Chapter Nineteen
Violet Lulamoon
The morning after the announcement of the Hatchery’s dissolution, the skies were bright and clear, and the Captain of the Magi-Of-Stars Guards was contentedly working in her kitchen, happy to have at least some of the recent matters cleared up when she heard the door open and a familiar voice said, “Hi, Violet!”
“Hello yourself, Weird Beard,” Violet returned, her casual use of the old nickname showing that she was in good spirits. “I might have known you’d show up when there was food.”
Her red-maned and red-bearded lieutenant stuck his tongue out. “You know I can’t cook worth a hill of beans, oh Enchantrix, and I’d rather have one of your home-cooked meals than anything prepared by most of the so-called professionals out there. Plus, you don’t like to eat alone.” He settled in at the table. “So tell me, how goes the writing?”
“Pretty well, I’d say,” Violet told him as she checked her cooling tray. “I have it all outlined, I’ve just been going over the third chapter and I think it’s about done.” She shook her head. “You know, when I had that first one published, I wasn’t expecting ponies to ask when I was going to write more. Goddesses only know I don’t have nearly as much time as I’d like to focus on it, especially these days.”
“It’s what you get for doing such a good job on your college dissertation,” Lunar Light returned. “The professors were the ones who insisted that it go to print, after all.” He suddenly turned more serious. “Speaking of these days, any idea when our usual boss is coming back?”
Violet sighed as she dumped her first tray of popovers into a bowl on the table. “I really don’t know yet,” she said. “Personally, I think there’s something funny going on out there… they didn’t give you or me any troubles when there were those crazy rumors going about that we were a couple.”
Lunar Light snorted. “Probably because they know I haven’t been looking for anypony ever since that one girl jilted me and broke my heart; that’s why I signed up for the Guard in the first place, so I’d have something to focus on instead.”
“And then you wound up as my second, despite insisting you were more of a parlor magician who was really only good with illusions,” Violet said. “I’ve seen what you can pull off when you really want to.” She sighed. “But I know the feeling; after my husband died young, I threw myself into my work too. Still, I have to wonder…” She turned back to the second oven to check the timer on that batch. “Especially with what Sweet told us yesterday, about what she saw over there. I think we’d better keep an eye out.”
“Quite.” Lunar Light munched on his first popover for a moment before he continued speaking. “Ensuring that the rules are followed is one thing, but threatening one of us over a non-Guard spouse is pushing it.”
“Yes…” Violet frowned, before her eyes narrowed. “Which reminds me, we still haven’t met Sweet’s spouses. Hopefully, once all this mess is done with, we can all get together.”
“I agree,” Lunar Light said. “It would be nice to get to know the stallion and mare who stole our friend’s heart. And in my case, Captain Gaze - I don’t think I’ve ever knowingly crossed his path since he first revealed himself.”
“Another thing to remedy then,” Violet said. “Speaking of remedies, have you remedied the upstairs of your house yet? All that junk that was still there when you moved in...”
“It is not junk, it’s antiques,” Lunar Light said in a dignified tone. “At least, some of it is. And no, I haven’t yet.”
“Better get to work on it then, Weird Beard.”
“I will when I have a good reason, Doll Face.”
“Such as?”
“If I ever have serious reason to suspect that the old owner left something that would fall under your area of expertise.”
Violet shook her head. “You know, that top floor of yours is as big a mess as Sweet’s office.”
“Not possible,” Lunar Light said solemnly. “Nothing is as big a mess as Sweet’s office.”
Violet looked at him for a moment before laughing. “Okay, you’ve got me there.”
“Of course I do,” Lunar Light said with a smirk. “I’m the one who had half the junk on her desk get thrown at him when I misjudged a teleport and she mistook me for a would-be attacker that one day.” He chuckled. “I still remember the look on her face when she realized what she’d done and who I was…”
“You were rather frazzled-looking after bouncing off my wards and getting knocked clean across the city,” Violet returned. “It’s no wonder she thought you were hostile at first.”
Lunar Light chuckled again. “Ah, the memories…”
“Quite.” Violet pulled the second pan out and began venting the popovers. “Now, hurry up - we really do need to get to work soon.”
Lunar Light gave her an indignant look. “I am, I am.”
Setting the second pan aside, Violet helped herself to one of the first batch. But as she ate, she couldn’t help but wonder… her sixth sense was tingling, and she had a feeling that something big was on its way.
Xvital
Page led them to a more private dining hall, thought Xvital was sure that there had to be some of Page’s guards hiding in the room. Ruby and Sound Record had departed with the griffon matron, all of them having been called off to take care of some other matters, but the Cadenza Guard had remained, keeping an eye on them and her Cuanmiztlan bodyguard.
“I don’t think I’ve really told anyone how we met,” Xvital said as they settled in, pulling her tail around her waist.
“So how did it go, miss Xvital?” Night’s brother asked, with his eyes looking over the room.
“Well, I believe that Page will like it as we met in a library,” Xvital’s grin grew as she saw Page’s eyes light up before the ahuizotless began to blush. “I was… practicing my calligraphy skills, shall we say, when a certain someone came into the library and sat next to me. He told me that he was trying to avoid some hassle and would try to be quiet. I was doing my best to ignore him but he kept bothering me until I finally realized who it was when he finally left me alone. Tizoc has never let me live it down,” she groaned as she heard her friends begin to laugh. “The next day when I went back, he was there and offered me a job as a scribe for his mother as a pretense for us to keep meeting.” She shook her head. “Chantico was a pain in the ass from the start, even if she wasn’t vocal about it, and not just to me. She’d always treated any females who worked in the palace without any noble blood like they were less than nothing, from what I heard and I saw. But getting to spend time with Tizoc made it well worth it.” Xvital grinned, remembering the time they had snuck off for a good few hours to enjoy themselves before sighing. “Of course, it would have been better if I’d known that he knew about my background from the start, but considering how things worked out in the long run…”
“You’re back together now though, and that’s what’s important,” Page said. “And you have us too.”
“But wasn’t he engaged back then to another woman?” Deep asked, causing everyone to stare at him and then at Xvital.
“Yes and no…” she said, scratching the back of her head with a blush on her face. “I found out a bit later on that he’d been set up with another woman for a while at that point, but their engagement had yet to be formalized. I wasn’t really in a position to leave then, and of course I couldn’t bring myself to make a huge stink about it, what with me being a commoner and her being a noble and all. The thing is, Itotia was actually very friendly to me back when we first met, and we spent a lot of time together when Tizzy was preoccupied with work and Chantico didn’t need me. And… apparently, he and I weren’t so good at hiding our relationship as she figured out that I had better chemistry with him than she did. When Tizoc made his official proposal to me instead of her, she was happy for us, and she was the first one to congratulate us over it, both publicly and privately.”
Page smiled. “That’s good, that she supported you.”
“Yeah…” Xvital pursed her lips. “Of course, Chantico was furious, since she’d apparently been pushing Itotia as a candidate for some reason or another, but other than that glare she threw my way when she saw us, she never said anything in public. Even after she came to me on our wedding day and told me what she knew about my past so I’d take off, she didn’t make a big deal about it to anyone else. I grabbed a local newspaper the next day, and according to it, all she said afterward was that if I ran off, I must not have been a suitable match for him after all.”
“What, exactly, did she know about your past?” Deep asked curiously and clearly not meaning anything by it but this was getting too close for her.
“No offense, but I’d rather not talk about that,” Xvital said with a sigh. “It’s over and done with, unless there’s some kind of an emergency, and I highly doubt that kind of thing will ever come up again.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Deep said. “One thing I learned in Mareis is that any talent can find itself called for under the right circumstances, no matter how strange it may be.”
“Oui,” Emerald commented. “One of his fellow artistes had to call on a stallion who, shall we say, did a very good impression of a certain mare in order to provide a distraction for him this one time, so he could sneak another mare out of his home.”
Several eyes widened in surprise, before Xvital decided to change the subject. “So. You’ve been working for him long?” she asked Emerald.
“Oh it has been several years now, madam,” the mare said with a start, a faint blush on her face. “Sometimes Deep provides me with a challenge, qui, but it has made my life far more interesting.”
“Oh?” Page asked, leaning close with a seemingly predatory look on her face for gossip. “How so?” Xvital turned her head in time to see Deep pale, no doubt aware of what Page was trying to do and by how Rex’s tail was wagging, so was he.
Thankfully for him, Emerald was also aware and replied, “Sorry, client privileges prevent me from giving any juicy details, ma chère.” Page pouted playfully at that with some good natured laughter following. Page then tilted her head before she stood up with a faint blush on her face.
“Sorry everyone,” Page said as her eyes fell to the door. “They kind of need me in the kitchen to help prepare some meals; Xvital will you come and help me please?”
“I’m really not that great in the kitchen,” Xvital protested. “I don’t want to mess up your work.”
Page gave her a glance. “Oh really? I remember you made that excellent dish when we were out in the Everfree. Pozole, right?”
Xvital hesitated. “Yeah, okay. But that’s really all I can fix, since it’s pretty much just boiling and seasoning existing ingredients - and even then I’m not perfect, since I use dried meat in it instead of fresh, when I’m not making the vegetarian version. Anything more complicated, I’m lousy at.”
“Xvital,” Page said with a look on her face. “What you’ve just said proves that you’re much better at this than you’re willing to admit to yourself.”
Xvital looked back at her, and then sighed. “And here I thought Wind was the Element of Honesty. Okay, so I can do some decent cooking. Just don’t ask me to bake, because that I really am bad at.”
Page gave her a friendly smile. “All right. But seriously, can you help me with this?”
“Sure thing.”
Page beamed up at her before turning to Night’s brother. “I hope to hear from you soon, Mister Blade-”
“It’s Deep; you’re dating my little brother and might one day be my sister,” Deep said as he walked over to her to pull her into a hug that surprised her and, judging by the buzzing that was suddenly very loud in the library, the hive as well. “I don’t hope you or Night will read anything into it if I come back to visit you?”
“Oh no, I don’t think that will be an issue,” Page said with a smile on her face that grew with her tail swishing behind her. “You do need to do that painting of me for Night, after all.”
Deep chuckled and nodded his head. “I will see you soon then, Page.”
Page nodded her head again before looking at Xvital, gesturing for her to follow her out of the room.
The ahuizotless stepped into the hallway with Page giving her a look. “What’s-”
“They’re… they are safe,” Page struggled to say, her lips twisting as if she’d eaten something sour. “One of my changelings snuck aboard the ship to keep an eye on them and… well...”
“What happened, did they find Wind’s family?” Xvital asked.
“Not really,” Page shook her head, looking off to the side, trotting agitatedly. “But they have a lead, which is good.”
“What’s wrong Page?” Xvital asked as she bent down to look her friend in the face.
“It’s Night, his wing… it’s not as healed up as we thought it was.”
Xvital had already pulled her in close before she asked, “How bad?”
“He can’t fly again until they’re sure it’s all better. And that probably won’t be until after he and the others are back here.” Page’s eyes narrowed. “For all that they helped us, I am going to have words with the Questioning Order, if we can find any survivors, for not making sure it was fully healed before they dropped us off.”
“And in a country where almost everyone flies…” Xvital shook her head. “That’s going to be rough on him. But he’s got Wind and Vix-Lei with him, they should be able to keep him out of trouble.”
“I hope so,” Page nuzzled her before she repeated herself.
Vix-Lei
“Come on guys,” Vix-Lei said, slapping Wind on the back as Night left the doc’s office. “Let’s get some shuteye.”
“Seriously?” Night raised an eyebrow at her, holding his wing carefully in its brace. “You want to go to bed early? I mean, I am not one for meeting new people really but I would think that being in a new place would have you wanting to explore everything.”
“Oh don’t get me wrong, Nighty, I’d love to explore this place but one, you aren’t in any shape to party and Wind isn’t in the mindset for it right now either. Two, Wind here needs to be careful not to eat until after his appointment in the morning, so taking him out right now ain’t too smart. Three, if you guys hadn't noticed, this place ain’t really built for those who can’t flap around,” Vix-Lei demonstrated by bending her arms and started to flap them.
Both of the males snorted which meant she was helping them relax. “Still,” Wind said with his talons digging into the ground. “If you guys do want to go out, please don’t stop on my b-”
“Wind, as my friend,” Night said, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “Don’t be a stubborn idiot and don’t think we are one either.” Night then frowned and brought his good wing into the air as if he were going over what he had just said to make sure it was good. Vix-Lei was doing the same in her head and she could tell Wind was doing it too. “It’s all three of us, or none of us. Neither Vix-Lei nor myself is about to just go have fun on our own and leave you at the hotel by yourself.”
“Night, look-” Wind began to protest until Vix-Lei placed a hand on his shoulder.
“No, he said it fine,” she said. “We’re going to stick together while we’re here. If you want to do otherwise, just get by me first.” Wind looked up at her before blinking and shaking his head. “Thought so.”
“You seem very practiced at this, Vix-Lei,” Night said as they walked out of the hospital.
“What can I say; seven little brothers gives a girl a lot of practice herding stubborn guys,” Vix-Lei shrugged her shoulders. “To be honest, you guys aren’t that tough to deal with. Especially compared to Yanni, when he was just a calf. His fashion sense may be odd now, but at least we don’t have to fight to get him to wear clothes anymore, like we did when he was little.”
Wind arched an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged. “It was like trying to dress a seapony - we could get him by one arm, and he’d be slipping out the other side. I was so glad when he grew out of that.”
Wind snickered at that. “Though he could just be copying his big sister?”
Vix-Lei sighed, tilting her head to the side. “Yeah, that was a bit of an issue as I wasn’t one to wear tops.”
“What is the deal with that, anyways?” Wind asked as he tilted his head upward. “I mean, I know that some ponies wear clothes for fancy events and that we had to dress up to serve the but you guys…”
“Well, our privates down there kinda do need to stay private but above the waist…” Vix-Lei placed her hand above her skirt. “Due to ponies and other four legged walkers, this isn’t usually viewed as a sexual zone these days.” Vix-Lei tilted her head. “It used to be though, and there’s a movement to kinda ‘civilize’ our race again. In their eyes, at least, that means full covering for the girls.”
“And I guess your mother is part of the movement?” Night asked as he made his way down the steps. The streets were really wonky, with ridges raising up at random to the point where those who didn’t have wings couldn't readily get around. Just a real pain in the ass.
“You guessed it,” Vix-Lei said. “She’s always been kind of… old-fashioned, shall we say. I think she got it from her own parents, from what little she’s ever said about them. I never got to meet them myself - they both passed before I was born,” she added.
“Ah.” Night nodded. “I never knew mine either, for the same reason.” Night seemed to frown at that but he cheered up for what passed for content Night levels.
“I might be meeting mine,” Wind said softly, causing Vix-Lei and Night to turn back to their friend. “Gordon, that griffon I had to meet earlier, told me he might have a lead for where my mother is.”
“That’s wonderful!” Vix-Lei squealed, picking him up and hugging him tightly. Blinking as she took in his soft coat, Vix-Lei began to register that the loud squeak had come from Wind and that she was causing a scene again.
Night was hissing upwards, much to the surprise of the griffons flying above, but not at them per se. She could see he had flared his wings when she startled everyone, and winced at the prospect that she might have caused him to injure his wing again.
Blushing, she placed Wind down but gave him a good solid pat on the back. “Sorry about all that, but I’m glad to hear the good news. Do you know who they are?”
“Not yet; just where my mother and her family might be,” he said before he began to chew on something in his mouth.
“Tell us where are they and I will have our skimmer set a course for it for after your test tomorrow,” Night said immediately.
Wind shook his head. “Already asked about that. Gordon said there wasn’t a dock up there.”
“So how long is it by foot?” Night asked, narrowing his eyes.
“A few kilometers, he said. But the road isn’t that well maintained.”
“We did worse before guys, so it shouldn’t be that bad,” Vix-Lei said, trying to cheer them up despite knowing how long it would be and how bad it could be if Wind dwelled on meeting his possible family. “So do you know anything about them?”
“Well, she has the same eyes as I do, and apparently it’s a family trait,” Wind said. “And she was unmarried when she dropped her kid off… didn’t want to disgrace the family for having a kid out of wedlock.”
Vix-Lei snorted in disgust. “That’s absurd. We’d never have put up with that kind of thing back home. There, you’re disgraced if you have a kid out of wedlock and don’t take care of them.”
“You mean, you don’t have any orphanages there?” Night asked as the trio started walking.
“We have them, but they’re for kids who don’t have any surviving relatives, at least none we can find,” Vix-Lei answered. “It’s not that common, but it happens from time to time. If their parents aren’t able to raise the kids, the authorities do their best to find other blood relatives to raise them, and if they can’t, they find sometaur who might not be related, but is still willing to watch over them, which isn’t very hard.” She arched an eyebrow. “Family is one of those things that’s very important to my people.”
“That’s something you have over us ponies,” Night said before looking back at Wind. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, her dad was governor of the city we’re going to, which is another reason she didn’t want to disgrace him.”
“That could cause…” Night began before he started to cough loudly to hide what he was saying but it was clear that Wind heard him by the glare the griffon gave him.
“You don’t think I’m aware of all the issues that can come from finding my family?” Wind asked sharply.
Night sighed. “Yes, I am aware, but need I remind you that you’re not the only one here who has trouble with speaking before he thinks? I meant no offense, I promise.”
Wind glowered for a moment, before sighing. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“But Night has a point,” Vix-Lei said sighing. “We don’t know anything about her or possible family. I don’t want to see you getting your hopes dashed if things don’t turn out as exactly as you hope.”
“We’ll see.” Wind sighed. “Right now though, this is my only lead… if it doesn’t pan out, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Even if you can’t find any blood family, you’ll always have us,” Night said as they reached the hotel. “We’re friends, remember? Even if we have our rough patches.”
Wind smiled at that. “Yeah.” Vix-Lei was relieved but she could see that he was straining that smile and chewing harder on whatever was in his mouth. A moment later, she realized what it must be, and made a mental note to herself to remind him to ditch the gum before he went to bed.
Clear Back
Clear Back took a deep breath as he kept moving through the streets, more than a few newspapers ensconced in his saddlebags.
He still found it hard to believe all that he’d learned since he’d arrived here. Celestia’s Order being in open rebellion, for one, along with many of the citizens. He’d half-wondered if the Champion of Chaos had had something to do with this, but then the other news had come in about the timing of the rebellion and other events, and he shivered.
That that thing had somehow resurfaced - oh, he saw they were just calling it a “spirit”, but he knew how to read between the lines - in Canterlot, after the rebellion began, was something that sent even worse chills down his spine. That it had been defeated by a group wielding the powers of Celestia’s student and her friends brought immense relief, but still, it explained a lot about what was happening back at the outpost. The chaos alone from that event would have played a big part in the awakening that he needed to report.
Shaking his head, he moved on. He had to find somepony to talk to about this, and soon. The new bearers needed to know what was coming.