//------------------------------// // Rattling the Cages // Story: Rites of Ascension // by CvBrony //------------------------------// Twilight peered through the binoculars, focusing and zooming in on the stallion in the top floor office. “I was right. He's there, and he's alone.” “One, two, twelve...” Feint tightened the strap on his gas mask. “Hate to break it to you, but I count twenty goons on various floors, and that's only in rooms with open windows. I doubt they're actual military. They'll have no trouble on their conscience taking you on. You're not going to just waltz in there.” “I'm not waltzing anywhere, but I am going to make him talk to me. I don't know if he'll be helpful, but if anypony knows what's going on with such a huge problem in this Duchy, it's the Duke, and since Badlands doesn't want to pencil me in, I'll just have to force the issue.” Twilight licked her lips. The calculations should have been easy, but the pollution added a random element she didn't like. “And get killed in the process? Or ‘disappeared?’” “Won't happen. At the moment, he's alone, which will give me the edge I need.” “I don't know…” “Dash still hasn't found me yet, or tried to get into contact. I need information, and this is the most likely source. I'm not about to sit around and hope the Wonderbolts find something.” Twilight packed away her binoculars and gas mask into her bag. Her muscles positively tingled with anticipation, even as a primitive part of her mind was ranting about how insane her idea was. “Besides, it's not a real mission unless I do something stupidly risky.” “What do you--” Twilight stood up on tip-hoof, leaned forward, and fell. “--INSANE?!” A little chuckle escaped her lips. A year ago, she would have thought herself just that. Now, though, she was something completely different. She was something that could survive the impact of falling off one of the tallest of towers in all of Sierra Maredre, even if she didn't use a single iota of wind magic. The intimate embrace of the earth would hurt, but for her, was never going to be lethal, much to gravity’s disappointment. Moreover, she had no intention of simply falling to the ground. Wings or not, she was going to fly. Of course, the miasma in the air had other thoughts on the matter. Exiting the spatial rift of her teleport all but broke the air around her like a twig, such as the thunder announcing her spell. This time it wasn't the ground opening its arms, but another building. The energy in her horn cracked again, and the atmosphere punched her in the nose upon exit. Twilight spread her limbs, braking against the air around her. Each leg dangled over the dirty, smoky ground while the skyscrapers passed her by. Pegasi looked on in wonder, and the ground ponies were probably wondering what the heck was going on with the sky. I've got to get this under control. She flipped herself around and teleported again, this time intentionally going nowhere, but slowing herself down. She blinked sand out of her eyes as her hooves landed on the side of a building, standing horizontally for a split second. Though the far distance was obscured in the pollution, there was something there. A dark, grainy molasses eating the horizon, growing larger each second. Another sandstorm. I'll only have another five to ten minutes. Twilight kicked off the building, denting and cracking the flimsy metal “beneath” her. Sand kissed her cheek, taunting her about the weather soon to come. The next spark sent her straight up, a full ninety degrees off where she had intended. This is getting ridiculous. She spun in mid air, readying the next spark. Wind rumbled and resonated with her core, crumbling the resistance at her head. A jet stream of power pushed her, lifting her on feathers she didn't yet have. She was lined up. The next spark through spacetime had to be it. Except for one, every value in the spell was neutral; distance, time correction, direction, it all took no action, except for one thing. Speed. After the teleport, nothing was going to stop her. She was arcing directly to the window hiding Badlands, which meant that it was her next target. The spell she needed was ready almost before she thought of it, and its firing left a magic circle on the glass that was counting down to zero. Her pegasus magic pushed against the jaws of the ground and spears of the buildings, gently guiding her to her quarry. A bright red light pulsed in the circle and pulled on the glass, shattering it into splinters as she passed through. Her front left hoof touched down on shaggy carpet, the one contact of stability before she ducked into a roll. By the time she was out, her telekinetic blade was already at Badlands’ throat. “What in--” The stallion threw up his forelegs. “I haven't done anything!” “No, but you were going to.” Twilight eyed his saddle and the telltale seams housing a hidden cannon compartment. “I didn't come here to fight, just to talk, but your goons downstairs were making that rather difficult. So I decided to bypass them. Now, call them off, and we can have a nice chat.” “But I haven't—” Bang bang bang! A loud, heavy hoof put dents into the metal door. “Boss, are you okay?” Twilight motioned at them. Badlands swallowed and nodded. “I'm fine! A window just blew out. Get a repair team ready, I'll be fine until then. Move.” Silence passed. “If you say so…” After a few moments, Twilight let the tension in her legs drain and the telekinetic blade disperse. “Glad to see you're willing to work with me, Duke Badlands.” She wound up a spell and fired it at the door, sealing it and the walls in a privacy shield. “Now we can converse privately.” Badlands rubbed his throat and slowly sat down. He wore a strange black coat that looked like bark-thread, but wasn't quite right. His coat of hair was maroon, while his mane was a sandy brown. He had several piercings in his ears and nose, and a smell of sweat and too much cologne. “You know, you could have mailed me or something.” “Too slow. The situation is urgent. Pirates attacked my train and took captives. I need to get them back.” “Pfft. Is that all?” Badlands waved off the concern with a hoof. “Look around, Sparkle. This is San Palomino! Land of fire, opportunity, and danger. You step hoof in this place, you know what you're in for. Safety isn't guaranteed.” Twilight rested her elbows on Badlands’ shoddy, uneven desk. “I've read the entire Equestrian Compact, Duke, and promoting the general safety and welfare of a Duchy is the entire reason the nobility exists!” “So naïve.” Twilight blinked. “What?” Badlands waved her over to the broken window and pointed down to the street below. “Take a look, Sparkle. A good, long, look.” “What, at the pollution?” “At the freedom! In San Palomino, we have the ultimate experiment: a land free from alicorns.” “That's what you think.” Aurora muttered in Twilight's ear. Badlands sighed like he was looking at the world's greatest work of art. “I know you're under their influence, and I bet if you stayed here for a while, you'd realize it yourself. But I understand if you'd rather not. It's comforting in their embrace. But I much prefer to stand on my own four hooves. “Here, we're charting our own course. Come what may. No alicorn to twist our minds, or look down on us for being mortal, or pretend to understand us. Thanks to the crystals in the ground, I am as powerful as the Princess herself. She can't move against me without risking her entire economy, which at this point is totally dependant on our magic cores. “So, no, I don't need to help you, or listen to you. And there isn't a thing you can do about it.” Twilight's cheeks burned red while the floor under her turned to mush. “Wow. That was so stupid I actually got dizzy.” “Excuse me?” “There's no excusing that, Duke. I don't care what you think about the Princesses. Really. I couldn't care less at this point. It's not possible. “But right now, there are ponies that need our help, and you are entrusted with the power of the Duchy for that very purpose. Even outside of that, you're the leader of San Palomino, and it falls on you to keep this place functional. Piracy is antithetical to that objective. However much somepony or some company is paying you to look the other way for whatever they are doing here is completely irrelevant. Unless they're the ones doing the piracy, there's no way going after pirates is something they'll object to. I'm willing to bet some company lost millions of bits in the attack I was hit with. “Quite frankly, unless you help me, that title of yours is the only reason you won't be leaving here in shackles for hindering a Crown Investigation.” Badlands spread his wings. “You really think you can come into my home, filled with guards, and haul me away?” Twilight looked at the sealed away door for a moment. “Are you asking me if I think I'm physically capable of kicking your flank, putting you in shackles, and taking you to jail while kicking the collective flanks of all your guards?” Badlands grinned. “Yup.” Twilight grinned back. “Yup.” The stallion staggered back, jaw open. “The only reason I didn't take the front door is that I’m not stupid enough to put myself in literal crosshairs like that. Instead, I flew up here, without wings, busted your office’s wards and window, and rolled right in while you were…” Twilight picked up one of the booklets that was on his desk. “Reading Spider-Mare? Really? Ponies’ lives are at stake and you're reading comics?” “Hey, this is a classic!” Twilight groaned, “Ugh. Whatever. Look, right now I don't even care about your vision or whatever. We can hash that out later. I just need to know where Farriér is hiding so I can add him to the statue garden in Canterlot, and like I said, I bet there are some companies here that would love to see that happen. Do you think we can at least work together on that?” Badlands plopped his rump down in his chair, picked up his comic, and pointed at the broken window. “You can show yourself out. In other words…” He glared at her from over the pages. “Go take a flying leap.” Twilight ripped the comic out of his hooves. “Hey!” Heat built up in her magic as the small spell burned in her anger, finally setting the comic alight. “Welp, I asked nicely. Come here,” she said as she stepped towards the window. “You… You burned it! That was vintage! What are you—” “I said come here!” Twilight grabbed him by the neck and rolled him and his cheap office chair to the window. His rump thudded against the carpet as she slammed him down on the floor. “What is wrong with you?!” Badlands coughed out. “Look down there!” Twilight squeezed his head with two hooves, twisting his neck and body around to point him at the destruction below. “Earlier today I spent over an hour rescuing ponies from a building that collapsed. An event I'm told is disturbingly common in Sierra Maredre. I only need to look at what these things are made of to guess why: if a company or pony wants their building taller, they just weld whatever they find lying around to what they have already. They probably hire some random idiot unicorn to enhance it with wards, and call it done. “It's not like most have a choice in where to stay. Most ponies here are broke. The refineries that make the crystal cores for half of Equestria are at the edge of the city, and they're one of the few reliable large-scale employers in the Duchy. They only pay poverty wages, but that's better than nothing. Thus, anypony in the desert who gets desperate comes here if they can't afford to get back where they came from. They're stuck, because in an absolute fit of irony, the same pollution that's poisoning them is what's stopping the extremely high concentrations of magic in the ground from spewing out random firestorms. This is the only place remotely nearby where they won't get burned in fire or buried in sandstorms. Leaving isn't an option. “The end result? Ponies that can't afford to live anywhere else take up residence here, not knowing if they're going to die in their sleep when the whole thing tumbles over. The worst thing is that you could have stopped this with a wave of your hoof. Simple building standards. Laws so common you could have copied them from any other Duchy, but you sat on your rump and read comic books! “If this isn't a dereliction of duty, of decency, I don't know what is. Do you even care? Do you have even the smallest piece of sympathy? If so, why don't you help me save ponies that are still alive?” Badlands paused for a moment, as if to stoke some ember of consideration. “Honestly, it's not my problem.” Twilight's vision burned hot enough to make the desert blush. She had already kicked Badlands out of the window and was flying, or rather, falling after him. Plumes of pollution snaked by her, raking her nostrils while sand blasted into her coat. Badlands had spread his wings. It was exactly what she was counting on. She plowed into him like Rainbow failing a new trick. Her forelegs wrapped around his neck, and she pushed, forcing him into a dive. “What are you doing?!” “Landing!” Twilight hit him on the head, getting him to duck and dive further, only to pull him up for a landing by a large tent. Though she got off him, she kept one foreleg on his neck to drag him inside. The entire thing was filled with cots and injured ponies. Doctors and nurses were busy, and covered in blood from operations. Not a single IV was anywhere. Syringes were being reused. Flies choked the air almost as much as the pollution. “These are your ponies, Duke Badlands!” Twilight hit his name with enough of a verbal thrust to pierce an eardrum. “I dare you to say to their face what you said to me: that their suffering at your failure is not your problem.” Every single pony that was awake and could move turned to watch him, silently pleading through their shock. On such words could rest the fate of a nation, let alone a Duchy. Badlands sighed. “It's not my problem. Now, leave me alone, Lady Sparkle. I have more important things to do.” Twilight stood still in the breeze that kicked up from Badlands leaving, letting the wind blow her mane into her face. “I'm sorry, everypony. I tried to get him to help.” “Not like he ever does,” one of the doctors said. “Still…” Twilight brushed away her mane and turned around, peeking through the gap in between the flaps. “How can somepony be so heartless? Nopony is served by piracy. All I wanted to do was save some of his citizens! Even the greediest, most vile corporation imaginable should hate pirates!” “What if he's not in the pocket of any company?” Twilight lurched like she'd been hit while the lightning in the idea sent a shiver up her spine. She took a breath, and time slowed. Her mind went to a blue sky, and flew. Aurora's suggesting that he he may not have been bought by any company. That's starting to make sense; if he was, he would help me. But what would that leave? Being in no one's pocket wouldn't exclaim this...callousness towards his ponies. What if he's being bought by the pirates? Wait, I'm not so sure about that. His office was nearly as shoddy as the rest of San Palomino. Wouldn't that mean he's like the rest of the Duchy? Why would a rich pony have a crooked desk? Even if he was just trying to keep up appearances to not look bought, nopony would so much as blink at a freaking Duke having a nice desk. The lightning hit again, and the pieces fell into place. He's not being bought. Those thugs aren't protecting him, they're watching him. He probably can't go anywhere without their permission. He's being controlled — almost certainly by a geas, given that he's had plenty of opportunity to ask the Princess for help. Twilight opened her eyes, and time started up again. “Don't do that! I can't follow your thoughts when you think that fast! How am I supposed to be your armor if I don't know your thoughts? This place is too dangerous!” Sorry, Aurora, but I think I just figured it out. Come on, Badlands might be in danger. Twilight dashed out of the tent and sparked her way into the sky, letting the random spell carry her through the air. All she needed was a little height, a shield against the sand, and the direction of the Duchy Tower. “Are you sure about this?” Twilight peered over the edge of the three-story building next door to the Duchy Tower. The rough, concrete edge rubbed against her chin, but didn't drop any rocks or dust down below to warn the thugs. Her shield was still glowing, despite her best efforts, but at least it was down to a faint glow from the blowing sand. Yeah, look at them. They're in a semi-circle around Badlands, and they don't look happy. They aren't subservient to him; he's subservient to them. “Ssssshhhh, they're talking!” “And you're sure she doesn't know anything?” “Yeah. She's just pissed I won't help. I don't think she's as smart as everypony says. We're fine.” Twilight stifled a grumble under her breath. “Good to hear. I'm glad you understand the situation, Duke. You can go back to your comics.” “Yeah. Thanks.” Badlands trotted back into the service entrance of the tower, but whether his head was hung low from worry or shame, Twilight couldn't tell. The thing that struck her heart most, though, was his dead, blank eyes. Okay, I got what I need for now. Time to get back to the Crown Investigation HQ. “But we still don't know where Farriér is. What do we do now?” Twilight rolled into her back and smiled at the sky. We're not done yet. Despite Badlands’ best efforts, this was actually productive! Twilight nibbled on a ration and suppressed a yawn while she walked into the squad room. Feint was in Babs’ section of the bullpen, going through her things and files, waiting for Twilight to come back. “How’d it go?” “On the one hoof, about as well as you thought. On the other, way, way better.” She filled him in. “That would explain some things.” Feint rubbed his lips with a fetlock. “If Badlands is in cahoots with Farriér and controlled by a geas, our job just got more complicated. You really know how to kick up a storm, Lady Sparkle.” “I haven't even begun to cause trouble,” Twilight said with a wink. “Speaking of trouble, how's Rose doing?” “She's done tripping balls now. She's going to have a monster headache and a case of the shakes for a wee few hours, which she'll probably nap off. One of the medics gave her a painkiller and more counter-agent. She'll be just fine as long as she avoids the Elixir from here on out.” “Good. I'll see her in a few. First I want to send a telegraph to Canterlot to give them an update.” “Oh! That reminds me. You got a telegraph while you were out.” He fished out an envelope. “Here.” “Thanks!” Twilight tore it open and read. THIS IS OBSIDIAN STOP YOUR TELEGRAM WAS RECEIVED STOP A NEARBY NIGHT GUARD TEAM HAS COMPLETED THEIR MISSION AND IS AVAILABLE FOR BACKUP STOP A COURIER IS EN ROUTE WITH ALL AVAILABLE INTEL ON FARRIÉR STOP BELLEROPHON HAS BEEN DISPATCHED TO AID IN SEARCH AND RESCUE STOP THREE WONDERBOLT SAR UNITS HAVE BEEN DISPATCHED STOP CAPTAIN SPITFIRE ON STATION STOP FORT EARTHBORNE IS ON HIGH ALERT THANKS TO YOUR EXPERIENCE STOP I AM CURRENTLY ON STATION AT THE FORT ON OTHER BUSINESS BUT CAN BE DIVERTED TO HELP IF NEED BE STOP FORT EARTHBORNE IS AT YOUR DISPOSAL STOP “Huh. So Shiny is in the area. Good, I have more resources.” Twilight pulled out her paper and notebook, ready to make a new telegram. “I don't have anything for him to do, though. At least not yet. Once I know where Farriér is, though, I wouldn't mind having him on the assault team. There's no force multiplier like a GR-10 High Cardinal.” “Aye, damn right. I’ve seen him in action. The Cap’n can teach these pirates what firepower is all about.” Twilight started her work calculating her new confirmation code. “Here's hoping I get to see Farriér's face when he realizes what he's up against. He's earned a bit of payback for hurting my ponies.” Feint laughed. “Wanna send him a telegraph?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “How? If we could do that, tracking him should be easy.” “We aren't sure how he does it, exactly.” Feint pulled out a map of San Palomino absolutely covered in criss-crossed lines. “According to Babs’ investigation, he's got this crazy courier network. As far as we can tell, then you send him a message, only one courier actually gets where to really go. The rest are decoys, and none of them wind up at his base. They probably wait for the ship to show up. Every time we try to infiltrate it, he finds out and shifts things around. But, that does mean that if you send it, he'll get it, just don't expect following the couriers to work.” “Clever. Too clever. But that won't be enough. I'll close in on him yet. Give me a few minutes to create the messages.” She opened her book and made her message, then walked down the hall to the station’s telegraph room. She got a dirty looking kicking one of the officers out of a booth, but this had to be done. THIS IS LADY SPARKLE STOP PRIOR TELEGRAM RECEIVED STOP NEW INTEL UNCOVERED STOP DUKE BADLANDS COMPROMISED STOP UNDER CONTROL OF CAPTAIN FARRIÉR STOP DO NOT TRUST STOP HIGH PROBABILITY OF GEAS STOP DO NOT INTERVENE AS IT WILL TIP OFF FARRIÉR STOP PRIVATE FORCES ANSWER TO FARRIÉR STOP REQUEST NIGHT GUARD OBSERVATION STOP INVESTIGATION CONTINUING STOP CONTINUE SAR OPERATIONS STOP CONFIRMATION CODE: NINE FIVE OVER SEVEN BLUE FIVE TEN BREAK ALPHA STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE STOP Twilight tapped her pen on her nose. A message to Farriér, huh? What to say… I'M ALIVE FARRIÉR STOP I'M COMING AFTER YOU STOP SURRENDER AND I'LL ADD YOU TO THE STATUE GARDEN STOP DON'T SURRENDER AND I'LL GET CREATIVE STOP SPARKLE “That ought to do it.” Twilight took off the headphones and stepped out of the booth. “Now then, next up, I need to dig around through some files to see who I can get to turn on Farriér. Then, after she gets up, I need to talk to Rose.” “I frigging hate the whole frigging world right now.” Rose rubbed her temples with hooves that must have been sledgehammers, and that still made her hurt less than the apocalypse inside her head. “Next pony I see had better have more painkillers on them if they want to live.” The sound of paper, or perhaps her muscles, tearing in two threatened to do the same to her eardrums. The fact that it wasn't coming from her own body was the only reason she didn't think she had torn off one of her own limbs. That meant, though, she had somepony to kill. “Congratulations, you're about to die. Say your–” Rose blinked from her upside down position lying on a cold, concrete floor, and found herself staring up at Twilight Sparkle. Said pony was holding a single use baggie of medicine and a glass of water. “It's just aspirin, but it's all my first aid kit had.” Twilight smiled. “So do I get to live?” Rose itched and shook with the desire to make something, anything pay for what she had gone through. But, there was aspirin to be had. “Yes. Yes you do. Place the pills on the floor, back away, and nopony gets hurt.” “Yes, O criminal mastermind.” Twilight opened the cell bar door and stepped inside, then placed the medicine on the ground. Her cloak was filled with the hot sand of the desert, as was her coat and mane. If one wasn't watching her movements, they could easily mistake her for a San Palomino native by this point. Rose downed the painkiller as fast as she could, along with the water. “How long was I out?” “A good portion of the day. Not long enough to be truly worried, although I am curious as to why the counter agent didn't work on you as well as it should have.” “I think it did work. I’m not jumping you for more Elixir, so it must have done something. Other than that, I guess passing out is just my bad luck. Maybe it has something to do with all the potions I had as a kid. One of my dads is good at them.” “Sounds like an interesting family. I'd love to hear more about them sometime. Right now, though, I need to know more about what you know about the gangs in the desert.” Twilight stole the cell's oh-so-amazing wooden plank of a seat and sat down. “I've been digging around for intel on them in the files here. Read some dossiers. But I'm betting you can help even more, especially if you know where any of them are.” “What makes you think I know anything like that?” Twilight gave her a look that translated as “Come on, really? It's me. Of course I figured it out.” “Humour me.” Rose deadpanned. “If you insist.” Twilight sucked down a deep breath. “You said you ambush ponies in the desert for bounties. This means you have to know where the gangs are so you don't run into them, or so you do, depending on the bounty. It also means you know their tactics and customs, because according to the records I've dug up, you've caught your fair share of them, and dropped them off at depots all over San Palomino. “I could go on, but really, that's all I needed to make the conclusions. Simple enough?” “Yeah.” Rose sighed and flopped back over on the concrete which would have been comfortably cool in anywhere but San Palomino. “I'm beginning to think helping you is a bad idea.” “If you travel with me… Well, I can guarantee it won't be boring. Speaking of, I don't think we discussed your fee.” Rose's ear perked up. “Fee?” “You are a bounty hunter, right? This is a bit of an extended job, so I wouldn't feel right not paying you. How about… Two thousand per day, plus expenses? Would that be reasonable?” Rose flipped onto her belly. If her life was one of those fancy animated movies, there would be slot machine wheels spinning in her eyes, ending in “Jackpot.” “Yes, I believe that's reasonable. Who do you want me to—” Rose's memory bulldozed the piles of bits in her mind off a cliff. “Wait, Farriér? No, nononononono. No way. I learned my lesson on him a long time ago. It's suicide! Nopony crosses that guy! I was fine with flying you to the city and hanging out, but this is something else entirely. There's no way I'm stepping into the crosshairs for—” “Four thousand bits.” Twilight dropped a small sack of coins on the ground. “Per day, plus expenses plus ten percent, maximum six days.” The bulldozer in Rose's mind got buried in bits. “Damn. I… I don't know…” “Five thousand.” There was a pause. Rose swallowed. “I am so going to live to regret this.” “That's better than not living to regret it.” Twilight motioned to the open cell door. “Welcome aboard. Come on, we have a trip to the desert to prepare for.” “Are you sure you don't want us to come with you?” Twilight nodded to Feint. “I'm sure. I appreciate the concern, but having a Crown Agent with me will just guarantee a poor reception, and it’s too far outside a leyline for me to bother Luna. I'm sure I'll be back before too long. Let my brother know where I went, though, just in case.” “Will do. Good luck!” Feint put on his sunglasses in an obvious attempt to look cool. “I'm pretty sure you'll need it.” “I don't like to rely on luck. But it sure doesn't hurt to have.” Twilight waved, and they were off into the sky with Rose pulling the wagon they had flown into town on. The sunset loomed large at the horizon, painting the sky red, orange, pink, purple, and even indigo to the east. As she leaned back in what passed for a seat, Twilight started going over her notes and maps. “How long do you think it'll take to get there?” “We'll be camping tonight for sure. I don't have the energy to get there tonight, and even if I did, we'd only be dealing with gangsters cranky that we woke them up at three AM. But we should be there sometime before noon tomorrow, which is good, because most gangs in the desert schedule their activities for late afternoon, just a bit before sunset.” “See? Knowledgeable. Exactly what I need here.” Twilight fiddled with her schedule, not that she expected it to be a solid one. “I've read a bit about this gang in the intel file the Crown has on them. Care to add anything?” “Yeah. Diamond Reign is absolutely bonkers. Normally, I wouldn't want to get near her or her crew. Are you really sure you want to try talking to them?” “Their territory is close to Farriér's operating area, and the data suggests the two aren't friends. So, yes, I'm sure.” “Well, here's hoping they don't kill us. Normally, only stallions get to walk into their compound. If they're lucky, mares just get turned away.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Really? I haven't read the whole file yet, but it looks like the pony in charge is a mare.” “Check if there is a list of other known members. Every single one will be a stallion. She doesn't let other mares get close to her boys. I'm guessing it's a jealousy thing, but who knows with her.” “Like I said, working with me is never boring.” The two flew on well into the night, stopping only after the sun had completely vanished over the horizon. They built a fire, though there was no wood. Instead, Twilight used a pile of rocks and their natural fire magic to heat them to the point that they glowed with a thaumic hum. No tent was available; it had been captured or destroyed with the rest of their supplies at the start of the day. Instead, a shield and sleeping bags would have to do. “Another night in the desert.” Rose stretched out and yawned. “It's really not as bad as some ponies think. At least for some areas. The sand stays warm for you to lie on, and most of the really dangerous things out here sleep at night.” “Sounds like you have a lot of experience,” Twilight said while getting into her bag. “Have you always lived out here?” “Yup. Born and raised. My mom and my dads taught me how to survive. How to fight. It was up to me to figure out how to bounty hunt, though.” “I honestly can't imagine it.” Twilight took a swig from her canteen. “I grew up in Canterlot. My parents weren't rich, but we weren't poor by any stretch. Some ponies think I always had whatever I wanted, but that's not really true. Any book I wanted, maybe, thanks to the castle's extensive library. For everything else, though, even as Celestia's student, I was expected to make do with a modest stipend. “However, I have to acknowledge that I still had it pretty well off. No worries over food, water, or shelter. The best education in Canterlot. These things are significant, so I know how hollow it sounds when I say I don't think I'm spoiled.” Rose chuckled. “You did just hire me for more money than I'd ever seen in my life.” “Yeah, well, that's a recent thing. They pay Grand Mages exceptionally well, because sometimes we find problems that can only be solved by tossing money at it. Most don't work that way, but some do, and when lives are on the line, I'll spend a bit more for expediency.” “I can't argue with that. If tossing around a few bits saves some ponies, I'm happy to hoof over my tax bits. Wish a few bits would make Farriér go away.” “If only.” Twilight yawned. “One things for sure, I'm not going to stop until Farriér is caught. After that, I need to see to it that Badlands is dealt with.” “Good luck. The guy is crazy well connected. You’re going to be pissing off a lot of ponies.” “There are no words to say how little I care about his connections. He’s going to be gone.” Twilight dampened the spell on the rocks, dimming them down. “That's later, though. First comes Farriér. And for that, we need some rest. Good night, Rose. Sweet dreams.” “Yeah, dreams.” Rose popped a couple pills. “Right…” So, just where am I? Rainbow gently slid open the cover to her new hidey-hole, which was another vent unit she had found. Three times I try to get out, and three times I get lost. Almost as if there's some kind of magic— She resisted the urge to bang her head on the metal wall. Duh. Confusion magic. Makes a pony go in circles when they aren't supposed to be somewhere. Stupid, stupid pegasus. We're up against unicorns. You gotta think like you have a horn. She reached out and grabbed hold of the door handle, grinding her teeth at the hinges’ creaking. This whole place needs a few barrels of grease. Okay, key to fighting confusion magic? Think like you belong here, and focus on simple thoughts, over and over, and eventually its hold loosens. She walked out the door, keeping her stride as smooth and natural as possible. No rushing to attract attention, no fancy hoofwork. She just walked. Dur, I'm a stupid pirate, yar! Okay, enough of that. Simple thoughts. Right at the intersection. Right at the intersection. She followed her thought, making a square right turn. Keep going this way. Keep going this way. It was two more turns, but she found something no confusion magic would keep from her: an exit hatch. She grabbed hold and gave the wheel a spin. Ha! Time to find out where I— Rainbow swallowed as the door opened. Outside was a harbour, but there wasn't a speck of sky to be found. Ponies worked to offload cargo — including other ponies — and serviced random machines. Metal was everywhere, except for much of the walls, which were solid red stone. This was why their base was so hard to find. It was underground. Which meant: so was she. Getting out of here just got a lot more difficult.