—
I pulled the door open.
The inside of the guardhouse wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to me, though this one in my neighborhood had a slightly different layout. There were some signs of remodeling here and there with some of the walls looking half-painted and some sort of stand in the middle as a centerpiece. Most of the guards were out and about on the streets already, leaving only a few here milling about on their breaks. It was much quieter than I expected for being in the middle of the day, giving the whole place an air of… incompleteness.
A couple of guards noticed me as I entered, swiveling about at the front desk to face me. “‘Ello there, young lady!” one of them called to me. “Did you need any help?”
I took a deep breath, puffing out my chest just a little. “I want to join,” I said, staring straight at him.
He raised an eyebrow, exchanging a glance with the guard beside him. There was a pause, a moment of silence, before the two of them began laughing.
I pouted. It wasn’t a malicious laugh, but it was the kind of laughter adults liked to use when they think somepony’s silly or doesn't understand what they want, as if they were in on some joke that I wasn’t in on.
The guard leaned forward on the desk. “You seem a bit young to join the guard, missy,” he said, still with a faint grin on his face. “Give it a few years before you commit. Do your parents know you’re here?”
“He does,” I said simply, holding my ground. “I want to join the guard.”
His brow furrowed just a little, and his partner was looking at me much more closely. “You sure ‘bout that decision there? The guard ain’t all glamorous, y’know. It’s a dangerous job, and we gotta get rough sometimes.”
“Oh shoot,” his partner spoke up, sitting up in his seat. “I think I know her. She’s the filly from the papers. Her cutie mark matches up and everything.”
The first guard raised an eyebrow at that. “Who now?”
“You haven’t heard? Here, lemme find the article,” his partner replied, looking around behind the desk. “It was an incident near the castle. Two dead. The guards up there had one heck of a day trying to sort it all out.”
The guard’s eyes widened a little as he continued looking at me. “Wait, you’re right. I do know her.” He turned to his partner, leaning in and whispering. “That’s the daughter, isn’t it.”
The other guard nodded, whispering back as if I couldn’t hear what they were saying. “Pretty sure she knows plenty about how to ‘get rough.’ We’re not going to change her mind.”
The first guard heaved a great sigh. “Oh Celestia, I’m out of my depth here.”
“Send it up,” his friend replied.
He nodded. “Looks like I’ll have to.” The guard looked at me again. “Head over to the castle tomorrow when you get a chance.”
I furrowed my brow. “Why can’t I join now?”
The guard took a deep breath. “You’re… not quite a traditional applicant. We need to talk with a few of the higher-ups to see what they might want to do with you.” He hummed in contemplation. “Tell you what. Come here tomorrow and I’ll take you to the castle. That alright?”
“That’s alright with me then.” I bowed my head, receiving a smaller one in reply. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I turned to leave, but I could still hear a bit of their conversation as I trotted towards the exit.
“Sweet Celestia, this is irresponsible.” It was the first guard.
“Did you even see that look in her eyes? It’d be more irresponsible to leave that ticking time bomb alone.”
I scoffed. Just more adults who think I need to be coddled. I’m strong. I always have been, I always will be, and I will show all of them who I am.
I left the building.
Celestia
I stepped back into my chambers, the sun slowly rising into the sky at my back.
The previous night had been quite interesting. With Corporal Overwatch’s hospitalization in a secured room in the castle and Lily kept within Cadence’s chambers, I made my way to Fancy’s estate. It had been much later in the night than I had anticipated, and the party had ended long before I arrived, which was fine by me. I only wanted to take a look for myself at the pods Fancy Pants mentioned.
I made it into the master bedroom through the unlocked balcony doors, and while I could not find the pods he mentioned, it was easy to see the signs of where they had been. The wood flooring still had some sticky residue, which was much more evident the further I looked under the surrounding furniture. Some of the hoofsteps had not been cleaned up, but the most concrete pieces of evidence, namely the pods themselves, had been removed.
I opened the door to my bedroom and strode down the halls of the castle, making my way to the guest quarters. While highly unorthodox, I had requested that guards not be present around the rooms housing the participants of last night’s excitement. While Fancy himself did not seem to entirely believe the guard had been compromised, I was not going to take any risk in safeguarding my witnesses. Even the doctors who came in to check on the corporal were carefully monitored by Fancy and confined to the castle wing until I cleared everything.
Was it a flight of paranoia? Perhaps. Somepony once told me that paranoia meant ignorance, and at this moment, I had to admit I did not know all of the details. I knew who I could trust and who were still unknowns, but the Royal Guard had unfortunately fallen into that latter category.
At the moment, Cadence and Fancy were the only ponies I could trust in this investigation. The enchantments on the messaging stones they had used to communicate with me were designed to recognize their specific magic before being operational, so I was certain they were who they claimed to be.
I needed to trust them. If I could not trust my inner circle, I could not trust anything.
I rapped on the door to the guest chambers, and it was not long before I was greeted with the much tidied up countenance of Fancy Pants, who wore a simple button-up shirt and his trademark monocle. I breathed a small sigh of relief when he strode through my barrier on his room as if it wasn’t there, thus confirming his identity.
“Fancy,” I said warmly. “It is good to see you well, especially after what happened last night.”
He chuckled, laughing it off as if it were only a bad dream. Perhaps that’s how it truly felt to him. “Of course, Princess. Your hospitality played a great hoof in getting me back up to par!”
“That’s great to hear.” I motioned for him to follow me and began making my way to Cadence’s room, where she and her plus-one stayed. “What’s the status on our guardsmare?”
He sighed. “The poor dear was still sleeping last I checked, and from the reports I received this morning, she was still comatose despite efforts to rouse her. Absolutely exhausted,” he said, shaking his head. “I had the doctors checking up on her last night, and they discovered something quite extraordinary.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Truly?”
He nodded. “Indeed. When they drew blood for testing, her blood was a bluish-green color. Apparently, she had this symptom ever since her operation in the Everfree. The doctors at Ponyville had attributed it to something picked up from that forest, but now, with all of my recent experiences of being pulled from a pod and all this talk about imposters, I’m not too sure anymore.”
Fancy pulled out a small notebook from his breast pocket, flipping to a page in the middle. “We had some of the unicorn doctors attempt to dispel any lingering magic off of her, but none of their spells seemed to stick to her. One of them likened it to oil against water. Nothing they cast could get a firm grip on her. Tis a remarkable quality, but one most definitely not common among ponies, especially at that strength.”
He gave me a sidelong look. “I hope you see where I am going with this, Your Majesty.”
I nodded gravely. “So you are suggesting that she is not who she appears to be?”
“I am claiming that she may not even be a pony, and that there may be much more to her trip to the Everfree than we had originally believed there to be,” he said, grimacing. “Other than the color of her blood and her inexplicable resistance to magic, the doctors have found no other unusual qualities as of yet. She seems stable, at least.”
I hummed in thought as we approached Cadence’s quarters. Fancy’s findings were, of course, very interesting, yet the matter remained that the corporal had helped him out of his situation to the extent of collapsing to the ground afterwards. Just more questions to ask.
Cadence slowly edged out of her room, still in her unicorn noble disguise, and she looked up at me with a bit of surprise. “Oh, Auntie!” she said at a loud whisper. She carefully closed the door behind her with a soft click before continuing. “Keep it down a bit. I think she’s still sleeping.”
I nodded. “Of course,” I said, bringing my voice down to her level. “How is she doing now?”
She shrugged. “She’s cooperating, for the most part. A bit surprised she’s at the castle, but nothing much beyond that.”
My brow furrowed. “You haven’t noticed anything strange about her?”
Cadence shook her head. “Not here, at least. At the party, she left the table twice suddenly without very good reason, but I don’t recall her doing anything especially strange.”
“Ahh, I see,” I said. “So nothing about any teeth or fins?”
She opened her mouth, but only stood there looking confusedly at me. “I… excuse me?”
I smirked at her. “She’s a merpony.”
Her mouth formed into a perfect circle. “Oh,” she said, still staring at me. “So her singing…”
“Yes, I believe she likely knows a fair bit of their musical arts,” I replied, still maintaining my knowing smirk.
“Huh.” She raised a hoof to her chin in thought before her eyes lit up in sudden realization. “Wait, so my Karaoke Nights—” She placed her head in her hooves and groaned. “Noooo, my Karaoke Nights! They were so good!”
I rolled my eyes. “Need I remind you about the last time that magic was abused in Equestria?” I said, still trying to keep the volume of the conversation down. “It was good that Starswirl managed to banish the Sirens or we would have a much different Equestria.”
She looked up at me, her brow furrowed. “That was such a long time ago, and she’s never done anything like that. The last three times I’ve heard her sing, there were always strong emotions, but never anger or aggression.”
“I’m not surprised to hear that,” I said with a nod. “I believe that Lily’s heart is in the right place, but I also believe that she is highly impressionable and naive. After coming up from her home, I doubt she has had any prior experience to Equestria’s culture, and she could be easily misguided by the right pony.”
I sighed. “Of course, this goes right back to whoever’s helping her maintain her form as an earth pony, this ‘Crystal.’ Whoever she is, I find it hard to believe that Lily and Overwatch could have worked in tandem without a third party helping them, especially with Philomena.” I pursed my lips for a moment. “You were with her the entire time at the party?”
She nodded quickly. “Of course. She’s never left my sight for the entire evening until I returned here.”
I brought a hoof to my chin. “Perhaps her transformation was not maintained by a pony, but by an enchanted item? She’s still an earth pony now, correct?”
Cadence frowned. “Maybe? She locked herself in the bathroom when we were getting ready to go to sleep. I offered my bed, but she said she could find another place to sleep.” She jumped a little at the end, holding her hooves up. “B-but I don’t think she was trying to escape. She hasn’t broken the barrier, so I think she’s still in there.”
“Well, we’ll see soon enough,” I said, taking a deep breath before opening the door to Cadence’s room. I was relieved to see the small glimmer of my barrier, like a thin golden sheen of a soap bubble. “Come. Let’s go meet her.”
I was met with the pervasive pink of Cadence’s room as I sauntered in, making a beeline for her bathroom. I cleared my throat, though Cadence took the lead and rapped her hoof on the door. “Lily, dear,” she called. “We have visitors.”
“Oh, just a moment, mum!” Lily replied.
My ears stood at attention. I heard a muffled splashing from behind the door, followed shortly by a series of quick hoofsteps and a squawk.
The door swung open to reveal Miss Lilywater, soaked completely from head to hoof and wearing a wide grin. “‘Ello there, Lightbringer! Thought I ‘eard your voice!” she said as Philomena flew through the opening to land on my back.
I gave the naughty bird a quick glance before turning back to the mer out of water. “It’s good to see you too, Lily.”
She smiled sheepishly at me. “Sorry I wasn’t there to greet you, but Philo here was just showin’ me a buncha magazines with my face on ‘em!” Lily said. Her face changed into more of a pout. “Real inconvenient that I cahn’t read none o’ them underwater though.”
Cadence’s mouth hung open. “Maga… zines?”
I tilted my head to look inside at the bathtub, which was filled with water. A small stack of magazines sat on the edge of the tub with one opened and floating on top of the water. I took them in my magic, shaking off the soaked one a little, before bringing them over and spreading them out before me.
I skimmed over the titles, though the trend was painfully clear. “‘New Hot Singer,’” I read aloud. “‘Breakout Celebrity Star’, ‘Who Is She?’” I squinted at a small subtitle, just above a picture of Lily and Cadence embracing. “‘Lady Amore’s Secret Marefriend?’”
Cadence buried her head in her hooves and groaned.
With a small chuckle, I levitated the magazines back into a stack onto the nearby table and turned back to Lily. “It was very kind of her to bring these magazines that I am quite sure she has paid for…” I looked back to find Philomena grooming her feathers and pointedly looking away from me, “since this is exactly what I wanted to talk about.”
Lily blinked. “What, my relationship with Amore?”
Cadence groaned again, louder this time, and shook her head slowly.
I cleared my throat. “Not quite, though I won’t be adverse to discussing that topic later over tea,” I said, suppressing further laughter when Cadence took her head out of her hooves and glared at me. “I wanted to talk about the party itself. I heard your roommate, Overwatch, was there at the party. Did you know anything about that?”
Lily hummed, bringing a hoof to her chin as she continued to drip onto the bathroom tile. “Well, Miss Lightbringer, I knew she’d be keepin’ an eye on me while I was there, what with me bein’ new to the surface world and all.”
I nodded. “Fair enough, but she was a lot closer than you might have expected, and she was certainly not just there to keep an eye on you.”
She seemed unperturbed by this statement. “Mhm! She said somethin’ ‘bout that.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Did you know you were going to sing?”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, that? Nah, I didn’t know I was supposed to be singin’ until the fancy pony told me ‘bout it.”
“Oh, really?” I said. “Quite unusual then that Overwatch said she was waiting for you to sing before she decided to leave. She was planning on using it as a distraction, in fact, so I find it very interesting that she could coordinate with you so well without either of you two meeting that day.”
I narrowed my eyes ever so slightly at her. “You told me you were a merpony, but you’ve held your disguise all last night. Was Crystal helping you out then?”
Lily’s ear flicked about, and she let out a hum as she mulled over the yes-or-no question.
Gotcha. “Is she speaking to you now?” I said, fixing her with a stare.
“W-well, it’s uhh…” she said, fidgeting with her hooves. “So about that, luv—”
She stopped again, her ear flicking about again. “She wants to know how Overwatch is doing.”
Fancy Pants cleared his throat. “Last I heard from the doctors, madam, she was still unconscious.”
Lily pursed her lips. “Innat case, can we ‘ead to ‘er room first then? Crystal’s concerned, even though she won’t admit t’ it. Says she’s got a way to wake ‘er up though!”
I nodded. “Of course. I wanted to speak with Overwatch afterwards anyways if you can wake her.”
“But first,” Cadence said, grabbing several towels in her magic and brandishing them menacingly, “you’re going to dry off and stop dripping all over my floor.”
Lily’s mouth turned up in a mischievous grin.
The trip to Overwatch’s room was, for the most part, quiet. Lily was not as talkative as she usually was when I tried to cajole her into revealing more information, but I was willing to wait until we arrived at our destination. For the most part, she conversed with Cadence, conspiring with each other in whispers and shooting occasional glances back at me. A bit juvenile for a long lived alicorn like Cadence, but I was nevertheless pleased that she could enjoy herself like this.
One unusual tidbit was that Lily had also taken her dress from yesterday with her, which only strengthened my theory that she had something to help maintain her transformation. Perhaps it was also some sort of communication device?
We arrived at our destination too quickly to think much on the topic. The room itself was sparsely furnished and completely unoccupied save for Overwatch. There was a red and gold scarf that I had seen her wear often folded neatly on a bedside table, but beyond that, there was not much else there. Perhaps the doctors were concerned that Overwatch would try something while she wasn’t being watched should they leave much more with her.
We approached her quietly. Though I knew she was sleeping, it was almost unnerving how still she was. Not even the bedsheets had been disturbed since the last time I came in almost twelve hours ago, judging by how smooth they were.
“So,” I began, facing Lily, “you said Crystal had a way to help her?”
“Yep!” she replied, raising a hoof. “The first step is for you—” She pointed at Cadence, who was taken back at the sudden motion, “—to stand right next to the bed.”
Cadence looked blankly back for a moment, but she walked slowly and uncertainly to the other side of the bed.
“The next step,” Lily chirped as she also approached the bed, flinging her dress onto the backboard, “is for you to hug her.”
I failed to contain a snort when Cadence stared back in utter confusion. “Hug… her?”
Lily’s ear twitched again, and she nodded sagely. “Crystal says, ‘never underestimate the healing power of hugs.’”
Cadence’s mouth hung open for a moment before she remembered herself and scooted closer to the bed. Slowly, very slowly, she leaned over and lifted Overwatch off of the mattress, just enough to get her hooves around the back to hug her.
A few seconds passed. The disguised alicorn shifted uncomfortably. “Is… is this enough?”
Lily hummed, putting a hoof to her chin. “Maybe a little more.” She leaned in and joined in on the group hug, visibly shifting the entire group over to her side of the bed. “There we go!”
Cadence wriggled around a bit, clearly uncomfortable to the idea of snuggling an unconscious pony. “Are you quite sure this will work?”
I raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Amore, dear, is there something you’re not telling me about your love life?”
Whatever Cadence was about to say in reply was interrupted, to my mild surprise, by a groan from the pony under her. Overwatch’s eyes opened blearily, and she tried to bury her head into Cadence’s long, luxurious mane.
She looked right into Lily’s smiling face, and I could see her tired brain attempting to work out what exactly she was looking at until her eyes finally opened in surprise. She stiffened, and her eyes looked down to find two pairs of forelegs around her. Overwatch turned to stare straight into Cadence’s embarrassed face, and when she finally noticed me, she froze in sheer shock.
The room held still for long second before Overwatch smiled that shy, awkward smile and said, “Umm… hi?”
Cadence abandoned her embrace quickly and popped back to her side of the bed, bringing a hoof to her mouth and clearing her throat. “Well, that’s that. She’s awake.”
Lily only tightened her hug, and Overwatch squirmed even more uncomfortably in the stranglehold. “She’s awake!”
“Indeed she is,” I said, half wondering whether it was truly necessary to go through that entire ritual just to wake one pony. “Though you might want to let go so you don’t put her to sleep again.”
“Oh. Righto then!” Lily dropped the poor unicorn back onto the bed and snapped back to a standing position, looking at me like an eager foal, ready to please.
With a groan, Overwatch leaned forward and rolled her shoulder. Now that the sheets had fallen down a bit, I could see where she had been wounded during that ill-fated excursion into the Everfree. Though fur had already grown back over the area, I could still make out the three long lines left by the manticore’s claws, laid bare without her scarf hiding them away. Though I have seen many of my ponies injured, it did not make seeing such scars much easier, especially on a pony so young.
If she was indeed one of my ponies. Fancy’s theory came back with a vengeance, looming in the air precariously.
Overwatch cleared her throat. “S-so umm… Princess,” she said, pawing at her blankets as if she was a split second away from flinging them over herself and hiding under them. “You wanted to speak to me?”
“I did, Corporal.” I moved closer to the bed and sat down in the hope that I could dispel some of her trepidation if I lowered myself a little. “Tell me about your involvement in the party yesterday. Why were you there?”
“Well I uhh… You see…” She took a deep breath, as if to reorient herself. “Do you remember the imposter back at the guardhouse? I did some investigating on my own and I learned that it was more than just one pony that could do that. After I learned that they replaced ponies, I was… a bit concerned that they would hit the big party, where all the nobles would be.”
“I see,” I said simply. “And Crystal? How does she factor into this?”
Overwatch paused, pursing her lips. “She’s been helping my investigation. She’s had multiple run-ins with the other group and knows their tactics.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And you trust her?”
“I do,” she said resolutely. “She has more than proven both her trustworthiness and her expertise.”
I nodded. There were still many unknowns, but if Crystal could be trusted to help, it would be one less thing to worry about. Of course, I had to be careful this is not part of some bigger ploy, especially since she has thus far refused to meet me personally. “And she helped you coordinate with Lily at the party? How?”
Overwatch fidgeted with her hooves. “It’s a sort of… telepathy spell?”
My brow creased together slightly. “Telepathy isn’t a very common spell. Did she cast it on you directly?”
She paused for a moment. “It’s a different kind of telepathy spell. I haven’t exactly met her face-to-face yet.”
Face-to-face? Interesting that she would put a little more emphasis onto those words in particular. “So what’s your next step?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, looking down into her blankets.
“Interesting that you say that,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her. “I recall hearing that the other nobles were being foalnapped and that you were going back to get them.”
She frowned, though she still kept her eyes down. “I… know there was a hole in the basement, maybe somewhere around the wine cellar. I think they were being taken out through it,” she said, half murmuring to herself.
“So if I send the Royal Guard down there, they will surely be better able to rescue these nobles than just one pony?” I said, keeping my eyes trained on her.
She stiffened for a moment before raising her head to look back at me. “Princess, surely you’ve heard that the guard might have been compromised by these criminals? You can’t trust any of them with this operation, and even if you could, they would be immediately detected and ambushed.”
“So what about if I go? Just one pony?” I continued undeterred.
She grimaced. “That would be even less effective, though they’re more likely to hide than ambush you.”
I straightened up, elevating myself so that I was looking down at her. “So what makes you think that you can do better than both the Royal Guard and myself? You were planning on going into this hole yourself, remember, so why should I trust you with the safety of my ponies?”
“I…” She rubbed at her scar absentmindedly, staring with unfocused eyes at nothing in particular. “I know how to avoid their detection.”
“And you can’t teach others how to do the same thing you can?” I said evenly.
She remained silent, fidgeting with her hooves. I waited for some sort of response for several seconds, but it became clear she wouldn’t be too forthcoming with the answer without some prompting.
“I see,” I began, taking a deep breath before continuing. “Would this, by any chance, have less to do with who you are and more to do with what you are?”
She stiffened, hugging her blanket closer to her as she met my eyes. “W-what do you mean, Princess?”
I leaned in closer, schooling my expression into a stony seriousness. “I was curious if your… advantage in combating this foe had anything to do with your unusual attributes. None of my ponies have ever had blood that wasn’t red, nor are they resistant to magic, nor can they heal from fatal wounds within a weekend’s worth of time,” I said, enunciating my words slowly and carefully. “Alone, all of these things could be simple coincidences—the Everfree has never been fully understood, after all—but three coincidences adds up to something far more. There’s a common thread, and with all of this talk of imposters, I cannot even be sure that you are the pony you appear to be.”
I took a deep breath, letting my words sink in. “So I ask you again, Corporal. Does your ability to avoid detection have anything to do with what you are?”
She looked down in thought. “Y-yes, Princess.”
“I see,” I said, even as her single answer prompted many more questions. “What are you then?”
“I cannot answer that, Princess,” she said, without hesitation. “Please don’t make me answer that.”
I frowned. This was the first question thus far that she had refused to answer. “So how can I trust you if I don’t even know who or what you are?”
“You can’t,” she admitted readily, “but you also can’t trust the guard, nor any of the nobles.”
“What proof is there that either of those groups are untrustworthy?” I said. “I know about the pods, but now that I think about it, everything we have heard about these imposters has come from either you or Lily, so I will need something more. Like with you, will we be able to tell they are different simply by looking at the color of their blood?”
She shook her head. “I do not believe so, Princess. I am… not the ideal example.”
I let out a deep sigh. So much for that solution. “Tell me one thing then. Overwatch was a pony. Her medical exams before her mission to the Everfree have shown us this. If you have replaced her, where is she now? Is she also in a pod somewhere?”
“No. She’s not,” she said, her hoof returning to her scar. “She… died saving me from the manticore. Her wounds were too severe, and the only choice I had to save myself was to take her place. I’m…”
Overwatch choked up, and she took a moment to find her voice again. “I’m sorry, Princess.”
I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, holding it for a good second before releasing it slowly. I originally believed that mission was a near disaster, but it seemed to be far worse than I had anticipated. I opened my eyes. “So who are you?”
“Overwatch.” Her answer was immediate.
I gave her a curt nod. “I suppose we will have to see just how true that is then,” I said, standing back up. “However, at the moment, I will need to keep you contained in this room until we can ascertain your trustworthiness.”
I nodded to Cadence and Fancy, who had been standing by quietly in the background during my questioning. “I will have to speak with you later after other matters. Until then, Miss Overwatch,” I said, and turned to leave.
“Wait,” she said, swallowing. “You said you didn’t have proof that the guard and nobility have been compromised, correct?”
I faced her again. “I did.”
“I can find it. There was a tunnel going into Fancy’s cellar. It has to lead somewhere,” she said, shifting around restlessly. “I can follow it. Please, you have to let me go. If there are any podded ponies in there, I have to find them, and you’ll have your proof.”
I held her gaze. I had anticipated something like this would happen, especially considering how Fancy described her yesterday, proclaiming that she still needed to head back despite being two steps away from unconsciousness. If she was telling the truth, she would be the only possible candidate to head down that hole. Perhaps that’s what she wanted me to believe, presenting herself as the only solution so that I would be forced to acquiesce.
Fancy had already been podded, however. In his own home. If there were potentially others taken, I was willing to take the risk to rescue whatever ponies I could, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t reduce that risk a little. “You may go then, under a few conditions.”
My horn glowed a light gold before I summoned three objects to me.
I held the first one out to her, a round, flattened colorless gemstone, and channeled a little of my magic into it, causing the golden enchantment on it to begin glowing. “You may have seen one of these before. I wish for you to channel your magic on this—a simple levitation spell would work—so that when you return, I will be able to verify your identity with it.”
She nodded, and both her horn and the gemstone began glowing a soft green. My enchantment took effect, and the stone flared a bright, blinding yellow before the light slowly faded away.
I held up the gemstone, which had turned into an unusual amalgam of deep golden amber and brilliant blueish-green, intertwined and interwoven. It was certainly one of the more unusual products of my spell.
With a flash of my magic, I sent it back to my chambers before presenting the second object to her, a metallic-silver horn ring. “This is a tracking and surveillance device, so that I will be able to see what you do and locate you. You must wear this if I let you go.”
“Done. I’ll do it,” she said with determination, a far cry from her nervousness earlier.
“Lean forward,” I said, and I carefully set the device into place. It was small and unobtrusive, hiding well among her mane. I let her go, allowing her to settle back into the bed.
I pulled out the third object, a decently sized sapphire. “That ring will also allow us to communicate. Just whisper if you need to talk to me, and I’ll hear it through this gem. I’ll be able to speak directly into your ear.”
She bowed to me. “I will do what I can, Princess,” she said, before her brow furrowed. “Princess, may I see that gem? Crystal says she can use it to communicate with you directly.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Well, I see no reason not to, so long as the other enchantment is not disrupted,” I said, transferring the gemstone over to Overwatch. She took it in her magic, holding it in front of her and concentrating.
My eyes caught a flicker of red in her magic before she held the gem out to return to me.
I took it, looking curiously at it. “That was much quicker than I anticipated.”
“She did only what was necessary,” the sapphire in my grasp said. “Hello, Celestia. It is good to finally speak with you directly.”
The voice had a buzzing quality to it, and it sounded as if it was two-toned. I couldn’t tell how much of it was her real voice and how much could be attributed to distortion, but at least I had contact with this elusive “Crystal.”
I chuckled. “Indeed, I look forward to your correspondence,” I said, before putting on a more curious face. “A quick question, Crystal. Miss Overwatch has been rather… overworked recently. You seem to know more about her health than I do. Would she not need more rest before she goes?”
“A little, yes, though it would be wise to keep an eye on her. She is foolish and impulsive, but well-meaning, as foals often are.”
Overwatch slumped back into her pillow and groaned.
“Regardless, the best way to help her recover her strength is lots of hugs and affection,” Crystal said. “Especially from Miss Amore over there.”
Cadence stared at the sapphire, dumbstruck. “Wha?”
Overwatch pulled the bedsheets over her head, moaning, “Noooooooooo…”
I let a smile spread across my lips. “We really need to talk about your personal relationships, young ladies.”