//------------------------------// // Bridge Chapter 9: Phantom 3 // Story: When the Everfree Burns // by SpiritDutch //------------------------------// There was something in the air. Daring Do couldn’t pin down what, but some distant stench like acrid smoke was stinging in her nose, and it was giving her a headache. She waited for a moment in the hall, hoping the headache would resolve, but it did not. Annoyed she did what she’d come to do and knocked on Magistrate Mare’s door. “Mis Mare, we have to talk.” “Come in then.” Came the muffled reply. Do slipped in and shut the door behind her. Mare was at her desk, reading something. “Magistrate...” Mare looked up. “Magistrate, I have a very serious issue that I can’t work out on my own.” Do hovered by the door. “I need you to be straight with me here, to the point, you know. I’m getting very concerned with one of your hires.” Mare was silent. Do waited Mare to reply, but Magistrate Mare was strangely untalkative. “Ahem, yes… It’s Gilda. Obviously.” She cleared her throat. “As you’ve probably seen, she has not been very open with me. Actually I think she is hiding something. She’s been acting strangely, even for a griffin.” Mare remained unmoved. “Yes, and?” Do didn’t really want to get Gilda punished, just removed from the expedition or declawed proverbially speaking, but in a way that Dash wouldn’t suspect she’d done it. “I’m saying she might not be who she says she is. I mean, she could be a spy, or a threat. At the very least, she could compromise the expedition by keeping secrets.” “She’s not.” Mare shut her down, in a tone that did not leave it up for discussion. Do did not like being stonewalled. “You don’t know. Have you been seeing her real personality? Who knows what she’s wrapped u-” “Don’t tell me what I don’t know, Mis Do. Gilda’s habits, vices, and past are all known to me.” Mare interrupted her. “Don’t be insulted when I say she and I are closer than you and I. I happen to trust her so don’t bother. If I find out you’re trying to pressure her to resign I will be very upset with you.” I-” Do puffed her cheeks out in annoyance. Where did Mare get off, throwing around words like ‘trust’.  “I have legitimate grievances.” “Don’t bother her.” Mare said louder. “And stop bothering me while you’re at it. I’m not in the mood.” Daring was just annoyed enough to try something risky. “Oh sure, but did I hear you right just then?” Do scowled. “Do you know all her habits?” “The one that matters.” Mare was utterly cold; more mirthless and curt than Do had seen before. “You know I hate repeating myself, but I will so you get it through your skull. I trust her. Don’t bother her.” “Magistrate!” Do paled. “If you knew why the hell is she still on this boat?!” “Because I trust her, and again I repeat, more than you. I further think it is rather sneaky to be going behind her back like this. When she and Dash come back from reconnoitering that derelict ship, you can talk your differences out like adults.” Do felt nauseous, like the floor was falling out beneath her. “How can you say that? Your employee is a murderer!” “You knew that the day you came onboard, but you decided to wait to tell me.” Mare said accusingly. “I question your motivation. Holding on to that juicy tidbit for a rainy day?  Almost certainly, but now you want her gone. Why? What did she do to you?” Do couldn’t think of what to say. She was rattled, and Mare’s empty stare was scaring her. “Did she disturb you? Did she offend you?” Mare continued. “Ask her to apologize.” “Magistrate,” Do cleared her throat for all the good it did. “Don’t you think her ‘quirk’ compromises her ability to protect me? You are hired to keep me alive and your employees are charged with keeping me safe.” “I thought the drama at Coltcutta proved that was more or less false.” “Does my safety count for nothing then?! Gilda threatened me in Andolou and she will again.” “No.” Mare responded simply. “No? No what?! H- How are you okay with this?” Do’s face contorted in helpless indignation. “She kill ponies! Good gods, she kills and eats ponies! Magistrate, you can’t blow me off like this.” Mare’s slow, half-lidded blink conveyed all her apathy. “Can’t I?” Do sighed. She didn’t have the strength to continue arguing. She felt queasy and her head throbbed. “Damn it all. This isn’t right. But… there really isn’t anything I can do.” She threw her hooves up in surrender. For better or for worse, she was going to have to trust Mare’s assessment of Gilda. But shy did she feel like she already had a claw at her throat? “The situation is mutable, Mis Do. Prove yourself more trustworthy and I’ll choose you over her.” Mare explained, a devious glint in her eye. “If a careless whisper passed your lips, perhaps, to the true contents of the sarcophagus down in the hold. That just might tempt me.” Do dropped her eyes to the ground, and after a moment of hesitation turned away. “I guess I’ll get out of your mane then.” Mare sunk into her chair. “That would be for the best.” She picked up the next document to read. “Don’t be dour, Mis Do. Leveraging us forward is my top priority. I may not have time for your drama, but all my effort goes towards preserving your expedition.” Do passed into the hallway and gingerly shut the door behind her.  She stalked to her room and threw herself on the bed. “Trite lies! What bullshit! Everypony’s keeping secrets from me.” She groaned into her pillow. She couldn’t muster up any more feelings than that. “Gilda’s going to literally kill me…  I’ll be remembered as a griffin’s chewtoy.” She rolled onto her back and pointed her hoof-strapped pistol, usually hidden under her sleeve, up at the ceiling. “Bang.” Would she need to put Gilda down before Gilda put her down? Do hoped desperately it wouldn’t come to that, but if it did, she wouldn’t hesitate. She lowered her hoof and cradled the pistol for a while, before unstrapping it and setting it on the floor by the bed. “Erg…  At least this headache of mine has gone away, mostly.” She’d halfway drifted off to sleep, lulled by the steady rock of the ship, when a shockwave smacked into the Flyer Kyte, cracking the windows and lurching the entire ship sideways. Daring Do was thrown to the ground and the pistol went off. That noise was drowned out by the rumbling KABOOM that echoed after the shockwave, leaving a ringing in her ears. “Oh crivins…” Do moaned, bringing her hoof to her temple. She felt wetness. “Are we under attack?” Her mirror was shattered all over the room. Do leaned over one of the shards to inspect her face and saw a red smear in her hair and on her face. “What?” Do squinted. She tried to stand up but immense pain shot up her leg into her spine, forcing her to her belly. She looked at the offending leg, and discovered it was shorter than it was supposed to be. When she landed on the pistol she’d shot her hoof at the joint, and it was barely hanging on to the rest of her leg. “Well crap. That’s bone. I shot myself in the hoof.” She stiffened. “Shot myself in the hoof…” She groaned, pushed herself to her three hooves, and hobbled to door. She heard Magistrate Mare, running out of the hall onto the weather deck, shouting questions. Grimacing against the pain shooting up her limb, Do limped to the stair, to descend into the cargo hold. Magistrate Mare watched from the deck as what was left of the Seapony’s Pride began to sink. Everything above the mid-deck of the former warship had been blasted into the air by the powder explosion, and was now slowly falling downwind as a hail of wood and rope. With a sound like the gargle of a pony drowning in its own blood, the Seapony’s Pride turtled, exposing its barnacle-encrusted keel to the sky. It sunk beneath the water, leaving flotsam, foam, and a few floating corpses. Despite her orders to remain belowdecks, the crew had come up to watch too. They went to whispering among themselves. Hadn’t Mis Gilda and Mis Dash gone abroad to reconnoiter? Were those really corpses among the debris? Had the ghost ship been a trap? Some of them looked pensive by the turn of events, others terrified. Mare looked over to the aftcastle. She locked eyes with that changeling Zero, still disguised. He flashed a bewildered look. He didn’t know what was going on either. “Keep an eye open for survivors!” Mare ordered harshly, voice strained. “In half an hour, rig for full sail to Chitin!” All around Dash was sand. Dunes rose and fell, hundreds of hooves high, to every horizon. The stark landscape was illuminated by a big blue moon hovering above, amongst a sea of twinkling stars. “Where…” Dash blinked. This felt wrong, like she was at odds with her surroundings. She spun around, looking for any landmarks in the dune ocean. Directly behind her was some kind of tower, taller than any she’d seen before (she couldn’t actually see the top), at an indeterminate distance. The strange, impossible tower was jet black. “Where am I?” Dash mumbled to herself, staggering towards the tower. “Asoko ni!” A feminine voice called out. Dash spun around again, to spy a figure looming on the larger dunes. It was not a pony, not even a species Dash recognized. It stood upright like a minotaur, but was lean and tall. It hunched over slightly, with it’s torso and limbs covered in loose-fitting fabric, with tufts of fur sticking out at the uncovered spots. Overall it had a very cat-like appearance. “Hey! Hey what’s going on here?!” Dash barked, running halfway up the dune. The figure watched Dash, then retreated from the peak of the dune, disappearing where Dash couldn’t see. “Damn it get back here.” Dash growled, flapping her wings for extra help getting to the top. She was confronted by the figure she’d seen and another like it, standing back and watching her. Up close, Dash could see that they were indeed cats, upright at about the height of a hippogryph, in layered desert garb. The two strangers exchanged a few hushed words, in a language Dash didn’t even recognize. “Where am I?” Dash wondered to herself. The original figure took initiative and stepped forward. She pushed back her hood, relieving a long, slightly curled cat’s mane, and fur that would have been orange in the sun, but now looked blue like everything else under the big moon. “You look confused. Where are you from?” She said in Equestrian. She sounded young and arrogant, with a slight Canterlot accent. “Cloudsdale.” Dash replied. “Is that where you entered?” “Entered? Huh?” Dash puzzled. “Last thing I remember, I was…” She bit her tongue not really sure how much she should share. “I was on a ship in the South Chitin Sea...” “Is that where you found those?” The creature pointed to Dash’s face. “Huh?” Dash brought up her hoof and bumped it against the glasses. She had forgotten she was wearing them. She lowered her hoof and stared at the curious cat. “How about you answer some questions for me, instead! Like telling me where the buck I am and how I got here!” The lead creature turned back to her fellow, saying more in the unknown language. “Hey, what are you telling her.” Dash demanded. “I’m telling her that you’re an Equestrian and seem genuinely confused.” The other creature, still cloaked, had a much softer voice. “If she’s not here for you, then we send her back.” She looked at Dash, searching for approval for her use of Equestrian. “It’s just coincidence she ended up here.” “Maybe.” The forward creature hummed. She turned to Dash again. “If you want to leave, break those glasses.” “Leave where?” “Here. This place. You’ll go back to the ship you were talking about.” “And where am I?” Dash said, then repeated harsher. “Where am I?!” The smaller creature squeaked in alarm. She shouted something in the unknown language. Among the garble of words, Dash heard ‘sunset’. “Hey hey hey, what’s she saying!” Dash demanded. “What’s sunset mean?” “She said you have a sword.” The lead creature laughed. “And Sunset’s my name. Sunset Shimmer.” That sounded like a pony name. Dash rubbed her temple. “She doesn’t like my sword? I’m not dropping it.” “Of course. All sorts of reasons to have a sword on a ship, especially in the South Chitin Sea. It’s a dangerous part of the world.” Sunset Shimmer took a couple steps around Dash. “Want to see something cool? Follow me. We’ll show you something before you go back.” Dash grumbled. “I could try my luck, you know. If you’re out here then somepony else-” “We’re here specifically to look for you, which is honestly looking like a waste of time.” Sunset pulled her hood back up. “If you don’t trust us, just break those glasses and you won’t have to worry about us ever again, provided you don’t come across another pair.” Dash bit her lip. The inexplicably strange feel of the dune ocean around her was starting to make her stomach churn. Two unknown cats in an unknown desert, apparently looking for an equestrian, sounded like the punchline to a joke. “Are you going to show me that tower?” Dash asked, motioning in the direction of the inexplicably tall tower. “We are.” Sunset confirmed. “It’s not that far.” So, the three of them straddled the huge dunes in the direction of the black tower, Sunset in the lead and the yet unnamed cat taking up the rear. On a stretch with steady footing, Dash took off the glasses. As she did she imagined for a moment that all the stark light and shadow from the moonlight on the dunes swapped places, but after a couple blinks everything returned to normal. “Anything interesting happening in Equestria lately?” Sunset asked, glancing back at Dash. “Not really. I’ve been away for two months though.” Dash said. “There were rumors in Coltcutta that the Canterlot vizier got murdered, but I wouldn’t know.” “The vizier? Interesting.” Sunset said to herself. “And you? I suppose you must be part of the fleet or something.” “I’m an agent on an EOC ship.” Dash reported. “Agent? Lots of things for ‘agents’ to do in that part of the world.” Sunset mused. “It’s just a shot in the dark, but you wouldn’t happen to be going into the interior of Chitin, would you?” Dash stopped, her guarded look returning. “So…  Do I have to guess who sent you, or are you going to tell me? The EOC? The Maredians?” She growled. “Was it the Stars?” “You’re throwing names around but you don’t know what they mean.” Sunset laughed. “You’re just a pawn in someone else’s game, mis.” “Don’t patronize me.” “I used to be a noble, you know.” Sunset chuckled. “We’re too proud to be tools.” She jogged a few steps farther, to the edge of the large dune they were on. “That’s why I came here!” Dash advanced to the edge as well. Under them was a vast depression, a bowl of sand a dozen kilometers across. At the center was the base of the tower, driven into the sand like a nail. “Sometimes it is at the peak of a mountain. Sometimes there’s ruins strewn around it. THE Tower, black as sin.” Sunset said. “You recognize it, don’t you.” “Yeah, by description.” Dash said quietly. “That’s the Tower of the Bard.” She was in Sahella then? But the Tower of the Bard had collapsed thousands of years past! Sunset jumped and slid down the face of the dune a ways. “Come on mis! Time passes strangely here. We’ll be greeting the gatekeepers in no time.” Dash looked back to the more silent cat, whose purple eyes stared unblinkingly out from under the lip of her hood. Then Dash jumped after Sunset. Magestraite Mare climbed somberly back on deck to the sound of hubbub and from the crew. The deck crane boom was swung off the port side, straining to pull something out of the water. Mare ran to the edge, to see an imposing stone sarcophagus, the mirror image of the one down in the Flyer Kyte’s hold, being slowly hoisted into the air. Mare watched into stunned silence for several minutes, as inch by inch the sarcophagus was pulled to the same height as the deck, then the railing, then finally swung overhead. “Let it down slowly.” She found her voice. “Drop it and it’ll puncture through the hull.” “It bobbed up to the surface.” One of the sailors reported, disconcerted. “Stone don’t float.” The sarcophagus was lowered, and the wood of the deck groaned under its weight. The ropes were loosened but not released, as the crew waited for Mare’s next order. Up close, all the same intricate engravings could be seen on the sarcophagus as with its counterpart. Stylized depictions of hippogryphs, gods, temples, and worshipers covered every side. On the lid, the etched profile of a pony laying down, presumably the occupant. “Ain’t this ‘bout the same size and weight as the crate in the hold?” One of the sailors whispered. “So it is.” His comrade grunted. Mare put a hoof against the damp lid.  She could peek inside before Daring Do knew they’d recovered, but the crew would see as well. Was it true that that cheeky changeling said, and an ancient nightmare creature lay within? “Get this thing belowdecks.” She said sternly. “Mis Rainbow Dash and Mis Gilda sacrificed themselves to get this to us.” “Begging your pardon, magistrate.” One of the sailors spoke up. “There might still be more flottsom to find. The girls, even.” Mare shook her head. “We have this. The sooner we get to port, the less risk we share the fate of the-” WHUMP.  A muffled thump against the lid of the sarcophagus made it jump, and with it every pony on the deck. “There’s somepony inside!” A sailor shouted. Mare’s eyes bugged out. Whatever monster inside, that had destroyed the other ship, was still alive! She jumped onto the lid, praying she could hold it down with her weight.  “Get some chains up here!” She shouted. “No time to explain! Bind it up!” WHUMP. Mare was nearly throw off. “Captain! We’ve gotta let them out!” Mare shouted back, almost pleading. “I said get a chain! That’s an order! Unless you all want to die then put your weight-” ‘hey. Anyone out there?’ A miniscule voice, almost inaudible, bubbled out through the lid gap. ‘Magistrate, I’d really appreciate if you let me out. I’ve got it under control in here.’ Mare, dumbfounded, dropped to her stomach and pressed her ear against the stone. “Gilda?” ‘It’s just me and some bones.’ Mare sat up, cleared her throat, and slid off the lid. “Well then lads…” She tugged at the corner of her waistcoat, making sure it wasn’t wrinkled. “Get her out already. Tick tock. Time’s money and we should be in Chitin by now.” She quickly retreated back to the cabins, trying to hide how much she was blushing. Mare brushed past the disguised Zero, looking on with curiosity. Like her, he was very curious how Gilda had survived such a violent explosion. Unlike her, he had his suspicions. The closer they got to the tower, the more its impossible dimensions impressed themselves on Dash. It was barely a hundred hooves across, but truly infinite in its height, its peak somewhere among the twinkling stars of the desert night. “This place isn’t real.” Dash whispered to herself. “It’s real. It’s not happening in reality, but it’s real.” Sunset Shimmer said. “I know that sounds like it doesn’t make sense, but it does.” “Just saying it makes senses, doesn’t make it make sense.” Dash countered. “So tell me, if you can, how something can be real but not in reality.” “ ‘Reality’ is a place, and this realm is outside of it. This isn’t your world. It’s mine.” The smaller, quieter cat taking up the rear offered. “I shouldn’t say too much...” “Just know this is a different world. Things work differently here.” Sunset added. “Different… But not too much. This place is… inspired by your world, I guess you could say.” The smaller car continued, haltingly, hesitant. “They’re very close together. You could almost reach out and touch.”  A subdued look overcame her furry features. “Like was done to you.” “I get it, i get it.” Dash huffed. “It’s me believing it that’s the problem, not me hearing it. This place is like a dream.” “There’s a reason for that.” Sunset laughed. The smaller cat cleared her throat, and Sunset paused for a bit before she continued with her thought. “This place has a whimsy to it, a lack of consistency that makes us dreamers from the Bright World a bit crazy. Doesn’t make it any less real.” “Sure.” Dash said with empty agreement. She was sure the cats were having a laugh. She’d generally come to think that she was imagining it all. The craterous depression in the desert began to flatten out at the center were the Tower was, and soon enough the three travelers were only a few hundreds hooves away. Two equine figures stood between them and the base of the tower. They were huge, alicorn sized, and were wrapped in white linen in a similar manner to the cats, but more fully covered. Their eyes glowed red in the moonlight. “I have a bad feeling about this.” Dash mumbled as they approached. “Don’t provoke them.” Sunset Shimmer ordered, tugging at the corner of her hood with her paws. “And if they get angry at you, break those glasses as fast as you can.” “Mortal. Sunset Shimmer.” A male voice boomed across the sand as one of the equines called out to them. “You have returned.” “Despite our advices.” A female voice joined the male’s. “Dreamer, are you so bold?” “Not usually, lord gatekeeper.” Sunset yelled back. “I happened to be in the neighborhood, since a fellow pony stumbled in nearby.” “Fellow pony?” Dash arched a brow. “You’re a cat.” “Imagine my surprise.” Sunset chuckled. “An outworlder? A dreamer fully entered? Show us.” The male voice demanded. “We should like to inspect, and know how these dreamers lately trespass.” The female agreed. “Come on then.” Sunset motioned forward. “Stay formal mis. The gatekeepers and I are acquainted, but they’re far from chummy.” “They’re actually kinda intense.” The smaller cat mumbled, folding her arms into her robe. The three of them shuffled through the sand closer to the imposing equines. The two giants, with a rigid bearing and odd angularity under their linens, were as imitators of the Tower looming above them. Their glowing eyes flicked between the visitors. “Towaireyeto. What trouble has Sunset dragged you into this time?” The female pony looked down at the smaller cat. “Strange things are happening in the other world, lady gatekeeper. We foresaw another dreamer arriving, and we thought it might be the hippogryph again. It was this pony.” The small cat, apparently called Towaireyeto, said. “See, she has enchanted spectacles, like we said about the hippogryph.” “And that is to absolve your meddling? You should know better. It is not your job to triage wayward mortals.” The male equine growled. He bent his neck to get a closer look at Rainbow Dash. “How does it come to be that you mortals bring your physical and dreaming form both? It should not be possible anymore. The known entry points were sealed.” As he said this, the equine shifted his gaze to Sunset, who grinned guiltily. “Devilous work. The alicorns of the waking world are playing tricks on us.” “I shouldn't say so. I think the mortals are doing this themselves.” The female equine contradicted. “We can not underestimate mortal ingenuity for mischief. That is, after all, how Sunset came to us.” “Gosh guys, go easy on me for once.” Sunset laughed, a hint of nervousness seeping in. “Hang on…” Dash tapped her chin. “If this is the Tower of the Bard…” “It is.” The two equines confirmed in unison. Dash’s eyes lit up. “You two ponies… You’re the Bard! Velvetine and Vlelveran! Holy crap dudes!” She laughed. “I’m starting to get it now.” The two towering equines, unamused, loomed over Dash. “Get it?” The male, Vlelveran asked coldly. “It there something to ‘get’? Illuminate us.” “We have not ‘got’ it.” The female, Velvetine confirmed. “In the real world, your Tower exploded. You became, like, ghosts or something, and got put in coffins by the Maredians.” Dash explained what she could remember of Gilda and Zero’s exhaustive explanations. “This is known to us.” Vlelveran, his linen wrappings getting taunt with his agitated movements, said. “It is not known to most in your world. What is the meaning of your probing intrusions, dreamer! Are you so cowardly to refuse to come through our gate?!” “Uh… No?” Dash didn’t like getting yelled at, especially not by so large a creature. “I’m a guard. I’m part of a team that’s collecting your remains to bring to Chitin. I don’t know about that other stuff.” Nobody spoke for a while. A light breeze over the desert made little eddies in the sand. Towaireyeto stepped over to Dash’s side. “I suggest you break those glasses right now.” “No.” At long last Vlelveran spoke firmly, and an unspeakable power rippled around him to prove he was ready to enforce his command. “We do not give her leave yet.” He turned to gaze on Sunset. “Mortals approach the gate with the key.” “She said she was near Chitin, so I suspected.” Sunset crossed her furred arms. “Trust me, lord gatekeeper, I have nothing to do with this.” “Despite it being so complete an answer to your prayers? We remain suspicious.” Velvetine said softly, cynically. “Now, you would cause catastrophe on this realm for your short-sighted goals. You are a troublesome mortal indeed, Sunset Shimmer.” “For your information, lady gatekeeper, I was developing a different way back to the waking world. One that didn’t break anything.” Sunset shot back. “You say that tiringly often, and each time a lie.” Vlelveran growled. “This is the opportunity you have waited for: An opportunity of your own manufacture!” “Please, we really don’t know what’s going on up there.” Towaireyeto placed herself between the gatekeepers and Sunset. “I mean yes, we calculated something like this would happen with the thousandth Summer Sun, but we didn’t know for sure. We don’t have any contacts up there.” Vlelveran brought a hoof to his head, closing his bright red eyes in a bout of frustration. “Mortals breaking in, mortals breaking out. Too soon, the task of gatekeeper will be rendered meaningless.” “Times change, even here.” Sunset bowed her head with a smirk. “But if I might offer advice, don’t take your frustrations out on this pegasus. She actually has no meaningful idea what’s going on.” Dash was very confused. “Is something wrong?” Sunset giggled. “Yeah. They don’t like difference.” She knelt by Dash. “Thousands of years ago, somepony came in here with a relic of the Dark Lady. It can’t be recovered until the Tower does. And the Tower…” She nodded towards the impossible black spire. “The Tower will be open when you reach the outer gate with the key.” Dash blinked. The relic Sunset was talking about was the amulet, but all that other stuff bounced off her. “What?” “Wingshan, mis. The top of this tower currently links to the rotted ruins of Wingshan in the highlands of Chitin.” Sunset said. “That’s where you’re headed with the Bard corpses, even if you don’t realize it.” “Uhh…” Dash looked between the upset gatekeepers and Sunset. “Is that something I shouldn’t be doing?” “I told you, you are a pawn, mis.” Sunset petted Dash on the head. “Somepony is maneuvering you to open the gate, open the Tower, and connect our Bright World to this Dreamland.” “Dreamland…” Dash repeated. “Speaking of maneuvering,” The small cat Towaireyeto spoke up. “Sunset, if the gate’s going to open-” “We capitalize, of course, and throw our plan into motion! Ha ha! We’re gunna do it, Twi! This is the moment we’ve been waiting for!” Sunset threw Vlelveran a saucy wink. “I’m going home.” “Do not gloat to hard.” Vlelveran said harshly. “When these interlopers open the gate, this land will be exposed to tremendous peril. The realm that offered you refuge will be swallowed by chaos whilst you traipse away.” “Don’t be anxious, my lord. Before we go, we’ll come help you vett out the biggest troublemakers.” Sunset proposed. Towaireyeto frowned. “Can we do that?” “Sure we can. Only one dreamer needs to get past to get the amulet.” Sunset made a little motion towards Dash. “Then they close the gate behind them.” “Even a moment of their presence will draw them.” Velvetine intoned. The emphasis she placed on the word ‘them’, soaked in malace, disgust, and fear, sent shivers down Dash’s spine. From that word alone she felt compelled to help the gatekeepers, so that the unnamed ‘them’ would not be drawn to the dreamland. “This was going to happen anyway, with or without me. I’m helping you by warning you this early.” Sunset said smugly. “I’ll warn the vulnerable settlements nearer the mountains too.” But the gatekeepers were not swayed by Sunset’s glib promises. Vlelveran and Velvetine shared a long look, before the former shook his head disdainfully. “Very well, Sunset Shimmer. Send it away, before I change my mind.” “Yup.” Sunset saluted. She snatched the glasses off Dash’s face. “Guess you get to live. How about that. Don’t worry though… When you get back to the Bright World you might well look back on this as just a bad dream.” She tilted her head back and pointed up to the twinkling nighttime sky. “See those? You’ll be up there, next time you sleep. Your friends, family, enemies, pets…  They’re up there too. Yeah. So close you could almost reach out.” She looked a bit downcast, and her eyes slid to the black mass of the Tower. “So very close.” “Mis Sunset…” Dash began, quietly. “My friend and me…  We might have a bead on the ones behind the scenes. Does the name Eversnake mean anything to you?” Sunset shook her head. “Nah. Who’s she?” “Hippogryph mage guy. Those are his glasses, maybe. We think he’s working with a couple of Stars. They might be using Phantom Time.” Dash said, feeling silly as she did. “Man, I was the wrong pony to get sent here. My friend Gilda would’ve done better.” “Don’t sell yourself short. You’ve relayed some very interesting news.” Sunset rubbed her chin. She nodded to Vlelveran. “Hear that lord gatekeeper? The hippogryph dreamer snooping around.” “Eversnake.” Vlelveran said icilly. “One who meddles in both Phantom Time and the Dreamscape, sounds to be a troublemaker on your level.” “Send her back before she adapts.” Towaireyeto interrupted, louder than her usual. “Okay, okay. I’m keeping these glasses though. Might be able to reverse engineer them.” Sunset chuckled. She winked at Dash. "See you in waking world." Without ceremony, Sunset crushed the pair of spectacles in her paws. When the lid was pulled off the stone sarcophagus, there was a tense moment of silence. Then Gilda peeked her head up and looked around. “Thanks for that guys. It’s a nice sarcophagus but I’d still not like to be buried in it.” Gilda's beak, neck, and right leg were stained with blood. Her tunic was ripped to tatters and the feathers underneath were brown with dried blood too. The griffin had trouble focussing her eyes and holding her head up. “Good grief!” The ship’s surgeon pushed through the circle of gawking crew. “Mis Gilda, you’re still recovering from your fall!” “Obviously not doc.” GIlda said, smiling but mostly grimacing. She clenched and unclenched her right claw repeatedly. “Where’s Dash?” A hundred hooves off the bow and several hundred hooves high, Rainbow Dash popped into existence. She did not recover her sense of direction before she crashed into the sea several seconds later. “Huh?” Gilda shoved the doctor back and looked towards the direction of the sound. “Dash!” She jumped into the sky and streaked towards the shape in the water. Now that she was clear of the sarcophagus, the crew could see the pile of unmistakably equine bones Gilda had been laying amongst. With her shot, bleeding, limp hoof, Daring Do took longer than usual to pull apart the crate down in the Flyer Kyte’s cargo hold. She was breathing hard, getting lightheaded from blood loss, but she had further to go. Gathering herself, and put all her weight against the lid of the stone sarcophagus, and it slid off surprisingly easily, to fall with unnatural gentleness to the hull floor. It was silent, utterly. A ship with its creaks and groans should have not been so silent. But there was a soft suggestion of something else in the air, either very quiet or out of the range of pony hearing. “I know. I feel him. He’s giving me a killer headache.” Daring panted, squeezing her eyes closed between breaths. “There are others too. Stars or inquisitors, I can’t tell. They’re closing in on us. One of the mercenaries, Gilda, might try to kill me. I don’t know who she’s working for.” Borne on a swirling grey mist, a cloud of dust levitated up from the sarcophagus. The dust formed briefly into a pony profile then dissolved again, then again to a pony, then back to particles. “I’m going to figure something out.” Daring promised in a hurried, belabored whisper. “My hoof…  It’s damaged.” The cloud of dust extended out and around Daring Do’s hoof, and when it withdrew the bone and flesh was mended. “The captain might be in on it. I’ll sink this boat if I have to. I won’t let him fall back in the hippogryph’s paws.” Do worked her hoof. “Once you two are back together, the biggest hurdle will be behind us. Please tell me you agree.” The sarcophagus lid was lifted up and back into place, sealing away the dust and mist. Daring was left in silence. She stayed there for a while, working the hoof idly, mulling things over. Then, voices from the stair, and shouting that filtered from the weather deck. She heard the clanks and creaks of the cargo hatches being opened. There was about to be company. “...totally sedate.  He knows I’ve got him by the jewels. As long as I keep sane, that is.” Gilda’s voice grew louder from the stair, until the griffin limped into the hold. Daring and Gilda locked eyes, the former stoic, the latter cautiously judging how much had been overheard. “Mis Do.” GIlda nodded. Gilda’s company leaned around the stair as well. It was one of the knotsponies. Do had been seeing more and more of him but didn’t remember his name. “Mis Gilda.” Do nodded back. She didn’t think much of the griffin’s disheveled state, except that is heightened her vague terror to be around her. Do momentarily thought, senselessly she realized, that it was somehow her blood covering Gilda. “You probably noticed that explosion easilier. Dash and I got out fine, as you can tell.” Gilda hobbled closer. By the look of her the griffin had a very different definition of ‘fine’, and as if to confirm this thought, she continued. “Dash is in her bed. She fell and hit the water pretty hard, but no lasting damage. Uh, yeah, don’t worry about this blood. It’s not all mine.” Do said nothing to that. She followed Gilda with her eyes. With a creak, the cargo hatch above them was fully pulled open, and a beam of light penetrated down into that dark and musty cargo hold. The shouts and orders being traded on the weather deck echoed down to them, and among it was the sound of clicking wood gears and twisting ropes. Little by little a shadow began to fill out the beam of light, and then the second stone sarcophagus was lowered into view. Gilda pushed past Do and guided the sarcophagus to its resting place beside the other. “Right there! You got it!” She yelled up to the ponies on the higher decks. She undid the ropes. “Pull it up and close it up!” Daring could hardly breath. There was a ringing in her ears and her head ached like she couldn’t believe, but it didn’t matter. There was the object of her toils and tribulations, brought down like a gift from on high. The second sarcophagus was united at long last with its pair. Daring ran a trembling hoof along its richly engraved lid. “Both keys.” She whispered to herself. “Yup. We found those before the ship exploded.” Gilda said, as the cargo hatch above her was cleared and closed back up. She smiled slyly. “No need to thank me. Just doing my job.” Do looked up at Gilda. They stared at each other, Do somber, Gilda oddly giddy. “What?” Gilda said with a chuckle. “Why are you looking at me like that?” “You… you know what’s going on here?” Mare asked, barely audible. “Why it’s here? Why it was on that ship?” “Luck? Providence?” Gilda effected a shrug. “That’d be my guess, unless you out and tell me you’ve got a friend that stole it back from the inquisitors.” Do worked her jaw. “No, huh?” Gilda arched a brow. “Hmm.” Daring Do went back to admiring the sarcophagi. Gilda cleared her throat and withdrew back to the stairwell. “Okay then. I’ve got to talk with Mare. My pal here, Bowline Tight, will be guarding the hold from now on.” She grasped the pony she’d brought with her on the shoulder, and the stallion was clearly uncomfortable being touched by her bloody right claw. “The crew have been getting restless, and might try to steal something. You know how it is.” “Uh huh.” Do grunted. She could guess the purpose of the guard: To watch her. While Gilda climbed up the stair, Daring began piecing back the crate around the first sarcophagus. The headache, seemingly a curse the second sarcophagus was working on her, was not bothering anypony else. Do, excruciating as it was, would have to bear it. “Really going to stay there all day?” She asked Bowline Tight. “Yes ma’am.” Bowline found a place to sit, and rested in hunched silence as he observed her and the sarcophagi. Do tried not to let him see her annoyance or pain. She might not have an opportunity to be alone with the sarcophagi until they were well into Chitin. “Good lad.” She said. “Dedication to duty. Commendable.” She attached the top part of the crate, completing its enclosure. “I think I’ll hang around too, to savor this moment.” She chose a spot by the crate and sat down. She was going to be damned before she left anypony alone with the precious cargo. Gilda emerged from the stair into the cabins hallway. Daring Do was not going to move from the hold while Zero was still down there. Gilda grinned. She had free reign for a while. She heard sounds from Magistrate Mare’s little office-cabin. She knocked once, then tried the door to find it was locked. Irritation boiled up, and she knocked the door wide with a rough punch. “Geez!” Mare, crouched next to her storage chest, turned to the intruder. “Gilda!” “Yo.” Gilda closed the door behind her, but it did not lock properly after her hit. “I’m not mad. Not even annoyed. How could I be? I’m on top of the world.” She limped her way to the Mare’s side. “The crew are hoisting the sails. We’re going to make it to Hornzhou by tomorrow evening.” Mare got to her hooves and stood up straight. “Mis Gilda, I’m very pleased to see you alive. I…” She sighed, her formal facade cracking. “I was sitting here, considering what to do without you or Dash. My choices were either to drink myself to death or throw myself in the sea.” She rubbed her eyes. “I can’t see this through without you. Nopony I can trust enough. Nopony competant enough.” She laughed mirthlessly. “How awful is it to admit, I’m rather fond of you Mis Gilda, professionally. You and I are birds of a feather. Daring wants you gone. She knows about your... tendencies. I defended you. Ahh... What right do I have to chose the hires over the client?” "Every right." Gilda said. Mare gave a little nod. "Of course, of course." “And don't be bothered by your feelings. I'm fond of you too, ma'am. I see a lot of potential in you.” Gilda said with a subtle smirk. Mare sighed again. She didn't want to dwell. “So what happened over there?” Gilda’s wings had been clasped tightly to her sides since she’d emerged from the sarcophagus. Now she fanned them out, and a small reddish metal orb she had been keeping pressed to her body fell to the floor with a clunk. Gilda scooped it up and held it up for Mare to inspect. “Meet Lord Veleveran. He can’t talk right now, but he’s watching and listening.” Mare was dazzled by the intricate embossing making the little red orb look like a bloody eye plucked from a giant. The detail was incredible. “I don’t follow. This little thing?” “Uh, yeah. Please be nice to him. When I put him back together I don’t want him to try to kill us all.” Gilda cleared her throat. “We need his help. He’s strong, clever, and psychically strong. Fighting him, while fun, takes a toll.” She motioned to the blood now turning brown on the feathers. Mare was past asking questions of how or why. She just had to accept things didn’t always make sense. “Can I talk to him?” “Not without the rest of him, which is in his box down in the hold. Do’s down there right now, though Zero’s keeping her out of trouble.” Gilda smiled. “I advise you wait. Let him cool off, see we’ve got good intentions. He’ll also see we’ve got Zero on a leash, which was a tense point between us.” Mare nibbled her lip. “We have Zero on a leash?” Gilda clacked her beak in amusement. “Yes. Yes we very much do.” “I’ll defer to you.” Mare trotted behind her desk and sat in her chair. “And Dash is-” “She took a fall. The surgeon is with her. She’ll get well soon.” Gilda nodded. “All in all, things worked out great.” “Glad to hear that.” Mare said distractedly. Her brows grew more furrowed as she silently deliberated something. The sound of chanting sailors and billowing sails was tinged by an unspeakable fear, for the superstitious sailors had seen the bones, the carvings of the sarcophagi, and the bodies in the water. “Gilda….” Mare said slowly. “You want to be in charge.” Gilda gave a little laugh. “I don’t like the tedium of leadership, but I sure like the aesthetic.” “I’ll handle the little things.” Mare scooted her seat forward, and she ran a nervous hoof though her pink mane. She looked tired, strained, and very uncertain. She had gone her entire life seeking more and more responsibility, more and more power.  But what could she do when faced with a monumentally alien problem, that she had not even the smallest ability to comprehend! She literally lacked the magic to interface with the strange creatures around her! “But for big decisions that involve these…  these magical entities, I want you to be the arbiter. I don’t want to second guess, I don’t want doubt. When a crisis occurs, your word will be THE word.” “When the troops get out of line, or the beasts come roaring, you want me to put the stick about.” Gilda chuckled. “So what I’m already doing.” Mare sighed. “You will also decide the future path of this expedition, and whether or not you take anyone’s advice will be up to you.” Gilda pretended to consider this. She limped to the small window, looking out to the patch of debris that had once been the Seapony’s Pride.  That ship had once been her home. Its crew was dead and it was blasted to oblivion. How much time before the same happened to the Flyer Kyte and its ponies? “Mare, have any water?” “Uhh, not quite.” Mare reached under her desk and pulled up a flask of clear rum. “You must be thirsty after- HEY!” Gilda had taken the rum and begun pouring it on her right claw. “Achchch. It stings.” The rum washed away the dried blood caked on her talons and palm, and slowly, something revealed itself: The ornamental arabesque curls of the Hamsa, the eye ineffably etched on her skin as though drawn in ink. The flat eye opened, scanned the room for danger, briefly lingered on the red orb set on the desk, then closed again. “What. The. Buck.” Mare muttered. When Gilda set down the little flask she grabbed it and took a swig. “You know what, I don’t even want to know. I don’t want to know.” She sunk in her seat and stared up at the ceiling. “Mis Gilda, get up on deck and make sure we make good time to Hornzhou.” “Aye, magistrate.” Gilda took the tattered remnants of her tunic and wrapped it around her cursed right claw. She grabbed the red orb off the desk and tucked it back under her wing. “You’ve placed your trust in competent hooves, ma’am.” Mare tilted her head a bit. “Are they good hooves, mis?” Gilda clacked her beak, in amusement or worry it was hard to tell. “I’ll see this through. Trust me.” She fumbled with the broken door and limped into the sunlight.