//------------------------------// // Terra Incognita // Story: How Luna Adopted a Hatchling (Against Her Will) // by Hokusai3211 //------------------------------// “What do you think it is, a pony?” “No can’t be, they might look wrong, but even ponies aren’t that round, got to be a, em, a boar?” “What boar has white fur?”  “Eh, A sickly boar?” “And what kind of boar wears a blue noose around its neck?” “…a self defeating boar?” Silver let out a barely audible groan, his head pounded worse than when he had woken up from Celestia's strange wine.   “Just ignore it,” he thought to himself. “Whatever it is, it can’t hurt you, they’re not real, this is all some terrible illusion. You’ll be back in your office, filing events, marketing strategies and scandal scrolls in alphabetical order.  He almost smiled at the thought was about to turn over onto his strangely cold and slimy pillow when he felt something sharp and cold poking against his side. “Should we eat it, seems a waste to just leave it?”  Strangely, the dream voices sounded almost griffonian, but the accent was all wrong, like all the words were being deliberately and poorly mis-spoken. Much like the fragmented nomenclature of the southern and indigenous zebra tribes or people from Minnesota. Silver suppressed a shiver and fought the urge to sit upright and bolt. He stopped himself, mostly because he wasn’t sure if he would get a spear through the flank for his troubles. It was fine though, they couldn’t hurt him really, if he just kept his eyes closed. This was just a nightmare obviously. “I don’t know, seems pretty big to carry.” Yes it was all working out, it’s like his therapist had said, positive reinforcement, the more you fear something the more you give it power, just- “Oh that’s no problem,”  Silver idea of this all being a dream where cracking slightly when he heard an unmistakable ringing sound of sharp metal leaving a scabbard, “what’s it the chief is always saying, a problem shared is a problem halved, well there’s four of us we can each carry a boat leg.” Okay, maybe they couldn’t hurt him. But they were doing a damn good job of making him think they could. “Hmm, I don’t know,” another voice added cautiously, “this thing stinks of pony magic, even if it might be a boar, we don’t know what brought it down, maybe it’s a trap, you remember what happened to Henzel right?” They all hummed in agreement, which was somehow worse because Silver bloody well didn’t know what had happened to Henzel.  Why did this always happen to him? All he wanted was a quiet life, a life of simple lying, cheating and bribing his way to a cosy retirement. But it felt as though life was punishing him for that for reasons he couldn’t fathom. It was all so very unfair. “Come on, we haven’t had any real meat for months.” The one still holding his hoof up grumbled, “not since our king sent his little-” “-Hey, he’s no king of mine!” another voice snapped, “no king of yours neither, we’re free from those tyrants remember!” “Sorry, sorry, force of habit.” The voice right above Silver chuckled apologetically. “Look, let's stop talking about stupid kings.” And Silver felt something very cold, very sharp and very real by his armpit, “just one leg, that’s all-“ “-Scouts incoming!” a voice far above the barked harshly. Suddenly the cold knife left Silver fur. “Damn it! I wanted to see what it tasted like, can’t we just roast it a little?” “Shut it Heimdal, unless you want to be the one roasting on those ponies fires.” There was a thoughtful pause then, “But I thought those shiny hoof buggers ate grass?” Another pause. “Eww really, that’s gross, animals urinate on that you know?” “You lot want to find out, talk to the ponies yourself, The rest of us are leaving.” Mercifully Silver heard the flapping of wings. He waited for several minutes before his body finally relaxed. He sagged, and he finally allowed himself to open one eye. Nothing, nothing was there save the bright blue sky. It was in moments like these ponies feel compelled to announce that the danger has passed like “well glad that’s over” and “it couldn’t get any worse.” Phrases that were the equivalent to putting firecrackers next to karma's pillow. Who by nature was not a vindictive being. But had a reputation to hold up especially when they said stupid things like:  “Thank the fields, it was just a nightmare.” Silver rasped that rasp turned into a gasp as he felt a by now sadly familiar sharp poke against his side.  “Please don’t eat me, I taste awful.” He pleaded, hooves covering his eyes. “What’s that friend?” He heard a different voice answer this time in Equestrian. Silver finally allowed himself to open his eyes and saw a blue pony with a dented silver helm shining against the light glaring down at him. “Am I…dead?” Silver asked. The young stallion, rather too young to be in armour like that, shook his head, Then pushed his ill fitting helmet back from over his eyes. “Don’t look like it to me.” “Damn, are you sure?” Silver groaned, tried to sit upright feeling a wet squelching on his back which he ignored for the sake of his fractured sanity. “You're a royal guard?” Silver asked as he rubbed his eyes and glanced at the armour, “what are you doing here?” “Could ask you the same question?” Another pony answered, older even than Silver, with a grey handlebar moustache and wearing the same strange mot coloured royal armour. “Seems to me you’re the one that has the explaining to do.” Silver's eyes flickered over towards the clunking shapes in the distance, more and more figures in dirty beaten and dented armour circled him slowly. Each eyeing him with suspicion. Silver gulped almost audibly as more spears were leveled at him. “O-of course, always happy to talk to my local law enforcement.” He said with a smile, trying to make himself look as harmless as possible. Which didn’t take a lot of effort, it had to be said.  “What are you doing here in enemy territory, and what’s with that garb anyway, you look like one of those walking birds, you know the black and white ones that hop everywhere?” “Penguins?” Silver added helpfully. The older guard blinked, “The hecks a penguin!?” he said, narrowing his eyes at Silver. The suspiciously young stallion's eyes lit up just as the helmet slid over them, “Oh I know it’s a type of fruit right?” He said pushing it back up with practised ease.  Often when threatened by armed ponies which happened more times in Silver's line of work than one would think, Silver's back up plan was usually to run, hide and call for more armed and better armoured stallions to play whack a mole with the assailants head. But out here, wherever here was, it didn’t look like there was any chance of that happening. As for running away, well unless he wanted to go as a poorly planned porcupine costume for nightmare night. There was no chance of that either.  So instead Silver gave a clam and easy smile. “Listen, I think there's been a misunderstanding. My name is Silver Tongue, I work for the duel princess of Equestria as their Public Relations advisor, if you could kindly-“ “Public Relations, what’s that, sounds foreign?” The older soldier interrupted, emphasising the word foreign the same way  Someone might emphasise the word, snot. “Oh-oh, wait Sergeant, I heard about that, Public Relations, yeah that’s like dealing with the public through their relations.” The younger one said with confidence. Everypony, even Silver, looked at him utterly confused. “You know.” He shrugged after a moment, which nearly lost him his ill fitted shoulder guards. “It's like, if the public get out of order, you take their relations and lock them up, right?” “What? No it’s nothing like that!” Silver protested. But the others were already nodding. “Oooh I get it, you're like a torturer type, yeah?” The Sergeant said his demeanour softened slightly. “T-Torture?” Silver stuttered, eyes widening. “No Serge.” The younger one whined, “You can’t say that word anymore, remember that meeting we had. We’re supposed to call them honesty enforcers, it’s more what’s the word, inclusive. Doesn’t hurt any pony’s feelings.” “Bah, ain’t that the point?”  The Sergeant baulked. “They’re supposed to hurt ponies' feelings and everything else for that matter.” The younger stallion rolled his eyes, which would have been more effective if his helmet wasn’t covering them. “Not the prisoners' feelings, the torturers' feelings, they have emotions too you know… oh damn it now I said it!” “Huh?” The Sergeant shrugged, then turned back to Silver who had been watching the conversation with helpless bewilderment like someone watching a mudslide tear through their village. “Why didn’t you just say so,” the Sergeant said lowering his spear. “We haven’t had a proper torturer in ages.” Silver had never been one not to let an opportunity, coin or steak pass him by, plastered on a smiled and slicked back his hair, ignoring for the sake of sanity the clumps of leaves sticking out of it. “Well um, you found one then.” “Hey, I just realised, that’s why you’re dressed like a crazy stallion, that horrid outfit is for that mental interrogation thingy right, scare the heck out of them, right?” The young stallion said enthusiastically. Silver glanced at his three piece suit and tie, one that had cost him more than half the price of a house and was amongst his prized possessions and sighed, “nothing gets past you I see.” The Sergeant nodded, sitting down on his haunches. “Always right and proper to have a torturer in camp, that’s what my old pa said, can’t be at war without some torture, it’s not right, it’s not traditional.” “Yeah.” The younger one nodded, then pushed his helmet back on his head. “Can’t have prisoners and no torturer, then you're just locking them up for no reason, that’s just barbaric. Prisoners got rights after all.”  Silver, desperate to grab onto something close to reality, finally cut in before these crazy ponies could continue. “Um, excuse me, Did you say war?”  The other ponies turned back to stare at him like he had asked if fire was hot, “Of course, you been hiding under a rock?” “It feels like I’ve been crushed by one actually.” He muttered flatly, “Listen, I need your help, it’s of the utmost importance that I get out of these eh.” He looked around, at the sight of trees, if behemoths could be called trees, “woods and back to Canterlot as soon as possible and tell princess Celestia what has happened.” Despite his plea he watched with mild annoyance as they all burst out laughing, “buhaha, Chatter Box, you hear that, he wants to go back to Canterlot!” One of the other guards yelled at a Pegasus on a branch above them. “I’ll ride shotgun,” the pegasus yelled back, wheezing with laughter. The Sergeant moustache flicked with amusement as he smiled patronisingly at Silver. “Look lad. I know that war is scary. Everypony wants back to Canterlot,” the Sergeant said, slapping Silvers back platonically. “But don’t worry, this war won’t last forever. It’s like the Lord Marshall said, this will all be over by hearths warming.”  “Wasn’t Hearths Warming months ago Serge?” The younger one asked. “Well…Obviously they meant the next one lad.” He said, correcting himself quickly. Silver shook his head, “Look I’m not making this up, I was just in Cloudsdale manor with the princess, we were attacked, they were after Luna’s cub and-” “-Cloudsdale?” The Sergeant said pursed his lips, “never heard of it, sounds extra foreign to me, you sure you didn’t bump your head lad?” “It’s right next to Canterlot, floating in the sky, Wonderbolts and clouds?!” Silver exclaimed half ready to tear his mane out, “how can you not have heard of-“ “-Listen lad, you look like you had a rough time.” He said, eyeing the mud Silver was doing his best to ignore. “Wars been tough on everyone but the Lord Marshall-“ Silver shrugged off the stallion's foreleg glancing at them. “You keep saying Lord Marshall and war, there is no Lord Marshall, and there is no war on, who would we be at war with anyway?”  The Sergeant looked at him quizzically for a moment, they all did. He opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly another voice off in the distance cut him off. “Serge, you need to see this!” They raced off towards the voice to another stallion who was frowning down at the ground. They followed his gaze to a dented helmet on the ground. “Oh damn it,” the Sergeant cursed, “not again, the captains going to go spare.” “What, it’s just a helmet?” Silver asked. But the Sergeant wasn’t listening. “Oh He’s going to go spare, he’s going to be all sarcastic, he might even be…” and he shuddered, “satirical about the whole thing.” The others looked just as grim as the captain did. “Far be it for me to ask,” Silver said, interrupting the group's solemn contemplation. “But what are you all doing in the middle of this forest anyway?”  “We were looking for the missing scouting expedition.” The younger stallion said, then pursed his lips as if ashamed to admit what he said next. “But then we got lost ourselves, we’ve been in these woods for nearly two weeks, had to eat our own boots.” He said dejectedly. “Oh” Silver said, unsure of how to continue the conversation, “well um, any luck tracking them down?” “No,” the young guard said. “but we found the last set of guards sent to look for the scouts.”  “Oh and what then?” “We ate their boots too.”  Silver pursed his lips, on the one hoof this was all too ridiculous to be real. On the other hoof, he could have said that about every minute of this month, and he still had two weeks to go. He came to the conclusion that even if it was a dream he might as well take it seriously just in case.  “On the subject of missing ponies,” Silver interjected as the soldiers around him stood gloomily around the helmet. “By any chance, you didn’t happen to see a mare in the woods about yay tall, wearing a maid outfit, a bit too much lipstick to be healthy, might be carrying a griffon cub?” The Sergeant shook his head. “Haven’t seen a mare since the war started a few years ago. They don’t take kindly to letting mares in the army. Not proper, not-“ “Traditional, right understood.” Silver finished, he exhaled and thought about the information building in front of him. Mares had been serving in the guard for hundreds of years, but now they weren’t? Equestria was at war apparently and had been for a while. There were royal guards outside the castle roaming the woods and everyone was speaking strangely. Silver decided to play it safe, it was probably best not to go into too much detail until he knew what side he was on. “Okay no mares, what about a minotaur, have you seen one, about ten hooves tall, wearing what I’m wearing.” “Minotaurs, up here?” The Sergeant said brow raised. “Yes,” Silver said carefully, reading the frankly shocked look on the Sergeants face as anything but approval. “He’s my uhh, assistant PR.” “Fields above, you have a minotaurs as an assistant for that?” The younger soldier asked, doing nothing to mask his horror. “How do you get it to do things?”  Silver furrowed his brow, “I ask him…politely?”  The soldiers all looked at one another then slowly the Sergeant said. “Never thought I’d say it, but I feel sorry for the prisoner.” Before Silver could ask anymore questions a blood curdling scream rang out through the forest. They all turned and began to run towards it. Not wanting to be left alone to be prodded with sharp objects again by whatever group came next,  Silver reluctantly went with them.  “Help, please!” someone yelped, Silver caught sight of a ragged figure at the foot of a cave. “Oh fields, that looks like Fair Ground.” One of the soldiers said.  They felt rather than heard the roar coming from the cave, shaking their very bones. The fleeing stallion tripped, started crawling towards daylight. Then something long and scaley snatched at his back leg forcing him back into the darkness. There was another scream and then after a moment, silence. They all stared blankly at the horrifying scene in front of them. Then after a long moment the Sergeant gulped, turned around and shrugged his shoulder, “Whelp, that’s that then, at least we know what happened to the scouts.”  Silver balked, watching him walk away, “Wait, aren’t you going to help him?” “You don’t know what’s in this forest mate.” He said simply over his shoulder. “Yeah.” The younger one parroted. His armour shaking louder than a cutlery drawer in an earthquake. Though, to be fair a stiff breeze could have achieved the same thing on him. “could be anything in there, Manticores, Land Sharks, pineapples.” “Pineapples?” Silver said with a deadpan expression. “Demon fruit,” The young soldier said with nervous exacerbation, “spiky and evil shaped things, nearly got my aunt once, couldn’t get it out of her mouth. I told her that’s not how you eat them, but did she listen?” Silver watched them as they turned and began to walk back away from the cave. He heard a snapping noise as his hoof went to down on something. He lifted it up and spotted a cracked pair of spectacles. The exact same ones that Iron Hoof might have worn.  He stared down at them, then back up at the foreboding cave. Imagining his niece and the others in the place of that scout, being dragged to fields knew what by fields knew who. She could be in there.  They all could. Silver might have been a coward by nature and convenience. But being a coward didn’t make one stupid. Quite the opposite in fact. Being a coward meant you had to think quite logically about what you ran away and explain why you hid behind old ladies and foals. It took a smart and very convincing mind to think up excuses for something like that fast. Right now he was facing two different yet equally horrible ramifications. Either he went into a monster's lair and got horribly and painfully eaten or he went back to his sister, sat down for a cup of coffee and politely explained, very logically, that he had lost her daughter. Somewhere in the vastness of the wherever the heck he was. His sister was a smart mare. She would understand… Right? “I’m going in.” Silver said quickly, taking a shaking step forward the cave. “What, you’re mad!” The Sergeant said, turning back as Silver slowly walked up towards the lip of the cave. There was another all mighty roar just as his hoof touched the mouth of the cave. Loud enough that even Silver's almost welded down mane flickered briefly in the wind. He puffed up his chest, Then pulled out his comb, teased the leaves out of his black mane, Adjusted his mud soaked tie and stepped inside. If he was going to face certain doom, He was a Tongue after all, everpony knew a Tongue did everything with style and decorum. Even being eaten alive. “He’s been in there for a while now.” The youngest soldier said, eyeing the fire they were all gathered around. “What do you think, eaten?” Another soldier asked conversationally, poking at the fire with a stick and gnawing on the sole of a boot. The Sergeant looked up in thought for a moment then shook his head. “Nah, at least not yet. Didn’t hear any high pitched screaming, always high pitched screaming when monsters are involved.” The other guard nodded their head in unison. “Serge?” The youngest one said after a moment. “Yes my colt?” He said lighting up a pipe. Do you think… maybe we should have gone in and helped him?” He said looking back at the dark dripping cave. “What makes you say that?” The Sergeant said in a tone of voice like the young stallion had just suggested tap dancing back to Canterlot in a frock. “Well you know, us being soldiers and all?” “Ahh.” He said puffing on his pipe, “Exactly, we’re soldiers, not fighters, big difference.” The younger stallion cocked his head slowly. “It is?” “Well, way I see it lad, ten percent of a soldier's job is fighting in a muddy field, you know, all war is hell, spears flying, ponies screaming and all Tatarus breaking loose. Then the other eighty percent is sitting around on your flank bored out of your mind you see?” “Wouldn't this be one of those ten percent times?” The Sergeant, who hadn’t gotten to his position by doing stupid things like charging into a dark cave or following suicidal ponies chewed thoughtfully on his half eaten bootstraps. Then he looking thoughtful into the sky, then thoughtfully at the ground before his eyes lit up. “Ah but you're missing one key detail of what I said, the field.” He said, nodding sagely.  The youngest soldier, who had attended one of the Sun princess experimental buildings called “Skhools”  and had been chased by a mathematician around a class with a ruler and so was considered by most to be the closest thing to educated in their ranks, thought about that for a moment. “What about the other ten percent?” “What?” The Sergeant said around a mouthful of boot. “Well, eighty percent is waiting, ten is fighting, what’s the last ten?” The Sergeant's eyes flickered nervously as he chewed, “Well, that’s um, that’s ehh.” “Lookout.” One of the sentries behind them yelled, pointing towards the cave. “Monster coming, retreat!” The Sergeant eyes lit up then, “Ah, That’s it, that's the last last ten!” He said, swallowing as he hopped upwards, ready to make a dash away from the cave. “Wait,” The youngest one said, jaw half open, “is that?” They could see it, that huge shambling thing out of the mouth of the cave, skin wobbling, distended belly scraping across the ground, and beside Silver Tongue was also three monsters.  They watched in stunned, rapturous silence as instead of screaming and flailing and unmentionable carnage.  There was just a lot of… talking? “So you're saying.” The enormous orange scaly monster’s voice boomed out, scratched its elongated lizard like chin with a claw the size of a picket-fence  “That whenever we lure sailors into the rocks with our singing and the locals come for us with pitchforks. All we have to do is give them a little bit of flattened wood mulch and tell them to take it up with you instead?” It said, indicating to the tiny scroll in its massive scales claws. Silver nodded his head vigorously, “Of course, that’s gross public slander, everyone has the prerogative not to be chased with pitchforks, we live in a free society. Besides you have rights, expressing yourself with public singing, I mean how is that a crime?” The orange monster giant brows furrowed, it looked first at the purple one and then the blue monster at either side of it who simply shrugged. “Even after we steal their magic and leave them mindless slaves?” It asked slowly, almost carefully, still trying to work out if the strange creature that had walked into their cave was mad, unwell or just stupid. Finally settling for a combination of all three. If that seemed to deter Silver at all, nothing showed on his face. “If some pony isn’t paying attention when they’re supposed to be and hit a rock, I hardly see how it’s your fault.”  “Excuse us a moment.” The orange monster said huddling into a group with the others. All the while the stunned soldiers strained to hear what the monsters were saying. “I still say we should just eat him.” The purple monster whispered, eyes flicking back to Silver who was adjusting his mud stained tie. “You say that about everyone, let's just give it a go, what’s there to lose?” The orange one said. “But what if that crazy creature's plan doesn’t work?” The blue one asked. “Well obviously then we eat him.” The orange one said with a smirk. They all glanced back at him, then the orange one gave one finally shrug and turned back to Silver. “You have a deal, small four legged mad thing.” Silver beamed, “Excellent, I’ll have my assistant finish a draft for the year's projection, we’ll soon have a whole new image for you mr or mrs em?” “Bone Splitter, Bone Splitter The Feared” The Orange one said laconically “and that's Teeth Smasher The Grand Mangler” it said pointing to the purple one, “and the last is Spine Smusher the eh, cuddler.” “It’s a…work in progress.” The blue one said bashful. “Honest names for honest faces, real go-getter names I say.” Silver smile faltered just a fraction. “Although, might I suggest a different nom de plume in the future?” “A what the who?” Bone splitter growled. “A page name, it’s easier for the public to empathise with a more eh, familiar proper noun, if you're musically inclined how about Soprano or I don’t know, how about Sonata maybe? A musical name for a musical minded siren?” The orange one grimaced in disgust, but the blue opened its jaw, it’s eyes sparkled in the dark as it slowly began to smile. “Hey, I like that.”  Teeth Smasher only responded with a disinterested grunted, it looked at the others, made a circular motion with its talon against the side of its head. Then almost resentfully stuck its claws into its mouth and whistled.  The soldiers watched open mouthed as more ponies emerged from the depth of the cave, ragged, shaking and wearing the colours of the lost scouting expedition. Silver Tongue led the group towards the rest of the soldiers, his wide smug grin never quite leaving his muzzle. “H-How did you get those slimy monsters to side with you.” The youngest soldier asked, still unable to believe his eyes, even after he moved the helmet up from them. “Monsters?” Silver said admonishingly, “I’ll have you know that is a slanderous misrepresentation of my clients, perhaps to them you are the monsters, ever think about that?” “B-But They eat ponies.” The Sergeant said, watching Teeth Smasher pick a long jagged tooth with a bone. “Greatly exaggerated, they eat meat and magic. Ponies just happen to be in the same bracket by coincidence. Ponies eat about six spiders a year in their sleep, does that make you a bird?” “I do!?”  The younger one said, going a sickly green. “But they foalnapped our soldiers!” The Sergeant growled. “On the contrary.” Silver said in a lecturing tone, clasping the scout known as Fair Ground on his back. “Your scouts walked into their property, how would you like it if a company of soldiers walked into your back garden. Anyway no harm done, Isn’t that right my good stallion?” “S-so m-many t-teeth.” Fair Ground said, glassy eyed and shivering.  “That’s the spirit.” Silver said jovially, giving him a playful slap on the back. “Now no more talk about all this, unless you have a grievance, in which case I ask you to address it in writing to my office. Now then, you had some place to take us?” The Sergeant thought about that for a moment, thought about asking questions then thought against it, he was never taught to question when a mission went well. Mostly because they never did. “Right, guess all’s well that ends well. Did you find that savag- eh I mean minotaur and your niece?” Silver blinked, then, all of a suddenly he seemed to snap back to reality. He had been so frightened, so scared when he had seen the snarling faces of the sirens in front of him that his brain had stepped into overdrive and done what it did best. Sell, lie and cheat his way into a better outcome.  He hadn’t felt that way in years. Not since he had been tasked with Luna's return, he hadn’t had a challenge that he had actually enjoyed. But now in the cold light of, we’ll not quite reality, he was still working that part out. But in the cold light of unreality, he felt. Well he felt like kind of a fool.  “Eh, no.” Silver said, looking over the battered and ragged scouts. He sagged as he gave a long sigh. “I didn’t see them. I didn’t see any pony I recognised.” From behind him he heard one of the sirens grumble to the other, “What’s a minotaur?” “A cow that forgot how to stand on four legs.” Bone Splitter answered. “Oh you mean like the one that was being led up to the high places with those fluffy cat things with wings, the ones Grognag Village Burner says taste like chicken?” Cuddler asked. “Oh, Everything tastes like chicken to her.” Bone splitter said disapprovingly. Silver blinked, his brain editing out the other parts of that conversation in an effort to still let him sleep at night, “Wait, you saw a minotaur being led by griffons, where?”  The siren looked down at him then pointed over its shoulder. “Big rocks with flat tops, can’t miss it. Those griffons hide up there all the time. Lots of them. Sometimes you’re kind, go there all tied up.” “Yeah and they’re so loud, always talking about someone named Liberty, and down with the tyrant. I don’t know who they are but they give me a headache.” The purple one added. “Hey speaking of names, how does Sonata the Cuddler sound?” The blue one said, still partially zoned out from the conversation. The Sergeant beside Silver gasped. “Wait a minute, they could be talking about the griffon headquarters, we’ve been trying to find that for years!”  He grinned, “The High Marshall is going to want to hear about this!” Silver, eyes darted in thought, griffons transporting ponies, that meant that perhaps Golden was there, Luna and the young princess too, though he dreaded to think what Luna would do surrounded by so many griffons.  If he couldn’t get to Canterlot, then perhaps this High Marshall pony could get him there.   “Hey, I just thought, if we have that paper, can’t we just eat them and use it anyway?” The purple siren said, snapping Silver out of his thoughts. Suddenly realising just how much mortal danger he was still in Silver turned to the Sergeant and whispered. “Shall we go?” The old stallion gulped and nodded “sounds like a good plan.” He said, slowly walking backwards from the sirens as they began to bicker amongst themselves. “How far is the camp anyway?” Silver asked when they were far enough away to at least have a running chance from being dinner. Silver heard the tell tale sliding of metal and turned to see the young soldier gazing into the sky. “Don’t know, too dark to say.” He said then helpfully someone pushed his Helmet back and he blinked, embarrassed. “Not too far,” the Sergeant butted in, “I reckon we should make it by morning?”   Silver glanced up at the sun high in the sky. obviously he was mistaken, “but it’s already mid-day?” The soldiers to a stallion all burst out laughing, “You know for a torturer you got a good sense of humour.” “No more,” Silver gasped, collapsing onto the ground. Exhaling ragged gasps of breath as he crawled onto a rock, “l can’t go on, tell my family I love them and tell them it will be a cold day in Tartarus before Aunty Platinum gets my stamp collection.” “Uh, sir, we’re here.” The young stallion said but Silver was already too far gone. “I know she’s the one that out bid me for the Celestial coronation stamp last year. I only ever told one other soul it was being sold. Then it gets bought by an anonymous bidder and then she just happened to find an identical one in her attic, she doesn’t even own an attic the lying old-“ “-Sir get ahold of yourself!” The Sergeant said, grabbing Silver and shaking him by the lapels. Silver blinked, sweat falling in rivulets from his forehead. “What? Oh, what’s going on?” “We are here.” The Sargent said slowly. Silver stared blurrily past the soldier and realised that the giant trees around them were no longer in view. Instead he stared down towards a giant oval opening in a valley filled with strange blooming red flowers, thousands of them. It took his eyes a minute longer to realise that they weren't flowers at all but tents. Untold numbers of them the air thick with smoke and the untold buzzing of Armed and armoured ponies like ants in a hive. The sight alone would have sent military reenactment enthusiasts, weapon nuts and larpers all froth at the muzzle though truth it was all three names for the same thing. Silver rubbed his eyes, but still he couldn’t make sense of the vastness and logistical chaos of what was before him.  Despite his fatigue Silver felt renewed energy. Civilisation, that meant food, pony’s, hot baths, food, clothing, safety and food. Oh and some answers, that was good too he supposed, after food obviously. They trotted on and all the while they walked down towards the camp, something niggled at the back of his mind. Something that told him that a lot of pony’s gathered together with spears always spelled a bad time.  It had to be reinforced in his mind, Equestria wasn’t at war, well not officially anyway. Yes it was invaded by horrors from beyond, insect ponies and chaotic gods practically weekly. In fact half the reason hostile countries seemed to give it a wide berth, was just in case they somehow contracted the same disaster prone disease.  But that wasn’t war. He had to get to the bottom of all this, preferably in safety, comfort and luxury but he would settle on two and a half of them right now if he had to. Unfortunately the walls around the enormous camp didn’t fill him with either of those things. The wood was scorched in places and the spots that weren't were stuck with arrow heads. The smell of fire and oil stung at Silver's nostrils, but that was like lavender next to the smell of the camp inside. Silver caught sight of at least thirty groaning figures across the rivers of mud that served as raids in this place.  Unicorns with red crossed armbands darted through a field of groaning souls. Silver winced as he heard the conversations inside the tent. “Medic!” “My leg, I can't feel my leg?” “That’s my leg you idiot!” “Medic!” “Oh fields above, my tail hurts, how does that even work?” “Damn it, there’s no helping it, Nurse, get the saw and some alcohol stat.”  “For the patient doctor?” “What? Oh eh, yeah give him some as well, I guess.”  Silver winced and trudged on, not wanting to hear the rest of those conversations anymore than he wanted to be there.  “Ah finally back in sweet civilization aye?” The Sergeant inhaled deeply and gave a beaming smile back at Silver, as though this muddy hell was some candle lit winter market bazaar. “You smell that?” “I wish by all the fields above I didn’t.” Silver muttered and looked around, “was there a battle here, There’s a lot of wounded?” “What?” The Sergeant said as if only just noticing. “Oh them, ha they ain’t wounded, you should see the ones over in that tent.” He said pointing to another closed off tent in the distance, “now they’re what I calm Wounded, wanna take a look?”  “No!” Silver yelled, then coughed anxiously,  “I mean, I’m good thanks.” The Sergeant shrugged. “Yeah, it’s not a pretty sight. Been like this for months now, they always come at night, the cowards. They don’t fight like us, stallion to stallion you know.” He said elbowing Silver in the ribs, or where his ribs might have been under all that mass. “Who doesn't?” Silver asked. “The rebels lad, seriously, where you been,” he sighed. “They don’t have even half our number, so they’ve taken to hitting us in camp and running, coming out of the trees, that’s why we have so many scouting parties.” He leaned in close. “I’ll admit morale has been low. But with the information we just got and the fact we got ourselves a very own P.U pony, we can all rest easy knowing you’ll be plucking a few feathers am I right?” “It’s PR and Yes, of course. Feathers,  Eh listen, you mentioned this Lord Marshell was here, where is he?” The Sergeant squinted then looked up at a hill in the distance and pointed to a huge tent that crowned the hill around the camp. “Central command is held up there, last I checked anyway. It’s been a while, why, what do you need them for.” Silver flinched, he had forgotten to come up with a convincing lie to get in. “Well, you know, thought I’d introduce myself, it would be rude to eh get stuck into em, work straight away.” “Oh, I get it want to show your work right to the top brass.” The Sergeant said with a wink, “come on I’m going that way anyway.” They walked on towards the inner circle of the camp, which didn’t look much better than the outer walls they passed, a couple of soldiers were cooking, staring gloomily into a pan.  Silver had been taught never to turn down food. Perhaps it had stemmed from having too little while he was growing up or at the fact his mother had had to scrounge up whatever she could just to feed her him and his sister, what with Silver's father being away buying smokes, for the last forty years. But it said a lot that even he wouldn’t touch whatever was in that pan. So caught up in the chaos around him He almost collided into the back of the Sergeant. He stared past him and spotted two armed guards in front of the command tent. The only two soldiers he had seen in full sparkling regalia since he had walked through the camp. “Halt, who goes towards the Lord Marshall’s tent?” “Stand Down Bright Lance, it's only me.” The Sergeant retorted. The two stallions didn’t move an inch, “Who’s the other one?” “The one with the weird get up who looks like a, a whats-a-name?”  “Magpie?” Silver said dryly. “Nah, I was going to say a southern brush tail emperor penguin.” The other guard said. “Listen here,” the Sergeant said, stepping forwards. “This stallion saved my hay bacon, he stood up to three monsters all without breaking a sweat and he also got information that could win this war.”  The two guards did not so much as flinch in fact they lowered their spears closer at the two of them. The Sergeant paused for a moment then added, “Oh he’s also the new torturer.” “Oh, why didn’t you say so!” Both guards relaxed almost instantly, their faces splitting into huge grins as they lifted their spears, “fields it’s been so long since we had one of them.” “Standards were really slipping there for a moment, glad to see the higher ups still care.” The other guard agreed with an enthusiastic nod.  “Yeah, honestly thought they’d make us do it.” The other guard shivered, “Could you imagine, don’t know if I had it in me, it takes a real evil kind of trash to be a torturer.” Silver opened his mouth to protest about the nature of his character but the guards were hardly paying attention. “-And he’s so perfectly deformed as well.” The other guard added much to Silver's chagrin, “and look Lance, see his face, look at the way he’s glaring at us angrily with those beady narrowed eyes, gives you the willies just looking at him, now that’s proper professionalism that is.” The other guard scratched his chin, “I mean he doesn’t have a hunch back. But still, they really splurged on us. Gonna have to write to my da about this.” He said excitedly. “We’ll go on, introduce yourself to the higher ups, be warned they've been a bit stressed these last few years?” “Oh why thank you very much, I’ll try not cause too much trouble, what with my deformed evil ways and all!” Silver growled glaring at the two guards. “Oh Lance, did you hear that villainous tone, just got a chill down my spine, he’s a real keeper this one.” Lance stepped forwards bashfully, “C-could you sign my helmet, ma would love that.” “No, I’m not signing anything and I’m not a deformed torturer, I’m in PR!” Silver yelled, stamping away and up into the tent. They watched Silver and the Sergeant go then slowly one of the guards and asked, “What’s PR?”. The other guard shrugged, “Don’t know, but by the look of that pony, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.” Silver could hear shouting even as he approached the  enormous tent. Yelling and clattering of steel and pompous threats reverberated around the fabric walls, he couldn’t make out whole sentences but words like “survival”, “the good of the kingdom” and “for king and country,” popped out like weeds in a flower bed.  He was no stranger to those terms, mostly from the mouths of nobles or union officials whenever Celestia told them that the pay increase was actually for their workers, and not for their new swimming pools. Silver brushed back his mane and straightened his tie, what was left of it anyway and stepped inside.  Every pony stopped what they were doing and stared in his direction. Three stallions whose voices could have been heard halfway across the camp turned from a map towards him, Each one decorated in medals bicorne caps and ostrich feathers with enough plumage to put an adult peacock to shame. “You there?” One of them barked, a green furred stallion. “What in the blazes are you doing here, this is for high ranking officials only.” He said giving in Silver's opinion a near expert sneer. He had known rules who couldn’t distance someone’s existence from a simple glance like this pony could. Silver kept his face neutral, all the while he tried to formulate a plan. He could tell what they were. Blue bloods, aristocrats, nobles. His smile grew, finally familiar territory, monsters and strange scary forests were one thing. But disgruntled nobles, distancing his very existence with just a glance, finally something he could handle. With deliberate slowness, Silver bowed and walked in as if he had every right to be there. “Gentlecolts, I have a message for the Lord Marshall.” He lied, walking towards the table they gathered around. He suppressed the urge to flinch as another one of the nobles, a hard faced character with a scar across his muzzle slammed his hoof onto the table and leaned forwards. “Intolerable my good chap, explain yourself, or by Jove or one shall receive a jolly good roystering followed by a swift defenestration out of this boudoir by you lapels!” (1)  Again, Silver kept calm. “Again, good sirs, The message is for the Lord Marshall's ears only, what’s your name my good sir, who am I addressing?” “I am Lord Stone Face knave.“ Silver baulked, his poker face crumbling. He had to be joking. Lord Stone Face, looked remarkably well considering the one Silver knew was more than a thousand years old and was also buried in Canterlot cemetery.  Then suddenly a nagging sense of familiarity struck him. Something about the stallions all three of them had seemed almost familiar to him. Like meeting some stranger who greets you like an old friend and talks to you and your group all the while you silently pray nobody around asks you what their name is. Then suddenly it clicked. He had seen all three of them a thousand times. Not walking the Canterlot hallways but adorning them. Two dimensional beings brought to three dimensions. Three figures Painted on canvas, the self portraits of nobles a thousand and more years in the past. The three marshals of the battle of the Flat Tops. War heroes or villains of the past depending on what classroom you went into, standing around in the flesh staring at him. “Soldier, don’t just stand there gawking, say something or I’ll have you placed in the racks!” Spoke the last pony. Another gruff and scared figure. Marshal Plooms, if Silver had to guess.  Silver worked his jaw, he needed to keep control of the situation. Lucky for him, famous long dead warriors or no, they were still nobles and nobles were his bread and butter. .“A-Ah Lord Plooms, of house Sparklehoof.” he said slowly his mind flicking desperately through the fling cabinet of useful information on 9th century nobles. House Sparklehoof reigned from blah blah most notable for the owning of blah blah devoted to his loving sister, black sheep of the family, etc.. had an affair with somepony who was it, who was oh yes! “Of course, where are my manners, how could I not recognise you?” Silver continued with a smile, “So good to finally put a name to a face. How is your sister? Is she well? I know she had trouble with her leg from time to time.”  The stallion blinked, his indignant glare morphing into cautious confusion. “Well, she ehh, she’s doing quite well, thank you.” “That’s excellent. I hope that business between her and the butler finally gets sorted out, I haven’t seen her in court for a while though?” The stallion flushed red, “How did, I mean, she’s um summering in Saddlebridge for the next ehh, nine months or so.” He stamped out eyes shifting towards the other noble lords. Silver nodded sympathetically then turned his eyes searching through the stallions. He spotted one with a moustache that was almost as wide as his thick rimmed hat. You must be Red Bar House Grey Tile, military family, father served in the war of etc etc , married to oh yes. I know just the thing! "And you Marshall Bar, a pleasure to meet again, do give my regards to Money Bags, how is the guild contract shaping up, still troubling with that little account problem.” “Wha-?!” He started to say then looking around, promptly shut his mouth and instead quickly added, “what money there was no money, no pony said anything about an illegal overseas account.” He froze, “forget you heard that part!” “Of course.” Silver smiled, “Oh Marshall Stone Face is it?” He turned to look at the last stallion, who looked side to side then pointed at himself as if he had somehow been caught in the crossfire. “Y-yes?” Lord Stone Face, famous warrior, first through the gates of Red Water, the toughest stallion to have ever picked up a sword and also secretly the world's most prominent collectors of stuffed teddy bears. “My Lord Stone I’m so glad to see you, I promised a dear friend of yours that I’d pass on a message, he says that Mr Snuffle paws stands guarding your bed-sit and eagerly awaits your return.” Silver said softly. “He said you would know what that means.” The stallion seemed frozen for a moment then suddenly misty eyed, a single tear rolled down the scar on his cheek and curled around his handlebar moustache. “E-excuse me a moment.” He said, pulling out a napkin and moving away from the group.  Silver smiled softly, “Now then gentle colts, as much fun as this is, I still have a dire message for this Lord Marshall, have you seen-.” Silver felt his back grow cold and for a moment it felt as though all heat in the tent had drained away. A shadow draped over the four stallions like an eclipse. Slowly he turned around to look at what he thought was the front end of a train. The figure stood, regained in midnight black armour trimmed with edges of shimmering white. Thick and flawless. The helm covered its face so that the only thing Silver could see was his own panicked gaze in the reflection.  “Lord Marshall.” One of the stallions behind him bowed. “I was just about to-“ “Silence.” The voice rang thick and tiny through the helm. Even Silvers flinched at the foreboding tone. “What is this one doing here?”  Suddenly all of Silvers cleaver ideas left him. It felt as though his Tongue had been glued to the bottom of his mouth as he spoke. “I um-“ “Art thou a mute? Speak!” The iron clad figure commanded. “Well um...”  The figure moved forwards backing Silver into a corner, “I ask again, art though a simpleton?” “I, I simply l,” the figure was massive, its presence forceful, its waving ethereal haircut with stars… wait stars? “Hang on a minute, Luna is that you?” From inside the helm a sweet and feminine laughter emanated from inside the helm.  “Ha, we got thee good!” Luna roared as she pulled him into a nearly spine crushing hug. “Tis so good to see you old friends.” “What are you talking about, Luna you saw me yesterday.” Silver wheezed. “Ha, trying to get me back, do not be a spoiler of sport.” She nudged him playfully which almost sent him hurtling backwards into the table.  “My Silver Coin you look terrible, what has happened to you?” She said, even through the helm Silver could feel the glare as she looked at the other stallions. “Why has our esteemed guest not been given the greeting befitting of his station!” “Silver Coin?” Silver Tongue asked brow raised, but the others spoke over him. “Your highness, there is no time for that, we need to plan for the assault if-“ “The assault can wait for a few minutes, my friend is tired and-“ she glanced back at Silver “clearly in need of a bath. Keep thine butts to yourself.” There was a snigger somewhere in the distance as Luna looked around, “why do ponies keep laughing when I say that?” Red Bar looked as though he was going to speak then finally bit his lip, “O-of course, your highness as you command.” The others left. All except for Lord Stone Face, the grizzled veteran glanced around for a moment and then leaned into Silver's ear and whispered, “Tell nanny to please keep a candle burning, Mr Snuffles is scared of the dark.” He said, then stood rigid, snapped a flawless salute to the princess, then as if to save face, began bellowing orders at a startled guard outside. “So Silver,” Luna said over her shoulder as she walked towards the table and fused with the buckles under her helmet. "How have thou been Silver?” “How have I been?” The question confused him, the casualness of it made something inside boil with anger, “how have I been, did you just ask me that?!” “Was that not proper?” Luna asked, “we can skip the pleasantries if thou prefers, ah blast these finicky buckles.” She cursed. Like a string in a guitar being wound too tightly something snapped inside of Silver. He stomped over towards Luna, “Have you lost your mind, what the heck is wrong with you, seriously are you acting like a fo-”  He stopped, watching as Luna emerged from under the metal helm. Reveal a pony far smaller and far too youthful than it had made her out to be.  She was still at least three hooves taller than him in every other way she was not the mare he knew. For one thing, she was not a mare, but something almost foal like. A mare caught at the age of somepony young enough to be asked for ID at a bar and just about too old to get a lolly pop from their doctors for being brave. Let alone somepony wearing full armour and being called Lord Marshall of an army. Luna and her sister always looked like mares that never aged past thirty. But this Luna who he was looking at right now looked barely older than fifteen.  “Oh fields above, I really am in the past aren't I?” He muttered, dread dropping with all the unfortunate horror of an anvil dropping onto a wedding cake.  “I-Is everything the matter, Silver Coin?”  He blinked realising he had been standing there staring straight ahead for the past minute. Luna, looking like a student at her desk rather than a monarch of a nation, was watching him with a nervous expression on her face.  Silver tried to speak, but what was there to say, his words felt like lead in his mouth. His years, it was in that moment that he was trying to find anything to say that he noticed Luna's ear flickering, like she was listening to something. He also noticed then that what he took for eagerness was something else, nervousness.   “Ah, eh, where are our manners, you must be famished, please sit, have some wine Silver Coin.” Luna said, after a moment levitated a jug of wine and pouring it into a glass. Silver noticed that her hoof was shaking ever so slightly and she almost cursed as the wine spilled over the rim. “Um, why do you keep calling me Silver Coin?” He said slowly. Luna stared at him for a moment, her ear flickering again. She winced as though something had scolded her then, in what might have been called panic if he could imagine somepony like Luna being capable of panic added quickly, “We apologise, would thou prefer the title instead Arch Chancellor, we have been away from court too long.” Her laughter was quick and nervous. “Uh, No-no, your highness Silver Coin is good… I suppose.” Silver Tounge said, deciding that it was better to stay in the lie for now. “So, um how are yo-“ “-Fantastic!” Luna sputtered out so quickly that Silver flinched. “Never better, we are sweeping through the land like one of those farming things with the sharp blade on the end. We even took one of their towns today.” Silver winced, rubbing his ear. “Uhh, that’s… great I’m sure that you-“ “-They burnt it down before we got there of course.” She added interrupting him, her voice growing more agitated. “The town, that is, they also torched all the farms and all the places to get food,” her brow furrowed as she looked down in misery then perked back again.” B-But still a moral victory aye?” She said, a panicked and all together too toothy smile. “O-Of course.” Silver said slowly. Like trying to soothe an agitated puppy or more accurately an all powerful, pubescent puppy with the power to move a moon on a whim. “Soon enough we'll corner them and string them by their weedy little tails, you can tell grandfather that.” She said, sipping from her glass.  “Um, your highness, that cup is empty.” “Victory is assured…but um, it will take time.” She said shifting backwards, unable to fully meet his gaze. “I just need a little more than was promised last year.” He didn’t know why she was acting so strangely towards him or why she was telling about all this but even though this was practically a stranger to him. He still felt compelled as her friend to comfort her. “I’m sure you will have it completed in no time, whatever it was you are fighting.” That didn’t seem to comfort her, quite the opposite in fact, “no time?” She said her voice cracking, “But, we can win this war, the griffons retreat everyday. We make new strongholds, please!” She said looking at him as though she was about to break down, “could you not find us more time, more... money.”  Ah there it was, now he realised why she had called him by that name. She thought he was his great great grandfather Silver Coin, the stallion who controlled the king's coin. A stallion as aggressively agoraphobic as a honey badger caught in a pipe drain and was even more protective about its expenditure. Why else would she think he had come all this way if not to talk about money.  He leaned backwards slowly, working out how best to work this, after all he did not know what the real Silver Coin had been telling her. “Princess I’m not here to talk about money-“ “-Please, I know grandfather is cross about the slowness of the campaign but I can’t fight an enemy that will not meet me in batt- wait, you're not?” She said her tirade ended before it could kick up into manic.  “No, I just, um I just came to... see how you are doing.” “Oh?” She said, the tightness of her shoulders sagging slightly, those panicked young eyes widening like a young filly who had managed to convince the teacher that it really was the dogs fault after all. “Y-You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.” She said, finally slumping down onto the throw pillow. “Are you okay princess, you seem stressed?” He said softly. “What, no of course I am perfectly well, never better.” She snapped her eyes looking everywhere but at his. Silver simply stayed quiet, it was amazing the power of simply not saying anything could do to somepony.  “Well…perhaps we are a little, um stressed?” She admitted hesitantly tapping her hooves together. She turned then, just slightly; her ear lifting upwards as if listening to an advisor. “Princess, I’m only one pony, but I’m good at listening. If you want to lend an ear, all you have to do is ask.” He said, giving her a genuine smile and holding his hoof towards hers. She glanced at it, then him, there was a ghost of a smile on her face at the gesture. “Perhaps, that sounds like something I could, huh?” Silver looked over his shoulder for a moment, but spotted no one. “I didn’t say anything, are you sure you’re okay Luna.” When Silver turned back Luna was not looking at him, her smile was slipping and her brows butted together.  He felt the hoof slip away as her eyes narrowed down at him. “Why are you here, Silver?” The voice was even but there was a knife edge of accusation there. Silver thought about spilling the whole truth then, telling this Luna exactly why he was here. After all, the Luna he knew could spend weeks arguing that it could not possibly be Thursday but could take things like time leaping and cosmic entanglement of the conventional timeline in the same stride as being told it might rain today.  But at the same time, Silver had not got in his position by playing his whole hand out for all to see. Also at the same time, suddenly thoughts came to his mind about butterfly’s effects and space time continuum and changing the past. He settled lamely on “My niece and her eh, friends, a cub as well, I need your help to find.”  “My help?” Luna said slowly. “What is it that you need my help that you could not get back home with grandfather or sister?” She seemed to catch herself and added, “not that we would not be able to provide you with just as much help, no more in fact, we could find you nieces, two nieces even!” Then she felt her ear flicker again, and pretended to look bored at her hoof. “Really Luna, thank you. If you could, we could travel back to Canterlot, and get Celestia to help as well. I’m sure that if both of you-” “-My sister?” Luna interrupted, her brow knitting together a prominent form forming on her muzzle, “Did I not just say that we would help, did you not just ask for our help specifically, why would we need the assistance of our sister in this matter?” Silver was taken aback by the sudden change in Luna's tone, “I didn’t mean any offence by it, but you know two minds are better than one and-” His lips froze as she lifted up her hoof for silence. Again Luna looked past Silver again her ear twitched, again she nodded to words that no pony spoke, “is that so, are you sure?” She said, looking sideways for a moment. “Am I sure of what?” Silver asked, looking to his side and seeing nothing, when he turned back Luna's face had hardened, her eyes narrowing just a fraction. “Hmm, I see,” she said and to Silver's dismay her face seemed to darken, hardened almost like a shadow had passed over one side. “You always were good at lying Silver, I know my sister admired that, you two share similar craven qualities.” There was almost a hiss in that tone now. “I, what?” Silver said, taken aback by the sudden insult. Though in fairness Silver would have taken that for a complement of it hadn’t been spoken with such venom. “You think I’m stupid?” She said slowly standing upwards, even for a teen she towered above him. “You the Marshall's, grandfather and sister. I know you have no niece, you’re an only foal. Why have you really come, to spy on me? but for whom, perhaps a friend, a lover, a sister of mine?” “Lover?!” Silver nearly spat out, the thought making him almost nauseous. “Luna, what are you talking about?!” “We know you’ve always been her pet,” she spat. “We know sister has not given up trying to bring me home, partitioning the king to end this war, she wants all the glory for herself. But Grandfather won’t hear it, so she sends you to find the nail that will fit my coffin.” Silver wiped the sweat forming on his forehead. This didn’t sound like Luna at all, true she was often angry, and easily offended and yes a touch violent depending on the mood. But he had never spiteful towards her friends. “Luna please, this isn’t what you think it is, I just need you-“ “-You will address me as your magistrate, or Lord Marshall or you will not walk out of this tent whole!” She yelled, smashing the table in two with her hoof. Silver gasped as he fell backwards.  For a moment it was as if the wall behind her was the abyss of black night, starless and cold, a row of fangs flashed in her muzzle. “Please Lun- your majesty, I just needed to find my niece, she’s out there alone with a one year old, I just thought that you could help me as my friend, I have no pony else I can turn to but you.” He said, wincing his foreleg over his eyes. He waited for a long moment, waited for the blaze of alicorn fury. Then as quickly as it had come the blaze of ice like intensity settled, the winds seemed to calm.  “No,” it was Luna's voice again, soft, almost inaudible, almost scared, “I will not, this is wrong, he is my friend.” Luna's voice yelled above him as if arguing with herself.  Silver dared to open his eyes, gasped as she picked him up and then, much to his surprise gently set him back down looking at him not with anger or spite, but with a sickly guilt. “I-I’m sorry Silver Coin. We… do not know what came over us.” She said slumping down onto the chair, clutching her head.  Silver leaned back upright and quickly checked broadly that all his limbs were at least roundabout where they should be, “Are you sure you’re okay your majesty?” Luna winced, stood up from the remains of the table and began to walk away, clutching her head. After a moment she glanced back, unable to meet Silver's gaze. “I’m sorry I do not feel well, we shall look for this niece and this cub of yours Silver, of course we shall.” “T-Thank you princess.” Silver said slowly lifting himself up from the floor.  The formal title seemed almost painful, like when a child hears their name in full, they knew they were in real trouble, her frown became stern as she gave a long low whistle with her hoof.  Not a moment later he felt the chill air against his back as the tent flaps moved and another figure entered the tent. Luna glanced from Silver towards the figure, “I need you and your scouts to scour the Forest, my friend has lost his niece and a cub in them. Finding them will be your top priority.” “Of course princess, finding lost mares and little cubs is my specialty, you could almost say that was my main objective all along.” Silver froze, the voice touched a part of his mind reserved for abject horror like seeing a fin in open water or someone making small talk at a bus stop. He felt claws, sharp claws press against his shoulder. Not hard enough to puncture skin but with an underlying strength that told him that it was only out of the kindness of the thing it was attached to that he didn’t have four new holes to breathe out of. The figure leaned towards him and spoke into one twitching ear. “Hello my fat little friend.” He whispered in Griffonian like a wind in a graveyard. “I’ve been waiting for one of you lot to come, do you know how long I’ve been here?” And the claws dig just that little bit deeper. “What do you say me and you go and find that little cub and finish the job, aye?”  “What’s the matter, Silver, you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Luna said, her tone was one of pure concern. But Silver noticed that little spark behind them, a cruel malice he had never seen on the princess before. But he had heard plenty of that from Celestia. After all this was before Luna was banished, and Silver knew exactly why she had been banished. Who had caused her banishment. He had thought he had been the lucky one. But now he realised that he was not just out of time and in a world he didn't understand. But that he was surrounded on all sides by monsters.