//------------------------------// // 105 - To Send Off a King // Story: Age of Kings // by A bag of plums //------------------------------// Emerald and her friends had been afforded some of the guest rooms in the palace, which were all opulently furnished and piled high with luxury. A soft, downy bed awaited Emerald as she settled down for bed. Feeling full and sleepy after the feast, Emerald lay down on the bed and was promptly asleep. After an indeterminable amount of time, Emerald’s eyes cracked open. It was still night, but something had changed. Through her bleary vision, she saw something of a blue outline in the dark. It looked like a person. “Ho there, who goes there?” she asked as she sat up. The blue outline faded away and left her in the blackness again. What had that been? Emerald wondered. For a brief moment between sleeping and waking she had been able to see in the dark as well as perceive someone in the room with her. “Who’s there?” Emerald asked again, her hand drifting to the dagger she had hung on the bedpost. There was the scratch of flint on stone and a candle was lit, lighting up a blue face with a moon circlet above it. “Hello, Emerald.” “Moon Tide!” Emerald jumped off the bed and ran over. “What happened? Where did you go? We’ve all been so worried!” “I went to look ahead,” Moon Tide replied. “I understand you have managed to repel Morn’s presence from these lands. Very well done indeed.” “We have, but how do you fare? Are your wounds healed?” The mage peeled at her cloak and robes to reveal cleaner bandages, not as stained with blood as her last ones. “I am much better, as you can see. Though I will still need more love before I am to be fully healed.” “Moon Tide, there’s so much I want to ask you. So much I need to talk to you about.” Emerald ushered her to a lounge chair and got her seated. “But for starters, we need to know where Morn reaches out in his conquest if we are to know where to go next.” “Know where to go?” She put a hand to her chin. “You wish to stop his advance on the other kingdoms?” The spymaster nodded. “We cannot let them suffer as Canterlot and Saddle Arabia have. We must do all that we can to help the world.” “Yes, the world…” Moon Tide said slowly. “In any case, I learned that you sustained a rather serious injury during your last battle. Maybe I can help ease your pain?” “Yes. That would be good.” Emerald pulled down her clothes, revealing her bandaged up shoulder. “Tell me more about changelings. You can heal any injury as long as you have love. Is that right?” “More or less.” Moon Tide sat her down, then worked on unwrapping Emerald’s bandages. “Unless tis a grievous injury, we speed up our body’s natural process of healing tenfold by tapping into our reserves of love. As long as there is love, we can recover.” “What if you lose a limb? Can it grow back?” Moon Tide thought about that for a moment. “You know, I do not know. I have never lost a limb, so I cannot tell you if that is possible.” “Oh.” From the depths of her robe, Moon Tide drew out two items. One was a small glass vial filled with a dark liquid. The other, more concerningly, was a crooked black dagger that seemed to glow faintly green, and hissed like water on a hot stove. “Now, do not move. And do not touch my dagger.” Moon Tide held it to the moonlight coming in from outside. It did not reflect light like their normal weapons did. “Whosoever touches the poison on my blade, will almost certainly die. The venom gives the victim three days before expiring, keeping them alive from almost any injury until then. Of course, I am immune to its effects.” Emerald looked at the green liquid pulsating on the blade and gulped. “Three days. Tis a bit specific. Where did you procure a weapon such as this? We could use it against Morn.” “Morn, being my child, has a resistance to poisons, including this one,” Moon Tide shook her head. “As to where it had come from, I too do not know the answer to that. Did you know that we were not a race born of natural means?” Emerald tried to recall how changelings came to be, but she didn’t think she had gone over them in her studies with her mentor, so she shook her head. “Yes, we changelings were the product of witches.” Moon Tide rolled up her sleeves to her elbows. “My mother had told me years ago that they had performed a ritual on a night of the blood moon and here we are. The blades had come along with each one of us. I don’t even think our mothers knew why.” Moon Tide touched the tip of her dagger to Emerald’s injured shoulder, breaking the skin and letting the green liquid into her bloodstream.  “Wait, you said I cannot touch it!” Emerald wanted to pull away, but Moon Tide held her in place. “I have not the materials nor the time to mix up a better cure for you, Emerald. Therefore this is the only medicine that I can think of which will heal you quickly. However, I warn you that it will not feel pleasant.” A feeling of nausea overcame Emerald, and her stomach began to churn. Moreover, the burned area on her shoulder felt like it was itching, and the injury began to shine green, just like the dagger. It was almost half an hour before, in front of  Emerald’s very eyes, the flesh began to twist and pulsate, returning to its previous state of smoothness, but then a pain began to spread under her skin and she felt her strength leaving her as a feeling of a thousand daggers began sinking into her flesh, then pulling to the sides like they were trying to rip her into pieces. Moon Tide was quick to notice her friend’s discomfort. “Good. The healing is done; now swiftly, drink this,” She gave the vial to Emerald, who gulped down the coppery-tasting liquid inside without question. “Bleugh. What is this?” She stuck her tongue out in disgust. "A mixture of some reagents as well as my blood," Moon Tide said plainly, taking the vial from Emerald’s nerveless fingers. "Tis the only cure for the poison of my blade." "Your… blood." Emerald tried not to feel too repulsed. "I had some idea that it would have curative properties. Your own body is a wealth of medicine." "My blood on its own is highly toxic," Moon Tide put her dagger and the empty vial away. "That is why the insects back in the swamp did not bite me. Changeling blood is deadly if consumed untreated." “There’s so much about your kind that I don’t know. Are there more of you, Moon Tide? Changelings.” Moon Tide breathed in deeply, then closed her eyes. “There were. But only my oldest sister and I are still together. I do not know what has become of my other siblings. They parted from us a long time ago.” Emerald nodded. She felt her shoulder, amazed at its wholeness and how well it had healed. “So Dawn Saber wasn’t a changeling.” “No, he was not,” Moon Tide confirmed. “If he had been, I would be much more devastated at his demise. As it stands now, I am more concerned about Morn’s rampage across the land.” “Yes, tis true. So your sister.” Emerald twirled her arm to test her strength. “Who is she?” “There is a certain code of honor in changeling society,” Moon Tide said, putting the candle onto the bedside cabinet. “We may reveal our own identities, but not those of others.” “Ah, yes, I understand.” Emerald nodded. She knew all about codes and rules. “Do you wonder, then? Where your other siblings are now? They could be in Saddle Arabia for all we know.” “Perhaps,” Moon Tide conceded. “But now is not the time to go looking for them. We have an urgent quest to undertake, and we have no time for side activities.” “That’s right. We don’t want to have to reveal them to the humans anyway.” Emerald got off her seat. “Oh, one more question if you will, Moon Tide. Just a curious one. How long have you been alive? From what I know, changelings are immortal, so long as they can keep eating love?” “You have much knowledge of changelings, Emerald.” Moon Tide chuckled. “Yes, as I have said, love can help our bodies regenerate and that keeps us alive. And if I am not mistaken… we have roamed this earth for about eight hundred years now.” “Eight hundred?!” Emerald jumped back a step. “That… is a long time. Tis amazing!” “It is not all that long, compared to some others,” Moon Tide shrugged. “But we have seen the rise and fall of several kingdoms and played parts in their history. Though, I have never revealed myself to anyone like I have to you, Emerald. You must be very special for me to do so.” “Well, I am sure you have not met anypony else from Equestria, have you?” “Ha, yes. No other ponies have I met.” Moon Tide packed away her mage tools and rolled her sleeves back down. “None that can speak anyway.” “Well, now that you are back safe and sound. We will not have to wait three days before leaving. We can do so immediately. What’s our first move, Moon Tide?” The mage clucked her tongue. “Our first move, lady knight, is to allow the new king of Saddle Arabia time to give his father a proper burial.” “Oh, yes… how thoughtless of me.” The former pegasus slid her feet back towards the bed. “But after that, Kievan Horse, am I right?” Moon Tide smiled and shook her head. “No. Morn has not set his eyes on that large kingdom. Not yet. No, if you wish to aid the other kingdoms, then your first one would be the Frozen North, where he has set up siege against the brutal horsemen.” “The Frozen North, huh?” Emerald couldn’t help but feel that she would, in a way, be going home. The Crystal Empire was situated in the snowy lands and Emerald was used to the harsh cold, though she still had her coat back then. She didn’t know how these hairless humans would do in such cold weather, but it was better to pack more garments, just in case. Perhaps she would even be able to find this world’s version of her home out there. “It will be unpleasant especially for Sombra, Parisa, and I. Exchanging the scorching heat of Saddle Arabia for the icy winds of the Frozen North will not be easy.” “You do not like the cold, Moon Tide?” “I very much prefer an excess of heat over an excess of cold,” Moon Tide sniffed. “Changelings are heatproof, a trait that comes in useful when working with open flames like at the Mages’ Tower.” “That sounds useful.” Emerald nodded. “Well, tis still late into the night. I think we should get some more sleep. You are welcome to rest here as well, Moon Tide.” “You need the rest more than I,” Moon Tide sank down into a soft chair and closed her eyes. “I shall most likely be gone before you awaken in the morning. Good night, Emerald.” “You will not be traveling with us?” The spymaster scooted back into bed and sat there. “We could still very much use your help.” “We cannot discount the possibility that Morn may be using the Staff to scry us sometimes,” Moon Tide said without opening her eyes. “If he sees me working with you, it could cause problems. Which is why I will need disguises, like the one I used here.” “You were in disguise?” Emerald thought back, trying to see if she knew what Moon Tide was talking about. “When? I don’t recall.” “It will come to you eventually,” Moon Tide yawned. “In any case, we should sleep before the sun rises. It would not do to be caught slumbering at King Aldilu’s funeral.” The funeral was a much different experience than Emerald thought it would be. For one, everyone was speaking in Saddle Arabian and neither her nor her companions could speak it, so for the majority of the funeral, there they stood, listening as robed figures and Sombra rattled off word after word, each time lighting a candle by the king’s stone coffin. All this was taking place beneath the palace and such a large crowd of people had gathered, making Emerald question how this place could hold them all. Sombra soon took to the stage again and began another bout of Saddle Arabian, then ending it with, “My father had led this kingdom well. May he now rest with our ancestors for the rest of time. He will forever be remembered in the Hall of the Dead.” Then he turned and placed a fairly large flower on the head of the coffin and stepped away. With that done, he walked away as four robed men bent down to pick up the coffin with poles, then rested it on their shoulders as they marched further down into deeper catacombs where the king’s body would rest with kings of Saddle Arabian past. The crowd began to weep and wail for their king and even Honeygold had joined in. Emerald had looked around to see if Moon Tide was here, but she did not see her. True to her word, when she had woken up this morning, the mage had already vanished, likely out there again scouting ahead, as she had said. At least she had shown up long enough for them to determine where to go next. Emerald hoped she would continue to fare well. All this must truly be taking a toll on her. She had already felt saddened and betrayed that the man she loved had turned to this dark path. She couldn’t imagine what it must’ve felt like for Moon Tide. To have your own son turn against you and having to stop him, that was not something a parent would ever wish for their child. “Saddle Arabian burial sites are creepy, are they not?” Jewel Pin whispered to Emerald amongst the crying voices. “Yes, it looks just like the temple out in the desert with all those ghuls,” Spectrum added, pulling at her face to imitate the creatures. “Wouldn’t surprise me if they had a ghul or two here.” Soon the crowd began filing out of the palace, while Sombra remained by the entrance to the catacombs. Eventually, everyone except Emerald and her party were left. The former pegasus went to Sombra and tentatively put her hand on his shoulder. Sombra seemed to be struggling to find something to say. “It is done,” Sombra said at last. “I have performed my duty as a son and a king of Saddle Arabia and laid its last ruler to rest. Now I can fully devote myself to the quest at hand, and focus on unseating Morn Dread from this ill-gotten throne.” “Yes!” Spectrum cheered. “We’re finally going on the offensive after running for so long. Watch out, Morn, here we come!”