It was probably a good thing I sent Kukri home early since I wound up staying in Canterlot for another two months. Between medical tests, catching up, some therapy sessions Celestia insisted I play along with, and all the work I was doing on my new prosthetic, I had plenty to do. I probably could’ve stayed even longer, but I was sure the Council wanted to have Chainbreaker returned and get my report. Maybe I should’ve let Puzzle take the sword back ahead of me, but one of my other side projects was studying the sword and my connection to it a bit more.
At least it wasn’t the most irksome project I’d picked up. Celestia had dug up a thousand years worth of family history for Kukri to pore over to try and find anything more to tie me to Torch and insisted on sending it back with me. I think she just enjoyed getting Kukri worked up and excited, and didn’t care if that got on my nerves. No, if anything she considered my mild annoyance a bonus. Celestia could be a real trickster when she set her mind to it.
Celestia had made one last token effort to get me to stay in Canterlot and teach at her school, but she knew I wouldn’t go for it. More interesting had been when she showed me a few files on the filly she was keeping an eye on as a possible new student. I suppose I should’ve been a bit disappointed she was moving on from me, but all things considered I’d pretty decisively graduated. Twilight Sparkle looked like a cute little kid with a lot of talent, but Celestia was waiting until her mark came in before she made a decision. It would be pretty embarrassing if it turned out Celestia’s student was destined to become a gutter repairpony, or another one of those child prodigies that either burned out or turned out to not be all that great in the first place.
Eventually, it was time to head back to Freeport. Since Puzzle and Kukri had gone back ahead of us, that meant I only had Strumming for company on the way back. At least she’d restocked her huge enchanted bag of snacks before we left, so she’d have that taken care of. Like Puzzle had said at the start of this, being trapped on a ship with her when she ran out of snacks would probably get way too interesting. Especially since the two of us were sharing a cabin.
“Shame the Venture’s still busy helping out in Coldharbor,” Strumming commented as she tossed her suitcase onto her bed. “Otherwise we could to this whole full circle thing, heading back out to Freeport on the ship we first went there on. We could even try to bunk up in the same cabin we used back then. Would’ve been all poetical and such.” She checked her snack bag. “Anyway, why’re we bunking together? Pretty sure you could afford private cabins with how many zeroes you got on the end of your bank balance.” She waved around the relatively small, spartan cabin the two of us were sharing. “Just saying.”
“I’m only rich until I spend it all,” I pointed out. “It would be a bad idea to start spending money when I don’t have to just because I can afford it. I’d rather live within my means and use the fortune to accomplish something big than whittle it away on a bunch of little stuff that won’t change anything or have a long-term impact.”
“Good plan.” Strumming nodded approvingly. “Especially since once we get back to Freeport and word gets out about your newly expanded bank balance, everyone’s gonna want a piece of you. Merchants and bankers with investment opportunities, all sorts of poors and unfortunates whose parents are extra-dead and haven’t had a good meal in months, exiled Zebrican princes who promise to pay you back ten times over once they regain their throne—the works.” She grinned and poked me with a wingtip “Oh, and don’t forget that you’re still single. You were already one of Freeport’s most eligible, but now ... well if me and Bug Boy didn’t have a good thing going, I'd take a run at you. Sure I’m straight, but for half your money I can fake it.”
“There’s a spell to punch somepony’s soul out of their body,” I pointed out. “I haven’t learned it yet, but if you want to volunteer to be my practice partner...”
“Noted.” She stowed her suitcase under her bed, then flopped down onto it. “Do not tempt the wrath of Bacon, for she knows many scary spells and can be provoked into using them.” She opened up her snack bag. “Want some crisps?”
“Sure.” I caught the bag she tossed my way and opened it up. I might not be a massive consumer of junk food like she was, but I still liked it every once in a while.
Strumming watched as I tore the bag open with my forehooves. “So, how’s the new leg? Clearly good enough to open up a bag of crisps, which takes a lot more fine control than most ponies would guess.” She opened up her own bag to demonstrate. “Too much and the crisps go flying all over the place; too little and you end up spending a couple minutes struggling. Looks like you got it just right.”
I shrugged and used my new leg to toss a few chips in my mouth. “I’ve been pretty happy with how it’s done so far.”
“Yeah, looks like it’s back good as new.” Strumming leaned in, trying to get a better look at it. “Been itching to bug you with all kinds of questions since I saw it, but figured that should wait until I could do it private-like. For a bit I was wondering if Celestia’d gone and healed your stump back into a proper leg. So how does it work? Or are you going to pull some magus mumbo jumbo secret I’m not gonna tell you because I’m a big mysterious tease thing?”
I thought about it for a second, then tossed up a privacy spell. “So we’re clear, anything I tell you stays between the two of us.”
Strumming grinned and snapped off a cheeky salute. “Got it. Don’t worry, keeping secrets is one of my things. The only thing people trust less than a sneaky spy is a spy that can’t keep her mouth shut. You know, the whole ‘Loose lips sink ships’ thing. Well I’m on a ship right now, so I really don’t want it sinking.”
“Right.” It probably said something about how long I’d been putting up with Strumming that I was pretty much used to her weird tangents. I brought my remaining foreleg up to the prosthetic, finding the almost invisible seam between the synthetic skin and my actual leg. Once I had it, I carefully peeled it back, revealing the new prosthetic.
Strumming let out a low, impressed whistle. “You really did go all out on it. Mithril, adamantine, orichalcum, the works. Just the raw materials would cost more than I make in a year, not to mention getting that quality of craftsmanship couldn’t have been cheap. And I’m betting what I see on the outside is just the beginning.”
I shrugged. “Blackfyre had plenty of precious metals in his hoard. Seemed like a good idea to put some of them to use. As for the rest, I had the money to spare, so why not use it?”
Strumming nodded. “In the grand scheme of expensive things you could sink your fortune into, a high-grade prosthetic for your missing leg is pretty reasonable. So how do you control it? ‘Cause if you can move it precisely enough to cleanly open up a bag of crisps, it’s obviously more responsive than a plain old peg leg.”
“Magic.” I could tell she wanted a bit more of explanation, but I wasn’t going to open up the leg to show off all the internals. “And I mostly just held the bag with this leg and let the living one do the work. We spent pretty much all of last week trying to get it tuned to the right amount of strength and get precise control. I think Celestia must have had some secret reason to want to get rid of so many crystal glass goblets.”
“Wouldn’t be the strangest thing she’s done,” Strumming agreed. “So if you can adjust the strength of it, does that mean you can super-power punch through buildings and stuff?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s still attached to a flesh and blood leg and shoulder. If I overtuned it like that I’d probably hurt myself more than whatever I was trying to hit. The first time I tried walking on it the strength was still set a bit too high and it felt like I nearly dislocated my shoulder just trying to walk around.”
“Ouch.” She leaned in closer. “Still, you’ve got some pretty tough materials there. Just saying, if someone swings a sword at you and you block with that leg, it’ll bounce right off.”
“That is an advantage.” I pointed down at the peeled back synthetic skin. “Though it would cut right through that.”
“Right, the fake skin covering it.” Strumming poked at it. “Doesn’t feel like the real thing, but you matched the color pretty well. Any fancy features to it?”
“No, it’s just a rubber covering to keep dirt and dust from getting into the joints.” I frowned down at it. “Would’ve been nice to get something that felt more like actual skin, but that’s a long way down the priority list.”
“Yeah, compared to being able to walk on it and not mess yourself up even worse in the process, making it feel nice is an afterthought.” She carefully poked my leg in a couple spots. “It’s probably going to require semi-regular maintenance. Got a mechanic lined up?”
“I was hoping to be able to do all of that myself.” I flexed it, testing the range of motion. “Part of why I used such expensive materials is because they’re also pretty low-maintenance. Mithril, orichalcum, and adamantine don’t rust, rot, or corrode, and they’re all pretty tough.”
Strumming grinned. “It’s like there’s a reason everyone thinks those metals are really valuable and they wanna make things outta them. Though I’ll take your word for whether or not that makes them good picks for a really low-maintenance leg. Never been into engineering, I’m more of an interpersonal pony myself.”
I shrugged. “I’m not really an engineer either. Good thing Celestia knew a bunch of them who were happy to come in and consult with me. Plus we corresponded with Argentium on the design—she did say she’d come have a look at it personally once things settle down in the North.”
“You actually consulted someone and listened to what they had to say instead of barreling ahead all by yourself?” Strumming smirked and poked my side. “You really have matured, Bacon.”
I rolled my eyes. “I always listen to you and Puzzle. I just don’t always agree.”
“Well that’s just silly.” Strumming smirked and brushed some chip crumbs off her chest with a wing. “Everyone knows I’m always right and never make horrible lapses in judgement that get you in a bunch of trouble trying to bail me out. Anyways, I bet Facon’s gonna be over the moon when she sees you’re up and mobile.”
Thinking about that couldn’t help but bring a smile to my face. “I’m sure she'll be pretty surprised when she sees it. Puzzle, too. Especially if the covering makes them think I actually got my old leg back for a second or two.”
Strumming rolled the synthetic skin back up so it covered the exposed metal, letting it almost seamlessly blend back against my leg. “Sure it wouldn’t hurt your feelings if some folks went around thinking you’d never lost a leg. Must’ve taken some work to get it to perfectly match the color of the rest of your coat.”
She wasn’t entirely wrong, but I didn’t want to give her that. “Making it any other color would’ve just looked weird and out of place.”
“Good point.” Strumming rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “If you went around with one leg covered in black rubber and the other three natural it’d just raise a ton of questions. Guess you could try a clear covering, but knowing Freeport it’d just get all gungy. Better to just make it match and just live with surprising people. Well, Bug Boy might pretend to be surprised. You can never quite tell with him. Plus I might tell him to ruin the surprise. I’m a big unpredictable ball of crazy that way.”
I frowned at her. “You said this was going to stay between the two of us.”
Strumming groaned. “Bah, you caught me on that one.” She pulled the last chip out of her bag, then frowned at the bag as if it had done her a grave personal wrong by allowing itself to be empty. “Good job. You’ve gotten really sharp about spotting that kind of thing. Keep at it and I bet the EIS will wanna see about hiring you.” I thought I saw something in her eyes when she said that last bit, but Strumming was hard to read.
I knew better than to try directly pushing her, if Strumming didn’t want to talk about it she’d just lie or take the conversation off on a weird tangent. Better to play along and let her give away anything she wanted to on her own time. “I like to think I’ve been learning.”
“If you’re not learning, you’re dying.” Strumming tapped my prosthetic a couple more times. “Might pass a casual glance test, but anyone who touches that is gonna know it’s not normal. Still pretty cool though. Think your new leg design could catch on? Plenty of ponies would like a leg that could move just about as good as the one they lost.”
“I’m sure they would, but like you noticed the materials aren’t exactly cheap.” I frowned down at it. “And that’s not even getting into the magical angle and all the testing we had to do to get it just right. Not to mention I am technically controlling it with some magic. It’d be great if there was some way everyone could get these, but this is at best an extremely expensive prototype that needs a ton more research and development to be viable for mass production.”
Strumming nodded. “Yeah, figures it wouldn’t be as simple as downgrading to some good old steel and wood to make it cheaper. Especially since I’m guessing the bits on the inside and all the magical whatsits aren’t something you can cheap out on.”
“Not really,” I agreed. “Though I’m sure I’ll spend the rest of my life tinkering with the design off and on. Maybe that’ll include some kind of breakthrough that cuts costs and makes them viable for someone who isn’t a highly trained very wealthy alpha-plus unicorn.”
“Yeah, the amputee magical prodigy superpowered unicorn market is a pretty narrow niche.” Strumming chuckled and shook her head. “Gotta wonder where you came up with such a crazy design. Smarts are nice and all, but this is way outside your usual bailiwick.”
I thought about it for a second, then decided to let her in on the secret. “I used a bit of the golemancy I picked up from Metal Mome. Seemed like a good way to apply the knowledge, but I kept it secret from the Council for a reason.”
“Right, that stuff you broke into his head and reduced him to a vegetable to get.” Strumming scowled for a second, then shook her head. “Guess that would be useful. So it’s kinda like a miniaturized golem?”
“Not exactly,” I explained. “After all, it doesn’t need to operate on its own or anything, but it shares some of the same creative building blocks.”
“Gotcha.” She frowned down at my leg for a bit. “So yeah, wanna keep exactly how you made that thing quiet until things settle down a bit. Don’t want someone reverse-engineering the design and figuring out how to make their own private army of murder-bots. Still a nice little long-term project to poke at, and maybe you can figure out a safer way to make ‘em eventually. Assuming there aren’t a thousand and one things to catch up on once we get to Freeport.”
“I’m sure there will be, knowing my luck.” I sighed and flopped down on the rather spartan bunk. After two months in Celestia’s palace, a ship’s cabin felt incredibly dreary by comparison. “No rest for the weary. But I’ll find time.”
“Gotta find something to keep busy in between our semi-regular episodes of life-threatening madness,” Strumming quipped. “Anyway, sounds like things are working out pretty good for you right now. Glad to see you bouncing back so fast. I was afraid you were gonna fall apart on us as soon as we were out of the fire.”
“Too much to deal with,” I answered. “I guess I just kept so busy with the fight against Blackfyre and then getting my new leg squared away that there wasn’t time for that.” Or I was just putting it off. Not a thought I wanted to linger on, so I changed the subject. “How did you like going back to Canterlot?”
Strumming shrugged. “It was nice to get to see some of the family. My cousin Lyra is still a little goof, even if she’s not quite as little as I remember her being, and my aunt and uncle are doing alright for themselves. It’s a bit weird going back after all this time. Seeing how much has changed or stayed the same. That and feeling old about complaining about the kids and how they’re doing things differently than they used to. Guess that’s one advantage you get with Celestia: immortals pretty much stay the same no matter what.”
“I wouldn’t say she’s completely stagnant, but I know what you mean.” At first I’d thought she had changed a bit when I’d started working with her on my leg, but eventually I realized that wasn’t the case at all. I was the one who’d changed, and that included how I looked at her.
“Speaking of set in their ways, shame Scarlett never came around.” Strumming dug into her snack bag, shuffling through it to try and find something. “No matter how many times you say ‘I get it, she’s needed up north right now’, it’s gotta sting she didn’t even stop by to say bye. And speaking of unresolved issues, did you ever get around to having a chat with the other alicorn hanging around in Canterlot?”
I grimaced. “No, I think Cadenza was avoiding me.” Not that I’d been making any effort to cross her path either; you’d think getting over my alicorn-related issues would’ve helped clear that up, but that just left all our interpersonal baggage. I was a bit surprised Celestia hadn’t tried to push us together and force some kind of resolution. Maybe she just figured I already had enough to deal with.
“Fair enough,” Strumming shrugged, though it was a bit hard to tell when most of her face was in the snack bag. “Not like I’ve got any room to lecture you about having unresolved issues. I mean, after all the non-family things that happened I’m glad to be out of Canterlot before the EIS tossed me out. Guess I’ll have to wait and see if they sent my walking papers ahead to the embassy, or if I’m not officially burned yet.”
“Wait, what?”
Strumming pulled out of her snack bag with an annoyed grumble. “Feather it, I’m not hungry anyway.” She turned her attention back to me. “I’m getting fired, canned, downsized, rightsized, dismissed, tossed out, restructured, escorted out of the building, promoted to customer, and other words and phrases for losing your job.”
“I got that part,” I grumbled. “When did this happen? Why did they fire you?”
She snorted and tossed her snack bag into the corner of our cabin. “It’s pretty obvious, don’t you think? Sleeping with the enemy is generally a no-no, for one. Well, it can be okay for a spy, but I’m not exactly that kind of spy, and even if I was, you aren’t supposed to care about who you’re sleeping with. Then there’s the whole fact I stuck by you instead of following Scarlett’s orders. Kinda important when she’s got plenty of influence all over the place.” She held up a hoof to forestall my response. “No, she’s not actively trying to get me fired, but she doesn’t have to. I went against orders, and no matter how much I point out that the whole setup with her was fishy and wrong, it doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t do what I was told to. When the folks giving the orders tell you to do a thing, they want you to do the thing. Not ask a bunch of questions about policy, permission, and whether it’s morally acceptable to do the thing.”
“Hardly seems fair,” I grumbled.
“Probably depends which end of the orders you’re on,” Strumming countered. “Bet when you tell Facon to do an apprenticely thing, you expect her to do the thing. I mean, you’ll probably explain more often considering you’re her teacher and all, but if you tell her to do a thing like not stick her tongue out while doing a tricky spell you expect her to do it, right?”
“Okay, point taken.”
“So yeah, far as the powers that be are concerned, I’m looking pretty compromised.” She waved a hoof towards me. “Haven’t exactly made it a secret that one of my orders was to make sure you didn’t go bad, and bring you in or take you down if you did. Well when an Archmage ordered me to bring you in, I pretty much told her to get stuffed.” She scowled and flopped listlessy onto her bunk. “The real hooker was when the boss laid out some juicy files I wasn’t allowed to see, then left the room. Well, it was probably just a couple blank sheets of paper in a folder with your name on it and a bunch of classified stamps on it. Left out bait to see if I’d take it. Pretty good sign I’m on the way out.”
I frowned as she put it all out there. “So they're baiting traps to see if you’ll do something to justify firing you?”
“Yep.” She shrugged. “That or it’s just some good old entrapment to see if they can get some leverage to keep me loyal. Either way, the writing’s on the wall. Rumor mill isn’t looking great either. I’ve always been a bit of an oddball, so it’s not that strange for there to be talk about how maybe I’m not reliable. But lately the talk has changed to ‘Ponies who matter think Strumming might be compromised and a bit too weird.’”
I winced. “Yeah, that’s not good. So, uh, what are you going to do?”
Strumming shrugged. “Sticking with the EIS seems like a bad move. They’ll either fire me, mess with me, or officially keep me on payroll while freezing me out. Seems like a sign to move on to greener pastures.” She sighed. “Employment options are kinda limited. Not like I can offer much in the way of a résumé for most jobs, and the only folks who’d be interested in an ex-spy who lost her job ‘cause her bosses aren’t sure about her loyalty aren’t people I wanna work for. I suppose I could help Puzzle out, but ... yeah, having my boyfriend also be my boss is just asking for trouble. Don’t suppose you’ve got a job opening for a somewhat compromised spy who might be a touch too close to you for the EIS’s comfort?”
Huh. Well that wasn’t how I expected this conversation to go. “You want a job? What would you even do for me?”
Strumming shrugged. “Spying, skullduggery, sneaking, and other things starting with S. I can pretend to be your secretary if you’re into the secret spy secretary sulking stealthily. Basically the same thing I’ve been doing, just with you as the new boss.”
“Right.” I frowned and crossed my forelegs over my chest. “So why should I trust you? I mean, you don’t exactly have the best track record of honesty with me.”
“Well, I did lose my job because I decided to go against orders for you.” Strumming frowned and tapped her chin. “No wait, let me rephrase that: I lost my job ‘cause I did what I thought was right, and that meant backing you despite orders. Yeah, that sounds better. I could have screwed you when Scarlett asked me to help you, but I didn’t. Not to mention all the other help I’ve given you since we hooked up. I know I haven’t always been the best pal, but ... well, work in progress, try to move beyond the screw-ups in the past. Right?”
“Right.” I wasn’t going to give her a complete pass on stuff like locking me up as a warlock, but that had been years ago. Ignoring everything that had happened since then wouldn’t be fair.
Strumming continued on. “Plus you might not want to completely depend on bug boy for all your intel. He might miss something, or just not want to tell you something because sometimes he likes to keep his secrets all to himself. Annoying habit of his. Kept me guessing for months what his favorite food was just to mess with me.”
She had a point. Puzzle was very good at what he did, but he wasn’t perfect. Everyone has their blind spots, and sometimes even the best info broker makes mistakes. Not to mention that while he was a pretty good friend, he did have his own goals and agenda. One thing the whole mess with that zebra trying to kill Strumming had put into focus; if I couldn’t be sure Puzzle would back me up, things got a lot more complicated. Having someone else might not be a bad idea.
Of course, Strumming came with plenty of her own baggage. “Let’s make one things clear up front: if you work for me, then you work for me. I don't want this to be you still doing your own thing while I foot the bill, and no more incidents where you lie to me or do something you know I wouldn’t be okay with.”
“Bah, take away all my fun.” Strumming sighed melodramatically. “But yeah, I get it. Like I said, bosses expect to be the boss. Don’t worry, I’ll change my ways and be a nice respectable employee for the bossmare. Do I have to start wearing a suit and a tie to work every day? Because while I do look pretty darn good dressed up, that’s not gonna be fun when we get back to the hot and humid of Freeport.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not expecting you to stop being you. After all, there’s often a method to your madness. I am setting three conditions to this. First, don’t ever stab me in the back or lie about something important. Second, remember that I give the orders and you follow them. I’m fine with discussing or explaining things, but like you said, I’m the boss. Third, don't do anything that would make me look bad or go against my principles.”
Strumming raised a hoof like a schoolchild. “What if you ask me to lie to you in a way that will make you look bad and make me look like I’m not following orders? Or if it’s a situation where I need to lie or appear to stab you in the back to keep you safe? Or there could be something like you need to pull off some sort of black ops stuff where you need to maintain plausible deniability about what I’m doing.”
I should’ve known she’d come up with weird scenarios like that. “If something like that ever comes up, let me know and we'll figure it out as we go.”
“Play it by ear. Can do, bossmare.” She frowned and shook her head. “Boss bacon? Bacon boss? Bosscon? Meh, I’ll figure it out later. Nicknaming is hard work sometimes. Especially when you’re trying to perfect perfection.”
I shot her a dry look. “I'm sure you'll come up with something eventually.”
Strumming grinned. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. See, this is why I wanted you for a boss. Already showing all the good boss-employee team building skills and leadership stuff. I knew this would work out.” She gave me a pat on the back with one of her wings.
In hindsight, perhaps I should have asked her to tone down the eccentricity as one of the conditions of her employment. Though I suppose that probably would’ve been a pointless endeavour. “Glad to know this is going to work out.”
“Me too.” She shivered. “I was worried I might have to work a stint in retail and customer service just to pay the bills. And with Hearthswarming just a couple weeks off, too. Had to do that for a bit as part of my training, the blend-into-a-crowd stuff. Really inventively sadistic. They stuck my name on the front page of the Canterlot Herald the day before as part of a winning sports team, and then I had to try and not be noticed while working a full day of retail. At one point they even stuck me right next to the newspaper rack. Anyway, the point is I had enough retail stuff to figure out I never wanted to do it for real.”
I knew better than to respond to any of the long digression. “Well, good thing you won’t have to do that. I’m willing to hire you on.”
“Goody gumdrops.” She grinned, only for it to slowly slip off her face. “Well feathers, just realized that if you’re my boss, that means I don’t get to keep so many secrets anymore.” She flopped onto her back, staring up at the bare wood of the cabin’s ceiling. “Suppose that means I better give away why I really hate warlocks.”
Huh. I hadn’t expected her to hand out that particular secret, and I wasn’t inclined to push as long as she kept those feelings under control, but if she was offering... “As long as this doesn't turn into another story about a ‘friend’ whose name is actually your middle name.”
“Never gonna let me live that one down, are you? Good news, this one is about my cousin named Humming Heartthrob.” She groaned and ran a hoof down her face. “Kidding. Nah, this story sucks. Why I like to tell just about any other story instead of it. S’like ... you know, as long as I don’t tell anyone, it’s not real. Plus it gets everyone all mopey and sad and miserable, and it lets them figure out some things about how I tick. Pretty sure you figured out I really don’t like that.”
“Yeah, I’d guessed.” Admittedly, all that mental weirdness had done a pretty good job of messing up Starlight when she tried to break into Strumming’s head, so I couldn’t fault the results. “You know you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Even if I really wanted to know...
She waved my assurance away. “Nah, feels right to clear the air. Besides, we both know you’re just being nice while you’re really on the edge of your seat to finally get the truth. So...” She took a deep breath. “My dad used to work for the EIS. Lifetime ago. Reason he’s an ex-spy is because one day while he was doing his job he got caught by some nasty warlock. The guy wanted to know what Dad knew and he wasn’t shy about whipping out the mind magic to start shifting around in his head. He wasn’t gentle about it, either. You know how that goes.”
I flinched. Last time I’d seen Metal Mome after I’d broken into his head, he’d been a drooling vegetable who couldn’t feed himself. I tried to tell myself it was what he deserved after all the death and destruction he’d caused as a pirate. Maybe someday that would make me not feel guilty and sick every time I thought about what I did to him. “So he got burned out?”
Strumming’s ears wilted and she slowly nodded. “Yeah. Might’ve been better if they just killed him. I know it sounds bad, but...” She groaned and shook her head. “On a good day, one or two neurons might fire the right way and for just a second he’d almost be back. Then he’d be gone again. There was just enough of him left that we could never let go and move on.”
She curled her wings around herself. “Mom didn’t take it well. They’d been together since forever, and she took seeing him turned into the next best thing to a vegetable was as hard as you’d expect her to. Not to mention raising little old me all by herself and trying to help me through it all. It started off with just one or two drinks to calm her nerves, and then she tried harder stuff until she had so much she passed out and never woke back up. So I lost my mom in a two-for-one ‘life isn’t fair’ deal.
“My aunt and uncle ended up taking over raising me. They did their best, honestly pretty damn good on an objective scale, but all I wanted was Mom and Dad back. Thought about doing medicine for a bit, but it didn’t work out. So instead I settled on getting some payback on some warlocks someday. The guy who got Dad was already dead, he was one of the ones who got mixed up in the Manehattan Warlock Massacre. Guess it figures, baddies kill each other off all the time. He wasn’t even some big evil baddie, just a dumb kid hanging with the wrong crowd with horrible judgement and a bit too much magic.
“Since actual revenge was out, I figured the next best thing would be to hunt down any warlocks I ran across. After all, they all deserved to be done in. Tried to get into the proper warlock hunters, but turns out they don’t like to hire on anyone with a big personal grudge. The EIS was fine with taking me on, though. Considering Dad got done in while in the line of duty, guess they couldn’t really say no. Well, not until I went from a little odd to outright unreliable.”
I took a deep breath. “That does explain a lot.” If it was true. Strumming certainly looked and sounded sincere, but she was a really good liar.
“Big shock, it’s not something I like talking about. Actually dumped bug boy for a bit when he dug it up, though we eventually worked it out.” She pulled out her anti-warlock spike. “I went to see Dad again when we went to Canterlot. Docs say he’s probably a short-timer. No surprise, he had no clue who I was.” She idly twirled the spike on her hoof. “Not like I was expecting a happy ending. Still, y’know, you can’t ever completely give up while he’s still alive and kicking. No matter how much you know you should.”
I moved over next to her and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Thanks for telling me.” I managed to resist any urge to add in any following remark about how those thanks only applied if she was telling the truth.
Strumming must have guessed what I was thinking. “Yeah, maybe it’s all a lie. Still, I did spill all that out to clear the air, if you caught me out it’d be bad. Especially now that you’re my paycheck instead of somepony you just have to tolerate. Then again, I lie a lot and very convincingly. That’s the thing, you can never know for sure with me.” A sad little smile tugged at her lips. “Just how I like it.”
“I’m sure if I did enough digging I could find evidence one way or the other,” I pointed out. Puzzle had found it, and a story like Strumming had just told me would leave plenty of evidence and records behind. However... “I think I'd rather just believe in a friend.”
Strumming grinned. “Nice answer. For what it’s worth, I didn’t spill the beans thinking it’d make you instantly trust me. It was ... well, kinda for me. Wanted it off my chest, and the air clear between us. If I lied to you, it wouldn’t do that.” She offered her hoof to me. “So ... pals?”
I took her hoof. “Yeah, we are.” I smirked at her. “As much as you can be with the boss.”
Strumming let out an obviously fake groan. “Killing all my fun here, Bacon.”
The Council had a rep waiting at the docks when our ship arrived. Considering the ship arrived a day early thanks to some luck with winds and weather, they’d obviously had someone staking the place out. Not much of a surprise, considering the circumstances. As soon as they confirmed who I was, they whistled up a nice escort of clan mercs to take me to their big obsidian palace in the center of the city. I was a bit surprised they opted for Doos, but if Kukri had blabbed about the fact that I had Chainbreaker they might not have had a choice. While Chainbreaker belonged to Freeport as a whole, the fact that Torch was a Charger made the clans even more attached to his sword.
The Council didn’t bother with any of the usual power plays of making me wait before they let me in to see them. Or even the practical need to make me wait while they got everyone together. Which meant they’d all been sticking around close enough to get together as soon as I got back. Hardly surprising considering the circumstances, but it still gave away how desperate they were.
In light of that, I decided to shift the power dynamics. If they were that desperate to see me then I could make them wait. Maybe it was a bit silly and petty, but it also set the tone for the meeting. Telling the Council I had the power and they didn’t would have an impact.
That’s why the first thing I said when they brought me into the Council chamber was, “Could I get some food and a glass of water? I’ve been eating ship rations for way too long.”
The Council were all there, in their usual black robes and silver masks, sitting up on a raised podium that let them all tower over me. Even after facing them enough times to be pretty used to all the bits of theatre they used to make themselves look big, scary, and mysterious it was hard not to be a bit impressed.
One of the central members of the Council spoke up. “I’m sure you can make arrangements for that once we finish our business.”
I shrugged. “And how long is that going to take? I could be here for hours. It’ll go a lot smoother if I don’t have to spend the whole time with an empty stomach and a parched throat.”
“Let her have something,” one of the other members spoke up. “We’ve waited months to have Chainbreaker back, we can afford a few minutes for common courtesy and basic hospitality.”
They called in a servant, and a few minutes later they brought in a grilled fish fillet along with some seaweed and garlic bread. It probably said something about how acclimatized my palette was to Freeport food that I’d actually missed stuff like this after a couple months in Northmarch and Equestria. I quickly conjured up a chair and table out of ice to give them somewhere to put the food while I ate.
I was about to start letting them know what happened when one of the Councilors cut in with a snide remark. “Will you want dessert as well?”
I decided to fight fire with fire. “Now that you mention it, some ice cream does sound nice.”
A couple of the other Council members shot a look at the one who’d decided to mouth off, and despite the fact that they were wearing full robes and face-covering masks I was pretty sure they were all sending dirty looks his way.
The Councillor in the center, who I’d always kind of figured was their unofficial leader, spoke up. “If we could perhaps move on from culinary debate and back to the matters at hand, we have a great many questions about what happened in Northmarch. There have been all manner of wild rumors circulating about, and clearly not all of them were true.”
None of them said anything, but I could swear I felt some eyes resting on my legs. No surprise; considering how many Northmarchers and Equestrians had seen me missing a leg, reports of it had to have gotten back to the Council. I’m sure they were all very curious about it, but I saw no reason to give them answers about any of the personal stuff I’d gone through.
I did give them the rest of the story. I started off with Starlight’s theft of Chainbreaker and murder of Frozen Finds, considering that was the part most immediately relevant to the Council’s interests. Having full signed confessions from Starlight helped a lot on that front: getting a full account of everything she’d done while in Blackfyre’s service had been one of the conditions of her suspended sentence.
The Council was less than wild when they heard about that. “Who authorized you to bargain on our behalf and decide the final fate of a criminal?”
I shrugged. “Nobody. For what it’s worth, I didn’t presume to speak for you and only acted within my authority as a Freeport Magus. If you want to reject the plea bargain I worked out and put her on a full criminal trial, go for it. Though the fact that she was under some heavy-duty control and compulsion spells from Blackfyre is going to make any trial a real mess. She’s guilty of way worse in Northmarch, and Argentium and Celestia still felt like a suspended sentence was the right move.”
“We will take your opinion under advisement,” one of the other councilors spoke up. “Along with any other information you can provide about Starlight Glimmer’s crimes and these compulsion spells binding her. It would be foolish to discount your opinion, especially when it aligns with both Celestia and Argentium. However, we would like the review the facts ourselves before reaching a final conclusion in the matter.”
“Fair enough.” If I was in their place I’d probably want to look over all the facts too. It was a pretty safe bet that once they looked everything over they’d agree with my conclusion, so there was no harm in letting them see all the evidence.
With that settled, I moved on to the next phase of Northmarch: Blackfyre himself. I left out the nasty blow-by-blow of my fights with the dragon, not to mention stuff like me losing a leg or giving up on chasing after alicorndom. After all, that stuff was really none of the Council’s business, not to mention they probably would try to find some way to use that information against me if they had it.
By the time I got to the end of it they had a ton of questions, starting with the most obvious one. “So not only is Blackfyre dead, but you struck the killing blow with Chainbreaker?”
“Yup,” I confirmed. “Plenty of witnesses to that, if you need verification.”
“What you told us does align with Puzzle Piece’s debriefing,” one of them answered. “Though it does raise a question about what precisely we should do with this information. For the moment we have a replica of Chainbreaker in the museum to keep the theft quiet. However, these events could substantially add to the blade’s legend...”
“And Magus Shimmer’s,” one of the other Councilors cut in. I think it was the same one who’d made the snarky remark about dessert, but it was hard to tell. The masks and robes did work well at hiding identity and making them all blend together.
I shrugged. “Is that a problem? And let’s be real, those facts are gonna come out no matter what. Everyone in Northmarch and plenty of Equestrians know what happened. We’re past the point where a cover-up would work, but you can still get ahead of this and make sure the news comes out in a way that makes you look good. ‘The Council acknowledged Magus Shimmer’s claim to the blade and magnanimously let her use Chainbreaker to help save Northmarch from tyranny and devastation’ should work.”
“Acknowledged your claim to Chainbreaker?” Despite the masks I could practically feel eyebrows raising across the room. “Would this perhaps be related to the fact that your apprentice has been feverishly pouring over family records ever since her return from Northmarch?”
“Even if you somehow manage to find or fabricate some distant bloodline tie to Torch Charger or Ushabti, that hardly makes you the rightful owner of the sword,” one of the others cut in. “The blade has been the property of Freeport ever since Torch’s death, and it will remain so long after everyone in this room is dust.”
“Where is Chainbreaker?” one of the others demanded.
“In my tower,” I answered. “I didn’t think you’d like me bringing a weapon into the chamber, and I figured we should make arrangements for how to get it back to the museum first.” Not to mention Strumming would be pretty good at getting it there quietly and without drawing as much attention as I would. I was a lot more likely to attract an audience walking down Freeport’s streets with Chainbreaker on my back.
“How thoughtful of you,” one of them remarked dryly. “Perhaps you could have the sword delivered to us as soon as possible?”
“Sure thing.” I saw no reason not to take the opportunity to show off just a bit.
I held out a hoof and put forth a little bit of mental effort. A moment later I felt Chainbreaker’s hilt. There had to be a maximum range for summoning the sword, but I hadn’t found it yet. Granted, I hadn’t done too much testing; I’d had a lot to deal with.
I’d expected the trick to cause a bit of a stir, but nothing like what I actually set off. “Did she just—”
“Chainbreaker answers her call!”
“Maybe she is Torch’s heir!”
“A magus performing a magic trick, nothing more!”
“That was no magic trick, it was—”
“SILENCE!” the one in the center roared. The rest of the Council went completely still, though judging by the buzz I felt in the air a moment later they were all furiously talking through whatever magical back channel they used. For a moment I was tempted to try breaking into it. I almost certainly could. However, I couldn’t be sure it would be subtle. The last thing I needed to do was get them stirred up even more than I already had.
They kept me waiting for long enough to get seriously bored before one of them spoke up again. “As you’ve doubtless guessed by now, Magus Shimmer, the ability to call Chainbreaker as you just did is rather unique. If you did so by any means other than utilizing a connection to the blade and its legacy, I would suggest you explain as much immediately. Failure to disclose that would end very badly for you once the truth came out.”
“No tricks involved.” I assured them.
The only answer I got to that was a lot more silence. Eventually they must have hit an impasse, because the one in the center spoke up again. “We will revisit this matter at a later date. In the meantime, I trust you will have no issue returning Chainbreaker to the museum?”
“Of course not,” I agreed. “Though I’m sure you’ll understand if I also go over all the security. Considering this whole mess started with it being stolen...”
“We already have a contract written up for you to consult on their new security upgrades,” One of the others answered. “All it needs is your signature.”
“Assuming there’s no issues with it, that’ll be fine.” I frowned to myself. “Might be a good idea to keep the replica close to hand, though. It’s always possible I’ll need the sword again.”
“Chainbreaker is not yours to take whenever you please,” the one who I was starting to think didn’t like me very much cut in.
“She can call it with a thought and a wave of her hoof,” one of the others countered.
The one in the center held up a hoof again to stop them from debating any more. There was a bit more buzzing secret conversation, then the leader spoke up. “We can’t dispute that you have the ability to call Chainbreaker should you wish to. However, we would advise utmost caution in exercising that capacity. Chainbreaker is a priceless artifact and a symbol of our culture and history. It should not be used on a whim.”
“I know.” Considering my little meeting with the spirits of Torch and Ushabti, I probably knew it better than they did. “I won’t call the sword without a very good reason, and if at all possible I’ll try to give you advance notice.”
There was a lot more silent conversation before they gave me an answer. “That will perhaps have to suffice as a compromise for the moment, but the matter is far from closed. You have given us a great deal to think about, Magus.”
“It’s been a busy couple of months.” I got up and stretched. “Is there anything else we need to cover right now?”
“That should be all,” the center one declared.
“Thank you very much for your time, Magus,” one of the ones who seemed to like me added in.
“We know where to find you if we need anything else,” the last announced.
By the time I got back to my tower, I was ready to sleep for a week. Even with two months to recover and bounce back in Canterlot there was no substitute for being home.
Home...
Yeah, I guess it was. Funny how that happens. Somewhere along the line Freeport had gone from just the place I stopped when I needed a bit more spending money to something that mattered a whole lot more than that. Hay, now I was even tied in with some of their big historical figures.
When I opened up the door to my tower I saw Strumming, Kukri, and Puzzle all waiting inside. My apprentice immediately bolted up when she saw me and came rushing in for a hug. She spent a moment staring at my new leg in awe, but her expression slipped a bit when she pulled it in and realized it was just a really good prosthetic. She’d probably been thinking I’d somehow managed to get it completely restored.
I pulled her in for a tighter hug, just to take her mind off that. She took a deep breath, then smiled up at me. “Welcome home, Shimmer-mare.”