The good news was, the upper levels of the Crystal Empire's palace were completely unpopulated. Everyone seemed to be down at the party, especially the guards. Leif and I passed a small number of servants and studious-looking ponies who seemed too wrapped-up in whatever they were doing to be down below, but we barely even needed to hide. Their disinterest in the party seemed to extend to us, too.
The bad news was, I had no idea how to find Nanzanaya.
"What do they even do in a room like this?" I asked, peering around an open entryway that branched from a hall into a large room, without a door or even hinges. The room was flat and orderly, glowing crystals arranged on the ceiling like strip lighting. Four rows of crystal desks took up most of the floorspace, arranged back to back with privacy dividers and crystal chairs and ample room for each pony. But the desks were all barren, and there wasn't a worker in sight.
"It reminds me of Icereach," I murmured, wandering through the unused office space. "Back there, we had a few rooms like this too. A lot of them were also empty, probably since most of the scientists went to work on personal projects in their labs rather than collaborative office work like this would be for. But we didn't have nearly this much space."
This was the fifth such room I had stumbled on so far.
"What's unusual about it?" Leif asked, following behind me. "This place is called the Crystal Empire, even though it's more like a single, sparsely-populated city. But they say it was frozen in time for the last millennia, so it's likely they used to have much more land than they do now. The capitol probably got sealed away, and the rest of their lands taken over by the dragons or subsumed into Equestria. But the infrastructure for running a large empire would still be here, even if they now have no lands to administer with it. That means space for an army of paper-pushers."
"...How often do national borders change?" I asked, letting that idea sift through my head. "Maybe I'm too young to get an idea of geopolitical time, or maybe it's been happening my whole life and I just haven't noticed because Icereach is so isolated. I guess I'm realizing, I've been thinking about the war between Ironridge and Yakyakistan as something that has to be stopped at all costs, because of the windigoes and Chrysalis. And because it's a war, so ponies would die. And it does need to be stopped. But is it abnormal?"
"How often do borders change?" Leif stopped beside me. "In the north alone, I would say at least once a week. Maybe once a day. Go back enough to take the Griffon Empire's instability out of the picture, and you still have the war in Varsidel. Try to rewind before that, and you're into Imperial Yakyakistan territory, when they were poking at their neighbors day in and day out. And even before the Griffon Empire fell, its own states were constantly jockeying for power, land and influence. When a new lord takes over an existing province and renames it for their own family, is it even the same province anymore? Mistvale no longer exists as a nation. Its lands are unclaimed and its people are dead. I've heard the far northwest has only the ruins of an ancient civilization, meaning the same thing must have happened there long, long ago. War will never be abnormal."
My backwards ears fell.
"...Not without fundamental change, at least," Leif admitted. "But I'm not sure how deep that change would need to go. I've tried quite a lot over the course of my life, and learned a lot more about what doesn't work than what does. What I do know is that if it bothers you, about the worst thing you can do is sit around feeling sorry for the state of affairs. Don't wallow. Stay on the move. Know all of your resources, and track them jealously. Don't miss opportunities because you were too stingy to use them, but don't commit them all to one endeavor, either."
I bit my tongue. "This is another lecture about how I did in Snowport, isn't it?"
Leif shrugged. "Just general advice. If you want to apply it to your own situation, that's your prerogative. Or you could ignore it and try to find your own way. I haven't met with success yet, so for all you know, I don't know what I'm talking about. Up to you."
We moved on, and so did my train of thought. Obviously, in Snowport I had been too conservative, hadn't told Terutomo or Seigetsu enough to win them over and had just made myself appear suspicious. But with Starlight, I had arguably told her too much, and prematurely scared her off before I could impress upon her the importance of my mission. Why did striking a balance have to be so hard?
It was fear, I knew. I hadn't completely broken the shackles that bound Procyon and Faye. I could stay complacent, keep dangerous information to myself, and play it safe. Or I could push hard, fight myself and temporarily break free enough to put what I knew out there... but when I ignored those shackles, so too did I ignore prudence. I could only do it if I stopped thinking and suspended my better judgement. There was a middle ground, and I needed to hit it, but I couldn't see it or aim for it while mustering the strength to put myself out there. Was that my problem?
I thought of Corsica, and how I might not be telling her everything she deserved to know. But when I tried to turn my focus to the things I should tell her, my mind went blank again, doused in a peaceful contentment that wanted me to believe everything was fine and I had nothing left I needed to do.
We entered a tall room with multiple levels, stacked balconies overlooking a central area with a circular pool. Someone had clearly outfitted this room for swimming and recreation, with a few reclining chairs and racks of towels near the pool, and some ropes with strings of floats nearby that could cordon off the pool into lanes for races. But my machine-attuned mind instantly understood this wasn't the room's original purpose: transparent crystal pipes full of water rose up along the room's walls, threading their ways onto balconies and into shadowed blocks of crystal I couldn't make out from the floor.
An open-air elevator took us up one level, and I got a closer look at where the water from the pool was going... or rather, where it was cycled through.
Industrial-sized washing machines. Probably at least three dozen of them. All made completely from crystal.
"The ponies of the past must have worn a lot of clothing," I mused, walking further along the platform, seeing another machine that was likely a water purifier, allowing the water in the storage pool to be reused. "Strange, isn't it? With those glittery coats, you'd think they'd want to show off a little. Maybe their culture used to pride itself on modesty."
"It's possible," Leif said. "In my experience, cultures that uphold modesty or purity as a virtue either have some shortcoming they're building a facade to hide, or else go to ugly extremes to enforce those ideals. But don't forget that clothing can show off a pony's body and features as well as cover them up. Not everyone uses it like you do. If I had to guess, they did it just to accentuate themselves even more."
"You don't have a very high opinion of the crystal ponies' forebearers," I pointed out.
Leif shook her head. "Perhaps I'm jumping to conclusions. I've just never seen a power structure that doesn't foster some level of decadence at the top. It doesn't matter how small you make it. It's inevitable. But the ones that get big enough to call themselves empires would always be the worst."
"The Crystal Empire sure does seem small now, though," I remarked. "You saw how many ponies were at that party. I bet every single one of them could live in this castle with room to spare, forget the rest of the city. And one castle hardly counts as an empire."
"Being frozen in time is a major societal disruption," Leif said. "It would probably result in all sorts of anachronisms as systems built for a different age adjust to the current one. Because of that, it might be premature to judge them so early when they're just rejoining the rest of the world."
Through my boots, I could still almost feel the touch of the crystal, an invisible buzz that brimmed with vibrancy. "How do you suppose they managed that?" I asked. "Being frozen in time, I mean. And why? This place feels pretty magical, but that's still a lot to ask for."
"Dunno." Leif stepped back onto the elevator, and we resumed going up. "If you're curious, ask the locals. Many of them would have existed a thousand years ago, before whatever happened to them. Personally, it doesn't interest me that much, so I spent my time inquiring about other things."
"It doesn't interest you?" The room fell around us as the elevator rose. "Seriously?"
"...Perhaps a little," Leif admitted. "I've certainly never heard of anything like it before. An entire city, vanished and returning a thousand years later as if no time had passed at all? It would take serious power to accomplish even a fraction of that, far beyond what any mortal should be capable of. However, it would be a power of stasis. And I've always been much more interested in changing my lot in life than keeping the world around me the same forever."
"When you put it that way, maybe Princess Celestia did it," I speculated. "After all, she's apparently built this country to be impervious to widespread change, to hear the dragons tell it. All conflicts are localized. No secrets need to spread, especially ones that might tempt ponies to step beyond the safety of their own backyard and appreciate how huge the world really is. And that gets on my nerves, because I want to know everything and see the world, have new experiences and keep searching for the kind of life I want to live."
I looked down at the distant pool. "But that might not always be a bad thing. You think everyone constantly fighting wars in the north is bad, right? What if you just had the power to press a button and suddenly the borders of every country and province get frozen right where they are, and no one can fight anymore?"
"That's a good point," Leif said. "But imagine if someone else had that power. Would you really be comfortable with them being able to make that decision for you? What if they took away your ability to fight for the things you want in life before you've gotten them? With enough power, you can quash someone's ability to fight... but removing their reasons for fighting is a lot harder."
The elevator stopped on a level that connected to another hallway, this one carrying the air of a maintenance corridor even though it was just as wide and opulent as the halls on the lower levels. I felt like Leif had more to say, but when I prodded, she just shook her head.
"We're supposed to be looking for your zebra friend," she told me. "I doubt speculating over this castle's history will help with that."
"But we've been up and down this place and still seen no trace of her," I sighed. "We didn't just lose the trail, we never even had it in the first place. So have you got anything better to do?"
"I know where she is," Procyon whispered, hovering just around a corner.
My eyes snapped to her.
Procyon shrugged. "I did say I'd try to be a little more helpful around here, didn't I? So I followed her after she left."
Leif was watching me with the curiosity of a scientist who was about to confirm a hypothesis.
"Don't worry about her." Procyon shrugged. "Or do worry. It's up to you, how much to tell your own teammates about your situation... but if anyone, better someone you've known for a while than a stranger. Anyway, are you interested?"
I held perfectly still.
"This seems to me like a good way to get in trouble," Procyon said, beckoning with a hoof and floating off down a hallway. "So does having anything at all to do with that zebra. She rubs me the wrong way. But as we've established, you're a lot less risk-averse than your past lives would suggest..."
"I've got..." I swallowed. "A good feeling about going this way," I mumbled to Leif, starting to follow.
Leif studied me, considering something. I felt like an experiment in a lab.
My ears twisted. "...What's that look for?"
"You're getting information from a source I can't see," Leif mused. "That's the only explanation for your sudden mood swings, erratic behavior and changes of plan. Or, at least, the most likely one."
"That's a little personal to just go and ask someone," I said warily. "...But what if I am?"
"Nothing." Leif shook her head. "Just be careful which voices in your head you decide to trust."
I raised an eyebrow.
"The Night Mother spoke to her followers through telepathy," Leif explained. "And you know where it got us."
Oh. Well, I was only stuck in my head with several older copies of myself.
I wished I had a telepathic link to a real goddess.
"We should split up," Leif said. "Cover more ground that way. If you've got a lead I know nothing about, I can't judge for myself whether I want to follow it. Good luck out there."
She darted into a shadow, waiting halfway submerged for my response. Was this really something to run from?
Well, from her perspective, it probably did look suspicious, didn't it...
"Sure." I nodded, and she was gone.
Time to see what Nanzanaya was up to.
As I climbed higher up the tower, the hue of the crystals changed, growing darker and more resplendent, yellows and pinks and teals being replaced by deep blues and indigoes and greens. Patterns carved into the floors had probably once helped ancient ponies to navigate, but their meaning was lost on me.
This tower... I felt like it had a function, something beyond being a piece of architecture, landmark and administrative building. I couldn't shake the sensation that the whole thing was connected somehow, that you couldn't change part without changing the rest. Like it had been chosen as a capitol rather than constructed to be one.
You think the crystal tower that appeared over Ironridge has rooms like this, too? Faye asked in my mind.
I furrowed my brow. Yunie, the batpony from Snowport, mentioned a crystal tower appearing somewhere in Abyssinia, and talked about exploring it and finding it full of pre-made rooms and corridors...
Exactly.
But this place was at least a thousand years old. And if the town was so sparsely populated now, would that have meant it was sparsely populated in the days before it was sealed? For all I knew, it had already been in the twilight of its imperial days even then.
How long ago had this tower appeared? And had any kind of calamity accompanied it, like the sky turning gray up north?
Procyon beckoned me through a final doorway. This one, I had to shadow sneak beneath.
The room on the other side was massive.
It was probably still a storage area, though one intended for something grand: the roof was so high up, it was lost to sight in the gloom, crystal chandeliers shedding dim light and hanging down on long, long chains that stretched up into the blackness. The ground was polished to a mirrorlike sheen, support columns bordering a walkway around the edge.
In the center were two figures: Nanzanaya, and a hulking silhouette that was unmistakably Aegis.
My breath caught in my throat.
"You came too!" Nanzanaya perked up when she heard me, spinning around with a gleam in her eyes. "Wasn't this a fantastic idea? This old castle will never run out of stuff to find! Did you know they even kept things like this up here?"
I stared more at Aegis than at her. "What's that doing here?"
It was supposed to be in Snowport. Or on a different train to the Crystal Empire. Or...
I whirled around. If Aegis had already arrived, it wouldn't have been left unguarded. And the fact that I hadn't seen any guards probably meant that they didn't want to be seen.
"Well, have fun exploring," I told Nanzanaya. "I've got somewhere important to-"
Where the door had once been, there was now only a solid crystal wall.
My heartbeat sped up.
"Have you been enjoying yourselves?" asked a voice from the shadows.
"Who are you?" Nanzanaya asked, sounding a lot more curious than I felt.
A single chandelier did more to illuminate the room than all the rest, casting a lone puddle of light onto Aegis. As I watched, ponies stepped out of the darkness from all directions, at least twenty of them and all looking the same: dusky manes, black goggles and tight bodysuits, watching us with expressionless faces.
One of them was strikingly different. A mare who stood about a head taller than me, she wore a graceful, full-body suit of plate armor made from dark blue metal. Her horn, long enough to rival Corsica's, was covered at the base by a silver crown, and she watched me with sharp, angular eyes, her mane and tail flowing together in a cloud that looked like it was made from ether.
On her sides, I saw the unmistakable armor coverings of wings. An alicorn.
"Recently, word arrived from our allies in Snowport of a certain incident. They suspected it might have been the doing of Abyssinia," the alicorn said, staying at the edge of the light. "My aid was requested in a ploy to catch any co-conspirators waiting to capitalize on the disturbance. So, I took up position in the mountains, watching the trains run, carrying ostensibly critical cargo. I expected a hijacking or holdup. Imagine my surprise when, instead, I detected an unusual power coming from within the train itself."
She took a step closer. "We hadn't expected any collaborators to simply travel from Snowport to the Crystal Empire and attempt a theft once the furor had died down. That would be unusually bold and unusually clueless... unless one was possessed of tools that make sneaking in the dark a preferable alternative to brute force. So, I decided to follow you, and made sure to place as few obstacles in your path as possible. And now it seems that hunch was correct."
Nanzanaya glanced between me and the alicorn, then pointed a hoof at me. "I'm with her. Is she not supposed to be here?"
"I was only following her to keep her out of trouble. And she's not with me. Not really." I shook my head, deciding that anything I had to gain from keeping Nanzanaya safe was heavily outweighed by everything I had to lose. "You know Seigetsu? Dragon inquisitor from Snowport? I'm here with her. She'll vouch for me. I already was involved with that incident in Snowport, and I'm not here to mess with your metal dragon."
"I am aware of that," said another voice from the shadows.
It was Seigetsu.
"What...?" I took a step back.
Seigetsu gave me a small bow. "I'm sorry for leading you on like this. While we were on the train, Princess Luna and I were in close contact. She was, after all, the one standing guard in the mountains in case Abyssinia stirred up any trouble. When she detected a suspicious power signature coming from the train, however, she requested my aid in testing you. Understand that this is not normally how the dragons of Cernial operate, but a request from a Princess constitutes the most extenuating of circumstances. So, I pretended to be unimpressed with the Crystal Empire's security arrangements, insinuated they weren't taking this matter seriously, and then left you on your own to see if you would take the bait and wander off. And lo and behold, not only did you find your way directly to this chamber, but you even rendezvoused with someone I had never seen before arriving here today."
I felt like gravity doubled as her words sank in.
"To be clear, every effort was taken during Aegis's handoff to maintain security, including multiple layers of obfuscation," Seigetsu said, touching the brim of her hat. "While Princess Luna and I ran the trains to see if Abyssinia was behind this, Princess Celestia traveled to Snowport in secret to move Aegis herself. She was never on the trains, not that any number of guards would have been sufficient to protect her if she had been. Now then." She nodded to the alicorn, presumably Luna. "I have done what you asked of me. The floor is yours, Princess."
Luna nodded, stepping forward, scanning me and Nanzanaya with her eyes. "I have been told of your reasons for being here. You are an emissary from Ironridge." Her eyes found me. "And you, from the Aptann Valley."
She looked to Nanzanaya, who didn't shrink back.
"I expect those stories are at least partially accurate," Luna said. "It is even possible that you both found your ways to this chamber completely by accident. But the power I feel on you cannot be denied. Why is it that you, both of whom appeared here suddenly and simultaneously before the Aegis, are invisible in the eyes of gods?"
My eyes widened. "What?"
Nanzanaya's posture straightened.
"You will tell me everything," Luna declared. "This is not a power that can be permitted to exist unchecked in Equestria."
"What are you talking about?" I pressed. "What do you mean, invisible in the eyes of gods?"
Luna watched me.
I glanced around for something, anything I could say to get myself out of this mess... and my gaze fell on Nanzanaya's third eye. What had she said, that having the eye allowed you to see it on others? But presumably not on yourself? And Luna thought we both were under the influence of some exotic magic? What were the odds...?
"You explain it," I told her. "You understand it better than me."
Nanzanaya smiled up at Princess Luna. "Perhaps you would prefer to hear it from each of us in private, to ensure we don't hide behind each other's explanations? We really don't know each other that well."
Luna nodded. "As you wish."
Her horn lit with blue, and a translucent dome came down around her and Nanzanaya, just opaque enough to prevent a skilled lip reader from doing their job. Not a single sound from inside reached my ears.
I gritted my teeth. Technically, I had just tried to throw her under the cart there and make her do the talking, but still...
Instead, my attention found its way to Seigetsu. "Did you really set me up?" I asked, squinting at her.
"No," Seigetsu said. "I simply helped a friend by giving you a choice. One both of us were curious to see your answer to. No one made you explore this tower, and certainly no one showed you the way to this particular room."
No one, huh? Well, technically, there had been Procyon...
Procyon was nowhere to be seen. But now that I thought on it, she had warned me.
Half a dozen thoughts about what to say flitted through my head, but all of them got vetoed. There just didn't seem to be anything I could say right now that wouldn't make my situation worse. My mission relied on getting Equestria as my ally, and any gambits or ploys in front of their princess would be a terrible way to clear the air.
I rubbed my head with my wings. Hopefully Corsica was having a better time with Princess Twilight than this.
"You look worn out," Twilight remarked, sitting with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy near the room where Celestia talked with Corsica, shortly after Braen was called inside.
"You think?" Corsica shrugged. "Big day. Big life. Any chance you'd be offended if I went and crashed for a while?"
"Well, not offended," Rainbow said. "But you know it's barely even evening yet, right?"
"Maybe we should go back to the Crystal Empire before going to sleep," Fluttershy suggested. "This town seems... um, nice, but... it's nice."
Corsica gave her a look.
"Everyone seems on edge here, and I feel like it has to do with me," Twilight mused. "I can't stop thinking about how that bartender shooed us away. Something isn't right here, and I'd like to get to the bottom of it."
"You mean like how it's normal to assume any slightly-glitzier-than-normal ponies are changelings?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I definitely smell a fish. The question is whether we want anything to do with it. Normally, when there's a problem that's up our alley, the map table calls on us. But it didn't send us here. We walked into this on our own."
"We used to solve all kinds of problems before the map table, though," Fluttershy pointed out.
"Yeah, I know." Rainbow folded her forelegs and huffed. "It's making me feel lazy for even thinking about leaving this alone. But Princess Celestia is here, and she seems like chums with these guys, right? Maybe we just wait until she's done with Braen and then ask her what's up."
Twilight frowned at her. "It's not like you to be the voice of moderation when we're faced with a potentially new problem to solve."
"Ehhhhh," Rainbow complained, waving a foreleg in a circle. "I know that, but changelings in particular just creep me out. If we're beating them up, that's great, but this town can't be completely rogue if Princess Celestia is on good terms with the higher-ups. And that means changelings are probably integrated into the society somehow. Basically, whatever's wrong here is probably not the kind of problem you can solve by going fast and winning." She kicked idly at her tail. "Bet it's right in your courthouse though, Twi."
Twilight looked to Corsica. "You've spent more time here than we have. What's your take on this place?"
Corsica forced herself to focus. "On what part of it?"
"Well, first off, on why I got the reception that I did," Twilight began. "They didn't think I was an alicorn, they thought I was a changeling. Right?"
"What kind of history does Equestria have with changelings?" Corsica asked.
Twilight stared at the ceiling in thought. "Oh, just a few years back, their queen, Chrysalis, impersonated Princess Cadance and kidnapped and replaced a ton of ponies in Canterlot - that's the capitol, if you didn't know - and tried to mind-control my brother and take over Equestria. No biggie. It's clearly perfectly fine that we might have a town with a bunch of changelings in this close to Cadance's new domain, and that would be a foolish thing to freak out over, right?"
"I got kidnapped by changelings, once," Corsica said. "They weren't part of an evil army, though. Just sky pirates impersonating a legitimate employer. Not like I appreciated it, but they could think for themselves. So, supposing some changelings decided they wanted to live as peaceful, unaffiliated villagers, would Celestia be chill enough to know about them, let them keep a low profile in a town somewhere and leave well enough alone?"
"That makes sense," Fluttershy said. Then she blinked. "Wait, you got kidnapped by them? That's not something most ponies would sound so casual about."
"Okay, so the changelings here might be just random peaceful villagers," Rainbow admitted. "But you still said something out by the gates about the dragon church having memory magic. And something suspicious definitely happened to those polar bears."
Corsica leaned against a wall. "Yup. Kidnapped. Don't worry, I'm over it. Anyway, the polar bears are somebody else's problem now. We did a good deed, got them connected with someone who knows who they used to be. I think that bartender's a decent enough guy. Do you really want to get involved with a mystery someone else has under control when you run the risk of losing all your memories for it?"
"Hey, Twilight," Rainbow said. "You don't suppose the memory magic the dragons have is the same as the stuff from Starlight's story, do you?"
Twilight furrowed her brow. "I suppose it's possible. How does it work? Do you know anything about who uses it, or whether it's supposed to be reversible, or has any limitations?"
"Basically nothing." Corsica shook her head. "It's tightly controlled by a cult called the Order of Silence, which is controlled in turn by the head of the church. The one pony here who could use it was an old dude called Yelvey, and he bailed this morning or last night or something."
Twilight frowned. "Yelvey... Was he a batpony, by any chance?"
Corsica nodded. "Yup."
"Was he sort of gray?" Rainbow Dash added. "Did he wear big, giant robes that covered most of his body? And did you ever get a look under them?"
Corsica gave her a look. "Yes, yes, and no. That mean anything to you?"
"Then it's definitely the same kind of memory magic Starlight knew about," Twilight said, grimacing a little. "I'm sure Princess Celestia already knows about it, but if anything, we'd want to go to Starlight or Princess Luna about this. Although both princesses probably already know all about it... I'm definitely going to ask about this later, but I think we should just assume someone who already knows all the details is already on this case. Besides, I'm feeling a little like getting back to the Crystal Empire and taking a rest after all the day's excitement myself."
"And you still have to tell Starlight about her visitors," Rainbow pointed out. "Assuming everyone we left behind hasn't found her already."
Twilight sheepishly grinned. "Yeah, she'd probably be real mad if that happened. Anyway, here's to not poking our noses where they don't belong, not getting in trouble with a town of maybe-passive changelings, not getting our memories wiped and going home safe and sound at the end of the day?"
"Yay," Fluttershy whispered.
"Just as long as we're clear that if Princess Celestia is holding out on us somehow and everything here is actually held together by string and duct tape, we're coming back and fixing this place up a bit so it can stop giving me the creeps," Rainbow insisted. "But yeah. We helped some polar bears. We saw Celestia, and she didn't think your report was super panic mode. Now it's time to go back and see the look on Starlight's face when she learns she's got visitors."
"How am I holding out on you, now?" Princess Celestia asked, appearing in the doorway with Braen.
"Yo." Rainbow saluted with a wing. "Is this place cool? And would it benefit from us messing around a little and seeing what problems we can root up?"
Princess Celestia chuckled. "I don't think there's any place in Equestria that couldn't. However, this particular town is in good hands, and I am currently heading back to the Crystal Empire, so staying around would mean missing out on a free ride."
"I wouldn't mind a ride," Twilight said, still sounding ever so slightly tired from her marathon teleport session to get here.
"If you do have any business here you'd like to come back for later, I would be happy to give you some contacts, though," Celestia went on. "Dragon society is somewhat removed from the norm of what you've dealt with before, Twilight; particularly the ice dragons. And in this particular situation, you may benefit from bringing a larger team with more experience abroad. But right now I have much to confer with Luna about, so if you are coming, I would leave quickly."
Corsica nodded, psyching herself up for dealing with Halcyon again. Hopefully her secretive friend hadn't withheld the wrong info from the wrong pony and gotten into trouble while she'd been gone...