//------------------------------// // Twilight: Fair Wind // Story: Game of Worlds // by DualThrone //------------------------------// The entire time she’d been spending with Nightmare, the rest of the girls had been searching the city of Scarabi for the errant pink party pony. Normally, following the happy chaos that radiated from Pinkie like a strobe light was fairly simple but Scarabi was at least as immense a city as Manehattan sans the towering buildings. On top of that, it was a city that seemed to overflow with just the kinds of places that Pinkie would go: shops with party favors, bakeries, confectioners, small parks nestled into intersections with playgrounds, and bright colorful decorations at every square, defiantly cheerful against the glossy black of the stone the city had been built from. The search was delayed for a short time when she ran into a wall of changelings all gathered around a central point that Twilight was sure must be Pinkie. “What’s going on?” She asked one of the nearest chitinous ponies. “Cookies,” the changeling replied without looking at her. “...cookies?” “Yes.” The changeling smiled. “Warm, soft, perfect ratio of chocolate to cookie, and baked with love.” “Pink pony with darker pink mane, three-balloon cutie mark?” The changeling finally looked at her, looking a little confused. “Yellow with pink and blue mane, sunburst cutie mark.” Twilight blinked. “Pony?” “I think so.” She looked towards the center of the gathering. “I’ve never met a changeling that can bake love into cookies, and certainly none that would call themselves ‘the cookie goddess.’” “The cookie goddess.” “I know, right?” The changeling shrugged. “Honestly, who cares if she’s a little addled? She seems to have an unlimited supply of cookies and they’re amazing, so I’m fine with a certain amount of delusion. Also, the kimono and little parasol are silly and cute, and it’s worth sticking around to see what happens next.” Twilight considered this. “Understandable. Is there a quick way around the gathering? I’m looking for my friend, the pony I described.” “Certainly. Just take the left street on this corner, go down three blocks, and cut back a block and you should be back on the path you were traveling.” Twilight smiled at her. “Thank you.” “Always glad to help a princess, Your Majesty,” she said as she turned her attention back to the gathering and Twilight backtracked to follow her directions around the mass and continue on with her search. She caught up with her sister and friends about the same time that they discovered that Pinkie had bounced into an apothecary shop, one that seemed to be more full of fragrant enervating smoke than air. After a minute or two of trying to steel themselves to enter the smoky building, Twilight just built a bubble around herself to keep normal air in and ducked inside. The interior seemed to have no lights at all, and no fixtures to provide any, but what it did have and in great abundance was jars. They filled the shelves, occupied all the counters, and were even hanging in well-secured bundles from the ceiling, each labeled in tiny and very precise-looking script of no less than a dozen lines. The only exception to the superabundance of glass jars was a large metal cylinder with slits cut into its upper half billowing smoke in a lazy stream and it was under the cylinder that Twilight found Pinkie, standing placidly and swaying gently, shifting her weight from one hoof to the other in what appeared to be a counterclockwise pattern with her straight mane moving gently in sync. “You don’t need the shield, Twilight,” Pinkamena said, her voice somehow even more calm and peaceful than it normally was when she was being the calm side of Laughter. “It’s not smoke, it’s more like vapor. Extremely soothing, like all the scents and luxuries at the spa Rarity likes.” Twilight looked warily at her. “Are you sure?” “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She let the bubble blink out and the smoke rushed in around her to fill the pristine space. It felt pleasantly cool against her coat and like Pinkamena had said, it was vaporous instead of smoky and breathing it felt no different than breathing ordinary air. It felt soothing and pleasant, and Twilight found herself smiling as she scooted in closer to stand nearer to the source. “I wonder what kind of magic it is,” she said. “Magitechnical.” The vapor and darkness inside the shop had effectively masked the approach of the changeling until he was virtually right next to Twilight, and she got the impression of an extremely unkempt mane done into all kinds of braids and knotwork before he stopped entirely and there was no more movement for her eye to catch. “A combination of thaturmargy and alchemy, the traditional practice of herbalism, and the sciences of botany and organic chemistry. Vaporized antidepressants diluted nearly to the point of placebo and then alchemically blended with certain reagents to provide an extremely mild and gradual adjustment of brain chemistry to enhance healthy mood and emotional state.” Twilight turned from the dispenser and lit her horn, giving the disheveled-looking changeling a level look. “And you just have a dispenser running constantly and filling your shop with vaporized medicine?” “That is where the thaturmagy comes in. The medical essentia is blended according to the degree of positive and negative emotional radiance and dispersed as required.” He smiled placidly at her look. “The reagents adjust mood by harmless associative olfactory and tactile methods most of the time and that, not the medical essentia, is what the vapor is unless the dispenser encounters an imbalance that needs treatment. One of my proudest achievements, which is why I keep it out in the shop constantly running.” “Cool,” Pinkie said. “It’d look way cooler with some spotlights or something, though.” “Some of the rarer and expensive ingredients I work with are denatured by sunlight,” he said. “Although there’s no indication that any other kind of light would have the same effect, better safe than sorry. I use a sight aid so I can work comfortably without turning the lights on.” “Interesting.” Twilight looked to Pinkie. “We’re ready to go, Pinkie. Nice to meet you, Mister…?” “Green Leaf, and it’s a pleasure to meet yourself and Miss Pie. If you’ll wait, however, I have some pharmaceutical supplies prepared for you.” Twilight blinked. “You knew we were coming?” “Princess Lepinora instructed me to prepare all of my most advanced alchemical aids yesterday and have it packed in a reinforced carrying case by what I would assume is your departure time.” He disappeared through the vague outline of a doorway, only visible because it was blacker than darkness, then returned carrying a sturdy riveted lockbox by its handle between his jaws. “I would have had it delivered but since the Element of Laughter came through my door, I can give the aids to you directly.” Twilight looked at the case. “May I ask what aids?” “Everything is clearly labeled and instructions as to usage and dosage are included.” He used his hoof to operate the latch and pulled it open, revealing a half dozen rows of stoppered black vials with many colors of lids and with neatly-inscribed labels wrapped around them. “The standard array of regeneratives and coagulants, smelling salts, purgatives, broad-spectrum antitoxins, and a few doses of some highly specialized formulas, one of which is my own invention, the other a multidisciplinary creation called ‘alchemical suspended animation’ which will be out of clinical trials in another six months or so, but which I happened to work on and thus have samples of.” “In Equestria?” “Trotsford, specifically.” Twilight smiled a little as she latched the box and took it into her magic. “How seriously do the changelings take the exile? You’re the second one I’ve met who casually mentions living and working in Equestria.” “Quite simply, we maintain the fiction of compliance while viewing the exile in the way that we choose: as a bone thrown to fearful ponies that Celestia meant from the start to be so porous as to barely exist at all. Armed with this highly convenient interpretation, we travel freely and often to Equestria while playing at upholding the Exile.” His placid expression become mildly sad as he started towards the door flanked by the two of them. “Although it’s difficult to ignore the fact that not only did Princess Celestia wish some of her little ponies cast out of the beautiful and abundant lands of their ancestors, she has never once sought to see if they still live. Though we have much hope for our queen’s plans, we still fear that either we will return to the embrace of the Dual Thrones and Queen Chrysalis will be just another servant, or that Celestia purposefully put us from her mind because she hoped never to see us again.” “Like I told all the changelings at the dinner last night, Mother won’t make Queen Chrysalis her servant,” Twilight said, pausing to let her eyes adjust as the darkness of Green Leaf’s shop gave way to the brilliant desert sun. “And I can’t imagine my mother wanting to forget you completely. She’s not like that.” “I know, I’ve seen her.” Green Leaf smiled. “The fear is completely without cause, I know. It’s just… we’re anxious. Being separated from other ponies is unnatural and painful; we were meant to mingle with the rest of you, being friends, family, lovers, colleagues, and fellow subjects of the Dual Thrones. There’s no way to get that back, but we can at least petition Celestia to let us go about openly in Equestria.” “You don’t think that coming back will make you fellow subjects of Princesses Celestia and Luna?” Pinkamena looked intently at him. “If you live in Equestria, won’t you be…?” “Immigrants.” He sighed. “Duchess de Luc acts the pompous windbag but understands to her core the true facts of the situation: the homeland of the changelings is the Barrens, and the capital city of the changelings is Scarabi. Learning to love Celestia again will be a challenge, at least as much of one as the other races learning to accept ponies that look the way we do, and she will forever be one of the warmly-regarded rulers of our former homeland instead of the royal that we bow to and serve.” “An’ what’s all this ‘bout Princess Celestia?” Applejack said, doffing her hat politely as Green Leaf emerged with them. “Howdy, by the way.” “Howdy,” he said, his voice instantly acquiring a faint echo of Applejack’s drawl. “Green Leaf, right pleasure ta meet ya Applejack. The conversation I was having with Princess Sparkle about her mother was…” “Something I’ll tell you girls about after we’re underway,” Twilight cut in. “It was nice to meet you, Mister Green Leaf, and we appreciate the medicines.” “It you intend to be formal enough to call me ‘mister’ it would be more appropriate to call me ‘doctor’.” He gave her a faint smirk before directing a bow to all four of them. “A pleasure to meet you as well Princess Sparkle, Princess Dawn, Miss Applejack, Miss Rarity, Miss Pinkamena. But I’m sure you need to be on your way. Make sure to read the labels carefully, especially with the pharmaceuticals sealed by violet and black lids.” The Red Mambo had been visibly refitted since they’d been picked up by it at the crash site in the desert. The booms had been brought in closer to the hull and the propellers now fully enclosed in cylinders with armor plates riveted to them. The cannons protruding from the firing ports had armored mantlets wrapped around them, closing up the space around them. The prow had a wicked-looking ram protruding half again the ship’s length and the previously wooden deck had been plated over with waffle patterns cut into them to make them very easy to walk on. “Is this the same ship we rode in on yesterday?” Dawn tapped at one of the armored railings with a hoof. “Because that was pretty bucking fast.” “Ally called for all hooves on deck the moment she arrived and the passengers left,” Maredusa said, turning a page in a book she was reading without turning to them. The gorgon had been waiting when they arrived, lounging on her own coils on the bow while the changeling crew milled around her without taking any apparent notice of her. “They declined invitations to the royal dinner to make sure the Red Mambo was outfitted to keep you all safe. So the royal family came out to them in person and sserved them dinner as thanks.” She looked over her shoulder at Twilight and Dawn. “A lesson for any royal: there is no more loyal and zealous subjects than those that know you care about them and will make sspontaneous gestures of kindness like serving you dinner with their own hooves as thanks for even the smallest sacrifice.” “I take it ‘Ally’ is the shipwright?” “And foundry master, and master blacksmith, and credentialed engineer with minor in metallurgy,” Maredusa said. “Sspent almost all of his life in Sstalliongrad with an earth pony wife where he used the name ‘Alyosha’ although his proper name is ‘Cartwright.’ She passed away and he came home, leaving two adult daughters at university whom he visits and iss visited by often.” “His wife didn’t pop out any bug daughters for him, huh?” Maredusa gave Dawn a disapproving look over her shoulder before returning to looking at her book. “Neither are changelings, no. Very disappointing to him personally but he got over it quickly and has a literal wall of his home filled with every picture of them that exists. Creepy, but also endearing.” “Do they know?” “Of course they do, the moment they were old enough to recognize the implications of allowing their changeling lineage to be known.” Maredusa turned a page. “That’ll be ending soon. It should have ended nine hundred years ago but Amaryss’ heir was not ready, and Celestia was not yet suffering profoundly enough to make her a kinder pony, a gentler pony, a pony that was better. Nor was the next heir, nor Celsstia ready, nor the next, nor the next, and sso on for all this time. But the year that Chidinida came into the fulness of her power, Celestia bore a foal and discovered the most powerful and profound love in existence, and all wass ready.” “Y’all about ta actually tell us ‘bout this plan o’ the queen’s that everyone’s been droppin’ hints about since we got picked up?” Maredusa didn’t answer for a moment, turning another page of her book with thoughtful slowness, before she closed it and unwound herself so she could face them fully, folding the middle of the coils in front of her so she could lean on them and support her chin on her hooves, her eyes now roughly at Applejack’s eye level. “Pomp and ceremony iss fun in due time but you’re right, Applejack: the time is now. Gather ‘round the sserpent, little ponies for your bedtime sstory.” “It’s the middle of the day.” “Don’t make me sstart thinking of how good you’d look in granite, Dawn.” But the gorgon’s eyes twinkled a little. “You understand the basic principle: Chidinida guise-locked as an alicorn filly, Honor Guard pose as her birth parents, other changelings pose as her foster parents that die tragically in a house fire, Celestia adopts the ssweet-natured little thing as her niece because court politics prevent her from making Cadence her adoptive daughter.” “I’d always wondered why Mother did that,” Twilight said. Maredusa shrugged. “Nobles don’t like getting their hooves sstepped on, and the only ruler they’d ever known adopting a convenient orphan alicorn filly as her heir would have caused chaos because passing a throne through a bloodline is always very dangerous.” “A monarchy veering uncontrollably between good monarchs, inept ones, and monstrous ones,” Twilight nodded. “Worse because as far as I know, alicorns are immortal so a monster could last for millennia.” “Greed, pompousness, and condescension aside, most nobles are educated enough to appreciate the lessons of history,” Maredusa shifted herself so she was once again lounging comfortably on her coils. “So Celestia adopted Chidinida as her niece Cadence and brought her into her court as the only family of the princess that any pony in Equestria knew of. Queen Chrysalis predicted all of this and built her plan on it, creating a chain of ancient and powerful tradition that would one day bind the Dual Thrones to the Hive Throne, and the House of the Sun and Moon to the House of Amaryss.” “So the Queen wanted to hitch her kid to another noble kid,” Dawn said. “And then pop the surprise on everyone after the deed was done.” “That was the initial intention: any noble would do and plans were made concerning each marriageable scion, including Blue Blood.” She looked to Twilight. “Your little ssurge changed that.” “How?” “It was obvious to the changelings’ sspies in the court that you were not just a noble, but a royal. They guessed wrong about your mother--your disposition, coloration, intellect, and other things led them to believe you were Luna’s--but you were a royal, which meant that your brother wass close enough to be seen as the son of one of the Ssisters. It was perfect on many levels, the most important of which wass that Shining Armor would not be a political husband to Chidinida, but the love of her life, and she of hiss.” “Political marriages are quite common in the nobility, Maredusa,” Rarity offered. “A political marriage would have been insufficient to the needs of Chrysalis’ plan,” Maredusa said. “The bond needed to be impervious, ssomething only possible with genuine love. Their union would have to be a political hoofball for a time; any fracture would be fatal to all that Chrysalis hoped. And when the dust ssettles from this latest conflict, the marriage will be done, lavish gifts will flow, Pinkamena will have to be rolled out of the throne room from eating a wedding cake whole…” “Naw, that’d take two wedding cakes.” “...two wedding cakes whole,” Maredusa amended without hesitation, “everyone will be crying from joy, and then Equestria will once again have the proper number of pony races.” She sighed wistfully. “I can once again quarry soapstone from the beaches near Baltimare and have materials appropriate to my talent. Maybe with ssome work from a certain fashion mare, I can model again.” “You were a model?” Rarity’s eyes brightened. “You actually lived in Equestria?” Dawn asked before Maredusa could answer the fashionista. The gorgon gave her a faintly offended look. “Of course I lived in Equestria,” she said. “Do not zebrass live there? Do not dragoness and griffons visit often? Are there not yaks, buffalo, hydras, manticores, and all other kinds of unimaginable things there? I fit right in, with hooves and a sslim equine carriage and exotic features of both body and sspeech. Ponies made statues of me and others of my kind. Painted paintings, and yes Miss Rarity, dressed me in exquisite things to advertise how flattering and alluring they were. Were it not for that empty-headed tail-lifter that allured me and then left me broken-hearted as sshe spread vicious and implausible lies, I would be there sstill.” “There were others of your kind?” “Likely sstill are.” Maredusa shrugged. “Being absurdly and irrationally ssolidary comes with the ssnake body and petrification. I’m ssomething of a freak, comfortable in crowds, cosmopolitan, quite proudly fixated on art. And I make sstone into art, not ponies.” “And that dear Mara Belle is a true mare of society.” “Yes, my daughter moves easily in those circles.” Maredusa smiled.  “I don’t know how it is managed and don’t care. She’s happy and well-loved, at least according to the changelings, sso the details ssimply do not matter.” “She has wonderfully delicate features,” Rarity smiled.  “I’m sure they make her so popular that high society has decided that mentioning the coils is… impolite.” Maredusa snorted. “I can almost believe that,” she said. “Now, if I may shift the subject sslightly, have any of you ever been among the dragons?” “We observed a migration of them with my assistant, Spike,” Twilight offered. “I don’t mean watching a few of their young bumble around on some yearly ritual, Princess Ssparkle,” Maredusa said. “I mean, have you ever been truly among them?” “I’ve…” “...studied some books and think you have a grasp on what’s going on,” Dawn finished. Twilight gave her a short glare, her cheeks warming as she looked sheepishly at Maredusa. “What my sister said.” “Then I will instruct you,” Maredusa said.  “I had to learn the hard way about their culture. It was only after I turned a few to sstone--don’t look at me like that, I reversed it after I’d made my point--that I learned: you are only as much of a persson among dragons as you are sstrong. The sstrongest are the most respected and treated politely; the weakest barely exist to dragons, are ssometimess barely acknowledged as dragons at all.” “Sorta explains how th’ bullies pushed Spike around.” “I assume this dragon assistant of yours is ssmall, intelligent, and polite?” Maredusa waited for a confirming nod.  “Then Lady Applejack is correct. However clever he is, and I imagine you’ve taught him well, he would be a non-person to dragons and thus perfectly acceptable to mistreat, even more so than if hiss personhood was respected.” “Well, he’s still sorta small,” Applejack said.  “Still, we ain’t that much bigger than ‘im. How’re we supposed ta get seen as people?” “Do as Thalia did: pick fights early and often.  After sshe put hoof to head a few times, she gained very high rank in the minds of dragons. She is able to represent her sister as ambassador because sshe displayed such strength that she has the right to demand the king’s ear and be listened to.” “Might sorta be a problem,” Dawn said. “Twi here can do world-ending magic tricks, the Pinkster is impossible, and Applejack has a bone-breaking double-hoof buck, but I ain’t got nothing and whether she’s wearing the Jade or Rarity mask, our dressmaker isn’t gonna put hoof to head.” “That iss one of the many reasons I was asked to accompany you,” Maredusa said.  “You will be introduced among the dragons under my aegis, meaning that to mistreat you would be considered a challenge to my own standing, at which point I would have a right and duty to chastise the offender in proportion to their offense. You will also remain under Thalia’s aegis for the whole of your visit, which will deter any… missunderstanding.” Twilight looked between her sister and Rarity. “Do the dragons only acknowledge physical strength?” “For the mosst part, they do,” Maredusa said. “It’s a tradition at least as old as Equestria itself, although the understanding of strength is beginning to widen. Select few dragons will acknowledge strength of character, or strength of talent, or strength of intellect, and  you must be wary among those that do.” “Cuz they respect that kind of strength because they’ve got a bunch of it themselves.” “Jusst so,” Maredusa agreed with a nod in Dawn’s direction. “Those without brute sstrength must develop their minds and intellect is far more dangerous than muscle.” “You said we need to be wary around dragons who’re more brains and less brawn,” Twilight said.  “Are you thinking of any ones in particular?” “Yes in…” A resounding kling-klang kling-klang cut Maredusa off and they all turned in the direction of the sound. The changeling that was gripping the bell cord in her mouth and ringing the brass bell next to the doorway from the lower hull, bearing the markings and badges on a lanyard around her neck that indicated she was the ship’s captain, gave it a few more good rings before spitting the loop out. Even as she turned to look at the source of the sound, Twilight was aware of changelings hurrying along the deck, her peripheral vision catching glimpses of black ponies taking up positions along the railing, starting to scale the mast to the crow’s nest, and generally rushing to their assigned tasks. “Apologies for the interruption ladies, but we’re reached a point far enough from Scarabi that we can now implement the measures that will foil any pursuit,” the captain said.  “We’ll be accelerating considerably, and a close ally of the Hive Throne has already begun to stir up a gale-force sandstorm in our wake. We need all civilians out of the way and that includes the lot of you..” “These allies can just… make sandstorms?” Dawn looked hard at her. “And gale-force ones to boot? Who the hay can even do that?” “That hardly matters, Princess.”  The changeling gave her a stern look.  “What matters is that we need you out of the way to perform our duties safely and quickly. Kindly don’t force me to make it an order, as that might be diplomatically complicated.” “May I see…?” “No, Princess Sparkle, you may not,” the changeling said. “Unless you’re familiar with forced-air turbines, oleum nigris, or mechanical runescription…?” “Technically, I know of all three but I’m not familiar…” Twilight paused. “Did you say ‘oleum nigris’?” “A moment.” The captain looked to the other mares. “Was I not clear? I need you to clear the deck immediately. As in,  below decks, no more discussion, do it now.” “Uh, cap’n…” “NOW Princess Sparkle!” She bared her teeth. “I swear, if I have to tell Lady Maredusa to petrify you and carry you down, I’ll do it. If your sister has something to offer, she might be helpful. But I hardly need you standing about to converse with her.” “But..” Maredusa turned and gave Dawn a hard look. “Fine, fine, I don’t need to be stoned, I’m going.” “Good.” The captain turned back to Twilight. “Do you have knowledge of oleum nigris then?” “Assuming you’re talking about what I think you are, I have a hobbyist’s knowledge,” Twilight said. “But I’m sure you can’t be talking about that. Purified black oil sells for a hundred bits a milliliter. It’s incredibly rare, only one highly impure deposit in all of Equestria.” “It used to be a nuisance substance for us,” the captain said. “Stinking, corrosive sludge bubbling to the surface, turning water brackish and nearly toxic, ruining stretches of land. Now we have lots of a useful substance, but that’s neither here nor there. If rumor is true, your ‘hobbyist knowledge’ is more extensive than you think.” “I do try to be thorough…” “How volatile is it?” “Not shock volatile,” Twilight said after a moment of thought. “Catches fire quickly and burns hot, but it’s not explosive except as a vapor.” “That’s what i was afraid of,” the captain sighed. “You may go now.” “Captain, I…” “...cannot help any further, so I need you out of the way,” the captain said. “Please don’t make me snarl at both of you.” Forced-air turbines, mechanical runescription, asking how volatile… “Actually, Captain, I think I can help further,” she said. The captain turned slightly. “And how is that?” “You mentioned sudden acceleration, and forced-air turbines, and mechanical runescription, and asked…” “I know what I asked, stop wasting my…” “You have turbines that vaporize refined black oil and ignite it to create forward movement, don’t you?” The captain came up short and blinked at her, visibly taken-aback. “It so happens that we do.” “And what you’re afraid of is that the vaporized black oil is very volatile?” “Yes.” “I’m pretty good with barriers. Not as good as my brother but…” “You don’t need to finish.” The captain waved down a passing crew member. “Get Princess Sparkle a harness, secure her, and clear Number Six turbine.” “Number six?” “I wouldn’t be jumping at the chance to have the Element of Magic secure a turbine by herself if I had enough crew to take care of all of them to my satisfaction.” The captain smirked. “There are ten of them.” It abruptly occurred to Twilight why the Red Mambo was considered the fast one of the two airships. “Well, then I’d better hurry.” “An’ ya say they’re makin’ it go by…” “Piping some sort of refinement of a substance chemists dub oleum nigris or ‘black oil’ into the turbines and setting fire to it,” Twilight confirmed as she relaxed on the bed. Applejack digested this. “An’ ya say the stuff is real prone ta catchin’ fire an’ can explode?” “‘Bout as far as chemists can figure,” Dawn said, relaxing next to her. “They don’t get very much to work with, they gotta boil enough out of tar to do basic experiments with, but last memory I have of Twi reading a paper on it, they’d nailed most of the details.” “I’m pretty sure there haven’t been any academic papers since that one,” Twilight said. “I’ve been keeping my ears out.” “So we’re zippin’ along like we’ve been shot outta Pinkie’s party cannon?” “Naw,” Pinkie said. “Party cannon fires parties, not airships, remember?” “Hard ta ferget.” Applejack looked back to Twilight. “Woulda thought it was lots more noisy.” “Oh, it’s horrible when you’re standing next to one,” Twilight assured her, her ears involuntarily twitching from the memory of the deafening roar and her teeth chattering from the noise and vibration. “But I think the hull deadens it.” “So’d anyone tell ya how long till we’re sailing with dragons?” Dawn asked. “No, but I could see mountains rising in the distance and with our rate of speed, I don’t think it’ll be more than a half-hour,” Twilight said. “Then we have time.” Rarity said brightly. “For…?” “For you to tell us what you said you’d tell us when we got underway,” she said. “The matter you were discussing with that changeling doctor…?” “Doctor Green Leaf, yeah.” Twilight grimaced a little. “He was just reiterating that at the end of all this, the completion of Queen Chrysalis’ grand plan for reunion, the relationship between Equestria and the changelings will be one of allies, not subjects.” “Still holdin’ a grudge, huh?” “I don’t think it’s a grudge, the confrontational tone of the duchess’ exchange with the queen and crown prince notwithstanding.” “Then what?” “What it came down to was that this Amaryss wanted to make things right, offered her bad seed sis as a peace offering, and Mom kicked them out anyway,” Dawn said. “And I’ll bet the changelings look back on it and figure that if the changelings weren’t Mom’s subjects, if she had to dicker with them a bit instead of just handing in a decision, things could have been made right and no one would have needed to get the boot. ‘Bout sums it up, Twi?” “Partly,” Twilight said. “But I think it goes deeper.” She looked between her friends. “They have stories of fighting Equestria’s enemies under Luna’s command. If it’s not just fantasy--and I’m pretty sure it’s more story than myth--the changelings were Equestria’s soldiers, like unicorns are magi and earth ponies do farming and pegasi weather management. Equestria hasn’t had an army for my entire life, and I don’t remember seeing mention of one in the last few hundred years.” “So for what’s probably a thousand years, the armies of Equestria are sitting in a desert watching the enemies they defeated getting back up and hurting their fellow ponies with nothing but Princess Celestia’s diplomacy to shield everyone,” Pinkamena said quietly. “A thousand years of being absolutely sure that if Celestia hadn’t sent them away, they could have saved every one of those ponies. A thousand years of watching instead of helping, not because they wanted to, but because they obeyed. And just recently, watching us pull miracles out of our plots to save the world from the Guardian… and we still had to bury a lot of innocent ponies. That’s a lot of injury and a lot of insult to just take without deciding that something needs to change.” “And if not for the Guardian, things would have already changed,” Twilight said. “If Shiny and Cady are speaking of marrying now, after six months of rebuilding, then they were probably set to announce their marriage just before everything went wrong.” “Which means we wouldn’t be dealing with all this game stuff all split up and going in different directions, and hoping a few hundred Royal Guards can somehow manage stuff at home,” Dawn added. “There’s a ton of changelings, sis. I’d put even money that they could put ten thousand in the field and still have enough left for the essentials and a vast militia, and that’s just based on the numbers I saw when we were wandering around looking for pink party pony. Put it together with things like the Red Mambo and…” “...they could have shut the Evilss down before they made progress.” They all turned to look as Maredusa wove sinuously through the doorway and then reared up, leaning back against the wall comfortably and looking down at them all with her head just short of bumping against the ceiling. “Your esstimate is low, by about tenfold.” “I did say that there’s a ton of them.” “You also ssaid that you’d wager that they could field an army of ten thousand with full reserves and auxiliaries.” Maredusa sighed. “Which is not entirely your fault, after Thryssa made such a fuss about deploying a few hundred to each major city to brace the Royal Guard. Habitss of a lifetime are difficult to break, and Thryssa is a cautious and calculating commander, nearly paranoid about tipping her hand to anypony, ssave her family.” “Ain’t we supposed ta be friends now or somesuch?” Maredusa gave Applejack a sheepish look. “Yes, but Thryssa does not sshift quickly and it will take time for her to appreciate the reality of Equestrians who are to be trusted and taken into confidence, not hidden from and deceived.” She shifted her look to Dawn. “The changelings are naturally a people under arms. Each has some magic like a unicorn, can fly some as the pegasus does, is naturally very hardy as earth ponies are, and they can alter their form effectively with fairly little training.” “So Queen Chrysalis could turn all of ‘em into militia if she wanted.” “If she needed,” Maredusa corrected. “No good ruler ssends the very young and the elderly into battle except in the most desperate circumstances. That ssaid, every changeling does a short term of service, so that they may be competent if desperate timess ever arrive.” “Like the assassins making plans to overturn the Princesses and essentially rule Equestria?” Rarity said. “No,” Maredusa said. “A gang of murderers preying on her people for their own pleasure and self-righteousness?”  She shook her head. “Not even then. Chrysalis would have dealt with them personally insstead of calling her people to arms.” “They would have killed her.” Rarity said. “If so, it would have been the last thing they ever did.” Maredusa looked grave. “Killing Chrysalis would bring every changeling to their door to tear them apart, no matter who or what stood between them and the assassins. Lepi knew thiss, and convinced her mother to allow her to deal with the problem. Thuss, Sugar Bell.” “One pony, about the age of my little sister, against all the assassins?” “Closser to your own age, actually, and not really.” Maredusa said. “One well-trained changeling assassin, armed with every possible advantage Lepinora could create by calling in favorss, is a fair fight. Lepinora doesn’t believe in fair fights.” “A sign that someone’s done something wrong,” Rarity agreed. “So there was more than just Sugar there.” “Of course.” Rarity thought a moment. “Several of the assassins were snatched and imitated.” “I assume so.” The gorgon shrugged. “Naturally, Lepinora doesn’t tell me everything. I only know that sshe rigged the odds heavily in her agent’s favor.” “Hang the entire thing about some changeling helping Rares take out assassins,” Dawn said. “I know there weren’t enough changelings in Scarabi to make an army of a hundred thousand even if Chrysalis started robbing cradles.” “So more cities and towns,” Twilight said. “But how? The changelings don’t seem to fear for food, water, or anything else in Scarabi--and I have no idea how. Appleloosa and Dodge Junction rely on regular rain circulation from pegasus weather teams, but I haven’t seen a single cloud anywhere here. The Barrens, as the changelings call them, are, well, barren.” “The Barrens contain an immense network of aquifers, fed from a single ssource they call the ‘White Sea’,” Maredusa said. “Too deep to water the Barrens, but not too deep for me to help them drive wells.” “Why the White Sea?” “Its bed is pure white,” she said. “Limestone shot through with veins of salt. Somehow, the aquifers it feeds have very pure and ssweet water.” “Except for the ones befouled by black oil,” Twilight said, remembering the brief conversation with the captain. “Yes,” Maredusa agreed. “What Equestria saw as an intriguing curiosity to be sstudied, the changelings saw as poison that caused sickness and death. Equestrian chemists determining its properties from their limited ssupply was the cause of much celebration, for we could dispose of it and purify many aquifers.” “And then ya’ll learned it could be useful.” “And valuable, if there’s ever a way developed to refine large amounts of it at once, instead of the complicated process they use to make it a fuel, wasting three quarterss of every liter.” Twilight felt her eyes widen. “That bad?” “It is a nuisance at best, a plague at worst.” The gorgon shrugged. “They’re too grateful that it can be cleaned up and put to a useful purpose to worry about efficiency.” Twilight shook her head. “That’s…” “...the price of disposal.” Twilight wasn’t sure how the captain had appeared next to Maredusa without them seeing the door open or hearing her hoofsteps as she entered, but the mare was looking directly at her. “We’ve crossed the borders of the dragon lands and are approaching the center of their territory, Princesses Sparkle, miladies.” “Without being challenged immediately?” Maredusa frowned as she lowered herself to the captain’s level. “We’re concerned as well,” the captain said. “I’ve made the batteries ready and opened the firing hatches but there’s nothing to fight. Our sand drake escort turned back at the termination of the desert so all we have is yourself, our passengers, and three dozen Throne Guard.” “And Thalia.” “We can’t assume that anymore,” the captain said heavily. “If the danger that she warned the queen of is anywhere near Empress Moon’s league, she may well be compromised.” “What about the dragon Maredusa was about to warn us about when the you booted our plots down here?” Dusk said, before looking to Maredusa. “You were saying to be careful around him, so he might be the one to talk to about this mess.” “She would be,” Maredusa said. “When we’ve landed, I know of a way to…” “Cap’n, we’ve got that welcome we’ve been expecting, coming in fast,” a crewman interrupted, making everyone jump at the hollow sound of his voice coming from above their heads. “Hay of a lot more than usual.” “At least there’s that.” The captain looked up towards a series of what appeared to be brass tubes running around the rim of the room and her horn glowed dimly. “Remember the greeting protocol: some good stiff beating is expected to establish relative value…” “...but don’t do long-term damage,” the crewman finished. Now that Twilight was following the captain’s gaze, it seemed obvious that the tubes were some way of communicating with the entire ship; it seemed like the reply magic needed to be deliberately activated. “And then do all the discussion with the one in the front with extended wings.” “Precisely.” The captain looked at them. “I’ll be on deck with our passengers in a moment so you won’t need to handle them for long.” “If you ask Lady Maredusa for her sufferance, we won’t need to handle them at all.” “Only easy day was yesterday. Get it done.” “Yessir.” As the crewman acknowledges her order, the captain gave each a light bow in return. “You’ll be under the aegis of Lady Maredusa, but be cautious anyway.” “So what’s he mean, that they wouldn’t need to handle the dragons if Maredusa leant a hoof?” Dawn asked, taking up position on Twilight’s flank as they exited the room and started up. Despite clearly being a military vessel, and having been refitted to be even stronger in a fight, the interiors of the Red Mambo seemed almost homey and comfortable. Woven mats over the deck plating that made it easy to walk on, filigree decorating the walls and fixtures, and soft steady light at all times that Twilight supposed was somehow related to the magical means that made the Mambo fly. “Dragons are very strong,” the captain said. “In over a thousand years, they haven’t been able to make a respectable showing against Lady Maredusa once.” “I can ssimply render their flesh to stone with no particular effort.” Maredusa shrugged, looking slightly sheepish. “And I swim through rock and soil like water. Even the strongest and most cunning have been forced into a fair fight with me, and that is always to their detriment. After a while they’ve… ssurrendered to reality.” She tapped her chin with a hoof thoughtfully. “On the other hoof, this would be the first time they’ll have ever met me sseparated from the earth. That changes things, or could.” “Not exactly a pleasant thought when we’re about to go out and meet tons of ‘em,” Dawn said. “Hey Rares, yanno that neat stuff Nightmare gave ya as a gift?” “These?” They all turned their heads to see Pinkie wearing Rarity’s Jade costume, including the weapons Nightmare had given her. The captain blinked. “Where did…?” “Thank you, darling,” Rarity smiled and lit her horn to slip the blades off of Pinkie’s legs and onto her own. Pinkie grinned impossibly widely and cheerfully. “Anytime.” “...but she didn’t have them…” “If you hang around the Pinkster long enough, you get used to it,” Dawn said, patting the confused-looking changeling’s shoulder. The captain shook her head and started up the stairs to the upper deck. “It’s person, don’t question it,” she sighed. “If I had a bit for every time I hear that...” “Hear it a bunch?” “Less and less the more I respond by smacking the person over the head with the nearest object.” “Eeyuup, that’d do it.” Applejack took a step or two. “Cept smackin’ somepony don’t make it less true.” “Saves my sanity.” “Sugarcube, the world ain’t a sane place.” “Don’t remind me.” They emerged to a very different sight than when they’d gone to the lower decks. The intense desert sun was now dimmed and muted by a thick bank of clouds hovering above the jagged mountains and rocks of the dragon lands, and the oppressive heat was replaced with a stiff, chilling breeze with a slight hint of sleet in it. Looking directly ahead of them, Twilight could see a fog bank hanging around the tallest visible peak, flashes of light within it hinting at a storm of some kind. And then there were the dragons. The majority of Twilight’s experience with dragons had been her Number One Assistant prior to taking a trip to see a dragon migration. Seeing that Spike was very small for his age had been shocking enough; watching the friend she’d grown up with being bullied, mocked, and kicked around had been a strain on her generally peaceful disposition, although she thought she’d hidden it well. The biggest takeaway for her had been that dragons were remarkably diverse in shape, size, and coloration, distinctive enough that she recognized several of them from the migration. The oncoming hoard was already mostly landed as they reached the top, and several were muzzle-to-muzzle with changelings, both parties baring fangs and glaring at one another but despite the captain’s instructions, it didn’t look like it’d yet progressed to fighting. With the dragons occupied, though, Twilight had a moment to get a feeling that something was… off about them. She took a step forward, furrowing her brow and looking harder at the one nearest her (she vaguely remembered him being called ‘Fizzle’) when all the dragons abruptly stopped glaring and fang-baring and stepped back from the changelings, the ones that had them open closing their wings as well, and all of them lowering their heads slightly in a strangely meek gesture. Twilight exchanged confused looks with her twin at what some instinct told her was something that dragons just did not do, when the mass of them moved to either railing of the Mambo, revealing the smallest dragon Twilight had ever seen, outside of Spike. More surprising than the dragon’s size and slenderness was that they were arrayed head to toe in polished golden armor and carrying, of all things, a tall sword with the tip resting on the deck plate. The dragon’s blue wings were spread wide and a long tail with a sharp-looking spade twitched back and forth behind them. Within the eye slits of the helmet, Twilight could see a pair of ruby-red eyes staring at her before looking back and forth over everyone else on the deck. “OK, spill.” A female voice said from within the helmet, the pitch making her sound barely older than Spike. “What’s with the flying ship and all the cannons?” “Your…” “Not you,” the dragoness cut the captain off. She pointed at Twilight. “You.” “It’s called the ‘Red Mambo’,” Twilight said. “Queen Chrysalis…” “Don’t care what it’s called, don’t care who let you take it.” Twilight noted that one of her hands went from resting on the crossguard to the handle. “Why’re you flying a bunch of cannons into the Lands with a bunch of bugpony royal guards on it?” “Queen Chrysalis wanted us to get here fast. The Red Mambo is fast.” “And heavily armed. And has a bunch of soldiers on it.” “And a gorgon who turns dragons to sstone when she becomes annoyed,” Maredusa said. The dragon seemed to ignore her, her eyes remaining fixed on Twilight. “Well?” “Apparently, keeping her guests safe is important to the queen,” Twilight said as calmly as she could. “Yeah, well, I don’t like flying ships, cannons, and soldiers just flying around my skies.” A touch of a growl entered the dragon’s voice. “So how ‘bout you turn around and get lost.” “Your skies?” Twilight furrowed her brow. “Yeah, my skies.” The hand on the handle tightened. “Got a problem with that?” “Naw, just thought that Torch was, like, a hundred times your size,” Dawn said. “And that these were his skies. Unless you’re Torch and have lost a few extra bits and got shrunk, which would sort of…” “Shut. Up. Pinkie.” The dragoness snarled. “But I didn’t say anything!” Pinkie said. The dragoness’ eyes shifted in Pinkie’s direction. “What?” “I’m Pinkie,” Pinkie grinned widely. “And you’re grumpy. I know just the thing for that.” The dragoness stared at her for several seconds. “No, ya don’t,” she said in a shockingly subdued voice. “Pinkie, you said?” “Yup!” “You wanna help me out?” “Yup!” The dragoness pointed at Twilight. “Help your friend understand ‘get lost’. Then get out of the Lands, or we’re gonna kick you outta them.” “Get us Ambassador Thalia and we’ll go,” the captain said. “Thalia?” The dragoness looked steadily at the captain for several moments, before her gaze appeared to center on empty air. “Who are you?” “Captain…” “The ponies that aren’t black with a hard candy shell.” “I’m Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight said. “My sister Dawn, and my friends Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.” “Celestia’s kids.” “Yes.” The silence stretched for several more moments before the dragoness snorted. “Diplomatic mission from Equestria through Scarabi. Thought I’d seen everything.” She looked to the dragons on either side. “Settle up. They’re comin’ with us.” “The Little One will…” In the span of the second it took for one of the dragons to start the sentence, the armored one had brought the blade up, switched to gripping it two-handed by the blade, and clocked him hard enough on the muzzle that Twilight could hear the wet crack of breaking bone as the dragon went sprawling, visibly stunned. “Don’t care,” she said as she returned to planting the tip of her sword in the deck. “Settle up. They’re coming with us.” “They’re under the aegis of Maredusa,” another of the dragons pointed out, the tone of the voice disturbingly monotone. “Guess ya don’t settle up then, do ya?” The dragoness swept a pointed claw between the other dragons. “Now get lost while I take care of them.” “She will be upset.” “She’ll be upset?” The dragoness affected a tone of exaggerated worry. “Oh, how can I live if she’s upset? I don’t know what I could do if I broke her widdle heart!” This time, she cuffed the offender across the nose, hard enough that the dragon flinched back from her. “If she wants to be angry, let her. First one to start the music don’t get to finish it, so I’m all good with her starting something. Now get lost while I take care of them.” Without bothering to watch her fellow dragons taking wing, the dragoness turned back to Twilight. “Hope ya don’t want a warm welcome, Twilight Sparkle, cuz there ain’t one. Don’t much like Equestrians up here but if Maredusa vouches for ya, I can deal.” “I do,” the gorgon confirmed. “Well fan-fucking-tastic.” She sighed and folded her wings. “Any other time, I’d be rolling out the silk and gold for visiting royalty. Now…” “There’s something wrong with them,” Twilight said. “The rest of the dragons that were with you.” “Sparkle, that’s the understatement of the century.” She folded her arms, keeping one hand on the pommel of her sword. “Tell ya all about it when we land. ‘Lia’ll fill in the gaps. But first… I think our little guest will be wanting to say hello to ya.”