Victor galloped through the crowded platform to reach his train. He bumped shoulders and briefcases with other travelers as he hurried along with shouts of ‘Sorry!’ to his victims. He cut in front of a luggage car and made a sharp left turn. The unicorn lawyer collided with a burly earth pony construction worker.
“Watch where you’re going, ya bum!” the earth pony scolded angrily.
Victor got up quickly. “I’m sorry, sir! Just late for my train!” He picked up his briefcase. It didn’t break open in the crash, but it was quite scuffed up from hitting the ground.
The train whistled its departure just as Victor boarded. There was no seats left and several ponies were already standing in the aisles, so victor stood near the door. The locomotive lurched forward and slowly left the station, packed with ponies headed for other boroughs.
Broncks was the first borough the train traveled through. Victor looked out of the train window at the old and modest neighborhoods that passed by. It was a stark contrast to the well-developed and upscale areas of Manehattan that he called home.
His thoughts were interrupted when the train made a stop here. The station platform was just as crowded as the one before. When the doors opened, Victor was shoved out of the car with the crowd of departing passengers. He fought to get back onto the train, but someone grabbed him from behind.
“Change?” asked a skinny and grizzled earth pony. “Spare some change, would ya?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t have any on me,” Victor said tersely.
The earth pony struck Victor across the face, which broke his telekinesis spell on his briefcase. Both stallions lunged for the case. Victor managed to grab the handle, but the earth pony tore the lock open and snatched several documents and a pair of fancy fountain pens.
“Those are not yours!” Victor shouted.
The earth pony dashed away with the documents and pens, but Victor gave chase. Ponies on the platform yelled at the two reckless stallions that plowed through the crowds.
“Look where you’re running!” an elderly mare screamed angrily.
Another mare swung her purse at victor, but missed him. “Get outta here!” she jeered.
Victor leaped forward and seized the grizzled pony by the rear legs. The two stallions tumbled off the platform and fell several feet onto some trash cans on the street below. The clatter of the cans falling over rung in Victor’s ears, but he managed to snatch the documents from the fleeing earth pony. His favorite pens were as good as lost, however.
The locomotive whistle startled the lawyer. “No! My train!” he shouted. Victor jumped up to his hooves and hurried down the street to climb back up to the platform. Three young pegasi swooped in and blocked him from proceeding.
“Hey mister,” said the red-coated stallion, “Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“Excuse me, I’m late to catch my train,” Victor responded.
The pink mare pegasus pushed him back off the steps. “Why don’t you just teleport with your magic?”
Victor tried to weave around the three. “Please, I just want to board my train. Let me pass!”
“Sounds like you think you’re too good to talk with us,” the red-coated stallion stated. “Roll him for his wallet!”
The pegasi shoved Victor backwards onto the ground. The unicorn tumbled, but he managed to hold onto his documents. The train up on the platform lurched forwards with a clickity-clack and began to leave the station.
“Aww, too bad mister,” said the third pegasus, a white colt with a blonde mane. “Looks like you missed it. You want us to give you a ride?”
The three pegasi grabbed Victor and wrestled him for anything valuable. The unicorn tried to fight back, but was rewarded with a blow to the stomach. Victor fell to the ground, winded and dazed. The pegasi flew off with his wallet as a couple witnesses continued on their own way without looking back.
The unicorn sat up, out of breath and in pain from the short fight. A sky blue hoof moved into Victor’s view and offered him help. He looked up and met eyes with a beautiful silver-maned mare.
“Do you need help, or are you content with sitting on the ground?” the mare asked him.
Victor took her hoof and stood up. “Um… thank you,” he said out of breath. “I’m just, well a bit lost. I missed my train to Manehattan and some pegasi made off with my wallet.”
“Well, I know of a place you could stay at, and you don’t need money,” the mare stated. “As long as you aren’t afraid of dancing with a stranger.”
“Uh, I kind of am,” Victor replied.
The mare smiled. “Well then, let’s stop being strangers. I’m Jessenia.” She shook his hoof firmly.
“Victor,” the unicorn replied. He was impressed by her grip.
“There, now we are friends,” Jessenia said happily.
There was a loud gagging sound that interrupted the flashback and brought Victor out of his reminiscing. The unicorn frowned as all eyes turned to the source—Trixie.
~ ~ ~
“What is it, Trixie?” Victor asked with a very annoyed look.
“Are you telling it right?” Trixie replied. “Because that sounds like a real campy story that you just made up.”
Victor snorted. “I did not make it up. This is how it really happened. Did Jessenia tell you a different story?”
“No, it was similar to yours,” Trixie responded, “But she didn’t give it cheesy details like that. Mother said that she stumbled upon a hapless, beaten up unicorn on the street. Trixie just doesn’t like the part you added about her saying ‘oh now we’re friends’.”
Ellie interrupted. “So what would your mother say, Trixie?” she asked.
“Well… something nice, but not cheesy like what victor said,” Trixie replied. There was denial and anger in her tone of voice.
The captain’s room on the airship was a cluttered mess. The furniture appeared to have been overturned and rifled through when the ship was captured and no one made an effort to tidy it up. Ellie, Cheryl, Zeeps, and Princess Luna looked on as Victor tried to explain how he knew Trixie’s mother.
Trixie, on the other hoof, was trying her hardest to deny any possibility that Victor could in fact be her father.
Princess Luna stood up from the bed and stretched. “Perhaps we should take a break. It won’t be long until we reach Seaddle and I do not wish to panic our citizens by landing an airship full of changelings in the middle of their town.”
“Well that’s an easy fix,” Cheryl said nonchalantly. “Just have ‘em all disguised as ponies.”
Victor shook his head. “I really don’t think letting a hungry hive of changelings loose upon the city is a good idea.”
“And why is that?” Zeeps argued. “Is it because we’re really good at infiltrating your town and feeding on your love?” In a flash of green magical flames she transformed herself into a near-perfect copy of Debon Aire. The changelings bowed to Trixie and attempted to kiss her hoof. Trixie recoiled out of disgust.
“Oh my Celestia, Zeeps,” Ellie said worriedly. “Are you arguing for or against your species?”
“Ahem, sister’s name taken in vain,” Luna warned. “And as for your rude display, Zeeps, please do not mock the dead. It is in poor taste.”
The changeling transformed back into her natural form. She folded her forelegs together and pouted.
“I’ll instruct the crew to land the airship outside of town,” Luna stated. “I must write my sister of what has transpired and make arrangements to safely escort Queen Andrenida back to Canterlot. I am certain my sister will be most intrigued to host peace talks with a changeling hive.”
Cheryl scrunched her nose. “What about Golden Jubilee and her cronies?” she asked. “They’re still out there causing mischief.”
“The Zenith Dawn will be dealt with, but it is still a delicate situation,” Luna answered. “Golden appears to be well connected, so I do not wish to make any plans that her spies could snatch up.”
“Think any of her spies were among the crew you rescued, Ellie?” asked Trixie. “How about you, Victor? Any of them owe you money or something?”
Victor sighed with frustration. “Don’t be so paranoid. I trust the crew of this ship.”
“Oh, Trixie shouldn’t be paranoid?” the azure unicorn snapped back. “Yeah, says the lawyer who won’t hesitate two seconds before kicking Trixie out.”
“I have good justification not to trust you!” Victor shouted defensively. “You’re a rambunctious free spirit that cannot be controlled! Tornados are more amicable to discussion than you are!”
“At least Trixie is a free spirit and not leashed to some broken ideology of taming dark magic!” she countered.
“You’re a wild fire, just like your mother!”
“At least we agree on that!!” Trixie said in a huff for the door. She walked out of the room and slammed the door hard enough that it failed to properly close.
Victor rubbed his temples. “She really is Jessenia’s daughter.”
“That’s all well and good,” Ellie said softly, “But I think the original question was if she’s your daughter?”
“I don’t know,” the lawyer said exasperated. He sat back in his chair. “Jessenia and I had a causal relationship for a few weeks, but we mutually agreed to part ways. She was a carefree spirit living in a poor gypsy community and I… I had my career. Neither of us were willing to leave our old lives behind. As far as I know, we parted on good terms.”
“So how many times?” Cheryl asked with a sly smile.
“Um, what?” Victor responded.
The earth pony leaned forward. “How many times did you and Jessenia make it to home base?”
“That’s a rude thing to ask,” Ellie interrupted. She looked to Luna for backup, but the princess remained silent.
Victor sighed as he thought about it. “Just once that I can remember. Her community had a little party and we both had a few too many drinks. We got to talking about our lives and she asked me out of the blue at one point if I'd be hers for the night. I don’t think I would of said no had I been sober. I did love her, but…”
“But you loved your work even more?” Luna asked to finish his statement.
“Yeah.”
The princess walked toward the door out. “Well, I do not believe we need to discuss this matter any further. The possibility is there and it is up to Trixie and Victor to pursue further talks. If you will excuse me, I have others issues to address.”
Luna exited the room and surveyed the main deck of the airship. She found one of the ‘issues’ she needed to address, the creature that may or may not be Sombra. He was sitting by the port-side railing alongside Trixie, watching the dark storm clouds roll above them. The princess approached and made her presence known by clearing her throat loudly.
Sombra chuckled. “Ah, the mighty princess of the night. Here to pass the time, or to pass my sentencing?”
“That is what I wish to discuss with you,” Luna answered. “You are to come with me back to Canterlot so that we may settle the matter on what you are exactly.”
“Without a horn, I’m afraid what I am is an earth pony,” Sombra said. “One with none of the benefits and all of the drawbacks.”
“Magic alone does not a unicorn make,” Trixie said, though her gaze was still on the passing clouds.
Luna rolled her eyes. “And the real Sombra’s strength was not in his magic, but in his cunning intellect.”
The stallion gave a wily smile. “But you must admit, having dark magic at your disposal couldn’t hurt.”
Princess Luna glared at him.
“Okay, it wouldn’t hurt me,” Sombra corrected, “But if I really am the late king, have I not already served my sentence? What was your judgment then; banished into the form of shadow? A thousand years sealed in ice? Death?”
“That last one was Princess Twilight's doing,” Luna corrected.
Sombra shrugged. “Judge me as you wish, but you do not scare me. I am a unicorn stripped of his horn and talent. No torture you could devise would do me a worse disservice that what I have already been reduced to.”
“You have to admit, he’s got a point,” Trixie added as she finally turned to look at the princess. The anger on Luna’s face gave Trixie the impression that she shouldn’t have turned around.
“Do not defend this cur,” the princess said tersely.
Trixie swallowed. “There's a chance he might not be the real Sombra, and he did help us escape… well, he didn’t hinder our… okay, he behaved himself when we escaped the fort.”
Luna leaned in close to Sombra and studied his eyes. “Words stir no sympathy from me. If he is not the former king, he is at the very least an abomination born of a cursed artifact. Whatever the true nature is of this creature, my sister and I will ensure that his so-called ‘tortured existence’ will be made short.”
Her thoughts were interrupted by Queen Andrenida. “Excuse me, your majesty,” the changeling queen said, “But I wish your audience for a moment.”
“Speak briefly,” Luna responded. “I do not wish to discuss matters in front of this… creature.”
The queen opened her mouth to speak, but her thought was interrupted by a high-pitched whistling sound from above. That sound drew closer at a high rate of speed and was accompanied by a small round object that arched over the airship from behind. It continued off through the air, rapidly sailing downward toward the rocky land below.
“What was that?” Andrenida asked the princess.
The airship crew took note as a second object flew by them, closer than the first. Luna’s eyes widened with a shout. “Cannonball! We’re under attack!”
Victor came galloping out of the captain’s room with the others. The crew scrambled around the deck as would a colony of roaches when one opened the door and startled them. The ponies and changelings were unsure on what to do in this situation other than brace against sturdy parts of the ship.
Luna stomped a hoof against the deck. “Be still, all of you!” She turned to the pony at the helm. “You! Increase our speed and climb higher!” She did not shift her gaze away until the helmspony did as she commanded.
“I don’t see an enemy ship,” Trixie said as she scanned the skies.
“Perhaps our assailants are invisible?” Queen Andrenida suggested. “I've seen a flying craft around these parts that can vanish into the sky. Princess Luna, would you be so kind as to assist me with a spell?”
“Certainly,” the princess answered.
The two channeled their magic together and created an enormous bubble of faintly blue magic. Andrenida mentally pushed the bubble away and it floated back past the airship’s stern and ascended into the darkening sky. As the magic receded it slowly expanded and dispersed into the air. Andrenida sat down, exhausted from the complex spell she cast.
There was a series of white sparks in the air behind them. The magic bubble popped and tore away the invisibility from another airship behind them. A familiar black ship bearing the crest of the Zenith Dawn was following them.
“Oh no,” Victor muttered. “That’s Golden’s airship!”
“I reckon they’re looking for another round,” Cheryl said. “I’ll gladly oblige them.”
“No, no, no!” Victor argued. “This isn’t a battleship! It’s Debon’s yacht. He only put cannons on it recently, and this crew has never had actual battle experience. We’re going to die!”
Sombra smirked. “Then they must grow up a little faster from colts into stallions.”
“I don’t know how to lead a battle!” Victor yelled.
Princess Luna pushed her way past the group and flew up to the helm. With her magic she levitated an old admiral’s hat that decorated the helm’s drum. “I have led battles before your ancestors were but motes in the eye of the heavens. If we are to go down, we shall go down with our last breath in defiance! Rally to me and I shall lead you all into a glorious battle!”
Several crew members cheered and others began to panic again. Trixie glanced over at Victor. “Still think we’re going to die?”
“More than ever,” her replied.