Sunset stood up next to Gertrude, watching as a few other humans approached them. For some reason, her companion was not very excited to see other members of her species, which worried Sunset. As they approached, Gertrude kept one of her hands inside her jacket, gripping something metal that she had kept there while glaring at the approaching group. Before Sunset had a chance to ask her what she was doing, the leader of the group spoke up in the strange language Gertrude called “English” that Sunset still could not understand after more than a month of trying. Ignoring the splitting headache and pain in her horn, she activated the translation spell, wincing a little as she felt a lance of pain through her forehead, which distracted her from the way the approaching group took a step back at the sight of her horn lighting up.
“Hello, nice to meet you, I’m-” She winced, the spell cutting out momentarily at the pain. Oh I messed myself up bad this time…
“-I’m Sunset Shimmer, nice to meet you.” She said, trying to put forward a friendly face as she worked through the pain, hoping that Gertrudes wariness towards the other humans was misplaced, because if this turned into a fight she was not going to be of any use whatsoever.
The leader spoke up in response. “Greetings, I am captain David Williamson, and these are my men. We were completing a circumnavigation of the planet when we found your camp back up the river, and when we read about a unicorn-”
“You read my journal?!” Gertrude asked accusingly.
“It was an abandoned half-finished cabin, we had every reason to assume whoever had built it was dead or had vanished into the wilderness.” He replied defensively.
“That’s fair.” Sunset said, cutting off Gertrude before she could say anything more. “Well, here I am, unicorn. There’s a lot more where I came from. Now, is this just a social call or…?”
Williamson’s men tensed up, and Sunset heard one of them muttering about “this cockamamy scheme” before he cut them off with a shake of his head. “I’m afraid not. You see, Miss Bell here-” the way Gertrude tensed up when he said her name did not fill Sunset with confidence, and the way the rest of the men shifted in response seemed to confirm that impression. “-has a father who is very interested in her return to England, and the return of the ship she stole. He was so interested in fact that he offered £10,000[1] for their safe return to him.”
The whole gathering went tense as he finished talking, the humans all staring at Sunset, Gertrude with hope, Williamson’s men with fear, and the captain himself with a calm and collected gaze as he continued to speak. “However, after that display earlier, I feel that coming into conflict over this issue could cause harm to myself and my men, and I would like to resolve this peacefully if possible.”
“You can go back to London and tell my father that I am never coming back!” Gertrude spat out, her face contorted with rage as she glared at the captain. Sunset however had a different reaction.
“Why tell us this? You could have just lied and tried to nab her while I was asleep or something.”
The captain shook his head. “After careful consideration we decided that deception was… less than likely to resolve this situation to both parties' satisfaction given the likelihood of failure that several men believed to be present.”
Sunset heard one of the men whisper something that sounded like “I ain’t lying to no fae beast, I know what they do to liars!” which just left her more confused. Fae beast? I’m pretty sure Gertrude said something about Fae earlier, but calling me a beast is just rude!
Williamson turned, fixing the man with a quick glare before looking back at her. “Regardless, although we do not wish to come into conflict on this matter, we must insist that Miss Bell return with us to her father. You may accompany us as well, if you are concerned for her safety.”
“I have little concern for my safety in your custody, “Gertrude replied, “however I must decline your offer to return me to London, and I must ask you to leave at once.”
“If you think we came all this way to-” One of the men began to shout before Sunset fixed him with a glare and Williamson cut him off.
“Miss, you don’t seem to understand our situation. Returning to Earth without you is a very good way for us to end up shamed and penniless as your father ensures we can never find work again, and as such I must insist that you come with us.”
Sunset blinked at the exchange, her mind racing as she worked through the headache. They need her to come back with them or her father will ruin them for failing, she will not go back and I would not want her to… looking down the hole, where the half-buried door was visible under a fresh layer of dirt that had slid down into the hole. Maybe there’s a solution here…
She turned back to the arguing humans as Williamson was talking. “Miss, you are allowing your emotions to cloud your judgement, think about the long term, Mercury is no place for a lady-”
“I’d rather die a free woman on Mercury than return to Earth and be married off to some barons son so my father can pretend to be a noble!”
Sunset cleared her throat, interrupting the argument. “Captain, Gertrude isn’t coming with you, end of discussion. However, I understand not wanting to go home as a failure, believe me. So, how about we redefine what success means?”
The captains eyes flicked over the Needle at her words, and she felt a small grin on her face as he asked “what do you propose?” He never wanted a fight, but came down here to talk anyway. Even if he didn’t plan for this specifically, he must have had the thought in his mind. She thought with a grin.
“Well, that obelisk behind us is an ancient artifact that emits a pulse of ma- thaumaturgical energy “she corrected herself, remembering at the last minute that the layponies term for their abilities translated into some sort of demon-worshipping nonsense in English “on a regular basis when the rest of the planet is nearly dry of it, that means that somewhere in there is something that could make whoever finds it famous.”
“...Famous enough, perhaps, that a certain industrialist muttering about how we failed would find himself spitting in the wind for all the good it does him.” The captain finished with a grin, confirming Sunset’s suspicions that he’d been thinking along those lines before she brought it up. “That is an intriguing offer, however there is little guarantee of success, and I am hesitant to risk everything with only a promise of payment.”
Sunset nodded, a grin spreading over her face as she remembered Gertrude sitting down with her to explain just how valuable the gems she had been using for magic batteries and other things were. Of course, losing one or two of her remaining gems would be a problem, but considering the alternative it was one she could work with. Burning through her a good chunk of her reserves, she pulled a single gem from her bags and tossed it at the humans. “If you’re willing to stick around for a few months after we’re done here, I can get a dozen or so more just like that one from my home.”
-----
David Williamson was stunned yet again. It wasn’t enough that this unicorn had the power to toss around hundreds of pounds of soil like it was nothing, or that half of his men were convinced that she was a fairy from legend who would punish them if they lied, she also apparently had access to rubies the size of a small apple, perfectly cut and clear, shining in the low light of the eternal twilight. As he held it, he felt his men press around him, looking at the jewel in his hands as a smile formed on his face. “Well, I suppose we can work something out…” he said, still staring at the gem as his men nodded along with him.
Watching the men cluster around the gem and begin to whisper to each other, Gertrude rounded on Sunset. “What are you doing?! They came here to take me back to father, we can’t trust them!”
“Why not?” Sunset asked. “They don’t want to fight, I offered an alternative to make this trip worth it for them, and if they want any more gems like that one they need me to cooperate with them, since I’m the only one who knows how to tell when the portal is open.” [2] She told the Englishwoman with a shrug. “Sure, it’s not perfect, but this way we don’t go in there all by ourselves and get caught by a trap or anything. It’s a win-win, everyone gets something out of it, no one goes home empty-hooved!”
Gertrude found herself at a loss for words. She knew on an intellectual level that the society Sunset came from was different from her own, but the way the unicorn simply dismissed her concerns about the men in front of them like they were nothing showed her just how different they truly are. “Sunset, you can’t just trust a band of mercenaries you just met!”
Sunset cocked her head at her, confused. “Why not? We made a deal, if they break it they don’t get any more gems and have to fight me, and they seem afraid of me, so they really don’t have any reason to betray us now” she replied confidently. Before Gertrude could respond, Sunset winced in pain and ended the translation spell, giving her an apologetic sound in response. Sitting next to the unicorn, the young Englishwoman considered her words. As far as she could tell, there was nothing logically wrong with Sunset’s logic, but despite that she was uncertain about the men sitting down across from them, and resolved to keep a close eye on them.