Cadence stared at the changeling girl standing before them. She felt dead, if she was being honest. One too many things added up all at the same time. A young changeling queen, birthed by Chrysalis, twelve years previously.
She had Shining Armor’s eyes. Lovely blue things, shining like crystalline tears in the midst of an armor-plated face. Framed by stringy blue hair that hung like spiderwebs from her head. Her wings, too, shone a faint blue and became white at the edges.
She was Shining Armor’s eldest daughter.
“H-how?” Shining’s voice hissed in the back of his throat. “How did this happen? We… we were…”
Cadence and Shining had been chaste before the wedding. Illegitimate children would have faced horrible ridicule. Illegitimate offspring of the Noble House of Sparkle, even more so. To say nothing of a princess of Equestria. They wanted to protect their children from that. They wanted to protect themselves from the political scandal.
More importantly, there was something they wanted to share only with one another. Something special. A unique bond.
Chrysalis… what had Chrysalis The Tyrant done?
“Sh-she used her magic.” Chrysalis’ daughter sniffled as her countenance drooped. Each word moved harder than the last. “She wouldn’t let you think clearly.” Her eyes clenched tight in a frightful sob. “But she’s dead and she can’t hurt you anymore and I’m so sorry!”
Celestia shifted from her spot by the window. She approached the queen, a hoof lifted regally. Her expression, though, was hesitant. She opened her mouth, but found herself at a loss for words. She waited too long to say something.
Luna’s ears twitched as an airship took off. “I must go. If we are to catch Ahuizotl…” She left without another sound.
Chrysalis II fell to her knees. She bowed her head at Shining, who could do nothing but gape. “Ch-changeling queens can only c-come from a changeling and pony union. She wanted… she wanted hives…” She shook her head violently. “I couldn’t let her! I couldn’t! I’m sorry!”
Cadence watched the child sob. She couldn’t process this. Shining Armor, always strong and steadfast, had not moved. Cadence looked to Celestia in a last-ditch attempt to break free from the agonizing pain in the room.
The High Princess wrinkled her brow. “I believe we all need some time to think.”
Chrysalis’ answer came as a hushed “I’m sorry,” repeated over and over and over again.
Shining took in a breath. A few moments later, he remembered to let it out. He gave the door a brief glance. “No.”
He reached down and cupped his hooves to the sides of Chrysalis’ head. He kept his voice low, as warm as he could through the tightness in his throat. “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t do anything bad. It’s going to be okay, Chr—” He tried to force her name out, but failed. “It’s going to be alright. You don’t need to be hurt anymore.”
Chrysalis cried out, like her heart was being compressed. She pawed at his hooves to bat them away, but without any real strength. Before long, she simply collapsed into his forelegs.
“I’m here,” he choked out. “If I knew sooner…”
He and Cadence locked eyes. He silently pleaded with her for help. To join the two of them. To comfort the lost child.
Cadence saw her husband holding a changeling child. A chilling fear swept up and down her body, inciting her legs to charge, to flee, to trample. She had to get out of the room. She had to get away from the changeling. She had to give herself space to breathe, to think. She fled.
She found herself in their suite. She found their bed and lay down, covering herself with blankets and pillows until she was sure she was safe. Even then, there was no relief. Her heart had no strength. Her mind was a tangle of dangers and impossibilities. Her legs trembled and there was no stopping them.
She couldn’t do anything, and she wondered if that was for the best.
***
The inside of Ahuizotl’s flagship was hot. Dim, even with magic coursing through every vein and surface. A brown metallic tinge colored everything in sight. The sounds of clockwork and hissing pistons was nearly overwhelming. The floor was unstable, constantly rocking back and forth with the motion of the wings and the tangle of spidery legs beneath the monstrosity.
Button Mash leaned against the wall as he looked over Caballeron. The older stallion moaned quietly. The bleeding had finally clotted, and the ambrosia Button had administered would soon replenish the blood supply.
A Painted One—Confuto, if Button remembered correctly—growled from beyond a bulkhead. “Make sure he’s well taken care of. I shall return with further instructions.”
“He needs food,” Button said. “Some sort of sugary liquid. Do you have an orange or—?”
He sighed as footsteps retreated into the distance. He gave the bulkhead a tap and sat down beside Caballeron. As intimidating as he was when he was awake, he wasn’t very impressive at the moment. His scraggly beard, dark eyes, and gray-stricken mane made him seem more like a tired old grandpa than a vicious killer. Still, Button had left Caballeron’s knife blade out of the stallion’s reach. His chest itched with the memory of their single previous battle.
He gave the bandage a tug. It was just as secure as the last fifty times he’d checked it.
Caballeron opened a single eye. He studied his surroundings for a long moment, before turning his attention on Button. “Aboard the Hesperus Mactans, then?”
Button Mash scooted a ways back. “Is that what they call Ahuizotl’s giant death spider?”
“It’s two species of Black Widow Spider.” Ahuizotl attempted to move a leg. Unfortunately for him, the bandage wasn’t very mobile. “The ancient changelings were never very subtle.”
“Good, good.” Button Mash nodded, his ears straining for any sign of life besides Caballeron or the Painted Ones. “I’m so glad to have a name for my nightmares.”
Caballeron chuffed. He rested his head against the warm metal surrounding him. “You’re a fool.”
Button huffed. He rubbed the back of his neck and scowled. “Whatever.”
“If you had left me to die, they might have left you behind.” Caballeron flicked his short tail and kicked out a hind leg. With that much leverage gained, he hoisted himself to his rump. His eyes crossed as he grew dizzy, but he was able to prop himself against the bulkhead. “Then neither of us would be in this mess.”
Button leaned forward, pressing his forelegs against the floor. “You’re awful smarmy for somebody who should be dead. You know how lucky you were that the sword missed your heart and lungs? You should be worm food—”
“It’s not luck,” Caballeron said. “Martial Paw is one of the greatest swordsmen in the world. He meant for my death to be long and painful.” He brought a hoof gingerly to the bandage over his chest. “There are a great many people who will be upset you saved my life.”
Button’s ears drooped. He stood up to pace and wear out some of his nervous energy. “Sometimes being a stallion means quietly doing the right thing.” He shrugged. “No matter who’ll hate you for it.”
“Is that so?” Caballeron hissed as he moved his chest muscles wrong. He glanced at his blade sitting some meters away and let it be. “Keep doing the ‘right thing’ and all of Equestria’s going to hate you.”
“You were trying to help us—”
“I was trying to help myself.”
Button pressed a hoof against Caballeron’s mouth. “You were trying to help us, so I did you a solid. Now you’re going to do me a solid and help me rescue Sweetie Belle. And the hearts.” He lowered the foreleg, gave Caballeron as steely a glare as he could, and resumed his slow pace. “And if you’re lucky, we’ll rescue your heart, too.”
Caballeron peeled his lips back in a dark smile. “You’re not very good at being intimidating, boy.”
“Yeah, well…” Button rolled his eyes as he searched out a suitable comeback. Not finding one, he went with the least-lame in his arsenal. “You’re not very good at being a henchman. No idea why Ahuizotl relies on you.”
“Because I’m the only one who knows how to work the sun device.” Caballeron tapped the side of his head. “Make no mistake, boy, you are a fool. But me? I’m a darned fool. Y’see, I found the instructions for the sun device, hidden in a cavern somewhere in the Badlands. I was planning to auction it off in Saddle Arabia, Mole Ossia, or one of the other less-friendly countries out east. But lo and behold, Ahuizotl found out about it.”
Button kept Caballeron in the corner of his eyes. No reason to give the older stallion a chance to get the jump on him, invalid as he was. He didn’t look like he was capable of attacking. He just looked tired. Worn.
“I knew Ahuizotl would kill me for it…” Caballeron leaned his head against the metal wall. “So I memorized it and destroyed it. In return, once we found the Spade of Hearts, he used it against me. His first victim.”
Caballeron grinned with not an iota of humor. “But he didn’t know how to work it. The separation was incomplete. Half-baked. But I still need my heart back, boy. I’m dying without it.” He chuckled, rubbing grime from beneath his eyes. “I’ve tried to change the world with no thought for the consequences, but they finally caught up to me. How’ve you changed the word lately?”
“Me?” Button raised an eyebrow. He found a handle in the wall, where the thing might come away as a door. “I’m not exactly an earth-shaker.”
“Aren’t you?” Caballeron eased himself back down, sliding his body sideways with the motion. “Martial tried to snuff me out and you refused.”
“In my defense, I didn’t know it was Martial who stabbed you.”
“Ahuizotl tried to take control of the sun, and you flew in with a dragoncopter and blasted his army.”
Button grabbed the handle and tugged. It moved slightly, but would require more force to open. He pulled as hard as he dared, hoping against hope that it was quiet. “I—eurgh—wasn’t exactly thinking ‘world changer’ when I was flying that death trap.”
Caballeron pushed with his hind legs, coming closer and giving the wall a once-over. “You need to release the latch first.”
Button sighed as he flipped a lever on the side of the door. The handle moved much more freely. “Yeah. Thanks.” He opened the door and peered both ways down the hall. It was empty, and looked just like the room they’d been locked in. “Stay here. I’m gonna take a look.”
“What do you think you’re doing?” Caballeron pushed himself to his feet, gritting his teeth. His left foreleg gave out on the way up. He rested on his knees and shuffled slowly around. “If Ahuizotl finds you—”
Button looked over his shoulder. He waited a moment for Caballeron to continue. “Yeah?”
“I have no idea what the mad god would do to you.” Caballeron rubbed his forehead with a moan. “That’s what scares me.”
“You need to rest,” Button said, leaning into the outer hallway. “The ambrosia’s working fast, but not that fast. Keep an ear to the floor.”
“Ah, I was wrong then.” Caballeron settled back and fiddled with the collar of his shirt. “We’re both darned fools.”
Button Mash felt a little stealthier than he figured he actually was. His hoofsteps rarely rose above the churn of the mechanisms all around. Every once in a while, he felt a cool breeze blow through the tunnels and corridors. He followed the breeze, hoping for a way outside. What he’d do once outside, he didn’t know. He didn’t know much, to be honest. He needed to find something to lead him onward.
He found a window built into the wall, made from some amber-colored material. He peered through and saw a large room, about the size of the sun device’s antechamber. The device was stored within, crawling with mechanical ants. Each and every one of them sported dents from the battle. Claws held the sun device in place, and the makings of a trap door could be seen beneath it.
Sweetie Belle! Button saw her on the far side of the chamber, being dragged away by Confuto and a couple other Painted Ones. He wiped sweat from his forehead and examined the rest of the room. Two doors, one beneath him, the other on the far side. If he could go down a level, he might find himself in that cargo bay area.
Maybe that was a bad idea. It was literally crawling with automatons. There had to be other ways around. He turned away from the wall and came face-to-face with an automaton.
He yelped as the thing threw him to the floor. Its gnashing mandibles snapped millimeters away from his schnoz. The sword-like legs closed around him, trapping him in a makeshift cage. He stared into the thing’s glowing red eyes and pleaded for death to be swift.
“Dissero, please.” A voice, deep as a Canterlot dumpster and weighty as a dropped barbell, landed squarely in Button Mash’s ear. “Let the poor boy up.”
The mechanoid moved aside, and Button Mash was graced with a full view of Ahuizotl’s face. The beast smiled as congenially as a shark drinking blood. “What have we here? I’m afraid we have a strict policy on stowaways.”
“I—” Button Mash felt the blood drain from his face. “I was brought aboard. I h-heeeee—healed Caball-leron!”
Ahuizotl guffawed. He tapped a claw beside Button’s head. “Indeed did you? It seems that I am in your debt. Were I to lose the good doctor, it would… complicate things.”
Button’s stomach churned at the scent of decayed fish on the mad god’s breath. “Uh huh.”
Ahuizotl’s tail-hand snaked around and grasped Button beneath the chin. He lifted Button by the neck and brought him up to eye-level. The mad god’s yellow eye glared at Button’s very soul. “Who are you, then? Not a guard. Not a member of the immediate family. Not even some sort of servant. You’re just here, and I find it very odd.”
“I-I’m a friend,” Button managed to choke out.
“Are you?” Ahuizotl touched a paw to his chest in mock surprise. “Well, it just so happens I’m in a good mood today. Why don’t we go see Sweetie Belle and find the truth of your statements?”
Button fought for breath as the tail swished him through the air. “Gurck! Sure! Ack! Sounds great! Just peachy!”
Bruises appeared beneath his coat of brown hair. Ahuizotl walked casually, almost leisurely. They carried on through the corridor in a loop—Button supposed it circled around the thorax of the mechanical flyder. The hum of machinery grew louder as they reached the neck joint of the monstrous flagship. The air grew hotter, and the sparkle of magic overcame the brown tones of the metal. Painted Ones and automatons moved aside for Ahuizotl and Dissero to pass, and gave Button looks that were far from pity.
The bridge was an open room, with several levels of consoles and controls. Instead of a ship’s wheel, there was a board of control crosses. Eight, to be exact, one for each of the legs. A master control sat beside it, and wires connected the lot of them together.
“High Priest Confuto,” Ahuizotl said, “where is Sweetie Belle?”
The Painted One, the strong young stallion that had thrown fireballs at Button and company, bowed at the neck. “She is chained to a chair at the front of the bridge, Almighty Ahuizotl. She awaits your command.”
“Like heck I do!” Sweetie’s voice snapped like a crocodile at an antelope. “You’re going down, monster!”
Ahuizotl hid Button behind his back as he approached the white-coated mare. He smiled as Button struggled to speak. “Indeed, Miss Belle? The armies of Equestria have been crippled. My machines are completely operational. Daring Do herself is dead.”
Button Mash’s eyes widened. Dead? How? It didn’t seem possible. She was an invincible hero. A legendary warrior. He’d spoken with her earlier that day…
Who was coming to save them now?
Button strained to see Sweetie, but Ahuizotl’s fingers clamped tight against his jaw. He could feel his teeth grinding against the force of the tail-hand.
“I have achieved victory in all but name.” Ahuizotl reached down to touch his claw against Sweetie’s chin. He forced her to raise her face. “All thanks to your natural siren’s song.”
He smiled, and Button’s heart felt faint at the grotesque sight. “Now,” Ahuizotl said, “perhaps you could explain something to me.” He swung Button around, and the young stallion got a good look at Sweetie Belle.
She was ragged and pained—that much was obvious from the matted mane and unbrushed coat. Her eyes were dim and tear-stricken. Her frameless glasses were scratched and askew. A strong shackle held her to a bench facing away from the port hole. Her mouth dropped open with a cry filled with fear and painful realization. “Button!”
Ahuizotl rocked the stallion back and forth. “So you do know him. And… dear me, she seems to care about you quite a bit.”
His left paw grabbed the Spade of Hearts and hovered it over his chest. “But what are you to her, hmm? A scrawny colt. Not a warrior. Barely a healer. I can sense your magic from here, and let me tell you, it’s not even enough to power one of my strutters.”
“Put him down!” Sweetie said, a strong command in her voice. “Put him down! Now!”
Ahuizotl laughed. He raised Button Mash higher, tracing a heart-shape across the scar on his chest. “I’ve been thinking. With Scootaloo missing—perhaps dead—I require another source of insurance that you will do as I say. A friend who I can threaten and beat. Perhaps this colt… this ‘Button…’ shall serve me in that regard.”
He threw Button against the wall. The young stallion curled up in a ball just before the tail-hand whipped around and pressed him against the bulkhead. It curled around his chest, allowing his forelegs to scramble frantically and feebly to free himself.
“Sing for me, Sweetie Belle,” Ahuizotl growled, “or I will simply twist his useless head off and be done with it.”
Button fumed, the pain and dismissal lending fire to his heart. Without really thinking it through, he leaned his head forward and bit deep into Ahuizotl’s finger. The mad god roared and flicked his hand away. With a mighty swing of his paw, he struck Button across the face.
Button Mash tumbled limply to a rest beside Sweetie’s bench, where she could see his bruised and battered jaw loud and clear. Button struggled to open the swollen, rapidly-developing black eye, but was forced to settle for half a view of the still-radiant mare.
He managed to crack a weak grin. He fought to give her some amount of muttered reassurance. “It’s not as bad as it looks.” Black filled the edges of his vision. It was becoming starkly familiar. He shook his head to banish the buzz. “Still hurts a bit.”
Ahuizotl signaled Confuto with a snap of his fingers. “See to it they are locked up. We wouldn’t want them to hurt themselves on the dangerous machinery. And Confuto—” He looked at the Painted One with a pleasant, if off-putting, smile. “—your timing for getting the Hesperus Mactans in the air was excellent.”
Confuto bowed low. “My lord, I was not the one to activate the flagship. I was busy retrieving Caballeron.”
“I appreciate the honesty.” Ahuizotl danced his paws through the air, as though conducting an orchestra. “Tell me who, then, that I may honor them.”
Confuto raised his head slightly, his ears tilting back. “No one knows, Almighty Ahuizotl. As far as everyone knows, the ship was activated before any of them came on board.”
Ahuizotl’s smile, and some portion of the good humor therein, dissipated. He tapped his claws against the floor as he glanced around at the ceiling. “Very well. Continue as I have commanded. I shall be in the engine room.”
Confuto tilted his head. “My lord?”
“As I have commanded, Confuto!”
Confuto swallowed. He glared at Button and kicked his hoof. “Get up.”
***
Ahuizotl walked slowly into the engine room of the Hesperus Mactans, solemn and quiet. Located at the base of the flagship’s head, protected with yards and yards of Golemium, it was the symbolic and literal heart of the vessel.
A large orb stood in the middle of the room, suspended by Golemium cords from the ceiling and propped up by pillars of the same. In the orb lay dozens of receptacles, each perfectly-shaped to receive a pony heart. And receive them it had—the entire room glowed with a multitude of colors and shades, all pulsating in time, all radiating their power throughout the Hesperus. Together, the hearts drowned out the orange glow that stained the entire ship’s interior.
Ahuizotl ran his paw over the surface of the orb, touching many hearts in the process. In each one, he could feel the fear they’d had since they were harvested. But there was something else, a hope instilled by Sweetie Belle, a hope of rescue.
Hearts always did pump better if there was hope behind them.
He idly tapped a claw and swiveled his ears. There was a faint presence that was decidedly not pony. It was difficult to pinpoint, as it seemed to permeate the entire room. Perhaps the entire ship. Vaguely familiar, but not immediately recognizable. “Who is there?”
A voice came to him, spoken inaudibly to his heart. “You do not recognize me?”
He stumbled back and brought a paw to his chest. Nothing changed visibly in the room, but the presence was far stronger. More familiar, yet he was even less certain than before. “I do not… are you friend, or foe?”
A panel in the wall came away. Machinery that had once been hidden away now danced freely aside. Green magic lanced through the air and came together in a cohesive shape. A torso, a head, four legs, two wings.
Next, armor left the wall, and the gap was closed with the panel. The armor flew confidently through the air to gird the anatomic facsimile. A helmet in the classic changeling style bedecked the head, with two sweeping horns and curved eye protection.
A hoof raised, allowing the gauntlet thereon to shine in the magical light. A gemstone set between the helmet’s horns shimmered, and a voice was heard out loud at last. “Have you yet remembered, Ahuizotl?”
Ahuizotl squinted at the ghostly changeling. The armor belonged to the queen, long, long ago. Which queen? The years had rotted his memory away. “I am afraid not, Queen of the Changelings. Perhaps a name?”
A mechanical sigh radiated throughout his heart. The gemstone twinkled as the helmeted, green-glowing head looked away. “I suppose it has been two-thousand years.”
Ahuizotl shook his head. His memory was so foggy that far back, it was difficult to make out details. Several lifetimes stood between himself and the Changeling Queen. And yet… “I remember a queen… who saved the world from the fey creatures. With artifacts of… immense power.”
“Yes, Ahuizotl.” The queen nodded and urged him on with a hoof. “Please, continue.”
“I would sit at her feet when she held court… I was…” There. A tactile memory. A gentle hoof across his head, backed with a confident smile. A smile worthy of honor and protection. “I was your friend.”
“Yes, Ahuizotl,” the queen said, and there was a lightness in her voice. A smile unseen on her artificial face. “Most loyal friend of friends.”
Ahuizotl clenched a fist. “River?” He let it slack, and shook his head. “But you died.”
“Though the pony rebellion destroyed our society, our cities, and our lives, I escaped.” River Cicada pointed to the dagger slung over his shoulder. “The Spade of Hearts was able to preserve my heart these many eons, though my body decayed to dust.”
She swept her hoof across the engine room’s orb. “And so I was able to follow you. Through the hearts of Mandible and Chrysalis the Second, to Button Mash’s puppet of an ancient pony myth—” She spat the word. “—to this very room, where I lifted the Hesperus Mactans to retrieve the Lance of Light.”
“The sun device.” Ahuizotl gazed upon the hearts in a new light. More memories resurfaced, foggy and faint, but there. “I’ve been drawn to it. Subconsciously guiding myself to it. And now I know why.”
“There is one thing that remains, Ahuizotl.” River Cicada drew herself up regally, raising her right foreleg at the knee. “To what end do you seek to control the sun once more?”
Ahuizotl snarled and scoured the floor with a powerful claw. “You of all creatures should know!” He raised his arms to the ceiling and let out a bellow. “The Creator has abandoned us all!”
Cicada’s helmet tilted. “The Creator is the One who gifted us with the Elements of Harmony, Ahuizotl. And from there—”
“He gave us the Elements—” Ahuizotl pointed a claw. “—so that He would not have to dirty His paws! He, who gave gifts to the ponies to replace the changelings. He, who so readily cast His own offspring aside to pave the way for the more obedient! He, who has left this world to rot under the control of Celestia and her ilk! No longer!”
He drew the Spade of Hearts and sent magic into the pommel stone. It glimmered brilliantly against his eyes. “Now, the Unseelie Court of Fey seeks to reassert control and remake the world as they see fit! I see it in my dreams, my nightmares! They must be stopped from retaking control of the sun, Cicada!”
He pounded a fist against his jeweled breastplate. “Who better than I to lead the next generation? The people deserve a god who is present! Who will not abandon his own! Who will not leave the destructive power of fairies, or alicorns, or monsters unchecked! I shall be that god! I, who rescue the orphan! I, who will restore the changeling empire! I, who am truly immortal!”
River Cicada was quiet for a long moment. Ahuizotl awaited her response, the blade at the ready to strike her down should she stand against him.
At last she spoke, and she was quiet. “You are not the creature I remember.”
Ahuizotl raised his eyebrows. “But am I wrong?”
Queen Cicada shook her head. “I fought for you so that the Changeling Empire might live once again. But you are no god, Ahuizotl. You are a creation, as much as I am.”
“It is the principle of the thing!” The Spade of Hearts left a trail of magic as he swung it through the air, punctuating his point. “The same Creator who gifted you with the Elements later allowed them to fall into pony hooves! He cares for you no more than the likes of Celestia! He simply allows the world to crumble beneath him, descending into chaos and madness. But I—”
He stopped and took a breath. He stared at the dagger, piercing through the morass of memory to violent, terrible events. “Do you remember… when the ponies came for them? The other four… friends. The screams? The blood? The slaves shouting of righteousness and the Creator’s blessing?”
Cicada trembled beneath the armor, the magic falling out of alignment for the briefest of moments. A low groan rode throughout the interior of the Hesperus Mactans.
He pointed the dagger at her heart. “Is that the sort of god you wish to follow, River?”
The flickering halted. Queen River Cicada of the Changelings drew herself back up to a tall, regal, powerful stance. “I say again: You are no god, Ahuizotl. But I swear, I shall stand by your side to right the wrongs of the world.”
Ahuizotl slid the dagger into its scabbard. “What more could I ask from an old friend?”
***
The door opened, and Button Mash’s face hit the floor. He groaned as he moved his legs beneath him.
Caballeron’s voice piped up from the far side of the room. “You’re more alive than I expected.”
Button coughed and gingerly touched his black eye. “Note to self: Don’t bite Ahuizotl.”
Caballeron gaped. “Bit him? You’re no darned fool, boy! You’re an outright blithering idiot!”
“Button!” Sweetie Belle was by his side, touching his shoulder gingerly, coaxing him to his feet. “Come on. Th—there’s a bed on the wall. Just move slowly, okay?”
“Aaaaahhh…” Button hissed as he stumbled against Sweetie. She held him steady. They walked carefully towards the cot bolted to the wall, one painful step at a time.
Caballeron sneered at Confuto. “What? Now I have to chaperone these two? I’m not being paid enough for this nonsense!”
Confuto grinned. “You can’t put a price on a life.” He slammed the door in Caballeron’s face.
Button sat, then gently lay on the cot. It seemed like every muscle in his body had turned to stone, in one way or another. He gave Sweetie an uneven grin. “Well, this sucks.”
Sweetie’s lips moved wordlessly for a moment. “H-how did you even get on board?”
“He was bandaging my injury and got scooped up in the chaos.” Caballeron chuckled and lay his head on his good foreleg. “Such staggering heroics.”
“I guess I just keep trying to change the world.” Button Mash sighed and let his eyes trail to Sweetie Belle. He hesitated on a bruise on her shoulder before snapping his attention to the wall. “One way or another.”
To Button’s surprise, Sweetie Belle touched a hoof to his forehead. She looked over his injuries, her face falling. “D-did you come all this way for me?”
Button chewed his lip. He had lots of reason, most of them jumbled up and confused. Where could he even start? What would be the end of it? He supposed it was just best to say what was in his heart, even if his heart didn’t quite know. “I guess… that’s one reason.”
Sweetie half-laughed, half-sighed. “Just one, huh?”
“I wanted to save you and Scootaloo.” He waved a hoof at the doctor. “To give Caballeron a big ‘screw you!’ To help Spike and Rumble out on their quest. I guess…” He petered off, his eyes unfocused. Dare he go on? Had he rambled? Did Sweetie really want to know? Maybe it was best to shut up about it.
But then, he saw her eyes. Kind eyes. Attentive eyes. Glistening green emeralds of far more value than the greatest treasure. She was listening to him. She. Was listening. To him.
“I guess I wanted—” He breathed, and took the leap. “—to feel like I was worthy of doing something important.”
Sweetie smiled softly and shook her head. She rubbed his forehead, careful to avoid the injured areas. She opened her mouth to speak.
She was interrupted by a dark, cackling, wheezing laugh. Caballeron stood up and staggered his way to the bed. “You wanted to feel worthy, eh? There are none who are worthy, only those who take a stand. Who move forward. You dove in over your head and changed the world. Now, you find yourself drowning in a change you weren’t ready for.”
Sweetie pouted at him. “If you’re so knowledgeable about changing the world, why don’t you tell us the last time you did something, doctor!”
Caballeron’s smile, as bitter and fake as it was, crumbled in the face of her words. He curled his lips at her, turning a dark eye on Button as well. “Oh, I could tell you a tale, alright. It’s been a while since I taught, but the lessons are fresh.”
He nodded, and when he spoke, Button felt his heart drop. “I just need to start with the night my son died.”