//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 - One-Nag Town, Airship Down" 
// Story: The Golden Age of Apocalypse - Book I 
// by BlueBastard 
//------------------------------//


Golden Age of Apocalypse



Chapter Eight: One-Nag Town, Airship Down






DAY 49:

There are days when I sometimes wonder if taking possession of the Empire was worth it.  I think about the times I could have just remained a spoiled, pointless prince, whiling away my days in cider, mares and song. There was a young mare with bewitching eyes that I had the honor of knowing once, a young noblestallion’s daughter, but she could not comprehend the grandiose nature of who I was and instead she married some simpering milquetoast.  Such a pity.

My day started off with a political dispatch from that arrogant harridelle, Princess Celestia herself.  A sternly-worded missive, it deplored my “equine rights abuses” that she’d heard rumors about in my lands.  She also inquired as to the whereabouts of my aunt Amore and my cousins, Charity and Patience, as they have not been seen since the day they claimed to be headed here “to talk sense into me.” 

Well, as for my aunt’s mortal remains, I care not where they are.  As for Charity and Patience, or rather now, “Tail” and “Lift” (as my guards have suitably renamed them), the last I heard, they are fulfilling their new duties to the best of their abilities – not that said abilities are hard; any mare could do them, really.

In any case, I burned the letter before the Equestrian ambassador’s eyes and told her that if she ever brought tripe like this from her mistresses ever again, I would expel her from the Empire.

Piece by piece.

 

Later that day, I spoke to the marshal of troops.  The war against the changelings was proceeding nicely, though it was unfortunately hampered by the occasional spy sneaking behind our lines and sabotaging resources or assassinating officers.  This was a profound and vexing issue, given that some resources could not easily be replaced, due to the threat of an embargo by Equestria.  The troops, thankfully, was not one of those resources I had to worry about.  In any case, my objectives required me to capture the queen of necessity; while I care not if the drones live or die, the queen must live. 

This, of course, presented a problem, one of my own nature, alas: despite my orders, my troops continued to kill immature queens on sight.  Don’t those fools understand that the bodies of the queens are useless to me without their life – their soul (do drones even have souls?), for it is the spirit by which the hivemind grants them their devious magicks.

I let my marshal know that the lead queen must be captured at any cost, because if she gets away, I will be looking for a new marshal…and the marshal will be looking at a shallow ditch as a permanent retirement home.

My message was received quite well.

Finally, my schedule clears up that I am able to attend to other things.  On a whim, I go see my Broken Rose.  There’s something about her, seeing that broken, pitiful creature, that just makes me feel better about myself.  I don’t know whether it’s sentimentality or anything of the sort; perhaps it’s just a need for a pony to have his playthings.  That being said, I must be careful around her.  She is human, after all, and though that race has proven to be weak at times, there is still some unknown measure of them I still must comprehend.

I walk past Musica Allegra and the baleful stare that she gives me.  She has done well, attending to the Broken Rose, and as a result, I gave her a dutiful reward last night: attending me in my bed.  Strangely, she wasn’t pleased about that, but she is merely a mare, with the limited mind of same.  I exerted myself on her; how could she not comprehend that was a reward – to be the catch of a king?  I could have easily invited Opal Orchid – there’s a mare who has her eye on being my queen, if I let her; or Bubbles, who is eager and pleasing and I suspect she would lay with anypony if I wished her to.

Musica claims that the Rose is dying.  I laugh; how can she die?  She’s human!  As loathe as I am to admit it, Baldassare was right: they are a lot tougher than I’d first assumed, so much so that I’ve been studying her in how to take the human essence – the anthrolovitæ – and use it to make me stronger.  The crystal ponies I rule are nearly as strong as their dullard “earth” brethren; how much more powerful would they become if I added the essence of humans?

How much more powerful would I become?

The thought is…rather intoxicating, I must admit.

I asked Musica where her assistant is.  She, in turn, tells me that she’s opted to do it alone; that after Candied Orange saw what I’d done to Cocoa Bean that she’d went mad and thrown herself off of one of the palace balconies.  Odd as I had not been told about that, but it does explain why I haven’t seen her as of late.  But given what happened with Oceanglide, I wonder if Miss Allegra has the right of it; being left to her own devices to attend to the Rose’s needs may be more efficient as I have yet to dismiss her under “other” circumstances yet.

She also tells me that someday, Celestia and Luna will come to kill me.  I’ll let that remark slide for now; a happy worker is an efficient worker, after all.

But as I enter the chamber, I feel that the room is distinctly colder than expected and it takes me a few seconds before I realize the climate spell has failed.  And sure enough, lying there, on a bed of rags, is a rose-hued earth pony with a blonde mane and tail and teal eyes.  She has no cutie mark, but strangely, she’s moving a bit more than I’d expected, as if the magic around her is starting to heal her.  She holds onto the hide of Cocoa Bean as if it is a treasured object, softly singing a song to the mottled fur in her native language.

Then I feel her eyes fix on me, and they are filled with disgust and hatred, like nothing I have ever known.  “Get out of here,” she orders me.  Me!  the audacity alone is astounding, but coming from one that can’t even wipe under her tail, that is saying much.

And then I realize that she’s just said that in Equish.  Fancy that; I knew she had knowledge of the language, even with her accent.

“Ungrateful harridelle,” I curse at her.  “You should be thankful!  You are blessed to be in the body of a true being of importance, worthy of me.”  I feel myself rise, and casting magic, I cast an immobilization spell on Musica before subsequently sealing the door.  I then mount the ungrateful Rose and take her then and there as a pony deserves.  She screams at me and tries to buck me off, threatening to kill me with my own horn; that only turns me on more and I end up spending myself in her.  I cast a second spell and then to prove my point – a king must be virile, after all! – I then attend to Miss Allegra while the Rose watches.  Unlike the Rose, she breaks down and cries, begging for me to stop, but doesn’t try to escape.

When I’m done, I restore the climate spell to the room and the Broken Rose, back in her human form, lies there, glaring at me once more.  To my surprise, she’s able to move her arms, which she does, crawling over to Musica to embrace her and sing to her while she covers her own self with Cocoa Bean’s hide.  She then glares at me wordlessly, but I get the message: she wants to kill me.

I laugh, walking out with a jaunty step as I depart.  Dying, Musica?  Oh, please.

I’ve never met a being so filled with life before.




Raspberry set down the book, trying to not let a horrified look on her face show.  Reading the book in the middle of the day was no better than at night, and while she might not end up with nightmares tonight, she was sure she wasn’t going to forget this horror anytime soon.

“ARRIVAL AT NIGHTSHADE STATION IN TEN MINUTES!” announced the conductor, making his rounds through the short train. 

“Well, I don’t think we’re in our usual trotting grounds, girls,” commented Rarity as she looked outside, prompted by the announcement. Indeed, for maybe the past hour, the environment off to the sides of the tracks had grown into things that were a far cry from the typical flora around central Equestria. It wasn’t a barren, inhospitable wasteland like those in the southern portion of the continent, but it was becoming more and more like a hardier-looking version of the Everfree Forest with every passing moment. The thickening conifers and wilder grasses were a far cry from the comparatively tame border of the Everfree with the dangers potentially being far worse…and not just from the local fauna. The skies themselves seemed restless, a perpetual overcast blocking the sun above just enough that the ground seemed lit by a partially obscured spotlight—not enough for long afternoon shadows to appear.  At first they wondered if it was always like that, but then they noticed the patch of clear skies above.

As if acknowledging their thoughts, the conductor grinned.  “Oh, yeah – this town is a coastal one, ladies, so there’s a lot of fog this time of year.  Plus, we don’t have a full weather team, so the two weather pegasi we have mainly focus on keeping the area around the pecan farms clear.”

“That seems really weird,” Sandalwood commented.  “I’m not a farmer or anything, but isn’t that a safety issue?”

“Believe me, as long as I’m around we’ll be fine,” chuckled Raspberry. “And you all shouldn’t need to worry about me biting the dust—I’m not the easiest mare to kill.”  No, I can just be attacked psychologically, instead, she reminded herself silently, thinking about what she’d just read.

“Ugh,” groaned Rarity. “No offense, Raspberry, darling, but just thinking about what you’ve survived is making me feel a bit queasy already. No no, I’ll be fine, thank you, but…don’t start thinking you’re an impenetrable wall we can stand behind for protection.”

Sandalwood nodded in agreement. “Exactly. I’d hate to see you get hurt on our account. Even if you can heal afterward.”

As the five  ponies talked, Razz took the opportunity to excuse herself to the little filly’s room, citing a sudden need to apply another coating of prescription ointment on her leg. Taking her saddlebags with her, she quickly reached the end of the coach and locked herself into the rather cramped water closet. Gingerly, she removed her brace, revealing the parting gift she’d received from Fair Vista so long ago. It was an ugly sight to behold: at the midpoint of her left hind leg, her fur stopped a centimeter on both sides of a series of small, red scars, the markings of where the werewolf’s jaws had dug into her flesh with enough force to shatter her bone and almost tear her lower rear leg right off.  

She could’ve healed the wound through her powers, but unfortunately, either due to something within Fair Vista’s bite or the fact that she’d exhausted her magic through other means, the wound had never quite healed, though the finest doctors in Equestria had been able to save the leg, but not without its cost—she would never be able to have full function in it again.  Still, given that she’d saved the town and earned some lifelong friends and a family, it was a fair trade.

After capping the jar, Razz proceeded to wrap the cloth bandage around the injury to protect the ointment coating, followed by reattaching her brace. She let out a deep sigh of relief as the pain coming from her wound faded as the prosthetic aid shouldered part of the weight her leg alone no longer could handle.  

Her treatment complete, she otherwise would have left the privacy of the bathroom, had that been the only thing she’d wanted to do in private.

Maybe I should get it looked at in the human world, she idly thought.  If magic can’t heal it, maybe their technology could?  Given the highly advanced brace that Sonata had built that let her move around as if the leg hadn’t been injured at all, it was something to consider.  However, that would have to wait for another time, though.  Right now, she had to focus on the current situation at hoof.

Razz put away the jar, slipping it into the bag. However, as she did, she noticed something else she’d had brought along that, had they known, the others would have objected to. Fittingly, it sat right next to where she’d placed The Rose with the Broken Neck.

Cautiously, Razz removed the towel her mother insisted needed to be brought along, unfolding it only partially to reveal the Alicorn Amulet hidden within. Originally, Razz had planned to simply give it back to Zecora, but decided against it as that was tantamount to asking the alchemist, “Can you hold onto this insanely dangerous and evil artifact that almost blew up your house and everything in it?” Plus, the best course of action would have been to send it to the foremost expert on dark magic in service to Equestria...who of course was Razz to begin with. 

As such, it was a major reason why Razz felt the only place the Amulet would be kept safe—or at least kept as far from danger as possible—was with her at all times. The amulet’s reaction to her presence had yielded a most foreboding prophecy, one that implied that she was not the only descendant of Sombra to inherit his legacy in any capacity. For better or for worse, she had a connection with the stupid little trinket of pure evil, a connection implied that at least three other “Scions” held as well. 

As much as I really don’t like it, she thought, I have to carry this thing around both to protect it and because it seems my destiny is to find those other ponies, something the Amulet’s probably already preset to help me with. A sickening follow-up thought then occurred and made Razz’s eyes widen with fear; she couldn’t help but vocalize the new potential horror. “Oh my Celestia…if Divine Right is a Scion, that would explain how he obviously did Equestrian magic…but it also would mean he’s my distant cousin. Faust above I hope that isn’t true, because otherwise I almost certainly wouldn’t be able to not kill him.” 

“Archmagus, is everything okay in there?” suddenly came a voice from outside the door—a voice not belonging to any of her friends—followed by hoof knocking. Knocked out of her vacant stare, Razz swore her heart stopped for a fraction of a second.

“Y-yeah, sorry, just a moment!” she replied hastily, shoving the Amulet back into the bag, deeply wrapped in her towel. A few seconds later, Razz opened the door and found an unexpected acquaintance waiting. “My apologies, Corporal, I wasn’t aware you were part of the guard detachment put on this little adventure-slash-rescue mission, nor did I see you get on this train back in Ponyville.”

“It’s actually Sergeant now—I got promoted as a result of the war against Tirek,” Sgt. Summer Daffodil laughed. “Yeah, Lt. Skyracer said more or less the same thing. Princess Luna herself ordered a number of her Lunar Guard batponies to join your guard detachment for this trip. I guess it makes sense considering where we’re going, but she seemed to want me in particular,” the dark gray batpony said with a shrug. “Must be because we worked together during the whole werewolf incident some months back. Suffice to say, I barely had enough time to drag a few of my subordinates from their racks and haul their sorry plots to be at that last station in time to board this train.  And then there’s the one I report to, Colour Sergeant Lightfighter.  Can’t tell who’s weirder: her, or that Navy lieutenant that for some unknown reason is in overall command.”

“Well, I do appreciate your dedication to your duty, Sgt. Daffodil,” said Razz. “But Skyracer was there with you during the whole Fair Vista situation, so he’s aware of the werewolves thing, and he was the escort for Twilight and I during the goodwill tour that passed through Lonesome Dove. Not to be rude, but what is it about Nightshade that made Princess Luna insist that there be batponies along for the ride?”

Summer blinked. “Didn’t anypony tell you about Nightshade?”

“Yes, it’s related to the tomato, which is why I’m not fond of them,” Razz cracked.  When she saw that the guard didn’t care for her joke, she continued.  “Seriously, I’ve practically been all over Equestria before I ended up in Ponyville, but the only time I’ve ever heard about Nightshade was that a batpony and her…brother I met back home were originally from there.”

The sergeant raised an eyebrow and seemed to smirk slightly. “So the only thing you know about Nightshade is that two batponies call it their home town. Princess Luna insisted that you have batponies among your guard escort. If you look outside, that’s not exactly the most hospitable of environments. What does that tell you?”

“That…Nightshade has a large batpony population?”

Grinning, Daffodil nodded. “One of the biggest. Most ponies don’t come out to the Equestria-Griffon Kingdom border on this edge of the country, since while this land isn’t as barren as the southern wastes, it’s not easy to make a living out here. At least, not on the surface, but the borderlands along that mountain ridge are full of large caves—batponies thrive in that environment.  Plus, it’s a seaside town, full of fog, which means that it’s a great place for batponies to hide.”

“But you––”

“Historically, Archmagus.  Nowadays, no, we don’t have to, but while weather may change on a dime, climate doesn’t—and the climate of Nightshade is tailor-made for batponies.”





The predators were everywhere.  More importantly, the predators were almost certainly waiting outside the wreck, either on the ground outside any possible exits or already on top of the ship.

Even more importantly, there was no trace of anypony who had been on the ship besides her—meaning they’d already been around the inside decks.

The cream-coated mare was certain she was going to die by heart attack sooner than the teeth or claws  of the beasts, as she slowly and nervously checked around every corner. The ship had been packed with ponies—how had she been the only one to escape?

“GRAAAAHHH!” 

Me and my big thoughts! she exclaimed in her head as she saw a pair of golden eyes begin to bear down on her. Quickly taking off in the other direction, she felt her hooves slip at the top of the stairs she’d reached, prompting her transformation into a rapidly moving ball down a painfully long passage, ending with her rolling right into the improbably open galley freezer. She only needed a moment to recover, but the sight of those fearsome golden eyes quickly made her decision for her.

Slamming the galley door shut and hearing the external lock make a reaffirming click, she breathed a sigh of relief…only for that relief to go away when she saw her own breath exhalation, realization dawning on her that she was now locked in the freezer of the ship.

“Oh…changeling pudding pops!” she swore. Sure, not being ripped to death by monsters was good, but death by embarrassing self-cryostasis wasn’t exactly much better…





“Come on, Heelee!” insisted Razz, lightly and repeatedly poking her avian companion. “You spent the whole train ride asleep! We’re already here!”

Groggily, the phoenix slowly opened his eyes but it was clear something about the trip had made him far sleepier than usual. Raspberry looked at her avian companion with concern. This level of exhaustion was not normal for Heliodor, but maybe he simply overslept on the train.

“Alright, here, ride on my horn,” conceded Razz, lowering her head such that the shaky bird could more easily board the S. S. Raspberry Forehead. With the bird hat now equipped, Razz levitated her saddlebags on, before departing the coach to rejoin her pony companions.

Along with the five other mares she was with was the guard detachment included Rainbow, Sgt. Lightfighter and Sgt.  Summer Daffodil, with a complement of guards from various divisions. One of the batponies was apparently trying to annoy one of the pegasi by making noisy silly faces at him.

“Private Amber Shine!” bellowed Daffodil, “this is a guard detachment, not a field trip of foals!”

“Yes, ma’am, your ma’amness!” replied Shine, immediately snapping to attention. Nopony around who looked at her believed for a second she wasn’t going to go right back to what she was doing, Daffodil chief among them. 

“Well, since you’re so eager to be active, Private,” she said skeptically, who oddly glanced over to Rarity before resuming her commanding stare at her subordinate. “I’d like to thank you for volunteering to carry Lady Rarity’s bags—all thirteen of them.”

“THIRTEEN?!”

“Yes, I’m shocked as well that they thought you could carry so little.  So I told them you’d be carrying the bags of the others as well as Lt. Dash’s gear and ordnance.  So that should be about...eighteen in all?”  Amber Shine suddenly looked queasy and Daffodil asked, “Is there a problem, Private?”

“Uh, n-no, I mean—No, ma'am! I’ll get right on it!” The embarrassed batpony beat a quick salute before reluctantly heading over to the train to pick up the first of the many fancy, oversized travel bags only Rarity would deem necessary to bring along.

“Hey, congrats, Pvt. Shine!” hollered out a nearby guard. “You’re the new Raincloud Splash!”

“Cpl. Breakdown, show some discipline!” a voice commanded.  All turned to see Rainbow Dash, wearing an operational uniform, walking towards them.  “Pvt. Shine is a part of this team, as are you, and you will treat her as well as any other member of this unit with the respect they deserve, am I clear?”

Standing next to Rarity, Sandalwood whispered, “Who is she and what did she do to Rainbow?”

“In case y’all have forgotten,” flatly stated Applejack, “we’re supposed to be lookin’ for the wreck of that airship, specifically fer survivors.”

“AJ’s right,” Rainbow stated. “We really should get moving.”





The town of Nightshade was, much to everypony’s surprise, far more like Ponyville than they’d expected. Sure, the prominent mountain face dotted with caves and even smaller black dots moving to and fro was certainly different, but the town itself appeared to be relatively sleepy and small, more than a village but less than a city, nestled in the foothills of the bordering mountains near the coastline.  As geographically impossible as it was, there it sat.

“Hey, is it just me,” said Sandalwood, “or does it seem really unusual that for a town on the border of the country, there doesn’t appear to be any presence of either Royal or Lunar Guards beyond present company?”

“For that matter, there should be a small naval facility here,” Rainbow added.  “Even if it’s small, we try to make sure any significant shoreline towns are protected.”

“Even though the Guard recruits its batponies from this place, safety is the job of the town militia, and they tend to have standard-issue, if slightly outdated, steelplate armor,” informed Daffodil. “You’re probably more used to seeing the flashier barding for the various Princess Guard divisions than town forces. If I remember correctly, this town also serves as a regional HQ for the border guards, too.  And as for a naval facility, the one at Horsetail Delta is just a few miles north of us, so the town has maritime protection.”

“Well, not quite,” corrected Lightfighter, “Nightshade may be a border town, but it’s not on the border. According to my briefing for this, Fort Hoofsteel is a few miles northwest of Nightshade, that’s where most of the main Army division would be. However, given the Seabiscuit Arno crashed closer to the garrison than it did this town, I expect most of the local guardsponies and soldiers are already on site running SAR operations.”

“I wasn’t aware there was an Army garrison nearby,” Rainbow stated.

“Yeah, for the most part it’s an Engineering facility, making sure that the rails in this area are up to code, since the Crown owns this segment of the rail system,” Lightracer continued. “However, as of recently they stationed a division here due to the increasing problems from the griffin lands and the spillover from time to time.  They’re also here to protect Featherton, which is a small town of Equestrian griffins just a few miles inland.  The Guard’s had reports that griffin brigands have been trying to capture some of the local hens, because...well, I don’t think I need to spell that out, do I?”

“Look, not all griffins are bad,” Rainbow insisted.  “I mean, look at Gustav le Grande—he’s one of Equestria’s most famous celebrity chefs.  There’s also Capt. Gallard of the Thunderheads and Capt. Genevieve of the Skystrikers, as well as all the griffins in those two squadrons.”

“Didn’t you also attend Junior Speedsters flight camp with one?” asked Applejack. “Ah remember one showin’ up a few years ago to visit and she was nothin’ but rude to everypony—even you when you called her out on it.”

“Yeah, and I found out why: she’s been leading a reformation effort within the griffinlands, but she was stressed, because they won’t listen to a ‘Ponylander’ since she lived here for so long.  Her second-in-command, Gabrielle, is in just as bad a position.  The Crown would like to help them, but I don’t think there’s much we can do without outright declaring war on all the griffin warlords.  As it is, we just went through everything with Tirek, so nopony’s in the mood to get into a fight anytime soon.”

“It’s times like these that we could use somepony who isn’t on the books” Daffodil said.  “Gen. Halbard’s been talking about creating specialized forces like the Minoan Asterions, but that’s the kind of specialized training we ponies don’t have.”

Just then, hurried galloping could be heard coming from the direction of the town. A slightly out-of-breath earth pony wearing a bow-tie soon accompanied the approaching sound, sliding to a stop in front of the escorted ponies and taking a moment to catch his breath. “So sorry…didn’t…expect you…so soon…”

“It’s fine, really,” assured Razz. “Truth be told we actually weren’t expecting anypony to meet us here, mister…”

“Twin Peaks,” answered the stallion, immediately doing his best to look presentable and offered his hoof to Razz. “I’m the mayor of Nightshade, so it wouldn’t do if I wasn’t around to offer the warmest welcoming to a group of Equestria’s most important ponies. I do apologize for being so late, Archmagus Beryl.”  He then turned to address the others.  “And we have three of the Bearers here!  It is an honor to meet you, Ladies Rarity, Applejack and Lt. Rainbow Dash.”

“Just ‘Razz’ will do, thanks,” said the mulberry unicorn with a slight blush. 

“Rarity is fine by me,” the fashionista unicorn added, and Applejack and Rainbow introduced themselves by name as well.

Peaks nodded.  “Very good, then.  In any case, my compatriots and I are pleased as punch to make your acquaintance. Now, I’m sure you’re all eager to help the search and rescue team, but I’m afraid that will have to wait. A storm is coming towards Nightshade soon and the wilderness where the Seabiscuit Arno crashed is particularly dangerous. While it should pose no problem to those already on-site, passage to the wreck is only by way of a steep dirt path that will become a giant mudslide trap if the reports are accurate about the rain.”

Rainbow turned to Lightfighter.  “Get whatever pegasi we have out there and get as much control of that pattern as they can, got that?”

“They’re not trained weatherponies, Lieutenant,” Lightfighter replied.

“It’s an innate skill to pegasi in some degree or other.  Yeah, weather creation is a trained skill, but cloudwrangling is something every pegasus knows—even the ones that were raised as landlubbers.”  She then turned to Pine.  “If Guards are already working on site, they’re going to need assistance.”

Rarity then asked, “But if the survivors are already being tended to, chances are there’s certainly much more pegasi with weather management capabilities already on site, is that not right?  Why cut your forces if you don’t have to?”

“Because in a rescue situation, one of the biggest factors in safety is weather,” Rainbow explained, “and in some cases, it’s the difference between pulling a foal safely out of a dry hole or watching her die because it’s too slippery to get good footing, and storm ionization is interfering with spells.”

As if to help further the decision process, the gray clouds above chose that moment to start drizzling.

“Well, looks like our hoof is forced regardless, ponies,” said Razz. “Mr. Peaks, if you would be so kind as to help us find lodging to escape the rain?”

“It would be my pleasure,” he answered, with a hint of relief in his own voice.





The walk through town to where they were shacking up for the duration of their stay was odd and uncomfortable. Razz only half-listened as Twin Peaks gave them a basic rundown of the events surrounding the crash.

“Whole town probably felt the impact of the Arno when it hit,” Peaks said. “Naturally, I wasted no time dispatching the town militia to the crash site, and after assessing the situation, I had them contact the military.” Peaks glanced at Razz, who nodded to affirm she was listening before Peaks continued. “A contingent of my militia is still onsite working with the military and acting as runners….”

Razz started to fall back from the mayor a little, distracted by the sudden feeling of her hairs standing on end. She looked around the streets. As Sgt. Daffodil had said, there was an abundance of batponies around in addition to the more common subspecies milling about. That wasn’t what had Raspberry so perturbed, though. As she and her group walked down the dusty streets, every single pony they passed—bat-like or otherwise—stared at them steadily. These weren’t merely the looks of curious onlookers; there was a certain element of hostility to them. 

This continued even as they approached the bustling marketplace. At first, it was typical of what one would expect out of a marketplace in the late afternoon. Ponies of all kinds bought and haggled with the merchants at their stands, who all competed over the sound of each other’s voices to announce their wares. One by one however, each stall grew silent as customer and salespony alike noticed the new arrivals. Soon, the din of voices became nothing but a few hushed murmurs. It was now silent enough that Razz could hear the static-covered voices of a radio one of the shopkeepers had been listening to.

“They sure are rollin’ out the welcome wagon for us, huh?” Applejack drawled, glancing once at Twin Peaks a few paces ahead of them. If the mayor had heard her, he made no indication of it.

“Yeah, I don’t think my reception at Lonesome Dove was this icy, and they literally attacked both Twilight and I,” Raspberry said. She had to check her reflection in the window of a nearby shop to make sure her magical guise was still intact.

“Perhaps they’re just not accustomed to newcomers?” Rarity suggested, but the slight tremor in her voice betrayed the truth: She could sense the hostility in the townsponies’ stares as well as Raspberry.

None too soon did the group of travelers put the eerie atmosphere of the marketplace behind them as they approached the Inn beyond its edge. According to Mayor Peaks, the Blackhoof Lodge was the nicest Inn in town by virtue of being the only Inn in town. It was a log structure that vaguely reminded Raspberry of a toy she used to have as a foal. If she had to guess, the Lodge was one of the oldest buildings in town.

“Please wait here, I need to have a word with the Innkeeper before securing your rooms,” Twin Peaks said before going into the log structure, leaving Razz and company alone.

Habitually, Raspberry glanced around, expecting more hostile stares. Instead, she saw nothing—the surrounding street was devoid of any life at all. Feeling her hairs stand on end, Raspberry was suddenly compelled to check over her shoulder towards the marketplace they just came through. The whole square was as empty as the street they stood on now. There was no sign that the marketplace had ever held anypony at all save for one: Razz could still hear the faint crackle of a radio.

“This may be a clichè,” Sandalwood said, clearly tensing up, “but I have a bad feeling about this.”

You don’t say, Raspberry thought, but voiced nothing. Instead, she silently prepared a defensive spell as around her, the others wordlessly assumed combat stances. For a few eternal minutes, that was how they stood, waiting for whatever was coming. But instead, the sound of the Blackhoof Lodge’s front door opening heralded Twin Peaks’ return.

“Okay, your rooms have been prepared,” he announced, before frowning at the group curiously. “Is something the matter?”

Raspberry glanced again at the barren marketplace, but already the tension was fading. It’s probably closing time anyway. We’re just getting worked up over nothing, she thought, before turning to the mayor and reassuring him—and herself—that everything was fine.





After seeing Sandalwood off to head to her cousin’s, the group of ponies soon found themselves in the Blackhoof Lodge’s penthouse suite, which featured two bedrooms—a king-sized bed in one and a queen-sized bed in the other—and a myriad of well cared for mahogany furniture. The new arrivals quickly got settled in for the late afternoon. That is, for the most part.

“Razz, darling,” said Rarity as one unicorn to another, “you do know you can take off your saddlebags now, right?”

“Oh, am I still wearing my bags?” Having usually walked around many a town in her past for long periods with her back laden with various assortments of precious stone “replicas”, the thought of having forgotten her relatively light baggage never actually left her back had never occurred to her. Though given its secret cargo, Razz didn’t particularly want to take her saddlebags off lest the Amulet vanish when she wasn’t looking.

“Yes, though if I didn’t know better, I would have sworn you yourself believe your bags were full of treasure, like they were a magic bag of infinite holding—or so Spike would put it, apparently that Ogres & Oubliettes game he plays with Big Mac on occasion can’t just say ‘pocket dimension bags’ I guess.”

“You could always say ‘hammerspace bag’, given that she does, though she still hasn’t explained the reference.”

“What’re you two talking about?” Daffodil asked as she approached.

“A Bag of Holding—those pocket-dimension storage bags that only certain high-ranking ponies can have,” Rarity explained.  “A...friend of ours has one and apparently calls it ‘the hammerspace bag’, though she won’t explain the reference.  Must be some obscure in-joke.”

“Must have been somepony extra special, as that kind of magic is usually forbidden for pretty obvious reasons,” interjected Lightfighter, who came over to the table the two unicorns were sitting at, dropping to her haunches and in a sign of relaxation, removed her helmet.  Next to her was a pegasus in Army barding, and he removed his helmet as well, revealing a mane composed of brilliant white and gold streaks. 

“All, this is Lt. Skyracer.  He’s going to be our liaison from the Army garrison.”

Raspberry opened her mouth to tell her that she and Skyracer were already acquainted, but something wasn’t right. There was a distinct lack of familiarity in the way the newly arrived soldier regarded her.

Skyracer offered a hoof.  “Pleasure to meet you all.”  Introductions were made, and as they were, Skyracer sat down to join the group.

“As I was saying,” Lightfighter continued, “I feel like there’s something that needs to be discussed in a more discreet manner.”

“Oh, please—most of us here are high-ranking members of government or the military, so we don’t have to be that discreet,” Rainbow reminded. 

“And I’m guessing there’s the part where Twi said you had to work on your military professionalism?”

“Secrets, schmecrets,” Rainbow complained.  “I’m not a need-to-know-kind of gal.”

“That’s beside the point, though,” Skyracer said with a straight face, though his eyes were a dead giveaway of his finding humor in her words. “I don’t know about you two, or any of the others, but…something seems off around here.”

“What, you mean besides the creepy stares and disappearing act from the locals?” Razz asked sardonically.

“Don’t tell me it’s the unusually high amount of batponies around,” chided Rarity. “I for one think they could be an untapped market for an exclusive dressline made by yours truly.”

“Yeah, an’ actually, if there’s anything that’s off, it’s you,” Applejack chimed in.  “We already know a pony named Skyracer, an’ you look like him, but you don’t know any of us.”

“Oh, that,” Skyracer said.  “Complete coincidence that he and I have the same name.  But as you can see, my coat is sky blue and my mane and tail a mix of gold and white. The other Skyracer is butter yellow coated with a three-shade mane of black, red, and white.  Plus, I’m a soldier, through and through—he’s just a guard.” 

“I’m not sure, Lieutenant,” Rarity said, eyeing his coat.  “You look more like a periwinkle in tone.”

“Fashion on the brain as always,” jabbed Razz, before ignoring the indignant look the fashionista shot at her as Razz’s attention focused on the guard. “You were saying, Lieutenant?”

“The ponies in this town…I think they’re hiding something, Archmagus. Maybe more than just what’s going on with the Seabiscuit Arno.” 

Although Raspberry certainly felt the same after the welcome she and the others had received, it just didn’t add up. “I can’t think of a reason for a town relatively out of contact with the rest of Equestria—it’s a small community that makes its money through fishing for carnivores and some kelp and pecan farming, after all—to have something to do with bringing down an airship.”

“That’s what worries me,” admitted Skyracer. “It’s only been a day, and enough ponies are now onscene that we’re going to end up tripping over each other’s hooves.” He then leaned in closer as he whispered in a conspiratorial tone, “I have reason to believe that we were all shoved here to create some sort of organized confusion for something else going on.  But what that something else is, I don’t know.”

“Maybe it was just bad timing?” suggested Raspberry, gesturing to a window where the rain continued to pour heavily. “The Army, as I understand it, usually doesn’t send more than search and rescue personnel. The naval base didn’t send anypony, since they’re too busy patrolling the sea zones.”  

“Unless...that’s what they want you to think,” Rainbow mused.

“Your tinfoil hat working overtime?” Applejack teased.

Rainbow took a long breath. “Think about it: you have civil, militia, military, guard, guild and naval forces here.  That’s six different chains of command, four if you want the technicality that the Guard present reports to me and the militia to the town government.  Even still, that’s several different methodologies and means of doing things, and unless someone already has a plan to work out the kinks, there’s a lot of ways you could cover over something or hide something important.  For example, what if you wanted to steal a precious gem that was aboard the Arno?  Sure you could get it off the ship, but then you have to deal with the various troops outside.  Except...they’re all squabbling over who owns what box, who has SAR  and who makes what arrests, so in the confusion our theoretical thief could just walk out and nopony does anything, because it’s not part of their SOP.  Now imagine that on the case of somepony stealing a high-level magical device designed to, oh, I dunno, be used on the griffins nearby and start a war between them and either Equestria or Minos?”

The stunned look on their faces was enough to know she’d grabbed their attention.  “Are you sure you’re not just overstating it a little?” Daffodil asked.

“Rainbow may be a bit eccentric, but when it comes to anything even tangentially related to the Wonderbolts, she’s deadly serious,” Applejack said. 

“Your face is eccentric...” Rainbow muttered. Realizing she wasn’t making a good case for herself, she cleared her throat and continued, “Which brings me to problem two—the Arno’s ERICA.”

“What?” Rarity asked.

Razz decided to field this one, having read the briefing documents Twilight had provided her with. “Emergency Recording and Interpolative Crystal Array.  You might have heard of it by another name—the Black Box.  It’s a magical device onboard ships that records everything from a particular ship’s voyage, and especially in the event of a crash like this one.  It can also record the difference between accident and intent, like for example whether the aerostat failed, or whether somepony blew it up.”

“Oh, well, isn’t that exciting,” Rarity uttered. “Do the valiant heroines learn that there actually was some kind of super-secret cargo that we—”

“It’s a magical device that records everything that an airship does,” interrupted an unamused Skyracer. “It may have the ship’s manifest recorded as well.”

“Ah. Right. Of course, silly me.”

“Anyway, point is that once an airship crash site has been secured, one of the highest priorities the Guardsponies on-scene have is to retrieve the box if they are able to and hold it until the proper authorities arrive—in this case, that’d be you, Archmagus.”

“Oh, so that’s what Twilight wanted me to do with that spell?” Razz then shook her head. “I wish somepony would have remembered why I’m a kind of pony everypony usually doesn’t want to know. Even if I have the kind of lock opening spell, I’d probably accidently destroy the thing due to the kind of magic holding it shut reacting to my dark magic.”

“There’s a way around that, thankfully, but I’ll get to that in a moment,” Skyracer stated. “The problem is that there’s been ample time for a guard on-site to have retrieved the box and brought it here—they knew we were coming, so there’s no reason they wouldn’t have. Furthermore? I sent my subordinates ahead to rendezvous with the guards at the crash site to at least ensure we had some presence there—a little thunderstorm shouldn't stop us, after all—but that was hours back and they apparently have just up and disappeared.” 

“Well, looks like we’re in some kind of cliché mystery narrative all over again after all, Rarity,” mock-lamented Razz.

“As long as werewolves aren’t involved this time, I do believe we’ll be alright,” nonchalantly replied Rarity with a chuckle. Everypony else in the know also laughed, albeit a bit more nervously.

“Werewolves?

“It’s an in-joke,” said Applejack.

“Preciseley,” added Rarity, “Though, Lieutenant, you mentioned that it wasn’t a problem if Raspberry is unable to open the box?”

Skyracer nodded. “We’re lucky: in a sense, due to the kind of lock, procedure is to call for a Guild member with the knowledge for the unlocking spell. But despite being in the middle of nowhere, there is a pony who allegedly is accredited with the kind of knowledge to open it, and surprisingly enough, she’s not a Guild member.”

“Really?” Razz asked.  “Sounds like this pony might be worth meeting.”





“So, he doesn’t sing?” the brown-coated mare asked her escorts.

“Nope, Sunshine doesn’t sing,” replied Meadowlark.

“Seriously, bro, why you gotta keep bringing that up like it’s a thing?” Sunshine complained. 

The two batponies continued bickering as they made their way down the empty streets of Nightshade while the unicorn they were escorting looked on with a smile. Clearly she was enjoying their antics. Sunshine could hardly believe she was a local here—the other residents of Nightshade only ever stared creepily at them and the other military personnel whenever they passed through. Speaking of, where is everypony? This place is a ghost town all of a sudden. 

“Because Sgt. Daffodil told me I can’t make any more ‘blind as a bat’ pony jokes on account of you,” Meadowlark snarked, continuing their latest round of bickering.

“Knock it off, you two!” ordered the spontaneously-appearing sergeant in question. “We’re representing the Lunar Guard and you two bickering through escort duty isn’t showing proper military bearing!”

“Oh, come on, Sarge. We’re brothers,” nickered Meadow, “it’s like, genetic or something.”

Daffodil just facehoofed. “Of all the troops I could have picked, the three I took are the ones who can’t keep their mouths shut…”

“No, no, it’s fine,” lightly laughed the mare the twin batponies had brought. “Not everyday a mare gets to be escorted around town with two handsome young stallions. Especially one with a jaunty eyepatch.”

“HA! YES!” crowed Sunshine, hoofpumping the air. “Amber totally owes me ten bits now!”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” asked Daffodil with a questioning eyebrow raise.

“Uh, I don’t believe so, Ma-oh, right, it’s still raining.”

“You’re lucky that you were escorting a unicorn who knows an invisible rain shield spell,” Daffodil. Indeed, the whole time they’d been talking, it was still raining cats and dogs, and Daffodil had to hand it to the mare—she seemed far more at ease dealing with the two goofball brothers than Daffodil was with the relatively green recruits. “But since I don’t want to report back to Canterlot with a bad case of white-nose flu, let’s get…I’m sorry, what’s your name, miss?”

A loud crack of thunder then rang out. “On second thought, you can tell me after we get out of this rain. Shall we?”

“Let’s!”





As the sun set in the sky, a knock sounded at the door to the penthouse suite. Razz went to open it and saw a familiar tan face holding together a strained smile.

“Sandy? What are you doing back here?” Razz asked. “I thought you were staying at your cousin’s place.”

“That was the plan, yeah,” Sandalwood said, planning to leave it at that. Unfortunately for her, Razz’s concerned look made it clear that wasn’t going to happen. “She told me her guest room is being remodeled and that her couch might be infested.”

“Infested?”

“Yeah, with crystalmites.”

“Crystalmites?  This far south?”

Sandalwood shrugged.  “Apparently they tried growing crystalberries here last year and the crop had a small infestation.  The mites have spread out and though they don’t cause much bother to the locals, they drive visitors up the wall.  I don’t really know; I’m not too familiar with them.”

“Eesh. That’s unfortunate.” Razz thought about it for a moment. “But she knew you were coming, right? How was she not able to find a way to accommodate you?”

With a sigh and a shrug, Sandalwood said, “I don’t know. She was acting… weird. Was really nervous and jittery the whole time until kicking me out. Just told me she was tired and wanted to get an early night. The same mare who went bar hopping with me in Ponyville until 2AM running on four hours of sleep.” With a final shrug, Sandalwood just said, “Whatever. She gave me the bits to pay for a room here, so I’m fine. Just wanted to check in on you guys here. How’s your investigation?”

Razz looked back to where Skyracer was now pacing the floor. “In short, not great.”

Razz then gave Sandalwood a brief update on the situation surrounding the Arno, including the fact that they still hadn’t heard from the ponies Skyracer had sent to rendezvous with the team investigating the crash site.

“According to the Lieutenant, the town militia have been largely responsible for relaying information between here and all branches of the military onsite,” Razz explained. “They needed every last pegasus available to help wrangle this incoming storm, and the terrain proved to be too perilous for most anypony unfamiliar with it. But with the rains not letting up, it’s become too dangerous for even locals familiar with the terrain to make the journey, so we’re effectively in the dark on what’s happening at the crash site until we can get the storm under control.”

“Is it custom in the Mage’s Guild to share sensitive information with civilians, Archmagus?” Skyracer asked, his tone as biting as the teeth that mangled Razz’s leg. “Or is it just customary for the Archmagus of Dark Magic?”

“Mind your tone, Lieutenant,” Razz admonished. “Sandalwood is a researcher on the Crown payroll, so she has the applicable clearances.  Furthermore, even if she didn’t, I can trust her to be discreet and judicious in her actions. That should be enough for you.”

Skyracer seemed about to come up with an equally dismissive retort when Sandalwood stepped between them. She recognized Skyracer’s particular brand of hostility: it was the kind used by officers to mask concern for their troops.

“Your ponies will be fine,” said Sandalwood, approaching him. “If they’re highly trained professionals, I’m sure they’re tough enough to deal with something as common as a rainstorm.”

“A rainstorm that should’ve been dealt with hours ago,” Skyracer grumbled.  “What the hell is that naval officer that came with you doing?  Polishing the raindrops inside?” 

“Look, I’m a Navy brat, so I know how they operate,” Sandalwood said, frowning now that the military division she was closest to had its honor questioned by some Army jarhead. “I’m betting that Rainbow’s taking care of the stormwale first before tackling the headwinds—if she takes out the main one first, what’s the point when additional clouds come in?  All she’d do is exhaust herself and the ponies she has with her.” Sandy shrugged. “As far as I know that’s common aerography tactics: control commanding ground, am I right?”

Chided, Skyracer coughed into his hoof. “Of course I knew that, Miss Sandalwood.  My statement was merely a suppositional question, not an accusational one.”

The tan pony laughed. “Not much of a difference in Ponyville, when you live down the street to the Princess of Friendship. Just give Rainbow a fair shake—she’ll have this done soon enough, I’m sure of it.”

At this point, Rainbow came in, her flight suit soaked to the bone.  “Can somepony get me a towel?  I don’t want to soak the floor before I get to my room so I can change gear.”

“How goes the storm wrangling?” Applejack asked.

Rainbow removed her goggles, taking the towel handed to her by the staff.  “Not going to clear up anytime soon,” she admitted. “There’s a huge supercell moving in from the southwest that’s driving a major front this way.  As it is, we’ve got just enough ponies we’re throwing at it to prevent any flash flooding, but we’re not going to be able to get to the core of the present cell anytime soon––”

“And while you do that, time is wasting, Lt. Dash,” Skyracer barked.  “This storm should’ve been taken out of commission the moment the accident happened, but there it is, still there, making a mess of things.”

“Yes, and your Army SAR folks were first on the scene after the militia,” Rainbow shot back.  “I didn’t see any green flightsuits out there.”

“Because weather control is a Navy job, not an Army one.”

“No, normal military weather management goes to the Navy, Lieutenant,” Rainbow reminded him, “but emergency situations like this can be dealt with by anypony on-scene with CSAR skills.”

“Your point is?” Skyracer bristled.

“CSAR is supposedly something the Army loves to crow about teaching, right?  That NSAR isn’t good enough in emergeny situations?” Rainbow shot back.

“CSAR?  NSAR?” Raspberry asked.

“Combat Search and Rescue and Naval Search and Rescue,” Sandalwood explained.  “Basically they’re advanced SAR techniques when regular SAR methods won’t work or conditions require specialists.”

Meanwhile, unaware of the earth pony’s explanation, Rainbow continued her dressing down of her counterpart.  “So again, why weren’t your forces dealing with it? We could’ve had the storm gone by the time we got here and we’d have no problem with that incoming cell.”

“Look, what’s done is done,” Razz said, getting between the two, “and we’ll do what we have to, okay?  We’ll make this work. Rainbow, if you can keep the extra storm from being a problem, I’ll ask Mayor Peaks if he can get some of the townsfolk to do what they can on the current storm.”  She then turned to Skyracer.  “But I also expect that you’ll send word to your garrison for a support unit that we could use to mop things up here.”

“Understood.” He looked out the windows, to the rain. “I best get started, then. Going to be a bit of a journey.” Pausing just long enough to pull a weather cloak out of his saddle bags, he departed.

“Anypony else think he was a grade-A jerk?” Applejack inquired.

“I’ll cut him some slack; he’s probably run himself ragged trying to keep a hold on the whole situation,” Rainbow said, uncharacteristically trying to be the voice of reason. “Plus, even AK Yearling was a jerk the first time we met her, right? Ponies warm up to us sooner or later.” Rainbow then looked out the window into the distance, frowning at whatever she saw. “Aaaaaaaaaand there goes my break time. Rares, think you can whip up a quick-drying spell for me?  Not going to have time to get to my room after all.”

In response, Rarity’s horn briefly glowed, and a corresponding aura appeared over Rainbow.  “As good as I can get it in a rush, darling,” she apologized.

“Hey, the fact that I won’t end up catching poneumonea from the cold is good enough,” Rainbow said with a grin.  “Thanks!”  She walked over to the door, opening it...

...and in stepped a rain soaked trio of batponies, followed by a unicorn who stood out more than most. 

By coincidence, Razz had been seeing Rainbow off when the newcomers came through the door, and her eyes connected with the those of the trio’s charge. Whoever this unicorn was, her Cutie Mark was a bit unusual: a simple treasure chest, which stood out against her sinopia-toned fur and golden twin-ponytailed mane as it was. However, what really grabbed Razz’s attention were the crossed chains on the box—something didn’t seem right but Razz couldn’t figure out what bothered her so much about it.

“Well…” said the mysterious unicorn after what seemed like an eternity. “This is unexpected.”

“What’s unexpected?” cautiously asked Raspberry. She didn’t know quite what was going on, but this mare seemed to have some kind of unnerving disposition.

“You, of course,” flatly stated strange mare, before somehow making herself brighten up as if nothing had happened. “I heard there was a princess in town, but nopony told me she was here, too!” With energy on par with a sluggish Pinkie Pie, the mare rushed toward Rarity and took her into a big hug. “I’m such a fan of your work!”

“Well, er,” stammered Rarity, a bit taken aback at being recognized in an unexpected manner. “Always nice to…meet a fan, I suppose? Though I must confess I don’t know your na-OOOF!”

Almost in total obliviousness, the unicorn dropped Rarity unceremoniously (much to the amusement of Rarity’s compatriots). “Ohmigosh, I’m so sorry, where are my manners?” She then extended a hoof. “I’m Lockbox, the local lock-slash-blacksmith here in Nightshade!”

“A pleasure, truly,” replied Rarity, taking the offered hoof and letting the other mare help her up.

Razz, for her part, was uncertain about how to judge Lockbox. On the one hoof, she seemed to basically be a unicorn version of Pinkie Pie—difficult to deal with but hopefully not unreasonable.

On the other hoof, however, she couldn’t shake the feeling Lockbox had only dived after Rarity to divert attention away from that moment where she and the other unicorn had locked eyes. There’s only one way to start figuring any of this out, thought Razz, and that’s getting to that wreck as soon as possible. She then glanced out a window to the still-torrential rains outside. The last time Razz could remember rains that bad was the night she’d saved her adoptive father from timberwolves—and subsequently making the following week the most miserable of Heliodor’s life. I wonder if Rarity can make him a patched-together rain poncho?

“Alright, let’s get serious now,” Razz said, addressing Lockbox directly. “Miss Lockbox, if you have a moment, we may need your help…”





“Hmmm, that is serious,” said Lockbox, about an hour later after the truncated version of events had been laid out and she was made aware that she might have been the only pony who could open the black box. “You’re sure it needs to be me?”

Razz nodded.  “While I do know the spell, I’d rather keep that in reserve in favor of more mundane methods. That way I’d have the extra magic on hand in case of other emergencies, and as the situation is playing out, we might be in this for the long haul.”

“And you can’t send for somepony more qualified than me to come open this box?”

“Look, you’re somepony who works with that kind of stuff for a living, right?” asked Applejack. “Generally, that doesn’t mean you’re ‘underqualified.’”

“Plus, we need the box opened as soon as possible,” added Sandalwood. “There’s more going on than we’re allowed to discuss, but let’s just say time is of the essence.”

“Look, going outside right now is not a good idea,” Lockbox said.  “Not a good idea at all.”

“How so?”

“You are all from around Ponyville, right?” asked Lockbox, her hardened eyes suggesting the bubbly mare from earlier was currently out for the day. “I’ve heard stories about your Everfree, but those are nothing compared to what you’d find in the forests around Nightshade.”

“Ah personally disagree,” piped up Applejack, who wasn’t going to mention that it was in the Everfree that Sable Loam had turned her into a lycanthrope and that the sorta-not-kinda-still-maybe-dead-at-the-time spirit of Fair Vista had raised a magical clone army of herself and the Everfree had, apparently, generated an unnatural storm of raw dark magic energy that really had pointed right to the evil undead werewolf’s lair. “But that’s just me.”

“You don’t know the stories, then,” the golden-maned mare said with trepidation. “Not many ponies know, but Nightshade…this is where many of the refugees and survivors from the destroyed army of Nightmare Moon came after she was banished to the moon one thousand years ago, to become the founders of this town. It’s speculated that they inadvertently brought some of the demonic alicorn’s magic with them, the so-called ‘Nightmare Forces’ having permanently taken up residence in the forest. While residents of this town are safe—a protection granted by unknown powers that extends to the residents over at Clawhoof—outsiders aren’t so lucky. Two ponies from out of town can go in there, but whereas one will come out a day later, the other may not appear until a month has passed or longer—if they ever come out at all.”

“That sounds more like Discord’s magic than anything,” pointed out Raspberry. “And I doubt even he knows about this town.”

“Well, you get my point anyway, right? I’m sure your guards you sent in there are fine, but please, let the town and the local guards handle this—do not go into that forest without somebody who lives here, or you may never come out.”

“Don’t worry,” assured Razz, “nopony here is going to actually think about doing that, right girls?”

“Right!” they unanimously replied.

“Now I just need to get that answer out of Rainbow before she does anything stupid,” Razz added, “and everything should be fine.”





Three hours later after everypony at Blackhoof Lodge had gone to bed for the night, the rain had finally stopped. It was almost midnight when a second floor window bordering the forest popped open and out flew a makeshift rope made of malleable dark crystal—an idea generated when one particular mare had gone to another reality and needed another mare to explain what ‘fiber optics’ were. Soon after, Razz—who chose to leave without resetting her “normal” cloaking spell—descended. That way, in case anypony saw her, they’d think it was a monster or something other than Razz herself.

Probably the only time I’ve ever wanted that reaction from somepony looking at me in the dark, thought Razz, who carefully climbed down the side of the building, Heliodor then gliding out the window and quickly landing on the grass below. Once down, Razz dissolved the crystal rope and magically closed the window so nopony would be the wiser—she could have teleported but the large magical discharge was easily detectable by the guard ponies she was trying to give the slip to.

“You ready to go?” asked Applejack’s voice, though Applejack herself was nowhere to be seen.

“Yeah,” responded Razz, “let’s get goi-OOF!” The unicorn lightly rubbed her head where she’d apparently walked right into an invisible wall.

“Right, sorry about that,” said Rarity’s voice, followed by the spontaneous glow of a faint blue light. Rapidly, the alabaster unicorn removed her illusion spell and the forms of herself, Applejack, and Sandalwood subsequently came into view as if they were materializing ghosts. “Though we are going to be in so much trouble once Lightfighter and the other guards who are supposed to be protecting us discover we’re gone.”

“Rainbow should be able to run interference for us,” Razz told her.  “She had to know we were going to do this.  After all,” replied Razz cockily, before getting to her hooves and trotted toward the dark forest ahead, “You gotta remember the ponies that we are, Rarity. Getting into trouble like this is what we do.”





Just within visual distance of the Army facility, Skyracer walked off the beaten path, down into the gully and towards the copse of trees in the middle of it.  As he did, a pack of timberwolves walked out, snapping and snarling, their glowing eyes full of malicious hunger. Skyracer didn’t bat an eye.

“Oh, knock it off, the lot of you,” Skyracer snapped in a voice that was not his own. It was actually lighter, more feminine.

“Sorry, your ladyship,” one of the timberwolves spoke, before he was consumed by jade-hued fire, leaving a changeling to stand in his place.  On cue, the other timberwolves assumed their natural shapes as well, leaving a group of changelings to stand in their place.

“Where are Thorn and Thistle?  They should’ve reported in by now, Briar.”

Briar, the lead changeling of the group present, nodded.  “They have not reported in yet, your ladyship.  They must still be working on their part of the plan.”

“They had better be, if they know what’s best for them,” ‘Skyracer’ seethed. A thought then crossed her mind as she looked at the assembly of black and teal changelings present. “And who said you should wear the Dowager’s colors?”

“But we are in disguise, your ladyship!” Briar stated.

“You need not wear the colors of the Dowager in front of your true queen,” Skyracer said, as jade fire enveloped him. What was left was a changeling mare the same size as Chrysalis, though she was accented by colors of indigo and plum. Her short mane held no crown, though she wore a torc and shoes similar to that of the alicorns, these made from hammered copper.

“My queen,” Briar said, bowing; the remaining changelings did so immediately.

“These are my orders: continue to spy on the Equestrians here, and ensure that the Target is taken care of by Thorn and Thistle immediately. The Target must not live to make it to Canterlot. That way, I can take the Target’s place and it will lead me to the Dowager herself.”  The changeling queen smiled.  “And then she will die and I will be queen of all changelings.” She laughed. “Chrysalis, you don’t know yet that you’ve sown the seeds of your own destruction, but you have.  And when all is done?  I will rule, and you will be less than a footnote in the history of our species.”