//------------------------------//
// 96 - Good Morning 
// Story: Fading Suns: A New World 
// by David Silver 
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Lyra stuffed a syrupy pancake into her waiting maw, chomping it with a happy expression. "You have no idea how busy things are with the marketplace going on. Speaking of that, I heard somepony say it wasn't going to open today? What's up with that?" She pointed her sugary spoon at Laud. "Bunch of nonsense rumors, right?"

Spike coughed into a closed fist, but Laud answered clearly, "They are true. The merchants are awaiting word of my investigation."

Lyra leaned forward suddenly. "Investigation?! What are we investigating? And why is Snips here?"

Snips waved timidly, pausing in his own pancake breakfast. "Uh, hi?"

"Hey yourself." Her horn glowed as she magically patted the unsure-looking colt on the head. "I'm not angry, just wondering what brings you our way."

Twilight sipped from a tall glass of orange juice. "They filled me in last night. It seems Chrysalis has surfaced."

Starlight suddenly slammed the table with both forehooves. "What?! And... you're not freaking out? Seriously, this is basically the perfect time for some Twilighting. Also, what?!"

Twilight frowned at that. "Twilighting? Laud is handling this, with Bon Bon's help." It seemed to click, her expression turning from confidence to worry abruptly. "Wait, why is Bon Bon going?!"

Even as Bon Bon reached to place a hoof over her face, Laud spoke, "She is capable and ready."

"Do you really believe that?" Twilight waved a hoof at Bon Bon. "She's expecting. This is not the time for adventure, with Chrysalis! Spike, back me up here."

Spike stiffened as he was called upon. "We don't own Bon Bon, and if we tell her she can't come, she'll come anyway. At least this way we can keep an eye on her."

Starlight shook her head quickly. "Wait, Chrysalis is here and she didn't attack me? I'm honestly surprised. What did she do, exactly?"

Laud nodded towards Snips. "The demon whispered corrupting words to this youth, beguiling him into setting off an explosive that critically injured one of the merchants."

Several forks fell from numb magic, Twilight and Starlight both gaping a moment. Twilight hopped to her hooves, tail lashing. "That's horrible! Are they alright? I suppose they aren't, you just said they're critically wounded. This could cause an incident. This is an incident! How are the others reacting? We have--"

Starlight popped a hoof in Twilight's mouth. "There's that Twilighting. Calm down. You're not alone. In fact, we have plenty of qualified creatures to help with this right in this very room." Her eyes turned to Laud. "So where do we stand?"

Twilight vanished, popping into the next available chair just past Spike. "As I was saying! We have to handle this responsibly. Laud, your suggestion? How are the merchants reacting?"

Laud's eyes swept over the expectant faces, all of them fuzzy except for his squire's reptilian gaze. What a strange demesne he had claimed. "They haven't made word of any extreme reactions, thankfully. For the moment, they seem to be giving us time to address the matter to their satisfaction. Make no error, if what we do is not to their satisfaction, others will hear of it, and consequences will come."

Spike raised a finger. "We're on the right path. It looks like Chrysalis is behind this, and Snips here knows where to meet her. We'll catch her."

Twilight raised a brow. "And then?"

"Huh?"

Twilight shook her head slowly. "Let us assume you do capture her successfully. What is the step after that?" She let out her breath softly. "You should take Starlight with you."

"Starlight?" echoed most of the room.

Except Starlight. "Me?! Why? I was expecting you to gather up your friends."

Twilight reached towards Starlight before vanishing, appearing next to the other unicorn, her hoof resting on Starlight's shoulder. "You know her. You defeated her once before. The last two times we met, she beat me once... I'm not too proud to admit that. In terms of record, you've got me hoofs down."

Laud cocked a brow at that. "While I am not opposed to one of my wives remaining safely away from demonic threats, neither of you sound like you have enough experience to say either is confidently 'ahead' of the other."

Starlight snorted softly. "Oh, and you've taken on your share of... demons you called her? She isn't a demon, but whatever. How many?"

Well... "I have not faced a demon directly before... But I am a warrior, and I will not be turned away from the light."

Starlight shrugged softly. "So about the same as the rest of us. You want me to get Trixie too? She has the same 100% win streak going for her."

"Can you?!" Twilight looked happy at the thought. "As... much as we can butt heads at time, I can't argue with statistics."

Laud shook his head with a clenching of his teeth. "I advise against it. Against such a creature, the larger the force we bring, the more likely she will become aware of it. Starlight, I will accept your aid if you are offering it."

Twilight looked to Starlight with big pleading eyes, her forehooves pressed together. Starlight rolled her own with a heavy sigh. "Fine. I'll do my best. So what's the plan, exactly?"

Snips raised a little hoof. "I'm the bait!"

Spike popped another pancake into his mouth. "You sound kind of proud about that."

"I'm important." Snips stood up tall and proud. "And this pays, right?"

Laud gently gathered his hands together, leaning forward a little on the table. "It pays in you not being the focal point of the merchants' ire. You will have to endure your mayor's lecture alone, should this proceed according to plan." He glanced towards Twilight. "I presume that is proper in the eyes of the law."

"Very." She nodded her head firmly. "Your parents will be informed."

"Noooo!" He threw his hooves up in the air. "C'mon! It was an honest mistake!"

Bon Bon glared at him from across the table. "Even if we assumed the human hadn't been there, you badly startled two mares, one of which you knew was expecting. You're just lucky we're not in a human kingdom. I imagine Laud would be ready for much more... extreme responses."

Snips tilted his head off to the right. "What are you expecting? Is it something good?!"

Bon Bon applied her hoof to her face, where it seemed most comfortable that day. "Nevermind on that point. Ask your mother when you see her later."

Spike chuckled softly as he pushed away from the table. "To answer your question, yes, it is something good. Laud, I'm going to go check if the sword is ready, then we can go, right?"

Laud rose smoothly to join him. "Let's see what the smith has managed for you. I am curious to put my eyes on it as well."

Bon Bon hopped down to the ground. "They're my friend, I should be there to thank them properly. Besides, they're a bit of a shut in, a sudden gathering of faces they don't know will get them pretending to not be home." She pushed her chair back in. "We'll be right back."

Lyra landed lightly, soft strums sounding over her head where a lyre played softly. "I'm comin' too! I haven't seen a sword besides Laud's. I mean, the kind that's ready to fight, not like just for show. I wanna see."

"Can I come?" asked Snips with a hopeful expression that faded as Twilight's hoof came down in front of him.

"You'll stay here with Starlight and I. Besides, they'll be right back with it, so you won't have to wait for long."

"I guess..."





The entourage proceeded through Ponyville in a loose mob, with Lyra offering up the background music to the little adventure. "Where are we going again?"

Bon Bon glanced towards her partner and wife. "You know them, the special blacksmith."

"The spec--Oh! Oh. Okay." She bobbed her head with secret understanding. "Uh, are they gonna be happy with us all here."

"Not even a little." Bon Bon turned off the main road to a smaller one winding towards the target smithy. "Which is why most of us will not be going inside."

Laud hiked a brow. "A smith afraid to meet potential customers? That makes it difficult to do business, does it not?"

Bon Bon waved it away, her steps slowing just faintly. "Trust me, she's not hurting to make ends meet. You get talented enough and you can let people beat a path to your door instead of reaching out for them, and she's well over that point. There's a reason I trusted her to get Spike's sword right."

Spike clapped his hands, looking all the more eager. "I can't wait to see it. What kind of crazy magic did she--"

"--Magic?" cut in Laud. "She is enchanting his sword?"

Bon Bon took a hissing breath. "Yes, Laud... I don't mean to disrespect you, but he's a growing dragon, and any normal sword we got for him would become too small too quickly. I want the sword to last. I want him to one day pass it on to his own squire, or a kid on his deathbed."

Spike swallowed audibly at the image conjured.

"That is an admirable goal..." Laud's hand strayed to the hilt of his own blade. "This is my first, given to me when it was far too large. My trainer laughed at me whenever I became unbalanced, taunting me to hurry up and grow tall, so I could fit the fine metal given to me."

Bon Bon swerved an ear back at him. "And you were looking forward to a little revenge with Spike, was it? Sorry for ruining that fun."

"It's not that!" Well, not entirely. "Magic is... troublesome... to put it mildly. In most of the universe, using it was asking to be hated and feared. This kingdom is quite different, obviously."

Lyra plucked a string with a twang. "I'll say. Our princess is a magician herself, and if she can be one, well, who's going to talk bad about magic? Nopony, that's who. Besides, magic is fun! You should try it."

Bon Bon rolled her eyes. "He doesn't have a horn, Lyra."

"He said he knew what magic was before us, so humans can do magic." She thrust a hoof at Bon Bon's rump. "Q.E.D., got you dead to rights."

Laud held up his hands. "I have learned that not every glimmer of magic from a pony is an immediate threat, but that does not mean I am ready to take up sorcery myself. I... am not even comfortable with considering that idea, in all honesty. We are here." He gestured to the heavy iron door to the smithy, closed. No open windows were visible. It was dark and almost abandoned looking. "They do not advertise their presence."

"No they do not." Bon Bon stepped up and clopped a hoof on the door.

A slit in the door opened and a set of eyes could be seen peering out, darting from pony to pony to human to dragon. "Uh uh." The slit began to close but Bon Bon thrust a hoof up with lightning speed, barely catching it before it closed.

"Only Spike and I will come in. The others will wait patiently outside," she spoke in calm and even tones. "Both of them just want to be the first to see Spike holding what you've made for him."

Something shoved Bon Bon's hoof out of the slot and it slammed shut. She turned to the others with a soft sigh. "I told you she doesn't like company. Especially creatures she doesn't know." Her eyes went to Laud. "Give her a moment."

As if on cue, the door opened a crack. "Spike, come in," ordered the female voice inside. "Everything else, stay out."

Bon Bon stepped to the side, not arguing the order. Spike hiked a thumb at himself in question before advancing into the dark, away from his friends.