Adagio only had a faint idea of where she and the castle were.
During their journey to it, in the focused panic and stress, she hadn’t put much thought into figuring out which direction they headed to. However, with the benefit of hindsight and using the sun to help her, she figured she was somewhere generally west of the old tower. The exact direction and how far, she definitely couldn’t say. Altogether, it only muddled the mental map she had of the surrounding valley.
In hindsight, she was surprised she’d managed to find Ponyville on her own. She supposed being up a valley that flowed down to the town helped, but the castle was partway around a small series of mountains strangled by the Everfree.
Adagio walked around the grounds, finding her way up onto the upper walls to see if there was some way of spotting the town further into the valley, but all she could see were treetops and sky.
When they had arrived and unpacked, Adagio had noticed a distinct lack of grains or foodstuffs loaded in. Mostly fruits, many of which had made it through very bruised. She didn’t think Sunset could live long on those, but she knew other, more stable edibles remained at the tower and more besides in Ponyville.
From her point on the wall near the gatehouse, Adagio looked down at the brook bubbling from somewhere underneath the walls. Drawing a line from where it flowed into the castle, she found a well, meaning Sunset had relatively clean water to drink from at least.
As she glanced back, she spotted Aria walking on all four hooves. None of that weird, metallic spider crap.
“You got fixed up fast,” she said. “Sunset?”
Aria shook her head, then pointed at her throat. One of the smaller limbs slipped out of the seam and waggled in the air. “Sonata. Speaking of, Sunset’s gonna teach her. All worked out.”
Adagio snorted. “How in the world she’s becoming the brains of us three, I will never understand.” She turned back, bringing her legs onto the parapet and crossing them under her chin. “It makes sense you’re the brawn. You’re an idiot but a capable one.”
Aria shoved Adagio’s flank with a leg, then stood by the parapet to one side. “I’d resent that if you weren’t right.”
Adagio cracked a smile. “Of course I’m right. I’m meant to be the smart one, after all. Sonata’s just proving to have some surprising overlap.”
As Adagio looked back out into the forest, she could see Aria following her gaze from the corner of her vision. She looked slightly confused, flicking her eyes a little side to side while her ears lifted themselves high and slowly spun around.
“There’s no one out there,” said Aria after half a minute.
With a sigh, Aria plopped her chin on top of her legs. “I know. I just like looking. It’s nice, calming.” She flicked her head around, giving Aria a little glare and smirk. “All you’re looking for is danger. Like I said, brawny idiot.”
Aria rolled her eyes, then started taking a step back. “It was funny the first time, but if all you’re going to do is insult me, then I’m leaving.”
The smirk falling, Adagio pushed herself back from the parapet. She held out a hoof, and Aria stopped herself before taking another step. “Wait,” said Adagio. “I never said you don’t have value. I need you for something. It’ll benefit all of us in the long run, I hope.”
Aria considered Adagio for a moment, then nodded, prompting Adagio to continue.
“I want to head back to Ponyville and try to get Sunset some food.” Adagio gestured to Aria. “You’ve been there and had a better time than I did, so I want you with me.”
To that, Aria crinkled her brow. “Why?” she asked. “I can tell you it’s going to be a dangerous and stupid idea. Guards were crawling all over it the other day, and I don’t think that number’s gone down any since the big fight.”
Adagio wanted to growl, but she swallowed the urge down. Aria wasn’t getting it, but all that meant was that she needed it explained to her. “Sure. Maybe. But we’re at a disadvantage. Sunset’s hungry, and I bet we can get some information, too. Just enough to keep her up to date with our situation.” She then stepped closer to Aria, pitching her voice low. “Besides, showing we all have initiative and can pull it off will ensure Sunset sees our value still. Chrysalis is a brute. I want that to be all she’s good for, so we have to use our heads.”
The crinkle remained, and her mouth wriggled to the side. That told Adagio that there were still some protests or reservations mulling around inside her sister’s mind.
“If I refuse, are you still going to head there?”
Adagio nodded, and that time, it was Aria’s turn to sigh.
“Then fine, I’m in, if only to make sure you don’t get your ass caught.”
Chuckling, Adagio stepped back. “Good. Besides, you know your way around better than I do at this point.”
That got Aria to smirk. "If you say so," she said, and with a snappy salute, Aria turned and led the way down to ground level, taking a route through one of the towers at the corners of the grounds. They housed the only stairs up and down, and only two staircases hadn’t collapsed or been battered and broken to even attempt climbing.
Adagio had considered taking up one of the more ruined towers as her own little space. Somewhere, she could rest despite not needing sleep. That was before Sunset had scrawled out her little map and suggested Adagio take up one of the rooms on the upper floor of the keep.
She’d keep that space in mind for later.
As they made their way to and past the gatehouse, Adagio spotted Chrysalis on the wall in the shadow of one of the other nigh-crumbling towers. She looked out into the forest eastward, like Adagio had. Before she proved ignorant of Aria and Adagio’s presence, however, she glanced over her shoulder. Adagio glared at Chrysalis, staring with her until the gatehouse itself broke line of sight.
Let her brood up there in ignorance. Adagio had plans.
Once in the forest, following an unseen route that Adagio couldn’t make out but Aria seemed to know like the back of her hoof, the sounds of birds and trees became more apparent. The castle’s high walls blocked most of that noise out, save for the scraping of leaves and branches that came from the few trees within the grounds. None of the birdsong or even the sound of the brook met her ears despite how keen they were.
Aria’s eyes and ears felt like they were on overdrive, trying to pinpoint every sound and its source like she could make out the animals learning of their existence.
Aria had wandered into the forest a little more and learned more about its layout. She deftly trotted through the underbrush, hardly making a sound as she did, while Adagio clomped behind, swishing bushes and nearly tripping over root knots.
Credit where credit was due, Aria wasn’t just brawn. There was some thought going on between those ears or wherever her thoughts actually were.
“Sooo,” Aria said, extending out the single syllable. “What’s the long-term plan here?”
Adagio blinked, then stared at the back of Aria’s head. “It’s… still being worked on,” she muttered. “Getting Sunset back on our side is important, but we need some independence. Sonata has already proven she can help us there, but that won’t be enough.”
“Girl’s scary good at this golemancy stuff already,” said Aria. “Won’t getting her a little more know-how be enough?”
“No.” The answer came out clipped and snappy, and then Adagio coughed as if she were clearing her throat. “No,” she said again, letting the answer hang a little longer. “We need resources, too. Stuff that isn’t going to get squirrelled away by Sunset and used on another harebrained idea of hers.”
At the apex of a ridge, Aria stopped and turned to Adagio. “Pick up food, then parts…” She hummed, quiet and thoughtful. “Maybe we ought to get something to get on Rarity’s good side, too?”
For a second, Adagio frowned, but in the next second, her expression softened. She hadn’t met the well-regarded Rarity yet, and all she’d managed to provide them were some clothes. “Why?” Adagio asked, genuinely curious.
Aria looked away, a thin-lipped smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “She’s… nice. She’s been generous to me twice now.”
A smirk tugged at Adagio’s lips, and she clambered up the ridge, stopping alongside Aria. “Don’t be getting soft on me now, sis.”
“I-it’s not like that!” Aria shouted, her voice cracking. “Just, you know. If she’s gonna be nice, then we ought to repay her so she keeps on being nice. We can use that to our advantage.”
A laugh lifted Adagio’s shoulders, and she stepped ahead, taking the lead down the far side of the ridge. “Yeah, sure. That’s the main reason.”
The whine behind her fattened Adagio’s ego, only to have it deflate a little.
“…Uh. I’m lost already. Which way?”
Aria grumbled and stomped down the side of the ridge, taking the lead from Adagio once again.
She got under Aria’s skin, at least, and reminded her who was the bigger sister of the two of them.
After a while in awkward silence, Adagio felt like she was beginning to recognise the forest around her. A little more light made its way through the trees, and that wasn’t for the sun shining higher overhead. Eventually, they reached a point where the trees thinned enough for Adagio to see far ahead, to the rolling hills surrounding and lifting parts of Ponyville.
Something about the town was brighter, too. Before, the town seemed sleepy and quiet, but seeing it on a different day at a different time made it look alive, like an anthill had been dug up and spread out.
That might be a problem, but it could also benefit them. Adagio felt the crowds might help take eyes off them rather than needing to worry about more ponies potentially making them out.
They were somewhere far to the left of where Adagio had come out before, putting the main road in and out perpendicular through the town rather than being near. Given the foot traffic along it, that was a benefit until they got into Ponyville proper.
They were also amidst the thicker farmsteads, with tall rows of crops before them. Squinting into the distance, just over the tops of a wheat field, Adagio spotted a washing line on which hung several blankets. It was oddly convenient, but it gave them something to help them blend in a little more.
Picking up the pace, Adagio trotted alongside Aria and pointed at the washing line. Aria followed, then immediately understood and redirected herself toward the line. The pair clambered over the outer wall of the field, then disappeared into the field. Adagio found herself immediately disoriented, and though she had Aria as a guide, she felt as though the world was slowly turning to the left. She wanted to adjust, but she’d rather she and Aria were lost together.
They came out the other side right before the line, adding another wave of disorientation that quickly righted itself in Adagio’s mental model of the town.
Taking down the blankets, they wrapped them around themselves and tied them off at the front, forming quick, makeshift cloaks. That time, though, Adagio was able to help her sister a little more and received some help in return, ensuring the glow in their chests was adequately hidden, as well as the bolts and smatterings of damage across their bodies.
“Where’s the best place to start searching?” Adagio asked.
Aria shut her eyes, deathly still, mechanical lids covering her glowing eyes. “There’s some stalls we went to on our first trip, but I’m not too sure where they are.”
Aria frowned. “What do you mean you’re not sure where they are?”
Rolling her eyes, Aria pulled up her hood. “I’ve walked down, like, five streets while I’ve been here. The last time I was being chased and wasn’t paying a lot of attention. I bet it’ll come to me as we walk around a little.”
Adagio felt unsure, and it probably showed in her scowl.
“Never said I’d be an amazing guide. I’m just here to make sure you don’t turn into spare parts.” Reaching for Adagio’s hood, Aria pulled that up over her poofy red and yellow mane. “Just keep your eyes out and keep your head down. We’ll find what we need.”
From there, the pair found their way back to one of the many branching dirt roads that bled out from the town. No precise threshold announced their passing into Ponyville’s limits. Still, if Adagio had to pick a point, it would be somewhere around the part where more and more homes and structures were built side by side, enclosing in on them and narrowing into mostly straight streets.
The crowds thickened around them, forcing the pair to slow down and bunch up side by side. Adagio’s last visit only had the occasional distant conversation, but dozens of voices and hoofsteps filled the air, building into a cacophony of noise that she found impossible to parse.
Keeping her head down, she let Aria weave their way through the sea of bodies, their chaotic waves forcing them to one side of the street and then back to the middle. It didn’t take long for Adagio to lose track of where they were and how far they had travelled when all the landmarks she had were an ever-changing tapestry of multi-coloured manes.
At one point, Aria stopped at an intersection, using a leg to stop Adagio from overtaking her. She kept her head low enough that she didn’t quite tower over the ponies around her and subtly pointed with a hoof down one street.
Following the gesture, Adagio spotted several buildings farther down, their round spires and ornate decorations standing out amidst the thatched and slate roofs.
“That is Rarity’s place,” Aria said. “The pink and purple one got all the pony statues on it.”
It wasn’t hard to spot. Of all the rounded, garish buildings down that street, that building was likely the most ornate of them.
“Want to introduce me?” Adagio smiled at Aria, only to be met with a shake of her head. “Why not?”
“Just… not now. Not unless we got something for her.”
Adagio hummed, a mixture of annoyance and acceptance. As far as she knew, there was no reason for Aria to be cagey about heading there, but it wasn’t a priority for the time being. Besides, it was good to know where to find somepony that might be a valuable ally. Once Adagio got better acquainted with the town, she could head back and speak to Rarity herself. If there was a problem between her and Aria, it would be best to cut her out of the conversation.
Then, the crowd parted just long enough for her to make out the guards standing not far from Rarity’s front door. Their glittering armour was impossible to ignore, and Adagio bit her cheek.
Definitely something to worry about later.
“If we aren’t heading there, then where are we going?” Adagio asked, turning back to Aria.
Aria spun halfway around, lifting her gaze to the upper floors of the buildings at the intersection. Some had signs that Aria most certainly could not read, though one had an interesting ornament overhanging the street: a slow spinning cylinder with a spiralling red and white pattern.
With her head, Aria pointed to the right of the ornament. “That way.”
The moment the words left Aria’s lips, she set off again, and Adagio followed behind without pause. That time, she held her head a little higher, just enough that she could at least try to make sense of the landmarks around them.
It didn’t take long for them to eventually step out into a street that Adagio recognised. The road widened, letting the crowd thin out into the broader space. Soft dirt transitioned to hard cobble, and somewhere to the left, a ways down the street sat a tall, round structure.
It immediately brought a recollection of Adagio’s first unfortunate interaction with Twilight. Though, last she checked, there wasn’t a stall anywhere along the main road, nor any stores with food, though she also had to admit she wasn’t exactly looking out for anything like that.
She was happy to be proven wrong as they crossed the street diagonally, finding themselves at another intersection where a large, white fabric marquee tent had been erected. Two sides of the stall were filled with crates filled with fruits, primarily apples, that acted as walls, while the other two let ponies through. A few baskets sat around the one remaining pole, equally filled to the brim.
That was the first of many more tents that ran along that edge of the main road. More ahead seemed to have more options, including a few with steam or smoke rising from them, indicating something burning or cooking.
Adagio and Aria stepped into the cover of the first great tent, looking through the selections. The few other fruits available consisted of a basket of pears and another of oranges, but most of them seemed to be the same variety of glossy, mostly red apples. A few had hints of yellow and even green in places, but they were equally as bright as their brethren, even in the shade.
“Howdy!” The voice carried through the tent, grabbing Adagio’s attention. When she turned around, an orange-coated earth pony waved at her, forcefully making eye contact. Aware of her still-damaged eye, Adagio kept her head partly turned to ensure it was hidden.
“Hi.” She sidled over to the other pony. Her eyes remained fixed on the wares around her, so she almost stumbled into an arrangement right before the earth pony, several baskets sitting at an angle and only half filled with apples. It was then she properly noticed the table tucked to the side covered with crispy brown pastries. “Is all this yours?”
Adagio inwardly cringed at the stupid question.
“Sure as sunshine!” The energy exuding from the earth pony was disgustingly high, making Adagio want to step back and break off the conversation she had just let happen to her. “Grew ’em all myself, with some help from my family. They’re as sweet as they are pretty, lemme tell you.” She chuckled and leaned forward. “I take it you’re not from ’round here if you didn’t know that, though.”
That raised Adagio’s suspicions, sending a tingle down her back. “I-I’m from somewhere nearby!”
The earth pony snorted and waved a hoof. “Pcha, it’s nothin’. With the celebration goin’ on tomorrow, we’re getting folks from far and wide. We ain’t judging strangers, especially if it brings business and interestin’ folks in.”
Reaching down, Adagio picked up one of the apples and held it before her. The skin was shiny, reflecting the light from outside the tent, though it didn’t mirror many details. Its slightly spotted, somewhat rough surface didn’t allow for it. “Interesting folks?” she asked.
“Yourself, for starters. There’s also that organiser holding up in the library and some hoity-toity fellers from the big cities.” She then leaned in, holding a hoof up as if trying to get some privacy, though she only barely dropped her voice quieter. “Then there’s the Princess. Came in by train the other day.”
“The Princess?” Adagio asked. Sunset had mentioned a palace, but Adagio now had some confirmation of the structure of government.
“Yep. Never thought in my life that Princess Celestia would grace our little podunk town. That’s probably why all the other big-types are here, followin’ in her hoofsteps.”
That got Adagio’s attention. Not only was Sunset’s erstwhile mentor in town, but she’d just learned that she was royalty.
She was starting to wonder what other gossip could gather and if it would be as juicy as that.
“Interesting,” Adagio said. She started to walk off, apple in hand, when the Earth pony called out again.
“Hang on. You gonna pay for that?”
Adagio paused, looking between the apple, the earth pony, and then Aria before finally looking at the earth pony again. “Pay?”
“Well… Yeah.” The earth pony pointed to a sign hanging from the crate wall, not that Adagio had a chance to decipher it. “Two bits for one, five for three, or twenty for a basket.”
No one told Adagio she had to pay for the food. Who pays for something everypony except her needs?
“I, uh. I don’t have anything to pay with.”
The earth pony sighed, then gestured to the display before her. “Then I’m afraid you’re gonna have to put it down. Don’t worry none about touching it; I always tell folks to wash their food’ fore eating it.”
For a second, Adagio thought and formulated a plan.
If they were going to need to pay for any food they try to bring back, they would be in a bind. At the same time, there was just so much there, ready for them to take. It wouldn’t be hard. Even with the crowds, she reckoned she and Aria could run.
In the next second, Adagio looked at Aria. A smile crept across Adagio’s lips, and Aria subtly shook her head in return.
In the last second, Adagio tossed the apple at the earth pony, clocking her between the eyes.
As the mare shouted in confusion and pain, Adagio ducked down, slipped the basket handle over her head and galloped out into the street. The frantic motion kicked off the makeshift hood, her thick mane bouncing out behind her.
She glanced behind her and saw Aria follow suit, grabbing a basket of her own in her teeth.
Of course, not looking ahead meant Adagio collided with at least one pony. She remained the right way up, skidding onto her front while the poor pony she hit landed on their back.
Adagio only spent a moment looking down at the pony beneath her, but it was long enough that something stood out as strange. The dark coat looked glossier than most fur Adagio had seen all her life, and the mare’s splayed, almost night-black mane glittered. Those bright, blue eyes, too, seemed oddly flat, almost unnatural…
With no time to wonder, Adagio kicked back onto her hooves and shouldered her way past a guard in golden armour. She faintly recalled seeing more in her periphery.
Rather than taking the street toward Rarity’s home, Adagio tried beelining for the adjacent one, zig-zagging her way between the crowd and garnering a wave of shouts and cries of anger and surprise. Somewhere behind her, the apple pony shouted after them, her voice echoing over the general din of town life.
The crowds proved to be too thick to cover ground as fast as Adagio would have liked, but both she and Aria managed to weave their way through onto the side street.
There, they were forced to a fast-paced walk, forced to obey the flow of the crowd. Too many ponies in too tight a space meant Adagio kept bumping into bodies in front and beside her, getting more disgruntled looks and shouts.
Even so, Aria managed to get alongside Adagio, her glare visible in the corner of her vision. She knew what that meant, but Adagio didn’t need to explain herself. They—Sunset—needed the food. It was there, ready to take. That was all there was to it.
She also caught Aria jerking her head to the side, gesturing to… something. Adagio hadn’t a clue what she wanted from her until Aria pushed her way through the thicker throng in the middle of the road.
Adagio did her best to follow Aria through, but the traffic thickened up enough there was no space to squeeze through, nowhere to weave.
Anxiety kept Adagio’s hooves moving, trotting side to side. She eventually went with the traffic, partly doubling back so she could insert herself into the flow and then veer off.
That… didn’t quite work out how she planned. Instead, she got caught in the middle of one big chunk of ponies, with shoulders and legs nudging her from behind. She tried to resist, but each little bump and nudge pushed her further onward, making it difficult to turn around without being corrected by more shunts.
With the tops of shiny golden helmets up ahead, Adagio tucked her head down and bodily forced her way out of the middle of the road.
In doing so, she toppled over a pair of ponies beside her. One, a pegasus, yelped when the other landed on top of her, but it created an opening for Adagio to snatch.
She leapt over the prone pair and collided with another large, red-coated stallion. He caught her and stumbled further aside, looking down at her with confusion in his green eyes.
“Stop her!” came the stall owner’s voice again. Both Adagio and the stallion looked over to the source, mostly lost in the crowd, then at each other. He looked down at the basket around Adagio’s neck, but right as he started to tighten his grip, she shoved him back with a hoof, knocking the wind from his lungs.
Not content with making a fool of herself further, Adagio pushed her way through the crowd at the edge of the street, letting the wall beside her act as a buffer she could scrape alongside.
There was no sign of Aria up ahead, not that she could see above the crowd anyway. Adagio could crane her head up, try to spot a hooded figure or a hint of Aria’s mane or tail, but she wanted to avoid giving her pursuers something to follow if she could help it. That meant she was on her own to figure out how to return, hoping Aria would do the same.
Passing an alleyway, the afterimage of somewhere mostly empty took a moment to register, and she skidded to a stop. Adagio doubled back to it, peering along. It bent to the right, blocking any notion of an exit, but she figured it was better to try and slip through it. Hopefully, the crowd was still thick enough that they couldn’t be sure she’d taken the little side route.
Once down it, Adagio broke into a full gallop, her hooves thundering into the ground. There was a slight unevenness to it, a wobbling gait that made her slowly turn to the side. About halfway through the alley, she started to lose feeling in her back left leg, and by the time she neared the exit, it was almost entirely numb.
She must have worked too hard. She’d put too much weight on it and become far too active, though, if anything, that spoke to rushed work on Sunset’s part.
To her fortune, the alley did open out onto another street, one that seemed a little less busy. There were actual gaps in the hoof traffic that let her see the far side.
With her leg in the state it was, Adagio found herself forced to a hobbling walk. She could still put weight on the limb, that she still had some sort of control of it, but couldn’t be sure where she was putting it. More than once, it came down awkwardly, the hoof bent at an odd enough angle that she couldn’t support herself right, which made her stumble forward.
Still, she made progress, eventually turning down another street and zig-zagging her way south through the town’s blocks. Every now and then, she spared a glance behind her and, each time, was rewarded with a lack of golden helmets, a lack of further shouting.
Smiling to herself, Adagio began thinking she made it. She stumbled less as she gave her muddled leg more time to swing and find its footing.
She was nearly away. A few more streets, maybe a bridge and definitely some fields, and Adagio would be away. There was still the possibility that Aria wouldn’t have made it, but she’d proven herself to be of sturdier and sneakier stuff than Adagio.
Adagio turned one more corner onto one more street, and the mountains and forest ahead were at last visible as bands of grey and green and brown. She could even see a figure further on, a basket by her feet. Aria had tucked herself off to the side by a wall ahead, and her head lowered enough that Adagio could feel her relief from far away. They were both going to make it scott-free.
Take that, Chrysalis.
Then, it felt as though every one of Adagio’s legs went numb, but as she rose off the ground and tipped upside down, a chill gripped her chest.
The ground rushed up to Adagio’s face, then swung somewhere above her head. She dangled in the air, her legs bound together and leaving her with little recourse but to shake her shoulders and head. Apples fell past her face, followed by the basket, all thumping to the floor and slowly spreading out around the feet of the mare Adagio had bumped into at the start of their escape.
Faint, cerulean magic encapsulated a dark horn, and she regarded the levitating Adagio with a tilt of her head.
“I thought I would have to wait longer to lay my eyes on one of you.” She smiled, and Adagio floated closer to her, her mane dragging along the ground.
Speaking like that reminded Adagio of another pony, and she growled. “You better not want to cut me open, too.”
* * *