//------------------------------//
// Pink Consequence 
// Story: The Immortal Dream 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

I stood, frozen, in front of Aegis as it slowly began pulsing with life. "What...?"

With a whisper-quiet thud, Seigetsu landed in front of me and to the side, eyeing the metal dragon up and down, tension evident in her posture. "Return to your slumber, Divine One," she said, her voice calm. "I apologize for rousing you, but had need of your restraints for a moment. 'Tis not the time to awaken."

Pink light flickered weakly across the surface of Aegis's cone-shaped tail. "This vessel," it said in a voice like soft metal, hard and gentle at the same time. "It's so familiar..."

"COMMAND ACKNOWLEDGED," a completely different voice echoed, also coming from the dragon. "PILOT OVERRIDE ACTIVATED, BUT SYSTEM POWER LEVELS CRITICAL. DO NOT BE AFRAID. I AM NOT GOING ANYWHERE."

"Pilot override?" Seigetsu took a sharp breath, then summoned her purple hammer. "Identify yourself immediately!"

"Please, I mean you no harm," Aegis said, once again in the kindness flame's voice. "I was vulnerable, and sought shelter. This vessel cried out to me, and I knew it to be safe."

"Should I be privy to all this?" Duma called out from above. "I know we're not exactly feeling friendly at the moment, but you did defeat me, and it would be so embarrassing if I heard something you didn't want me to hear because you forgot I existed!"

"Your memories are slated to be expunged, centaur," Seigetsu threatened. "Hear what you will."

Duma didn't sound at all bothered. "Keep telling yourself that!"

Seigetsu ignored him, turning once again to Aegis. "Who are you, and how long have you dwelt within my goddess?"

"I am the Element of Kindness," Aegis said, still flickering faintly with pink. "Regulator of the central north. I had resided within Halcyon until but a moment ago, but lost my place amid her attack and had to seek shelter anew. I mean you no harm."

Seigetsu slowly turned to me. I could feel Corsica watching me from above, and the weight of their gazes flattened my ears against my skull. "It's... a long story..."

"Then I would hear the short of it," Seigetsu commanded. "There will be time enough for full explanations later. What are this Regulator's intentions for the Aegis, and did you come here specifically to seek it out?"

I swallowed and took a step back. "N-no. I didn't know anything like this was here, honest. The only reason we're here in Equestria is because we're looking for two ponies. One of them is called Fluttershy, and she's related to this spirit..."

"Hence you referring to yourself as the Element of Kindness," Seigetsu said to Aegis. She turned back to Halcyon. "My brother did mention your interest in Fluttershy. I think we would be better served by a change of venue where you can tell me everything in detail." She sighed. "Preparations will need to be made for the Aegis's transfer now that its location is undoubtedly known. Its new pilot claimed to have resided within you up until a moment ago. Can you coax it back out?"

"...Can I?" I asked the metal dragon. "You know it's going to be easier to carry you around with me instead of in something that big. And I don't think the authorities here want me running off with their goddess, even if I found a way to carry you."

Aegis flickered with reticence. "Existing within you was... tenuous. This cradle is so much safer... Can I ask you to bring Fluttershy here, instead? I don't think I can move, anyway, so you don't have to worry about me getting up to no good."

"So much for that," Seigetsu said, teeth clenched. She looked at me. "I cannot both question you, keep an eye on the Aegis and move to a more private location without running the risk of Aegis fleeing under its own power. Much as I appreciate your intervention in that battle, I hope you understand the utmost delicacy of this situation. And so, we wait for backup to arrive."





Backup eventually arrived, consisting of Papyrus and a team of medics, soldiers and engineers. The wounded were immediately evacuated - not counting Seigetsu, even though she had done the bulk of the fighting. The engineers checked Aegis, and soon gave Seigetsu the assurance she was waiting for.

"It's bonded to an operator, alright," a lanky dragon in an oily hat reported with a salute. "But they've got no more power to give it than your average Equestrian. The most it could do is blink an eyelid... if it had eyelids, sir."

"Appreciated," Seigetsu said, standing just as formally as she had been since we settled in to wait. "I want a full interrogation team on the prisoner. No one is to be allowed in this room with less company than five others; I will not have my soldiers bought out or subjected to mind games. Prepare the Aegis for transport, but wait on my signal. I have matters of my own to attend to."

She beckoned to me, Corsica and Papyrus, all of whom followed along.

Before too long, we found ourselves in a soundproofed chamber very much like the one I had been taken to after being discovered in the dungeons. Seigetsu was there, along with three other guards, Corsica, Papyrus and me.

"Excellent. Now we can do this properly," Seigetsu said. "You must tell me everything. Of the Aegis's new pilot, your relationship with it, and the powers you used when confronting Duma."

"And why should we?" Papyrus challenged.

Seigetsu raised an eyebrow. "I should think it obvious."

"Let me put it another way," Papyrus said. "That fight was going badly for you and you know it. Duma clearly wasn't trying, had just about demolished your backup, and the two of you were at what could generously been described as a standstill. If Halcyon hadn't come out of nowhere with whatever it was that she did and if I hadn't both conveniently been expecting it and knew how to work your machine to capitalize on it, you'd be toast. In other words, I think you're the one who owes us."

Seigetsu narrowed her eyes. "If your assistance was genuine then it was very much appreciated. However, Duma implied he was here and searching for the Aegis at your behest, and even were he to be lying, you both ferried in a creature that has taken up residency in the Aegis and a live windigo. I trust you need no explanation of the relationship between windigoes and this situation?"

My ears fell. "I know nothing at all about Aegis, and if I knew how to get rid of Ludwig earlier, I would have done so. Does helping you fight Duma seriously count for nothing?"

"It counts for quite a lot, actually," Seigetsu said. "And in fact is the reason I am now trying to learn your intentions rather than jumping to the obvious conclusion. And I'm starting to suspect you really are unaware of the gravity of what it is you've just unleashed."

"Well, she was missing when you showed us Aegis earlier," Corsica pointed out. "You wanna go over that again, just so we're all on the same page?"

Seigetsu looked at me, then nodded. "Very well. As you are hopefully aware, the Holy Cernial Convocation is at war with Abyssinia. Long ago, there was a conflict between our respective gods that dwarfed even the clash that birthed modern gods such as Princess Celestia and the north's Garsheeva. It brought the world to such ruin that nothing habitable remained, and our ancestors - dragon and monster alike - were seen through the calamity only by the grace and heroism of Saint Tadashi, a dragon revered by both nations. It is over Tadashi's legacy that our war is now fought."

She clasped her hands behind her back. "Aegis is our god. And yet, you have seen the truth of it for yourself: not an individual person, but a mechanical weapon to be piloted by whoever lays claim to it. The mission of Cernial is, and has been for many thousands of years, to prevent the reoccurrence of such a tragedy by any means necessary, including the imprisonment and zealous guardianship of the Aegis. We no longer know the motives of whoever piloted Aegis in that ancient war. Only that motives are irrelevant next to the destruction of the entire world. No cause is pure enough to warrant unsealing that power and risking such devastation again. And many causes are worse than others."

Seigetsu sighed. "The god of Abyssinia we remember only as the King of all Monsters. And the windigoes, or so the legends go, are a brood he created out of pure spite at the end of that conflict, after the gods had fought each other to a standstill and their life forces were all but spent. They are his servants and enforcers of his will. Unlike the Abyssinians, who are possessed of the same freedom of thought as dragons and ponies, windigoes are driven by a singular supernatural impulse to sow conflict and create war. There can only be one explanation: they are carrying out their creator's hateful final testament. And now, by your hooves, these creatures have learned the location of the most powerful weapon ever to have existed."

Papyrus chuckled. "Is that all? If it makes you feel better, there was at least one windigo in the old Empire who knew about this thing before it found its way into your clutches."

"No." Seigetsu gave him a look. "That does not make me 'feel better'. But I trust I have conveyed the gravity of the situation?"

I wasn't sure whether to keel over or push back, so I chose the latter. "I'm not a friend to any windigo," I promised. "In fact, I've had more bad run-ins with them than most. But you know that one's had a break with his creator? Some others have, too. They're starting to resent their circumstances, and want to get revenge on the one who made them."

Seigetsu stiffened. "Is this true?"

Papyrus shrugged. "Eh, I wouldn't put it past them."

"Then that would mean they intend to use the Aegis to fight the same opponent as last time," Seigetsu said, voice dark. "Which begs the question: why did you bring one here?"

"I wouldn't have if I had a choice!" I squirmed. "I'm... not very skilled with the things I can do, right? I was fighting that windigo earlier, and just absorbed him somehow..." Not accurate, but the truth was much more complicated. "And I couldn't figure out how to get rid of him. And now I was trying to attack Duma, and everything just fell out at once, including the Kindness flame..."

Corsica gave me an oh really look that didn't make me feel any better at all.

"Then it sounds as though we have our next topic to discuss," Seigetsu said, pointing at my bracelet. "When first we met I mistook you for the daughter of a member of the Order of Silence who escaped from the Convocation some three decades ago, and assumed you had inherited your mother's power. But it seems no longer likely that is the case. I have never heard of a pony who could 'absorb' windigoes, or summon one of those without considerable amounts of forbidden magic."

I folded my ears, my blood-red legs beginning to burn.

"You've made a pretty good case for why your secrets are important," Papyrus cut in. "Ever consider we might have good reason for keeping ours?"

Seigetsu gave him a look.

"Stop me if I sound like a broken record," Papyrus went on. "But we did save you back down there. And just look at her face now! Positively swimming with malice and nefarious secrets!" He motioned to me like a salespony showing off a home appliance. "Actually, she looks deeply uncomfortable and cornered, and I say this as an expert in making people feel uncomfortable. Clearly an act, and beneath the mask she's chortling to herself about how all her windigo buddies are going to steal Aegis and blow up the world. Clearly."

I gaped at Papyrus. For someone who was normally such a jerk, why was he defending me?

Seigetsu fixed her gaze on Papyrus, completely ignoring me. "What is your game?"

Papyrus innocently smiled. "Getting a fast boat to Catantan so we can hang out with an old friend who almost certainly won't want to kill me. Which, tragically, entails keeping a low profile and not getting involved in your war's politics. By the way, unless I very much misheard things, that centaur was constantly making overtures for Halcyon to join his side, right? If she really was up to no good, don't you think she'd have chummed up with him and tossed that fireball punch at you?"

"I see your point," Seigetsu said stiffly. "But I cannot abandon my duty as Inquisitor when there is critical context left undiscovered."

"And what'll you do if you don't like what I have to say?" I asked. "I barely know what I am myself, let alone how anyone else will react to it. Papyrus has a point: Duma seriously creeps me out, and I wasn't going to side with him, but I could have, and chose to help you instead. If it turns out I'm the product of something majorly heretical, are you going to repay that by catching me and turning me over to your church?"

Seigetsu seemed to relax and genuinely consider this.

"That's what Yelvey wanted to do," I added. "He clearly had no intention of ever letting me walk away from this place. Err, according to the changeling who found me."

Seigetsu narrowed her eyes.

"They've got a point," Corsica added. "You do owe us."

"I cannot derelict my duty," Seigetsu eventually, slowly said. "However, Equestria is large, and Cernial's reach does not extend beyond our borders... of which this town, might I remind you, is at the edge of."

Some of the other dragons in the room looked uncomfortable. "Sir..." one started to say.

Seigetsu shushed him with a raised hand.

"Are you saying you'll give us our boat?" I asked tentatively.

"I am saying that while duty binds me to report to my superiors, I think I can use my personal judgement on matters such as helping you get where you are going," Seigetsu said. "And should the Convocation disagree, you would be too far away for them to do anything about it. Of course, that is still conditional upon my judgement. I would still hear everything from you."

Papyrus cleared his throat. "Strictly speaking, wouldn't it be conditional on Terutomo's judgement? He's the one who owns the boats, after all. Might we make our case to him as well?"

Seigetsu sighed. "I suppose," she said, "that is reasonable."





Once again, we were escorted through the castle, arriving in the same reception room where Terutomo had first greeted us... only now, it had been transformed into a war room, with Terutomo at the center.

"My friends!" he greeted, raising his arms and rising from his chair as we entered. "I've heard from no less than half a dozen wounded soldiers what went on down there, and by all accounts you struck the decisive blow in Snowport's favor even as the fiend tried to tempt you with power?"

"It was more complicated than-" Seigetsu began, before Papyrus cut her off.

"Eh, he wasn't very tempting," Papyrus dismissed with a wave of a wing. "Kept spouting nonsense about us being chosen ones, or something. Anyway, happy to serve, can I get a medal?"

"I suppose that might be in order," Terutomo agreed, drawing an ireful look from Seigetsu. "But first, I want to hear all about it from the source... Sister, is there something I should know?"

Seigetsu stepped forward and whispered for a solid minute into his ear, a look of consternation appearing on his face.

"Well, that's troubling," Terutomo said when she finished. "Might we step into the back room for this? Someone, go and get some medals anyway, but I think we need to get just a few things sorted out first."

Once again, I was pulled into a back room along with Papyrus, Corsica, Seigetsu and now Terutomo. "Well," Terutomo said when the door clicked shut. "You don't look much like a windigo collaborator to me, and frankly I've never known anybody who could endure their presence for more than a minute or two, not that there's a huge sample size." He rubbed the back of his head. "But you somehow accidentally brought one down there and let it out, huh?"

Shaking just a little, I held up my bracelet. "It's this," I said. "It gives me the power to... absorb emotions, and things that are made of them. Like windigoes. That windigo was called Ludwig, and I imprisoned him with it a while ago because it was the only way to stop him. But I don't know everything it can do. Just now, I was trying to use its stored power to attack Duma, and that made everything in it come back out... including Ludwig."

Terutomo looked curious and concerned. "Is that so? Would you mind if I looked at it for a moment?"

Hesitantly, I removed the bracelet and offered it to him.

He took it, instantly holding it up to his eye and looking through. Then he tapped it with a claw a few times, shrugged, and gave it back to me.

"Well?" Seigetsu asked him.

"It's a genuine article," Terutomo said. "And yet the report I read says you have nothing to do with the Order of Silence, and aren't afflicted by their curse?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Completely different."

"And this weapon," Terutomo pressed. "Where did you get it?"

"It's mine," I said. "I don't know where it came from. My mother had it when I was very young... Adoptive mother, if it matters. And then she gave it to me when I was old enough. But I could always use it better than she could. I can just tell that it belongs to me."

"And yet you confess uncertainty as to how to use it," Terutomo mused, rubbing his chin. "You've never had a capable instructor in its use, then. Or met anyone else with one of these."

I thought back to the small chip of metal, of the same substance, that supposedly belonged to Leif. Where were she, Mother and Braen, anyway? "No, not really. I've mostly figured it out through trial and error."

"That's deeply worrying," Terutomo said. "Something bigger than any of us is clearly going on here."

"You think?" Seigetsu raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Brother, this is-"

"The Abyssinian scriptures," Terutomo said, interrupting her. "You're well aware that the reason they started this war is because they believe they're seeing the signs of the end times returning. The calamity brought about that destroyed our previous world."

I blinked. "By your gods fighting?"

Terutomo nodded. "Well, one of those signs listed in their scriptures is ponies becoming able to manifest these at will."

My eyes widened.

"I've never been to Abyssinia myself," Terutomo proclaimed. "But I try to stay at least a little abreast of the sentiments of the common folk there. It's why I allow so many of them in my city, and let them run their own lives and manage their own affairs in their own sector. Turns out that when you treat them right, they're remarkably friendly and talkative. So all I've had to go on has been hearsay from some friends of mine down there... but this is evidence right under my nose." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Why are our nations fighting if those times really could be about to return...?"

"Hold up," Papyrus interjected. "I was under the impression this previous world was destroyed by a battle between two gods. You know, giant lasers and explosions and the like? At least, that was my impression of what a divine battle would look like, not that I've ever seen one to know for sure. What do conditions in Abyssinia or ponies making metal bracelets have to do with that?"

Seigetsu frowned. "How relevant is this to the matter at hand?"

"It's a spot-on question," Terutomo answered. "And the truth is that we don't know. Abyssinian and Cernial's accounts of history differ a lot when it comes to the end of the previous world. Partly because it was so long ago, and it's a miracle any records have survived at all, but I'd guess the bigger reason we see things differently has to do with whatever our gods were fighting over in the first place... not that any records have survived of what that was, only that Abyssinia's god was the one who started it. Our nations agree on that point, as well."

"What do you know about those days?" Corsica pressed. "What other stuff does everyone agree on?"

"Not much," Terutomo apologized. "We know our previous world was called Indus. Ponies and equinoids were the dominant race. Dragons and monsters were in the minority. The calamity razed our world until nothing was left but metal and stone, the scriptures say: no water, no soil, no crops or wood. And Saint Tadashi was the one who saved us when the ponies left us to fend for ourselves. And, that's about it, as far as what both sides know."

"So... what do you know about my bracelet?" I asked, relieved by his disinterest in pressing the matter of Ludwig. "Seigetsu knows something about it too."

Terutomo scrutinized me. "I suppose we could do some tests to see for sure. The thing is, I only know what they're supposed to be capable of, and have a hunch yours isn't nearly at full power."

"Why do you say that?" I tilted my head.

Seigetsu summoned her hammer again. "For one, it is black," she said. "Devoid of color. And for two, I have yet to see you cause it to change form. Even the Order of Silence can do that, though not nearly with the ease that we can."

My eyes widened as I took in the hammer again. "Wait, is that-?"

Seigetsu nodded.

"It's a tenet of our scripture we don't like to discuss with outsiders," Terutomo explained. "These weapons are known as Umhuxanjarn. Through rigorous training, dragons can summon them from thin air, alter their form at will, and perform numerous other feats. We hold them not merely to be divine, but connected to our souls on some fundamental, mystical level I'm not the best suited to explain. Certain types of Abyssinians can summon them as well, although theirs work a little differently. Both sides restrict the knowledge to their upper circles, though, out of fear of what could happen if our lay soldiers got captured and that knowledge found its way into the rank-and-file of the other side. When properly employed, these can be... devastating."

"So you cover up valuable military secrets under the shroud of religion," Papyrus said. "Clever. Did you take that one from the old Griffon Empire?"

"And what about ponies?" Corsica pressed. "You said it's a problem if we can make these too?" She looked sideways at my bracelet.

Terutomo slowly nodded. "Abyssinia thinks it would be. From our perspective, it's more complicated than that. You see, ponies can't make them. Understand that in both Cernial and Abyssinia, batponies are seen as Abyssinians rather than ponies, so you and the Order of Silence don't technically break that rule... except our classification might be wrong, because getting the Order of Silence to manifest theirs takes a lot of doing, even beyond accepting their accursed power. And even once they have them, theirs are much more limited than ours, as if they're somehow shackled as a race. That's another part of why we keep this quiet: given our beliefs about them, it could easily be interpreted that we were claiming to be a higher order of being than the ponies we coexist with. Which couldn't be farther from our intention, of course, but we can no more easily control your ability to summon these weapons than we can go back in time and change scripture."

"But..." I looked at my bracelet. "You think this is shackled? I never did anything special to summon it. In fact, I don't even think I can. It just always existed."

"You're clearly a special case," Terutomo said. "Which is why I'm worried, and curious what would happen if we tried teaching you how to use it as if you were a dragon. It is my personal belief that the Abyssinian scriptures at least hint at a truth, and these weapons were in some way related to the conflict between our gods. Although I would hazard a guess that the real sign they warn of is not the uncovering of these weapons in ponies, but the breaking of whatever seal binds their power."

Chills ran up and down my body. "So... there's a really good reason for me to not push my limits and figure out what this can do. A really, really good reason."

"Perhaps." Terutomo shrugged. "Or perhaps yours is sealed just like all the others, and nothing you could do could break it. Or perhaps you are already an exception to the rule, and consequences will come whether you understand what you can do or not, in which case would it not be better to have that knowledge? After all, even the most fearsome of tools can still be used for good or evil depending on the whims of its wielder."

"Does that apply to Aegis?" Corsica tipped her head at Seigetsu. "Because she was pretty sure earlier that it didn't."

Terutomo hesitated. "I would rather see the Aegis used for good than for evil. But in that particular case, it would be much better for it not to be used at all."

Seigetsu nodded. "Speaking of the Aegis, I must go and oversee it. It sounds as though you have firmly made your decision about whether to trust these ponies, and I will abide by it. I pray your reasoning is sound."

With a gentle swish of the door, she stiffly departed.

"...Thanks," I said when she was gone. "For being... reasonable about this. I was kind of afraid after I threw in my lot with you, it would go... you know..."

Terutomo shrugged. "For the sake of transparency, I am still evaluating you. I just find that a smile costs nothing, a truth my sister takes her duty too seriously to grasp. That said, no, I don't think your intentions are in doubt. You'll forgive me for having to make certain?"

I slowly nodded.

"As long as we get our boat," Corsica said.

"Right. Your boat." Terutomo sagged a little. "As inclined as I am to help you, I am going to need a little more before I can send you merrily on your way. If you recall, you weren't very forthcoming with your plans and motives the first time we met. And, having seen a slight bit more of you since then, I can make some guesses as to why, but at the very least I need to know what you're intending to do in Equestria with all these powers of yours. You're searching for two ponies, at least one of which is known internationally. Why?"

I took a few deep breaths. Terutomo was a lot more easygoing than Seigetsu, and most importantly he seemed happy to accept talk about my bracelet without pushing about me being a changeling queen. "It's like this..."

And then I told him about Ironridge, the gray sky and the crystal tower, and the almost-extinct flame I recovered in a crystal palace at the bottom of the world. Papyrus looked intrigued. Corsica looked stony. Terutomo sat impassive through it all.

"...Also, there are windigoes involved in all of it," I finished. "But let's talk about the first half of our story before we get around to the second."

"I think," Terutomo said, "that what you need is not a boat to Catantan, but a train to the Crystal Empire."

My ears flicked.

"It is Equestria's nearest seat of power," he went on. "Close enough that all of you could go there together on an overnight train." He looked pointedly at Papyrus, and I suddenly remembered Papyrus had been told about the trains.... or, at least, I presumed that was the forbidden knowledge he was given. "The six element bearers, Fluttershy among them, have close connections with Equestria's royalty, and their leader even counts herself among them. This would surely be the fastest way for you to assemble all of the ponies you need. And if all this is true, then time is of the essence. You do not have the time to sail to Catantan and back, even if your information is accurate. Better to let someone else make the trip in your name, and the Crown has ample resources at their disposal to arrange for that."

"You think we can just waltz in there and ask for a meeting?" Corsica asked. "With some of the most important ponies in the nation?"

Terutomo nodded. "If I send a representative bearing the weight of Cernial's authority, then absolutely. Although I would wager the number of writs you possess would be plenty to attract their attention even without my help..." He rubbed his chin. "But if my sister's reports about the windigo are true, then the Aegis will no longer be safe here. It was returned to Cernial after its discovery some twenty years ago, and then sent to Snowport for safekeeping. But Cernial's resources are limited, and entirely dedicated to the war effort. Perhaps we will need to return the Aegis to the Crystal Empire as well, and deliver it back to Equestria's control for the time being. And that would necessitate a lot more than a single representative..."

I perked up a little. If Aegis needed to go to the same place we would be meeting Fluttershy, that would work out well for the pink flame...

"I must think on this, and get back to my work," Terutomo said, standing up. "You all are free to wander the castle with escorts, although as we still are lifting the lockdown protocol I would advise against frivolous travel. We shall talk again the moment things have calmed down, ideally after my men have located Yelvey. And once again, I thank you for your service to Snowport. My family always honors its debts."

He bowed deeply, then walked away.