//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Even Stranger // by SaltyJustice //------------------------------// Spiracle waited impatiently in the train car as it began filling up. Her packages, now sitting on the seat beside her, would hopefully serve as a warning she did not want to be sat with. The ponies around her seemed to be accepting it, drifting towards other seats, but the car was filling up fast. There were a lot more ponies getting on than usual, two griffons, a few mules. Perhaps there had been some event recently that brought them to the Crystal Empire? If there had been one, Spiracle could not recall. The car, after several minutes, was filled to capacity, except for her own seat. She had gotten her usual booth, second car from the back, because most of the other booths on the C17 train had rips in their seats. Nothing was worse than sitting on a torn seat for three hours when heading on the C-track out of the Crystal Empire. The train was also now late, Spiracle noted. There was a bit of commotion outside, though she could not see it from the window. Two more ponies entered the car, excusing themselves and apologizing as they made their way through. The only seat was across from Spiracle, and she dreaded having to sit with company for - "Hi there! Is this seat taken?" the pink pony of the two asked. "No, let me move those. Careful, they're fragile," Spiracle answered. She reached to move the packages when, as she looked up, she got a good look at the pony who was talking to her. It was her. The... The... The Bane of Changelings! Princess Cadence! Spiracle's heart stopped, her eyes went dry. Busted. She was as good as dead. The ponies were going to arrest her - that must have been what the commotion was! Somebody had tailed her, found her out. Maybe Thorax had talked, she knew that idiot was going to get her killed! "Thanks! After you, Shining." The Prince sat across from Spiracle as Princess Cadence took the bag off his back and slid it under the table between them. "Sorry, there was no room in the baggage compartment. Seems they oversold this train," Cadence said. Spiracle couldn't concentrate, her life was too busy flashing before her eyes. "Don't talk much, do you?" the Prince asked. Spiracle had gotten water dumped on her by the changeling sitting next to her in espionage 101, when the flashing stopped. Between the falling drops, one thing her teacher had said stuck out: Don't. Panic. "Oh, no, not really. I was hoping I'd get the only solo seat," she said. "Yeah, been there. Helps when you want to get some reading done." The Bane of Changelings sat next to her. Spiracle began to sweat despite her best efforts to stay calm. The Bane carried around a huge sword, probably to carve up anyone who she even suspected of being a spy. It could cut a pony in half in the blink of an eye, and it was now slung menacingly, just inches from her. "Hey, I know you!" the Bane said. Oh great Queen Chrysalis! "You're that courier, Gio Express! Right?" "Sasha Gio, that's me. From anywhere, to anywhere," Spiracle said, mouthing the line automatically. Her primitive instincts were taking over to compensate for the shock. "My dad said you were the best, he used to work on the rail lines. You probably don't remember me, but we've met once. I was just little," the Bane said. Spiracle thought back to those moments when she had first felt real paranoia. The order had come down, "Everyone out, now!" It was a week after the Canterlot raid went sour. Spiracle was on high alert to watch for counter-operatives, and had just made a check-in with her contacts in Canterlot. They had put a total of thirteen agents in the city in an effort to figure out where and when the ponies were going to launch a counter attack. Spiracle had passed two agents their Nectar and instructions, when one of them opened his orders on the spot. Cut all communications and return to the hive. Her own orders hadn't been to do so, but she felt the pinch. They had agreed to pick random disguises and split up, to meet back at the train later. The other two hadn't made it back, and she never saw those operatives again. She still would occasionally have a nightmare where she had been the one who got caught, where she'd walk around a corner to find herself grabbed and thrown to the ground by a dozen guardsponies, to be beaten to a pulp if she wouldn't talk. Over the course of the next week, all thirteen of their agents had gone dark, and Spiracle's route had explicitly barred her from going to Canterlot. The rumours at the hive were all about who was behind it. The worst part was that nobody knew, and it couldn't have been a leak. Three of the agents had been Internal Affairs, and seven were Infiltrators. Nobody except the Queen herself knew who all of them were disguised as, and the ponies had nailed them inside two weeks! The ponies then sent out hunter-killer parties throughout the kingdom, and any operative caught was never heard from again. The whispers at the hive all coalesced around one pony: Princess Cadence, the Bane of Changelings. Nobody was certain how they knew, how they did it. Nobody had escaped after being caught, or ever seen again. Had the ponies murdered them? Tortured them? Nobody knew. The best damn spy agency in the kingdom, nay, the world and they had no idea. And now the pony responsible for the death of all her former colleagues was sitting next to her on the train, chatting like nothing was wrong. Spiracle stopped. She smiled. "Well now, maybe I do, maybe I don't. You weren't a Princess and a filly at the same time, I take it. I'd have remembered that." "Oh no." "Well, that sounds like a story to me!" Spiracle offered. "A very long one, I'm afraid. We're only on 'til Ponyville," Cadence explained. Spiracle would not be stopped so easily. "Well that's a ways yet, pardner. Tell you what, maybe you can tell me later. What takes you to Ponyville?" "My sister lives there, we're going to pay her a visit," Prince Shining Armor said. "Aww, that's real sweet of you. Wish I had somepony to pay a visit to." "You don't?" "I'm an only child, and my folks - er," Spiracle stuttered. "It's all right. I take it you miss them a lot," Cadence said. "Yeah. Yeah I do," Spiracle said. Spiracle looked out the window as the Crystal Empire started sliding along. The train got underway at last and the terrain began to get snowy, further from the curious magical boundaries of the city. Before long they'd be back in the green belt, as the train made its way south, but the pine trees of the north were beautiful in their own right, covered in glistening snow. She would have loved to go exploring in that wilderness by herself, but never had. It was cold, for one thing. She was too busy, for another. She made small talk with the Bane and the Prince as the train traveled. Unfortunately, none of the details they let slip were anything she didn't already know from other sources, or weren't public knowledge anyway. The political situation of the Crystal Empire wasn't exactly vital for the changelings anyway, and their operative in the Empire had almost managed to crack the shell of the guard corps and infiltrate it. He was a gutsy one, at any rate, willing to go right up to the Bane like that. Certainly in line for a commendation if he pulled it off. Spiracle had to remind herself not to get too comfortable. This whole thing could still be a trap, with the trap to be sprung when they arrived at Marmalade Falls. If she was trying to get secrets out of the Princess, the Princess could be trying to get secrets out of her before she was arrested. She'd need to be extremely careful and switch disguises as soon as she could. "Sasha Gio. Not really an Equestrian name, is it?" the Princess asked. "My parents were from Stalliongrad. I speak a little Russian, but not much." "Oh really? Say something Russian." "" Spiracle said. Her accent was probably unintelligible to somebody from Stalliongrad, but the Princess seemed impressed. "Ooh. How mysterious. I really ought to take up another language." "" the Prince said. Cadence looked surprised. "You speak Russian too? I didn't know that." "" "All I caught was 'Vrinsk'," Cadence said, giggling. "" Spiracle said. "All right, what did you call me? Don't make me use this!" Cadence said, threatening Spiracle with her sword. "" Shining Armor said. "Ooh, what a rotten thing to call your wife," Spiracle teased. The repartee continued as the train rumbled its way across the plains. The forests surrounding Marmalade River sprung from the ground and the track began to wind its way up an increasing grade. The mountains of western Equestria soon loomed overhead while the train's single column of smoke weaved its way through the forests. "Apologies, everypony! Apologies!" an official in a blue jacket shouted. The door to the packed car had opened and the official shouted from the portal, "Apologies, but we've just heard. There's been a landslide and this train has been delayed. We'll have more news at the station. Arrival in five minutes!" "A landslide? Gee, that's new," Shining Armor said, betraying a hint of pout in his voice. "Not really. Landslides happen a lot in this area," Spiracle offered. "Ride here a lot?" "Deliveries to every corner of Equestria and sometimes beyond, if the price is right." There was a clamour as the train pulled into the station and the passengers awaited the news. Chatter filled the car to deafening, then melted away once the door opened and the same official spoke. "All right, all right. We estimate the slide will take two days to clear. Anypony on urgent business is welcome to remain on the train, we will be departing and taking the E-line to Dusty Dries via Weston, then back to the C-line. Anypony who would prefer to wait for the track to be cleared, we will be providing accommodations at a discount rate at Marmalade Falls hotel. Train leaves in twenty minutes!" About two-thirds of the other passengers began to make motions to depart, though Cadence and Shining Armor were not among them. "Well, what do we do? Ride over to Weston?" Cadence asked. "Not a good idea. You'll have to sit for another twenty hours, you'd only save a day, and arrive at midnight. And your butt would hurt, to boot," Spiracle said. "Uhm, that doesn't sound pleasant. Do you have any idea how long it takes honey to go bad?" Spiracle shrugged. "Honey? Oh right, the honey!" Shining Armor exclaimed. "Are you going to Ponyville, Sasha?" Cadence asked. "Was, now I have to take a long detour, but I'll get there eventually. Need something delivered? Anywhere to anywhere!" "We do, to a crystal pony named Charlie." Spiracle was practically salivating. She would have settled for squeezing information from the Princess, but intercepting her mail would be even better. What kind of secrets could she - "These jars of honey are for him, from his mom. Tell him she says hi!" Cadence said. She unfolded her wing to reveal three narrow glass jars of crystal honey. "Oh. Three jars of honey huh," Spiracle muttered. "Yep. How much?" "I'd normally charge you fifteen bits, but since we're such good friends - " "Here's twenty bits, ," Shining Armor said, passing a pouch stuffed with golden coins. Spiracle accepted the pouch with a smile. They bid one another goodbye and the two Royals departed with their heavy bag in tow. Spiracle went to the lavatory car, switched her disguises, then sat down in a different seat in the same car. No guardsponies showed up to arrest her, perhaps the royals hadn't been playing mind games? She kept her guard up regardless, and would not rest it until she was certain she wasn't being tailed. She was now looking for anypony in the train car who would be trying to spot a changeling, and would be for the next few hours. "Booked solid, huh?" Shining Armor asked the impatient desk clerk. "Yes, it's like I didn't just get through explaining that to you," came the rejoinder. "What are we supposed to do, sleep in the hallways?" "I'm afraid that would be a violation of the fire code." "Does the fact that I'm a Prince not change anything?" Shining Armor pleaded. "It sounds nice on paper. I'm sure whoever you'd wind up kicking out of their room would think highly of you for it." The desk clerk, though sarcastic to a razor's edge, had a point. Shining Armor and Cadence were not getting a room here tonight, that much was clear. "Do you at least have someplace we can store our bag?" "That we do have." The desk clerk hefted the bag with some effort, and deposited it out of sight behind the counter between them. Marmalade Falls hotel was a rotting old building, built too large too fast for a town that was once thought to be the next big city in Equestria, after gold had been found in the hills. Time and money then had had a race, and time proved the longer winded. Without gold, the citizens had drifted away, and the town had withered. The hotel was a reminder of that, yet despite being too big for its own good, it had still somehow run out of rooms just before Cadence and Shining Armor had reached the desk. "Don't pout, honey. I have an idea," Cadence offered. The desk clerk gave them directions to Bull's General Store, down the road and on their right. The building was virtually impossible to miss, having enormous red lettering outside and a sign which proclaimed one thing and one thing only: DEALS. In capital letters, no less, in case a passing tourist were uncertain as to the veracity of the claim. The doorbell let out a ring as the two entered the surprisingly cluttered store. There was a desk up front, and probably aisles behind it, but going more than a few feet in the building was impossible. Junk littered the floors and shelves. A broken vacuum cleaner and a number of bolts, screws, spare parts, and kitchen sinks were the immediate clutter, there was scarcely enough light leaking through the door behind them to make out anything else. "How-dee pardners. Welcome to Bull's General Store. What can I do ya for?" From the gloom had emerged an enormous blue minotaur. He sidled up behind the desk and leaned over it, earnestly smiling at his customers. "Uh, hi. We're browsing," Cadence said. "Good luck with that. If you want something you're gonna have to let me know, only I know where it is." "How about a tent?" Shining Armor asked. "Comin' right up!" The minotaur vanished into the gloom. Clanging and falling metal could be heard, dust would come swirling out of the darkness periodically. Eventually, a cry of "Found it!" burst forth and the minotaur returned. "Here ya go, I knew I had one in here someplace. Ten bits sound nice?" "Yeah, ten bits," Cadence said. Before she could get any money out, two cans of aerosol spray clanged onto the counter. "You goin' camping? You'll want some bug spray too!" Bull said. "Just one can ought to do it - " "And you might want some of these waterproof matches, 'case it rains and all." "Okay, maybe - " "Maybe I can get ya a few cans of minced spinach, mmm mm! Nothin' like spinach after a day on the trails." "Well - " Cadence and Shining Armor emerged into the day's sun with about fifty bits less than they had entered with, and more than enough camping equipment to last them a lifetime. "Now all we need is someplace to camp. See? I told you this wouldn't be so bad," Cadence said. "Only if you're carrying all this stuff," Shining Armor replied. "I got this lovely travel pack. Sixteen pockets! There's no way you'd ever need that many and now I have them." "You can carry all the pockets you want, where shall we carry them to?" "I've always wanted to see Marmalade Falls waterfall up close, let's go there. Should take all day." And so the couple departed the sleepy town with its overflowing tourism problem for the great outdoors. They hiked uphill for several hours until the sun's setting threatened to end their journey. They resolved to reach the falls proper on the next day, and instead prepared to make camp under the stars. "Shining Armor?" Cadence asked. "Mmm? Something the matter?" Shining Armor had just finished pounding the tent's pegs in while Cadence was packing up their food. "Why do we only have one sleeping bag?" All she received for an answer was a wink.