Epilogue
One Day at Vagabond House
My residence in Twilight Town is about as far from a crystal castle as can be imagined. It started out as an admittedly luxurious bungalow on a hill overlooking the town and has grown in a haphazard manner as I found the need for more space for books, guest quarters, equipment, souvenirs from my travels, and books. A broad-roofed porch ran all the way around it, and there was a Neighsian-style garden at the back that took up nearly as much space as the house itself.
I don't know exactly when the Twilight Folk started calling it Vagabond House, but the name stuck, and the source remained a mystery, as with so many things in that town.
The big bedroom at the southeast corner had sliding panels for walls that could be pushed entirely aside to open the room up in fine weather, revealing a wonderful view of the town below and the distant sea. Most airships coming from Zebrica passed by that way, heading for the mooring towers, and I enjoyed guessing at what cargo and passengers they held as they approached.
I was standing there at the edge of the porch, wearing my more usual body despite being "in Town." I was sipping at my morning coffee and watching a stubbly little freighter reverse her engines, when Cream Puff arrived with the breakfast cart.
"Good morning, ma'am!" he said cheerfully, as he wheeled the cart into the room and began setting out the plates.
"Morning, Puff," I replied, keeping my eyes on the airship as her crew prepared their mooring lines. They were all Saddle Arabians in full, fancy tack, which was a bit odd. I made a mental note to ask the harbormaster about it later.
A whiff of the food when Puff removed the tray covers immediately tore my interest away from the unusual airship crew. I turned and went into the bedroom, thanking Cream Puff as he wheeled the cart away.
The bed had been shoved to the back of the room, and I had raided the rest of the house for pillows and cushions to build the sort of soft jumble that Ao preferred to sleep in. The food was set out on a low table right next to her nest, and she was already levitating some strawberry crepes onto her plate.
"Good appetite this morning?" I asked her as I settled myself on the other side of the table.
"Indeed," she said, turning her attention to the basket of fresh muffins.
"By the way," I said casually, as I slid a little still-covered dish across to her. "I had Puff swing by the Griffonstonian restaurant yesterday…"
Her eyes lit up, and she hastily uncovered the plate of pickled herring in cream sauce. "Oh, thank you Twilight! This one has been craving these!"
I smiled and looked away, pretending a renewed interest in the Saddle Arabian freighter while she finished her loathsome treat.
"Nebula's repairs are going well," I said as I spread butter on a steaming muffin. "I got a letter from Gudgeon in the morning mail. He pointedly didn't ask how I'd managed to shear the entire tail section of her envelope off, but he did heavily imply that I might want to hire a competent crew for my next trip."
The kirin shook her head sadly. "The poor fellow has no understanding of how dangerous your voyages often are."
I must have reacted to her words more strongly than I realized, because she hurriedly said, "Oh, Twilight! This one did not mean any criticism of how you—"
"No, no! It's fine! I know you didn't!" I sighed and took another sip of my coffee. "I just can't help feeling a bit guilty, you know?" There was a moment of awkward silence, so I asked, "How are the replacements feeling?"
Ao rolled her body around so that I could see the gleaming orichalcum scales that had been magically grafted to her side. "This one feels no pain or discomfort at all, and though it may be immodest, this one cannot help but think that they enhance this one's already considerable beauty."
She nearly got me, and I avoided snorting coffee up my nose by the slimmest of margins.
She continued on, pretending not to notice my reaction. "This one is considering replacing some undamaged scales for purely aesthetic reasons. So you see, the mishap may have been a blessing in disguise."
I snorted. "Well, if I had known it would only take running a few kilothaums of mana through you to get you to stop calling me 'Majesty', I would have done it myself, years ago!"
Ao gave me a wicked grin and opened her mouth, but I interrupted her. "Oh, no you don't! I can't thwack you when you're recovering, but I can convince the staff that you can't have any of Mayor Buzzy's methyglin for medical reasons."
She didn't stop smiling. "You fight dirty, my friend."
I grinned back at her. "I fight to win."
"As one should," she said, nodding.
We finished our food, and Ao said she felt like a walk in the garden, so we strolled along the veranda toward the garden gate together. I hated seeing how stiff she was, but I told myself that it was a vast improvement on the condition she'd been in only a couple of weeks before.
We chatted and circled the big pond a couple of times, and then sat in the moon-gazing pavilion so that Ao could rest for a bit. "Luna and Flurry Heart will be arriving soon," I told Ao as we watched fat carp lazily drift through the water. "They'll be glad to see how much you've improved."
"Ah, it will be pleasant to see the young one again," Ao replied. "But this one understood that she was still arrested, and would be for some time yet?"
"The word you want is grounded, and yes, her mother swore to keep her locked in the palace until—and I quote—the sun is a cold, dark cinder." I teleported a bit of fish food from the container at the edge of the garden and sprinkled it over the pond, causing a sudden stir of interest in the colorful koi. "But my clever niece has some changeling friends who are willing to risk imperial displeasure for her sake. As far as Cadance will know, she'll be studying in her rooms like a good little filly."
Ao looked at me from the corner of her eye. "You are a terrible influence, Twilight Sparkle."
I sighed. It was true. "Well, the others think that we can simply seal ourselves away from the Players[1] and be safe, but Luna and Flurry agree with me that we need a lot more information about their capabilities, at the very least. We need a brainstorming session together, and as I am equuina non grata in the Crystal Empire at the moment..."
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[1] The collective name I decided to give the Dark and Bright factions of the Great Game.
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"Have there been any more attempts at the barrier?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No. They must be convinced that they can't brute-force their way through by now. But there have been some unusual fluctuations in the aether. I think they might be trying to finesse their way in."
"If they succeed?"
I flicked my tail in irritation. "I really don't know, and that's the crux of the matter. I… we really need to understand what we're up against in order to effectively deal with the situation. That's why Luna and Flurry are coming. We're going to try to figure out a way—"
"To slip out of the universe unnoticed and in disguise? To sneak around the multiverse gathering not only knowledge, but perhaps allies?"
I turned to look at her directly. "You really do know me way too well."
"That may be so," she replied, carefully keeping her gaze on the feeding fish. "But this one does not know whether an old and battered kirin would be wanted in service of such an endeavor."
"Ao! I nearly got you killed! Why would—"
"Perhaps," she said, quietly but firmly interrupting me, "you do not understand this one to the same degree." She paused for a long time, but I knew that she had more to say, so I sat in silence until she continued.
"Where this one was born, there is a temple. In the innermost space of that holy place is a blade that was broken in battle a thousand years ago. It can never be used again, and there is no merit or magic in it, but my people revere the shattered sword in the memory of the one who used it to free a kingdom." Ao looked directly into my eyes before finishing. "Many swords rust in their scabbards, forgotten in abandoned places of little worth."
I nodded. "I understand. I'm not sure I agree with your philosophy, but I do understand."
"Then…?"
"I still have no right to ask you to—"
"You need not ask. This one offers."
When is it more important to put a friend in danger rather than hurt their feelings? It may seem like a stupid or easy question, but it isn't.
"Of course, you're coming along," I said, somewhat surprised that I had ever thought it would be otherwise.
Ao sighed, leaned back in her seat, and closed her eyes. "This one is content."
= = =
I carried Ao back to her nest and left her sleeping while I went to the scriptorium to check up on Loose Leaf. At my request, Leaf was writing out everything she knew about the history and technology of her world. I made it a habit to go over the text with her each day and add annotations based on our discussion.
She had a jackdaw mind that latched on to anything shiny and ignored the "boring stuff", so it made for some frustration on my part. When she came out with some fascinating tidbit, but knew nothing of any serious depth about it, I had to content myself by making a note in the margin rather than screaming in frustration and banging my head against the wall.
I deliberately kept Equestrian books away from her so that she wouldn't conflate and confuse information from two different sources. This caused a good deal of frustration for her. "Your world is so wonderful!" she complained to me. "I want to know all about it!"
"Don't worry," I reassured her. "As soon as you're done with these notebooks, I have a bunch more transcription and copy work for you, and you'll get plenty to read then. Years worth, in all honesty."
A smile lit up her face for a moment and then faded. "Does that mean I won't be coming with you on the trip?"
I raised my head in shock. "What trip? There is no trip!"
Loose Leaf peered at me over her reading glasses for a moment. "If you say so, ma'am."
"Where did you hear about this trip?" I snorted in irritation. "Which is totally not happening!"
Leaf shrugged. "In addition to the resettlement statistics Stalwart Lance and Filigree sent me to go over, I've been helping Pen Flourish with the invoices and inventory work this last week, and looking at the bills and purchases you've been making… Well, it's obvious to me." She looked down at the page again. "Of course, if you say I'm mistaken, I must be."
I sighed. "No, you're right. It's a strong possibility, but there's a lot of planning to be done first. It's going to be an information-gathering voyage, and we don't intend to do any fighting, but given how my last trip went…"
She nodded. "I know I'm not a fighter, or even a strong flyer, but if it's information you're after, I'm a cursed good archivist and historian." She pointed at the stripes on her lip that were partially obscured by actual ink stains. "I earned these several times over, and the only reason I didn't get them sooner was that the other scribes thought I was weird and obsessive."[2]
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[2] Which was true. But having personally been weird and obsessive for most of my life, I did not consider those to be necessarily negative traits.
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I briefly wondered if everypony knew about the trip. Was it common gossip in the marketplace?
"I can be useful," Leaf continued. "I speak eight languages, including the old trade pidgin that was used when the gates still worked. And I can calculate supply—"
"Wait, what?" I looked at her in shock. "An interdimensional trade language? Really?"
She nodded. "Yes. It's considered a dead language back home, but so many old records…" Her eyes went wide. "Oh, no! You're going to make me write out a whole dictionary and grammar, aren't you?"
I shook my head. "No. Not right away, at least. But starting tomorrow morning, you're going to give Ao and me lessons. There's always a lot of down-time on long trips, so you can work on the dictionary and grammar on board."
"I'm coming?" She grinned so widely that the quill dropped from her mouth.
"Why not?" I said, rolling my eyes. "Everypony else is!"
= = =
A little after lunchtime, a raggedy old jenny mule knocked at the front gate. The porter let her in and asked what her business was. She replied that she bore a grim prophecy that was for the Dark Queen's ears only.
The porter nodded politely and had her wait in the front courtyard while he sent me a brief note asking how far I wanted him to throw her down the path to town. He was joking, of course. I did seem to attract some unusual types, but I was always kind to them,[3] and they most often left the house with a few bits for their troubles.
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[3] Except for the assassins, of course. They helped keep my reputation for strictness fresh in the minds of the Twilight Folk
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As both Spike and Ao were napping after a pleasant lunch, and I had nothing urgent on my schedule, I decided to have a personal chat with the jenny. I cast an illusionary disguise of my dark persona before I walked to the front veranda.
I took one look at the scruffy old mule and grinned. "Well, if it isn't the notorious Captain Skyla!"
Flurry Heart dropped her disguise and scowled at me. "How did you know it was me? Sunburst said that was the best illusion spell he'd ever come across!'
"Oh, it was good," I agreed. "No direct imperfections at all." I pointed to one of the light bamboo screens that provided shade for the courtyard. "But those are enchanted to catch your shadow as it is, rather than what's projected. Since the shadow is a secondary effect of that spell, it isn't as robust as the illusion itself."
"Auntie, you're positively paranoid!" She chuckled.
"I'm thorough and careful, that's all," I replied, stepping forward to hug her. "How are things at home?"
"Not too bad," she replied as we walked into the house together. "Mother’s so busy dealing with almost a hundred thousand unicorn refugees that she’s mostly forgotten to be mad at me. She’s even asked Sunset for help, if you can believe that! She's still sticking to the plan of imprisoning me until I'm old and gray, but I think that's mostly for form's sake. I'll probably be allowed out of the palace in a couple more weeks—with a platoon of guards to accompany me, of course."
"Is my picture still posted at every border crossing?"
That got a chuckle out of her. "She knows you're the reason I got home safely!"
"But she still blames me for putting the idea for the escapade in your head in the first place, doesn't she?"
"No," Flurry said, shaking her head emphatically. "It took me a while, but I've convinced her otherwise. If only our return hadn't been so dramatic."
I sighed. "She was expecting us to sail serenely out of the gate, but when we barreled through, Nebula all shot up with her hull and envelope smouldering, and me bellowing my head off for a doctor…"
Flurry nodded. "And the portal sort of exploding like that behind us and setting the watch tower on fire…"
"And all the terrified, screaming unicorns on deck…"
Flurry bit her lower lip. "Yeah… It's going to take her a while to get over that."
"She was really frightened for you," I said.
Flurry hung her head. "I know, and I'm really, really sorry about that. I've told her enough times."
"And yet here you are, and here I am—aiding and abetting."
We sighed simultaneously.
"But, it is important, isn't it?" Flurry finally said.
I shrugged. "Maybe our seal will hold and the Players will ignore us, but that's just as bad as locking ourselves in a dungeon. Sure we're safe, but is it worth it?"
"Mother thinks so."
I nodded. "Luna has her doubts as well, though I think it's mostly that she doesn't want me to go gallivanting off across the worlds again without her. Sunset is open to being convinced, but that’ll take some pretty specific persuasion. Everypony has a different take on the situation, and that's why I wanted us to work out some sort of plan that has a chance of making them all happy before we all get together again."
Flurry shook her head. "They'll never all agree! We should just go!"
I stopped walking, put a wing across her chest, and looked her right in the eyes. "No. Cadance will never forgive me if I purposely drag you into danger. She has to agree, or you're not going."
Flurry Heart opened her mouth to argue, and then slowly closed it. She gazed out toward the mooring grounds with a thoughtful expression, and in a suspiciously meek voice said, "I suppose you're right, Auntie Twilight."
I immediately made a mental note to install several subtle anti-theft and anti-stowaway devices aboard Nebula before she left ground dock again.
We peeked into the southeast bedroom and found that Ao was awake. I left her and Flurry to catch up and went to my study, passing by Spike's hammock. He was still snoozing.
Not many doors in Vagabond House have locks, or even latches on them. Everyone who lives in the house understands that if my study door is closed, I do not wish to be disturbed. I almost left the door open, seeing as how my afternoon paperwork consisted of dealing with the multitude of challenges presented by the influx of the Empire’s unicorns. Even the considerable satisfaction of having rescued all of them was diminished by the enormous task of getting them settled in and acclimatized to a strange new world.
I sighed, swung the door shut, and resigned myself to my fate.
As I crossed to my desk, I felt a chill run up my spine. Some dark and subtle magic was at work. I was unarmed and wearing no armor, but that certainly didn't mean I was helpless. A gnuish bone blade hung over my desk. I positioned myself where I could snatch it down with a quick motion of one wing while simultaneously placing a hoof next to the laceshield orb that rested on a low shelf of the bookstand on my other side.
I lifted my journal off the desktop with what would appear to most ponies as a levitation field. By increasing the mana I fed to it, I could instantaneously turn the already active force-ram spell into a powerful weapon.
There was something in the shadows at the darkest corner of the room.
I tensed.
The shadows moved of their own accord, swirling like heavy fog over the sea, drawing inward to form a tall, powerful figure.
I dropped the book and lunged forward. "Luna!" I cried with delight.
She caught me up in her big strong wings and swung me around, laughing and kissing and stroking me with all the built up passion caused by nearly three days apart. Okay, it wasn't quite as forceful as the welcome she'd given me the night after my return,[4] but we still had a lot of time to make up for, and it left me breathless.
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[4] Which was good, because compensating the Twilight Folk for the storm damage had put a noticeable dent in my treasury.
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I wanted to tumble her to the floor right there and cover her with kisses and love-bites, but there were several little knick-knacks around us that might detonate if accidentally kicked too hard, so I bridled my enthusiasm with the promise of unleashing it later.
She understood, of course. She nuzzled me at the corner of my jaw with her silky-soft lips and whispered, "Tonight…"
I gently nipped her withers in answer, and she nickered low in her throat.
We managed to get out of my study without triggering any defensive items, and entered Ao's room to find her and Flurry still happily gossiping away.
"No, do not rise," Luna said even before we had gotten fully into the room. She was well acquainted with the kirin's enthusiasm for protocol. "It is pleasing to see you looking so well, Ao!"
"This one thanks you, Majesty," she replied.
Luna smiled and gently stroked Ao's head with a wingtip. "I cannot thank you enough for keeping my Twilight safe, Ao. You must call upon me for any boon or favor you desire. If it lies beneath the moon, it is yours!"
Ao gaped at her for a second and then gave me a quick glance. I nodded: Luna was absolutely serious.
"This… This one is…" Wow. Seeing Ao speechless was a unique and enjoyable experience.
"And I insist you call me Luna," Luna said, twisting the worldview-altering knife.
"Y-yes, Luna," Ao replied. She was trying her best to appear calm, but her wide eyes and lashing tendrils gave her away.
I thwacked Luna on her shoulder with a wingtip. "It took me over a decade to get her to stop the Majestying and ma'aming! How do you do that?"
Luna gave me a casual look and a sly smile that made me go weak at the knees. "I possess a commanding personality, Twilight. I am dismayed you have forgotten."
As if I ever could.
After a few minutes, we relaxed and fell into casual conversation. I sent for tea, and Spike joined us shortly afterward. We talked until Luna had to raise the moon, and then we moved to the garden where the staff had set out a light supper on low tables surrounded by torches.
It wasn't until we lingered over dessert and coffee that the serious talk began. Spike went to sleep under the table,[5] but the rest of us made good headway toward a solid plan of action.
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[5] He barely fit, and I realized how much he had grown lately. He wasn't yet a behemoth like his cousins, but it wouldn't be long before he really began to fill out. A few decades more, and he wouldn't be little Spikey-Wikey any longer.
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I was adamant about the necessity of taking action against the Players, but none of the rest questioned my motivation. Not then.
= = =
Luna and I lay on a cloud that was slowly drifting toward the sea. The moon was sinking toward the western horizon and we knew we would have to part soon. But I was stretching it out as long as possible, basking in the afterglow and the cold tickling of sweat drying on my coat while running a wingtip along the sweet curves from Luna's barrel to her thigh.
"I know you think I'm a little obsessed over the plan," I said to her.
"You would not be my darling without your passions," she answered, "mysterious though they be to me."
"If I can broker or force a truce, or even work out an agreement of neutrality with the Players, we won't be trapped here any more!"
"Trapped?" Luna said, trying heroically to keep the amusement out of her voice. "Confined to only one tiny world! A terrible fate, indeed!"
Her joke startled me. I had been thinking of the world as a tiny place. When had my attitude changed so much?
"My darling?" Luna said after a little while. "I did not intend to make mock of thee…"
"Huh?" I rolled onto my side to face her. "Oh, no, no, that's okay…" I didn't want to slip back into silent revery and risk Luna thinking she had offended me, so I began narrating my train of thought. "When boundaries contract, no matter how large they are, it can't help but feel—limiting. And I think that's what bothers me so much about the Great Game."
Luna gave me a curious look but didn't comment.
"They've limited their choices down to two. Well…" I considered the various Twilights I'd met out in the worlds. "Two classes, anyway. Each world on the gameboard may have variations within a limited set of parameters, but it's always some variation on Bright and Dark."
"More appropriate for my sister and I perhaps?" Luna said.
I nodded, thoughtfully. "Yes, and here I am, Twilight—halfway in between. Why am I doing this?" I brought a hoof down hard and a chunk of cloud puffed up and dissipated on the wind. "I'm probably younger than most of the Players, and I know that different ponies have different needs, different approaches to life! It doesn't—"
"If I may make an observation, my love?" Luna interrupted me, gently laying her wing across my shoulders. "And I beseech thee, take it not as a condemnation."
Uh-oh. She'd slipped back into Archaic Equuish: she was serious. I looked at her warily. "Go ahead."
"Thy cousins must share with thee a quality I greatly admire, though I know well the difficulties that arise from it. Indeed, such is why I shall not allow thee to voyage beyond our world again…"
I couldn't help myself. I felt a flush of anger and opened my mouth to protest.
Luna gave a slight gesture with one hoof to acknowledge my feeling, but continued on. "...unless I am by thy side."
"Oh," I said, feeling foolish. "Well, I won't fight you on that. But what about this 'quality?'"
"'Tis simplicity itself, my love!" She grinned at me. "What thou despiseth beyond measure—in all thy incarnations, by evidence—is to lose."
"Ah… Well, yes, you've got me there," I admitted. "But do you think it's that simple? Two Twilights got into a debate about which method of governing was better and it all snowballed into…" I threw out a hoof skyward.
"Hast thou set thy course on stopping this Great Game?"
"Well, yeah."
"And shall thy efforts be lackadaisical?" She smiled at me with such merriment gleaming in her beautiful turquoise eyes, that I couldn't resist kissing her. Also, I loved it when she used words like "lackadaisical."
I finally broke off the kiss, still holding her head between my wings. "No, my dearest, wonderful Luna. You know me…"
Her grin gleamed brightly in the pre-dawn light. She knew as well as I did what I was about to say.
"I fight to win!"
= = =
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