//------------------------------// // IX: Copper // Story: To Save a King // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// Wisdom stepped of the train and stared at the city that rested before him and his friends, the smoke filling in the air and being broken down by the pegasus workers flying about. This was none other then Manehatten, the city where his friend Griffin was supposed to be living these days. Somewhere in this labyrinth-like city was their only hope to decoding the last bit of the strange riddle and finding where the legendary Angels Root grew. Besides Wisdom, Tick, and Peachy there stood a member of Rocket's personal Changeling Guard, the shy Changeling known as Sucker Punch. The Changeling had volunteered to join the group so they could communicate with the Queen easily and without much delay. Luckily Sucker Punch knew how to brew the elixir that would save the King's life, mostly due to the fact that each Changeling is taught the same skills as each other. It really wouldn't have mattered which Changeling had come along with them, but since he had already volunteered it had already been decided. "So, your friend is supposed to be somewhere in this city?" Tick asked, his eyes scanning for anything that could tell him where this 'Griffin' was. "Affirmative." Wisdom answered, taking a step forward, "He told me he'd have a residence somewhere in the direct center of the city, but knowing Griffin that could just very well be code for something else entirely." "I hope we find him soon," Peachy muttered, keeping the thought to herself, "otherwise Rocket will suffer for our tardiness." Sucker Punch said nothing to the group he had volunteered to help, having mostly blended into the crowd by donning the form of a lavender earth pony with a straight down cyan mane and tail style. His cutie mark was supposed to be a boxing glove, which represented his love for beating ponies into the ground when they deserved it. "We had best get moving then," Tick said, following after his friend. The group wandered into Manehatten, unaware that there was one pony watching their every movement and observing their lips with ease. In the shadows lurked a pair of eyes, a set of evil globes that allowed Sombra to see what he wanted, as long as there was a shadow near his target. The only thing he needed to do to insure his victory over the dying King was to eliminate his friends and erase any hope of the other royals finding the flower in time. The group walked in silence, allowing their eyes to wander about the various signs as they searched for anything that could lead them to where Griffin was living. Countless times Peachy left her eyes wandering to the shadows, as if she was sensing something dangerous lurking within them. Or it was the nervousness that she felt around her due to the stares she was receiving; she was still wearing her nightmare armor. "Kill all of them and feed their ssssoulssss to the darknessssss," a voice hissed, just as several pony sized creatures emerged from the shadows around them. Or more like a dozen or two of them. "Should have known something like this would have happened," Tick shouted, bashing a shadowy pony in the side with his guitar, only to find that the creature could get up without a single wound on it, "What are these ponies made of?" "I don't know," Wisdom called, his voice strong as he bashed a foe in the head with his staff and then crushed them into the ground hard, "but it doesn't look like they go down easily." "No kidding," Peachy shouted, taking to the shadows to surprise her enemies, appearing at random moments to slam them into the ground and then vanish again, "Doesn't look like we'll be able to destroy them without some help. How you holding up Sucker Punch?" The Changeling in question was busy pounding a shadowy creature in the face several times before slamming it into the ground and tossing it into the air. His foe was then roundhouse kicked into the ground a second time before being tossed into the side of a building. Sucker Punch did all this damage to his foes without so much as using magic against them, but still he and the rest of the group were outnumbered by the shadowy ponies. "Defense Mechanism Activated," a mechanical voice said, just as beams of light shot past Wisdom and his friends and pierced the shadowy ponies. The light then preceded to form a barrier made of light that covered the entirety of Manehatten, driving Sombra back to his hiding spot with ease. Wisdom was stunned; nothing he had seen before could have destroyed, vaporized, or even banished the shadowy ponies in such a short amount of time. Of course he wasn't counting the fact that his dying friend could perform a hollow's cero from Bleach perfectly and it was the most dangerous attack in all of Equestria. All the same he was surprised that something could get rid of the shadows in such a short amount of time with almost nothing that could have fired the beams of light. "Um...what just happened?" Tick asked, caught completely off guard by the fact that his foe was now missing and the other shadows were nowhere to be seen. "My automatic defenses have taken care of our unfriendly 'visitors'," said a voice, just as a light brown unicorn with a darkish brown mane and tail stepped out of a nearby shop, "I have wired the entire city with automatic defenses that will rid the townsponies of any troublesome visitors, such as those nasty shadows. I could monitor everything that goes in and out of the city, but that would be borderline insanity to truly monitor everything and everypony." "And just who the buck are you exactly?" Peachy asked, her own shadows gathering at her hooves as she faced the unicorn that had spoken to them. "Buck? I am amazed that somepony like yourself even knows that word," the unicorn mare continued, "but I am called Copper Sprocket, master of mechanics and owner of Clockwork Engines. I mostly deal in fixing trains and placing the various shield barriers to protect the city." "Do you have any idea where Griffin's house would be?" Wisdom asked, though he knew it was somewhere in their general area. "He doesn't own a house I'm afraid," Copper replied, as if she had known the question was going to arise and had prepared for it, "but he did leave me a note. He said "When a group of four comes asking for me, lead them in the direction of Appleloosa, but he didn't specify what he meant by that." "Oh sweet Celestia," Wisdom said, facehoofing as he realized what the riddle had truly meant, "I've figured out that blasted riddle. 'To the south you must go, Towards the land in where no rain falls, To where an ancient flower grows, And to save a King by weeks end.' South of the Changeling Hive is a desert, one where Twilight and her friends have visited before. Rain never falls in a desert, which leads us directly to the exact location of our target." "Applelossa," Tick breathed, surprised that the simple riddle had tricked Wisdom for so long. "Exactly." Wisdom said, turning to go to the train when another thought hit him, "If it takes us a day and a half to reach Appleloosa from Manehatten and three days round trip then we will have failed. It took four and a half hours to get here from the Hive." "By Luna's Might," Peachy cursed, "How are we supposed to get to Appleloosa and back in under three days? Without Rocket's magic we won't be able to go straight there and back within minutes and I doubt he could pull it off in his state." "Not a problem," Copper said, "I can easily attach a warpstone to the train your riding in and we can get there within a few hours. Provided you are willing to ride through an open riftgate to the other side." "What are you talking about?" Tick asked, completely confused by the mare's unfamiliar words. "I honestly don't care right now," Wisdom said, turning on the mare, "Can you get the tools you need so you can get the job done?" "Just follow me into my shop and I'll be back out in five minutes." Copper replied, knowing it would take her at least one minute to find the tools and be out of the store. It was nice to have a cushion in case she was wrong about where the tools were. So the five wandered into Copper's shop, the building named Clockwork Engines like she said it would have been named. The four were surprised to find that so many mechanical pieces laid scattered around, like Copper had never gotten around to cleaning the place up. Gears hung from the ceiling and huge sheets of metal, likely copper or iron, laid on a huge table for Copper to cut through them when she needed to. Copper looked up at one of her monitor screens and noticed that one of them was going off like crazy, flashing a near black color that required her attention. She zoomed in on the target area and found that her Changeling Locator Program, the CLP, had found a Changeling in Manehatten. She wasn't surprised to find that the Changeling in question was the pony following the three strangest ponies she had ever met. "You find what your looking for?" Wisdom called, snapping her back into reality as she noticed the tools sitting right next to her. "You bet your flank I did," Copper replied, grabbing the tools and returning to the group, "Them and so much more than I bargained for." Before anypony could move Copper was behind the group, holding Sucker Punch by the neck with her front left hoof, but the strange thing was that the limb was made entirely out of some silver metal. That and there were four metal spikes, resembling a fully grown dragons claw, gripping Sucker's neck. "So, Chrysalis thought she could send one agent in to finish the job?" Copper asked, venom in her voice as the Changeling's eyes filled with confusion, "Of course she would send one agent to take me on, she doesn't know of all the advances I've made since the last time we saw each other. She still thinks I'm helpless and weakened from the last time she visited, but I prepared myself for this." "Put him down," Peachy commanded, her darkness spreading out in case she had to get rough. "And why do you travel with a Changeling?" Copper asked the group, "Is it to make me lower my guard so he can finish what his pathetic Queen started?" "Chrysalis has been dethroned," Wisdom answered, catching the mare off guard, "Last year she attacked Ponyville and tried to create a monster that could win her everything throughout Equestria, but she didn't plan on the monster turning against her." "You talk as if you were right there," Copper exclaimed, "watching the even unfold before your very eyes." "The three of us were," Peachy explained, "Our friend became a King by marrying a Princess. After he had been turned into a monster and had been rescued by her of course." "The one known as King Sky," Copper gasped. "King of the Changeling Hive," Wisdom replied, "No order was given to finish what Chrysalis had started. I doubt he knows that she had done something to you in the past. Now can you put down our friend?" "Of...of course..." Copper weakly said, her claws retracting until only a normal none metal limb remained, "I should have payed more attention to the news." "You can explain what happened later," Wisdom said, shaking his head, "but how long will it take to get the job done?" "Five minutes tops," Copper exclaimed, already back in the mode with her anger already forgotten. "Then let's get started." Wisdom knew things were looking bright; they had found where the riddle wanted to lead them and had located somepony who knew how to get them there. They would be back at the Hive with at least a day to spare, that was considering if they found the Angels Root fast enough and didn't have any other problems along the way. Knowing their luck Wisdom was hoping that nothing happened, but he knew something was just around the bend.