//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Phantasmagoria of waking dreams. // Story: Sky Pirate Pip and the Dreaded Dreadnaught Die Großartige und Mächtige Trixieburg // by alt-tap //------------------------------// Chapter 8: Phantasmagoria of waking dreams. A cool evening breeze carried the soft serenade of strings and the sweet scent of tea across the highest patio of Canterlot Castle. Golden light rippled along Celestia's horn, matching the last rays of the sun as it dipped below the horizon. “A breathtaking display as always, Celestia,” the Griffin King, who occupied the only chair at a large table in the center of the balcony, commented idly. “The two of you are true marvels of creation.” Free of the weight his royal regalia and responsibilities, the King could smile easily as Celestia found her seat and Luna replaced her in the moving of the heavens. “You flatter us, Guilvarren,” the similarly unfettered goddess of light replied, settling on her cushion and retrieving a cup of tea. The old gryphon chuckled and took a swig from his stein of mead. “Not unduly, my girl,” he insisted flirtatiously. “You are both fine creatures.” The moon, in all it's magick and mystery, peeked timidly over the mountain spires to the east, beyond which lay the nation-state of Greif and the outlying gryphon clans, and stars aplenty came to life across the dark expanse of the sky. “Careful, your highness,” the cellist, a gray earth pony with a long, onyx mane, cautioned playfully. “I've heard the royal sisters can be quite hazardous in times of passion.” The king laughed raucously, thumping the table with his stein. “I like this one, she is beautiful and funny!” “Our sister Is remarkably good at finding interesting ponies,” Luna interjected, having taken her seat unnoticed. “It is good to meet you at last, good king. Celestia has told us much of you and your deeds.” “Indeed,” Celestia agreed after a dainty sip of tea. “I had quite looked forward to introducing the two of you. I lament it has taken so long.” Luna snorted in amusement. “You make it sound like a... now what was the term?,” The immortal goddess of dreams and magick tapped her chin with a scone in thought. “A, date was it? Yes that is what Serendipity called it. She told us she had a date with the cabin colt and described it as a 'casual romantic rendezvous' of sorts when I queried her about it.” Celestia smiled impishly. “Well, that wasn't exactly my plan for tonight, but…” “Ha! My wife would have my head if I started moonlighting with the moon.” Luna was trying to tread lightly with the conversation, remembering some unfavorable interactions with other nobles in the past, but the joke was too tempting to pass up, and this gryphon seemed good humored. “At least we would get to keep the important parts,” she ventured, covering her nervousness with nibbles of crackers and cheese. For a moment there was silence. Luna feared she had, again, made a foal of herself and mentally braced for the inevitable reproach. “Ha!” the gryphon king exclaimed at last. “You remind me of my son; ‘take what you want and give the rest to the people’ he would say. Then.” He leaned forward menacingly. “He would take a fist full of money and toss the sack on the floor.” He mimed the actions with great exaggeration, accidentally tossing his stein on the floor. Laughter was shared all around. Guilvarren was, as usual, the loudest, drowning out Celestia's refined titter. Luna breathed a sigh of relief at having not offending such a good friend of her sister's, though she didn't quite understand how he made the leap from her innuendo to his greedy son. “So how has your family been of late?” Celestia inquired, grazing on a small flock of grapes she held in a magical cloud. The gryphon’s laughter quieted to a chuckle. “Not much has changed, honestly,” he said. Celestia gave a slight nod, urging him to continue. After a swig of mead he obliged. “Well, Taganda has taken up the harp. Tagaren is the same brat he's always been, except now he thinks he owns the whole world as well as the castle-roost.” He paused in thought. “Oh, one of my guards found a small nest of harpy chicks, orphaned by a rogue dragon his unit had chased off. He took them in and has been raising them in the north tower. Adorable little things they are.” Celestia frowned ever so slightly. “And Guilda?” Guilvarren sighed audibly. “She's disappeared again.” He took another swig and brought his stein down hard on the table. “She still refuses to believe Rainbow Dash is gone; keeps insisting she sees her in her dreams.” The king groaned and rested his head in his talon. He noticed a plate of crackers topped with an unusually colorful jam and took one in his free talon for examination. “I was there when Rainbow died, I saw it with my own eyes, but she won't listen. She was supposed to be queen, you know. Königin Guilda. I was even willing to allow her to marry that pony, despite the controversy it would raise. But I fear she may be going mad with grief. What am I supposed to do?” He implored, bringing his gaze to the elder ponies. Much to Celestia's surprise, it was Luna who answered first. “Tell her that The Princess of Dreams says not to give up hope.” Luna smiled warmly at her new friend's dumbfounded expression. They were startled out of their conversation by one of Luna’s bat winged guards landing heavily on the balcony in a clatter of armor. “Your majesties,” he said breathlessly, giving the minimum acceptable attention to the assembled hierarchs. “Luna, Cosmic Odyssey has returned; The Grace is in the wyld.” Luna stood sharply, bumping the table hard enough to spill Celestia’s tea. “HA HA! The hunt is on!” she shouted as she stood, startling all but the Night Guard, who had a steadily growing grin plastered across his face, with her volume and exuberance. “Recall the Shadowbolts and ready the crew! We sail at midnight!” With a whoop that shook the castle windows in their marble frames, she leaped off the balcony with the messenger close behind. Guilvarren turned to Celestia, eyes wide in surprised disbelief. “Did she just say Shadowbolts?” Celestia closed her eyes took a deep breath before looking her old friend dead in the eyes. “There is no such thing as a Shadowbolt,” she said, calm as ice. Guilvarren swallowed and clutched his stein tightly. “My mistake.” “Quite.” Celestia looked out at the night sky, watching the stars for a moment. “You know.” She was cut off by a flash of green fire conjuring a scroll before her. Plucking it out of the air with her magick, she unrolled it and read it quickly before turning back to Guilvarren. “As I recall, you said in your letters that the Sturmgeist's storm engine wasn't operational when it was stolen.” “Indeed, Celestia,” he confirmed, worry creeping into his tone. “We had yet to develop an adequate and acceptable power source.” Celestia turned back to the letter, a grave expression on her face. “It seems I may require your presence here for a bit longer then we had planned.” ******* The Moon rose like quicksilver bones over the radiant magiscape of the Everparty. A silvery ribbon of magick pointed the way to Canterlot. Ruby Pinch paused on a rooftop, raising her forelegs in silent greeting, as she did most nights. The party below shone brightly with glowbug lamps and firelight, but no light found Ruby through her spell, so she saw none of it. Under the shimmering starlight, everypony was aglow with the magick of life. Everything always felt more vivid at night. Smiling one last greeting to Mister Moon, Ruby resumed her mission of the night. She ran silently along the crest of the roof and leaped to the next building. Below she took note of a lone earth pony, bright green motes of life dimmed around her. The grass at her hooves grew tall, seeking to give comfort, but to no avail. Ruby watched for several long seconds before she saw the silvery-pink thread that lead to a phantasmagoria of colorful magicks. Vibrant, dark blue arcs swirled around a young pegasus stallion at the threads terminus. A love lost? Or perhaps not returned? With a decisive cutting motion she brought her hoof down to point at the thread. Has he ever even seen you? Drawing her hoof back she pulled the thread taut, then released. It hummed like the string of a grand harp and both ends sparked with greater life. At once the green one stood and looked along the thread to see the blue take wing, intrigued by the sudden strumming of his heart strings. Smiling for a job well done, Ruby scampered off, heard by none and seen by fewer. Across the rooftops she ran and between them she leaped. Below, ponies celebrated this or that and reveled in the buzzing life around them. Soon Ruby came to a large clearing, filled to bursting with ponies all dancing to a raucous band of pipes and drums. The ponies danced as one, joined by the music and a common love of life, and their magicks meshed together into a grand dome that rivaled even the dreamlands with its vivid rainbows of light. Ruby galloped towards the magick bubble as fast as she could, jumping high into the air with a muffled kinetic pop. She met the cloud of joy and revelry with her hooves and leaped again, skipping across the magick like a stone across water. Round and round she danced, the sparkling haze of her magick melding with the rest, lost in the joy of the moment atop the sea of emotion. When the song drew to an end the audience rose in cheers and shouts for more. The bubble of life surged outward, launching Ruby into the starlit sky. She closed her eyes and let the wind carry her where it would, soaring blissfully through the air. She opened her eyes again when she felt gravity gently pulling her back to the earth. She cast a cascade of tiny explosions out to slow her fall and extend her flight. At last she landed, rolling to absorb some of the impact. Finding herself just outside the boundaries of the town, Ruby smiled and made her way around to the southeast side of the mountain where her real goal lay. The path was always a calming trip, sometimes needed after the excitement of the unending party behind her. The grass and wildflowers grew lush and vivid out here. Rivulets of magick, all reds and browns and greens, crisscrossed the land, feeding the earth and plants with the energy from the party while whites and blues and silvers danced in the sky. Skipping quickly through the wonderland of formless color, Ruby soon found her destination: the world renown Berry and Pie Vineyards. Great rivers of burgundy and violet inundated the fields, the oft overlooked magick of earth ponies hard at work. Sneaking oh so stealthily, Ruby made her way through the fields, slipping through rows and hopping between trellasses. Being that it was after sundown, nopony was actually in the fields, but that didn’t stop Ruby from having some fun on the way to her goal. When the house came into view, so too did the auras of the vignerons. They were all sitting around a fire, idly chatting the night away between sips of wine made with grapes from the very fields she had just traversed. Ruby was occasionally sad that she wasn’t a vigneron, or at least somehow associated with winemaking, but her life of adventure and excitement suited her far better than anypony would ever believe, and she was proud of her cutie mark, even if nopony would ever see it. Creeping silently up behind a very specific wine-red aura, she hopped onto the owner's back and wrapped her forelegs around the mare’s neck while Ruby’s invisibility spell faded and light again found her eyes. The mare squeaked and grasped at the legs that had unexpectedly materialized around her neck as gasps rose up around the fire, but she paused when she realized how closely the color matched… “Ruby?!” she cried in astonishment, turning her head to confirm her suspicions. Ruby nuzzled her mother’s cheek and hummed softly. “Hi, momma,” she whispered. “I brought you a present.” “Oh, my Pinchy,” Berry Punch cooed, Pulling Ruby off her back and into a hug. “Just seeing you is gift enough.” “Love you too, mom,” Ruby said softly, breathing in the sweet smells of wine and familly. Mother and daughter held each other for a moment longer before parting. “I bought some crystal berries from up north, and some of those magical moon grapes that grow down by Camarein,” She said as she levitated her saddlebags off and displayed the berries and grapes. At last the other ponies around the fire couldn't hold their tongues any longer. “It’s good to see you again, Ruby.” “Good to see you too, Medley.” “Lovely to see you, kid.” “Hay, Toasty.” “You found moon grapes? I thought those only grew in everfree lands?” “Plants grow wherever you put them if you treat them right.” “Wow, from Camarein to the Crystal Empire? Being an agricultural consultant sure takes you to a lot of places.” “Ya, agriculture, heh.” “Medley, pour a glass for Ruby would you?” Berry cut in. “So, Ruby, tell me about your adventures these past months.” “Um,” Ruby hummed, taking the proffered glass of wine from Medley’s magick to her own. “First there was this rose garden under Cloudsdale…” “Three hundred upfront, five more when it's done,” the nameless pegasus said, sitting on a cloud above the small forest meadow. “I'll need a cloud-walk charm, complimentary,” Ruby stated,  admiring the majestic cloud-city above them. The contractor nodded. “Fair enough. Her name is Nidia, she's a gryphon…” “They wanted to know if the rainbow runoff posed any risk to the flowers,” Ruby explained, taking a minuscule sip of her wine. "It was a fairly new garden, you see.” The gryphon took cover behind a cloud wall, only to have it blasted apart by the unseen assailant. Half a heartbeat later the world went white. All she saw after her vision returned was the rainbowfall that formed the tail of the Rainbow Dash memorial statue in the square. “I’m sorry,” the voice that had been hounding her for the past half hour said quietly as an invisible hoof gently caressed her head. “But you should be careful who you mess with in this city.” “Of course I assumed the rainbow wound kill the flowers, but we discovered that, with enough attention, they actually grew faster and would float on clouds.” She took another sip of wine. “I thought that was pretty neat.” Feeling was returning to the gryphon's limbs at a terrifyingly slow rate. “They're smuggling zeppelin parts to the Iron Dogs in the eastern mountains, someone's gotta stop them,” she managed around her half numb tongue. Toasty looked thoughtfully at his wine, swirling it in the glass. “I wonder what rainbow wound do to grapes?” “Ya, I wondered about that too. Never had a chance to test it though.” “Well then it's a good thing I can't fly.” “Where did you go next?” Berry asked, snuggling close to her nomadic daughter. “Rockshire, actually,” Ruby replied softly, returning her mother's affection. The scouting fob was little more than an abandoned homestead a mile outside of a tiny mining town. “I know it doesn't look like much,” her former mark said, setting Ruby down just outside and landing beside her. “Think of it as camouflage.” “I met a gryphon from there in Cloudsdale whose parents were trying to adapt starfruit to grow in the shail flats.” “Find yourself another ‘attractive distraction’, Nidia?” a large gryphon snarked with a gravely voice, smirking at Ruby from the dim lamplight in the rundown shack. Five gryphons sat around a table covered by a large map and scattered papers. “No,” Nidia said dismissively, leading Ruby to a seat at the table. “I brought the assassin they hired to kill me in Cloudsdale.” A mixture of shock and confusion washed over the assembled gryphons. “Honestly, I never stood a chance.” Sass practically dripped from Nidia’s beak as she spoke. “I didn’t think you could grow anything in shale,” Toasty inquired. “That’s why you only see rock farms out there.” Ruby took another sip of wine and sighed in contentment before answering. “Starfruit lives mostly on starlight, so they thought they could get it to live out there. They wanted to save on food import costs is why.” “I’ve seen a lot of activity around here, that may be one of their strongholds,” one of the gryphons said, pointing at a small town on the map. “Here, too,” another added, pointing to another point. “Though not enough to draw any real conclusions.” Huddled around the map, the gryphons seemed to forget Ruby was even there, until she spoke. “Their central hub is here, underground” she interjected, illuminating the forest southeast of Cloudsdale with her crimson magic. Ruby took a larger, nearly normal sized, sip of her wine and let it sit in her mouth while she arranged the next leg of her tail. "I'll admit, I don't know all that much about starfruit, so we went to see a dear tribe in a nearby forest for some advice.” “We will help you, little pony.” The Stag-chief, so ancient he could be mistaken for a gnarled tree, decided after long deliberation. “Your heart is strong, and your spirit wise for one so young.” “They didn't think it would work out, but they told us about a breed of desert honeysuckle that we might be able to use.” Throughout the forest an unnaturally thick fog muffled cries of terror and death mixed with the thunder of gunfire and the ringing of steel cutting flesh. The howling of timberwolves and hissing of strangle vines finished the acoustic nightmare like dark sprinkles on an evil cookie. “The deer were really friendly.” Ruby stared into the crackling fire for a moment while Toasty added another piece of wood. “They taught me a lot about tea.” A young buck approached Ruby and set a large bag in front of her. “I’m sorry for the loss of your gryphon friends.” His voice was high, like a child, but there was steel in his eyes to rival a royal guard. “Chief says these will be of use to you.” He nudged the bag with his nose. “If you are ever through these woods in the future, you are welcome to stay with our tribe.” And with that he vanished, fading into the forest like a blade of grass in a meadow. A faint tinge of blush hid under Ruby's red coat. A faint tinge of blush hid under Ruby's red coat. “You meet a deer you like?” Her mother teased, smiling in that way that mothers do. Ruby smiled back. “Ya. I'm kinda afraid to go back, but I will some day.” In the bag was an assortment of things: bits, blades, maps... letters. ...more equipment and workers to mine the... ...gryphons are too clever, send... ...worried about Princess Cadence. We may need to shut her up if... “I had a good bit of money after all that, so I decided to visit the Crystal Empire for a while,” Ruby said, magically fiddling with the fire. “Wait, hold on,” Medley cut in, leaning forward with an excited grin. “I wanna hear more about this cutie you met in the woods.” Ruby blushed nearly enough to show through her fur. “I don't even know his name, Medley. I only saw him for, like, five minutes.” “Fine, fine,” Medley conceded dramatically. “Hide your love life from me.” Ruby giggled along with the others before continuing her story. “So, anyways. I took an airship from Cloudsdale to Canterlot that night, then got on the first train north.” “Next,” the secretary said in a cheery tone. Ruby trotted briskly through the doors to the royal audience chamber, trying hard to stay visible in the uncomfortably large space. “My name is Ruby Pinch,” she announced. “We welcome thee, little pony.” The undying sovereign of the night said warmly. “What is it you wish to discuss tonight?” “uh, u-um,” Ruby stammered, entirely unprepared to speak with such an imposing figure. Luna smiled. This was a nearly universal reaction the first time a pony met her, and it had become something of a routine. “Be at ease, my little pony. Take your time.” She lowered herself to her belly and ruffled her wings, looking a little above her guest to lessen the weight of her gaze. Ruby turned her eyes to the stained glass windows that encircled the room, the memories of Equestria’s champions, old and new. One caught her attention over the others, a young pegasus filling the empty heart of an old hag with joy long forgotten below a bust of none other than Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. “We like that one,” Luna said, startling Ruby back to the present. “Princess Cadence is in danger!” Ruby shouted before shyness could silence her again. Luna was standing in front of her before Ruby saw her leave the throne. “And what has shown you this?” she asked, all gentleness and mirth gone in an instant. Ruby squeezed her eyes shut and spilled the bag’s contents across the floor. The princess slowly examined the items strewn before her, carefully reading each letter and map with exacting detail. After several minutes Luna turned back to Ruby. “We thank you for this warning, fair Ruby, but how did you come upon these artifacts?” Ruby struggled to find her words, and to stop the sudden shivering terror that filled her heart at the thought of Luna learning of her past and profession. The god-pony cut her stuttering off, gently placing a hoof over Ruby’s lips. “We will find what we need in the Dream Time,” she said softly. “Now, Sleep.” Ruby took another sip of wine and shivered almost imperceptibly. Berry wrapped a foreleg around her shoulders. “You okay, Honey?” “Ya, I’m fine,” Ruby assured her mother, snuggling closer. “I was just remembering how cold the Crystal Empire was. I mean, I know it’s in the arctic, but it’s seriously, like, the coldest place ever.” Ruby awoke to howling wind and biting cold. A faint echo bounced around in her head, just out of reach. When she opened her eyes she was met by the moon, shining bright amongst an endless field of stars. Snow covered the land, reflecting so much light it nearly turned the night to day. Far down at the base of the mountain she found herself on was Gem, capital of the Crystal Empire. With a hop, and a bit of antifriction magick, she sent herself skittering down the mountainside as fast as gravity could take her. “For some reason they put the train station almost a quarter of a league out of town,” Ruby recalled. “The path was pretty well trodden, though, so it was easy enough to find my way.” Toasty chuckled. “why would they do that?” He wondered aloud. “The Empire reappeared over a decade ago; it's not like they haven't had the time.” Ruby giggled in agreement. “I know, right? It sure makes you appreciate being inside though.” The palace was dark, very dark. Fortunately, Ruby didn't need light to see at night. The crystal halls glowed brightly with the magick of the slumbering goddess and the adoration of her subjects. The princess herself was beautiful, three layers of mellow pastels wrapped in a blanket of shimmering blue, courtesy of her husband, Prince Shining Armor. Ruby sat silently in a quiet corner of the most secure room in the Crystal Empire while it's rulers slept peacefully, obliviously. Three days hunting, three nights watching, Ruby stalked her prey. She had come to know every one of the crystal guards by name and habit. Six changelings, three unicorns and a pegasus served in addition to the numerous crystal ponies. A commander of the empire's royal army, one Spectral Flux, was visiting and slept in a smaller chamber just down the hall. ‘Beauty matched only by her mastery of siege’ the guards liked to say. A shimmering drew Ruby's attention. Yellow magick, wild and free, slunk stealthily through the window. A faint scent of roan barriers and sea salt whispered hints of potions. The sweet smells of almond and hemlock told of poison. Under the full moon thunder shook the city and the whole of the crystal palace blazed with light. Finishing the last of her wine ruby set the glass aside. “I actually met Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor.” “Really!?” her audience chorused. “Ya,” Ruby replied with quiet exuberance. “They even invited me to have lunch with them at a local café.” “No way,” Medley gasped in disbelief. “Ooh, I’m so jealous!” “I can't believe this,” Cadence complained. “Why would somepony try to assassinate me!” “Money,” Ruby answered, earning a glare from Shining Armor. “Don't think we trust you just because you stopped the other assassin,” the guard captain turned prince snapped. “For all we know you were just trying to take the contract for yourself.” Eleven guards dead, five still unaccounted for, and two assassins found in the royal chambers was a bit too much for Shining Armor to handle at two in the morning. “Your highness,” the royal cryptologist interrupted, distracting the prince from his anger. “We believe this paper is from Neigeria, and the ink is undoubtedly Saddle Arabian.” A sudden explosion blasted the door off of the impromptu interrogation chamber where the other captive was being ‘talked to’. Ruby couldn’t help but giggle again. It was always so uplifting to spend time with her family. “Thats where I got the berries; they gave me some crystal berry wine and I mentioned that I was from a family of vignerons so she gave me some berries for making wine.” “Wow, I just can't believe you actually had lunch with royalty.” “And so casually!” “Five hundred a head.” “What?” Shining Armor was so caught out he didn't even try to sound defensive. Ruby grinned at getting the prince off center. “Five hundred bits a head,” Ruby elaborated. “Plus another three if it has wings or five if it uses sorcery. Zebras are twelve, cause they don't always die when you kill them.” Cadence stepped in, cutting her husband off before he could really lose his cool. “Are you trying to sell a contract on the pony who hired you to kill me?” Ruby laughed softly, she had Cadence right where she wanted her. “I was ‘hired’ to protect you, and I wouldn't go after Princess Luna no matter what you payed me.” “I had only been there for, like, three days, when a zebra came through town,” Ruby said, accepting a second glass of wine. “Really?” Toasty asked in surprise. “A zebra in the Crystal Empire?” A vast sea of green spread out from the strange platow Ruby found herself on. The cacophony of dawn in a teeming jungle filled the crisp, high altitude air. “Stop teleporting me across the world without warning!” she screamed generally northward. Turning back to the endless expanse of trees she frowned. “Now what am I supposed to do?” A minute's contemplation later a flash followed by a fillyish squeak drew Ruby's attention. Beside her she found a flustered and disoriented crystal pony. “Ugh, I hate teleportation,” she said, blinking to clear her vision. She looked up and noticed Ruby staring at her. “Hi, I'm here to keep an eye on you and-” Ruby vanished instantly. “Dang it!” “The locals were pretty leery of her,” Ruby recalled, sipping at her second glass of wine and watching the crackling fire. “I guess they'd probably never seen a crystal pony before.” “I'd think not,” Toasty agreed. “That's about as far from the Crystal Empire as you can get and still be in charted lands.” The village, like so many others, looked deserted, but Spectral Flux's keen eyes could see zebras hiding in nearly every building. “Hello?” she called “Why are you all afraid of me? I mean you no harm!” A small group of zebras approached warily, spears at the ready. Strangely, none of them had their spears trained on her. “We don want you here, Blood Diamond.” Flux ignored their rude demeanor. “A zebra tried to assassinate the Princess of Love,” she said calmly. “I'm here to find who sent her.” The leader of the group took a step forward. “We got nothin to say to you, Blood Diamond. Death follows behind you like a bloody shadow. Go back where you come from.” Flux opened her mouth to press the issue, but stopped when a red haze materialized beside her. “We need to find whoever made this,” Ruby said as she materialised, holding up her cloud-walk charm. The zebras recoiled from Ruby's arrival, terror clear in their grimacing faces. The apparent leader, however, hardly flinched. “You be hunt’n demons, Blood Diamond. Day gonna eat you up like you was never there.” Flux stood tall and narrowed her eyes. “The perfect prey for me.” “You got lost in Neigeria?” Medley grasped, covering her mouth with a hoof. “Ya,” Ruby replied shyly. “That's how we got to Camarein though.” “Remember,” Spectral Flux cautioned, giving Ruby the crystal cylinder she had been fiddling with for the last few minutes, “you never saw this, you never planted it in the middle of that cloud city, and you definitely never pushed that button and ran like your tail was on fire to get out afterwards, got it?” “Got it,” Ruby replied, hefting the surprisingly heavy device in her magick. “Definitely not planting a Crystal Empire bomb in an allied city.” “It's not a bomb,” Flux corrected, “it's a beacon. The bombs are up there.” She pointed up to the midnight moon, high upon its throne of stars. “Oh, and this area was always everfree; the bombs, that definitely didn't come from the moon, had absolutely nothing to do with it.” Ruby was startled from her memories by the thud of a landing pegasus. All eyes turned to see a young house guard. The scroll and pigeon crest on his extra-light flight cuirass identified him as a Joy Bringer, a messenger from the House of Laughter. Silence reigned for a moment while the messenger caught his breath. “Get to the storm shelters, quickly,” he said at last, wings raised and quivering, ready to take flight at a moment’s notice. “We're under attack.” All at once the stillness shattered. The fire was quenched and the wine corked. Halfway to the house Berry Punch stopped, realising her daughter wasn’t among the retreating ponies. “Ruby, common!” she cried, confusion and panic welling in her heart. “I need to help fight.” Ruby replied with a calm that only served to further confuse her mother. “Fight?” Berry exclaimed. “You're a gardener! What are you gonna do, criticize their trowel use?” Ruby scrunched up her face. “I-” she stammered, tears welling up in her eyes. “I can't-” Berry ran back and gave Ruby a tight hug. “Ruby, honey, I’m your mother,” she said softly, nuzzling Ruby’s cheek. “You can tell me anything.” Ruby released the hug, holding her mother's hooves in her own. “Mom, I'm sorry; I've been lying to you, about a lot of things.” Berry Punch frowned. “Like what?” Ruby took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I'm not an agricultural consultant,” she said with conviction. “I figured that out awhile ago.” “I'm an assassin, Mom.” Berry's breath caught in her throat. “An... assassin?” Ruby took a step back and turned. Her flank shimmered with dissolving magick, and as the modified camouflage spell broke, the cutie mark of Ruby Pinch was seen for the first time by any. A masquerade mask, half blue half yellow, with it’s eyes closed to the world, adorned her hip. Berry sighed heavily. “I have something to to give you before you leave,” she said. “Come inside, quickly.” She ran to the house, Ruby following close behind. They quickly found their way to the sitting room. The full moon shone brightly through the large bay window that doubled as a sofa. Paintings of family and distant lands hung over shelves of books and knickknacks collected over the years. “Ruby, here,” Berry said, calling Ruby’s attention back to the present, and her grandfather’s favorite cloak clasp: a flat, silvery oval, one hoof wide by two long. A mid-sized ruby, grown to a matching oval, was held in a hole in the middle by four tiny golden struts. Ruby took the heirloom in her magick, holding it close. “What do I need Grampy’s cape clasp-” “Anima,” Berry corrected, placing a hoof on her daughter’s shoulder. “That’s your grandfather’s anima.” “His... Anima?” Ruby repeated quietly. “As in, ancient Unicornian soulknife anima? As in, hasn’t been used since the Discordian War anima?” “Yes,” Berry confirmed. “He told you all of his stories; if it still works, I’m sure you can figure out how to use it.” She gave her daughter one last kiss on the forehead before pushing her towards the door. “Now go win the fight for me. Go!” Ruby grinned and made for the exit. “I’ll make grandfather proud!” she called over shoulder before vanishing into the air. “I know you will, darling,” berry said softly, a small smile holding resolutely to her mouth. “It’s in your blood.” ******* The world sped by in a blur of formless color. Anti-friction shields let Ruby’s hooves skim over the ground and a cascade of unfocused magical force pushed her across the mountainside like a red rocket. She held the gleaming anima close at her side, recounting her grandfather’s tales of adventure and excitement while trees and boulders zipped by at lightning speed. “Grampy Magpie, tell me about the time you fought the giant crab!” little Ruby insisted, jumping up and down on the couch she was supposed to be napping on. “I'll do one better,” her grandfather replied with a grin. “How about the time your ancestor, Lord Polaris, fought against the forces of Discord.” Ruby stopped bouncing to stare at her grandpa. “Am I really related to Lord Polaris?” The battle was beginning to come into view. Roiling clouds of crimson rage rose high into the air, mixing with an immense, turquoise field of pegasus magick the likes of which Ruby had never seen. Bolts of hot, black lightning cracked the sky like blades of screaming agony cutting through a sea of fear. “Remember, my little gem,” Grandfather would often say, “no matter where you are, the power of your friends flows through your horn. That's how you lift your toys, and that's how Celestia raises the sun.” The thunder of cannon fire drowned the cries of battle, but were themselves dwarfed by peals of thunder. Below, the blinding star of Dinky Do scorched the field. Grandpa Magpie stood with one hoof on the coffee table, gesturing with a grand sweep to an imaginary field as he reenacted the scene. “He raised his head definitely against the twisted horrors that were once his fellows and declared with all his might…” The anima hummed as Ruby recalled the story. Careening recklessly down the mountainside, she spoke the next line aloud. “I stand tall upon the hill, a unicorn alone!” As she spoke a second voice joined with Ruby's, full of thunder and pride. “They do weep, who visit on me wrath, for I am the tower, and they the grass!” The ruby at the heart of the anima blazed with light. Bright magick fields from both anima and unicorn merged into one. A surge of power rose up in Ruby’s heart and poured out through her horn. The battle lines below met with fury and thunder. Cannons and grenades lent their voices to the ship guns that shook the sky under the unnatural maelstrom above, and from the mountain came a magick not seen in a millennium: the magick of war.