Act Three Chapter Sixteen - Getting Out
Just as Doctor Bandage had said, Phalanx, Peridot, and the newborn foal emerged from the escape tunnel into a small playground behind a collection of buildings that Peridot recognised as the Berry Baker Kindergarten. Peridot lowered the hatch, which was disguised as a potted plant, with her magic. She bit her lip and briefly regretted dropping her numbing spell as the hot, phantom ache in her missing hind leg returned but quickly realized that they couldn’t risk her horns glow being spotted anyway. The hatch closed with a grassy thud as Peridot took in her surroundings.
“You see anything?” Phalanx asked, seeing her look around. The sickly light filtering down through the darkened dome of Sombra’s forcefield cast an eerie pall over what should have been a cheery little school.
The schoolhouse had seen better days. An entire wall had been torn away and much of the roof had collapsed. Peridot shuddered, knowing that ponies must have been trying to hide inside when the changelings last swarmed the city. For a moment she considered searching the structure for survivors but the sharp edge of the tiny princess’s cocoon digging into her chest reminded her of her first obligation. “Let’s get out of here,” Peridot hissed, tearing her gaze away from the ruin of the school.
Phalanx kept to himself as he carried Peridot though the desecrated streets of the Empire. Peridot tried to imagine what he was feeling. Phalanx was, above all, a stallion of honor. Seeing the city like this must sting like a bitter accusation that he had failed to live up to his duty. She clutched herself to him tighter as she realized that that same sense of duty would have him lay down his life to see Benevolentia’s child to safety. The thought led her to squeeze harder still.
“P..eridot…” Phalanx wheezed, “breathing… kind of important.”
“Oh!” she whispered sharply. “Sorry…”
“It’s okay. Just be careful, you already dented my helmet..” He adjusted the armor around his neck with a hoof and coughed. “We’re almost there.”
“Wow, already?” Peridot was surprised. They had stuck to the shadows but the trip was, more or less, in a straight line. “Shouldn’t we have hit a patrol or something?”
Phalanx shook his head. “I don’t think he has enough guards left for an effective sweep,” he answered with an odd mix of hope and regret.
Peridot tried to think but there wasn’t much she could say to that. The guards were good ponies who had answered the Empires call to service. They didn’t deserve to be pawns at the hooves of a mad unicorn enslaved to his own black magic. She shuddered to think what might happen to them when the Princesses arrived from Equestria.
“Come on,” Peridot said solemnly, “We need to pass through the forcefield as far away from a Foci as we can if we want to get away undetected.” She tapped Phalanx’s armor shoulder and pointed, “That way.”
The city’s stillness was shocking. In the best of times, the happy sounds of ponies talking and laughing could be heard alongside the clopping of hooves and the rumbling of carts pulled through the street in even the quietest of neighborhoods. The past few months spent hiding under a protective forcefield did little to change that, although hooves were now armored and many of the merchant carts had given way to the Guard’s heavy chariots. But with most of the population still hiding in the Empire’s scattered shelters, the city felt like a tomb. The occasional crumpled changeling didn’t do much to dispel the illusion.
Peridot shuddered as Phalanx carefully stepped over one of the broken black forms. Intellectually, she knew that they had asked for it but Sombra’s forcefield had not been kind and it pained her inner healer to see another creature like that, no matter what it was.
Phalanx made use of every minute of stealth training he’d received back in Equestria. It wasn’t a standard skill of the royal guard but given his mission as a message of goodwill to the Empire, the princesses’ wanted him to be as invaluable as possible. He had once told her about the grueling experience training with the shadow warriors of the Manehatten tribe. With the city so empty, Peridot wondered if his talents were even necessary. Still, it was good to know they were prepared if Sombra sent out search parties after them. If, that is, as Phalanx had grimly remarked, he had any available to send.
“So how do we do this?” Phalanx asked as they approached the shimmering barrier.
“Nothing much to do,” Peridot recast her numbing spell before sliding off Phalanx’s back. She planted her three good hooves on the ground, not trusting her new prosthetic. “We should be able to just walk right through it. That’s how the old forcefield worked.” Peridot’s face soured as she realized that Sombra may have very well altered the spell. Especially given how short he must be on guards.
“I’ll go first,” Phalanx announced solidly.
“No, I should,” Peridot argued. She explained, knowing it was a point of duty for him, “If Sombra altered the spell, or set a trap for us, I should be able to detect it.” Phalanx frowned but nodded. She gave the cancooned princess a quick hug before handing her over to Phalanx for safe keeping.
She extended a hoof toward the barrier expecting either one of two things. Either, she reasoned, her hoof was pass directly through the magical surface with nary a sign other than a slight tingle of magical sympathy in her horn or it would meet a solid wall. Instead she encountered resistance.
“What the…” She quickly withdrew her hoof.
Phalanx looked concerned. “What is it?”
“It’s just not what I was expecting,” she answered. “You ever try to push two magnets together? It’s kind of like that.”
Phalanx regarded the black magic tainted forcefield. “Can we still get through?”
“I think so…” Peridot answered. She pressed her hoof into the surface again before steeling herself and pushing through.
The energy field was thicker than it should have been. Usually, a forcefield spell created a dome just a hair’s width but this was was at least twice as long as she was and the buffeting magical energy reminded her more of walking into an impossibly stiff wind than anything like what a magical barrier should be.
She moved slowly, advancing a hoof width at a time, her progress hampered all the more by her refusal to use her prosthetic leg. Eventually, a gasping and exhausted Peridot emerged under the unfiltered sky on the other side of the dome. She let out a thankful sigh as she saw the crystal sharp stars shining above her for the first time in months.
“It’s okay!” she called out. “I made it!” Phalanx’s muffled response expressed relief. He had almost charged in after her. “Come on through! It’s like trying to walk into a gale while holding an umbrella, so make sure you keep a grip on the baby.” There was an affirmative grunt. A moment later, Phalanx’s voice sounded out in confusion.
“What’s wrong?” Peridot asked. “You just have to push. If I can do it on three leg then I know that you can!”
She heard him yell in response. “What?” she yelled back. Again she could hear him speaking. “Phalanx you have you speak up! The barrier is blocking the sound!”
Phalanx’s voice came through like a muted roar, “I SAID I CAN’T!”
“What? Why not?!”
“It’s the Princess!” came his answer. “She can’t pass through!!”
“Huh?” Peridot shook her head. “Nonono, that’s not possible. She hasn’t seen a Crystal Fair yet! Without a Flare, she’s not even a chrysal pony. She should pass right through!”
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you,” Phalanx’s muffled voice yelled, “but she’s not.”
“Wel.. um…” Peridot’s mind raced, “maybe you’re doing it wrong!”
“Doing it wrong?” was the annoyed answer. “I’m pretty sure I know how to walk forward.”
“Argh!” Peridot stamped a hoof. “Fine, I’m coming back through. Maybe there’s something I can do.”
“I don’t know that that’s such a good idea…”
“I’ll be fine. I can alway take a rest before crossing again.”
“Just be careful.”
Peridot rolled her eyes as she stepped back into the forcefield. “Don’t worry, I -” she started to say as the buffeting magical ‘wind’ caught her and sent her sprawling onto the ground. She slid through the barrier on her rump, skidding to an undignified stop. Phalanx raised an eyebrow. “Promise,” she finished sheepishly. She gave herself a once over as he helped her to her hooves. Aside from a scuff or two, and a minor wound to her pride, she didn’t seem any worse for ware.
“So,” Peridot said trying to ignore her sore haunches. “What’s the problem.”
“This,” Phalanx answered. He stepped to the barrier and extended a hoof. Just like Peridot’s, it sank into the surface with little resistance. “Now watch.” He balanced awkwardly on his hind legs as he held the baby’s cocoon between his forehooves. Carefully, he extended his forelimbs until the cocoon touched the boundary… and stopped. He leaned, applying slight pressure, but still nothing happened. As far as the baby was concerned, the forcefield was a brick wall.
“That’s...a problem,” Peridot said, taking the tiny infant back into her grasp. “It doesn’t make any sense. The forcefield should only block ponies attuned to the Crystal Heart. I’ve been here for a while so it makes sense that I’d feel some resistance but the baby hasn’t had time to pick up any of the Heart's energy. She should go right through. I don’t understand why-” her eyes widened, “Oh no.” She understood. “Oh, Harmony, no.”
Phalanx inhaled, realizing. “The cocoon,” he said flatly.
“I had to draw from the Prism to cast it.” She hugged the baby tightly. “It’s basically crystallized Heart energy! There’s no WAY it can cross!”
“Well, can’t you dissipate it, cross, and recast it on the other side?”
Peridot shook her head. “It’s not just a normal casting like one I’d used to hold a broken bone in place. She’s in full stasis. I’m not strong enough to cast that kind of spell without help and I can’t tap into the Prism anyway.” Tears began to gather at the corner of her eyes. “And besides, she isn’t ready. She still needs a lot of care before she can survive on her own.”
“Then stay,” Phalanx said. “I know I don’t know anything about magic or the Prism but I can at least get the Princesses. I’m sure they’ll be able to figure it out.”
Peridot looked torn, almost convinced. She let out a sigh, “No. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna might be powerful but ...they aren’t a match for the Prism. Not if they don’t know what they’re walking into anyway. And the Prism isn’t the only thing they have to worry about. The black spell gives Sombra magic unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I HAVE to go.”
“Then what?” Phalanx asked, getting frustrated. “We can’t just leave her here!”
“We have to.”
“Wait, what? I wasn’t making a serious suggestion, Peridot!” He stomped a hoof. “Stars above, I’d rather stay with her myself and let YOU make the trip than leave her here.”
“I’d never make it, Phalanx.” She lifted her prosthetic unconsciously. “And if you go alone… Equestria risks losing her princesses. We don’t have a choice.”
“Do you have any idea what that beast will do if he finds her unprotected?”
“Do you think you could protect her from him?” Peridot asked.
After an uncomfortable moment Phalanx looked away. “How?” he asked.
“We have to hide her,” Peridot answered. “She’ll be fine, she doesn’t even have any physical needs right now. So long as we do it right, Sombra would have to know exactly what kind of spell I used to find her and he doesn’t have many unicorns to do the searching.”
“I doubt he’d even look,” Phalanx huffed. “He needs her out of the way but he knows we escaped. He’ll be busy preparing for an Equestrian attack.”
“He’ll probably start by fortifying the Prism,” Peridot suggested. “It’s taken a lot of abuse. We’ll need to hide her near a fully functional area but not so close that she could be hurt when the Princesses attack.”
“Any ideas?”
Peridot thought hard, diving into what she knew about the Prism’s construction, and nodded. “There’s a Prism junction back that way.” She pointed back in the direction of the Palace. “Just a few minutes walk. It should be unharmed and isn’t important enough to attack. Its magic should help hide her too.”
Phalanx nodded tersely, unsure, “Very well… I hope you know what you’re talking about.”
Fortunately, she did. She let out a sigh of relief when the junction came into view. To the untrained eye it was little more than a non descript little shed by a fork in the road, but Peridot knew better. Involved in the construction since day one, her magic had been the very inspiration for the Prism. A fact that had so recently filled her with pride. A swift kick from Phalanx’s armored hooves to the shed’s lock and the door swung open. Inside was a piece of cut crystal about the size and shape of a large melon held aloft by a trio of shimmering silver legs that sank into the dirt floor.
Peridot held the baby to her check with a forehoof as she levitated away some of the dirt beneath the gem, clearing out a narrow hole at least as deep as she was tall. Phalanx frowned.
“You’re going to bury her?” he asked.
“She’ll be safe,” Peridot explained. “So long as the cocoon spell is protecting her she can’t be hurt in anyway.”
“How long will it last?”
Peridot gave a sad little smile, “As long as it has to. There’s a whole foci’s worth of energy there, it could keep her safe for the next thousand years if it had to.” She wrapped the baby’s cocoon in her magic preparing to lower it into the ground. She hesitated. Her eyes burst with tears and she slumped to the ground, cradling the magically sleeping filly.
For several long minutes she didn’t move then she looked up at her friend, her eyes, wet and ragged. “Phalanx… do you promise you can get us back to Equestria?”
Phalanx bowed his head, “Peridot, I swear to you on my honor that I will deliver you safely to Equestria AND return for the daughter and Heir of Princess Benevolentia. You have my word.” She stared at him for a minute before clenching her eyes tight and nodding. The action loosed a pair of tears that ran down her cheeks to drop onto the princesses cocoon.
Peridot looked down at the tiny foal and tried to think of something to say, even though she knew the child couldn’t hear. She gave up and settled for holding her tight and gently rocking back and forth.
My Love, my baby, my precious little one.
Rest well, my baby, listen your mothers song
Sleep now, sleep deeply, until morning sun.
You’re safe here with me, til night’s dark is done.
…
Peridot tried not to think about the fact that she had just left her dead best friend’s baby at the bottom of a hole as they trotted away. They reached the edge of the forcefield only a few minutes after closing the door to the shed but, walking in silence, it felt like far longer. This time they crossed together. They didn’t have the baby to be concerned about any more. Besides, neither really felt like being alone.
Again Peridot was under the stars but they glared down her accusingly. She felt horrible about leaving the princess behind. Even if it was the right thing to do, it was one of the hardest choices she ever had to make. She tried to console herself by telling herself that the baby would never know what had happened when they came back with help from Equestria but the image of a tiny child scared and alone, buried at the bottom of a hole, was hard to shake.
The dome of Sombra’s forcefield dwindled behind them as the plodded through the thick wet snow toward the mountains that marked the boundary between the Empire’s lands and those of Equestria and her tribal friends.
“How long before we reach the border?” Peridot asked, pointing forward with a hoof.
“In this weather, traveling at night… a week at least,” he answered glumly. “And maybe another to get across the mountains. It’ll be easier after that, once we’re back in properly weather controlled lands and can move during the day but it will still be quite a march to the actual city.”
Peridot wiped away a clump of snow that landed on her cheek. “Can’t we go to one of the tribes? I’m sure they have runners. They could bring the Princesses to us.”
Phalanx shook his head. “The Hoofington Tribe is the closest but… they aren’t likely to help us. They’re one of the few tribes that still doesn’t trust us. The Fillydelphia Tribe would help but that’s hard country and the mountain path takes us in the opposite direction. It wouldn’t save us more than half a day. Better to just go straight to Equestrian City.”
Peridot frowned, starting to doubt, for the first time, that she could make the trip. Phalanx sensed what she was thinking. “Don’t worry, Peridot. We’ll make it. If your hooves start to get tired you can always hitch a ride. I’m pretty much used to carrying you anyway.”
She smiled thankfully. No doubt he would carry her the whole way if she asked him too. He wouldn’t even ask why. Phalanx was just that kind of pony.
As they walked on, Peridot began to wonder if Sombra was influencing the weather just make things difficult for them. The wind had grown steadily stronger and held an icy bite that cut straight through her coat. Peridot would have been jealous of Phalanx’s armor if not for him having to constantly shake loose the snow and ice that deposited with every gust of wind. She was tempted to use her numbing spell to block the sensation of the cold but resolved to only do that as a last resort.
In theory she could banish ALL sense of discomfort from the both of them, letting them run straight through to the mountains without stopping but she knew that would only result in them burning out their strength if they didn’t succum to frostbite first.
“Phalanx?” Peridot said. She came to a stop, her artificial leg clicking hollowly against the stony ground; she had decided to give in and walk on it several miles ago. She looked back toward the city but could only see the barest glow of the forcefield just at the horizon. Phalanx looked back. “It’s almost dawn…”
Phalanx looked up at the sky and considered. “We still have another two hours till sunrise,” he responded. His voice softened, “Do you need to stop?”
Peridot’s hooves were throbbing. She had spent most of the walk pushing through snow and tripping over concealed rocks, not the best conditions for somepony recovering from a recent amputation. Her leg didn’t hurt thanks to her magic but she could feel the strain. Especially on the joint where the crystal of the prosthesis bonded to flesh and bone. She nodded,“I’ll be better tomorrow… I just need to rest and heal.”
Phalanx nodded and looked around. They were out in the open plains that surrounded the Crystal Empire, there wasn’t anything in the way of cover aside from the occasional snow bank. “Ever slept in a snow cave?” he asked sardonically.
As it turned out, sleeping in a snow cave was just as cold, wet, and uncomfortable as Peridot thought it would be. They dug their makeshift home in the side of one of the more sturdy looking snow banks. After a tight crawl through a narrow entrance there was an open chamber just large enough to kneel upright in with a deep depression in the back corner that Phalanx explained was to ‘catch the cold’. When the sun was still an hour below the horizon, Peridot levitated the pony sized snow-clod they had purposed as a door into place, plunging the little cave into darkness.
Although the cave was significantly warmer than the weather outside, it still hovered only a little above freezing. Phalanx offered Peridot his armor to keep warm but she turned him down, and not just because he had been wearing it for the past few days. It just hadn’t seemed right. Phalanx was a guard. It’s who he was, through and through and his armor was a part of him, it helped define who he was.
Peridot opened the flap to their small provision bag provided by Doctor Bandage and pulled out a small square of pink cloth, the swaddling Peridot had wrapped Benevolentia’s baby. She wrapped the cloth around her shoulders and lay as close as she could to Phalanx’s already sleeping body.
The warmth of her friend to her back, Peridot squeezed the ends of the blanket tight in her hooves, holding fast to the swaddling cloth, and said quietly, “Don’t worry Benny...I’ll be back. I’ll take care of your baby. I promise.”