“I was tracking ya for quite a stretch,” Spade began. “After a time I came across a pair of foals what seen ya pass them not too long afore. They was fetchin’ water, so it’s just dumb luck I’m guessin’.
“By what some others been sayin’, you can disappear. Hell, it’s gotten easier to track you on account o’ that, seeing’s how that kinda thing spreads legends. So I reckoned you traveled invisible most days. Must ha’ been tired the day those foals saw ya.
“Now, Ponyville ain’t a big place. All the same I weren’t keen on wastin’ my time a-snipe hunting after ya. If ya saw me and runoft, what’s the point? So I figured I’d rout ya out.”
“The Hydra,” Emerald interjected.
“Aye. But I found the Hydra’s lair in the marshes, and I saw I couldn’t move it by my lonesome. I went lookin’ fer help. I asked around among some old vagrants I knew in the country, lookin’ fer a powerful unicorn what wasn’t scared to dirty his hooves.
“They pointed me to a feller named White Bird. Rumors said he was powerful enough to fight the Princesses, but he had a code. They was all too scared to recommend him, as anyone what worked with him was never seen again. They said he had a code, and my work might not fit it.
Don’t ask me how I found him, on account o’ he found me. Don’t ask me how he did that, neither. When I met him he already knew all about ya, Emerald. That’s the strangest part of all.
“He said he’d help me find ya, and kill ya. I told him he weren’t allowed to lay a hoof on ya, cause you was mine and all, and he swore it.
“But this stallion White Bird ain’t any old unicorn. He’s stronger than you or me could ever hope to be. If I challenged him I’d be belly-up afore I could get a shot in. And he ain’t one for favors. If I wanted his help, I had to do something in return, that’s what he said. Never told me the whole deal, but he said I had to help him swipe the Elements of Harmony.
“‘Now if you’re so strong,’ I says, ‘why ain’t you bustin’ ‘em out yerself?’ He looks at me and he says, ‘There’s more to it than breaking them out. If you’re to be inculpable you need a scapegoat.’
“So I start thinking I’m gonna take the fall for him, but he says to make the guards carry ’em away from the castle. He shows me the Blue Swamp Lily and tells me how to use it, and now I’m thinking I got me a pretty good trump card to use on you.
“Then we did the Hydra. I knew you was too strong to be killed by a Hydra. Dang things can’t even walk straight half the time, all those heads on ‘em. But I also knew you couldn’t pass up a challenge like that. You think yer so righteous, Emerald, but I know ya better than that. All you want’s to be seen as the hero.”
“Stick to the question, Spade,” said the Princess.
Immediately the Swamp Lily snapped Stowaway Spade from his digression and he obeyed.
“When the Princess here showed up, I busted my shoulder I was so mad. There you were, right under my snout after all these years, and I couldn’t gitcha. I ain’t fool enough to take on the Princess of the Day, even after hearin’ stories of that Changeling Queen.
“White Bird told me I’d still have my chance. After all, now that you was in favor with the Court, it wouldn’t be tough at all to find ya. The tricky part was findin’ ya off guard, and White Bird helped me with that.
“Now I ain’t scared of nopony, but some of the things White Bird knew, and some of the things he did, they bordered on the supernatural. He told me I would find you at a party right there in Ponyville in just two days’ time, and he made me be patient.
“Of course I didn’t trust him, so I followed y’all to Canterlot. I figured you was planning something with the Princesses, now they was with you, but I couldn’t reckon what. But I knew you never went out of yer way ‘less it were to find some way of gettin’ at me.
“When you headed back to Ponyville alone I knew White Bird was right and that I shoulda listened. I know the Princess of the Night would never ha’ stopped me if I hadn’t gone to Canterlot and gotten myself shadowed; and I’d ha’ had my revenge that night. I trusted White Bird from then on, but it ain’t as if I liked it.
“After that I set about gettin’ the Royal Guard on our side. White Bird brought me to Canterlot, gave me some potions, told me what to do, who I had to hit. He did none of that work himself; I scraped along on my gimp leg all night doin’ that for him.
“I turned the Guard against ya, Emerald. I made ‘em watch ya fer any sign you might be vulnerable. When you took yer walk with the Princess in the castle garden, I had my shot. And I weren’t ungrateful of the opportunity to get that no-good blueblood back fer gettin’ in the way of—”
Emerald’s hoof landed square on Stowaway Spade’s jaw, sending him tumbling backward across the small cell. Celestia said nothing; Emerald said nothing. Spade lifted himself off the floor placidly and continued his story.
“You foiled that plan, too, Emerald. Always you was too strong, but I’d be damned afore I let White Bird do ya for me.
“After you sealed my leg and took away my magic, White Bird told me there was a way to fix me up. But it needed the Elements to work, so we got to plannin’ that right quick. He said we would have to wait till the Full Moon to use them, though, so I tried to put off helpin’ him steal them in case he tried to hightail it and leave me crippled. But I decided that then was the time to take ‘em.
“I knew the castle would be on guard after I attacked y’all, and we could only get so many of the Royal Guard between our hooves, so I called on White Bird and told him I was ready to move. So we got everythin’ ready and I was there to help out. White Bird did all the spell breakin’ on account of my magic wasn’t workin’. My leg was hurtin’ bad, too, and I was startin’ to trip up. We was on the castle ground when my leg stiffed up and I started to tumble. Three guards heard me. If it weren’t for Birdy, we’d ha’ been spotted.
“White Bird runs down to me, takes me by the leg, and next thing I know I’m sitting in this valley, this place where we agreed to hide the Elements till the Full Moon—Sparkling Crag it’s called—and I’ve just got this feeling I’m s’posta wait there. Was only later I learned how Birdy managed the job. He found the guards, wiped their memories, sashayed in like he does, and busted the Elements free while our guys kept lookout.
“He told them boys to carry the Elements to me in Sparkling Crag. They get there, help me fix up that damn leg, bathe in the river and I go to sleep.
“When I woke up White Bird was there. Boy he chewed me out. He was mighty sore my leg almost ruined the job, and he let me know it. Then he wiped our boys’ memories too and left, not to be disturbed till the Harvest Moon, he says.
“Galeheart and Storm Cloud, they couldn’t even remember how they busted the Elements out. For them it was missing time. One second they’re waitin’ orders, the next they’re runnin’ for the forest. So I figured that how he wanted it, and I didn’t bring it up.
“Then the sergeant here and the other young’uns found us. We heard ‘em comin’ a mile away, and I had Storm Cloud and Galeheart check it out ahead of me. The kid got the better of ‘em, and took ‘em off to be locked up.
“Took me the better part of an hour to pluck up the courage to contact White Bird and tell him what happened. White Bird had no interest in bustin’ ‘em out, said they were useless now the job was done. I told him I had promised their freedom for their help, and it was like somethin’ lit a fire under his tail. Whatever anypony else may say about him, he’s a stallion what honors a deal, and he don’t take kindly to those who don’t keep up their end.
“That night we broke ‘em out. Oh, he was real ornery when he found out we hid the Elements in that Shadow World. Still don’t even know what that damn place is, do I, but he flew off his rocker, callin’ it unsecured and the other thing. Well we pulled the Elements out, me and Galeheart, and when we came back Storm Cloud was gone.”
“What happened to him?” said Emerald.
“White Bird got rid of him. ‘Saw to him,’ that’s how he put it. Said he was a snitch and had to see to him. I didn’t really see the point, but I didn’t argue. White Bird ain’t the type of stallion you argue with. But what he actually did with the old boy I haven’t the foggiest.
“He left me for a week. Galeheart taught me to enter the Shadow place in case I needed to be safe, and White Bird came back on the Full Moon to help me break your seal.”
“Breaking the seal,” Emerald interrupted; “how did you do that? Was there any trick to it?”
“Ain’t no clue, really,” Spade shrugged. “None more than what you’d ha’ seen if you was watchin’ us. There was some circles in the ground, the Elements all arranged, and these things that White Bird called ‘Experientias’.”
“Experientias?” said Emerald. “What was their purpose?”
“White Bird said I couldn’t experience all six states of Harmony at once, so they did it for me. Said it was like cheatin’. That flower, the River Rose, White Bird made me eat it. Said it interacted with the Elements and the Experientias. Made it possible. Otherwise it’s all a mystery. White Bird took care of most of the magic. In any case we just finished up when y’all showed up and right near killed Galeheart. White Bird must ha’ made off with the Elements.”
“Wait,” said Emerald when Spade had finished his narrative. “You said White Bird helped you break the seal, but that’s impossible. We watched the entire ceremony. You and Galeheart were the only ones in that field tonight.”
Spade laughed.
“And lemme guess,” he said, “you remember seein’ a pretty white dove in the area?”
Emerald and Celestia stood in silent thought for a moment.
“That was White Bird,” Spade said. “If Birdy don’t want you rememberin’ him, you won’t remember him. Don’t ask me how he does it. He don’t even cast a spell, far as I can tell. He just erases himself from your mind, and all that’s left is a great white bird. I reckon the old nag thinks it’s poetic.”
Emerald was awestruck.
“You say this stallion knew everything about us?” he asked Spade, deeply vexed.
Spade nodded.
“Six hundred years ago, when you chased me out of my seaside home, I was running in the woods and I saw a white bird. It was so bright it looked like the sky had ripped open. Could that have been White Bird?”
“I seen the same thing right afore I attacked you,” said Spade. “That same night. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but yeah, it coulda been.”
“He’s not an alicorn?” said Emerald, growing pale.
“Nah, not that I know. First off he ain’t got wings. But he knows more about magic than you or me ever will, that’s for sure. If I kept myself alive this long with yer alchemy, who’s to say he’d need anything more than what I got?”
“Spade, what does White Bird look like?”
“You’re wastin’ yer time,” Spade coughed. “Even if ya knew, you take one step toward him and you’ll forget you ever saw him. Even to my boys in the hills what told me about him, he’s only a rumor, like a folk tale.”
“This is getting us nowhere,” Celestia interceded. “Right now all we’ve learned is that Spade knows nothing of the unsealing ritual—which, I might add, is the only reason we’ve gone through the trouble of capturing him; and that his only suggestion as to someone who might, is an apparition that cannot be found. The Full Moon is waning, Emerald, and we are running out of time to save my sister.”
“Be patient, Princess,” said Emerald. “No one wants to see Luna safe more than I, not even you. If I can bear this setback, so can you.”
Celestia bit her tongue and turned away from the others.
“My biggest question is why he left your memory so completely intact, Spade? Doesn’t it seem odd that even after parting ways with you completely, this stallion—who, as you put it, found it necessary to ‘see to’ a snitch who knew next to nothing—would leave you to inform your enemies about him? Surely he was watching over while we fought? At any time he could have seen you were losing and taken your memory. So why?”
“I didn’t think about it,” Spade shrugged. “Maybe he reckoned it didn’t matter anyway, once he got what he came for.”
Emerald shook his head, turning to Celestia.
“It’s more likely,” he whispered, “this White Bird wanted us to know about him.”
“I agree,” the Princess sighed. “I only wish we knew how to find him. Nor do we understand his intentions. He has made it quite clear that he is an enemy, and yet as far as we can tell he has no intention of harming you.”
“Spade,” said Emerald, “is this everything you know about White Bird?”
“Yeah,” Spade said with a nod.
“Then we have nothing more to say to you. Follow me.”
Emerald led Spade out of the small cell and into the center of the dungeon. He told Spade to sit and he obeyed. Around the shackled Earth stallion Emerald Alembic drew seals and symbols in chalk on the flagstone floor. He circumscribed Spade with an eight-pointed star, touched up the seals, and told Mercury and the Princess to guard him while he fetched the necessary tools for the ritual.
When Emerald returned Spade had not moved an inch. But as Emerald began to place the relics around the circle, Spade spoke.
“I remember this setup,” he said. “This is what ya did to me the night ya first attacked. This is how you made me young again. But what’s with all the gizmos this time ‘round?”
“After tonight,” said Emerald, coolly, “you will no longer be Stowaway Spade. The time spell requires only the seals to work. Everything else is for your memory.
Spade closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose.
“All the same to me,” he shrugged. “Just promise I won’t never see you again, after this.”
“I promise nothing.”
In a moment the dungeon became illuminated with unicorn magic, a great strobing of colors, and a terrible screeching that forced all present to shut up their ears with their hooves. The strobing subsided, and all that was left of Stowaway Spade was a tiny, coal-coated infant, blinking its confused green eyes at Emerald and the Princess of the Day.
The infant Spade was placed in the charge of a palace nurse to be watched over. Emerald and Celestia, together with Sergeant Mercury, ascended hurriedly to the Watchtower Room, impatient at least to attempt to break the seal on Princess Luna before the Full Moon had faded.
Emerald prepared everything to the best of his ability: the Elemental seals were placed in a hexagram as he had observed, mimicking the positions of the true Elements of Harmony. He had the city’s swiftest messenger dispatched into the midnight fields to gather River Roses, and in the meantime he laid the circles just as he had observed in Spade’s own ritual. All that remained was the Experientias.
“I have a vague recollection of Experientias,” said Emerald at last, “but only what I’ve heard in stories. They were used by shamans in the Copper Era to share memories. The shamans pulled knowledge and experience from their own minds, and their students would view the resulting Experientias in a scrying stone. Supposedly, this is how apprentice shamans became masters in a matter of weeks. But this was long before even my time.”
“Do you think the spell will work without them?” said the nervous Princess.
“It’s hard to say. Judging by what Spade said, as long as the caster can command all six Elements, it seems that even consuming the River Rose is unnecessary. I don’t wish to take that chance. But as to gathering Experientias, I do not know where we would start, or even how to accomplish such a thing. So we will have to make do without them.”
“Is everything ready, then?” asked Mercury.
Emerald nodded.
“Princess,” he said, “would you carry Luna in so we can begin?”
Celestia bowed her head and passed solemnly into the dark rotunda, isolated from the watch room by lavender drapes. Emerald busied himself by beginning to chew the honey-sweet River Rose, and the calmness of sound sleep came over him. He felt happier than at any other moment in his life, confident now of his ability to rescue his friend.
All at once Emerald’s peaceful thoughts were interrupted by an agonized scream. Instantly he was reminded of his surroundings. Mercury jumped to his hooves with all his martial alertness, and the two of them set their eyes upon Celestia, who continued to wail hysterically before the curtained room.
“What’s wrong?” Emerald shouted, rushing toward her.
She could give no answer; her crying would not cease long enough to let her speak. She simply pointed a trembling hoof toward the black rotunda, where they could see that Luna’s bed sat empty.
Luna was gone.