painting… or we understand the unspoken scream.” Pallet chuckled as I looked back at her only to notice the notepad she had “So I take it your were an art history major or a curator back from where you are from?” I couldn’t help but chuckle as I shook my head “Oh no… I just happened to take a course in art history with a very enthusiastic teacher.” I glanced at some of the other paintings “In fact I’m sure a real art major would be chewing my out as I probably got a few details wronged or over simplified a lot of details.” The mare chuckled as she smiled for a moment “Jewels is great with a paintbrush… but not that skilled when it comes to history. She can paint the paintings and remember the painters as she primarily works in restorations… but the history or meaning of the paintings is sometimes lost on her.” I rubbed the back of my head “What was she doing before she was a restoration artist?” Pallet took a deep breath and sighed “She was one of the ponies caught up in the Everfree incident. She was sent on parole to help out a town… yet her reputation was shot. The incident combined with the old tales of three sirens really didn’t make life easy for her. I walked by her place one day and saw the paintings outside and I just had to know who painted them or what the meaning behind the paintings was.” She smiled as she stared back at Jewels who was currently trying to carry her bag of art supplies as Stardust was trying to help her out. It was surprising that I was running into another one of the humans from the Everfree Castle as most of them were scattered around Equestria either trying to pay their debt to society… or placed in jail if they haven’t gone missing. Pallet shook her head “She was of some use to the local guard, but I managed to convince Celestia to let me be in charge of her watching over her. Jewels has helped restore some old pieces of Equestria’s art… as she truly enjoys working with a canvas.” I kept my mouth shut as I realized part of Jewel’s problem. She loved art… and some of the memories that she had lost where about the subject that she loved. I looked back at the various paintings as I could only imagine how easy it would have been to simply claim the work as her own. Pallet hung her head “What about some of these other paintings… or the history behind them?” I shook my head “I can try looking for a few art majors that might be able to…” I stared at one of the paintings as I honestly didn’t expect to see a classical piece of Japanese art mixed in a collection of European art. The picture itself was common enough that you could probably make a stamp of it, but the meaning behind it I knew I was going to butcher as Pallet brought the painting to me. I stared at it as I felt like I was taking a history exam “That’s more of an eastern culture painting… as…” I felt my tongue getting tied up as I remembered Mr. Smith using this painting on his dam final exam. Oh the sweet joy of remembering a flashback of a test that roughly made up twenty five percent of your grade. I cleared my throat “The Great Wave off Kana-waga… kana-gauga…Kanagawa! The painting is Ukiyo-e genre… A type of wood block prints…” “Wood block prints?” Pallet asked in confusion. I took a deep breath “During the seventeenth century to the technique of printing from blocks of wood was used to help illustrate poems and romances. The rise of the style of technique was primarily used by lower castes of society like artists, merchants, and ronin.” I took another deep breath “These were used to help develop their art and literature. While I may not be able to give the full significance or detail of the meaning besides a giant wave rising out of the ocean and nearly capsizing or drowning the fishermen aboard the ships I might be able to find someone who can help with eastern art.” Pallet glanced at the painting and then at me “And how exactly were the wood blocks used?” I shrugged “You get a block of wood and carve the image. While certain regions only had a limited amount of ink, paint, or colors one could simply carve the image they desired using different layers of thickness or depth onto the wooden block to help out the level or layer of ink they wanted on the painting.” I rubbed the back of my head “It wasn’t until near the beginning of the twentieth century that the creation of artificial dyes had become more common allowing for a larger group of artists and painters to have a wider selection of colors so some of the paintings may emphasis of certain degrees of colors due to the limited color palette they had available.” Pallet couldn’t help but smirk “Why didn’t you simply have unicorns change the color of the paint to allow for a wider mixture of colors?” I rolled my eyes “Because not everyone has access to unicorn magic. Some of these paintings come from different cultures, societies, along with different ways of life. What about you? Do you have a reliable method to create a larger variety of colors?” Pallet scratched the back of her head “To varying degrees. While magic can help there sometimes falls into the issue of reliable magic as Transfiguration can change one object into another… the issue becomes keeping the object that has changed as one pony can be painting with a wide array of paints only to have them revert back to normal leaving a canvas smeared with dirt and leaves.” I flinched as I could only imagine how frustrating that could be. Pallet took a deep breath “And then of course comes the issue of magic over talent. If a unicorn can simply 'magic' a painting up then was it really talent or was it a spell that any unicorn could cast if they knew the spell?” I nodded my head as it sounded like the issue with cameras had on the art industry. Why do realistic drawings of scenery or people when a click of the camera would do the same job in seconds? The unicorn chuckled “So paintings made that have had less magic used in it's creation are viewed as more valuable. While certain brands of paint or colors can be hard to obtain in certain regions… this is Canterlot and Jewels has made a good name for herself…” She frowned as I looked at the paintings as I started seeing a similar trend. There were plenty of other classical paintings… but the ones involving humans were lacking or they were like The Scream as they were vaguely human to being with. There was no Mona Lisa or Napoleon on his horse. I was surrounded by all of these paintings and there wasn't a single human in any of them. T kept feeling a nagging fuzzy feeling in the back of my head as I tried to ignore it. I mean it was probably nothing. Stardust came back to me “I think Jewels might need to talk to you.” Pallet smiled “I’ll probably come to your office sometime soon to put out a request for art majors.” I nodded my head as I followed Stardust into the room where Jewels was currently sitting in front of a canvas. I could see her tail twitch as she moved from side to side in a slight panic as if she had lost something important. Stardust cleared her throat “I brought him here like you asked.” Jewels stared at her for a moment “Could you give us some privacy?” She nodded her head “I’ll be right outside if you need anything.” The door was closed behind us as I stood in front of the nervous human turned siren as she kept looking at the canvas and a few other unfinished paintings… well they looked unfinished as they were some sort of modern art I think. Mostly vague blurs that my mind couldn’t make out. Jewels glanced at me as she replied “My last painting was destroyed and I can’t figure out how to draw a new one… I mean I worked really hard trying to make it work and just when I got something close to it… somebody destroyed it.” I could see the tears in her eyes as she was really upset. I couldn’t imagine just what exactly she had been trying to draw, but I could see the loss of the painting hurt her far more than any damage it did to her reputation. “I can try and help… just describe what the painting looked like.” I carefully replied. Jewels shook her head “That’s just it… I can’t remember… none of us have… but you haven’t used the menu as you found it creepy. Just tell me someone… anyone…” I rubbed my head “What are you asking?” Jewels bit her lip “A human. Any human. It doesn’t have to be you… just any human you can think of.” I tried to figure out what exactly she was trying to say “Did you try to draw yourself… from before this?” Jewels shook her head “No… maybe yes… I just… you try. Just draw a human. It doesn’t need hair or be really detailed just draw one.” I bit my lip and shrugged as she dragged my over to a table with a sheet of paper and a quill. If drawing a vague cartoon human would help her out then I might as well. I started drawing a circle for the head only for a few seconds had passed I heard her to grunt as I had accidentally drew a pony. I shook my head as it was natural. I mean I was stuck seeing countless MLP faces that I might have… I coughed as some of the feathery bits of the quill got stuck in my mouth as it ended up messing up the drawing. If I was a unicorn I wouldn’t have had to write with my mouth. Jewels started to pace as I looked back at the piece of paper as it shouldn’t be that hard. I mean all I had to do was draw a face… some arms and legs… “Why do you want me to draw a person again?” The siren grunted in frustration “Look most of us have a hard time remembering what we looked like… but we remember the simple stuff. Hands… feet… arms… but can you just draw a hand?” I went back to the sheet of paper as she placed a hoof on it “Not a diamond dog paw or a griffin talon… but hands.” I glanced at the vague blurry pictures that she had discarded as none of the details were right. The faces seemed to always end up blurred… the fingers… the hands were constantly scratched out. The canvas she had been working on had dozens of books nearby them as there seemed to be way too much detail on… “What is that?” I asked out loud Jewels stared at the canvas filled with various hands from various races “It’s a collection of hands.” “Why did you make a collection of hands?” I asked in confusion. She stared at me “Can you even remember what a human hand looks like?” I looked back at the painting as I shook my head. It had to be all the abstract paintings nearby that was messing with my head. I mean I spent a bit of time looking at recreations of earth art only to run into a couple of various charcoal sketches… “Can you remember what anyone looked likes?” Jewels asked with a slight hint of fear. “Not if you forgot or there is a hole in your memory… but what they actually looked like. What a human looked like.” I looked back at the sheet of paper as I tried to think of someone… anyone… I mean it should be that hard. There was a group at the bar that made freaking anime toys and mechs... I tried to remember any of them as various robot like mechs came to mind instead of human shaped ones. I tried again as I tried to remember the various mechs and their designs “Look maybe I can…” I bit my lip as Celestia wouldn’t be able to help. Jewels was more upset with the fact the painting was lost than any damage to her reputation. Come to think of it from all the various mechs… was there a human like mech made? I mean I’ve seen Mechwarrior ones and some of the sci-fi ones with cannons for arms, but… I tried to remember my mom’s face as I could still remember her. Her name was Rebecca. She was an average white American woman with brown hair and she also had a few freckles. I didn’t have any, but my dad thought they were cute… “Maxwell?” Jewels asked in concern “You’re pressing too hard against the table.” I looked back at the table as I shook my head “I’m sorry… it’s just…” I bit my lip as I looked at the crude blurs in fear… the level of detail and emphasis she had placed on the centaur hand and the various books on faces known to equestrian. I shook my head as I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t used the menu since I fell to Equestria. The thing frightened me as I personally held the unknown magical device as the object responsible for screwing everybody up in the Everfree Castle. I hadn’t lost any memories as everyone just said that you just knew. That it was like someone cut a hole out of your memory and left a big black spot from where it should be. We could curse out loud only to have something bad quickly happen to us after we did it, but that didn’t stop some people from trying to find ways around it. I shook my head as surely someone should have said something about it… I mean it… I tried to remember the details as I wrote them down and looked at the list. I could write down the details… the color of her hair, the freckles, gender, the color of her eyes and a dozen other various details that told me this was exactly what my mother looked like… but it was a police description. I could remember her… I could remember the various races, genders, and details of humanity and yet… I glanced at the paper as I tried to think about a standard face. A face had a nose, a pair of eyes and ears… a mouth… I could name the details of the face and yet I couldn’t figure out how to draw it. I knew what a human looked like… yet… I glanced at Jewels with a slight hint of fear “Surely you’ve told someone else or… someone must have…” She shook her head “I mean I’ve been trying to… but… things just… sort of always came up. Some of the others were just quiet as they didn’t believe me… or they didn’t see a point in drawing something that Equestrians wouldn’t understand.” She looked at me as I saw her shivering “The painting was only out for one day and it didn’t get a lot of attention… I just put it up because… I felt like I was missing something and…. Now it’s gone. Pallet hadn’t thought much about it as she didn’t give it a lot of attention before it was left as a burning pile of ashes.” I shook my head “What about the guards? Did they see who it was or…” The former human shook her head as she started to cry “They spotted the disaster when they were notified someone was trying to steal the painting. When they arrived the culprit had already escaped leaving a burnt pile of ashes as the flames threatened to consume the rest of the building.” I took a deep breath as I tried to calm myself down “I have a few friends who work on making models… maybe one of them might be able to help?” Jewels shook her head “But if you can’t remember then how…” I placed a hoof over her mouth “You're stressed… worried… and looking through half a dozen books trying to figure out which collection of drawings is the set that makes you go insane. That’s the strategy of most Eldritch Cults.” I removed a hoof from her mouth and took a deep breath “You can’t remember the finer details… but try looking at it from a different aspect. We’ve been in Equestria for quite a while… we see a lot more faces of different species… maybe looking at a couple of earth culture centric things might help you out.” She slowly started to calm down “I know it’s not much, but think about it. You’ve spent a lot of time trying to recreate earth paintings. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to help others out… maybe we just need someone spends more times making old anime mech models to help clear up some of the details and give our brains a reminder.” She nodded her head “You think they’ll help me?” I shrugged “Well I own the tavern they like visiting and I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt for you to get some fresh air instead of staring at a blank canvas all day.” She looked a little bit flustered as she replied “No I mean…” I shook my head “We’ve all made mistakes. The important thing is that we learn from them instead of pretending that we didn't do anything wrong.” She nodded her head as she replied “Thanks…” Both of us walked out of the room as Pallet seemed more happy about Jewels getting over her moment of depression than any of the notes I had given her about the paintings. I couldn’t help but smile as the former human just needed a good friend to help set her back on the right track. I also made sure to stuff the sheet of paper that had my failures at drawing a human into my saddle bag with a message “Can anyone draw a human?” It seemed silly… but the question was starting to gnaw at the back of my mind. I could easily despite my own mother… but for some reason it wasn’t the same. I had the description and details for it… just not the template. I just hope that I’m being paranoid.