To Corsica's surprise, Halcyon hadn't made any moves to stop being carried, even by the time they reached Twilight's suite. This was supposed to be a nice gesture that Halcyon quickly grew uncomfortable with and left behind to walk on her own, not an actual test of endurance...
Although, this was Faye now. Halcyon, Corsica's best friend since the avalanche, was a green gemstone in Seigetsu's pocket, and would remain that way until Faye changed her mind and wanted her back.
Several other mares had arrived in the suite since Corsica was there last, most of whom she didn't recognize and all of whom looked like they were there for some good after-party carousing... all except Starlight, who sat at the end of a couch looking lost in thought. Nanzanaya was still here and hadn't slunk off, thankfully.
While Twilight moved to make introductions, Corsica made a beeline for one of the bedrooms adjacent to the central lobby. She had lost count of how many times today she claimed to be past her limit while signing up to do even more, and there was not going to be another before she finally got some sleep. Nothing could interrupt.
The room beyond the door was dim, inviting... and had two beds. A perfect quip about how to decide who got the bed she had been planning for the entire walk back died on Corsica's lips. Oh well.
"Here." Corsica kicked the door closed behind her and deposited Faye on the floor. "You can make it the rest of the way on your own, right?"
Faye sat up, a pensive look on her face. "Have... you already eaten, then?"
Corsica blinked, remembering the ongoing feast in the other room that probably actually would all get eaten now that more ponies had showed up to help with it. "Right... I'll go get something for both of us. Bring it back in here."
She swung the door open. No one seemed to begrudge her as she swiped two plates and loaded them down with food, though she did get a couple curious looks from the newcomers.
"There." Returning to the bedroom, she passed one plate to Faye. "You mind if we save the chitchat for morning? I'm... past my limit..."
Well, add one more to the counter of how many times she said that today.
Faye nodded quietly. "I need some time too. To get my... thoughts in order."
"Yeah." Corsica chewed quickly, eyeing her bed. "I bet."
The party in Twilight's suite carried on late into the night, as far as anyone standing outside the door and eavesdropping would have been concerned.
The rest of the castle was much quieter. The Crystal Empire lacked the bureaucracy that would require operating around the clock: its butlers and cleaners and archivists could do their jobs just as easily by daylight, and the regiment of soldiers under the Prince and Princess's command were blissfully snoring in their bunks, save for a small few keeping a subdued vigil throughout the night. The Crystal Heart spun in its holder, vibrant and free from signs of tampering. The streets below were trashed and empty, the city's denizens waiting for morning to clean up the previous day's excesses.
And on a bench in a waiting room near a spare reception chamber, surrounded by weathered magazines and potted plants, Nehaley dozed lightly, her burned side covered, as ever, by a bathrobe she hadn't even taken off in the presence of royalty.
"Hmm," Discord said, frowning at her. He snapped his talons, and in a burst of purple geometry, a cuddly blanket materialized around her.
He smiled at his handiwork. "Much better! I swear, Halcyon is so bad at keeping track of her teammates..."
Nehaley shifted under the blanket, but didn't wake.
At Discord's side, Papyrus chuckled under his breath. "In fairness to her, some of us are awfully attached to our independent streaks."
The duo left Nehaley and started wandering the hallways, taking a circuit that conveniently avoided any sightings by guards. "So?" Discord eventually asked. "You're successfully flying under the radar. Braen's pledged not to out you and the others are either happy to be rid of you or just don't care. What next?"
"I don't know," Papyrus said, his demeanor proud but his tone worried. "I'm good for exactly one swift kick in the rear to Starlight or any princess who gets too complacent, and then I'll be out of cards to play. It doesn't help that my reasons for coming all this way are feeling awfully flimsy now that I've actually found her. What's more, this Ponyville they'll all be gallivanting off to tomorrow is only reachable with that silly railroad magic."
Discord raised an eyebrow. "Wishing you could take the long-distance trains too?"
Papyrus shook his head. "I hadn't expected a situation where we would all find Starlight together, then everyone plus her would take a teleporting train somewhere else and leave me behind." He snorted. "All this makes me think I need some new goals. I've always been better at shameless ambition than sitting around twiddling my pinions."
"Welll..." Discord put his hands together and dramatically strummed his talons and claws. "If it's a little more excitement you're after, care to pop back to Ironridge with me for a spell? The war room meetings are endless and for some reason everyone expects the humble janitor to attend, but I'm certain you could spice things up a little."
Papyrus's eyes gleamed with curiosity. "That's on the table?"
Discord shrugged. "Well, taking passengers with the trash can teleport has a few minor limitations, but for someone as closely attuned to chaos as yourself, we could go just about anywhere..."
Papyrus pursed his lips in interest. "Could it, perhaps, let me follow that train as well?"
"Oh, Papyrus," Discord chuckled. "You think Starlight doesn't know how far apart these cities really are? You think Celestia and Luna don't know? If you really want to take the train, there are workarounds. Granted, many of them have to do with me, but suffice to say you've come to the right draconequus. Now then, Ironridge? I've got about two minutes before fashionably late becomes unfashionably late."
"...Right. Count me in." Papyrus nodded. "If nothing else, the look on Valey's face ought to be worth the trip."
High in the administrative level atop the Ice District, in a conference room pleated with black marble and red carpet and gold filigree, Egdelwonk lurked at the bottom of a wastebasket, Papyrus at his side.
The basket was conspicuously placed to provide him a point of entry, and Valey and Lilith - the room's two sole inhabitants - occasionally gave it expectant glances, though the door was the focus of most of their attention.
One wall was completely taken up by a giant screen, controlled by a hefty box of buttons and levers built into the table in front of Valey's seat. The seats themselves were enormous, perfectly suited to Lilith's figure, appearing perfectly flat and unforgiving yet with enough give that any corporate executive would be hard-pressed to find something more plush. Valey lounged in hers, one foreleg draped over the side, the screen currently set to a high-resolution camera feed pointed west of the city.
A wall of lights on the horizon heralded Yakyakistan's distant fleet. Three giant carrier airships and twenty mid-sized raiders, according to what they could see in the daytime.
The ships didn't advance. Neither did they encircle Ironridge and attempt to build a perimeter. They simply waited.
"With all due respect," Lilith said, her voice icy, "I fail to see the point of these. The situation has not changed."
"Yeah, yeah." Valey was fixated on the screen. "We all know how apathetic you are about defending Ironridge. For showing up at all, you got my thanks."
"As long as my children continue to call this city home, that is enough. You should know better than to question my commitment."
"Mhmm." Valey nodded, her gaze boring into the screen, as if staring hard enough would let her predict the invaders' plans. "So how's that going, anyway? With Coda?"
"These things take time," Lilith bitterly lamented. "You of all ponies should know this. If only we had access to Stanza, we could transplant Coda's soul to an ordinary body and leave her windigo-infested one to rot. But recreating that abomination is out of the question, and the real one is at the bottom of a collapsed crater in the Griffon Empire. Don't remind me that I could still take all of my children and leave this city and seek it out on our own."
"As we've established, you're not gonna do that," Valey said disinterestedly, still focused on the screen. "Because you don't leave anyone behind. And some of us batponies - like me - aren't giving up on this place so easily. Right?"
Lilith audibly ground her teeth.
The door slid open. In stepped Samael, Estael, Junior Karma and a small host of bodyguards.
"I suppose that means it's my turn to arrive," Egdelwonk sighed, climbing out of the trash can, leaving Papyrus inside to watch and intervene whenever he felt like it. "What a beautiful hodge-podge of defenders this city has."
"Good. You haven't kept me waiting," said Junior Karma with a nod. A wiry stallion with a stiff mustache and immaculate business suit, he was the only pony who looked truly at home in the dark, opulent conference room, even if everyone knew he was only the formal head of a company that had been hollowed out by dangerous bargains and special interests long ago. He carried himself with an aura of power, belying how little the room's other occupants knew him to have. "Admiral? What's our status?"
"Yo." Valey gave him a small wave. "So, everyone remembers how they tried to encircle the city when they first got here, and we downed four of their ships with the northeastern anti-aircraft stuff. Since some of us were feeling forgetful at the time about why we only had anti-aircraft stuff pointed in that direction, Yakyakistan used to be our ally, everyone was mostly worried about that pirate king guy, and I didn't have a seat at the table to lecture anyone about priorities. Anyone want to re-litigate that, or am I good to proceed?"
Junior Karma raised a single eyebrow. "You were reinstated as admiral for your military expertise. As I myself made clear, I expect any dissent should defer to you from now on."
"Gnarly." Valey kept watching the screen. "Anyway, tonight we're moving all our weapons to the western front, since that's where Yakyakistan has been waiting to stay out of range ever since. If all goes well, then by morning we'll be able to launch a surprise attack and hopefully take out some of the big ones. If anything goes wrong and they get off their rears and attack right now, it might get ugly. Which is why I want everyone here, in the command center, while this goes down."
Samael, one of the twin directors of public security, cleared his throat. "What makes us more vulnerable tonight than any other night? My impression of the situation has been that we're doing this because we don't have sufficient deterrence aimed at the fleet to ward off a large-scale assault. In spite of this, Yakyakistan has done little more than minimal raids to remind us they are here. While they are technically enforcing a siege even without surrounding us, Ironridge is one of the known world's biggest exporters of food, and Yakyakistan one of its biggest importers."
Valey nodded at the screen. "Yep. Our best hope is that they are trying to siege us, and are too stupid to know that it won't work. Hence why we want to get these weapons more evenly distributed before they can catch on, if that is the case. But I think Chrysalis would be smarter than that. She probably knows Ironridge is completely dysfunctional, and just wants to break us a little with pressure before moving in for the kill. In which case, now would be the opportune time to strike, right before we regroup and improve our defenses."
Junior Karma's sharp eyes flicked between the ponies in the room, and he imperceptibly nodded.
"I should mention," Estael said. "I've had three more petitions from Jamjars' kid. She's still offering to help us."
"Is that giant tower still out there?" Valey asked. "Crystals and all?"
Estael nodded.
"And you can see what the sky is still like." Valey pointed at the screen, the airships hovering against a backdrop of lifeless gray. "We need all the help we can get. But Kitty is not here to help."
"In that case-" Lilith stood up.
"Hold that thought," Valey hissed, flinging out a hoof. "Look. They're moving."
Junior Karma regarded the screen. "You're right. How curious." He turned to Valey. "An amateur would think you made a good prediction, and wanted the authorities on site to help command the defense. But that's not what's going on here, is it?" He regarded her intently. "You've just finished telling us how our best defense against an attack is currently disassembled and in transit, even though it wouldn't have helped with an attack from the west anyway. That's a non-sequitur, Valey. You've got a plan, and are looking for an audience while you show off."
"Heh." Valey touched the brim of her hat. "Close, but not quite. Now, it looks like... six raider ships incoming. Hit the air raid sirens. It's probably a real attack."
Estael punched a button. In the distance below, the sirens began to wail.
"We're actually gaining more out of this than I expected," Valey said, still watching the screen. "See, a problem I've been trying to figure out since I got this job is how I can trust you lot. Nothing personal, you understand, but I've got a bad history with Chrysalis. And now I'm fighting her again, and find myself allied with some powerful changeling-adjacent things who kind of remind me of her. How do I know one of you isn't a mole? Or worse, Chrysalis herself, here to spy on us and gather intelligence?"
She tapped the desk as the sirens wailed. "I figured it wouldn't hurt to talk like we were suddenly, secretly vulnerable for a night, in the confidence of this chamber, and see if and whether that info would get to the army out there and convince them to take the bait. Of course, as some of you noticed, we're not actually more vulnerable than usual. And now I've learned three things: someone is getting information from this room. They're also incredibly hasty. I thought I was going to have to wait half the night for something to start, but no, they started moving the moment I said we were open. That means it's more likely a tap or bug than a deliberate conspirator, since no conspirator would be that transparent about their leak. And third, they're led by a tactician who's very easy to influence."
Valey got up and started to pace. "I mean, when you think about it, the only benefit we were getting out of moving the cannons to the west is a one-time surprise attack once they're online. A smart general, after picking up intel like that, would stay where they were until we were committed to the move, then just put their ships on the east side of the city instead. Assuming they wanted to preserve the status quo, of course, which is so far what this fleet has been doing. Now then. Assuming this place is bugged, and the invaders can hear me..."
She looked around at the rest of the room. "What's it going to be? Stand your ground and I'll destroy you. Circle around to the other side of the city and I'll know you're listening. Or stay the course and find out what I had planned for your little raider ships if it turned out you let me lure you into a trap?"
Some of Samael and Estael's guard fidgeted.
Junior Karma's eyes snapped to them. "Nobody leave this room," he instructed. "We have a strategic exercise underway."
Everyone watched the screen.
Slowly, the advancing ships stopped, turned around, and started maneuvering to rejoin the main fleet.
Valey nodded to herself. "Message received. Either they're stupid, have given this up for a lost cause, or want us to know we're bugged. Alright, goons. You're listening. How about a parlay? If you'd like to meet face to face, fire one cannon shot off at nothing to the south."
"That wasn't the most appealing invitation," Estael pointed out.
"But it was tailored to its recipient," Samael said. "Chrysalis knows Valey."
On the screen, no shots were fired. The entire armada began to turn, slowly circling the city clockwise.
Valey whistled. "Heading around to the east side. I think they're mocking me."
Junior Karma's eyes narrowed. "I assume you have a plan for this eventuality, as well? After stripping my headquarters of its defenses and moving them to the west side, you've now invited their armada right to its doorstep."
"Oh yeah. Lotsa plans." Valey kicked back in her executive chair. "For starters, putting this big building in between their ships and the city. If they're going to advance, better it gets blown to smithereens than the civilians."
"You have no idea what kind of power you would be squandering through the loss of this facility," said a new voice, cool and pious.
It was a Whitewing.
Junior Karma glared at it. "Who let that in here? I ordered this room be sealed off!"
"This is my house," the Composer tonelessly explained. "In it, I go where I will."
Valey tapped the armrest of her chair in annoyance. "In the middle of a plan to save Ironridge, here. Which wouldn't have been necessary if you bozos hadn't gotten us into this fight in the first place. Are you here to watch a master at work, or are you about to make my night a whole lot harder?"
"Think of me as an impartial observer," the Composer offered, as calm and reasonable as a lawyer advising a client to take a plea deal. "But Ironridge has the power to win this fight on offense alone, and many more like it. Continue with your own plans if you must, but do so in the knowledge that there are better ways. Much better ways."
Junior Karma looked to Lilith. "I thought I entrusted the creature controlling these to your laboratory for safekeeping."
Lilith bristled. "You of all creatures should know the difficulty of forcing a windigo into subservience. Lest we forget, they stole your company right out from under your nose and left you a powerless figurehead in a suit, Karma."
"Stole?" Junior Karma looked mildly offended, as though the subject of his offense was too far beneath him to warrant more than a little disgust. "I used them to create the technology that powered our rise to dominance, Lilith. The same rise that has given you every resource you presently have."
"Can it, nerds," Valey barked. "No fighting in the war room! If you want something useful to do with yourselves, figure out how Yakyakistan is listening in on us. I'll use this to my advantage as long as I have to, but if I can't talk with you in private then none of you will be allowed to be in on my plans."
Egdelwonk observed all this passively, glancing back into the wastebasket at Papyrus. He raised an eyebrow as if to say, want in?
Papyrus shook his shadowed head.
"Fleet bearing is one o'clock," Estael said, wandering over to Valey's chair. "Assuming they're going due east of us, we've used up half our time until they get where they're going. Then what?"
Valey punched a button, and the screen flickered to a different camera feed, this one more centered on where the fleet was going now. "Depends how wide of a berth they give us," she said. "If they come close enough, maybe we can get them with regular..." She pounded the table. "Would someone figure out how we're bugged? My gambit's played out and I need some room to spitball new ideas, here!"
The fleet stopped circling and took a tack due east, ostensibly looking to get around behind the Ice District without coming into range of close-range weapons.
"See?" Valey sighed.
Samael gestured to his and Estael's compliment of guards. "All of you are dismissed. Return to headquarters."
As they left, he walked up to Valey's chair as well, standing on the opposite flank as Estael. "Continue discussing strategy," Samael advised. "If one of mine has been compromised, it should be readily apparent if they start ignoring us. My units travel as groups to ward against impostors, and every one of their names is known to me."
"Strategy, huh?" Valey stared at the screen. "What, like telling them what I wish they would do next and seeing if they just magically do the opposite to spite me? No one's dumb enough to keep falling for that forever. At least not if it was gaining me any real value. Maybe if they wanted to taunt me and show off that they're still listening in. Although, at this point, a smart commander would pretend they were no longer hearing me even if they still were, so I wouldn't be able to learn whether I had just successfully de-bugged myself..."
At a distance, the Yakyakistani armada made no moves to change their strategy, settling into position above the rugged, rocky foothills east of Ironridge.
"Why did you tell them that?" Estael frowned. "Now they're going to do the same thing whether they're listening or not, and stay the course."
Valey smirked. "Yeah, well... It just so happens this course they're on works out well for me."
Everyone turned to regard her.
"Think about it," Valey said. "Airships rush Ironridge from the west, and I shoot them down over the mountain rim. What happens? They've got enough momentum that they probably land in the crater, potentially exploding, starting fires, crushing things and killing people. Pyrrhic victory. We've already established I'm not doing a surprise attack, since I told them about that and they moved. So what's the point of having the cannons to the west?"
She turned back to the screen. "To the east, though... Nothing down there anyone would miss if it got squashed by airship debris. This building is blocking their line of sight to the rest of the city, just like I said. Furthermore, the obvious reason anyone would have their armada wait around as long as this one has, instead of pressing the attack, is because reinforcements were on the way, in which case it would be in our best interests to go on the offense ourselves, and clean this wave up before the next one gets here. And I suspect Chrysalis herself is actually in that reinforcement wave, because the tactics I've seen on display tonight match up perfectly with those of a mindless sycophant. Egotists like Chrysalis don't like having competent underlings."
A fiendish grin spread across her face. "Also, this would be a great time to mention that the soldiers in charge of moving the cannons happen to answer to me and no one else, aren't involved in Ironridge politics, and all of them had secret orders from me to leave the cannons online and pointing east and only make it look like they were being taken down and moved. However deep our bug goes, I bet it hasn't hit them."
On the screen, the formation of the airships began to break down.
"And they're still listening," Valey said smugly, folding her forelegs and pressing a button with a wing. "This round goes to me, it looks like. Light 'em up, boys. I want that valley lined with as many ships as you can sink."
Cold Karma's eastern flank roared with cannonfire, the gray sky around the armada lighting up with explosions as ships were hit.
"Hey." Valey nodded at the Composer as three raiders spiraled to the ground in plumes of flame. "Hard to tell if they're gonna run or fight back. If it's the latter, you built this place sturdy, right? Because it's first in the line of fire."
The Composer watched her. "I suppose you have chosen to find out."
More cannonfire lit up the sky. Another raider went down in flames, and one of the three motherships was flagging, smoke pouring from one of its massive engines. It was just trying to stabilize, but a second mothership was fleeing to the east, and the third had turned broadside to Ironridge and flashed with the promise of return fire.
"Brace yourselves..." Valey muttered.
A distant rumble echoed through the building as something struck, far below.
The raider ships had a mix of discipline, too. A few had turned to flee, and a few were preparing to return fire. One, however, was rushing Cold Karma, piling on more and more speed.
Valey watched it intently on the screen. "They're ramming us!" she barked into the microphone. "Focus the one that's ramming us!"
She switched a part of the display over to a second camera, this one focused much closer to the building. Five pegasi leapt from the side of the speeding vessel as a cannonball tore through it, but the impact wasn't enough to halt the ship's momentum. It crashed into Cold Karma's building facade with the force of a meteor, hard enough that the floor shook beneath everyone's feet.
"...If you will excuse me," the Composer said. "I need to ensure no harm comes to the core."
Valey gritted her teeth as the Whitewing left. "Scumbag. Bananas, more of them are following suit! Shoot them before they get close! I want those ships down in the canyon, not in our basement!"
"It seems every strategy has its limits," Junior Karma remarked.
"Put a sock in it," Valey told him. "It worked as easily as it did because they put someone incompetent in charge. Which, by the way, tells us for sure that impostors are in charge and not real Yakyakistanis, because they got to refine military tactics down to a science in their war way back when. Our best chance to capitalize on that situation was with a head-on fight, and I got us one. Now we've just gotta win, and then find a way to re-fortify before more arrive."
Three more raiders were angling to ram Cold Karma. "At the rate others are getting shot down and deserting, there's maybe one more ramming wave left after this one," Valey calculated through gritted teeth, "but I want it cut down to zero! Cannons, fire!"
Another wave of anti-aircraft fire rang out to meet them. The two front-runners were hit, and the third was missed completely.
All three vessels had ponies spring overboard, a skeleton crew yet again for each one. One of the struck raiders careened into the valley, exploding and turning into a fireball on the ground. Another hit Cold Karma, sending a second shock wave up through the floor even as more cannonballs from the ships that were staying to fight rocked the building's outer wall.
The third ramming vessel sped forward, bereft of its crew, seconds away from impact. "Brace yourselves!" Valey shouted, grabbing onto her chair.
Suddenly, a vicious green-black laser fell from the heavens, tearing through the ramming ship like a sledgehammer, driving it off course and pulverizing it against the ground. An after-image of the beam lingered onscreen as if it had been burned into the camera. Everyone in the room was frozen.
"That laser..." Valey whispered. "No way..."
She hammered at buttons until a new camera feed came into view, this one pointed up at the skies directly above Cold Karma. A new airship was there, sleek and narrow and painted so that its prow resembled the face of a shark. A cannon on its underbelly swiveled on a mount, dribbling green energy, protruding down through an aperture shaped like a giant eye. The rest of the ship was decorated with a ribcage motif, flagrantly loud and cheesy and designed to be the kind of thing ponies would get mad about losing to.
"What's he doing here!?" Lilith spat.
Estael took two steps back, face clouded with anger. "Pirate King Rhodallis?"
"Wait, what?" Valey blinked at her. "You mean that's not... Bananas, never mind who I thought it was. Is that seriously what his ship looks like? Actually, scratch that, if he's helping us, he's helping us. Fight first, ask questions later!"
Junior Karma frowned at the video feed. "Pirate King Rhodallis has been harrying Ironridge's air security almost since I founded this company. Whatever he's doing here, you can be sure he's no friend of ours."
"Okay," Valey said, turning the camera back to the Yakyakistani fleet. "Buuut..."
Over three quarters of the surviving ships were now in retreat, and several of the staying ones appeared undecided. A second laser dropped from the pirate ship's cannon, carving a line in the valley between the armada and Cold Karma, as if in a demarcation of territory. Rhodallis' ship gradually lowered until it was on level with the other ships, staring them down.
Every remaining Yakyakistani ship turned to flee.
For a moment, the skies were still. And then the pirate ship lazily drifted up to the Cold Karma building, chose an unoccupied airship dock, and extended a gangplank.
Lilith looked as pale as a sheet. Samael and Estael didn't look much better.
Valey raised an eyebrow at them. "Looks like he wants to parlay. I'm gonna go meet him on the roof. Is there anything you wanna tell me first about why this guy scares you this much? Because from what I've heard, he's just some random criminal who attacks Ironridge military ships for fun and then lets everyone walk away free once he's had his laughs."
"Military ships whose power we sorely need today," Junior Karma said. "That stallion is the single most demoralizing thing to happen to our forces within the last twenty years. It's because of his influence that we're so low on active-duty soldiers. Do you know how many of those ships we just shot down were Ironridge ships, left at joint bases operated by Ironridge and Yakyakistan because our city could no longer supply the motivated troops to sail them? Whatever his reasons for behaving in such a manner, I won't be surprised at all if coming to our aid today only reinforces his hold on his goals."
Valey looked him up and down. "...Not a fan of armies. You can see what Chrysalis is trying to do to this city with hers. If his whole thing is scaring city-states into demilitarization, maybe he and I will get along."
Junior Karma bristled. "You don't know what you're talking about. If we could rely on the power of our own well-trained, loyal soldiers, we wouldn't-"
"Sir!" a guard standing outside the door interrupted. "Sir, we have-!"
Too late. A stallion stepped through the door who could only be Rhodallis.
Lean and muscular, clad in black-and-purple plated armor that did more to accentuate his body than conceal it, he surveyed the room, a chocolate pegasus stallion with a ragged black mane. A lone lieutenant accompanied him, though he had enough bandoliers and holsters on his outfit to supply weapons for a crew of six.
His cutie mark was a blank, empty circle. Exactly like Samael, Estael and Lilith's.
"No rooftop welcoming party?" Rhodallis asked, his voice dripping with arrogance that could cow even Junior Karma. "Perhaps you wanted to impress me before we met with the decor in your lair? It's... alright, I suppose." He surveyed the majestic black marble and intricate architecture of the meeting room.
Valey's eyes were focused on his exposed flank. "So that's why they don't like you. You've got a history with them. You're a changeling bishop too, huh?"
"A changeling bishop?" Rhodallis swaggered, one wing wrapped around the hilt of a greatsword, giving Valey his attention. "So that's what you've decided to call us? You've got a functional pair of eyes, I'll give you that much. Is that all you know, or have my beloved siblings spilled the beans on what we actually are?"
The room's other bishops scowled, pressing as far away from him as they could stand.
Valey raised an eyebrow.
"This is our domain," Lilith hissed. "Traitor. You aren't welcome here."
Rhodallis chuckled. "Did I just hear the wind, or was it the senseless whining of someone I'm not here to talk to? You, I'll do business with. You are worthy."
He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Valey, the tip hovering an inch away from her muzzle.
"I'm gonna guess," Valey said, "that you saw we were in a scrap, gave us a free sample of what you could do, and now want me to pay you to keep defending this city when more reinforcements arrive."
"Heh. You're sharp." Rhodallis twirled his greatsword. "But what do you think a guy like me could want from a girl like you?"
"You say that like you've already got something in mind," Valey said warily, leaning forward in her chair.
Rhodallis sheathed his sword. "Of course I do. Rondo, roll out our demands."
"As you wish," his lieutenant muttered, pulling out a scroll and unrolling it on the table with a flourish. It bounced twice, taking up nearly the full length of the conference room.
Everyone cringed at its lengths. But written there, in heavy red print, was only a single sentence.
Join my crew
OR
give me Coda.
Valey's eyes slowly narrowed.
"Hopefully it goes without saying," Rhodallis swaggered, "but that offer's for you and you alone. As far as I care, you and I are the only ponies in this room."
Junior Karma and all the other bishops gave him murderous looks.
"I assume you think both of these are gonna be permanent arrangements," Valey said.
Rhodallis shrugged. "Oh, they'd last until I got bored, or had no further need of them. Hardly permanent. In fact, there's nothing in this world I hate so much as the idea of doing the same thing, forever and ever... Not many things, at least."
"Murderer," Lilith hissed.
"Your friends here don't seem to think too highly of you," Valey pointed out. "And you seem to be returning the favor. Do I have even a single shred of evidence to suggest right now that you're trustworthy?"
Rhodallis seemed unbothered. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, kid. You're backed into such a corner that you're hanging around with them, and that tells me you either don't know who they are or are too desperate to care. Unlike them, however, I have the strength to get things done around here... provided I can find a reason to use it. So are you going to give me that reason, or do you want to keep playing house with a bunch of garbage?"
"Believe it or not, I put up a pretty good fight against those ships myself," Valey said. "Sure, you put a hoof down on the scale, but I was going to win either way. You just spared me some damages. So if you really wanna bank on my desperation, how about waiting and letting me think on it?"
"Because," Rhodallis said with a forceful grin, "you're in a position of power right now. On your own turf, surrounded by allies you've chosen, in the aftermath of a victory you did earn for yourself... to a degree. If I came to you in the middle of an assault, I'd be twisting your arm. But I'm not interested in you coming to me crawling and broken and begging for aid. I'm offering while you do have a choice. If you want to wait, I'll still be here... but remember that I gave you the chance to join forces with your head held high. Any humiliation you endure by coming to me later will be on your own head."
"I think I can live with that," Valey said, watching him levelly.
"Oh, I know you can." Rhodallis licked his lips, then turned to leave. "I do love that indomitable spirit..."
Rondo followed him out.
In the pirate king's wake, Junior Karma looked thunderous at having been so cowed. Lilith's eyes were hidden beneath the shadow of her bangs. Estael was fuming.
"You surprise me," Samael said. "And yet, perhaps you don't. It's clear you have no loyalty to anyone in this room, and have only allied with us for the convenience of defending your home. Yet still, you chose us over him."
"Not a hard choice," Valey grunted, switching the camera back to Rhodallis' ship. "You were a known evil. Besides, domineering guys aren't my preferred allies."
Samael looked away.
"If there's a war going on between your changeling bishop factions," Valey said, "and you don't want me on his side, by the way, you might want to think about telling me the details. Especially what your relationship is to Chrysalis, and to each other."
None of the three bishops said anything.
"Eh, whatever." Valey got up and stretched. "Have our lookouts keep watch for more ships, but in the meantime, get those holes down below looked at, recharge our energy supplies, do anything you can to prepare for the next wave, and someone figure out how we're bugged and deal with it. Thanks."
She, too, turned to leave.
Egdelwonk yawned. "I sure do love meetings where I show up and stick around and then am not expected to do anything. Remind me why the janitor needs to attend these, again?"
Everyone gave him a look.
"On second thought..." Egdelwonk made for the wastebasket. "Forget I asked."
Back in the Crystal Palace, Egdelwonk dusted himself off, rapidly growing back to his form as Discord. Papyrus, however, leaned against a wall with a dizzy, delirious smile on his face.
Discord raised an eyebrow at him. "Someone certainly looks like they enjoyed doing nothing."
"How could I have interrupted?" Papyrus whispered, his voice tight with the strain of pent-up laughter. "I haven't seen the sparks fly that good since the old days in the Empire! Why am I looking for Starlight to tell me who I am and why I'm still here so many years after my story should have ended? The gambits, the arrogance, planning and adapting on the fly and fighting for stakes that are real and matter... This is who I've always been. I can feel myself again!"
He flexed his wings. "But this time, things are different. Whatever I try to do, I could have a real shot at it, instead of being destined to sabotage myself at the pinnacle. This rush isn't as all-consuming as it was before. My heart is pounding, but my head is still level. I could... truly achieve something great, and really do it this time, and all I need is a direction to go in. Maybe if I pick right, I could even get others on my side this time, and not try to go it alone. Obviously, I'd have to, since this body is so much weaker than my old one and I'm starting with fewer resources to boot, but it's a small price to pay if it means I keep my sanity in the end. Maybe, maybe, maybe..."
"Well, you look like you'd enjoy your own company for a while," Discord said, strolling away with a wave. "Give me a yodel if you need to keep pace with any cheating trains, and remember that I'm technically on the Equestrians' side, so I will have to tip them off if you get up to anything they'd approve of less than normal. Ta-ta!"
"Sure. See ya." Papyrus waved him on, brow furrowed in thought. "Before anything else, I'll still have to see Starlight, since if I can't get her blessing on some level or another then it's all pointless. Beyond that, how hard would it be to manufacture a pretense for visiting the old Griffon Empire...?"