//------------------------------// // The Fourth Day // Story: The Final Choices // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// Twilight chose Spitfire next. The moment the sun shifted into visibility, heralding the day, Twilight summoned her power and brought Spitfire to the main hall of her castle. Spitfire took a few seconds to look around before bowing. “Queen Sparkle, I am at your service.” “Rise,” Twilight said. “Normally I would tell you not to bother bowing or addressing me by title, but unfortunately we need to keep up appearances right now. Know that you do have that right, we just have to ignore it for now.” Spitfire nodded. “Understood!” “I brought you out because you are one of our sharpest military minds. I need you to examine our situation in person and report our defense capabilities. I hope Frostfire’s just paranoid and there’s nothing to worry about, but there’s a chance we have to defend ourselves soon.” “I’ll take a cursory fly around. Be back in a couple minutes.” Rainbow Dash flew in through the doors. “Ma’am!” “Crash!” Spitfire called. The two saluted each other with their wings. “You’re runnin’ a pretty tight ship up here.” “We’re managing,” Rainbow said. “...Strange. Twilight, I can’t see through her eyes.” “Maybe the Element of Loyalty can only act on so many at once?” Twilight suggested. “There’s the five of us, Sunset, Spike, Celesita, and Discord. With you that makes ten.” “Ten sets of eyes…” Rainbow thought about this for a moment. “It’s really weird that I’m getting used to seeing that many things at once…” “Never took you for a multitasker,” Spitfire said, raising an eyebrow. “Thanks for gettin’ me out of there, by the way.” “Don’t mention it.” Spitfire nodded. “Back in a bit!” She spread her wings and took off, leaving the castle to get the lay of the land. “Spike!” Twilight called. “When she gets back I’ll need you to write down everything she says!” “Right!” Spike responded. Less than a minute later he scrambled down the stairs, notebook and pen in hand. He clicked the back of the pen several times, enjoying the sensation. “I love human pens…” “Yeah, yeah, mock me for not inventing the ballpoint,” Twilight said with a roll of her eyes. “...You think we’re actually gonna have to fight, Twilight?” Rainbow asked. Twilight furrowed her brow. “I think so. But I also doubt they have the resources to take Discord on directly. ...I also hope we won’t have to fight much.” Rainbow sighed. “I just… I kinda wanted all the pain to be over, y’know? ...I don’t think it’s caught up to me yet. Pinkie and Fluttershy have gone through their… things, I think. No one else has, really.” Twilight sighed. “I know. We… we need a break, but we aren’t getting one.” “You aren’t. I think AJ’s setting up a little get-together tonight, though, for those of us who have time.” Twilight nodded. “That’ll be good for you.” “Yeah…” An awkward silence fell over the hall. Spike stopped clicking his pen. Eventually, Twilight grew tired of the awkward stares. She opened her mouth. “Ready to report, your highness!” Spitfire called, bowing. “We’ve got good news and bad news.” “Good news?” Twilight asked, recovering quickly. “We’ve only got two major structures, close enough together we could easily defend them.” “Bad news?” “We’ve only got two major structures, close enough to be wiped off the map with one big bomb.” “Ah. Anything more in depth?” Spitfire nodded. “From a defense standpoint, our elevation is an amazing asset. We’re a fair distance above the natural ground of this world and the only easy way up is that escalator, which can always be set to down to really mess with any ‘invaders’ dumb enough to try that. Attackers would have to fly, and only those wraiths show the ability to fly. The Everfree forest is both a blessing and a curse. If ponies want to attack from that side, they have to go through it. But if they can survive the nasties within, it gives them a lot of good cover on the same level as the Castle and School of New Equestria. Nominally, this entire situation could be solved with a few patrols of guards, but we don’t have enough ponies for that. ...Can you make Captain Armor’s shield, highness?” Twilight started at the mention of her brother. “Y-yes I believe I can. Haven’t exactly tried…” “Might want to figure it out soon so you can raise it in case of an emergency. We may not have enough ponies to work patrol, but I can circle the area for as long as you need, ma’am. Only problem is that we’re defenseless at night.” “...Talk to Fluttershy. I think she can get the animals set up as lookouts, if nothing else.” Spitfire saluted. “Right away!” She spread her wings and took off once again. “...You made a good choice, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “We need somepony like her.” Rainbow attempted to smile, but she couldn’t remove the pained grimace from her face. “Thanks…” Twilight hugged her. “I know it was hard to choose.” Rainbow didn’t say anything. She just ground her teeth, trying not to cry at the memory. ~~~ “So, tell me, what did I fight out there?” Celestia asked her student. Sunset held the chunk of yellow-green crystal in her hands, squinting. “An arthon mage.” Celestia smiled warmly. “That’s what Frostfire told us. What else have you found?” “That this crystal is basically a saturated, fractured unicorn horn. Highly complex networks. I’d almost say artificial, but I know lots of creatures on this world have these crystals. I’d say it’s pretty obvious they’re the way creatures use magic in this world. Doesn’t explain the magic of the pony races here, though.” Celestia nodded. “Are there any… weaknesses?” “Like a unicorn horn I bet you could overload it by pumping enough magic into it. That wouldn’t work on a creature literally covered with these things, though. If one blows up you’re not really going to reduce its effectiveness…” She folded her hands together and frowned. “I’m trying to figure out why it would attack you, but I only have guesses.” “Why not ask somepony who would know?” Frostfire asked, descending into Sunset’s laboratory. “I happen to know much about the monsters of the world and whahuhwh…” He stopped talking, staring slack-jawed at the screens Sunset had set up around the lab. Lights, wires, blackboards with endless equations and designs scribbled on then, and numerous computers duplicated courtesy of Discord. “Welcome to technology central,” Sunset said, extending a hand. “I’m Sunset Shimmer. I monkey with the gadgets.” Frostfire didn’t shake her hand - he seemed to think it was a snake and was about to bite him. Sunset rolled her eyes, retracting her hand. “Take your time. I’ll wait for your brain to catch up.” “I… I thought I had seen amazing devices in the thunder blairne warehouses. This is… something else entirely.” “It’s just what happens when you’re a century or so ahead in technology.” Sunset blinked. “Actually, that was Earth compared to Equestria, I have no idea what this world’s technology base is.” Frostfire shook his head, turning to Celestia. “I would be in your debt if you instructed me in the ways of these devices.” Celestia smiled sadly. “I am afraid you’d have to talk to my student here, Frostfire. I know very little of high technology. Twilight knows some, but Sunset here is the only one with the knowledge, intelligence, and hands to use the things.” Sunset waved her fingers, the action making Frostfire twitch. “...Surely you have monkeys in this world.” “Yes. They don’t talk.” “Did he react like this with Spike?” Sunset asked Celestia. Celestia shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I was out fighting for my life, remember?” “Right. Speaking of - Frostfire, you are the local expert on arthon mages. Why did it attack Celestia?” Frostfire collected himself. “Arthon mages are the most brutal of all thaumic creatures - what the simple pony calls a monster. They have, by far, the highest cyrstal-to-organic ratio of all of them, and their purpose appears to be that of a warrior. While the roothers - the moving forests - seek to expand biodiversity, the harvesters - the metal birds - seek to assist the roothers, and icossa - that blimp thing you encountered - seek to protect anything with magic, the arthon mage will attack.” “Anything?” “Depends on the arthon mage in question,” Frostfire admitted. “Some of them have never been observed to attack anything. Others have attacked every living thing they have seen until they were forcibly put down. They only have two settings: don’t attack, and kill. Each one seems to have a different set of priorities for what ends up on the ‘kill’ list, and you’ll forgive the best blairne scientists for not performing much in-field research on the specifics of the matter.” Sunset nodded. “If it gave Celestia trouble, I can’t blame you. I’m surprised you’re able to put them down.” “In older times the arrival of an arthon mage was the doom of a town. It still is, but trained agents of the Impervious Leader are given special training to incapacitate them.” “How?” Frostfire shrugged. “I never trained. Apparently sound blairne are the best for it, though.” “So instead of ice or fire, like you, they use sound?” Sunset smiled, lighting her horn to call Discord. “What?” Discord muttered, pretending like he had just been taking a shower by summoning dripping water and suds. “We’re going to make a sound gun.” Discord’s annoyed expression vanished in an instant. “Oh, that sounds… delightful…” Frostfire didn’t even attempt to hide the disgust on his features. “I… shall be going.” “Wait, one question,” Sunset said, holding up a hand. “All creatures on this world use magic through crystals - except ponies. Do you know why that is?” “We have crystal powder in our veins,” Frostfire reported. “This has mixed results. Occasionally thaumic creatures will identify us as one of them, sometimes not. We’re borderline. And your assumption is wrong, there are some beings that don’t use crystals.” “Us?” Sunset asked. “Well, yes, but there are three others. Oozes, sunblinks, and crangs. Admittedly I know nothing of crangs aside from their habitat deep beneath the earth. Sunblinks are little puffs of fire that the sun ejects every so often, and oozes are stupid conglomerations of acid that I’m sure are physical manifestations of magic directly, but it’s hard to prove when everything you stick into them dissolves.” Sunset pondered this. “Smooze?” Celestia shrugged. “I am not certain.” Frostfire was already more than done with the conversation. He walked all the way up and out of the lab. “All right, Discord…” Sunset rubbed her hands together. “I am going to need a micro speaker and magic amplifier… we’re going to make a weapon.” Celestia furrowed her brow. “Do we really need one?” “If my idea on how the sound blairne defeat the arthon mages is right, it should be able to crack their crystals from a distance. And if not, well, I can always turn down the settings on this thing and make a non-lethal weapon that works at range.” “Be careful.” “I’ll be careful. Discord on the other hand…” Discord hit his head with a gong. “Wow, sound really is powerful!” Celestia facehooved. ~~~ “...What’s it like?” Rarity asked. Fox and Beaver looked up from their lunch with quizzical expressions. “Being a shaper,” Rarity clarified. “Always knowing that, at any moment, you could change yourself to be… something else.” “It’s not something else,” Fox said. “It’s also you.” “Didn’t you say somethin’ about some bugs that could turn into anythin’?” Beaver asked. Rarity nodded slowly. “Yes, changelings can take the shape of most anything. But they never… well, identify it as them. I’m not sure why, but I’m just sure it’s different.” “Can’t really tell you without a changeling here, can we?” Fox said with a chuckle. Rarity nodded. “We have some in the roots. You’ll get to see them, eventually.” “That’d be interestin’,” Beaver admitted. “A creature not limited by any being at all…” “Can you imagine not knowing what you were?” Fox asked her husband. “Nope. But Ah remember the story of the mad shaper.” “That’s just a little filly’s tale.” “Probably. But maybe it is based in truth…” “What is this story?” Rarity asked. Beaver cleared his throat. “There was a shaper that could turn into any animal he had ever seen. So adept was he at this that he could spend all his time as any animal he wished. He was a lover of fun, games, and secrets. He would spend months at a time flying in the sky, living life simply. One day, he spent multiple years out in the world as several different beings… and when he tried to return to society, he had forgotten how to be a pony.” “Why could he not just take the form of a pony next to him? If he was so skilled of a mage, surely…” “We aren’t animals,” Fox answered. “Just like how monsters aren’t animals.” “I did hear about that one mare who managed to become part ooze...” Beaver mused. “Tall tale.” “...I would very much like to meet an experienced shaper,” Rarity admitted. “See if our animals qualify or not. We have a pretty monstrous Hydra wandering around.” “What’s a hydra?” Fox asked. Rarity coughed. “Rainbow, do you mind grabbing a-” Rainbow flew in, dropping the massive Equestrian Bestiary down on their table. “Was already grabbing it before you said my name.” Rainbow winked and took off elsewhere. “She really can see everything…” Fox muttered. “Our Elements have done strange things, yes,” Rarity admitted. “What’s yours do?” “I don’t know yet.” Rarity turned to the hydra entry and showed them the illustration of the many-headed reptilian monstrosity. Fox gawked. “I… have never seen anything like that. Are you saying there’s one here!?” Rarity nodded. “Though Fluttershy directed it to an uninhabited forest to do its hunting. It won’t be bothering us.” “What other things do you have in that forest?” Rarity flipped through the book a few more times - finding manticores, cragadiles, viper’s maw plants, and a few more. She stopped at timberwolves. “You know, given the shake up of magic when we passed through, I doubt the timberwolves survived.” “Wolves made of wood,” Fox deadpanned. “Now I’ve seen everything.” “I doubt it,” Rarity said with a smirk. “There are many legendary creatures that didn’t come here with us. Like… let’s see…” She flipped through the pages of a book. “Ah, here’s a good horror story. Wendigoes.” “Skip,” Fox said. “Heh.” Rarity flipped through a few more pages. “What about something a little nicer…? Ah, a mistform!” She turned the book over to them, showing an ethereal illustration of a vaguely pony-like creature. “...A ghost?” Beaver asked. “Not so much, no. These are beings of pure magic. Sometimes summoned to guard placed, and other times just manifesting through natural causes. They are quite elegant.” “I wish we had a book like this with us,” Fox admitted. “Then we could talk about our monsters.” “Ah can talk about the vespina.” Beaver said. “Snakelike creatures of the night with a crystal between their eyes, they are rumored to be the beings who taught the wraith how to steal effectively. But the vespina always return what they steal, as if it is some kind of game to them. The wraith never do.” “Do these vespina… talk?” Beaver shook his head. “Just monsters. They like to protect other monsters from attack, like the icossa do during the day.” “The blimp creature Celestia encountered?” “Yep,” Fox said. “Icossa aren’t exactly common, but there’s enough of them. You can’t exactly miss a floating balloon thing staring at you for an hour.” “Your world is certainly an interesting place,” Rarity admitted. “Yours too. ...You must miss it.” Rarity felt her emotions threaten to overwhelm her with an immense floodgate of tears. She bit back her outburst - but couldn't stop a few tears from seeping out. She swallowed, breathing heavily. Beaver detected it was time to change the topic. “So. Fox and I met when she was traveling to sell her radish seeds…” ~~~ Rainbow Dash had seen them coming from miles away. The blairne dignitaries certainly didn’t waste any time - they had a large carriage and several soldiers carving their way through the sparse forest. She reported back a few things - the carriage seemed to have some sort of shock absorbers, one of the blairne was one of those multi-faceted types like Frostfire, and that they had shaper ponies hitched up to pull the carriage. “Oh, they’re slaves,” Fox had said when questioned. “Well then…” Twilight commented, ruffling her feathers. “Looks like things just got infinitely more complicated…” She had decided it was probably a bad idea to talk to Frostfire about that. She did not want to blow a hole in a wall and try to explain it to the dignitaries. She stood at the top of the escalator, Rarity at her side. Celestia was watching from a distance, while Discord and Frostfire were ‘hiding’ in the laboratory with Sunset. Rainbow Dash was at the bottom of the escalator with them. “Now, we just had this installed recently, but it’s perfectly safe. Anyone who wants up, just step on like so and… viola!” The lead blaine had only one elemental attribute - sound, if Twilight had to guess from the way her mane vibrated. Her coloration was a pale green, almost teal, and her eyes shone with a similarly colored light. Unlike Frostfire, her eyes didn’t continually shift and flash with conflicting colors, she was consistent. “Why would you need this device? You can fly.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I don’t need it, but it’s not like all of us have wings, Verberate.” Twilight couldn’t read Verberate’s response to this, but she suspected it was negative. Rainbow led Verberate and a half-dozen other ponies in the contingent onto the escalator - leaving the shackled and downtrodden shapers hooked up to the carriage. To put it mildly, the sight made Twilight want to smite them all with harmonious fire. She managed to restrain herself, putting on a small, slightly contemptuous, smile. “Welcome to New Equestria,” Twilight said, bowing as Verberate made it all the way up. “I am Queen Twilight Sparkle, and this is Rarity.” “And what is her station?” Verberate asked, as if annoyed Twilight hadn’t already informed her. Twilight fumbled for a minute. “E… Chancellor! Chancellor Rarity!” “Yes, of course,” Rarity said, realizing she’d just been promoted on the spot to a position that hadn’t existed a minute ago. “Charmed.” Verberate nodded curtly. “I am Ambassador Verberate. To my left is Ambassador Ashen, and to my right is Agent Nirix.” Ashen was a fire-blairne, his mane eternally ablaze with the flames of his power. Nirix was… a combination that was hard to look at. Her mane was a mixture of dusty particles and sharp blue sparks, while her eyes were a mixture of three different colors warring for attention: pale blue, yellow, and orange. Unlike Verberate and Ashen, who wore visible emotions on their faces, Nirix was even faced and expressionless. “We represent the interests of our Impervious Ruler.” “Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Twilight said, gesturing with her wing to the table they had prepared behind them. “We had food prepared the moment we knew you were coming. I hope this is acceptable?” “Definitely,” Ashen said, drooling. Verberate nodded curtly. The three of them - and their entourage who apparently weren’t even important enough to be named - sat down one one side of the table, while Twilight and Rarity sat on the other side. “Surely you have more ponies,” Verberate commented. “We do,” Twilight admitted. “Most are off working or coming to terms with the fallout of our arrival. Our coming to your world was not a pleasant thing.” “Then we should start there. Explain why and how you are here.” Twilight did. She left out a lot of details - things about non-pony races, Discord, the technology they had, Frostfire - but otherwise she was honest with what happened, why they were here, and that they had no home to go back to. “Are you certain you cannot leave?” Twilight was vaguely insulted by the insinuation. “If we could go home, we would have.” “I me-” “I know what you meant. We have not been able to access any other worlds, though forgive me if survival took precedence over finding another world to crash into.” Verberate seemed annoyed by the sense in that statement. “It is unavoidable then.” “If we are in your territory we can, with effort, move our land elsewhere.” “You are just beyond our official borders, within the wilds. It is unnecessary.” “Then why would we need to leave?” Rarity asked. “You complicate the balance of this world with your addition of new ponies.” She took a sip of her tea. “I am frankly unsure how we will classify your races in our hierarchy.” “Hierarchy?” Twilight asked, pretending Frostfire hadn’t already told her about it. “The pony races follow a strict hierarchy. The blairne rise to the top, followed by the shapers, and then the despicable wraiths. Surely you have a similar system?” “There was such a thing in antiquity,” Rarity commented. “Unicorns were the nobles, pegasi formed the middle class and military, while earth ponies were the farmers and low workers. This was done away with centuries ago, now all three races are treated with equality.” “The only thing remotely like what you’re describing is me,” Twilight said, pointing at herself. “I am an alicorn, fused of the three magics of all tribes. Alicorns are rarely born, and are generally made whenever a pony of one of the three tribes demonstrates the capacity to rule. I used to be a unicorn, myself.” Verberate seemed to be processing this for a while. “Do you have a naturally born alicorn?” Ashen asked. Twilight sensed the answer to the question was important. “Yes,” Twilight answered, truthfully. “Princess Celestia, my old mentor. She was a ruler of Old Equestria, but passed the rite on to me for New Equestria. She is the only other alicorn we have.” “Any other pony races we should know of?” “No.” Technically the truth… Verberate nodded slowly. “Tell me of your races, what your capabilities are, your magic, etcetera.” Twilight nodded. “If you wish to know more biological details, my good friend Fluttershy is a better source than I. She’s a pegasus, if that matters.” “It does not matter yet.” I don’t like that ‘yet’. Rainbow Dash flew away, grabbed Fluttershy, and returned. “Hello,” Fluttershy said with a bow. “How can I help?” The next few minutes were occupied by Fluttershy explaining the capabilities and differences between the three pony races. Verberate wanted details - more details than Twilight was able to provide herself - but Fluttershy was more than capable. When Fluttershy was describing the absolute mastery of magic given to the unicorns, Twilight could tell blairne was uncomfortable. What, does that make unicorns higher up the social ladder than the blairne? How are you going to redefine it to make sure you’re still on top? “I will have to bring this back to the Impervious Ruler,” Verberate noted. “I do not have the authority to make declarations on the nature of your races. Before we continue, I do believe I should warn you of the wraith…” “We already received our warning,” Twilight said, waving a hoof. “From who?” “A couple of friendly shapers who wandered by yesterday.” Verberate narrowed her eyes. “The shaper kingdoms got here before we did?” “They’re not dignitaries, they’re just normal ponies. They’re still here, though I think you can see why they’d want to avoid you.” “Naturally,” Verberate agreed. “Do you have any others we would want to be aware of?” Let’s see: don’t reveal Frostfire, but also don’t lie to them. “We have an imprisoned wraith.” “IMPRISONED!?” Agent Nirix shouted, her mane bouncing around with energy. “YOU FOOL!” Twilight twitched. “Our magic keeps her from phasing through anything. I can bring her to you, if you want.” “DO THAT,” Nirix shouted. Twilight wondered if she even had a quiet voice. “Fluttershy, can you get Ichor?” Twilight asked. “Let her know what’s going on.” And also that we’ll protect her. Fluttershy nodded, flying away. Ashen blinked. “You… can keep them from phasing?” Twilight nodded. “Granted, my special talent is magic.” She gestured at the mark on her flank. “So those are indicative of your purpose in society?” Verberate asked. “Yes. Though since you don’t have them, I suppose you think they’re decorative? They aren’t. They manifest during puberty through magic. The exact mechanism behind the acquisition of a ‘cutie mark’ isn’t well understood, and I am unsure if they will manifest in this new world or not. But I got mine in magic itself. Rarity’s here represents a more abstract concept - an eye for details and beauty.” Verberate nodded slowly. She was clearly listening - but she no doubt cared much more about Ichor. Fluttershy brought Ichor out, whispering words of encouragement in her ear. Verberate was surprised by the meek appearance of the wraith. She paid special attention to the links on her hooves and neck, glowing with magic. “...Would you be willing to give us those… restraints?” “It is an option in trade if we establish an official relation,” Twilight agreed. “Which is, coincidentally, what New Equestria wants.” She smiled. “We believe in the ideal of harmony, that all ponies should live together as friends. Now that we are here, we want nothing more than to establish friendly relations with all the nations of the world. We can offer you strange magics and stories from another world, all we ask in return is that you help us understand this new world we find ourselves in.” “I do not have the authority to establish official relations with a new nation. I can accept gifts and declare the will spoken by our Impervious Leader. But he will have to make the final decision about what to do with you.” “And how long will that take?” Twilight gestured to Fluttershy, indicating she could take Ichor away. The wraith was more than happy to get out of there. “We must return to him personally and give our reports, so a week or so.” Verberate said. “I ask for books of your history, ruling class, and other records that we may return to our libraries.” “Done,” Twilight said, realizing that they would find out about the other races from those books. She wondered how badly that would go if she wasn’t there to talk about it. She had no doubt these dignitaries would go ballistic in their racism if given any opportunity to… hopefully this Impervious Ruler was smart enough to realize that an alliance was benneficial, no matter how distasteful the two parties found the other’s practices. “Anything else?” “At this moment, no. We shall return in time.” “If you need faster travel, we know teleport spells,” Twilight offered. “Princess Celestia could escort you anywhere within the Sphere in a day or so. Just point her in the right direction.” The idea seemed to terrify Verberate. “No! That… won’t be necessary! We’ll just be on our way after we get those records!” She shook her head, realizing she had something else to say. “Actually… ...it would be best if you re-examined your policy of making ‘friends’ with all the nations. The shapers aren’t worth your time. The blairne Empire is the only unified front.” “...I’ll keep that in mind.” Twilight summoned a scroll and a quill to her. “Rarity, write a letter to their Impervious Ruler while I show them the library. Okay?” “Of course,” Rarity said, taking the scroll and beginning to scribble down an eloquent letter. “Right this way,” Twilight said, leading them to her castle. ~~~ When they left, they didn’t wave back. Twilight increased the velocity of her farewell wave just to spite them. Even though they didn’t know that was what it meant. There was no way they could. “Dear, calm down.” Twilight spoke through gritted teeth. “Rarity, I need to exert this bent up anger somehow or I will smite them.” “Oh. Was it really that bad?” “Slaving, arrogant racists that are ‘withholding judgment’ to see if they’ll treat us with respect or disdain that make me constantly hide behind a veil of sorta-lies?” “...Okay I see the point.” Rarity turned her away from the receding dignitaries. “But at least they don’t want to kill us!” “As far as we know,” Twilight muttered. “...True.” “I can confirm that the Ashen guy wants us dead,” Discord said, revealing his presence at the table, eating some pumpkin pie. “Wh… DISCORD!” Twilight shouted. “Were you reading his mind!?” “No. He was just one of those types. You could see it in his eyes.” “I agree with Discord,” Rarity said. “Verberate was religiously trying not to jump to conclusions and I don’t think the Agent is allowed to have opinions. But Ashen… he wants us to burn.” “Any idea why?” Twilight asked. “I think the worst one was the fact that you’re a combination of three races. Probably a religious taboo or something similar.” “Joy. Still, can’t exactly refuse to let the dignitaries meet the Queen.” “...How are we going to handle the shaper kingdoms?” Rarity asked. “I’m done lying. Or omitting. Or whatever it was I was doing over there. It felt wrong.” “Necessary?” “Maybe. But it wasn’t harmonious.” She walked into the school, finding Fox and Beaver’s room. She knocked. “Hello?” Beaver poked his head out. “Hmm?” “How bad do you think it’ll be if I were completely honest with the shaper dignitaries?” “Bad,” Beaver admitted. “Not as bad as the blairne though. No shaper is going to declare war on you just for being different, they don’t have to be ‘the best’ at everything. You’d just be odd.” “Well, better than being attacked…” Beaver nodded. “We also respect honesty and loyalty. Showing them everything might earn you some points.” “Dear, they’re not shapers, nopony is going to trust them no matter what,” Fox commented from somewhere within the room. “The races are separated. That’s how everypony thinks it is.” She shoved Beaver out of the way and poked her own head out. “You’re gonna have trouble, Twilight. This ‘harmony’ of yours sounds nice, but it doesn't exist here. Ponies aren’t going to just accept it.” “We aren't segregating ourselves,” Twilight said, flatly. “I know. And I’m not a politician so I have noooooooo idea what you’re going to do. But hey, Beaver is right, at least the shapers won’t try to blow you up! Isn’t that nice?” She closed the door in their faces. “Fox, that was rude,” they heard from the other side. “What? The conversation was over! Twilight rolled her eyes, walking away. “So, Rarity, ideas?” Rarity smiled awkwardly. “Be honest, dote over them, and complain about the blairne?” “Lovely…” ~~~ “So…” Applejack said, looking up. “Thank y’all for comin’.” Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike all nodded. “Rainbow Dash wants you to know she’s here in spirit,” Pinkie said. Applejack sighed. “That’s… fine.” She adjusted her hat and looked up. “Everyone… Our home is dead.” That was all Fluttershy needed to start crying. Applejack continued on. “Almost everypony we ever knew is gone. And now we’re here, bein’ asked to stand up and build a new nation while a tragedy is looming over our heads.” She gulped. “Ah’m surprised we haven’t cracked yet.” “We haven’t cracked because we can’t,” Pinkie said, solemnly. “If we do… If one of us goes all the way to la-la land, it’ll break most the others. And we can’t survive like that. ...I almost went there...” Applejack nodded. “Which is why we’re here. We… we gotta figure out how we feel about all this. We can be open, say anythin’ we want. We’re all among friends here. Good friends. We… we can work through it.” “They’re all dead…” Fluttershy wailed. “Angel… Harry… Beatrice… all of them… They were in my house! Just… living like they always did. Carefree.” “Angel. Carefree?” Spike said with a sad smile. Fluttershy let out an ugly snot-filled laugh-snort hybrid. “He… he probably tried to punch it when it came. Heheh… always ready…” “Maud would have just stared blankly at it and went ‘huh’,” Pinkie giggled, the waterworks coming down her eyes now. “And Limestone would have joined forces with Angel and tried to punch the stupid thing!” “Heh,” Applejack said, lowering her hat. “Assumin’ Granny didn’t sleep through the whole thing, she woulda joined them.” “All of Equestria standing up and punching it!” Pinkie shouted, putting a boxing glove on her hoof. “TAKE THIS, ARBITRARY TRAGEDY! HIIII-YA!” She drove her boxing glove into a wall, the rebound hitting her in the face. Fluttershy giggled. “My parents… they would have held each other. Tight.” “Mine would have probably let out a sigh of annoyance,” Pinkie shrugged. “Like ‘well, there it goes, looks like we won’t get to harvest the rocks this year. How unfortunate’.” “I’m the only dragon guy in the entire universe and in order to save my species I’m going to have to marry Smolder and I have no idea how to feel about that!” Spike shouted. Everyone turned to stare at him, stunned. “I… I just…” He pulled his legs to his chest and started rocking back and forth. “I’m just barely old enough… these wings are new…” Fluttershy smiled at Spike. “I… I don’t have an answer for you Spike. But I can help you through this.” “Ah’m sure Smolder’s having a similar crisis too,” Applejack added. “You gotta know, it’s not just on you, it’s on her too.” “And maybe you could do what the changeling hives do!” Pinkie suggested. “Just get a queen a-” “Ew,” Spike shivered. “What? You’re the only two dragons, it wouldn’t be weird!” “It’d be weird!” Fluttershy spoke up. “It’s, um, probably a little weird for him to be talking about this with a bunch of mares.” “Oh.” Applejack blushed. “Sorry Spike, Ah was just…” “I needed to talk to someone. I still need to.” Spike shivered. “I… I don’t even know what I’m going to do, if I should try to do anything, and I don’t even think a stallion would be very helpful because they’re not one of the last dragons in the world!” “Spike… here’s a thought,” Pinkie said. “You are both young. You’ve just barely got those wings, and Smolder’s not much older! Dragons live hundreds of years! You can just figure it out later, and I’m sure Twilight will have worked out cloning or something by then.” “How does clonin-” “Shh,” Pinkie sad, ramming her snout into Spike’s noise. “Doesn't matter. What matters is that you have time. Don’t worry about tomorrow, we’ve got enough problems today and tears from yesterday. Think you can do that?” “I can try…” Pinkie pulled him into a hug and gave him a noogie. “That’s a good dragon.” Her ears perked up, sensing something. She turned to look at the entrance to their little meeting room - seeing Ichor standing there, in the shadow. “Hey, Ichor.” Ichor eeped, realizing she definitely wasn't invisible or stealthy anymore. “Wait! Don’t go!” Pinkie called, waving her back. “You can come sit with us, it’s okay! We don’t mind!” Ichor stopped trying to flee, but she still looked uncertain. “If you have anythin’ you wanna say, we’re open to it,” Applejack said. “We’re not the only ones with problems, y’know.” Ichor hesitated. Then, with a deep breath, she took a step forward. “...I lost my brother last week.” Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth. “Ichor…” “I’ve lost many brothers…” Ichor said, sitting down next to Fluttershy. “Lots and… lots. But Tar... he was closer than the others. We grew up together. Perhaps we would have been joined, given time. But he got caught by the shapers and killed with… a spear.” She slammed her hoof on the ground. “A simple spear! He could have just went intangible! He could have…” “...That’s terrible,” Fluttershy said. “It’s the way things are and always have been,” Ichor breathed. “It is the end of every wraith, eventually… to get caught.” “Well then the way things are is horrible,” Applejack declared, opting not to put a hoof on Ichor since it would likely send her into a mild panic. Ichor looked at her. “Wh…” “You heard me. You shouldn’t have to live that way.” Ichor… smiled. “...That’s crazy.” “Sometimes it takes a crazy idea to do things right.” Pinkie coughed, interrupting the moment. “Sorry, but uh, we’re being watched.” She pointed at the halway. “Right there.” “...Ah don’t see anythin’, Pinkie.” “It’s a wraith,” Pinkie said, surprising Ichor immensely. “Fluttershy, can you?” Fluttershy nodded, wiping her face and spreading her wings. She jumped right where Pinkie was pointing. “Okay, okay!” the wraith hiding in plain sight revealed himself. He had the same smoky, leathery wings of Ichor and the scorpion-like tail. His color was a dark, dull yellow. “Geez, you guys really are dangerous…” “Don’t run,” Fluttershy warned. “I’m getting the distinct impression that would be a bad idea,” the wraith said, coughing. “I, er, well, I’m Silicate. If I don’t run can you not put the magic choker on me?” “...We’ll see what Twilight has to say,” Applejack said. “Geez…” Silicate rubbed the back of her head. “Ichor, you’ve gone and found something screwy, huh?” Ichor suddenly had her indignant fire that she had been displaying when Applejack first caught her. “You’re on to talk, bud! I seem to recall you getting stuck in the orange storage shed for weeks! Because you were scared of the ‘magic’ dogs!” “That was legitimate!” “They were ordinary dogs! I walked right through seven of them!” “You just got lucky.” Fluttershy blinked. “...Well you two are certainly different.” “He’s a self-absorbed lunatic with irrational fears of everything!” Ichor shouted. “And she’s, let me see… too brash and crazy for her own good.” Silicate retorted. “Hoo boy…” Applejack said.