Cadista found an active linkscape while trying to reach Twilight Sparkle. Her daughter sat upon a hill covered in dead grass with her head low. The Linkscape being what it was, Cadista was able to phase to her daughter’s side. It was there that she found a large granite slab with the names of every drone who died in Rookhaven. Twilight herself was weeping silently while carving each name with a mana-held hammer and chisel. There were already just over a hundred names with Riposte’s at the top.
“My daughter, there is a time for grief and mourning, but it is not now,” Cadista stated softly. “Rookhaven is in chaos, and Rainbow Dash is going to need your help.”
Twilight stopped hammering away and simply let the tools disappear a moment later. She couldn’t summon the strength to look up at her mother. “I know… I shouldn’t even be hiding here.”
Biting through her feelings of awkwardness, Cadista nestled down next to Twilight and tentatively draped a wing over her. Even after all this time, it felt off to her. “If it helps, I was the same way when the first time I lost so many children at once.”
“Is this when I ask if it gets any better?”
I wonder if that’s her sister’s influence. “In a way.” Twilight looked over to her mother with a question in her eyes. “The grief from each loss softens after a few hundred years, and you learn how to seal away your pain for the next Day of Mourning easier… Sadly, only with practice.”
“…I understand.” Twilight’s ear flicked at her sister’s approach in the real world.
“After things settle down, we’ll hold the Day early,” Cadista said before Twilight could fade away.
“Thank you, I’ll need it.”
Cadista studied the stone Twilight left behind. Echos of pain new and old danced across her mind’s eye. Even as the rest of the Linkscape collapsed around her, the stone remained until she was left in a black void. On a whim, before departing, she lit the area again to find the stone had persisted. So she means to keep it. Dare I wonder how large such a stone would be had I kept track after all these centuries?
The problem with memories like this, is we long lived beings will end up getting dragged down by their weight. Yet if we do forget… She let off a forlorn sigh and faded back to the real world. What a cruel joke, the universe has played.
Twilight blinked as her awareness returned to the broken palace of Rookhaven. Dusk had come and gone, leaving only the half-moon above as a light source. Fortunately, thestrals, and their changeling descendants, were quite well suited to seeing by moonlight. Aegis and her clutchmates were clustered around Riposte and Twilight, waiting for her to give the word. It was obvious from one look at their bloodshot eyes that they shared their queen’s grief. Arya was fuming over Gethar’s corpse at having lost his spirit.
Rainbow Dash flew in with a fireteam at her back. “Twi, I know you’re not in the best shape right now, but we’ve got a giant mess to deal with before we ha—”
“I know, RD.” Twilight’s half-commanding response drew her sister up short. “It’s just a lot to take all at once.”
“I get ya, Sis. I mean damn…” She trailed off to briefly hug her sister. It was rare for Rainbow to show public affection, so Twilight leaned into her for support. “This empathy makes your pain clear as day. I may not be their mother, like you Twilight, but they were my family too, ya know?” She silently commanded the medic in her team to tend to her sister and drones. “Last time I was out patrolling the Chaos Lands when I was still in the Bolts, I lost my whole squad to a lava dog, save one fresh recruit. I couldn’t get their deaths out of my head for months, and I was losing it until Spitfire sat me down and told me, ‘We still have an obligation to the living. The dead are a patient bunch.’”
Taking a long deep breath, Twilight slowly but surely closed the lid on her box of grief, painful though it was. “You’re completely right.” Standing up, she set her regal bearing back in place. Twilight nodded at her sister who also rose to her hooves. “Our only choice is to move forward until we’re safe back at the hive. What’s the condition of our remaining drones?”
Rainbow wanted to smile at her sister’s strength, but the situation ruined it. “We’re messed up pretty badly, but the worst seems to be over. I left the shield mages back with the wounded in that entry hall. The lost ones seem to be living up to their name, and are just as eager to kill each other for food as they are us. But thanks to the shield, they don’t seem to want to bother with us anymore.”
“Good, good.” <Ratchet, how are things on the ship?>
The prime consort in question was crammed inside a maintenance shaft with four other drones. The room reeked with sweat, blood, and fear. The power was out, so those in the passageway only had a few flashlights and light spells to see with. <We managed to keep engineering from being overrun, and we have roughly half the crew hiding out in Jefferies tubes.>
Twilight sighed in both sadness and relief. <What’s the state of the ship itself?>
It was at this point where his profound irritation surpassed his fear of the lost ones prowling the halls. Even if he could hear them fighting outside the hatch. <Rainbow’s marines did about as much damage as Gethar’s mutants. It’d take weeks to bring the ship back up to combat readiness.>
Rainbow rolled her eyes at the comment about her training, but the last comment piqued their interest. <Wait a sec, you’re telling me we can bring the Deception back?> Rainbow’s wings practically vibrated in anticipation.
<Well… I’d have to look at the damage to the propellers and engines, but the boiler room is still intact, along with the hull itself. Gethar never did figure out how to crack our armor.>
“Well that’s good news,” Twilight began. A light snapped on in her mind. <Gentle Touch, I need you to gather the best arcanists and engineers we have back at the hive, and start building a portal gate.>
<A portal?> Gentle, and about everybody else in Phoenix’s Roost had been fretting constantly at their queens’ peril. <I’ll make the arrangements. But we’re not equipped to handle refugees here.>
<I know, I’ll handle it.> Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. “Rainbow, take what’s left of our combat ready forces and re-secure the ship, then go out and save as many civilians as possible.”
Rainbow jerked her head at Aegis and her squad. “Got it. I’ll try to keep anypony from running off into the swamp if possible.”
“Good idea. And try to find the guardponies we were fighting earlier, they can help out too.”
Flying off as fast as her wings could take her, Rainbow’s face soured. <They’d better be more sociable than Justice Guy was.>
Arya was left to her own devices as Twilight communed with Canterlot.
The Night Court was a small affair. While her older sister handled political affairs with a master’s touch, Luna’s return had seen her take the more clandestine defenses of the nation. An aspect that Tia never could get a handle of, she mused lightly.
The court itself was in a chamber half the size of Celestia’s throne room, and had three other ponies sitting around a round wooden table. Stacks of notes and reports cluttered the chamber in a semi-organized fashion. One scroll in particular was held aloft in Luna’s magic that had a rather interesting report. “Gleaming Dagger, you were the commanding officer in charge of this operation, were you not?”
She flipped the parchment around for the pegasus’ purview. “Strange sightings in the Palomino Ocean?”
“Oh yes, that…” Gleaming Dagger took the offered document. “There were rumors going around from local pegasi that there were wet-ships of unknown design sighted in the area, but none of them have ever tried to investigate under the assumption that they’re ghost ships or some-such. I wouldn’t have even seen this document if my assistant hadn’t knocked over the pile of reports when she told me about the minor earthquake a few hours ago.”
Luna continued to tap her chin. We don’t normally get earthquakes in Canterlot. We only noticed because some earth ponies felt it. I hope that it was nothing more than a fluke.
Luna shook the troubled thought away to refocus on the report. Where was I? Oh right, aside from Vanhoover two hundred kilometers north, we don’t have any major settlements along the west coast beyond nontaxable villages and homesteaders. We’ve never had a port large enough to support an exploration enterprise. Perhaps now is a good time to start—
The doors burst open with a lavender drone trying to muscle past the two thestral guards. “Princess Luna, I have pressing news from the north!”
“Go through the proper channels,” the first guard barked as he yanked the drone back by the tail.
“You’re lucky you’re a diplomat!” spat the other.
Luna waved a hoof, making her guards halt. “Rolled Scroll. I’ve been expecting you,” she half-growled at her guards.
Luna’s court eyed the embarrassed guards. They let the drone go and bowed to their matriarch. “Our apologies, Your Highness, we assumed the nature of your court…”
“Is not for you to decide,” Luna retorted. The guards took the hint and backed off to close the door. Luna heaved a sigh. “Don’t worry about them, Scroll. They’ll get into a bar fight in the morning and forget all about this. Now,” she squared herself, “you have urgent news?”
“Yes, my queen requests refugee aid and any available form of transportation brought over to Phoenix’s Roost.”
The tension in the room shot up to match the frantic drone. “Did something happen to your home?” Luna queried.
“Was there an attack?” Dagger asked. “Do we need to mobilize?”
“I’ll give you the abridged version.” He cringed in sheepish embarrassment, and fiddled with his hooves. The act only made the ponies around him even more nervous and the leaned forward a bit in anticipation. “My queen may or may not have killed a self-proclaimed god or avatar of one and awakened a sleeping thestral city from stasis…”
Luna pinched the bridge of her muzzle. It never ends with that mare. “What would you have us do, Scroll?”
Aegis landed heavily on the shattered bridge of the Deception. Intel, Ferrum, and Rainbow Dash flew in from the window. Every last one of them was exhausted to the bone, Aegis more so than the others.
“Holy Mother of Burrell. I think the Justicar threw a temper tantrum in here.” Ferrum commented dryly.
Panels were in ruins, the consoles weren’t any better off, and half of the seats were ripped off their moorings. “Why didn’t you ditch the flamer back at the palace?” Intel admonished as he surveyed the damage.
“Burny’s special, and nopony’s going to convince me otherwise.” Aegis countered, only to find Rainbow giving her the stink eye.
“Ditch it for now, I don’t need to tell you that’s not going to be used aboard my ship.”
NO pony better steal him. “Alright, let’s clean this place out so we can properly rearm.”
A few minutes earlier, Twilight prodded the male ex-scion along as the pair flew through the shattered remains of the palace. It was barely ten minutes since the temporal stasis spell collapsed, and already there were small skirmishes throughout the imperial district. The fires that had been frozen before, now raged anew. The one thing he noticed most of all though, was the swarms of lost ones had been thinned considerably. Most notably, the skies were practically devoid of airborne lost ones, thanks to them being Gethar’s most accessible tool during the assault.
“If I’m going to talk with you, I might as well know your name.”
He turned to see the large queen behind him, still giving him small jolts of electricity. (an irony she found darkly unfunny.) “Fen’jet, I suppose I am Centurion Fen’jet again, after what happened to the Justicar.”
“Well, Centurion, if you would agree to fly with me willingly, I’ll stop with the shocks.”
He whirled around in midair to stare her down. “I am not some whipped prisoner that will bend to your will!”
Twilight matched his cold stare. “I am not taking prisoners today. I want your help in evacuating the city.”
“Evacuate? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. The children of the Moonlit Empire will rally, and we will not abandon the city to you or the Arcanum victims.”
If only every available hoof wasn’t already trying to get the wounded to the ship and the rest to secure it for our end of the portal, I could spare some forces to help the civilians. The fact that Fen'jet had not killed any of her drones, though not for lack of trying mind you, made it far easier for her to be patient with him. “Did you not pay attention at all to what Gethar and I talked about? There’s nothing but swamp outside the city’s borders. You’re not getting any outside reinforcements, and once the creatures of the swamp no longer fear the city, all of you will end up dead. Assuming you don’t starve to death without any farmland first.”
“Why should I trust you to help us? The Justicar’s trial may have cleaned you of sin, but your form is still corrupted by it. How long will it be until that corruption affects your mind once more?”
I really hate diehard bigots. Twilight pointed at a squad of soldiers fighting, and winning, against a small group of lost ones. “Look at that! It wouldn’t matter if you retook the city or not. The social order is unrecoverable here without outside support.” She calmed her tone, drawing an uncertain frown from him. “I give you my word that I can take you out of the city. If you really want to come back after that, then that’s entirely your decision, but right now we need to think of the civilians.”
Every inch of the soldier in front of her yearned to go down and aid his troops, but the general in him could see the bigger picture. “…What would you have me do?”
“Gather as many of your people as you can, and make for that point in the center of the seismic disturbance over there.” The pair cleared the inner walls to see the city at large. Fen'jet’s eyes widened and his jaw went slack at finally noticing the jagged spires and pitfalls all along the southeastern districts. I think it’d be best to leave the cause of that unknown for the moment.
“W-what happened?!” He shook himself before turning to Twilight. The buzzing noise of her wings and the holes in her extremities were off putting to the point of disgust, but the empire came first. “That can wait. I’ll spread the word, but know this,” he ended sternly. Twilight arched a curious eyebrow. “I for one, will never serve the imperial family, or you, after this night.”
Twilight’s expression turned flatter than the second dimension. “To be frank, I’d prefer it that way. I came here looking for artifacts in an ancient ruined city, not a city that still lived.” Rolled Scroll pinged her mind, informing her of Luna’s agreement to her request for aid. The act reminded Twilight of the pantheon from the temple. Do I really want to tell them about Luna and Celestia? It’s possible it’s a coincidence. If it is, using her name to garner cooperation now could bite me later. If by some chance Luna and Celestia are Celesti and Lūn, it might be better to let them speak up about it if they so choose. I should still warn them about it first though…
Fen'jet was still finding it difficult to believe Twilight’s claims, but when the queen fell silent in thought, he departed to tend to his troops. He rocketed down to the squad of soldiers who were mopping up the last of the nearby lost ones. For her part, Twilight flew back towards the palace to help carry the wounded drones back to the ship.
Clearing the Deception was a rather simplistic and quick task. Without a guiding hand, the tortured minds of the lost ones quickly lost interest in the drones barricaded within engineering or hidden in maintenance shafts. In one such section, Rainbow Dash found a pair of wolfish lost ones gnawing on the plethora of corpses laying around. A singular wall light cast the room into a grim gloom.
Rainbow’s ire rose sharply after noticing the mutants’ meal was drones. Aegis went with the others to clear out engineering, but I’d rather handle these two myself. Besides, she thought with a down frown, I need to make sure He’s rescued personally. If only to ease Twilight’s mind <Ratchet, I’m right outside your position. What’s your status?>
<By the First Mother, am I glad to hear it. I got waylaid on my way to engineering, so I got trapped in here.> Ratchet’s tone was slightly pained with a heavy dose of worry. <I sprained a hind leg jumping inside, but Lieutenant Rourke here is in worse shape than I. If she doesn’t get aid soon, she won’t make it.>
<You got it, I’ll kill these two, and pull you out…> Rainbow’s thought trailed off as one of the lost ones started convulsing. Damn they’re creepy. <Just give me a sec.>
Ratchet’s reply went unheeded as the convulsing lost one’s abdomen split down the center and it keeled over dead. The other one didn’t seem to notice, but high pitched squealing met her ears as four infant lost ones erupted out of the mother and started feasting on her remains. Rainbow had to choke down the contents of her stomach. Okay, that’s completely disgusting.
Barely a second later, the second adult lost one started convulsing as well, snapping Rainbow Dash to action. “Oh hay no! You stop that!” Picking up a discarded wrench, Rainbow ran in swinging. The small lost ones were fast, but not fast enough to escape Rainbow Dash. By the time she squashed the last one, the second wolf-thing broke open to loose its spawn.
*SPLAT* “and here I thought” *Squish* “Lings were creepy” *Splurt* “About laying eggs,” *Crunch* “At first.” *Smish* The bent and now useless wrench was coated in ichor and disturbingly green blood. I don’t get it. None of these guys had green blood before. I’ll have to give the rat bastard his due. Gethar might have saved us by freezing these guys like he did. With this section of the ship finally clear, Rainbow tapped on the corroded hatch to the Jefferies tube. <You can come out now, Ratchet. I’ll let Resta know you’ve got wounded.>
With a grating noise of steel on steel, the damaged hatch swung open, allowing Rainbow’s telekinesis to ease the injured drones out. Ratchet was first among them. “Thank you, my queen. I’d stay and help, but Twilight wants me to start prepping the ship to support the portal.”
Two more drones, along with Lieutenant Rourke, were pulled out of their hiding place. “You going to be able to do so on that leg?”
Ratchet tested his cramped wings and took to the air. “I’ve only got one bad leg. Mother saw fit to grant me a few spares.”
“The wings help, I’m sure,” Rainbow teased. She shared a chuckle with Ratchet before nodding for him to leave. She turned to the engineer and marine who were carrying Rourke. She scowled at the sight of her unconscious form. “She’s in bad shape. I’ll escort you two to sickbay in case you run into anything.”
“Thank you, my queen.”
Rainbow’s eye lingered on the small lost ones she’d stamped out. The sooner we’re out of this hell hole the better. I better keep a marine detail here to keep the repair crews safe, just in case.
The sun started to creep over the horizon as more and more thestrals started arriving at the downed warship. The aftermath of destroying the ley lines in that area, and the subsequent earthquake made travel by hoof impossible. That wouldn’t normally be a problem for the winged thestrals and changelings, but the sheer number of wounded and personal belongings made flight untenable for many. Luckily, with Gethar’s control over the ley lines over, the world was already beginning to heal the damage caused by the Deception.
At least, that is how it was until what remained of the Phoenix’s Roost Engineering Corps found a winding path along the jagged earth toward the Deception. After that, where to put so many thestrals became a second issue, what with so little flat ground to rest on. Yet none of that really compared to the trust issue.
Through Fen’jet’s position and command ability, what few lost ones Gethar had overlooked in his attack on the changelings were either cleaned up or scattered into the swamp which was already regaining its fog cover.
At present, Rainbow Dash was making sure the broken remains of the Deception remained secure from the curious hooves of the locals, while her sister focused on constructing the portal. Rainbow noticed the majority of the civilians were enamored by the broken warship. Despite its obvious damage, it was an object of wonder and fear to all. Sitting squarely on the side of wonder and awe, Rainbow spotted saw a filly eyeing her mother, who was distracted by her badly injured husband. The filly silently took off, trying to sneak inside one of the shattered gun turrets of the ship.
Rainbow stifled a tired yawn and flew down to intercept the filly. The young one was barely a meter from the ship before the imposing figure of a changeling queen landed right in front of her. The shock from Rainbow’s sudden arrival nearly caused the filly to tumble off the side of the ledge. Only Rainbow’s quick reflexes with her magic kept the child from falling. “Go on back to your family, kid. The ship’s not safe for you.”
Instead of being intimidated, the brash youngster puffed her chest out once she was deposited on the ledge. “I’m not afraid of those monsters!” She stopped a moment when the queen in front of her snickered in amusement. “Say, what are you, lady?”
Rainbow mentally told a few of her soldiers to stand down. <The kid’s not a threat.> She studied the filly a bit longer, only just noticing the mother was paralyzed by fear at what Rainbow would do to her daughter. “What do you think I am?” Where did that come from? she mused at herself.
“Well… mama says you big ones are some of the imperial family that caused all this. Is that true? Is that why you look like that? Why do you have a spike on your head?”
“I don’t know what your parents said, but we didn’t do anything except free you guys from being frozen. And we have head-spikes because of reasons.”
The filly scrunched her muzzle. “I don’t remember being frozen. How does somepony get frozen in a desert?”
“Of course you wouldn’t remember being frozen, that’s because you were too frozen to remember.” Rainbow inwardly chuckled at the filly’s expense.
Any further questions were suddenly stifled by the mother finally breaking her fear and rushing to her filly’s side. “S-sorry to bother you, ma’lady. Come along, Garnet.”
Much to the child’s protests, her mother practically ran scared of Rainbow. Not too surprising, I guess. Between the world shattering around them, getting attacked by freaks, finding out the empire’s gone, and now being told they’re to evacuate the city, they’re just too shell shocked to say ‘thanks for saving our bacon.’ Her stomach started to rumble. Speaking of bacon, I wonder if Cookie has some breakfast for us.
While Rainbow queried about food, Twilight was busy trying to refrain from verbally ripping Fen’jet’s head off as he nagged her. Twilight was on the other side of the Deception where the only flat area large enough for the portal, and close enough to the ship, was located.
“As I told you a hundred times, Centurion, this is a portal back to my home. From there, an allied nation will take you in as refugees.” Twilight’s temple was throbbing at the math in building the portal while the general and two other thestrals, whom she hadn’t gotten names for, practically hovered over her shoulder. Or would have been, if Aegis and what was left of her squad were not forcing the locals to stay a comfortable distance.
“Portals are a fantasy,” one of the other thestrals scoffed. Judging by her clothing, Aegis assumed the mare was a government administrator. “As is magic based travel in general. Not even the royal family could accomplish such feats.”
<Aegis, I’m granting you the position of temporary diplomat. Just keep those three busy so I can work.> Twilight threw up a sonic dampener around herself to shut them out.
<With gusto.> Aegis sneered with her refueled flamer bouncing lightly on her neck. She had to “requisition” the last of the oil from her other soldiers, her rank helped expedite that effort. With Twilight now more or less in control of her box of grief, that control was starting to affect the drones nearby. They found themselves more capable of focusing on their jobs rather than who died, but it varied between individuals.
<Try not to scare them. They’re barely agreeable as it is.>
Aegis’ ears wilted at the order. Well there goes that plan. <Yes, my queen.> With a groan she holstered her flamer on top of the fuel tanks. “Look, buddy, I can call you buddy right?” She ignored the cold stare from the trio. Intel was too hung up on Riposte’s death to see the humor, while Ferrum used it as a welcome distraction. “It’s like this. You’re like… forever out-of-date.” She pointed at the Deception. “You see that thing there? The big metal thing with cannons and such? We built that.” Well, Granny’s hive built it, but whatever. “What’s the best you can do, a catapult? Trebuchet maybe?”
The more diplomatic of the theseral trio bowed his head in respect. “I realize she is quite busy,” the stallion clown, by Aegis’ reckoning, placated. She really had to summon herculean strength to keep from laughing at his polka dotted priest robes and face paint. “Gethar’s absolvent of your queen’s sin means the faithful and I are willing to put this horrible event,” and your appearance, “behind us. And yet.” He struggled for the briefest moment to find the right words. “It’s just this whole “portal” business. I’m fully aware that the imperial family restricted knowledge of the advanced arts from the commoners, but surely teleportation-style magic is impossible. I even heard the Empress herself say as such in conversation once.”
“Look clo — friend,” she said with a forced smile. “Didn’t Queen Twilight Sparkle teleport right in front of you barely a few minutes ago? You’re not blind are you?”
“S-she did… Forgive me. It’s just difficult to grasp that such magic exists at all.” The priest did a short prayer, asking for strength. “A lifetime of hearing about its impossibility is a struggle to overcome.”
Maybe the clown’s not so bad. “Like I was saying, the empire’s been dead since before time. As I told your chum over there, magic and technology’s advanced way beyond what you know. Portals are very real,” she added with a lethargic shrug. Her pride and duty were the only things keeping her awake at this point.
“I refused to believe this incident!” the administrator challenged, “could topple the Empire.” He waved his hoof at changelings at random. “The Moonlit Empire spanned the known world! This catastrophe is trying, I grant you, but it is hardly enough to lay us low. If we could master the sands, we could conquer the swamp just as easily.”
<I got this, Captain,> Ferrum said as he dropped down from his hover. Aegis flourished a bow to her brother and stepped aside. “You know what? You’re absolutely right. The empire, probably could. If you really want to stay here, then be my guest. We’re setting up a relief effort for you guys because it’s the right thing to do, but if you don’t want our help then so be it.”
Fen’jet chafed at such disrespect from a fellow military personnel. “What will happen to us when we go to this new land? Are we to be your slaves or guests?”
“That’s entirely up to the princesses of Equestria. They're the ones who agreed to accept you as refugees. They already host the only known population of thestrals. After you all share some hugs, kisses, and plot slaps, you can do whatever pops in your heads. But until then, you can wait a few hours for the portal to be ready, okay? Go beat each other off until then. You guys need some stress relieve something fierce.”
<Oh and we don’t?> Aegis chided playfully.
“What do you mean, ‘beat off’?” the clown inquired at the unfamiliar slang.
Aegis and her brothers shared a knowing look before laughing over the hive mind. Even Intel was pulled out of his depression just a little. “Why don’t you three go tend to your people? You’re not doing anypony any good bothering us.”
“I still say this is a waste of time,” Fen’jet commented more to his compatriots than to the drones. “We shouldn’t be listening to some fantasy about instant travel.”
“Let’s not be too hasty,” the clown cautioned while raising his forelegs up at his companions. “The Captain makes a good point, and the metal war machine makes me believe there could be a chance this might work.”
Aegis flew backwards to exit the conversation. That’ll keep them busy for an hour or so. I hope Resta isn’t getting any trouble.
Medicine is and ever shall be a delicate art, at least in Resta’s opinion. However, this was one matter she never really thought to plan for. The entirety of the Deception’s medical supplies and equipment had been carried out and placed on various spires around the vessel. The medic worked on a badly wounded stallion with a lacerated stomach. Two nurses assisted her with the civilian’s two family members watching with equal parts fascination and worry.
“Sawbones, I need another bowl of salve. Joy, get a sleep spell on him so he doesn’t reopen the wound.”
“On it, ma’am.” Joy replied as Sawbones slipped behind some enclosed curtains. There she found a pair of drones carefully spitting salve into tin bowls scrounged from the mess hall. A third was hovering above the curtains, making sure no one came over to investigate the real source of the seemingly unending salve. The bowls were enchanted to keep the salve from hardening upon contact with the open air, but it was only effective for a short time. As a result, she grabbed two full bowls and was about to leave when one of the drones yawned noisily and tugged on her blood covered apron.
“I always get so exhausted donating salve. How come you medics haven’t done it yet?”
Sawbones swished her tail to flick her sibling’s nose to make him let go. “You just answered your own question. We’re out of Salve Aid or else we’d do it ourselves. In the meantime, go grab some chow and rest. Momma promised us survivors some time off to recoup when we get back.”
The other donor, Particle, merely stared at the purple gel in her mostly empty bowl. Her eyes were damp, but her voice was level. “Sorry. I gave all I had to try and save Fulcrum. It wasn’t…” Particle tugged on Twilight’s superior control over her emotions to level out her own, if only for a little. “… Enough.”
Sawbones’ expression flattened and she rested a hoof on her sister. “What’s important is that you tried. Every drop helps.”
She only nodded before giving up her bowl. I hope mother got what she needs to secure her crown.
Artifacts were the furthest thing from Twilight’s mind as she inspected the inactive portal in front of her. It was a circular ring of salvaged armor scraps. The irregular pieces were covered in softly glowing runes on the front. Over a dozen snaking power cables were attached to the lower half of the ring. The portal itself stood roughly half a meter taller than Twilight and three meters wide. The haphazard nature of the device grated Twilight’s perfectionism to the point where she had to forcefully keep herself from casting an illusion on it to make it look more orderly.
Okay, that should about do it. Better check it a seventh time, just to be sure. As Twilight and four of her mages inspected the portal, Ratchet and his crew did the same with the connections to the boiler room. <Gentle Touch, how are things on your end?>
<We’re all set. Our last five rechecks came back all green. We have your position locked down, and are awaiting your activation.>
When Ratchet signaled the all clear, and Twilight found no errors in her spellwork, she allowed herself a small smile. <Stand by, powering it now.>
Twilight and the others backed off as a thin membrane of teal mana formed over the iris of the portal gateway. It roiled and churned for about a minute as several thestrals came over to watch. With a blinding flash of light, the portal opened, revealing the main street in Phoenix’s Roost. Within moments, three dozen changelings passed through into Rookhaven, carrying supplies and coal to keep the Deception’s boilers active.
<Gentle Touch, I’m going to keep things in control over here for the time being. Let Luna know I’ll be sending the locals through first so she can get started on transporting them out of here.>
With a silent command, Twilight’s soldiers started guiding the ponies towards the portal. Most of them were weary of the device. However, rumors of the giant swamp creatures starting to invade the city pushed many of them into accepting exodus over staying.
Once the first thousand locals passed through the gateway, twenty drones flew in with hover carts and took off towards the palace. Twilight remained near the portal itself to monitor its stability. Perfectionism is there for a reason. Yet when all I have to work with is scrap, you do what you can, I guess.
Fen’jet remained in Rookhaven to oversee the evacuation on his end, and saw the cart bearing drones. “Where are they going?”
“They’re going to find artifacts.” They’d find out sooner or later, anyway.
Understanding dawned on him. “You mean they’re going to go looting?”
“Only from the palace.” Twilight gave him a flat sidelong look. “I’m entitled to that, at least, am I not?”
He grumbled irritably, but ultimately didn’t voice any objections.
As the thestrals continued to file on through, it was nearly noon the next day and Twilight was practically dead on her hooves. Fen’jet was not much better off. Neither one of them desired to show weakness to the other, Twilight only did so to keep him from nagging her, and Fen’jet did it out of stubborn pride.
It was about that time when Twilight heard someone climbing the ledge a few meters away from the portal. She was about to go investigate when a wooden bony wing flared up from over the cliff and Arya dragged herself up. Several thestrals moved to either get away from her out of fear, or cut her down until Twilight yelled out. “Stop! Arya is a friend, and not a lost one.”
Aegis and her clutch rushed to their friend’s aid, just in case some of the more militant locals didn’t back down. All it took was one pass of her flamer to make everyone back off. “Nice and easy guys. Stick Wings’ with us.”
“At’tehya. This why I hide all this time.”
Aegis noticed Twilight and Fen’jet arguing about Arya’s continued existence, but left it up to her queen to resolve the matter. She holstered her flamer and patted the Tea’la on the back. “Where’ve you been all day?”
“Had to bury the Justice One. Can’t let him come back as zombie, very bad omen that’d be.” Arya flopped on her belly, exhausted from the climb.
“A zombie?” Intel queried with a half chuckle. “Why would he do that?”
“Eeeeeeeaaaa… My soul trap markings failed to catch him, so bury the body or else evil spirit could claim his shell. Bad mojo surrounded him, big beacon he was.”
“I see…” Ferrum commented worriedly. “So since we’ve finally won, what are you going to do now?” By this point, the passing thestrals were only giving Arya a wide berth as they made their way through the portal.
“Must tell my people the story of Rookhaven. Then, I no know. Maybe we leave the forest, or we stay. Up to elders and farseers to decide.” She ended up shrugging with her wings. “But with flying metal monster hurting, I no know how to tell them. The swamps are too troubled to travel.”
Aegis pondered the issue with a tapping hoof on her chin. “We can get a chariot through the portal, in pieces if necessary, and let you go back that way. I’m sure some of the Equestrian guards can make the distance.”
“Yeah, they're built for endurance flying,” Intel added. “In the meantime though, why don’t you come over to the hive for a little while? The portal’s not going anywhere until the Deception is flightworthy again.”
“OOOooo! Yes, yes! Love idea, much good! Too see your… tech-no-gee would be very fun.”
“Well I’ll be glad to give you a tour, after some sleep,” Aegis offered.
It was only after Aegis turned around did Arya notice the flamethrower on her back. Ahh, nou! I pray she not keep that everywhere. I lose leaves when dragon breather is around.
It was late in the afternoon when the last thestral who was willing to leave departed through the portal. By then, Twilight's head was swaying back and forth from the sheer exhaustion and she only remained awake through sheer willpower. Just a bit longer. Just a bit longer, only a bit.
Rainbow Dash tried calling her over the hive mind, but Twilight was too out of it to respond. The cyan queen jumped from her perch on the upper deck of the warship to land next to Twilight. Fen’jet had opted to remain with the thestrals who refused to leave the city, so there was no one around the two sisters except for drones. Rainbow sighed at her sister and used her magic to give her gentle push forward.
Twilight started walking on automatic and almost fell over if Rainbow had not been there to catch her. Rainbow let her sister lean on her as they walked towards the portal. Rainbow sighed in relief at Twilight remaining whole throughout the entire ordeal, and looked up at the gateway. “Come on, Sis. Let’s go home.”