//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: What a Mother Will Do For Her Daughters // Story: How I Became My Mother // by Halira //------------------------------// "While Queen Haven remains in custody, awaiting trial, both the princesses remain at large. They are believed to have fled the city in the company of an earth pony and unicorn. The captain of the guard is making preparations to search to find and apprehend the two but states guard safety comes first." Haven listened further to the report for a few more seconds from the window of her cell before dismissing it as talking heads jabbering on about nonsense. It was essential to know what nonsense they were spewing, so she could counter it later, but what they were saying so far was predictable. None of that truly mattered to her right now beyond what she had already heard; Zipp and Pipp were still free.  She looked around her cell. Having that knowledge didn't do her a lot of good. Generations of lies had come crashing down in a mere moment, brought to an end by one panicked wire technician who believed another set of lies and had acted accordingly. Believed the lies that the other tribes were dangerous and out to get him and inadvertently revealed the lie that the royals couldn't fly and weren't protecting anypony from anypony. Well… that last part wasn't entirely a lie. They'd been guarding the pegasi against their own stupidity. All of that was gone now, and, for the moment, the talking heads rule would rule. May feathers save the pegasi; they were likely doomed.  At least they had put her in the royal cell, and they were still referring to her and her daughters by their royal titles. Those things meant that they still thought of them as their royal family, despite the deception. That was a small grip she still had on the public. This could be salvaged… she just wasn't sure how as of yet. Nearly forty generations of her family's rule would not come to an end with her. She could take the fall for the lies, talk up how Zephyrina had been opposed to the royal family's lies and had sabotaged the show to expose the lies. Pipp could be played as a victim as well, an innocent filly, forced to do what her mother had told her to do and only went along because she wanted to make ponies happy; the public would eat it up. The two of them could have their reputations restored. She'd lose her crown in favor of Zipp, but it would work.  She looked out the window again. Where were they? Were they safe? Pipp almost certainly had found Zipp; Pipp could always find Zipp when nopony else could. That would put both her daughters with that earth pony and unicorn— possibly two earth ponies. The one earth pony, the one with Argyle's book, that one might be safe, but the unicorn and the other earth pony? That was a more dubious question. She'd initially dismissed the unicorn as an idiot, but that unicorn had clearly whispered lies to Zipp about the state of the unicorns to gain her trust. The other earth pony had taken the time to mock Pipp, and any earth pony not directly connected to Argyle was suspect. Argyle had told her about the earth ponies of Maretime Bay, and she trusted Argyle. Her daughters had to be saved, but how was she going to do that? She sighed and walked over to the bars of her cell. Nopony was even bothering to guard her, which meant the guards weren't thinking. Two prisoners had just escaped this same cell no more than a few hours ago, and they just tossed her in it without a thought about how it might not be that secure. This is why the pegasi needed their royal family. They were stupid and lost without the royals.  Haven looked to the side and the button to open the cell door. It was bioprinted, so only authorized hooves could work it. How stupid were her guards? Did they toss her in here and not think to remove her permissions from the system? They couldn't be that stupid… could they? The smart pony is always at the mercy of the dumb one. This is because the intelligent pony is limited by logic, while the dumb pony knows no bounds for their stupidity. Sometimes you have to forget about doing what makes sense to defeat the idiot. That was one of her mother's many lessons, one she never bothered to pass on as if yet because it seemed too cynical. Yet… She reached through the bars, straining to reach the panel. Her hoof touched it, and she heard the beep, and she withdrew her leg just fast enough that it didn't get caught in the bars as they moved.  Her guards were that stupid. When and if she regained power, education reforms were in order.  The was an issue for another day. Right now, she needed to get down to the lower levels and get out of the city. Then she could find her daughters before the worst happened to them.  Haven reached the road with surprisingly little trouble, but now she was at an impasse. There were two directions her daughters could have gone, to Maretime Bay or to Bridlewood. Nothing she knew told her which way to go.  The crossroads was a rocky area, with an old weathered sign that pointed in three different directions. None of the labels on the sign were legible, far too old and faded for a pony like her to make out. She didn't need to read it; she knew which way led to which. This wasn't even her first time seeing this sign. However, it was her first time ever considering that somepony had taken the time to make it, once upon a time, just like many ponies had taken the time to make the roads between the towns, connecting them—more evidence of that lost time when there was no hostility between the different types of ponies. The lies about the royal family had fallen; why couldn't the lie that the different pony types had always been at each other's throats been the one that had dropped instead? Being out here made her nostalgic, and she didn't have time for nostalgia. Her babies could be suffering at the hooves of bigoted earth ponies or tricky unicorns, or just fallen off a cliff and broken their legs and were now lying at the bottom of a ravine, helpless and crying for somepony to save them.  Get ahold of yourself, Haven. You know Zipp would never get into such a position, and Pipp is far more athletic than she looks. They won't get beaten by the wilderness. She scolded herself.  One ear sagged, then another. The wilderness might not beat her daughters, but it could destroy her. She was no better off alone out here than she was the last time. Rush to their rescue? Ha! It was more like they'd need to rush to hers. That was only if they were dealing with the wilderness, though. If they were dealing with ponies, she was the one who was more experienced.  And she still didn't know what ponies to deal with, unicorns or earth ponies. If she kept sitting long enough, she was going to be dealing with the pegasus guards.  She still didn't know which way to go. "You've got friends in Maretime Bay," she said to herself, repeating what Argyle told her long ago. She hadn't forgotten. She'd go to Maretime Bay, to the lighthouse, and seek his help. If her daughters were there, all the better. If the earth ponies had captured her daughters, he could help her get them free. If they were in Bridlewood instead… well, he could help her figure out what to do if that was the case. Maretime Bay it would be. It was the only option that made sense.  Choice made, she stood up and started walking.  The terrain didn't stay rocky for long. In a relatively short time, she found herself out in the woods. It wasn't the woods like Bridlewood. Her first out this way had her wandering down the side of the mountain till she hit the grassy hills. She'd only seen these woods on the return trip after her mother's guards had caught her. Back then, she'd been too busy trying to figure out what she was going to say when she was hauled in front of her mother and hadn't taken the time to appreciate her surroundings. This time was different. She had all the plans she needed, or at least all the ones she could reasonably come up with given her situation, and she didn't need to focus on her thoughts as much. In fact, she very much didn't want to focus on her thoughts at the moment. It would give her an anxiety attack.  There were other reasons to pay more attention to her surroundings now as opposed to before. Zipp and Pipp could possibly be out here, and it would be terrible if she walked right by them without noticing. It had already been night when she left, and it was very dark out now. There could be wild animals out there that could attack, and she didn't have the pegasus guard surrounding her, ready to defend if need be. Speaking of the guard, they were probably aware that she had gotten free by now, and they may be pursuing her. She needed to keep her eyes out. She stopped in her tracks, grimacing, and looked to the side of the road. If the guard were pursuing her, then she'd be easily found and captured casually walking along the route. She needed to get off it. That meant going into the woods. This was going to be miserable.  "I hate bushes. I hate trees. I hate dirt. I hate mud puddles. I hate brooks. I hate streams. I don't do nature," she muttered to herself as she made her way into the brush. She didn't intend to go too far in, just far enough so ponies going down the road wouldn't immediately spot her. If she went too far from the road, she would get lost, and she'd need saving. The road had to be kept in sight but not too close.  This method of travel slowed her down exponentially. She recalled they had passed through the woods in about an hour years before. After two hours of travel, wading through the undergrowth, she still wasn't clear of the woods. It wasn't as easy as walking in a straight line along the road. Things got in the way. The ground was uneven. Sometimes she had to detour wide around a bunch of bushes and then found herself unsure which direction the road was anymore and had to spend more time finding it again. How did prehistoric ponies manage this kind of travel? After having to spend untold minutes trying to figure out how to get around a little ravine that just existed out in the middle of the trees for whatever reason, she had enough. She was getting back in the road, and she would just have to be ready to run if the guards appeared. If she never had to go in the woods again, she would die happy.  As she reached the road, her ears twitched at a sound in the distance.  Cloudpuff? Was that him? What was he doing out here? Wait… that earth pony stallion had enthralled him. She had no clue what had become of her dog after all the commotion. Maybe he had gone with Zipp and the others. That meant she just had to follow the sound of Cloudpuff's yapping and yowling.  That yapping and bowling was coming from the woods on the opposite side of the road. That meant she had to go into the woods...again. It didn't matter; her daughters could be out there.  The barking was getting more distant. Haven started running as soon as she realized it, nature be bucked! She was not going to lose the only lead she had! The barking stopped, replaced with a mournful howl. Cloudpuff wasn't moving anymore. Her gut clenched up. Why did he sound like that? Did something happen? Every dreadful possibility passed through her mind as she pushed in, branches smacking her in the face, her almost tripping and falling more than once.  A clearing suddenly opened up in the trees, and within that clearing, the broken remains of a building. She couldn't tell what kind of building it had been, or even how many stories talk it had been; all she saw were broken brick walls and trees growing through the middle of it and along the sides. The only roof was the canopy provided by the trees that had made the building their planter. Cloudpuff's howling was coming from within. "Girls? My precious darlings? Is anypony in there?" she called out as she approached an opening in the structure.  Cloudpuff stopped howling and gave an excited yap before racing out and tackling her, knocking her on her back, and licking her face excitedly.  She shoved him off angrily. "You little traitor! Get off of me! You do not have that right after what you did during Pipp's performance! Where are Zipp and Pipp?!" The dog got off her and whined, looking hurt and ashamed. She got up and looked inside the structure. "Zipp! Pipp! Anypony!" There was no reply. The only ones here were her, Cloudpuff, and crickets.  Cloudpuff walked over to her, holding something in his mouth. She took it from him. It was a badge, a sheriff's badge, and it had the name of the town of Maretime Bay spelled out on it.  She looked at her dog. "One of those earth ponies dropped this, didn't they? You were trying to track them." Cloudpuff laid down, looking depressed. She looked around at her surroundings again.  "These woods are dense. There are too many smells for you to make things out, and if I am having trouble traversing them, I can only imagine what it must be like for you," she said thoughtfully.  Cloudpuff whined and gave her his biggest puppy dog eyes.  She frowned. "I'm still angry at you...but having you with me is better than no company. Do you think you can track that earth pony if we get out of these woods?" Cloudpuff stood up and started bouncing excitedly.  Haven let herself smile as real hope if finding her daughters bloomed. "Okay then. I can get us out of the woods—" She looked around again, and her smile slipped. "—in the morning, when we can see. Then you won't have so many scents to sort through, and we can follow that earth pony and find Zipp and Pipp." Cloudpuff took a few tentative steps towards her, then sat and begged.  She sighed and shook her head. "I don't have any food, and I don't know how to start a fire. I'd probably catch the whole woods ablaze if I somehow managed it. We are too pampered for this kind of stuff, but here we are." Cloudpuff whined again.  Haven laid down and raised a wing. "Come on. You can cuddle up with me. It's warmer if we're close together, and it's cold out here. Come on." Her, until today, faithful dog excitedly sprinted to close the distance and practically buried himself against her. She decided to stop being angry with him. He still loved her, and they were in this together. It wasn't like she had anypony else to turn to for help out here. She draped her wing over him and pulled him close to her, enjoying what little warmth he could provide. He was shivering and cold, but hopefully, they would warm up together.  Tomorrow. Tomorrow she would find her daughters, bring them hope, crown Zipp as the new queen, and then they would make this all right again.