“This…is going to take some getting used to.” A young woman in her mid-twenties looked at herself in the mirror. She had short black hair, verdigris-colored eyes and a stacked body. She reached up and squished her breasts together. “And they move up here—OW!”
“Trust me, you don’t want to do that,” Sunset told Softwing. “Human breasts are a lot more sensitive than griffin or pony teats. Also, I don’t know about griffin culture, but that’s sexual in pony culture and very sexual in human ones.”
“So noted.” Softwing moved her hands back down, then continued to look at herself in the mirror. At the moment, she was wearing a white midriff t-shirt, black cargo jeans and a silver choker with an onyx gem in its center. She stood about the same height as Sunset, and had at least taken to standing far better than had been expected; she had yet to drop on all fours as both Sunset and Princess Twilight had when they’d first assumed human form.
Sunset them noticed the choker. “I don’t recall seeing that before, but it looks good on you,” Sunset commented.
“I don’t know if I should wear it,” Softwing admitted. “It’s my old collar, defining me as a member of the nobility of Winglade. Essentially, it states that I am the property of my father, at least until I’m married – and I don’t feel I am anypony’s property.”
“Well, for one, it’s anyone, not anypony – English uses different pronouns. And while I don’t know all the particulars, if I remember correctly, chokers – they’re not called collars – are a sign of independence. A lot of strong-willed women wear them.”
“Really?” When Sunset nodded, Softwing looked at it again. “And you don’t have a problem with me wearing it?”
“It’s jewelry. Personally, I don’t wear any unless it’s a formal situation, but you’re allowed to wear whatever you want as the situation requires. Though I’ll have to let Rarity figure out your full wardrobe, as she’s better at it than I am. You’ll get to meet her this weekend once they get back to town.”
Softwing looked at the unusual technological marvel that was on her lower tarsus…“wrist”, to use the human word. “And this thing will keep me human while we’re here?”
Sunset nodded. “Until I can teach you the spell that’ll allow you to do it on your own. Right now, I just want you to be comfortable with being human until we head to Earth. It takes some getting used to and I’m sure you don’t want to go through all the issues I did.” Sunset gave her seneschal an awkward smile. “The time of the month alone is interesting and hopefully you’ll get off light.”
“Time of the month?”
“Humans have a menstrual cycle, not an estrous one.”
Softwing blinked. “But only mole rats have them here!”
“And only humans and a few other animals have them there.”
“That’s…weird.”
“Welcome to humanity, Softwing.”
There was a knock at the door, and before Sunset could tell the person to come in, Sonata entered, followed behind by Jewel. The former was wearing her duty uniform, while for some reason unexplained to Sunset, the unicorn wore a high-cut dress more appropriate to dinner dates than work. However, since she did her work, Sunset just wrote that off as the unicorn being the naturally flirty type – though she wondered who it was here in the palace that Jewel was trying to snare.
Some guardspony’s probably in for a pleasant surprise, she thought with some amusement.
Stopping and coming to attention, Sonata started with, “Your Highness, we have—”
Sunset sighed. “Do you have to do that right now, Soni?”
“I’m in uniform. You know the rules.”
Sunset snapped her fingers and a second later Sonata was in a t-shirt and jeans. “You were saying?”
Sonata grinned. “Yeah, figures you’d find a way around that,” she said with a laugh. “Anyway, we finished up the research and Softwing here is completely in the clear.”
“Oh? So my human counterpart doesn’t have a tie to Canterlot?” Softwing asked.
“No. In fact, she’s never even been to the United States.” Sonata handed over a couple of folders, which both of them took. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back. We start working with the new trainee candidates this afternoon and we have to make sure that we’re ready for the initial examination.”
“Sure,” Sunset said, absently snapping her fingers while opening the folder. Cyan light flickered around Sonata as her uniform returned. “You be careful, okay?”
Sonata went over and hugged Sunset. “Of course. I’ll let you know how things went during lunch, okay? We still on for tonight?”
“Yeah. Take care.” Sonata threw a flippant salute, then departed. Sunset then went back to her reading, and hadn’t gotten far when she heard a soft sobbing from Softwing. She looked up and sure enough, she was crying…but they were accompanied, strangely enough, by a warm smile.
“My counterpart was lucky,” she said, wiping her eyes. “She was born to a crime boss in some place called Australia, but then was adopted by a local couple named Goldleaf and Silvervein.” She smiled softly. “What I wished for…what I wanted so much…she got.” She held the folder close to her, like a sacred talisman. “The parents that I would have done anything to have, and she had them.”
Sunset didn’t like that word. “Had?”
Green-grey eyes filled with sorrow. “I don’t understand all these particulars, but apparently there was an accident and…she passed away at the age of twenty-five on August 16, 1976. That’s a date, I presume.”
“That was over forty years ago,” Sunset commented. “Even if she lived, you still wouldn’t look like her.” Sunset then looked at the griffoness, mourning the loss of her counterpart, who had passed away long before either of them had even been born in this world. “Are you okay, Softwing?”
“I’d…I’d like to be alone right now, if you don’t mind,” she said. “I can catch up with you at the meeting at 10:30.”
“Take your time,” Sunset assured her. “I know what you read probably wasn’t easy to sit through.”
“At least I know she lived a peaceful life,” Softwing murmured. “I suppose that’s the best of what we can ask for.”
Sunset looked at Jewel and gestured towards the door as she said, “We should probably give her the time she needs. Shall we?”
Now’s my chance! Jewel mentally chirped. Granted, she did kinda feel bad for Softwing, even if she didn’t understand exactly why the griffoness was getting broken up over a dead human with the same name, but given that it finally gave her the chance to be alone with her true love, it was perfect! Closing her eyes for a second, she went over her opening lines that she’d been working on the whole week. After she declared her true love for the princess, obviously Princess Sunset would reciprocate and they could work on starting their lives together.
“So, Princess,” she began.
“Sunny or Sunset, if you please,” the alicorn-as-human replied with a smile. “I’m not as formal as some of the other royals around here.”
“Right!” The thought of being on a first-name basis with her intended sent Jewel into a swoon that she had to force herself to calm down from. After all, even though she was with the love of her life, she still had to be professional within the halls of the palace. “So, I, uh, wanted to say something.”
“Sure,” Sunset commented. “What’s up?”
“Princess!”
Another voice cried out, and both ponies turned to look at Desk Blotter, who worked for Luna’s office. “Thank Celestia I found you!” she said. “You needed to leave an hour ago!”
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “An hour ago?”
Blotter nodded. “Yes. You’re supposed to give a speech at the Military Retirees Association Conference in San Caballo in an hour. Didn’t you check your schedule?”
Thinking quickly, Jewel brought out her organizer. “Yes. Princess Luna was supposed to do that, but she gave it to us. I thought we went over that last night.”
“We might have, but if we did, I forgot. Anyway, I have to get going apparently; it’s a long flight to San Caballo and I don’t suppose a chariot is ready, is it, Ms. Blotter?” When the earth mare shook her head and said, “Time to go ballistic. Looks like you’re going to have to handle the meeting I’ve got in twenty minutes with the Bengali government. Don’t worry; it’s just a meet and greet and explain to them what happened. They’re very reasonable.” Before Jewel could respond, Sunset teleported away and a second later a sonic boom could be heard.
“I…guess?” Jewel responded to the thin air. On one hoof, she was depressed; she screwed up and now she would not only not to get spend time with her Sunny, she also made things difficult for her. On the other hoof, though…. If I’m going to be the wife of a princess, I guess I’m going to have to learn how to deal with these sorts of things. Better to do it now, she mused.
Seated mostly by herself in the breakfast parlor, Octavia looked absently at her tablet while picking at her French toast, eggs and bacon. Her aunt and uncle were off touring the capital, as was Spike. Her other cousin and their friends were off in Ponyville, which Octavia was supposed to visit yesterday but was asked to remain in town due to the incident. She hadn’t seen Sunset at all yesterday, and she had only seen Adagio briefly in passing. And now she sat here, alone, in a beautiful but empty parlor, a reality away from home.
It didn’t help that the austere staff currently in the room were not as friendly as Amabile had been, and given the situation, the teen wondered if they were part of the Princess’ Hooves, or actually just maidstaff. Truth was, she still felt guilty about what had happened to the friendly siren who was now restricted to the hospital. For that matter, she hadn’t seen her self-appointed bodyguard, Whiskey, since the incident. When Octavia had asked Adagio about it, she simply said, “my sisters and I have it taken care of,” but added that she didn’t want to talk about it until they were sure. She knew they weren’t blowing her off, but she wished she had more answers.
And that wasn’t the worst part.
No, the worst part was herself. Right now, she wanted to cry, to scream, to do a billion things and all of them nauseated her, because it was variations on violence towards those she loved. An all-too-familiar voice in the back of her head whispered to her to pour pure and hated violence against every one of the five other girls that were her sisters in all but name, and luxuriate in an orgiastic spree of blood.
She knew it was just that part of her, the part that had termed herself as “Melody”, that was doing this. She hated that part of herself because of all the things it cooed at her: rape Twilight. Murder the triplets. Knock out a guard and steal his sword, then head to Sunset’s chambers while she was asleep, and ram the blade as hard as possible through one of the bacon-haired bitch’s eyeballs, and finally to throw most of her remains off the balcony – most.
The part to keep? The spine, and what the voice told her to do with it?
Making her think about it again immediately curbed what was left of her appetite. She pushed the plate away before the bile kicked in.
“Is everything satisfactory, Lady Octavia?” She turned to look at her newest escort who had been assigned yesterday as a replacement for Amabile. Dolente Ascent seemed pleasant enough, but she reminded Octavia of a girl that attended Zacherle; that Dolente was way too reserved and acted far too old for her age. While Sunset had requested that someone around Octavia’s age be chosen as her escort, her cousin hadn’t thought about demeanor factoring into the equation. And as the cousin of one of the alicorns (even if only by adoption), Dolente essentially kept Octavia at arm’s length. The teen hated that; Amabile had been friendly to her and if she’d been around long enough would have made for a good friend. But now this new guard wanted to put her on a bigger pedestal than even Whiskey did, and that Octavia absolutely despised.
“I’m…not very hungry,” Octavia lied. Between her swirling thoughts and trying to push Melody away Octavia felt drained even though the day had just commenced; even right now the bacon, cooked to perfection, a simple foodstuff, had become a symbol of every bit of violence and mayhem that Melody craved and that Octavia would fight to her last breath to prevent.
She’d already lost once before and had hurt Sunset badly. She would die before she let that happen again.
“Well, my lady, if it pleases you, you have a visitor that wishes to see you,” Dolente stated. “Shall I send her in?” Octavia mutely nodded, not sure of what she could say at the moment. At that, the Hoof nodded to the two conventional guards standing at the door, opening it.
A girl slightly younger than Octavia walked in. Japanese in ethnicity, she had long black-and-gold hair that was tied back in twin ponytails behind the nape of her neck. Her bright green eyes conveyed a look of guilt and shame, and even though she was dressed in the same uniform as the triplets were wearing, it wasn’t adorned with rank or any other details.
The girl came to a stop before Octavia and bowed before her feet, practically groveling. “Please forgive me, my lady, but I cannot protect you any longer. I am not worthy to do so and I am filled with deep shame that I have not been able to tell you this until now.” She looked up and her eyes were close to tears. “I have failed you and I can only—”
That stopped as Octavia bent down and embraced the other girl, much to the latter’s surprise. “I haven’t seen you in two days! I was worried about you, Whiskey!”
“Me? Why? I am just a retainer! I am a worthless one at that – I have failed my princess and you as well, my lady! It is only by the generous grace of Capt. Dazzle that I am even being given a third chance.”
“I don’t think you’re being given a chance,” Octavia began.
“But I am, milady!”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant that—”
“I know this is my final one, and if I fail this last time, I will not even be worthy of an honorable jigai. I will have no choice but to rend my body to the night to pay for my shame.”
“Stop that,” Octavia told her. “Whiskey, I want you to stop that right now – you have value. I don’t even begin to claim I understand what your culture is like, but you’re going to be with us now, and we value life very much. You may think you failed me, but you did your utmost to try to save me from those assailants the other day. That doesn’t sound like failure to me.”
“But I wasn’t able to protect you from them!”
“They didn’t get to me, so that seems to me like you did; at the cost of you being injured, no less.” Octavia then got to her feet and pulled Whiskey along with her and said, “And if you feel so strongly about it, then get better at your skill. From your attire, I suspect the triplets are trying to recruit you into their little gunbunny club?”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
“MS. FOXTROT!” The two turned to see Aria standing there, a scowl on her face and in the same uniform. “You were supposed to report to Cmdr. Dusk and I ten minutes ago!”
To Octavia’s surprise, Whiskey jumped to attention and stood ramrod straight, almost comically so. “Sorry, ma’am! I’d gotten permission from Cmdr. Dusk to come pay my respects to Lady Octavia and—”
“No excuses,” Aria hissed in a tone that surprised Octavia. “Give me five laps around the palace complex, now.”
“Now?”
“That’s six. Want to make it seven?” Whiskey needed no further prodding and instead took off as quickly as she could, pausing only to bow respectfully to Octavia before rushing away.
The teenage officer then turned to her cousin. “Wow, first Sunny and now you. What, is everyone of my cousins getting the gay?” Aria accused with a laugh.
Octavia scowled and crossed her arms. “That’s not funny, Ari. You could have been nicer to her, you know.”
“Sorry,” Aria countered, “but that’s not going to happen, Tavi. You have to understand: She comes from a society and culture that isn’t used to that sort of thing. You’ve been trying to treat her as though she has value as an individual, but it’s also clear that she doesn’t get it, because…well, she’s not used to that concept. It’s as foreign and alien to her as we are; and if you had to put it in human terms, it probably means she’s been brainwashed since she was a kid.”
“Brainwashed?”
“I don’t mean that literally. I guess a better term to use is that she’s been raised with certain values different than you or I. Remember, back in the time that never was, we were very much the same way. It took time for me and my sisters to get used to the fact that we were teenage girls rather than teenage soldiers. So I can see how she was likely instilled with the same mindset.” Aria plopped down in the seat next to Octavia and gave her a sympathetic smile. “I know you mean well and that you’re worried about her well-being. But she’s not like Sunny – she’s a child soldier like we are and that means that in order to make her more like us – to where she can think in our terms – we have to run her through the bootcamp mindset.”
The raven-haired girl frowned. “Which is?”
“You have to break someone down before you can build them up. You need to change the way they view things – to show them that the old way doesn’t work for where you’re going now, and that only the new methodologies will.”
“You make it sound as though you think she’s not capable of doing that on her own.”
“Tavi…we weren’t capable of doing that on our own. When you’re a child, you soak up things like a sponge, and if that’s all you’re taught, that’s the only thing you know. We were lucky: in the time that wasn’t, our sœurs cared more about just whether we could shoot a target or could be efficient killers, and that’s probably the only reason we’re as well adjusted as we are. I knew some girls back then whose sœurs only cared about that and that alone. Do you remember Piano Bliss?”
When Octavia nodded, Aria added, “The way she is now, is because someone in her new life raised her to be that way and as a result, she’s a normal girl. But in her old life, she was the petite sœur of Cantata Blast, and was really no different from her.” Aria paused to look her cousin and sister figure right in the eyes before she added, “It could have very well been that at the end, we could have been staring down the barrel of Piano’s gun.”
Octavia thought about the girl who she’d happily chatted with about music and shopping, then tried to square that with a killer that would have murdered her without so much as a second thought. She shivered at that.
Seeing that, the middle triplet nodded. “You get it. Sadly, that’s the kind of person, for better or worse, that Whiskey is right now. Obviously, we want her better than that – we want her to know that she’s more than a tool, more than a disposable body. She’s now a SIREN – and SIRENs don’t give up on one another.” Aria got to her feet and patted her cousin on the shoulder. “You have to trust that we’re going to take care of her, Tavi. And we will – I promise that, and you know Soni and Dagi would do the same.”
Octavia nodded. “You know I trust you three.”
“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready for the day.” She punched her hand into her other fist and gave a grin. “I get to beat the fuck out of ponies today.”
“What?”
“Trust me, it’s for a good cause,” Aria assured her. “Besides, after what happened to us last time? It’s gonna be cathartic.”
Meanwhile, in another part of the castle, another pair were talking and the conversation was just as awkward.
“Your Highness, I must insist,” Kibbitz said, straining to keep up with the pace of the other pony, already several steps ahead.
“Look, I just want to grab breakfast somewhere that I can do so in peace, okay?” Blueblood told him. “I already have a long day ahead of me of looking like a rich, spoiled plothole just because one of my aunts insist that I go poke my head out in public instead of doing my job.”
“But sire, it is important that—”
Blueblood stopped and turned to look at the older stallion. “It is important that I get something to eat or I’ll probably look less like a fool and more like an angry fool, Kibbitz.” The young prince shook his head and sighed. “Look, I’ll flirt with whatever mare Auntie Celly wants me to, piss off whichever one Auntie Lulu wants me to and then probably do something that will mortify just about every noblepony in Canterlot yet at the same time somehow manage to endear myself to every gold-digging mare that seems to want to put a marriage ring on my horn. But if I do that while I’m hangry, then it looks less like ‘Blueblood is a useless dolt’ and more like ‘Blueblood is a psychopath that we need to lock up’. Trust me, the former is much more useful than the latter.”
Kibbitz sighed. “Your sense of humor is as droll as always, my prince.”
“It matters not how my humor is,” he grumbled. “It’s not as though I’m going to be lucky enough to find somepony of my own who would appreciate it, in any case.”
“My prince, you do not give yourself enough credit,” the older stallion said, his mustache bristling from him turning up a lip in concern. “Your duties to the realm and the Crown are of the utmost importance and while I understand your concerns about what it is doing to your image, I am quite sure that there is somepony out there that is perfect for you.” He shook his head. “For example, there is the Lady Octavia, is there not?”
“You know how close we are,” the younger stallion reminded the older. “May as well have asked me to start dating Cadance when she was single.”
“True; I forget that point. Perhaps you may wish to inquire amongst the single members of the Hooves?”
Blueblood’s eyes narrowed. “I want somepony who will be attracted to me for who I am, not because my aunt would like to put one of her faithful bodyguards out to pasture.” He stopped and then sighed. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me.”
“It’s quite alright; as I said, I understand how you feel. Remember that I have never married myself, and were it not for me raising my niece, I would have no heirs, either. The duty of the Crown is sometimes a hard taskmistress.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
The pair paused as they reached the central breakfast parlor. “Well, I can hardly fault you for that, sire. Enjoy your breakfast.”
In a ramshackle hotel in South Canterlot, Gunther Granitewings looked at his forces. They’d spent yesterday making the appropriate inquiries, schedule surveillance and bribed or threatened the right ponies. And now he looked at a paper which held the culmination of yesterday’s investigations and preparations. “Are you sure this is going to be her schedule for today?”
A griffin ugly as sin even by their standards shook his head, his balding, vulturesque head and milky, scarred eye fixed on his boss. “Yeah. Cost me a pretty bit it did. This had damn well better work, Granitewings.”
“Oh, it’ll work, Gonsalvo, if you did your work right.” He looked again at the picture of the freaky not-minotaur thing with the long hair. Why the hell that Inariese princeling wanted this human female – humaness? – for his personal little harem was beyond Gunther’s understanding, but that wasn’t his problem; to be honest, he really didn’t care. Let the prince stick his wick in whatever strange holes he wanted; so long as Gunther got paid, he didn’t give a damn whatever freakish desires the kitsune had.
“Let’s go over this again,” the griffin stated, pointing to a map. “You’re saying that she’s probably going to go to that music shop she was at yesterday, then the office building, then the hospital, before returning to the palace.”
“Yeah.” A griffoness with ridiculously bright plumage looked at him. Unlike most griffins, who looked like crosses between raptors and predatory felines, Giada Grindstone looked as though her ancestral feline had mated with a parrot. Of course, anygriffin who dared to say that to her face learned to soon regret those words, as she immediately then hospitalized any who dared to insult her – assuming she didn’t just kill them outright. “We have a short window of about three to four hours before she returns to the palace. Once there, she’ll be with the other humans and any chance we have to capture her will be lost.”
“Okay, have we informed our contact of our plans?” Gunther asked.
“Yup. Their ship is planning their scheduled departure sometime today, and will take off the moment we have her aboard,” a large, brawny griffin by the name of Gibril stated. “We will be paid the moment we end up on their ship and will ride with them with diplomatic protection until they’re over our homelands. Then we can disembark, rich as highreeves!”
“Don’t count your eggs before they’re hatched, Gibril,” Giada warned him. “I’ve heard things about these humans – that they can fight stronger than even the alicorns and nothing can stop them.”
Gonsalvo cackled, a dry, heaving sound. “Don’t be stupid – the Megan is just some made-up story, and does the humaness in the picture look like she’s any sort of threat?”
“She may not be a soldier,” Giada countered, “but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any around. Remember what happened to Gilvayne and his crew. Rumor around the palace is that a group of humans were responsible for that.”
“Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see it. Gilvayne and his crew were stupid little cubs that deserved to get taken down because they couldn’t capture one single griffoness – a griffoness who doesn’t even have your skill,” the older griffin pointed out. “You would have wiped the nest with them in an instant.” When Giada puffed out her plumage in a sort of appreciation, Gonsalvo said, “So yeah, I’m not surprised that ponies are saying that. They’re weak little dweebs and they need something stronger than them to protect them. It’s why they hide under their princesses’ tails, after all.”
The meeting with the retiree association had been interesting, Sunset had to admit to herself, and she’d had time to stop and have a quick breakfast in Clovervale; though the diner owner had tried not to charge her given that she was a princess, Sunset had insisted and as a result of that, she’d earned herself a return invitation and had done a good deed. Besides, given the fact that Clovervale looked like one of Equestria’s more impoverished towns, the extra money she spent, as well as the Royal Warrant she issued the diner, was well worth it.
And now here she was, able to take care of something personal for a change. With a note from Softwing that she was able to take care of the meeting by herself, that gave Sunset time to take care of some other stuff. And right now, she was doing that. Currently she was at the Royal Canterlot Museum, dropping off a valued item.
“This is simply amazing, Your Highness!” Aged Artifact, the curator of the museum, stated. “A Wonderstone! I’d only read about them in historical records, but I didn’t think they were real! They were believed to be destroyed thousands of years ago by a young mage by the name of Jade Lily. She was said to be the first apprentice of Starswirl the Bearded, you know.”
“Oh?” Sunset asked.
In response, Artifact gestured to a painting on a wall. “This is the only known image of Magus Lily, created millennia ago by Linseed Oil, one of the most famous painters of that era.”
Sunset feigned disinterest, not quite looking at it just yet. “Do we have a record of what happened to Magus Lily?” she asked, making a mental note on whether or not she would tell her friend – the actual Jade Lily – about this. It had been she that had donated the stone, insisting that one had to go to the museum, and Sunset was all too willing to oblige.
“That’s not my area of expertise,” Artifact said, adjusting his glasses, “but if I recall correctly, she was said to have abandoned her husband and her duties shortly after their marriage and was never seen again. From what we know, her husband, Blazing Lance, eventually married Latch Hook, the daughter of Lady Frostburn, and they had several foals. In fact, Lord Kibbitz is a direct descendant of Lady Latch and Lord Lance, though I’m sure he could tell you more about his family line.”
The young alicorn did not expect to hear that response. “Nothing was said about how she left Starswirl’s employ?”
“No, I’m afraid not. From what I understand, he was shocked that she would do something so out of character for her. Then again, given that at that point in time, there existed rumors of a mare out to destroy both him and Her Majesty, Queen Faust, perhaps this Jade Lily character was the culprit. I suspect that your mother might know more, though she was just a filly at the time, if I recall correctly.” The stallion cleared his throat, then looked at the inert Wonderstone again. “I’m curious as to why you would be interested in such a dark period in pre-classical history, Your Highness.”
“Just a personal interest,” Sunset said, fighting to keep the absolute shock from her face. “We are talking about my grandmother, after all.”
“Yes, of course, I quite understand.” He then held up the Wonderstone once more, as if trying to discern its secrets by looking at its surface. “And you said you came upon this on Earth, Princess?”
Sunset nodded. “There’s an archeological dig on Earth where this was uncovered. Perhaps it was thrown there in a transdimensional rift, as they theoretically pop up from time to time,” she said blandly. “The archeologists had no real interest in the stone and they told the person who gave it to me that there were more interesting things, so it was passed into my care. One of the humans in my retinue was present at the time and I’m sure if you’d like, she can give you more information.”
“That would be appreciated, Princess. For now, though, I must get this to the vaults, as a treasure like this should be catalogued. Of course, we plan to put it on display in time, but we still have to make sure that we take the necessary precautions and the like.”
“Of course.”
“If you wish, I will give your office advance notice of the day we intend to put it out on display, so that you can be here for that, but until then, off to the vaults it goes. If you’ll excuse me.” Nothing more to say, he walked off with a giddy stride in his step as the older unicorn stallion carried the Wonderstone like a foal would a treasured toy.
That done, Sunset finally turned to look at the painting. The picture was of both Jade and her husband, but the image of the mare in the picture was one of a severe, calculating and potentially sinister creature, not the friendly humanized unicorn she’d met just a week ago. Even though she didn’t really know Jade all that well, Applejack did and considered her family – and Sunset knew her friend’s word was as solid as gold.
Somepony had taken the time to not only cover up whatever they’d done with the Wonderstones, but had also pinned the blame on Jade to the point that even Starswirl publicly appeared to believe that she might have been guilty. While Sunset was sure that the ancient stallion had probably seen through the lies, chances were, he probably didn’t know what had happened to her and had thought it best to leave the story intact in order to spare Jade’s abandoned husband any further scandal, especially since Jade herself had admitted the marriage had been merely one of convenience.
Sunset wasn’t sure of what the answer was, but she was sure that her fellow pony – a girl that now fell under Sunset’s responsibility as the Alicorn of Earth – had been wronged. And that was something Sunset couldn’t abide.
I’ll prove you were innocent, Jade, she promised her friend silently. You deserve better than this.
“Going somewhere, Fujitsu?” Han’nya asked him.
The younger kitsune yawned. “I have grown bored of this place and will be departing for home later today,” he stated. Curiously, however, he was dressed in his court finery.
“As much as I have my reservations about it,” Han’nya warned him, “Father assigned you a duty here, one that you cannot shirk.”
“I believe I have have done my duty, brother,” Fujitsu told him. “Baroness Sunset has assured me that the alliance between Equestria and Inari will not change after her coronation. But for your sake, I took the time to plan one last meeting with her this afternoon as a courtesy. After all, I did send her a bouquet as of recent.”
“Yes, and I am frankly surprised we have not heard any complaints from the palace,” Han’nya retorted.
“In any case, after that, I plan to depart for Shibasaki at around two this afternoon.” A grin came to his muzzle as he tied his obi. “The ladies, I’m sure, miss me.”
“Oh, I’m sure they do,” Han’nya drawled, rolling his eyes.
“Dear brother, do I detect a sense of sarcasm there?”
“No, Fujitsu, I don’t believe you’re intelligent enough to,” Han’nya told him with a curt tone. “Just see that you send your farewells and best wishes to the Equestrian Crown before you depart. As it is, now I will have to figure out a way to explain why our delegation is departing so suddenly so that it does not bring shame upon the Court of Nine Tails.” Nothing more to say, the kitsune ambassador departed.
The moment Han’nya departed, Fujitsu looked to the darkened corner of the room. “Kashintsu, is it done?”
The two-tailed servant appeared in a rustle of leaves. “It is nearly so, my prince. All the pieces are in place and the moment the human vixen departs the palace, the sellswords we’ve hired will bring her onboard the ship. They will then remain onboard until we’ve flown over the griffin lands on the way back to Inari.”
“And the rest?”
“Of course – we have our own forces ready to…dispose…of them once we are well outside of Equestria’s grasp. As your lordship states, we cannot have witnesses to this action, and my prince deserves to be with his desired bride. I have also sent word to the Masters of the Inyo and they will meet us at Mount Griffonstone to cast a transference gate that will allow your ship to return to Shibasaki instantly. Once there, your bride will be yours by law; and unless Equestria wishes to go to war for a single individual, there will be none who will gainsay you. Even your father, wise emperor that he is, will support you in this.”
“I see. And the information that I requested?”
“Already being attended to. Within the hour we shall have all the information that Equestria has about humanity in our paws. We are sure they will not notice the thefts from their archives for quite some time.” Kashintsu gave a slight smirk. “The minds of ponies are simple and not as learned as we are; while our scholars would instantly notice any missing documents, the ponies foolishly lock such vital arcane knowledge behind closed doors until one or more of the princesses requires them.”
“Good. Lastly, have my estates prepare for my bride and to set a budget aside of 800,000 hansatsu for the Lady Octavia’s comfort. Doubtless as a non-native of this world, it will be difficult for her to adjust to our ways and I wish to make it easier for her.”
“A wise decision, my lord.”
“Of course it is: after all, is not the old saying true? ‘A happy household makes the clouds and rain arrive faster’,” Fujitsu quoted, imminently pleased with himself.
“I will see to it at once, my lord.” Kashintsu departed immediately.
With that, Fujitsu prepared himself for his final trip to Canterlot palace. He hoped to see his bride in her natural state one more time, as when he would next see her, she would be in the white and burgundy colors of her wedding kimono. Octavia would see reason and doubtlessly be honored that she had been selected to be his bride and a princess of the Empire of Inari, and once that occurred, she would willingly give him the clouds and rain and they would walk the paths together.
In Princess Celestia’s private chambers, both females by that name chatted on about various topics. Today, the regent had to attend to matters in the Solar Court, even if she would rather have left that to other hooves. The human educator, intrigued, offered to join her counterpart, and the solar alicorn was more than glad to have support.
“Your Majesty,” Kibbitz said to the princess as he gave her a rundown of what was expected to be addressed, “I should warn you that the first order of business will undoubtedly be the most…trying.”
“Is that so?” Princess Celestia asked.
“Duchess Highfalutin’ is your first petitioner and she’s in quite the mood today.” The wobble of his mustache indicated a clear displeasure. “I offered to mediate the issues she has so that it would not involve you, but she dismissed me as if I was of little to no importance.” He sighed. “Sometimes I think she forgets that as nobility, she and I are equals,” he grunted. “That, or she deliberately ignores such. In any case, even if she did recall, she would likely then use her title as a minor princess to pull rank.”
“My apologies, Kibbitz,” the princess said sympathetically. “I value your advice and service immensely and quite frankly, I am getting a little tired of her antics.”
“I take it this noblepony isn’t all she’s cracked up to be?” the human Celestia asked.
“Just another member of the former royal family of Unicornia that was absorbed into Equestria when we retook the throne,” Princess Celestia explained as she gestured with a wing for them to start walking towards the throne room. “Most of them serve with honor and distinction: my nephew, Divine Right, who you met the other day, is one of our most valued military captains, for example. But his sister, Highfalutin’, desires a return of the Unicornian monarchy, so much so that she mainly abstains from her regular title of that of a minor princess of Equestria, in favor of her one as duchess because it gives her more influence amongst her fellow nobles.” The look in her large lilac eyes was one of sorrow. “She was such a sweet filly and I don’t know why she’s become what she is now.”
“If she is the counterpart of the individual I’m thinking of, you have my complete sympathy,” Celestia replied. “The Highfalutin’ I know is the president of the local PTA. However, she’s interested in climbing political ranks, so she uses her position to its utmost, nevermind that it’s mostly powerless and voluntary. That being said, after the issue we had back in January—”
“The incident involving the mind control drugs?” Princess Celestia asked. “Sunset told me about it.”
“Yes, that’s the one. Knowing Sunset’s prior record, Highfalutin’ tried to have her expelled, blaming the actions of the Club on her. But by that point, I’d become fond of Sunset as well as proud of how she changed, not to mention the fact that Sunset was the one to actually expose the Club. So, I pulled Ms. Highfalutin’ into my office and let her have it with both barrels.” The educator gave a slight smirk of satisfaction. “I’d like to say that I made my point, given that she tried to call for my job not long after, though that fell on deaf ears. After that, I intimated her with some trustworthy parents, telling her that they may wish to run against her when it comes time to elect new PTA officers.”
Princess Celestia nodded with appreciation. “So it seems that you’re better suited to dealing with her than I am, sad as it is to admit.”
“Unfortunately, she’s not going to listen to me, I suspect. I’m just a human, not the ruler of this country.”
The alicorn approached the throne. “Oh, I think I may have a solution to that,” she said slyly. “Now let me see if I remember the spell that Twilight taught me….” Princess Celestia’s horn glowed with golden energy that quickly enveloped her, and a second later, an exact duplicate of the human woman stood there, clothes and all.
“This is going to take some getting used to,” the alicorn stated as she wobbled unsteadily on human feet and was quickly prevented from falling by her counterpart catching her.
“You look good,” the educator told her, “but that still doesn’t—” She didn’t finish her words as the solar (not-)alicorn snapped her fingers and with a flash of light, suddenly said educator was now an alicorn herself, nearly falling over on her own awkward appendages.
In turn, Princess Celestia used her magic to steady her counterpart on her now-four legs. “Okay, maybe my sister has a point that I have a large plot,” she mused.
Celestia blushed. “Look, we may be counterparts, but I’d rather it be my boyfriend that looks at my ass!” When the princess started laughing, the educator sighed. “I take it you have some sort of plan?”
“Well, look at it this way, Tia,” Princess Celestia said to her now ponified counterpart as she summoned her regalia. “How many people can actually say they get to be a goddess-princess for a day?”
“You’re going to what?” Sonata Dusk shouted. The siren stood there, looking aghast at the human before her.
As she removed her uniform blouse, revealing her t-shirt underneath, the human Adagio Dazzle grinned. “Has to happen, Nata. We need SIRENs that are going to be willing to face off against the odds, and so that means we need ponies that aren’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with humans.”
“But you’re—”
Aria, having already removed her blouse and was doing stretching exercises, chimed in: “Nata, the Hooves might be particularly suited to being Princess Celestia’s guards as well as her handmaidens, but for Princess Sunset, things have to be a little different. We’re not just guards – we’re an elite combat force as well.”
“Well, yes,” the mare pointed out, “but—”
“We’ll be fine, so don’t worry.” Sonata, doing leg stretches, assured her worried counterpart, before hooking a thumb at the gathering assembly on the other side of the parade field. “Them, I’m not so much sure about.”
“But—”
“This should be interesting.” Unlike the others, Whiskey had not removed her blouse, but was seated in a lotus position, meditating. Her eyes closed, she added, “I truly look forward to proving myself.”
“But—”
Stretching his arms behind his back, Sable said, “I wouldn’t worry about it. Just watch and enjoy.”
That was enough for Sonata to walk back to where her sisters were. “They’re actually going to go through with it!” she told her sisters, horror in her voice.
“That’s insane!” Aria answered, her ears flickering in concern. “I mean, they’re just humans!”
“We’ve made the mistake of underestimating our counterparts before,” Adagio reminded her sisters. “They’ve proven that they’re more than capable of dealing with things that even we Hooves can’t. So let’s just give them the benefit of the doubt, okay?” She looked at all the medical supplies she’d brought. “I just hope all of this stuff isn’t going to be necessary.”
“Oh, I’m sure it will be, Addy,” the human Adagio called back from where she stood. “Just not for us.”
“I’m afraid to look,” Sonata moaned, covering her eyes with her hooves. Aria merely patted her sister on her withers in sympathy.
With the three siren sisters standing a slight distance away, five humans – or technically four humans and one kitsune-as-human – looked at approximately a legion’s worth of ponies: one thousand of them, all female and all from the three branches of the Equestrian Armed Forces, as well as some additional ones from the Agency and the Mage’s Guild and even a few sirens assigned to the Hooves. None of them wore armor of any kind and additionally, they wore a bracelet that partially hobbled their magic (in the case of unicorns), combat magic (for pegasi and batponies) or strength (for earth ponies). Additionally, some of them were not actually ponies, but instead the few griffonesses, minotaurettes, zebras and mules that had joined the Equestrian military; they too wore hobbling bracelets that would make them on par, strength-wise, with the humans.
Behind the siren sisters stood a group of other onlookers gathered to see this display, mainly those who had chosen not to participate, including several Hooves that were off-duty. Additionally, a couple of unicorns from the REN were there to provide magical assistance, because as Sable had told them, there were going to be a lot of bodies that were going to require safety teleportation from the field. Lastly, a group of senior officers were present once more, and having been present at the SIRENs’ last performance, were now very filled with trepidation at the human capacity for violence.
Sure that all the players were on the metaphorical stage, Sable walked to the front of the group. “Hello to all of you,” he began, addressing all the participants present. “You are here because you have been selected as potential candidates to join an organization that’s unlike anything you have ever seen before: the Special Initiative, Royal Equestrian Navy, or as we call ourselves: the SIRENs. All of you have certain strengths and talents and have been highly recommended by the seniormost of your officers or supervisors. I’m not going to waste your time telling you what to expect, because hopefully those recommending supervisors have already done so.”
One of the ponies, a unicorn, raised a foreleg. “So, is it true? If we join this SIREN we’ll have to become human and move to the human world?”
“That’s assuming if we let you join: this is an elite unit and not every individual will qualify,” Sable told her. “As to becoming human?” Sable gestured to Whiskey. “She was born a kitsune from Inari, and she is already in the program. And yes, most SIRENs will be stationed on Earth for the most critical of our assignments: part of the protection detail for Princess Sunset Shimmer. Eventually, there will be SIRENs stationed here, but the bulk of the force will be with Princess Sunset’s detail.
“But it’s more than just that: The SIRENs are a new breed of warrior for Equestria, the tip of the spear. And as a result, our recruiting efforts will be exacting: Out of a thousand of you, only the top two hundred will make the first cut – and by the time this is done, only forty of you will be the first graduating class of SIRENs.
“Those of you who don’t think you can cut it are free to step out of formation. There’s no shame in admitting you can’t hack it.”
At those words, the murmurs began through the crowd: taking a group of two hundred and whittling them down to a core group of forty? Still, though they all had questions on their faces, none backed away from the crowd.
“Okay, fair enough,” a rough-and-tumble crystal pony mare commented as she stepped forward. “I’m sure I’m going to be the top candidate, anyway,” she boasted.
“And you are?”
“Crt. Blazing Painite, of the Romance Guard, 114th Cohort – I specialize in hard-hitting and I can take a blow—” Any further speech from her was suddenly cut off as Adagio rushed towards her, leapt into the air and came down on her head with an inverted axe kick. Painite only had time to blink as her eyes rolled to the back of her head briefly before she crashed to the ground, unconscious.
Straightening herself out, Adagio commented blandly, “Okay, looks like she can’t take a blow.”
Another mare, a pegasus, looked at them with shock. “What in Tartarus was that?”
“Easy, ladies. There’s five of us versus a thousand – or rather now, 999 – of you. Last two hundred standing get to advance to the first phase of SDT. Anypony who takes one of us down definitely gets in,” Adagio commented. She then raised her hand and beckoned them to come. “Any takers?”
The response was immediate. From the middle of the crowd, a griffoness launched into the air and divebombed right at them—
—only to be met with a steel-toed boot across the beak as Whiskey leapt into the air and landed a roundhouse kick. The dazed griffin collapsed to the ground, where Whiskey dashed forward and delivered a brutal punch to her barrel, knocking the wind out of her and taking her out of commission.
“Wow, looks like the Boot’s got some moves,” Aria said to Sonata with a grin.
“Yeah, apparently it’s a martial art from her homeland called Tetsu-no-o no Michi.”
“Which means?”
Sonata shrugged. “Not a clue. It’s clearly effective, though.” She looked at the crowd and noted they were starting to evaluate their odds. “Shall we?”
“Sure. Let’s get this done before Aunt Velvet and Uncle Night find out what we’re doing and chew our asses out for this,” she laughed.
As the two sides rushed towards each other and the battle began in earnest, Arrowswift, Halberd and Adviso watched from their places behind the three siren sisters, who had already begun to administer medical care to the downed individuals that were being teleported in by the two unicorns. “What kind of insanity is this?” Adviso voiced, watching the whole thing with absolute horror on her face.
Halberd grinned like a foal at the circus. “It’s absolutely brilliant, if you ask me!” the general said in an ebullient tone.
“Care to explain for those of us who don’t have a clue why five humans are taking on vast numbers that are sure to get themselves brutally injured?” Arrowswift interjected. “I mean, from what I was told, the three girls were seriously injured here last time and now they’re doing it again?”
“I’m going to have to agree with that,” Adviso added. “I have direct authority over this program and I’m letting Adm. Loam do as he wishes because I believe he knows what he’s doing. Now, if only I knew what he was doing, because I’m sure this is going to get to Tumblehome and she will not be happy about this one iota.”
“Oh, they have no chance of winning, and Adm. Loam knows that,” Halberd said with a twinkle in his eye. “But that’s not the point.” When the two mares looked at him with confusion he explained. “Every soldier knows that at some point in battle, you may face odds that you’re not likely to trot away from. How many casualties did we have in that last war?”
“Too many,” Arrowswift said sadly.
“Exactly. But do you recall what happened at the Battle of Box Stall Canyon?”
“I hadn’t heard much about that, other than it was a decisive victory,” Adviso commented.
“Not quite,” Halberd admitted. “It was a troop of forty-six of our finest ponies, zebras and griffins, up against nearly five thousand of Tirek’s nastiest golems. And they couldn’t run, because they were the only thing protecting the town of Box Stall from being overrun by those monsters. So the soldiers, under the command of Ens. Fauchard, chose to fight until reinforcements came.” Halberd sighed and added, “Reinforcements showed up…but not in time. When a relief force arrived, the holding force had pretty much fought to the death to save the town. None of them survived…and our reinforcements made sure to get revenge for those lost and to make sure the town stood.”
Both mares looked at the old soldier with shock. The official report had mostly explained that there had been significant casualties, but it had never truly been made clear that the initial defenders of the town had fallen.
“Adm. Loam, being the consummate military human that he is, must know that. So he’s pushing those currently under his command for that moment.” The stallion pointed towards the throng of mares, attacking the humans in full. “To them, this is just the first test for whatever SIREN will become. But for those who already call themselves SIRENs? This isn’t a test for them. This is an intentional exercise in futility. They weren’t meant to win this. They can’t.”
“Then why?” Adviso asked.
“Because at the end of the day,” the stallion said with awe as he watched the five humans strike their opponents with brutal precision, “the point is to win the battle and seize the objective for your side. And if you’re alive to do it, everypony celebrates. But in war, not everypony is going to come home. And I suspect those SIRENs out there – those humans – already know that.” From where he stood, he could see the fierce looks in the eyes of the human combatants. “Call it a hunch.”