The rest of the trip back to Coldharbor was even colder and more miserable. Sigil insisted on keeping our campfires a lot smaller just to be safe: apparently any Blightspawn around would be smart enough to recognize what a campfire signified. It meant more shivering and complaining from Kukri, especially since I had to hold off on the warming charms in order to save my strength in case any more Blightspawn showed up. Not to mention the fun awkwardness of everyone sleeping in a single pile of pony, changeling, and caribou to benefit from each other’s body heat. At least Kukri seemed to enjoy the excuse to snuggle.
By the time we got back to Coldharbor, morale was pretty much rock bottom. About the only good news to be had was that we’d made it back before the big winter storm Sigil predicted would be hitting soon.
Once we’d returned to civilization we’d gone straight to the warmest, nicest inn we could find. Kukri had promptly claimed the bathroom, and judging from the cloud of steam that was slowly leaking out from under the door she was doing her best to recreate a typical Freeport summer day inside. Not that I could blame her; after experiencing a few weeks of Northmarch winter, we were all eager to return to the tropical islands of eternal summer.
I was working my way through a nice big bowl of warm vegetable stew while I waited for the bathroom to clear. Puzzle wasn’t being especially companionable, grimacing as he looked through the last week’s worth of newspapers for anything that might point to the presence of more Blightspawn. That, or he was just finding something to keep his mind busy while he waited for Strumming to get back from the doctor. Not that she was in bad shape or anything, but none of us were experts in treating injuries to a pegasus’ wings. Getting an actual doctor to look it over just to be sure was prudent ... and meant her boyfriend was antsy.
He set his papers aside as soon as the door to our room opened and Strumming stepped in. When she took off her cloak we saw she had a fresh bandage on her wing that looked much crisper than the quick one we’d improvised out in the field. She sighed and set her cloak to the side. “Good news is that everything is supposed to heal up fine. Bad news is I’m grounded for three weeks.”
“It could have been much worse.” Puzzle trotted over and gave her bandaged wing a quick once-over. “Half a second slower and you would’ve lost the wing, or we’d be burying you. You should have been more careful.”
I caught the very briefest flicker of hurt outrage in Strumming’s eyes, so fast I wasn’t sure I wasn’t just imagining it or projecting my emotions onto her. Then she smirked and poked him in the side. “Considering I got hurt saving your cute, well-toned butt, I’m expecting a lot more gratitude than that, bug boy.”
Puzzle sighed and shook his head. “Right, thank you for that.”
Strumming cocked her head to the side, frowning at him. “So why do you sound more pissed off than actually grateful? Is it a pride thing? Like, you’re mad cause you were the damsel in distress and I was the brave hero who saved you? ‘Cause you’re not normally that much of a ‘I gotta be the manly man’ guy. Back me up here, Bacon. Doesn’t he sound mad to you?”
I thought back to the talk we’d had before the Blightspawn showed up, and the one before we even left Freeport. “Yeah. Now that you mention it, Puzzle has been really grumpy lately.”
Puzzle grunted and sat back down, pulling up his newspaper and using it as a shield to block both us out. Strumming turned to me and grinned. “Do you speak Grunty Grumpy Stallion Who Doesn’t Wanna Talk, Sunset? ‘Cause that’s one of those weird languages I never quite managed to figure out.” She rolled her eyes. “And they say we’re the ones who are hard to understand.”
“This one supposes there is no point in asking you to let the matter rest?” Puzzle grumbled.
Strumming flopped down onto the couch, making sure to lie on her uninjured side. “Bug boy, you should know me well enough to get that the one thing I never do is let an awkward subject go untouched. Remember how annoying people into dealing with stuff they don’t wanna talk about is my thing? Well, I’m doing my thing. Think of it as punishment for you trying to do my thing when I’m the only one allowed to do my thing.” She paused, then shrugged. “For what it’s worth, that didn’t sound nearly so dirty in my head. Or maybe it did, and I don’t care.”
Puzzle groaned and set his newspaper aside. “Very well then, let us discuss it. This one’s unhappy because this trip has been a huge waste of time and resources.”
“Things didn’t exactly go as planned,” I agreed. “But that’s not the first time that’s happened to us. Doesn’t usually make you start brooding and being a jerk to all of us.”
“This is an order of magnitude above our previous tribulations,” Puzzle answered. “This one had high hopes for this trip since we were going to see Lady Argentium, and by the time we get back we’ll have been gone for more than two months. Two months and a priceless opportunity, and in the end we have nothing to show for it.”
I tried to find a bit of good news. “Well, at least I got some good advice. And Argentium does owe me a favor. A marker from her is big.”
Puzzle nodded slightly, then fixed me with a pointed stare. “And what do you plan on using with that favor? What concrete gain does it offer to justify the expense and wasted time?”
That wasn’t the sort of response I normally would’ve expected from him. Especially when my answer was something that probably came right out of his metaphorical textbook. “Honestly, just having her owe me that favor is more useful than anything I could call in right now. Being able to say ‘Argentium the Runescaled owes me a favor’ gives me a lot of options. That’s not the sort of currency you trade in until you’ve got something worth spending it on.”
Puzzle grunted again. “Then it sounds like you’re the only one who got something out of this.”
Strumming snorted and rolled her eyes. “What, were you expecting Argentium to give you a giant bag of money just for schlepping out to her place in the middle of winter? Out of all of us, you’re the one who had to know that wasn’t happening.”
“Hardly.” He scowled and opened up his newspaper again, hard enough that he nearly tore it. “But this one was expecting a bit more than a nag who can’t figure out how to talk with her daughter like a normal pony.”
“We all were.” Still, Puzzle usually wasn’t the sort to brood over how things had gone wrong. He was always the one who immediately jumped onto making plans and adapting to whatever the new situation was. Not to mention... “That doesn’t explain why you were so grumpy before we even shipped out.”
“This one was hardly grumpy before we shipped out,” Puzzle grumbled, shifting his newspaper so he wouldn’t have to meet my eyes.
“Yeah you were.” I crossed my forelegs over my chest. “You got moody with me when I told you about Celestia offering me a teaching position at her school.”
Puzzle let out a fake, mocking gasp. “You mean this one doesn't like the idea of a good business partner moving away, and going into an occupation she won’t even enjoy? How utterly shocking that it might feel that way.”
“Not happy about it I can buy,” Strumming cut in, “but getting grumpy doesn’t sound like you. You’re usually all cold and logical when one of us does something you don’t like. Not to mention Bacon is still sitting on the fence with that job offer, so it’s way too early to get mad. Especially since you know pissing her off is a sure way to make her go whichever way you don’t want.”
“I’m not that contrary,” I murmured under my breath. “I do actually think things through rather than making all my choices purely to spite whoever pissed me off last.”
“Not the point right now, Bacon,” Strumming whispered back.
Puzzle growled and turned another page, this one sharply enough that it tore halfway down the middle. He glowered at the paper as if it had done that purely to make his day just a little bit worse. “Fine then. Maybe this one is turning into a grumpy old bug.”
“Yeah, sure.” Whatever was going on with him, I didn’t feel like beating my head against a wall trying to drag it out. If he wanted to talk to us, he would. Besides, I had other things I wanted to run by both of them, even if I doubted they would love the suggestion. I wasn’t exactly wild about it myself, and it was my idea. “So, long as we’re all together, I’ve been thinking: I know it’ll probably make Kukri think I’m crazy, but maybe we should stick around for a bit longer.”
Strumming grimaced, but after thinking it over for a second nodded along. “Yeah, I get it. You’re worried that the monsters that are supposed to have been dead for over a hundred years are still around? Especially since we just so happened to run into one, though with our luck I’d be more surprised if an ancient evil monster woke up and didn’t immediately come after us.”
“Pretty much that,” I agreed. “Monsters that were supposed to be extinct for a century popping back up is just odd enough that I think it merits investigation.”
“And it will be investigated,” Puzzle agreed from behind his newspaper. “By the authorities in Northmarch. In case the Shimmer-mare has forgotten, she is only a magus of Freeport. In Northmarch, you are nothing but a—actually, no, you don’t even qualify as a concerned citizen.” He set the paper down, meeting my eyes. “Northmarch has managed to stand this long without us, and survived much worse than a single Blightspawn. Argentium hunted them to near extinction before any of us were even born. The caribou will most likely send out some scouts to see if there’s a hidden nest of them somewhere, and if there are more of them then Argentium will dispose of them on general principle, if nothing else. This one struggles to see what we could accomplish that they are unable to do on their own.”
I sighed and shook my head. “Yeah, they can almost certainly manage fine on their own. But what would it hurt to stay around a few more days just to make sure?”
Puzzle scowled and shook his head. “We’ve already spent two weeks here, not to mention the travel time just getting to Northmarch. We aren’t likely to profit by sticking around. A week ago you couldn’t get out of here fast enough.”
“A week ago Blightspawn were extinct,” I countered. “It’s not about profit, Puzzle. If there are a lot of nasty murder-monsters roaming around, the people in Northmarch might need help. I can’t just get on a boat and leave like nothing’s going on.”
Puzzle sighed and slumped down in his seat, as if he was tired of dealing with me when I was being completely unreasonable. “And exactly how long were you thinking to stay?”
I shrugged. “Depends on how it all goes, I guess. I mean, if it turns out to be nothing it wouldn’t be much more than a day or two. If they need help...”
“What if they do need help?” Puzzle demanded, crossing his forelegs. “How long do you intend on staying then?”
I shrugged again. “As long as it takes.”
“That is entirely too open-ended,” Puzzle answered. “That could take weeks. Months. Years even, if this is only the tip of the iceberg.”
I scowled at him. “So what, I should just leave because helping them might take too long?”
“This one is merely pointing out certain realities,” Puzzle answered levelly. “First and foremost, be careful about what you get drawn into. This one would think that your parents serve as an all-too-keen reminder of the dangers in taking on unlimited duties. Northmarch is the same land your mother cared more about than you—and incidentally, staying around to help them would doubtless mean working with her. And on the subject of unlimited commitments, how many years has your father frittered away chasing after one warlock?”
Strumming cleared her throat. “Not to mention Kukri’s parents signed up for you bringing her on a quick in-and-out trip. Not an extended monster-hunting expedition.”
I wanted to argue, but they both had frustratingly valid points. “Okay, fair enough. But it's probably going to take a day or two for Captain Weyland to get her ship and crew ready to sail, and Sigil said there’s going to be a storm tomorrow anyway. At the very least, that gives us a day or two to get the lay of the land and see if we can find anything out. If things look bad, I’m sure the captain can get Kukri home in one piece.”
“She was a cabin filly on his ship back before she became Facon,” Strumming agreed. “We can trust him to bring her back in one piece.”
Puzzle grunted and nodded. “Though that’s a moot point if we’re waiting for information and the ship can’t even get out of port until after the storm.” His eyes flicked to the door. “The delay is especially irksome when this one hasn’t heard nearly as much as it would like from its contacts in Freeport.”
Strumming chuckled. “Yeah yeah, gotta have the kids send you a letter every day to make sure they’re drinking their veggies and eating plenty of milk.”
“This one does have a large organization it needs to keep an eye on,” Puzzle pointed out. “The information this one has received is not quite as up to date as it would like.”
“It is a pretty long way from Freeport to Westmarch,” Strumming pointed out. “A mail clipper might end up getting here a bit faster than a windjammer like the Venture, but travel time’s still going to be a factor.”
Puzzle frowned and nodded along. “Certainly, but this one is missing an entire week’s worth of updates. Last it heard things were proceeding relatively smoothly, but each of its lieutenants should have sent it a weekly report, and it’s missing one that should have arrived by now.”
“The mail might just be going a bit slow,” I pointed out. “Maybe there’s weather, or the mail clipper was a day or two late leaving port.”
“This one told its lieutenants to send a copy of their report on three different vessels precisely to avoid that issue,” Puzzle answered.
“Dang,” Strumming whistled. “Making them do the paperwork in triplicate. That’s just cruel and unusual punishment. Not to mention tripling your delivery costs. You really wanted to make sure you got your mail.”
Puzzle answered her with a flat, unamused look. “This one spent years of its life building its organization, and has invested considerable funds and other resources into it. Last time Argentium called it to her caverns, it had far less to lose with a two-month round trip. This is the first time this one’s left its lieutenants in charge of everything for such a long period of time.”
“So you don’t trust the kids to take care of things while you’re away,” I concluded. “Relax—Alya, Blackwing, and Gustav know what they’re doing. There are all kinds of reasons a letter might be a day or two late.”
“Yeah,” Strumming agreed. “There’s no reason to think your mail being a bit late is a warning sign of some huge looming threat that will shortly result in ... oh who am I kidding? Now that I jinxed it we’re probably gonna come back to find out that the entire island is on fire. Or one of the dormant volcanoes woke up. Maybe that’s why that one shopkeeper’s store blew up right before we left: it was sitting right under what’s about to be a brand-new volcano. Or the Council shut down the Liberation Museum because that’s where the volcano is starting. Or maybe it’s a double!”
“That seems extremely unlikely,” Puzzle answered dryly. “Though if there is some sort of trouble waiting for us when we get back to Freeport, it would advise the Heartstrings-mare to stay out of it. The trip back to Freeport might provide you with enough time to heal, but only barely. Best not to strain a freshly healed wing.”
Strumming snorted and gave him a pat on the head. “Aww, isn’t he cute, Bacon? He’s being such a protective boyfriend...”
Puzzle snorted and brushed her hoof off, turning to her with a smile that lacked any warmth. “Perhaps, though we both know where you’ll stay if this one goes back to Freeport while the Shimmer-mare remains here or goes to Equestria.”
Strumming blinked, then frowned at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“This one thought it self-evident,” Puzzle answered coolly. “Your job is to watch over the Shimmer-mare. Ergo, where she goes, you go.”
“Well ... yeah,” Strumming conceded. “I do have a job.”
“Right.” Puzzle picked his much-abused newspaper up. “So it seems perfectly clear where your loyalties lie. Though this one cannot help but wonder what will come of you burning your orders from the EIS when you didn’t care for them. These superiors you go to such trouble to keep hidden from us will doubtless not approve of that. But by all means, join the Shimmer-mare in her pointless crusade to help those who don’t need it while neglecting Freeport.”
“Excuse you?” I yanked the paper out of his hooves, pretty much shredding it in the process. “So what, you think I should just leave them behind to die because that’s more profitable for you? First, buck your profits. Second, if money’s all you care about, I’m sure you can ask Argentium to pay us if she does need an extra set of hooves. It’s not like she’s hurting for cash or wouldn’t be willing to reward us for helping her in a time of need.”
Puzzle glared at me. “This one doesn’t only care about profit. You know that.” He tried to pick up the remnants of his paper, then sighed and put it to the side. “Or maybe you don't. Perhaps you know far less about this one than it thought.”
“Not really.” I glared right back at him. “The Puzzle I thought I knew was the one who never complained when I took a charity case or helped those in need. Like back during the whole Rising Fire thing, when those out-islanders needed help—you didn’t complain about whether or not you could make enough money then, you just helped me get it done.”
“So this one is only useful to you as long as it obeys your every whim?” Puzzle snapped.
“That is not what I meant, and you know it.” I groaned and rubbed my forehead. I then had to say something I’d never expected. “Strumming, somehow you’ve become the only other sane one in this conversation. Am I going nuts or being unreasonable?”
Strumming shrugged. “Not any more than you usually are when you’re annoyed.” She turned her attention to Puzzle. “Meanwhile ... you’re kinda putting your jerk hat and douche pants on right now, Bug Boy. What gives?”
Puzzle didn’t say anything for long enough that I was starting to suspect he just intended to stonewall us, until he finally answered. “Time.” He sighed and slumped back in his seat. “This one only has so much of it, and far too many things it hopes to see done. This one bears no ill will towards Northmarch, but its home is Freeport. Everything it hopes to accomplish with its life is there, and the longer it spends away, the harder that is to do. Not only the time wasted in Northmarch, but the opportunities missed and the relationships that will need to be restored after an extended absence. This one’s clients, allies, and subordinates expect it back on schedule. A much longer than expected absence will brew problems. There might already be problems, judging by the lack of letters.” He sighed and shook his head. “This one’s grand plans to change the face of Freeport have not seemed so fruitless for a long time.”
“It’s not that bad,” I assured him. “You can’t change an entire nation overnight. We’ve been working on it, haven’t we?”
“Yes, of course, it’s a work in progress.” Puzzle sighed impatiently. “However, this one could do with less work and more progress. Especially now that this one is faced with the distinct risk of losing several of its most important allies in that effort.”
Strumming’s eyes widened a bit. “Oh! I get it! You're getting so grouchy because you’re scared of losing me and Bacon.”
“Of course.” Puzzle dropped his gaze, refusing to meet our eyes. “Despite the occasional bit of inconvenience, our business relationship has been a mutually beneficial one. It is perfectly natural to dislike the possibility of losing such an arrangement.”
“Our business relationship?” I repeated skeptically. “Pretty sure it’s been a long time since any of us considered a balance sheet with this. We’re friends, not just business partners.”
“Our partnership has been an amicable one,” Puzzle evaded.
Strumming snorted and rolled her eyes. “I know this game: pretend we mean a lot less to you than we do and start pushing us away, so that if we do end up leaving it won’t hurt as much. ‘Course, the dumb thing about that is that pushing us away makes us a lot more likely to leave him in the first place. Not like I’d wanna keep dating a guy who’s a jerk to me.”
“That does kinda fit,” I agreed. “Kinda obvious, now that I think about it. Just didn’t see it because Puzzle’s usually not so ... emotional.”
Strumming shrugged. “You know what they say, still waters and all that rot. Just ‘cause bug boy tries to play things cool and not make emotion-driven decisions doesn’t mean he’s a heartless golem who feels nothing. And in my experience, the ones that try to hide all that stuff don’t handle it well when it finally all comes boiling over.” Strumming poked him in the chest. “So, why not just let it all out?”
Puzzle took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “Very well. Yes, this one doesn’t want you to leave Freeport. Obviously.” He closed his eyes and took another few breaths. “Perhaps you are right. This one is being foolish because it is afraid. This one apologizes—it shouldn't be letting emotions control its behavior, especially when it’s acting so badly.”
Strumming grinned and wrapped her uninjured wing around him. “Aww, so you do care. See, works a lot better when you just come out and say it instead of being all weird and indirect and stuff. If you wanna keep Bacon around, ‘I don’t want you to go’ is a lot better than being all passive-aggressive or grumpy about it. Don’t know why you had to make something so easy into such a pain.”
“Challenge comes in many forms,” Puzzle groused. “This one is accustomed to maintaining a certain professional distance with those around it. Its chosen profession is not an especially safe one, and its subordinates are by necessity ultimately expendable assets. It is not accustomed to allowing itself the luxury of friendship, let alone...” His eyes drifted towards Strumming.
The EIS spy shrugged. “We’re surviving so far.”
“And we’re sticking around no matter what,” I assured him. “Even if we do something like go work outside of Freeport for a bit, it doesn’t mean I’ll stop being your friend.” I thought about adding in something for Strumming, but I didn’t want to put words in her mouth, and I really didn’t get how their relationship worked anyway. “Bottom line is we’re not leaving, so stop trying to push us away.”
Puzzle sighed and leaned back, resting in Strumming’s wing. “Right, sorry. This is just difficult. Most of this one’s long-term plans assumed the Shimmer-mare would remain in Freeport as a valuable ally for this one long into the future. It never considered the possibility that you might leave, and even if you do promise to return eventually ... nothing is certain. You’ve admitted that the White Pony almost certainly hopes to turn any temporary stay in Equestria into a permanent one, and she has over a thousand years of experience in getting what she wants.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “But it’s hard to manipulate someone who knows it’s coming. You always said one of the most important pieces of information for manipulating someone or resisting their attempts at manipulation is knowing what they want. Well ... I know what Celestia wants. Freeport is my home. It’s where all my friends are, and where I keep my stuff. If I go to Celestia for a job at her school, it’ll just be a job. Teach there for a few months to get a bunch of practical info about how to run a magical school, then come home.”
“That is certainly your plan,” Puzzle agreed. “However, if this one is going to be honest, it would likely be far wiser for you to return to Canterlot properly. Your mother was not wrong to point out that you would benefit immensely from it. Celestia would doubtless offer you almost any reasonable position you asked for, or at least a close approximation to it. And even if you are not quite on the level of an Archmagus yet, a few more years of seasoning and lessons from Celestia would take you to that level, or even further beyond.”
“By definition, nobody’s more qualified to help you figure out how to become an alicorn,” Strumming pointed out. “Objectively speaking, your only connection to Freeport is that it’s where you wound up when you were running low on money and needed a quick job to fill your wallet back up. It’s nice that you settled down and stuff, but inertia’s pretty much the only thing keeping you there.”
I frowned and shook my head. “No it’s not. I don’t want Celestia to just give me whatever I want. One of the main reasons I left Canterlot was so I’d have enough space to find my own way and build something. Maybe I just wound up in Freeport by happenstance, but that doesn’t mean the last two years of me putting down roots didn’t happen. It’s hot, humid, and it smells like dead fish half the time, but it’s my home. You don’t give up on your home just because you’ve had a rough time or you aren’t making as much progress as you’d like.”
“You don't get bonus points in life for doing things the hard way, Shimmer-mare.” Puzzle gave me a quick pat on the shoulder. “This one understands that you value your independence, but you might be taking that too far. After all, the only beings in the world who live completely independent of others are hermits out in the wilderness.”
“It’s not just about keeping my independence at all costs,” I explained. “It’s also ... well getting to be an Archmagus wouldn’t mean anything if Celestia just gave it to me. I don’t want to spend more years cooped up in a tower studying, I want to go out and do something.” I sighed and ran a hoof through my mane. “Not to mention that when it comes to trying to build something in Freeport, politics kind of requires a little distance between me and Celestia. Not like I want to cut her out or anything, it’s just that ... well, I bet the Council’s already wondering if I’m there on some sort of long, elaborate plan of Celestia’s to take over the islands.”
“This one has certainly considered the possibility,” Puzzle admitted. He held up a hoof to forestall my reply. “Not that it is saying the Shimmer-mare is part of some elaborate conspiracy, but it is sure the White Pony has at least considered how she might use the Shimmer-mare’s presence in Freeport to advance her own interests.”
“Pretty sure she has,” I conceded. “But I made that decision years ago. I’ll always love and respect Celestia, but I’m my own mare. If she supports whatever I want to do, great. If she opposes it, I’ll learn to live with that. The thing is, she respects my...” I trailed off, one of my ears twitching. There was something that just felt a bit ... off. Nothing solid I could put my hoof on, but there was this uncomfortable squirming feeling on the back of my neck. Sort of like...
Strumming put it into words before I could. “Is it just me, or is it too quiet? Or not quiet enough? Or just, you know...”
Puzzle frowned and nodded. “Yes, this one—”
I felt the surge of magic just in time. I’d barely managed to put up a shield around all three of us when the inn’s outer wall exploded. The floor collapsed underneath us, and we all would’ve been cut to ribbons by all the flying glass and splinters if I’d been just a tiny bit slower.
“The hay?!” I groaned, pulling myself back up to my hooves. We’d gone from the second floor of the inn to the ground floor, and a huge chunk of the building was just ... gone. There was a gaping jagged-ended hole where the wall had been, cutting into most of the rooms next to ours as well. Thankfully the bathroom looked reasonably intact, so Kukri was probably—
“Hello, Sunset Shimmer.”
My head snapped towards the voice. Standing out in the middle of the street was a figure dressed head to hoof in blackened steel. It was a really old set of armor going by the style, old enough that I had to wonder if they’d gotten it out of a museum. The armor had all the stylistic flourishes that usually only showed up on decorative parade ground sets, including a pair of upswept wings reminiscent of a bat or a dragon’s. The helmet featured a pair of decorative horns on the sides, along with a hole for the unicorn’s horn to protrude from. The helmet had a much longer visor, making it almost look like the snout of a predator. There was a sword strapped on the attacker’s back, a single-edged sword with a ripple-patterned blade that seemed oddly familiar, but I had more important concerns than why the random pony who’d just blown up half a building to try and get to me was wearing a bunch of ancient armor and a sword I could swear I’d seen somewhere else. “Who the hay are you?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t recognize me.” The visor snapped open, and Starlight Glimmer smirked at me. “It hasn’t been that long.”