Yaerfaerda

by Imploding Colon


Cherish That Feeling Of Sweet Release

“Nnnngh...” Chancellor Fishberry stumbled, raising a cloven hoof against the nearby wall to brace herself. Her eyes flickered green once or twice and then went dull. She teetered inside her office, positively breathless. “Sharp Quill... Saikano...” She gulped dryly, her ears drooping. “Why have you l-left me? She needs you... she needs us.”

A deer trotted in from the curved hallway immediately outside. “Chancellor, the delegates have all gathered. We are ready to begin with the meeting.”

“So alone.” Fishberry shuddered, teeth chattering. “I just feel... so alone...”

“Chancellor?” the deer cocked his head curiously.

“Ahem.” Fishberry stood up straight, taking a deep breath to steel herself. “Yes. Of course. The meeting.”

“I shall summon an escort for you, Madame.” The deer bowed and swiftly darted out of the office.

Fishberry didn't wait. In a proud gait, she trotted slowly out of the room. “In an hour or two, it will no longer matter.” She gazed behind her, squinting at the gray haze wafting through the window blinds. “All will turn to dust from the goblins, and she will eke glory from the ashes.”

The barest hint of a smile crossed her muzzle, and then she was gone.


“God almighty...” Eine's jaw hung open as he peered around the corner of an alleyway and out into the Val Roan streets. Sunlight glinted off the hooves, antlers, and muzzles of the hundreds upon thousands of angry deer, elk, and ponies marching thickly around the High Council Building and beyond. “Somedeer should do something to pacify this crowd! It's hardly conducive to a peaceful atmosphere!”

“Hey!” Gnashing her teeth, Kera summoned magic and gave the Prince a telekinetic tug, pulling him back into the shadowed alcove. “If you want to get smothered by a mob, do it on somepony else's watch! Now get your fluffy royal fanny back where it's safe from everyone's eyeballs!”

“But... but...” Prince Eine turned to gawk at her in the shade. “Can't you hear them?! They're all chanting! Calling for me! If we simply give myself over to them—”

“—you'll become food for Queen Chrysalis and all her minions!” Kera frowned. “Who—might I remind you—have their sneaky eyes everywhere.”

“But... but with the sheer force of this crowd—”

“They still can't do jack when measured up against the Soul Sentries!” Kera squinted. “You know this! I mean, come on!

Eine sighed, his ears drooping as he fiddled with the raggedy cloak around his tiny figure. “Please, Kera, do not think that I'm ungrateful for all that you've done to protect me.” He gulped, gazing up at her with glistening amber eyes. “I've just struggled with my own incompetence long enough. These citizens need me, and it absolutely burns my heart to just stand idly by and watch them become engulfed in chaos!”

“Yeah, well, that chaos won't last forever.” Kera smirked. “Not so long as my friends have something to do with it!”

“But none of your friends are Princes of the House of Evo.” His brow furrowed. “How will they sway enough influence to salvage this situation from the likes of Chrysalis?”

“Hey! The Jurists have tackled worse things before! So, y'know, have a little faith!” Kera guided him down towards the far end of the dark alleyway. “They'll pull through! And soon, you'll be sitting on your throne with a fancy new crown without the likes of Sharp Quill, Fishberry, or Saikano to hold you back!”

Eine shuddered. “Yes. That is true, I suppose.” He bit his lip. “I just hate all of this unheroic hiding.”

“Hey. Take it from a most rare mentor of mine.” Kera winked with a smile. “So long as you can do the smart thing and keep yourself alive, there's absolutely nothing cowardly about it.”

They rounded a corner and stumbled into the emerald spotlight of six towering Soul Sentries.

Halt!” One growled, and the reindeer's ethereal voice took on a breathy tone. “Kera Tin Mehjj, stop where you are—”

“Buck it—Runnnnn!” Kera's voice cracked. “Run for your friggin' life!” The filly—wide eyed—gave Eine a mighty shove and the two tiny figures went clamoring down a narrow corridor. The skyscraper walls echoed from the massive hooves of the reindeer phalanx charging after them.

Eine gasped, sputtering for breath. “How did they find us—?!”

“I've no clue!” Kera panted and seethed, her eyes locked on the sun-lit end of the alleyway up ahead. “They must have started a security sweep of the side streets and—” She glanced aside, sneering. “I told you to run not prance!”

“I'm sorry!” Eine hissed back, his body bounding forward in four-legged hops. “But this is how deer run!”

“Maybe if they hot air balloons up their butts, but these are soul sentries! I need you to gallop, ya melon fudge!”

“I'm sorry!” Eine growled, stumbling to propel himself faster. “Maybe you'll want me to reinvent the wheel while I'm at it—”

Just then, a solid wall of Soul Sentries appeared at the end of the alleyway.

Eine skidded to a stop, trembling.

Kera grinded her hooves. She spun around. The guards behind them were approaching fast. Soon, the entire alleyway lit up from a thick emerald haze. The two children were surrounded.

“Kera...” Eine gulped. He shivered heavily as he huddled beside her. “Perhaps some negotiation is in order?”

“Yeah...” Kera nodded, clenching her teeth while her horn surged with energy. An otherworldly wind picked up inside the narrow niche. “I'm going to have a candid talk with these poop-smearers' brain stems...”

“No! Don't!” Eine squeaked. “There has to be another way!”

Kera...” one guard hissed, his eyes pulsating with green energy.

“As soon as the bodies go flying...” Kera gave Eine a little shove with her rear hoof. “...you go running.”

“But Kera—”

“Head for Plaza Topaz! Ask for Duchess Arcanista—”

“I... I-I think they want to speak with us!” Eine stammered. He gulped. “You specifically!”

“That's crazy! They're walking weapons! How could they possibly want to—?”

Kera.” One reindeer guard stepped ahead while the others stayed behind. He had to speak loudly in order to be heard above the distant chants of the angry citizenry. “It is Ebon. Ebon Mane. We need to take you somewhere safe.

Kera went cross-eyed. “Buh?”

And then we'll need you at the High Council Building,” the reindeer said. “For what Rainbow Dash is staging, we're going to need every available hoof.

“Wait just a second...”

Especially Prince Eine. Good job keeping him safe, Kera.

“Just wait!” Kera glared and glared some more. Her horn glowed slightly less as she peered her eyes at the speaking Soul Sentry. “You're trying to tell me that you are Ebon Mane?”

Not in the flesh.” The reindeer shook his head. “I've commandeered the leyline controlling these soul sentries. I've every reason to believe I can tap into those abroad as well. Saikano's joined our side and we've captured Secretary Sharp Quill.

Kera gasped. “Sharp Quill...?!”

We haven't much time before the goblins attempt to fire bomb us from the southern skies, so we need you to—

“Hold up! Just... j-just hold your horses!” Kera gritted her teeth, eyes glancing at every possessed deer's face. “This is crazier than an outhouse rat. Why should I believe a single dang bit of any of this?”

The reindeer shifted in place. Finally, after a firm breath, it spoke in Ebon Mane's tone of voice: “Ever since we left Durandana, you have wet your cot over four consecutive times.

Kera winced terribly. “Yeah, okay—”

“It got to the point that Pilate and Belle seriously considered steering the Noble Jury back to Abinadi just to see if Boxer's Alafreons had mastered the manufacturing of plastic sheets—”

OKAY! I get it! You're... you... s-somehow...” Kera shuddered. A beat. She glanced aside.

Eine was staring at her through one squinting eye.

Look, I lived on my own for a long time, alright?” Kera gulped, fidgeting. “So... like... what was the point in being housebroken when you didn't have a house?

Eine smiled crookedly. “I'm somewhat relieved that you didn't stay long enough in the Palace to spend an evening in the royal guest chambers—”

“Look, shut up. You know nothing.” Kera sniffled, squirming in place. “Not like you smelled anything at daybreak this morning anyways.”

Eine did a double-take. “Huh?”

Look, can we go now?!” Kera grumbled at the reindeer guards.

One nodded. “Follow these soldiers, Kera,” Ebon's voice said. “We must bring Prince Eine to the High Council Building right away...