//------------------------------// // 3: Reunions and Heartsongs // Story: The Super Speedy Warp'n Weavy 3000 // by Void Knight //------------------------------// 1rst of Ardeurmois, 0 ER Suri had been to The Queen’s Mane before, though not for a while. It was up towards the upper edge of quality, and the prices had been rather outside her budget during her time with Adagio. Of course, she could easily afford it now with her royal reward and the funds Starlight had given her down in Cetum Cellae. She supposed that that made picking it as the location for her and Sassy’s dinner a minor case of wish fulfillment on her part, but she felt that she was entitled to the odd wish fulfilment. And there came Sassy now, trotting through the crowds. She’d clearly had a chance to get prepared for the dinner, as she was now brushed and curried and dressed in what appeared to be a saddle of ribbed silk, with glittering beads around the edges. Sassy held her tongue with visible effort until the two ponies had entered the restaurant, been shown their table, taken their seats, and ordered drinks and appetizers. “So how’d it go?” asked Sassy the instant the waitress departed. Suri had spent a few idle moments contemplating exactly how to answer that question while waiting for Sassy to arrive. She knew she should probably avoid mentioning anything about her feelings regarding Baroness Pommel. While she trusted her friend’s character implicitly, she didn’t necessarily trust Sassy’s discretion. The mare was horrible at keeping secrets. “Well enough, I suppose,” she replied. “Prim Hemline stated that I’m free to reenter the Guild as a journeymare, though I’ll have to present a masterpiece just like anypony else if I want to make master. Speaking of which, are you planning on attempting a masterpiece anytime soon? It’s been nearly five years since you became a journeymare and I’d love to see you make mistress.” “Actually, Ah have been thinking about that. Here, take a look.” Sassy’s horn lit up, and an image took shape in the air between them. Suri whistled. “Luster’s hooves, but that’s beautiful!” she said. “It looks like it’s made out of glass.” “Glad you like the idea,” said Sassy with a grin. “Ah’ve been doing some practice samples with linen and glass beads, but Ah’ll need silk and gems for the real thing. Lots of silk and gems. Practice only gets you so far if it’s not with the good stuff. Been saving up some to afford those.” “Well, I could loan you some bits if you need it,” said Suri. “Nah,” said Sassy. “Ah appreciate the offer, but Ah’m not in a huge hurry. Ah can take mah time, earn the money Ah need fair and square.” She took a sip of water. “And speakin’ of masterpieces, any ideas what you might do for yours? Dunno how much time you’ve had to think about fashion while you were with Baroness Dazzle, but Ah figured you’d have to have at least put a few minutes into it.” “No really clear ideas,” admitted Suri. “Up until a few weeks ago, I was a servant, and as far as I knew it could be years before I even became a journeymare again. It seemed kind of silly to try and think about masterpieces when I wasn’t even sure I would ever get back in the Guild at all. And since Chroma I’ve been too busy just trying to get a handle on this new life to really think about tailoring.” “Ah see,” said Sassy. “Hay, speakin’ of Chroma, what really happened there? Ah’ve heard the rumors, of course, but they’re pretty loopy, and half of them don’t agree with the other two-thirds.” “Well,” replied Suri, “It all started with the Festival of Remembrance, of course…” They got through the appetizers and were well into the main courses (squash soup with croutons and candied apple bits for Suri and a mixed vegetable salad for Sassy), before Suri had brought them back to Ponyville and to their knighting. “… And since then we’ve all been pretty busy just trying to get our new lives in order,” finished Suri. “Wow,” replied Sassy. “You know, Suri, I’m not sure which weirds me out more: that all these crazy things are happening to you or that you aren’t more weirded out by them. If Ah had your life, Ah think Ah’d be running around screaming like a banshee. At least you got a really nice cloak out of the deal. What in Luster’s spangly flanks is it made of anyway?” “No idea,” replied Suri with a wry smile. “It looks like silk, obviously, but it feels as soft as wool. Plus it didn’t get scuffed or burnt or torn, even when Chroma threw us all over the place or shot lightning at us. And on top of all that, the color seems to be a part of the cloth, not like a dye.” “No kidding,” said Sassy. “Ah’m not sure even Tauran red can get that bright a red.” “Starlight’s best guess is that the cloaks and weapons and jewelry are made out of solid Harmony magic,” continued Suri, “not out of metal and crystal and cloth. That would explain why we don’t recognize half the materials.” “Paisley and poplins,” muttered Sassy. “Maybe we should talk about something else,” said Suri. “Anything interesting happening in the Guild these days?” “Well...” said Sassy, “Bottom Nick has made master.” Suri whistled. “I bet that tweaked a few tails,” she said. “A donkey jack as a Guild master?” “Yeah, but even Baroness Pommel had to acknowledge that he’s dead good. Has this trick of weaving metal wire into clothes and making the most beautiful designs with it… Here, take a look.” Her horn lit up again, and an image of a waistcoat decorated with a design of tiny golden suns took shape above the table. “Wow,” said Suri. “That is beautiful.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4th of Ardeurmois, 0 ER “So what did those two unicorns want?” asked Starlight, peering over the edge of her tea cup She and Adagio were sharing a breakfast in the sitting room of her tower this morning, after the latter had stopped by for an unexpected social call. It had been a slight surprise as Starlight wasn’t exactly used to other nobles wanting to spend time with her. But, most of the other Heartlands nobles weren’t bound together by mystical artifacts of harmony and friendship. Adagio swallowed one of Sugar Belle’s blueberry muffins. “They were looking for patronage and funding. Apparently they have a lot of really impressive ideas, but they need funds and noble protection to put them into practice. I told them that I wasn’t about to offer them patronage without something more concrete than words, but I did manage to scrape together a five hundred livre loan to let them build one of their designs. Some kind of automagical sewing machine thingy. If they’re as good as they say they are, I’ll probably offer them patronage, and then they can either take it or pay back the loan with the profits they’ll make from that device.” Five hundred livres, thought Starlight. Luster’s horn. Living on the road like that, those two almost certainly don’t have anything to their names beyond what’s in that cart, and there’s no way that’s worth anything close to five hundred livres. Adagio, what have you done? “And what happens if their machine doesn’t work?” she said out loud. Adagio froze for a moment, a butter knife held motionless in her aura. When she spoke, her voice was just a shade too casual. “Then I suppose they’ll have to find some other way of paying back the loan.” “Some other way like being bound in indenture?” said Starlight pointedly. “If it comes to that,” replied Adagio. Starlight grit her teeth, a surge of anger flowing through her. “Adagio! You’re playing with those stallions’ lives! You know how easily the system is abused and you just...eagerly run into it? Was this really the only option you had?” Adagio blinked back at her, frowning deeply. “Starlight...do you really think so little of me? After everything we went through together?” “...That’s not fair,” Starlight sighed, her ears drooping. “Adagio...why didn’t you come to me? I could have helped cover the bill, or maybe-” “You still have free assets after buying out Suri’s contract?” Starlight slumped. “Well, not right now, but there are some things I could move around.” “And if you somehow wind up indentured from selling every bit of property you own, you can’t help anypony!” Adagio fired back. “And I won’t be able to support you while bankrupt! You may be the Element of Generosity, but that doesn’t mean you have to destroy yourself trying to save everypony!” Starlight didn’t know what to say to that, but Adagio wasn’t done. “This is what frustrates me about you, Starlight! You’re so smart, and your heart is in the right place, but sometimes you completely refuse to consider the consequences of what you’re proposing. And I don’t just mean the consequences to you. What do you think would happen if you abolished indentures and debtor’s prisons?” “No more ponies would be enslaved and abused!” retorted Starlight. “And poor ponies wouldn’t be able to get loans, wouldn’t have any way to start new businesses,” said Adagio. “Ponies aren’t stupid. Nopony who routinely makes risky loans stays in business long. Buck, take these two unicorns. The only reason I could risk loaning them those five hundred livres is because they could put up their indenture as collateral. Yes, the system can be abused. But the solution isn’t to abolish it, it’s to fix it. Tighten up the laws, make sure the ones we have are enforced, get the decent nobles to band together and boycott the ones that abuse the laws.” “...Fine,” Starlight almost spat. Capitulating felt like ash in her mouth. “This time, Adagio. This time I won’t...say anything if this goes badly. But this isn’t right. There has to be a better way.” Adagio sighed, getting to her hooves. “I’m sorry Starlight. Really. I don’t actually like this sort of thing, you know. I just don’t see any other way to make it work.” “...I know.” As her friend left, Starlight Glimmer couldn’t help but stew. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ow, thought Flim as he awoke. He lay there for an indeterminate amount of time, and eventually came to the conclusion that his head really hurt. After a further indeterminate length of time, he determined that he probably had a hangover, which was followed with surprising swiftness by the thought that he should pour himself a dose of the brothers’ hangover cure. A groan from his brother’s slumped form reminded him that he should pour his brother a dose of the cure as well. A few minutes later, after both brothers had finished the shudders and spasms that accompanied the cure working through their system, they exchanged glances. “Well, my brother--” said Flam. “--I believe we may have gone a tad too far celebrating our success last night,” continued Flim. “Or perhaps the distance we traveled was just right,” said Flam, a shower of green sparkles from his horn illuminating a hastily scrawled blueprint tacked to one wall of their cramped cart. “I am hungry, and so are you,” said Flim. “I shall go get us something nice for breakfast---” “---While I attempt to reconstruct last night’s work,” finished Flam. Different ponies responded in different ways to alcohol. In the brothers’ case, they had discovered long ago that when they got very drunk, they tended to break through into a narrow window where they could make intuitive leaps and logical connections that would never have occurred to them sober. Unfortunately, while this alcohol-fueled inspiration was excellent at creating breakthroughs, it tended to leave the brothers in no fit state to record their thoughts. This was far from the first morning that Flam had been required to puzzle out what in Midnight’s mane his brother and he had invented the previous night. In this case, Flim and Flam seemed to have invented an automatic apple-picking and cider-pressing machine. It would need a lot more work even to get the blueprints to the point where the brothers knew roughly how to build the device, much less actually go ahead and build it, but the basic concept seemed doable. That wasn’t always the case, unfortunately. Some months ago, the brothers had woken up after trying to drink away the pain of one of their earliest rejections to find what purported to be blueprints for a second Sun. They never had managed to figure out how that had been supposed to work. By the time Flam had finished the preliminary annotations and added the blueprints to the brothers’ idea stash, Flim had returned with an egg-and-fried-grains casserole from the Southern Breeze. Over savory food and strong coffee, the brothers began to lay out their plans. They had three months to finish their device before they had to start making payments on the loan the Baroness had given them. Three months, for all intents and purposes, until they would have either won their dreams or lost everything. They might be able to make a few payments before they’d have to start selling their tools, but not many. “First things first,” said Flim. “Before we even start on the actual job, we need to familiarize ourselves with the town a bit. And we need to restock on foodstuffs.” “And drinks,” said Flam, opening a cabinet. “We’re out again. I think I saw a place selling cider on the way in here…” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Ah know this is probably rude,” said Apple Bloom as she rolled out a barrel of cider, “but Ah got to ask: How come you two have apples for your cutie marks when your talent is for making devices? Are we related or something? Cos as far as I’ve ever heard the only reasons you’d have an apple for a mark are because your talent has something to do with apples, or because you are an Apple and your mark’s reflecting your heritage.” “Well,” said… whichever one of them had the mustache... “In the first place, our talent’s not actually for making devices--” “--though that’s a common misconception--” continued No Mustache. “--it’s for finding solutions--” said Mustache. “--or filling in holes, or however you want to put it.” said No Mustache. “Just like his mark fills in the gap in mine, so we see how to fill in the gaps in things.” “We know what it is ponies want and need.” “When one of our inventions doesn’t work, we can see exactly what parts are missing to make it work.” “Etcetera and so forth.” “But to loop back to your original question, we really have no idea whether we’re related to you.” “Our marks do in part come from a familial connection to the fruit business.” “The rest of our family are unicorn field hands, working in the orchards of Countess Jubilee over near the border with the Solar Prelate.” “Though most of her farmers are of course earth ponies, she makes it a point to keep a few unicorns on hoof to do things that would be difficult to manage with mouth and hooves and help with picking the fruit.” “It’s not a bad life. We have a brother and a sister still working there. Pays well enough.” “Just too boring for us. We were attracted to more intellectual and creative tasks.” “But in any case, that is where we come from.” “So, do you have family over in that part of the Heartlands?” Apple Bloom was so disoriented by the unicorns’ rapid-fire juggling of lines that it took her a minute to realize that she’d been asked a question. “Well, we have family just about everywhere,” she replied. “The saying’s that wherever you find apple trees, you find Apple ponies tending them, and that’s more true than it ain’t. But Ah don’t think there’s all that many Apple unicorns. Probably just a coincidence. Kind of a shame, it’d be interesting if we were related.” “That it would,” said Mustache cheerfully. “In any case, my thanks for the cider. And I do hope you’re enjoying your new apple peeler.” “Haven’t really got a chance to try it out yet,” said Apple Bloom. “But I’ll be sure to let you know what Ah think of it once Ah do get a chance to use it.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As she came out into Everfree Square, Suri blinked in surprise. Parked in the center of the square was a large house-wagon combination, such as was sometimes used by wandering performers or merchants. One side of it had folded out into a kind of impromptu patio, and a pair of unicorn stallions were seated at a table on that stage, working away at something. They were clad in identical striped suits, wore identical straw hats, and had the same pale cream coats and dull red manes. In fact, the only differences between them seemed to be that one of them had a mustache. “Hello,” she called out as she trotted into the square. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.” To her surprise, the one with the mustache burst into song. “Well, my brother, take a look And say you unto me, Is this who I think it is? See you what I see?” The one without the mustache responded. “Well, my brother, I do see A pony standing there. Methinks ‘tis the one and only Dame Suri Polomare!” “But who are you?” Suri heard herself say. “Ah, that’s our cue,” sang Mustache. “Well, I am Flim,” he continued. “And I am Flam,” replied the one without the mustache. “And we’re the world-famous Flim Flam Brothers,” “Traveling artificers nonpareil.” “And we’ve got opportunity,” they sang together, “in this very community.” “For to Baroness Dazzle we did propose and unfold,” sang Flam, now singing far more quickly. “A plan that promises to bring her a full mountain of gold,” replied Flam at the same ear-blurring speed. Suri’s head began to spin trying to keep up with their song. “And when the Baroness our plans did behold,” “She quickly determined not to leave us out in the cold.” “And a five hundred bit loan she gave us to hold.” “I suppose by now you’re wondering, from whence this gold shall come.” “Any horse can make a claim, and any pony can do the same.” “But my brother and I have something most unique and superb, unseen at any time in this new world.” Suri’s head was swimming by now. Everything seemed a bit fuzzy, except for the song. The wonderful, wonderful, song. She had to keep listening, and she had to have whatever the brothers were trying to describe. “Folks, it’s the one and only, the biggest and the best,” sang one of the brothers. “The unbelievable,” sang the other. “Unimpeachable.” Most of the onlooking ponies joined in on this line. “Indispensable.” Iron Will came in on this line, his deep voice booming through the town square like a drum. “I-can’t-believe-able,” Suri heard herself singing along. “Super Speedy Warp’n Weavy Three Thousaaaand!!!” The song finished on a crescendo that shook the windows facing the square. “Coming soon to a town square near you,” said Impressive Mustache with a bow. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The blade came whistling down at Adagio’s head, and she brought up her rapier to block. The two blades made an odd crackling noise that rang through her manor’s courtyard when they came together, a result of the safety spell Moon Dancer had cast on them before the match began. This was only practice, after all, and there was no point in getting anypony hurt. Moon Dancer’s blade whipped through intricate arcs, probing Adagio’s defenses. Adagio carefully countered, weaving her own amber-glowing blade around Moon Dancer’s weapon. The fight was fairly evenly matched. Moon Dancer was the more skilled of the two, as befitted a guard, but Adagio had put in a fair amount of practice herself. And Adagio’s Harmonic rapier was a truly masterful weapon, so well made and perfectly balanced that it felt more like an extension of her will than an object she needed to manipulate. She particularly liked how it sounded when it hissed through the air. Just like its mistress, the Sword of Friendship went forth to battle singing. Both unicorns didn’t move that much, focused on the blades that danced between them in their telekinetic grips. Now and again one of them would jump to one side or leap back to avoid a blade thrust. Adagio saw Moon Dancer’s forehoof move, and just barely managed to jump to the side. A kicked pebble shot through where her horn had been just a moment before. Had that connected, the backlash would have left Adagio dazed and wide open for a strike. But now Moon Dancer was momentarily unbalanced and distracted. Adagio’s rapier leapt out, swatting aside Moon Dancer’s own blade and striking her on the flank. There was a flash, and Moon Dancer yelped with pain and fell over on her side. The safety spell kept the blades from actually drawing blood, but a hit would still sting painfully, as well as leaving a line of glow in Moon Dancer’s pale lavender on her hide to mark the touch. Moon Dancer clambered to her feet and her horn flashed pale lavender. The safety spells on the blades fell apart into raw mana, and the lines of light on her and Adagio’s bodies faded away. “Two out of five matches,” said Moon Dancer, panting slightly. “Not bad, your Ladyship.” “Thank you, Moon,” said Adagio. “If I’m going to be the Heartland’s first line of defense against the likes of Chroma and Echidna, I’ll need the practice.” She flourished her Harmonic rapier for no particular reason. A little off to the side, there was a crash. Aria and Raindrops had also been sparring, and it appeared Aria had tried to put Raindrops in a headlock. They’d both fallen out of the sky, but Raindrops had managed to twist at the last minute so that she landed on top of Aria, knocking the wind out of her. The two struggled for a moment more before Aria slumped limply. Raindrops rolled off her and helped her to her hooves. “And so will the rest of us,” noted Adagio as she turned and began to trot off towards her house in search of a bath. “I really don’t know what to do about Suri or Sonata. They’re not warriors at all. Lightning’s a Ranger, Aria’s strong and I think she’s had some martial arts training, I’ve practiced with the rapier and know some combat magic, and Starlight knows all sorts of spells. But Suri and Sonata…Obviously they have to come along, that’s how the Elements work. But I worry about leading them into fights when they don’t have any kind of combat skills.” Moon Dancer said nothing. Which was fair enough, since Adagio hadn’t really been talking to her. Just thinking things through out loud. Her thoughts were instead interrupted by the distant noise of a song coming from the town square. At first she didn’t pay the song any particular heed, but then she heard the booming of Iron Will’s voice joining in. Iron Will? she thought. He and Suri must have gotten back from their trip. On a hunch, she ignited her horn and reached out, probing for certain very specialized magical emanations to which her mark sensitized her. Yes, that’s a heartsong. Strong one, by the feel, and it seems to have just climaxed. Wonder what set it off? No prizes for guessing who. She trotted over to Everfree Square and sure enough, it was packed with ponies just rousing from the song trance. “Adagio!” boomed Iron happily. “Iron, Suri!” replied Adagio with a smile. “So good to see you! I’d give you a hug, but I know I’m all sweaty. So just give me a few minutes to get a bath and get the rest of the girls together, and you can tell us all about your trip.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Perhaps half an hour later, the seven were gathered together on the patio of the Southern Breeze, enjoying another fine day and the fruits of Sonata’s skill. “So,” asked Adagio, “How did the trip go? What did Mistress Hemline have to say?” “Well,” said Suri, “Mistress Hemline was actually quite fair. Laid out the rules, but she didn’t seem to be holding a grudge, and she actually did quite a lot to help me out. Basically, the ruling was that when you bought my indentures, you took on all the debts I owed the Guild for the stunts I pulled. So when the Queen knighted me and wiped out my debts to you, all the debts were wiped out. I’m free to rejoin the Guild as a journeymare, and Mistress Hemline even confirmed that the Guild won’t object to my continuing to serve as your assistant for a while.” “That’s wonderful!” said Adagio, a huge smile breaking out on her face. “Yeah, but then we get to the Scorpan in the council. Pommel was there, and she was just as, well, Pommel as ever. Tried to make the whole thing into a dominance fight. She basically said that either I surrender to her, or she’ll go out of her way to ruin me again. And even Prim Hemline agreed that I had to do something to publically reconcile with the Guild, or else it would look like I was trying to defy them, and that would give Pommel an excuse to step on me again. Obviously I couldn’t just accept Pommel’s dominance, but I couldn’t afford to get into a fight with the Guild either. So I pleaded the need to talk to you and got out of there.” “Ouch,” said Adagio, grimacing. “I feel like I’m missing something,” said Starlight. “What’s the deal with Baroness Pommel? It sounds like there’s something a little more than the usual “noble” antics going on here.” “Yeah,” said Suri, flinching internally. “The short version is that after I finished my apprenticeship under Prim Hemline, I didn’t want to wait until I attained mastery to open my own shop. I moved to Manehatten, in the Solar Prelate, and tried to open my own store. In retrospect, I probably wouldn’t have gotten away with it anyway, but Pommel decided to go out of her way to get vengeance for my going outside the Guild. Seemed to feel that I was defying her authority.” “Mistress Hemline went along with it, mostly because I had broken Guild rules and she’s as bad as the Bloody Baroness about such things. They drove me out of business in a matter of months, left me deeply indentured. After that, Mistress Hemline pretty much ignored me. Pommel, under the other hoof, decided to drive home the lesson. Gave me all the worst jobs: Wool dying, leather tanning, all the things that were grimy, boring, and had no actual craftsponyship to them.” “And that’s where I come in,” said Adagio. She grimaced wryly. “I really wish I could say that I bought Suri’s indenture out of kindness, but honestly it was mostly because I was tired of Fleur De Lis sneering at me for not having any servants and because I wanted to do something to mildly annoy Baroness Pommel. So yeah, mostly spite at first. But I grew to rely on Suri surprisingly quickly. It was a lonely life I lived back then.” Suri shifted on her seat to give Adagio a hug. “Whatever your reasons were, I’m just glad you did it. Scorpan’s tail, even being under Fancy Pants would have been better than what Pommel was putting me through, and you’re leaps and bounds ahead of him. And I don’t think it could have all been spite. Even then, you were a better pony than that.” “Thank you, Suri,” said Adagio. “But yeah, Baroness Pommel’s going to be a problem. If we try to go directly against her, she’ll set the Guild against us. But if we simply accept her authority, she’ll sense weakness and try and crush Suri. No, we need to outmaneuver her. Find some way to divorce her authority from that of the Guild, in this matter at least. Without the Guild to back her up, she won’t have the strength to truly hurt us. Maybe I can bring Marquis Toity into the picture. He and I have at least a half-decent relationship. I’ll have to think on it a bit.” There was a short pause while the various ponies enjoyed lunch. “There’s something I wanted to tell you about, Suri. You remember those two unicorns, the ones that have parked their contraption in the square?” “Oh, yeah, them,” replied Suri. “They did something to me, felt kind of like getting drunk.” Terror slowly trickled into her mind, and she felt her eyes widen. “Oh ascarids. They cast a spell on me, didn’t they? What did they do to me?” “Just a heartsong,” said Adagio. “When a lot of ponies get excited about something, all that excitement can gather enough magic to it to form a kind of spontaneous spellsong. They’re generally harmless, and I kept my horn on this one.” Suri felt the terror ebb a bit. Adagio continued. “But anyway, that’s beside the point. The point is, they’re artificers and they came to me with an idea for a device. They’re calling it the Super Speedy Warp’n Weavy, and as near as I can tell it’s an automatic clothes-making device.” “A what?” asked Suri. Surely she’d misheard. “An automatic clothes-making device,” said Adagio, smiling broadly. “A device that turns ideas into cloth. Aren’t you always complaining that it’s hard to hold a needle and thread with hooves? Well, if this device actually works, it’ll bypass all that. All you’ll need to do is create the dress, and the device will actually make it.” “And if it doesn’t, Adagio will be out five hundred livres,” said Starlight. “And she’ll take those two as slaves to pay off the debt.” “Starlight!” scolded Sonata. “Honestly -- sorry, Aria, just an expression -- do you think Adagio is the kind of pony to abuse indentures? Weren’t we just saying how she was good to Suri?” Suri’s heart sank. She hadn’t misheard. Was Adagio that much of an idiot, or… had Loyalty’s nightmare been prophetic after all? After all, Midnight and the rest had been paragons of Harmony once. Did Scorpan’s curse still cling to the Elements, twisting any who sought to pick them up again? Was it only a matter of time before she became another Chroma, mad and dangerous? Shut up! she thought at herself. This is ludicrous. I know the Elements. No curse of darkness could stick to them. No, this is just Adagio being her old self. Too much to hope for that she’d change completely in just a few weeks. “Adagio, what in Midnight’s mane possessed you to do something like this?” she said out loud. Time to see how deep this well goes. “What do you mean?” asked Adagio. “I would think you’d be thrilled. Hay, come to think of it, this could make the perfect peace offering for Baroness Pommel. She’s an earth pony, she’d be just as thrilled to have a device that puts pegasi and earth ponies on a level footing with unicorns.” Sheer horror consumed Suri, and for a moment she seemed to detach from her body, her mind fleeing inwards. “You have to stop this!” she heard herself saying. “Send those two away, or something. Adagio, please tell me that you haven’t already signed anything.” Adagio sighed and facehooved “Not you too,” she said. “Is this is about the heartsong? Because I already told you that was harmless. I admit it was in bad taste, and I’m going to have a talk with them, but it’s nothing to flip out about. Or is it the indentures? Because, like I told Starlight, I had to have some kind of collateral if I was going to make that big a loan, and indenture was the only collateral those two had. And yes, I already signed the contract. I can’t go back on my word now, even if I wanted to.” Luster’s hooves and horn, thought Suri. If I hadn’t heard it with my own ears, I wouldn’t believe even Adagio could be this foalish. This… this would destroy the Guild, if it actually worked. The Guild has wealth and power precisely because, though most ponies can design dresses, few have the time and skill to make them. And Adagio thinks that Baroness Pommel will approve? Ascarids, this will be worse even than when I went rogue. I was just trying to escape the Guild. Adagio’s trying to destroy it. And either she’s a better actor than I ever guessed, or she has no idea what she’s proposing to do to them. And to me. Either way, what do I say to her? The words seemed to knot around each other in her mouth, gagging her. How was she supposed to explain the depth and breadth of Adagio’s mistake? Before she could think of a way to put her horror into words, she was interrupted. “Iron,” said Sonata loudly, “How was your trip?” “Very well, thank you,” said Iron, also a shade too loudly. “I got something for you.” He dug into his backpack and came up with a beautiful wooden spice rack, one decorated with intricate designs of blowing wind. Also… “Oh, it’s beautiful!” gushed Sonata. “Oh, and it’s got my name on it! And it’s already full of spices!” She wrapped Iron in a tight hug. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you!” Iron returned the embrace. “You’re very welcome, Sonata. Least I could do for such a wonderful chef and pony as you.” “Eeee!” squealed Sonata into Iron’s broad chest. “It is beautiful, Iron,” said Suri, swallowing her objections. Now was clearly not the time to bring the issue up. And maybe their device won’t work out after all. Who knows?