Chapter 9: Expelled
"OPEN THIS DOOR!"
The thundering shout rang through the barracks as Twilight, Applejack, and Big Mac entered the compound after helping the earthponies release their kin from the green pods. The latter of the three immediately tensed up as he recognized who it belonged to,
"That was General Leaf, sis. He ain't soundin' too happy right now" The red stallion stated as he grimaced at the building in front of them. Meanwhile, cogs in Twilight's brain were turning as to why the General would be this angry, not liking the answer she came up with.
"He's after Moonlight and that changeling!" She said as she stormed into the building at full speed, followed by the two earthponies as they got over their hesitation. In front of the door to the room they had gotten they could see the fuming General along with a squad of very heavily armed soldiers, their attention turning to the three new arrivals.
"Unicorn, get your vampony friend to open this door and give up that abomination of a creature." He growled at Twilight who gulped nervously at the rage with which the General had spoken to her.
Walking up to the door Twilight lit her horn and seconds later disappeared only to reappear on the other side of the barricaded entranceway. Before she even got the chance to reorient herself she had already hit the ground and had a knife pressed against her throat,
"I'm not giving her up," The thestral snared at the unicorn, the hurt changeling looking fearfully at the pinned unicorn.
"Moonlight, they're not going to let it leave the fortress after what they saw down in the catacombs," Twilight tried to reason but Moonlight didn't give an inch of ground on her stance.
"I won't give her up, if the ponies outside want her then they're going to have to get her over my cold dead body!" Moonlight snarled with exposed fangs, finally giving Twilight enough space to stand back up while she went over to comfort the shivering changeling.
Seeing this Twilight sighed, lit her horn, and reappeared outside, startling the earthponies with her sudden appearance. "She's not going to give her up, sir, and I'm afraid that this will end in unnecessary bloodshed if you force your way in," Twilight told the General who glared her down, seemingly thinking up his next move.
"You have one hour to leave my fortress, filly, if I find that thing or any of you to still be here I will personally execute you on the spot." He growled before turning and stomping out of the barracks.
Not wasting a second of this precious time Twilight immediately teleported back into the barricaded room where Moonlight glared at her the moment she appeared in the room.
"My decision still stands." She simply stated while keeping her wing talon close to one of her weapons.
"I know, we have exactly an hour to leave this place before the General will return," Twilight said as she levitated assure the desk that had served as the barricade that held the door closed. Applejack immediately coming in and strapping on her saddlebags over her warplate. Moonlight looked surprised but not wanting to waste this opportunity to leave she immediately packed what little she had.
Big Mac stood in the doorway looking at her sister as she packed her gear, Apple Bloom having also joined them in the room. The big stallion walking up to her sister and pulling her into a hug as she finished packing. "Stay safe out there sis," he simply said as Applejack returned the hug.
"Ah've got a bunch of good ponies watchin' mah back, we'll be as safe as possible." Applejack replied as she put Apple Bloom onto her back.
Rainbow Dash chose that moment to come running into the room with Scootaloo on her own back, "What was that shou..."
She paused and snarled as she spotted the changeling sitting on the bed behind Moonlight while Scootaloo just tried to hide behind Rainbow's mane. "What is that thing still doing here?" She asked, angering Moonlight once again.
"She's coming with us and since we have less than one hour to leave this place I suggest we start packing." She responded irritably. Before Rainbow could respond to the bat pony's response the last member of their group came running into the room, Cherry already having her saddlebag ready to go at any time immediately picked them up and secured them.
"I heard what happened." She simply stated, "Where are we going next?" She inquired as she glanced at the changeling who seemed to be closely huddling against Moonlight.
Twilight who had finished packing opened her saddlebag and levitated out their map, studying it for a brief moment. "Trotterdam, we'll try to get passage on a ship to Fillydelphia where we can try crossing the straight into the Empire and head for Manehattan to find the Element of Generosity."
The group having packed all the gear and equipment they owned looked at each other awkwardly, Rainbow definitely not being at ease with the changeling and Moonlight being overly protective of the exact same creature. Taking a few moments it was Twilight who finally broke the silence, "Uhm... we should leave before our deadline expires."
The others silently agreed and the group swiftly left the barracks and made their way to the front gate where they could see General leaf with a group of soldiers.
"General?" Twilight asked as her group was spotted, the General still seemed to be fuming.
"Know that the only reason I'm letting you go is that you have the king's support and that you helped discover this filth in the belly of my fortress, Unicorn. If I find out that thing harmed one of my kin anywhere else I will make sure your head will be mounted on a spike, am I clear?" He threatened as he motioned for the group of soldiers to open a passageway for the group to walk through.
"Crystal," Twilight replied before leading her group out the fortress, the heavy doors closing behind them with a loud thud. The companionship silently walking down the foot of the mountain with only Twilight's horn as light in the darkness of the night that had fallen to a small stream of water where they could fill up their water sacks.
"So, we're going to Trotterdam?" Moonlight asked as she filled her water reservoir, Rainbow immediately huffed.
"I'm not going anywhere until you explain why that is coming with us." She said as she pointed at the changeling, Moonlight wanted to retort but at seeing the expressions of the others she sighed.
"Amber, please come over here." She commanded to the changeling who shyly shuffled forward, Twilight gasping as the cut she had delivered to its leg had already closed and only a small line of where the blade had it her remained.
"I took her in because after the cataclysm my people sought out the hives only to find all the changelings died of starvation or been killed, sometimes both. You must understand that back then the hives didn't kidnap ponies, they just invented new identities and lived among ponies. The records even seem to suggest Night- and Daymother had an unofficial truce with the hives that didn't take ponies to prevent Queens that did from settling within their realm." Moonlight explained
"So why did they all just die off then?" Rainbow asked, not sounding as angry as she had just been.
"Because of hate and other negative emotions are like poison to my kind..." Amber's raspy voice startling the group except for Moonlight who continued for the changeling,
"...which there were a lot of back in those days, effectively every hive either starved or started to abduct ponies which ended with the respective tribe storming their hive and killing their entire populations."
Everyone stood still in silence as they looked at the changeling, who shyly shrunk back behind the thestral. Moonlight looked at rainbow who seemed to be severely conflicted.
"Fine, I'll give you a chance but if you look at Scootaloo the wrong way you'll wish you'd died down in that cave." Rainbow threatened, Moonlight sighing as she realized that that was probably the best she was going to get from the pegasus.
"Anyway, we should get some sleep. Trotterdam is leagues from here and I don't think we a lot of extra supplies so we should get up as early as possible tomorrow to make as much ground as we can." Twilight interjected, the others agreed and put down their sleeping mats to get some much-needed sleep.
"Good night, everypony," Twilight said as she cut off the flow of magic to her horn, plunging the group into darkness.
"Come on Cap, getting messages out of Appleoosa is hard at the best of times and after your proposed stunt it'll be near impossible." Swift Star said as Shining was pacing through the barracks, they had left ponyville and headed for Manehattan since there had been no reason to stay in the mud-pony town if they weren't allowed to enter the forest. Manehattan being the headquarter of the Empires operations against the earthponies was the most logical place to go next as any and every report on the situation would inevitably get there.
Shining groaned loudly, the trip to the bastion had been long and he had hoped a report would have already reached the city, "I know, Swift. I'm just annoyed with the fact that I don't know if we succeeded, we know there was a massive explosion that took out a barracks in Appleoosa but not if we succeeded in taking them out, I want to know if I failed the Empress or not!" He shouted, storming outside onto the wall of the city's central bastion to get some air, also taking the time to get a good look at the city. The city was designed in the way of a tiered city, the upper tier was were the nobility and high-class ponies would live, the middle housing the well off commoners, and the lower for the earthpony serfs and low-class unicorns.
"Just take a breather, Cap, the agent will pull through she's a professional." Swift star said as she turned back to the stairs into the fortress, "I'm going back to get some practice done, feel free to join me if you feel up for a flank beating."
Shining grumbled an acknowledgment as the mare disappeared down the stairs behind him while he continued staring at the city for an extended amount of time while being stuck in thought. In fact, so stuck in his thoughts that he didn't notice the mare approaching him.
"Is there something bothering you, Captain?" She asked pulling him back to reality, looking the mare over his stance tensed up. She had an immaculately styled purple mane and a pristine white coat under the black dress she was wearing.
"Countess Belle, my apologies I did not notice your approach," Shining said as he bowed his head to the stunning mare. Looking over the mare's dress he noticed that there were gemstones subtley embedded into her dress giving it a sparkle that would attract all and any attention in a room, the rumors being that the mare designed and made all these dresses herself which had been written off by some of the nobility as no noble lady would stoop so low as to do a commoners work.
"Don't worry dear, you were deeply in thought while looking at my city." She said as she joined Shining on the battlements looking over the city, "If I may ask, what do you think of it?"
Shining kept a stoic face as he looked at the city, the lower districts were dotted with factories where ponies had to work in terrible conditions to manufacture tools and other product for the rest of the Empire. This had driven the nobility of the city to push the output of the factories to their maximum regardless of safety concerns. If any city in the Empire deserved to be called a shithole of greed, Manehattan would be on top of that list.
"It's magnificent, my lady," Shining answered, the Countess suddenly letting out a very unladylike snort.
"It's a greedy pile of manure, Captain Armor, you know it but just don't want to say it." She stated, Shining being too lost for words to respond to the Countess, "My colleagues of the 'noble' variety only ever try to gain more power and wealth, never looking at improving the city as a whole." She sighed as she paused for a moment.
"Did you know these walls used to be a magnificent white?" She asked breaking her own silence again, Shining shaking her head at this revelation. The walls of the city were all grey but now he studied them he realized that was because all the ash and soot from the factories had stained the color, some portions of the wall still retaining some semblance of what it had been in times long gone, "I thought so... Anyway, you must have more important business than listening to the troubled ramblings of a mare." The Countess stated as she pulled her gaze away from the city, "Have a nice day, Captain, may the Empress grace you with her light."
With that, she left once again, Shining blushing as he could have sworn the mare fluttering her eyelashes at him. Turning for the stairs himself Shining started making his way to the training field where he could clear his mind as thoughts haunted him.
Why would she have approached me like that? What does she have to gain from getting on my good side?
The waves of the Cerulean Ocean crashed into the ship Twilight and her companionship had gotten passage on, the trip to Trotterdam had taken them four days to complete and after arriving they had once again reported their presence to the authorities. It had taken some time for them to find an earthpony that was comfortable enough to take them aboard.
The day after they had left the Dustwatch Moonlight had almost freaked out as she realized that they hadn't found the element of Honesty before they had been evicted only for Applejack to show the gem hanging around her neck. The element now in front of Twilight as she had taken too studying it along with the Element of Loyalty. Only unlike with that Element Twilight focused her study on the torque instead.
What she found was utterly terrifying to the mare, the torque wasn't steel as she had originally thought but instead was an alloy...
...of Adamantium and Mithril, called Arcanasteel.
The worth of the object in front of her was about the same as half of Canterlot itself... and there were supposedly five more of them out there. Though that wasn't the great kicker of her discovery, what was the greatest revelation was that the gem's magic had blended seamlessly with the innate properties of the alloy which meant they had been made for each other. Seeing this Twilight had come to a conclusion the others wouldn't like: The Element of Loyalty wasn't completed. The leather band was clearly not part of it as a set and they would most likely have to go to Cloudsdale as well to find the item the gem was supposed to sit in.
Twilight sighed as she hung back in her hammock, she'd have to figure out the true properties of the alloy as even she had never read any records on the material other than myths and legend. A soft snore from beside her startled the Unicorn as she looked over at the hammock beside her the changeling now disguised as an earthpony was sleeping. Twilight hadn't made up her mind about the creature as even though she had sympathy for Amber she wasn't sure she could trust her.
"FILLYDELPHIA IN SIGHT!" Rainbow's shout penetrating the deck, the Rainbow maned pegasus having made herself useful as a spotter for the ship as she was able to fly much higher than an earthpony sitting in the mast.
Deciding she could use some air Twilight made her way onto the deck where she found the rest of her companionship standing at the side of the ship looking at the city on the horizon. Twilight sighed as she realized they wouldn't be staying there for long and would attempt to enter the Empire...
...And if she knew her brother he would most likely be in the very city they were going to attempt to enter as it served as the headquarters of operations against the earthponies. Shaking her head Twilight joined in on watching the approaching city,
One problem at a time, Twilight. We'll fix those problems when we encounter them.