Harissa's royal kitchen was in the best state of anywhere we'd been in Castle Pinery. Empty were the redwood countertops around the edges of the room that sat on stacks of shelves and cupboards, and sparkling was the pinewood island in the center of the room that sat over the drawers and pantries. The floors were spotless, too, if a bit sticky.
There were no pots and pans out of place (or out at all), no food scraps had been left lying around, and there wasn't a single lingering smell of leftovers—rotting or otherwise. The only objects in the room that you could move with bare hooves were the two hard-looking chairs on the room's left side of the room, sitting perfectly aligned, as far away from the shreds of light coming in from the room's only window.
The king explained that when they found Harissa’s body, he took her up to Mt. Foreverest and, in an effort to curb her oncoming panic attack, told the queen to clean the kitchen to keep herself busy. That explained the emptiness, and the faint aroma of cleaning supplies.
The mares took to the chairs. The queen sat with her side against the wall, turned away from the rest of us, clutching the shoulders of her gown with either hoof. Minerva plopped herself in the other chair, slinging her scabbard off of her shoulders and letting it thunk onto the floor. She threw her eyes back and forth between Terrain and me, like we were about to do something wrong.
Terrain waltzed towards the island in the center of the room and sniffed the countertop, either not noticing or not caring that the King and I were watching his every move.
"She was, um... She was here," the king said, pointing underneath the island. "She was…"
"Beg pardon, Your Majesty," Terrain interrupted, "but if it isn't too much trouble… I'd like to hear from the one who discovered her."
The queen gasped slightly, and puller her shoulders further in.
"I don't think that's necessary," her husband said. "The first thing she did was call for me."
"It's fine," the queen managed. "If it will help…" She pushed herself out of the chair, crept up to the island and used it for support. "My husband and I were at the table. She… seemed to be taking a long time, so I came to check on her… and I found her here. She was s-so… still. Sh-she could have just been asleep, if not… for her eyes… Open wide, s-staring straight ahead… as if she…"
"Your Majesty," Terrain stopped her. "Those aren't details you have to revisit. Could you tell what happened to her?"
"N-No… Not at all. No… wounds… or blood, or… anything."
King Pinery weighed in, "It must have been a spell of some kind."
Terrain raised his hoof just like the king had to silence us earlier, and it had the same effect on His Highness himself. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have Terrain's confidence.
His investigation continued. "Anything out of the ordinary? What about the meal?"
"It was all ready…" Nevergreen tapped the top of the bare island. "The food and drinks were lined up and everything…"
"What did you do with them?"
The king interjected, "It couldn't have been the food. Harissa was on strict orders to never taste test anything."
"It's alright," Nevergreen said. "If you must know, Terrain… I threw it out. It would have gone out for compost the next day."
"Drinks too?"
"Er… No." The queen tread lightly over to the window, shut tight with a small, metal lever arm holding the two panels together. She barely lifted her hoof to gesture to it. "…I tossed them out here."
Terrain approached the window and wasted no time flicking the arm up and throwing the panels open. He put his forehooves on the sill and peered out. From behind, all I could see was grey sky and pine trees, extending outwards forever. He looked up, left and right, down, and did a double take on the last one.
"…Uh-huh," he murmured.
The king followed and tried to peer over Terrain's shoulder. "Have you found something?"
Terrain nodded. "Sure did. Bad news, Your Majesty. Harissa disobeyed orders."
"What?" The king pushed Terrain out of the way. He scanned the same directions, and stopped cold on the 'down' part. "What in the world…?"
The queen took a careful step towards them. "What… What have you found?"
They didn't answer her, but they stepped aside to give her a turn at the window. She only had to look for two seconds before her hindlegs buckled.
"Dear…? Dear!" The king and the lieutenant caught her before she collapsed. Her husband carried her over to the wall next to the window and sat down with her, wrapping her with his wing and his cape. "This is too much. I'll get you to bed."
The queen pulled the velvet closer and shook her head. "No… I—… I'll stay. If it will help, I will stay."
My curiosity got the best of me. I snuck over to the window to get my own look, and looked straight down. I had to stop my stomach from turning at the sight of the three-storey drop. Turns out the fear of heights that Castle Road gave me had stuck.
The forest did not meet with the castle directly. There was a good twenty yards of empty space between the walls and the trunks, as if the trees didn't want to get too close. Filling the gap was a patch of grass—green and vibrant as an Equestrian field, save for a red stain patterned into the grass directly beneath the window. Well, I say it was red, but part of it—just about a third, actually—was painted jet black, and totally wilted. I stared at the ruined patch, and my eyes burned.
Maybe the trees were smart to keep their distance.
Nevergreen held herself closer, shaking like a bluebird in a blizzard despite the warmth of the cape. "Is that… what happened to her insides…?"
"Not a nice way to go," Terrain said.
A harsh breeze stormed through the space between the castle and the trees. The black patch of grass lost several shreds of itself to the wind, like a disintegrating feather.
I stuck my nose further out. "Um. Is the black part...? I mean, is it kinda pointing—?"
"Shhh-sh-sh-shhhhh…" Terrain shushed. "I'm getting to that."
He started a saunter around the kitchen, opening cabinets and cupboards as he went. He ignored the contents of the first three cupboards before restarting his inquiry. "So, burning question, where was the commander when all this was going on?"
The king's ears flicked. "He wasn't here yet."
Terrain froze reaching for another cupboard. "He arrived after dinner was made? Why was he so late? There you are…" He hoisted out a large jug plugged with a cork, and placed it on the island.
The king looked at his wife and then back to Terrain. "…I never got the chance to ask him. Nevergreen told him she'd been kidnapped. Taken out the window. So he ran out of the castle, saying he was going to find her. Isn't that right?"
The queen nodded slightly.
"What a nice guy," Terrain mumbled. "So how long before he gave up?"
The royal couple watched Terrain, and the king answered his question. "I'm not sure... Wait." He lifted his head and glowered at Terrain. He made to scramble to his hooves, before remembering he was supporting his queen. "No!" he shouted, stopping Terrain as he reached into another cupboard. "Do not for a second think that he is involved in this! I've known him since we were foals! And I won't have… you…"
He trailed off when he noticed everypony staring at him.
Terrain looked at the patriarch quizzically. "Did you say you weren't sure?"
"…What?" the king replied.
"Did 'Commander Dependable' not report back to you after he couldn't find her?"
The queen lifted her eyes and stared into the distance, shaking her head slowly.
The king stamped his hoof. "It wasn't him. And it wasn't Prika, either. Please focus on finding the real culprit here, Lieutenant."
"…Alrighty, then." Terrain reached back into the cupboard he was so rudely interrupted from searching, and pulled out a set of three wooden cups. He set them down next to the jug, uncorked it, and started doling out crystalline water evenly into each cup. "Foghorn," he said mid-pour.
"Ah… yes, Ter—… Lieutenant?"
"Tell Their Majesties what you were about to tell me."
I gave the grass one more glance to make sure I remembered it right. "Um… The black part is pointing out to the left… Kinda? I mean, I could be imagining it, but—"
"For this next trick!" Terrain interrupted, lining up his filled cups in a row. He lowered his head and reached a hoof over to the queen, who shrank back. "I'll need a volunteer."
Queen Nevergreen hesitated, but eventually nodded to her husband and obliged. She stood slowly and shakily—with the king supporting her every step—and let Terrain guide her to the cups.
"Let's say," Terrain continued, waltzing over to the chair next to Minerva and plopping down. He crossed both pairs of his legs to mimic her. "For example, that you had to throw three glasses of water through a window. All hypothetical, of course…"
He noticed Minerva bobbing one of her hindlegs over the other, so he started to do the same. She stopped.
"…How would you do it, Your Majesty? How would you expel the water?"
The queen looked to her husband, who could only shake his head and shrug. Her dark blue magic enveloped the three glasses, and she carried them over to the window, finding the strength to walk without an aide.
She lined the cups in a row, looked back at all of us one last time, and then chucked the liquid out the window. The middle cup went straight out, while the other two angled slightly away from center.
Terrain shot out of his chair and rushed her, snatching the left cup out of her magic and holding it up high. She stuttered and stepped back. Her husband approached him, likely to ask what on earth he was doing, but again, Terrain stopped him with a raised hoof.
"I know you were probably very shocked during all of this," he spoke to the queen. "And with shock comes adrenaline, and with adrenaline comes a very good memory."
"…A-and?"
"Whose glass… was on the left?"
The queen swallowed. She and Terrain focused their intense, shrouded eyes on the empty cup, as the latter pushed it closer to the former. Nevergreen pursed her lips and shook her head.
Terrain eased up. "Here's a hint… it was yours."
Nevergreen didn't react at first. But after a quiver in her lip and a wetting in her eyes, she started to crumple like paper. "That's..."
"That's preposterous!" the king shouted, rushing to the weak mare's side and practically wrenching her away from Terrain's deduction. "It must have been my glass! Why would anyone go after my Nevergreen?"
"He's right," the Queen realized. Her eyes overflowed. "It was mine, I remember... Oh, Harissa..."
Terrain merely shrugged his shoulders. He carried the offending cup back to the island as the king and queen sank into a royal pile on the floor. He passed the jug and emptied the rest of the water into his cup as Nevergreen sunk her head into her husband’s mane and sobbed.
Terrain took a swig of water and sat back down next to Minerva, who only stopped glowering at him when he reached the chair next to her. I trotted over to them, partly to stay in their vicinity, and partly to get away from the sadness by the window.
Terrain lifted the cup to Minerva. "Hmm?"
She didn't respond.
"You’re a quiet one today. I guess this is heavy stuff, isn’t it?"
"Not to you, clearly," Minerva commented.
Terrain wriggled around in his armor and sighed. "I saw worse when I was a kid."
"…Basically tortured that poor girl."
"I'm getting information. If you cared, why not stop me?"
"…You're getting information." Minerva got up from her seat and put her sword back on. She tightened the straps as far as they could go, and then tightened them further. "We done here?"
"For now, yes," Terrain replied.
My friends looked at me.
"...I'm fine, yeah. Just a little... in shock still..."
"Then let's go," Minerva declared. "The three of us need to have a little chat. Somewhere where there's clearer air."
Before we could slip out, the king noticed us. He set his wife down next to the wall and cantered over to us.
"I want to apologize for all of this," he said, blinking fast. "I know this is not a pleasant development."
Minerva recoiled. "This isn't a development."
"I… I beg your pardon?"
Minerva idly ground her hoof into the floor. "You knew this from day one. You knew this when you asked Celestia to send help, so nothing new's happened. I mean… with all due respect, or whatever." She tried to leave, but the king stepped in front of her, eyes widening and lips pressed together. Then, without warning, he bowed to the three of us. He actually bowed.
"I am terribly sorry. I should have been more up front with this," he admitted.
"It's fine," Minerva said, sounding entirely unconvincing. "I just wish these two were wearing better armor."
I almost choked on the air. "Something's wrong with our armor?" I looked down. Not a thread or piece of leather out of place. Just a syrup stain or three.
The king regained his composure and stood up tall. "If that is your only concern, you may borrow some of ours. I promise it's not made of wood."
Minerva crinkled her nose. "That’s really nice and all? Buuuuut…"
"Too obvious," Terrain said. "Don't want the killer to know he should be wary of us."
"...Yeah, what he said."
The king somehow bowed even lower. "I thank you graciously for your help. If you find anything—anything at all—do not act on it. Come talk to us first."
"Roger, roger," Minerva said. "We'll keep an eye out."
Minerva and Terrain flanked the king on either side and disappeared behind him. I tried to follow, but had trouble picking a side. The king tried to get out of the way, but we kept moving in the same direction.
"S-sorry," I murmured when we finally got it right. I sprinted out after my friends, already a whole room away. "Guys? …What's… What's wrong with our armor?"
****
Captain Minerva sat against the railing next to the stairs outside Castle Pinery's throne room—her long tail and braided mane scattered inside the gaps between the posts behind her. She chewed on one of her own feathers—still attached to her wing.
"Are you… okay?" Terrain asked.
"No, Terry. I’m not freaking okay."
"Why not? We have our mystery. There's a bad guy to catch. Isn't this what you wanted?"
Minerva spat out her wing. "NO! This isn't the same thing anymore, and DON'T act like it is!" She started idly flicking her sword in and out of her sheath. "Kidnappings are easy, Terry. Half the time they're just idiots who don't have a clue what they're doing, just trying to get some shitty ransom with empty threats. This? This is somepony ready to kill to get their way. And we don’t even know anything about who they are!"
"I wouldn't say we don't know anything," Terrain responded, placing his hoof on her sword so she would stop fidgeting.
Minerva paid her lieutenant a growing smirk and a raising eyebrow. "Do you know something…?"
Terrain smirked right back. "I wouldn’t say that either."
Minerva stood up. "Do you know everything?"
"I'd say I'm at 95%."
"...Does that last 5% have an E.T.A.?"
"Erm...6 o'clock."
"...That soon?"
"No, Minnie, as in your six o'clock."
"Why the shit would our clocks be diff—?"
Terrain grabbed the captain by the half-sun on her shoulder and spun her around.
"Oh. That six o'clock."
Ascending the stairs to the throne room was our scarred, sneering, gracious host. He had put on some clothes—a set of shiny silver armor, donned with pine trees all around the collar. And stuffed inside that collar was a roll of papers that looked awfully familiar.
"You know what I like about you three?" the Commander buzzed as he approached. "You come with instructions." He pulled the papers out of his collar with the tip of his wilting wing and unfurled them in front of us. Minerva joined Charles in a guttural growl.
TRG-EFK
INCREASED SECURITY IN PINERY: DOSSIER
OUR MISSION NUMBER: 16-7648
"You went through our shit?!" Minerva barked. Charles barked right back.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Fellsaw responded. He shook the dossier, allowing all the papers to fall out but one. The contact list, with his portrait painted right in the center. "Did you want to talk to me about privacy?"
Fellsaw let go of the last page. He made a small tsst noise, and before it could hit the ground, Charles speared it with his emancipated tooth and began tearing it to bits. When he was finished, he moved on to the other pages.
Fellsaw clapped his hooves. "So! Did you have a nice little talk with Mr. and Mrs. Pinery? What did they say…?"
"Just formalities," Terrain lied. "Wanted to make sure we were settling in okay. Now if you'd excuse us… we have some pointless halls to patrol."
Minerva tried to walk down the stairs on the commander's right (there was a hellbeast on his left), but before she got to the first stair, the commander thrust his scarred foreleg into it, splitting the plank in half.
"GOOD NEWS!" he boomed. "I've had a change of heart. Your little manual tells me that one of you is quite the accomplished fighter."
Minerva stepped back, unable to hide the twinkle of pride in her eye. "That depends who's asking."
"…I didn't... ask anything, but if you are so talented, then perhaps my guards can learn something from having you attend this morning's training drills. Whaddya say, Mrs. the Brave?"
This was another time when I thought the answer was obvious. Especially for anyone who knew who Minerva was. A chance for her to get into a fight, while simultaneously teaching others how to do it properly?
Sign her up.
But she didn't react like herself this time. Instead, she backed a single step towards Terrain and I, so that we were all standing in a line.
"Can these two come?" she asked.
The commander laughed and pointed at me. "Well, he can't! He's unequipped!"
I fought back the shock that went through my body, and I tried not to break our line. It was a good line.
"Then I'm not teaching your kids shit," Minerva declared.
The commander smiled so hard his front teeth appeared. "Why?"
"Because I'm not comfortable with it."
"Oh, is that right? I didn’t read the part in your little manual that said you could wussyhoof around things you found uncomfortable."
"That's the thing about me," Minerva said, stepping out of the line and getting snout-to-snout with the commander. "I don't always follow my instructions."
"Indeed. You must be defective."
Terrain squeezed his foreleg in between the two pegasi and pushed them apart. "Okay, let's just… take a step back here. Training sounds like fun, right Captain?"
Minerva sucked on her teeth. "A little."
Terrain patted her on the back. "Then let's do that. We're all friends here, nopony needs to… commit assault."
"I'm glad to hear it," the commander claimed. "But I'm still not taking He Who Has No Weapon."
My head dropped.
"You got something else he could do?" Terrain asked.
My head rose.
"Not overly. What are his skills?"
That was a very interesting question. I listened carefully to my friends to hear what they would say. That was, until I realized everypony was looking at me.
"Oh, uh…Skills, right." There had to be something. I knew I was kind of good at a few things, but I didn't know anything I would call a skill. "Uhhhh—"
The commander rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't strain yourself… How does rooftop lookout duty sound? You can even see the courtyard from up there, where the rest of us will be doing something of value."
"Sure!" I said. That sounded like it was my speed. "But, um… just one question?"
Terrain and Minerva had now both gotten a chance to get up close and personal with Commander Fellsaw. And for some reason, just by saying I had something to ask, he decided it was my turn. I held my breath as he pressed his nose against mine. I couldn't say what he smelled like, but whatever it was, it was making my eyes water.
"Go on, boy… What would you like to know?"
"Uhp…Uh… What will I be… looking out for?"
"…Invaders."
He withdrew from my personal space, but it was ten more seconds before I started breathing again.
"Spectacular," he said. "We all know our place. See you two in the courtyard."
With that, he yanked Charles's chain, and the commander and his dog stomped down the stairs, shaking the floor underneath us with every step. They disappeared around a corner, and I found room to breathe again.
Terrain came over to me and rubbed the back of my neck. "Hey, at least he didn't spit in your face."
His words kind of did.
"Terrain," Minerva blurted, pointed like a bloodhound in the direction the commander had gone.
"Yes, Ma'am?"
"Was it him?"
"No spoilers... Not until I'm at 100%."
"And what do you need to get there?"
Terrain tapped a hoof against his chin. "By pissing off the Commander as much as we possibly can."
Minerva sneered and licked her teeth. "Oh, I think can do that."
"Don't be so modest; you're a natural."
Minerva spun towards me and I flinched. She put her hooves on my shoulders. "Fog?"
"...Uh, yeah?"
"The only reason I agreed to that is because you'll be in earshot. Keep your head down and holler if you need us, got it?"
I saluted "Of course!"
"Good. Terrain?"
"Yes, Ma'am?"
"We've got dukes to put up."
"Hot diggity."
As the two went the way of the commander, I was left alone again. It was at this point that I noticed it was happening an awful lot. I wondered if it was my fault. Like maybe I wasn't enough of a go-getter to immediately know where I was going when my friends weren't around. What could I say? Sometimes I just needed a kick in the rump.
I would get one, thankfully, when the throne room doors clattered around and swung open at a leisurely pace. But not so leisurely that I could avoid getting bumped.
"Ah!" I gasped as I swiveled away from the doors—glowing a dark blue.
"Ah!" the queen responded in kind, releasing them. She clutched the front of her dress close to her and stared at me like I had just jumped in front of her in an alley.
I saluted, then remembered that royalty was for bowing, not saluting. "…Hi, I mean… Good evening, Your Majesty."
It was barely 10 A.M.
"…It's fate," she said back.
"What's fate?"
Queen Nevergreen pulled the collar out from her neck, and something glowed inside her dress. I looked away, not entirely sure what was going on.
She pulled out a small silver key from her dress, tied around her neck by a loose-fitting string. She pulled the string over her head, unraveling her ensnaring blonde hair along the way, and held the tiny key between us with her magic.
"Here," she said, placing the key around my neck. "I wasn't going to give you this, but… I think our meeting here is fated."
I shrunk my neck into my body as she tucked the string under my armor. "What's this for?" I asked.
"It's the master dungeon key. It will open the main door and everything else inside."
I realized exactly what she was doing. "You want me to release Prika."
Nevergreen blinked. "Er… No. That might not be a good idea. Not yet, anyways."
I realized nothing. "Then…?"
"The lockers are in the dungeon," she explained. "One is assigned to each member of the Pinery Guard. The largest one on the left… is Fellsaw's. I don’t know what you will find… in any of those lockers, but please, have a look."
I gulped. That sounded like a huge task. Not in terms of time taken, but in terms of weight. "Maybe I should… give this to my superiors?" I suggested with a weak smile.
The Queen paid me a worried frown and tucked the key behind my chevrons. "I think you'll be fine… You seem very light on your hooves."
It was a nice thing to say, but I was still going to give the key to Terrain or Minerva anyways. Whether or not I could do it aside, it was way too much responsibility for my ranking.
"Please don't speak of this to my husband," Nevergreen continued. "He wouldn't condone such a… betrayal of privacy."
"That's okay. I don't think the commander respects our privacy either."
"Do it discreetly. When you know he won't catch you. Can you do this for me? Please?"
I bowed to the mare. "Of course, Your Majesty," I said, trying my very best to ignore the fact that the string was pulling down the skin on the back of my neck, and the key was digging into my sternum.
Was my armor always so tight-fitting?