Reading the history book had turned out to be one of Silverstar's better ideas.
It was amazing. Silverstar had never seen any book like this before. Somehow the writer knew the exact words that Daring Do spoke, and told the story in a way that made it hard to stop reading. The trek through the jungles, Cavaleron’s betrayal, the riddles of the temple, the fight on top of the ruins, they were all described in such detail. Silverstar just couldn’t get them out of their head.
It was amazing. Silverstar had already finished the story two days ago but was reading it again for a second time. Silverstar had gone over the other history books briefly in hopes that they would be similar, but they weren’t as interesting.
Daring Do, according to the book, was some kind of treasure hunting hero. She reminded Silverstar of the thestral heroes described in the Book of Traditions, especially Dark Depths, the pony who had first discovered these caves. Daring Do, despite being a pegasus, was just as brave and strong and kind as any of them.
Silverstar couldn’t help but wonder how long ago this had happened. Was Daring Do still alive?
Sadly, she didn’t have time to think about it much more. She had spent more time than she had meant to reading the book, but now she had to put it down and go.
It was Monday evening, the time set aside for worshiping Luna. It mostly consisted of listening to Nightshade ramble. Silverstar made her way to the central chamber where most of their clan was already assembled.
Nightshade was really playing up the return of Luna and the fate of the day ponies today, something he rarely did unless something set him off. Silverstar had little doubt it was the recent visitor, or perhaps the book about Celestia he had been reading.
“One day the stars will align,” he said, “and Princess Luna will return as Nightmare Moon!”
The day ponies, he assured, were doomed. Once Nightmare Moon returned, her first order of business would be to rain asteroids down on the cities of the light. Canterlot and all the other cities built by the ponies of light would be destroyed in an instant and the surface of the world would be bathed in fire.
Nightmare Moon would then lead the thestrals against Celestia and whatever army survived, a confrontation which would end with Nightmare Moon devouring the remaining ponies of light. Finally, as if they weren‘t dead enough already, Nightmare Moon would banish Celestia and her evil minions to the sun which she would summarily explode, ending the day forever.
Kingdoms would fall. Continents would sink. The oceans would boil. Fire! Chaos! Death! Destruction!
Silverstar fell asleep halfway through.
_______________________________________
Silverstar woke up an hour later, when the sermon was over. She hadn’t missed anything form sleeping through the second half of the speech, she could recite the part about the paradise that would arise from Luna’s rule by heart. The story of Princess Luna’s return was one that had grown boring from familiarity. Even still, there was something new nagging Silverstar after hearing the story for the ten thousandth time.
Daring Do was a pegasus, one clearly loyal to Celestia. If she were still alive when Princess Luna returned would Nightmare Moon kill her as well? Silverstar didn’t like that idea. Daring Do was good, that anti-evil barrier she encountered even said so itself. She may be on the wrong side, but she didn’t deserve to die.
Silverstar decided to bring the subject up to Nightshade. He was a priest of Luna, after all, and he had always been able to answer her questions in the past.
Silver walked over to where Nightshade was standing, bowed to him, and asked her question. “I was wondering something, Nightshade. Is Nightmare Moon really going to kill every pegasus? What if there was one who wasn’t bad and only followed Celestia because they didn’t know any better?”
Nightshade raised an eyebrow, “What exactly makes you ask that? You haven‘t met any weird people lately, have you?”
“No. I was just thinking is all,” Silver replied. “I mean, there are bad thestrals so why can’t there be good pegasi? Celestia could trick or force somepony into worshiping her. Do they really deserve to die for that?”
Nightshade sighed. “Princess Luna will kill everypony who deserves to die and spare all those who do not. I seriously doubt that there are any pegasi in the later category, but that is for Luna to decide.”
Silverstar’s heart lightened at that comment. She knew that Luna would never do anything cruel. If she encountered somepony like Daring Do she’d let them go.
“So she would spare a pegasi that didn’t deserve to be punished? If Celestia had tricked somepony then Luna would show her the truth, right? I mean, surely she just explain to them that they were on the wrong side.”
Nightshade thought for a moment before answering, “There are some priests who believe that Princess Luna will show everypony the truth and give them a chance to serve her before returning as Nightmare Moon. Our oldest ancestors were originally ponies of light whom she had blessed with darkness, and she may offer that blessing to all those who live when she returns. Only those who refuse to accept the truth and become thestrals will be destroyed. I cannot say this will certainly happen, though.”
Nightshade placed his hoof on Silverstar’s shoulder and continued, “Remember that our Princess is kind and would never hurt a pony unless it was truly necessary. As Nightmare Moon she is a bringer of justice and peace, not unwanton destruction.”
Silverstar understood. She would just have to trust that Luna would do the right thing when she returned. If it seemed like Nightmare Moon would do something evil then it was undoubtedly because Silverstar didn’t correctly understand her plans.
Once, when she was younger, she had asked him if eternal night would destroy the world. Wouldn’t everything freeze to death, she had asked. Nightshade had explained the Princess Luna would certainly know the solution to any problems that rose form eternal darkness. She wasn’t crazy and would never do something to hurt an innocent creature.
“Now if you don’t have any more questions I suggest we go to the Elder’s chamber, she’s expecting us.”
Without any further discussion the two ponies made their way to the Elder’s chamber where the Elder and comet had been waiting their arrival.
“Were you able to learn anything from the book I gave you?” the Elder asked.
Silverstar described the problems she had had with the book. “I’ve read the whole thing, but, like I said, I won’t be able to make any of those potions.”
“Then I suppose there’s no point in keeping it. And what about you, Nightshade, do you think your book is worth keeping?”
“No,” he said, “It was exactly what I expected. Lies and slander.”
“Then I suppose we’re ready to sell them to the Crescent clan. Silver, I want you to tell everypony that if there is anything they want to sell to them then they should bring it to Ignus tomorrow. When you’re done with that, come back here. I’m sending you to make the trip.”
Silverstar smiled. This was one of her favorite jobs to do. The trek itself consisted of little more than sitting on Ignus’s head, which would give her more time to read, and letting him take her through the sprawling tunnels.
The Crescent clan was very hospitable and would practically force her to stay there as their guest for a day or two, providing her with food and entertainment the whole time. She would also be able to see her alchemy master, as well as her other friends in the Crescent clan, once again.
There were only two hundred members of the Starlight clan in total and it didn’t take Silver long to find at least one pony from each family and tell them about the convoy.
Silverstar and the Elder spent the rest of the day deciding what to sell and getting them ready to ship out. Gold, gemstones and exotic poisons, things of great value but little use, were the bulk of their usual trade, this one was no different. They also decided to trade away some of their surplus of copper, and a few other things.
It was late in the morning when they finally finished and Silverstar was allowed to go home. By then she was exhausted enough to go straight to bed after dinner.
_________________________________
The next day several members of the Starlight clan met at the northern edge of their territory to load up their cargo. A dozen ponies were busy loading cargo into bags far too large for a pony to carry, but
The progress of the operation was impeded by the fact that Ignus himself had not yet arrived. Apparently he was having a bit of a tantrum and refused to come out of his room. Silverstar had always been one of his favorites, so she was sent to retrieve him.
Silverstar hurried to Ignus’s chamber, which was only a few yards from the entrance to the Starlight clan’s lair, to find him curled up in the corner of a chamber.
Ignus, like all trolls, was an intimidating figure, a massive, gray biped with hulking muscles, skin thick as armor and tusks the size of a pony. It was a good thing that trolls had a soft spot for ponies, thinking them the most adorable things in the world. A troll would only ever hurt a pony under extreme circumstance, making them one of the few creatures to be welcome in thestral territory. In fact, most clans kept a troll or two as a sort of pet to help with heavy labor (to be fair the trolls thought of the ponies as their own pets).
“What’s wrong, Ignus?” Silverstar asked. “Did you get hurt?”
Ignus turned and, upon seeing one of his ponies, his face lit up. Silverstar soon found herself locked in a hug that only a troll was big enough to give.
“Yay, Star!” Ignus said. “Good po-nay!”
Silverstar let out a sigh of relief. “Well I’m glad you’re okay, but why were you crying?”
Ignus’s pouty face returned. “Bad noise. Ground shake. Rocks fall down on Ignus!”
An earthquake? Silverstar couldn’t blame Ignus for getting scared; earthquakes were arguable the most dangerous thing you could run into in these caves.
“Oh, Ignus,” Silver said softly, “you know that if something scary happens you should come stay with us ponies. We‘ll keep you safe.”
“Star stop ground shake?” Ignus asked, eyes full of hope.
No, she couldn’t stop an earthquake, nothing could, but she also didn’t have the heart to tell him that outright. “Well, the earthquake is over now. And anyway I have something that will cheer you up. We’re going to see the big pony place!”
That comment brought Ignus’s smile back, and also caused him to crush Silver even harder with his hug. “Hahaha! Star is best po-nay!”
“No, Luna is best pony,” Silver said. That was something he was always forgetting. “Now let’s get going, you can hug me later.”
Silverstar wiggled out of his grip, climbed on top of his head and rode the troll back to where her clan was waiting. She explained what had happened to the Elder as Ignus was loaded up.
Silverstar wiggled out of his grip, climbed on top of his head and rode the troll back to where her clan was waiting. She explained what had happened to the Elder as Ignus was loaded up.
“You’d best be careful then,” the elder said. “Earthquakes can come in groups, you know.”
Silverstar said that she’d be careful, and then Nightshade came along and blessed her in the name of Luna and the moon and what have you. By the time he was done, Ignus was fully loaded.
Soon they were far out of sight of the rest of Silverstar’s clan. The tunnels had always represented freedom to Silverstar. They were so numerous and sprawling that no map of their entirety existed and so sparse that you could explore them for hours without bumping into anypony else. Here you were free to do anything you liked, and right now that decision was easy for Silverstar to make. She pulled out the copy of Daring Do and a moonflower for extra light and began to read.
_____________________________
After a few hours, they passed that one rock that looked vaguely like a diamond dog, or maybe a small troll, the two had the same general outline.
Silverstar used this rock a marker for the halfway point on the path. Every time she passed it she wondered if it was just an unusually formed rock or if it was an ancient, and heavily worn, statue.
It was actually diamond dogs who had dug out most of these caverns, so it wasn’t uncommon to find artifacts they had left behind. Diamond dogs were amazingly fast diggers and, like trolls, they ate gemstones. They would set up massive gemstone mines and support tunnels only to immediately abandon them when a slightly richer vein was discovered. The result of thousands of years of this activity was an endless, sprawling network of caves and tunnels that spread across the entire continent.
But diamond dogs never came here anymore, ever since Silverstar’s ancestors claimed these caves for themselves. The Crescent clan kept constant watch of the cave’s borders to ensure that no outsiders, like diamond dogs, entered.
This statue, or maybe rock, was also the place where Silverstar always stopped for lunch. She was just about to tell Ignus to stop when a low rumbling came from further down the tunnel.
“Ah!” Ignus yelled. He put is hands on his head, nearly crushing Silverstar, and knelt down.
Another earthquake? For an earthquake, there was very little shaking and a whole lot of noise. It was also one of the shortest earthquake’s Silverstar had seen, appearing to be over after just a few seconds.
Silverstar gently patted Ignus on the head. “It’s okay, Ignus. I think it ended.”
It took a few minutes to calm Ignus down, but Silverstar managed to do it. Afterward the two had lunch. Silverstar had a catfish she had packed and Ignus helped himself to some of the nearby rocks.
Silver was a little concerned about the frequency of the earthquakes. It wasn‘t too uncommon for there to be multiple earthquakes in a row, but it meant that more might be coming. There was nothing she could really do to prepare for another one. Just move to the most open area, which they were already in, and be ready to move, which they already were. Worrying about it wouldn’t do any good.
Silverstar warily chewed on her catfish and tried to change the subject of her mind. Her attempt to distract herself was soon interrupted.
Suddenly there was a flash of light and a loud bang further down the tunnel. Silverstar and Ignus both leapt back in shock as they watched one of the side tunnels collapsed from the force of it.
Silverstar was more surprised than anything; she had never seen anything like this happen. It certainly wasn’t an earthquake. Whatever it was, it had come from within the tunnel that had just collapsed. After recovering form her initial shock, Silverstar trotted over to the now rubble filled tunnel to investigate. Other than the fact that it was collapsed, there was nothing suspicious about it.
It was at that point that Silverstar remembered that this was the very tunnel she was supposed to turn down next. Silverstar groaned. This was a stroke of bad luck. Of the thousands of tunnels that could have spontaneously exploded, it had to be this one.
There were still dozens of paths left that lead to the Crescent clan, but that wasn’t Silverstar’s primary concern at the moment. There was something very dangerous going on in the tunnels. It was likely that all the other ‘earthquakes’ were actually this strange phenomenon and Silverstar wanted to know exactly what she was dealing with before moving on.
The thing that had caused this was likely on the other side of the debris. There was a nearby tunnel that intersected the collapsed one a little ways down, but it was too small for Ignus to fit into so Silverstar would have to go alone.
“I’ll be back in a minute, Ignus,” she said to the troll.
She felt bad about leaving him alone, but in all honesty he didn’t appear frightened at all. Surprisingly, he was more curious than anything else, looking carefully over the debris, occasionally poking them. Ignus simply nodded at his pony and went back to his study.
Silverstar flew over to her targeted tunnel and entered. It was dark. With no moonflowers the cave had no light whatsoever, making impossible for anything, even a thestral, to see within it. It made little difference, however, as Silverstar knew the way through this part of the caves by heart and could move through it swiftly even without sight. She did have a moonflower tucked away in her saddlebag, but she wanted stealth on her side just incase the thing that collapsed the tunnel was alive. She would only take out her light if she needed it.
After moving silently through the dark for some time Silverstar felt a heavy draft from her side. She knew this meant that she had just entered the large room at the end of the tunnel. Fifty-three paces forward and a turn to the right would put her on a path that bisected the recently collapsed tunnel.
When she made the turn she saw something she didn’t expect; a light from further down that was slowly growing brighter as if the source were moving towards Silverstar. The light was much brighter than a thestral would need meaning it was most likely something else. Soon the light was close enough to dimly light the room Silverstar was in.
Worried that she might be seen, Silverstar turned back to the tunnel she had entered from. But this time, perhaps because the room was brighter than normal, she saw something that she had never noticed before. There was a hole a good distance up the wall that looked like it lead into a tunnel. The higher ground would be safer, protecting her from anything that couldn’t fly or climb well, and would allow her to watch whatever entered the room from a more hidden spot.
Silverstar flew up to the nook and immediately regretted her decision. It wasn’t actually a tunnel, only going back thirty feet or so before stopping at a dead end. At least it would make a good hiding spot. It was too late to go back into the large room now. The carriers of the lantern were too close.
She could hear one of their voices. “I told you I’m not touching those things, they’re too dangerous. No! Don’t hold it like that, you idiot. You almost killed us all with that last explosion! You need to be more careful.
Silverstar dared to peak down at them from her hiding spot. As she had suspected there were two diamond dogs below her, each carried a lantern as well as a large sack of something, probably gemstones. What she wasn’t expecting was the third member of the group, a changeling.
One of the diamond dogs spoke to the changeling in a harsh whisper, “Be quite, roach.”
“Don’t call me that,” the changeling snapped back. “The boss said I’m in charge so you have to do everything I say.”
One of the diamond dogs grumbled and put threw down his bag to confront his changeling companion. “Boss said to be quite. Not to complain about this and that and everything. We is making too much noise already. We don‘t need roach screaming on top of it.”
“If you don’t stop giving me attitude then I’m going to tell the boss and he’s going to be very angry at you. Then you can kiss all those gems goodbye.”
The diamond dog grumbled and returned his bag to his back.
The changeling raised his head triumphantly. “And I’m not standing in the next tunnel we dynamite. It’s too dangerous.”
‘Dynamite‘? Silverstar considered herself fluent in Equine but that was one word she didn’t know. Still, it was clear they were doing something to the tunnels. They were probably the ones behind the explosions.
“Fine!” the diamond dog shouted. “You stay here and we go and finish this.”
Roach, as the diamond dogs called him, didn’t like that idea. Silverstar could see his eyes widen and as he gave a slight shudder. “No! Maybe you didn’t notice but this place is crawling with freaking vamponies. I’m not staying here alone! One of you has to stay with me.”
“Arg!” the diamond dog said as pulled his claw across his face. “Two is needed to blow it up. Either roach comes with us or roach stays here alone!”
Roach’s face froze momentarily, then he nervously looked around, trying to decide which choice was less dangerous. After a moment his eyes lit up and he slapped his forehead. With a burst of green flame, he transformed into a thestral stallion.
He raised his head proudly and said, “I’ll stay here while you collapse the next tunnel. If any vamponies come I’ll just pretend to be one of them. It’s brilliant.”
“Boss told roach not to do that.”
“Well he won’t find out. If you try to tell him then it will be your word against mine and I’ll be the one who convinces him because I’m smarter.”
“Yes, yes. Roach is genius,” the diamond dog said as he departed. Shortly after leaving view Silverstar heard him mutter, “Not enough gems for this.”
Now Silverstar and the changeling were alone. Below her the changeling was sitting perfectly still, humming a little tune, his eyes darting across the room. He still had a lantern, but it was turned down very low. The transformation must have given him superior dark vision. He didn’t seem to be going anywhere soon, so Silverstar wouldn’t be able to leave without being seen.
It might have been better to just wait for the entire party to leave. In this light Roach would be able to see the glow from her eyes were he to look in her direction, so she‘d need to conceal herself better to wait them out. Silverstar tried to creep backward into the crevice, but as she moved back she accidentally kicked a small rock. The noise wasn’t very loud but it was enough to get Roach’s attention.
Roach snapped his head in the direction of the cave, eyes wide with terror. “I-is someone there?”
Silverstar stood perfectly still. The changeling could clearly see her eyes but didn‘t make any kind of move. Perhaps he was hoping that they were simply two topazes. If he was it wouldn’t be enough to save Silverstar, because he began to walk towards her to investigate.
He seemed like a coward. Silverstar could likely scare him off. Unfortunately, if she tried that then he might scream and then the diamond dogs, who couldn’t be very far away yet, might return.
But then a second idea came to her; she could just play dumb.
“Um, if you are a vampony then I just want you to know that I’m one of you guys!” Roach called to her from below. “I’m not a changeling or anything like that.”
She would have to play very dumb.
Silverstar stepped into view, which was enough to make the changeling flinch, and greeted him in equine with as much warmth as she could. “Oh, I thought you were a changeling. My mistake.”
Silverstar landed right in front of him and looked him over. “Yep. My grandma said that changelings always wear hats, but you’re not, so you can’t be a changeling.”
Roach blinked with amazement. He sat there silently for a moment, undoubtedly surprised that he had actually fooled Silverstar, before remember to respond. “O-oh. Oh, yes. That thing about the hats is absolutely true. That‘s how you know I‘m not a changeling. I hate changelings. I mean, I like devouring changelings, of course, but I also hate them.”
Silverstar just nodded and smiled. “Yep. Well, I have to go now. If you see any changelings make sure to eat them all up, okay?”
“Okay,” the changeling whimpered.
Without another word Silverstar began trotting back towards Ignus. That plan had worked out well enough. Once she got back to Ignus she would-
“Wait.”
Roach’s voice came from behind. Silverstar tried to pretend she hadn’t heard it and just kept walking. The changeling didn’t take the hint and trotted up to her side.
“Hold on,” he said. “I have a question I want to ask you.”
“Yes?” Silverstar asked but kept walking. She figured that if she could get to Ignus then she would be safe. He could be a bit of a crybaby sometimes, but he would leap to Silverstar’s defense if she was in trouble.
“Since you brought them up,” he said, “do you get a lot of changelings around here? I’m from the other side of the cave, you see. We don’t get any over there, but I was wondering if you do over here.”
Silverstar hadn’t the slightest idea of what he was getting at. She decided to keep playing along.
“No,” Silverstar said. “Why? Are you looking for changelings?”
“No. I just wanted to make sure that they didn’t come out to these parts, you know?”
Another rumble came from down the tunnel. This was bad, as it meant that the diamond dogs hadn’t gone far at all. At this point Silverstar was more annoyed than afraid of the changeling, but she didn’t want to deal with the two diamond dogs without Ignus by her side. It was a good thing that the end of the tunnel was coming into sight now.
Roach looked in the direction of the rumble and then back at Silverstar. “So you’re sure, then? No one like, I dunno, Chrysalis, comes around here?”
“No,” Silverstar said. She knew that Chrysalis was the leader of the changelings, which made her curious about how relieved he seemed to be to hear that.
“Good. And not Blackheart either?”
“No.”
“What about one name-”
“No! You’re the only changeling I’ve ever met, alright!?”
Whoops.
Silverstar immediately realized her mistake. Her heart skipped a beat. With bated breath she slowly turned around to see Roach, who was breathlessly staring back at her. The changeling stared at the thestral and the thestral stared back at the changeling, both motionless, for what seemed like a long time.
Then Silverstar decided to go back to her original plan.
She slammed her hooves into the ground and hissed in the changeling’s face.
“Aaah! Help!” He screamed and ran. Sadly, it was in the wrong direction. In his panic he had lost his Barings and was now running further down the tunnel towards Ignus.
He got very close to the end of the tunnel before Ignus made his appearance. The troll bent down and peeked into the tunnel, making his head visible. “Po-nay?”
Roach slammed his hooves into the ground and slid to a halt just inches away from Ignus before leaping back out of the troll’s reach. He sat between his two adversaries, his eyes darting back and forth between the two, deciding whose meal he’d rather be.
“Look, Roach, or whatever your name is, just get out of here, alright?” Silverstar said, and then pointed in the direction he came from. “Preferably that way.”
“Oh no you don‘t!” the changeling said. “I’m not falling for that again!”
“What do you mean ‘again’?”
He didn’t answer. He just let out another scream and charged towards Silverstar. He was actually going to attack! After shaking off her surprise Silverstar turned and bucked him hard in the somewhere.
Roach was knocked back a good distance and landed on his back. He quickly rolled over and lunged forward again to bite Silverstar her front right leg. With her left she pounded his head until he was forced to stumble backwards.
The pain from the bite was only now registering. She had had enough of this guy. Silverstar unhinged the blades on her boots, causing two razor sharp claws to appear at the end of each.
She slashed at the changeling, missing him by just an inch on purpose, and let out another hiss. Roach clenched his jaw and, in too hasty an attempt to retreat, stumbled onto his back. Silverstar leapt at the opportunity and pinned her opponent to the ground.
“Please don’t hurt me!”
“Look, I gave you like five chances to go away, but apparently you’re too stupid for that. So now-”
Silverstar felt a hard blow in the back of her head and was knocked to the ground. She was completely disoriented by the blow and could only stumble around as she recovered. By the time she regained her senses she was being tightly held by one of the diamond dogs.
“Help!” Silverstar kicked and screamed, but the diamond dog’s grip was just too strong to escape from.
“I did not need help,” Roach complained. “What I was doing was called a ‘Xantos Gambit’. It‘s when you lose on purpose! The boss taught me all about it.”
The diamond dog simply shook his head in frustration, and then turned to the one that was holding Silverstar. “Take the pony’s weapons.”
Silverstar continued to struggle but it wasn’t enough to prevent the diamond dogs from ripping off her boots and bags, leaving her defenseless.
Roach trotted forward and said, “Not so tough now, are you?”
Silverstar could only growl at the changeling. She felt anger welling up in her stomach.
“Star!” Ignus’ voice came from behind, as well as several crashing noises. Roach let out a yelp and leapt back in fear.
“Stop shouting, Roach!” She heard the diamond dog yell just behind her. “Troll is too big to fit in tunnel.”
“I know that,” the changeling said. He looked down the tunnel and made a few mocking faces at Ignus as the troll continued to yell desperately for Silverstar.
“We should take pony back with us. Pony may have seen something.”
“Yeah,” Roach agreed. “When we get back I’m going to-”
Roach’s face froze. Silverstar noticed that Ignus’s yelling had also stopped.
“Oh come on!” Roach yelled. “You two hold them off while I escape. I’ll make sure your sacrifice isn’t forgotten.”
The changeling bolted down the tunnel. The diamond dog that had been standing next to him also began to retreat.
“What is it?” asked the diamond dog that was holding Silver.
“Just drop everything and run!” the other answered.
The one holding Silver had just enough time to turn around before he was knocked to the ground. Silverstar had just enough time to wiggle out from the diamond dog’s grip before she was pinned once again by something from behind.
She looked up to see half a dozen ponies charging down the tunnel after the remainder of the group. They were thestrals wearing armor that Silverstar recognized. It was purple and dark blue, with the chest plate designed to look like an eye wrapped in fire. It was the Crescent clan.
Silverstar let out a sigh of relief. She was safe.
Roach, who had a significant head start, was far ahead of his pursuers. It almost looked like he might escape until he got to the entrance to the large room he had come from. As soon as he entered the room three thestrals pounced on him and tackled him to the ground while he screamed like a maniac.
The remaining diamond dog now stuck between two groups of ponies, stopped in his tracks and took stock of his situation. The mare, who had been in the front of the herd, reached him before he could make a plan. The diamond dog slashed his claws at her but she leapt back and fluttered her wings to rise slightly into the air. With one strong blow from the side of her spear to the head, she knocked the diamond dog out.
The Crescent clan dragged Roach and his companion back to where Silverstar was.
Silverstar looked up at the mare who led the group. She was Moonlight, the leader of the Crescent clan herself.
“I’m so glad you came!” Roach said, and then pointed to Silverstar. “She is a changeling.”
Moonlight glanced briefly at Silverstar before turning back to the changeling.
“And what’s your name?”
“Moon-” he began with confidence, but then suddenly froze before trying to salvage his pathetic attempt at a lie, “S-star Night Shadow. Yes, Moonstar Nightshadow.”
Moonlight was unimpressed. She raised an eyebrow and asked him in Thestrali, “And does Moonstar Nightshadow speak our language?”
Clearly he didn’t. The changelings eyes widened in fear as he realized there was no way out of this. With a burst of strength he managed to free himself from the stallion’s grip and leapt onto one of the sacks the diamond dogs had dropped. From it he produced a glass container filled with blue liquid.
“Stay back, he said, “This is extremely explosive! If you try to hurt me I’ll smash it and kill us all!”
“No, you won’t,” Moonlight answered.
The changeling was more surprised at that reaction than anything else. “Y-yes I will. Take one step and you’re dead.”
“Fine,” Moonlight said. She slowly walked towards the changeling until she was an inch from his face. “Do it.”
The changeling just looked back and forth between Moonlight and the bottle, until Moonlight grabbed it from him.
Now he started screaming. “Please don’t eat me! I’ll do anything you want! I have information! I’m too valuable to kill!”
“Were you the one who have been collapsing tunnels?” Moonlight asked.
“No! Er. I mean yes. But only because Onyx forced me to. He threatened to kill me if I didn’t. You understand, right?”
“Who’s Onyx? And why is he collapsing our tunnels? Did Chrysalis send you?”
“He doesn’t work for Chrysalis. He got a bunch of changeling to go rogue with him. He said he was ‘going into business for himself’. He’s planning on taking over this area and he’s been collapsing tunnels to limit your mobility. To keep you cornered.”
“And he was planning to invade us with a few changelings?”
“No. He’s been amassing an army of underground dwellers, mostly diamond dogs. We’ve mostly been raiding small settlements on the surface, but now he plans to start setting up a base around here. His army is to the north and they plan on attacking next week on Tuesday morning. I know lots of other stuff about the attack too, so it would be a bad idea to kill me. Right?”
Moonlight thought for a minute before turning to one of her subordinates, “Blindfold and gag him and take him with us.”
The changeling looked relieved just before his face was covered with a bag.
Silverstar felt this was a good time to draw attention to herself.
“Can I get up now, ma’am?” she asked in Thestrali, hoping to draw attention to the fact that she understood it.
Moonlight looked down on her. “And what is your name?”
“Silverstar, of the Starlight clan.”
“I need to make sure you aren’t a changeling. What was the name of the pony who taught you alchemy?”
“Mist,” she answered. “I take it that means that you remember me?”
“I make it a habit to remember everypony I meet. Release her.”
The stallion obeyed and Silverstar finally got back onto her hooves.
“I apologize for restraining you. Are you hurt?” Moonlight asked, looking her over.
Silverstar shook her head. “No. It’s just a scratch. Really I should be thanking you, I don’t know what they would have done if you hadn’t showed up.”
“I take it that’s your troll out there?” Moonlight asked. “Where are you going? I’ll get you an escort.”
“Actually I was on my way to you. My clan has some things we were hoping to sell to yours.”
“Very well. We’re heading back now. I suggest you stay close to us, the caverns aren’t very safe right now.”
Silverstar thanked them and the group continued their trek north. Despite the additional company, Silverstar felt far more uneasy now. What Roach had said, that there was an army of diamond dogs just north of here, weighed heavily on her mind.
She tried to go back to reading as a distraction, but found herself unable to read more than a sentence at a time before her mind returned to what the changeling had said; an army was coming.
Moonlight picked up on Silver’s shaken nerves and decided to address her. “Are you worried about what that changeling said? Don’t forget that he said they were to the north, and your clan is to the south. They won’t be able to reach you without going through us first, and we’ve routed plenty of diamond dog armies in the past.”
“Yeah, diamond dogs aren’t so tough in bigger fights,” one of the stallions, Silverstar didn’t know his name, added. “They’re too unruly. Watching them attack wildly is scary at first, but splitting up their forces is too easy and half of them run away when things start going badly for them.”
“About 20 years ago, probably before you were born, some diamond dog ‘king’ tried to pull the same thing,” Moonlight explained, “and we got rid of him without a single casualty on our side. We simply scattered there forces throughout the caves and crushed them. Our alliance with you obligates us to protect you and your clan, and I swear to you that I will do so.”
Silverstar couldn’t help but smile. Everything they said had made perfect sense. The Crescent clan had kept all invaders at bay for five centuries, they weren’t going to fall now, especially not if this “Onyx” guy was as stupid as his subordinate.
Still…
Silverstar didn’t want to think about it anymore, she decided to try and change the subject. “You’ll like what I’ve brought for you, by the way. We recently got a whole bunch of books from Equestria.”
“Let me guess,” Moonlight said, “Midnight gave them to you?”
“What? How did you know?”
“Did you think he only went to your clan? Actually you’re probably the last clan he went to. Just about every other clan has come to us to sell the books and toys that he gave to them. Needless to say the value of Equestrian books has gone down significantly.”
Silverstar facehoofed. How could she have been so stupid? It was so obvious now that he would have gone to the bigger and more powerful clans first. She wasn’t looking forward to telling the elder how little the clan had gotten from this trade.
“Did anypony from your clan take his offer?” Silverstar asked.
“No,” Moonlight said. “His ideas about making peace with Equestria are beyond foolish. The technologies that he brought to us are greatly appreciated, though. He offered to give us much more if we let his pet unicorn stay with us for a few months.”
“A unicorn? Are you really going to let a unicorn come down here?”
“Maybe. We need to deal with this little invasion before I decide. Anyway I think we‘re just about here.”
They were. They turned a corner to arrive at the iron gate at the front of the tunnel that lead to the Crescent clan's lair.