Silver’s reaction to the pin was violent and immediate, a boiling-over of the long suppressed emotions I’d glimpsed in the history he had just shared with me.
I felt his wings extend, the very air responding as his quillons snicked out. He flashed forward, radiating menace. Syzygy was just as fast, a constellation of golden medallions fizzling into existence between them. I gasped as the danger in the room doubled down, crushing me backwards a full step. My jaw ached as my remaining shreds of pegasus magic surged, pulling my darker nature behind.
"Hold!" Vinyl cut through the motion with a fierce word, freezing both of them. "Both of you, hold! If you fight in here, I will be very put out." Her voice roughened as she spoke, eyes slitting and a sharp edge curling up her horn. Neither moved, but they never took their eyes off each other.
For a long minute we stood in tableau, amid the cluttered mechanisms and furniture. Finally, Vinyl stepped between them, casually brushing medallions aside and blocking one of Silver's wings.
"Silver, stand down." She gave him a harsh look. "I don't know what that sigil means to you, but this is my house." They locked eyes for a moment longer. "Stand down," she reiterated. He slowly lowered his wings, partially retracting his blades.
"Hmm." Syzygy's smile hadn't faltered a hair during the whole thing. His weapon swarmed back, forming into a compact cluster just behind one ear. "Interesting. Silver, would you—"
"Let me." I drew in a deep breath, mastering my reactions and stepping forward to place a hoof on Silver's withers. He nodded fractionally, never taking his eyes off the unicorn. I moved forwards, keeping the lane between them clear. I didn't quite have the nerve to interpose myself like Vinyl. I scrutinized Syzygy's face and stance, letting him see me gauge him.
"Syzygy Stardust, I am starting to get royally fed up with your attitude." I narrowed my eyes, letting the slightest buzz of true frustration curl into my voice.
"Octavia, I don't—"
"Ah!" I raised a hoof, shushing him. "Do you have any idea how much trust is worth, Ziggy? You've been prancing around the edges of this situation, pushing a little, pulling a little, making trouble. And I'm calling you on it. I don't care that you have your own agenda. I've got one. Silver's got one. Vinyl might as well, but I don't honestly care. You'd better make a convincing argument for why we should put up with any more of it, or I'll step back and ask Silver to throw you out." I let him think over that for a moment, his ears swiveling forward as he looked from me to Vinyl to Silver, assessing if I could carry through on my threat.
"It's not what you think." He hesitated on the rejoinder. He wasn't sure. Well, neither was I, but no need to reveal that.
"Really?" I cocked an eyebrow. "Then why don't you tell me what I'm thinking?"
He mulled over that for a long moment.
"The truth is," I continued, "we don't actually need you. You've helped us, but it's always been at a cost, even when you didn't ask up-front. Frankly, Syzygy Stardust, I'm beginning to think you may be more trouble than you're worth. This isn't a job. We're not on a contract or a commission. We're forming a team here, and I'm giving you one chance to decide if you're in or out. To see if you're totally mercenary or if there's a single speck of consideration behind that oh-so polite façade you've set up."
"I…"
"Don't mistake me. This is a test of character. Your strength and slyness won't get you through. Think too long and you're out." I glanced at the others with the corner of my eyes, checking if they agreed. Vinyl was nodding, and Silver had a hard frown. We didn't really have a leader, in some ways, but I didn't think they'd disagree with this.
Syzygy blinked at my words, and I saw something behind his carefully cultivated act give slightly.
"Syzygy." Silver folded his wings. "You've fulfilled your terms. You've acted in good faith on the pact we made. Our alliance is over." He nodded and stepped back. The hovering medallions shivered gently.
That rocked the unicorn. His ears went stiff, a touch of desperation appearing as my threat started to close on him.
"Don't think I won't help eject you," Vinyl growled. "I may not be on your level, Ziggy, but I'm starting to get fed up with your style. Pony up or stop playing. We're not in this for kicks."
"For some of us, it's a matter of life and death." I stepped forwards, pressuring him. "Are you a liability, Ziggy? Are you for us or against us?"
"I can get you information." There was a nearly wheedling tone to his voice. "I can talk to Primalis, find out what's going on."
"But why," I repeated calmly, "should we trust you?"
"I… I…" He stepped back, looking away from my gaze. "I don't…" He chewed his lip, composure totally gone as he considered what I was saying.
None of us moved.
Finally, he drew in a deep breath, threw back his head, and banished his weapon.
"Silver Lining." He locked eyes with the pegasus, firming his stance and adopting an attitude of deference. "I swear by the Crown of Clouds that I'll follow your lead in this, working as your agent in word and spirit to defend you and yours."
"That's—" I started, but Silver stopped me with a touch.
"Good enough for me," he said. I turned to him, and he nodded slightly. "You want in, Ziggy? Well, you're in. I'd be lying if I said I trusted you, but there's no point in offering a second chance if it's not in good faith." Silver looked to me and Vinyl, and both of us relaxed slightly. "Here's your first task. Find out what you can from Primalis, and share. Keep your double-dealing to yourself, and as long as it doesn't burn us, we'll work around it. Can you accept that?”
“I…” Syzygy sighed, showing his surrender. I wondered how sincere it really was. “Yes, I’ll do what I can.”
“Alright, then.” Silver smiled. “We can work from here. You've got an agenda? Fine. I've been learning a lot about trust recently. If you want our help with it, you'll need to tell us, but for now... You were wondering what that sigil meant to me? Wanted to see my reaction? I’ll indulge your curiosity. It drove me out of my hometown, separated me from my sister and maybe even my father."
I stepped back, letting him draw closer to the unicorn. Vinyl joined them, as Silver started an even more abbreviated version of the brief history he'd given me earlier.
I guess he was with us.
For whatever that was worth.
"Feeling okay?" Silver gave me a long look as we paced up the narrow walk to my parents’ house. I'd told him I needed to do this, and I'd meant it, but I felt my hooves slowing as I neared.
"Yeah." I sighed. "I'm nervous, but… I think it's my new instincts again. When I considered this a few days ago, it was literally unthinkable. Vinyl mentioned mood effects, paranoia, and others. I'm more… balanced now, but I don't think it's totally gone."
"Well, it's sort of a big deal." He shrugged. "I mean, telling anypony this sort of thing."
"Silver, they're my parents." I rolled my eyes. "You noticed how well I cope, didn't you?" His continual surprise at my capability had shown.
"Sure."
"I got it from them. They're unflappable. You learned from your father? My mom drilled everything about dealing with high society ponies into me, and my dad polished it out with a full course on self-control and pony-watching. More than that, they love me." I sighed. "I just hope they don't start crying or worrying. If this wasn't so dangerous, I'd be tempted—" I shook the thought away. "No, I need to tell them. They deserve to know."
"Are you sure I should be here, though?" There was a hitch in his step, and I slowed.
"You can leave, if you like." I gave him a reassuring grin. "I can deal with this. But they're going to have questions, and you know a lot more than me. I'd appreciate the help."
"Ah." He sighed. "Alright. I'll just… watch your back, okay?"
"That sounds perfect." I stopped at the door and rapped once. After a few moments, we heard steps inside.
"Octavia?" My mom threw it open and looked out, half-moon glasses perched on her nose. Her mane was down, curling around her ears. "Why are you knocking?" She glanced past me and made a small 'o' of surprise. "You brought a friend!"
"It's not like that, mom." I sighed, relaxing even as I shrugged uncomfortably. Mom would be mom. "This is Silver Lining. The past week has been… crazy, and he's helped me with a bit of trouble. I need to talk to you and dad."
"Trouble?" Her brows narrowed at that, and I saw her reassess him. "Well, don't just stand out there. I'll make some tea. Your father's in the reading room, so go say hi."
"Of course." I stepped in and wrapped her in a hug. "Thanks."
She nuzzled me briefly and moved for the kitchen.
I could do this. I would do this.
"Bye, dad. Thanks again." I hugged my father goodbye. He nuzzled me and stood watching as we walked down the path.
"Feel better?" Silver paced me, scanning the surroundings with his usual watchfulness.
"Yes, I really do." A weight I'd been carrying, a fear of isolation and secrecy, was easing inside me. "Lots." It had been worrying me, more than I'd thought, how my family would react. It was the danger that finally pushed me into telling them. I couldn't forgive myself if I just disappeared one day, without even letting them know I'd been in trouble, but there had been more to it. "They're my parents. I love them. Even if I couldn't tell them everything, or really much of anything, I'm glad I did it."
"They believed you."
"Well, I did demonstrate." I giggled, remembering the twitch in my dad's ears as I'd slit my eyes, bared my fangs, how my mother’s eyes had widened in shock. "And, well, cure or no, I'm still me. For whatever reason. It's not a terminal disease by itself. All the complications are external."
"Mmm."
"I wish I could tell them more." I sighed. "This secrecy is annoying. I know it's useful, but it still irks me."
"You could have shown them your wings." He gave me a sly smile.
"My dad would have loved that." I considered how he enjoyed flying with my brother. "But that would have brought up the whole 'blood' thing."
"And that's not really comfortable." He nodded understandingly. "Maybe next time."
"Maybe!" I skipped for a step. "Mmm, next time. Yeah. After we deal with all of this."
"If we deal with all of this." His somber tone pulled me back.
"We will." I nodded firmly. "Syzygy's got a start, and you've got a lead too."
"Hmm?" He gave me a quizzical look.
"That griffon," I reminded him. "Gilda."
"Oh." He frowned. "Yeah. Hum."
"We should talk to her, at least. Maybe she can tell us a little more."
"That's a good idea." He mulled it over. "Actually, that's a great idea. We can't wait for Auric to reveal what's going on. We need to keep the initiative and act. I wonder if she's at Vagabond's. She should have some way for me to respond to her note."
"That's your contact?"
He nodded.
"We can check."
"Let's." He tensed and shot me a look. He wanted to fly. I nodded, grinning again, and we lifted off with a swish.
"So?"
I looked up as he came back to the table, balancing two glasses on his back.
"Vagabond says she should be here soon." He glanced back to the bartender, who I recognized as the pony who had given him the note in the Gallery. "Water?"
"Don't mind if I do." I accepted the glass and took a sip. It was cold and tasted of lime.
We sat in companionable silence, sipping our drinks. It really felt like a Sunday afternoon, a slice of normalcy, rest and repose. I was almost annoyed when the door opened and a white-and-tawny griffon stalked into the bar.
"Gilda!" Silver called, waving. A few of the patrons looked up, before returning to their conversations. She turned to us, nodded, and headed for the bar.
"She's a Hunter?" I gave her a nonplussed glance. I couldn't feel a shred of menace from her, not even the background wariness that Silver radiated.
"Yeah, well." He shrugged. "Not all Hunters are fighters."
"I guess." We fell back into silence as she collected her drink, something in a tall stone mug, and walked over.
"Silver." She nodded to him and turned to me, raising an eyebrow. "And you?"
"She's a friend." Silver gave her a reassuring nod. "Part of my… team."
"So much for being a loner." She gave him a flat look.
"Heh, well." He grimaced slightly. “Things have been changing fast for me this past week. But you know how I am about trust and comrades. She’s good."
I smiled at that, and Gilda nodded understandingly.
"She's helped me with a lead on that sigil you drew."
"You've got something?" Gilda leaned in, suddenly interested.
"Well, a little." Silver frowned. "That sigil is used by a group called Primalis. We don't know much about them or what they want."
"But we're interested." I sipped my water, drawing her focus. "They're connected to my situation, and we'd like to know more. Maybe we can help each other. Do you have any more details, something we could use to start investigating them?"
"Not really, no." She took a swallow of her drink, staring into her mug. "I just, I don't… I was only curious, really. Is it actually…"
"We don't know what it is,” Silver replied. "We have no idea how Auric's involved with Primalis. But for what it's worth, going by what I’ve seen here, they’re pretty low-key."
"But Primalis is involved with us." I nodded, carefully steering away from what we did know about Auric. "And we're curious. Anything could help. What do you remember from the letters? Have you noticed other tells?"
"No." Gilda slumped. "I just got a glance at them, really. Enough to think that something was off about the whole thing, more than just a little subterfuge. They were hidden, for one, tucked in a book. There wasn't a name on them, and… lots of little things."
"I wish we could see them." Silver slumped. "Any chance you could… no, that would never work."
"I could maybe get them again, for a moment," Gilda mused. "It was interesting, sneaking around."
"Some Hunters go in for covert stuff." Silver shrugged. "I worked with a unicorn named Origami once. She'd have copied the whole thing in a flash."
"There's a spell for that?" I looked up, an idea sparking.
"Yeah." He nodded "Too bad none of us are unicorns…" He trailed off, eyebrows crinkling as a mischievous smile touched my lips.
"Hmm." I nodded, quickly re-writing my expression with mild regret. "Hey, Gilda, it's okay. We'll keep looking, get back to you, okay?"
"Sure." She gave a subdued grin. "Anyways, Silver, how's your class been?"
"…Interesting." He rolled his eyes. "Did I tell you there was a dragon in my class? Yeah." He grinned as she cocked her head. "It's been interesting. Still, not all bad…"
I listened in with half an ear, trying to think out the idea I'd hit on. Auric would need to see ponies for his business, surely? I glanced at Gilda again. Maybe we could work with this, after a little planning.
She said she'd liked intrigue, right?
Maybe I could show her a trick or two, after I had some idea whether or not this would work.
"You're thinking of trying a run on Auric?" Silver let the door close behind us, waving farewell to Gilda as we left.
"Maybe." I frowned. "If I knew a little more about the whole thing, I'd say yes. But I haven't even met him. I mean, he doesn't know my face, and if I could get a scroll to copy stuff, maybe from Ziggy, perhaps we could find out where they're hidden or get Gilda to help us…"
"Might work." Silver frowned. "She's a fan of pranks, but I don't really want to draw her into anything… dangerous."
"She's an old friend?" I gave him a sideways glance. There'd been a companionable quality to their conversation, references to ponies and places that I didn't know.
"Yeah." He looked down. "From Cloudsdale, before…"
"Everything."
"Yeah."
I paused, looking up. Something strange was tickling the back of my ears, a twitchy, heavy feeling. "Hey, you feel that?"
"Mmm." He paused, assessing the sky. It was nearing sunset. "Feels like rain, which is odd."
"Is that what rain feels like?" I scratched an ear. "This pegasus thing is trippy."
"Yeah, but we shouldn't have any." His brow crinkled in puzzlement. "And it's not just rain, it's a thunderstorm." He turned, pointing behind us, to dark clouds rolling over tall buildings. "Look, it's moving in quick."
"That's definitely not on the weather schedule." I frowned. "What's the team up to?"
"No idea, but—" He cut off as lightning flashed in the distance, thunder rolling quietly. "Woah."
"What?"
"It's a thunderbird!"
"A what?"
"It's… you've got to see this. Come on!" He scooped me up, flashing skywards.
"Woah, hold on! Won't we get wet?"
"Rain happens to other ponies! And you've got to see this! I've never seen a thunderbird come through here! You won't regret it!"
I struggled for a moment, fighting to orient myself in the flow of air he had wrapped me in. He looked back, then carefully wafted me up next to him, before pouring on the speed. Canterlot shrunk behind us, the storm growing quickly. I watched in slight trepidation as he headed for the thickest, darkest part of the clouds. The sun was setting behind us, throwing golden rays into the gloom. He traced one, punching into the thunderheads with confidence, soaring around the tops of billowing towers and diving between the gaps in shifting columns.
"Oh!" I gasped as we entered the rain. I expected a wash of chilling drops, but instead they swished past us, forming a neat circle with Silver at the center. I could feel the air swirling past, curling into a ring of inviolate airspace that ushered water past us. "You really do fly between the raindrops." I grinned. "Is this part of your weird magic?"
"Heh, yeah." He nodded at me, before swooping upwards and inwards. I was lost now, completely detached from the ground as clouds boiled on all sides. Thunder crashed, shockingly near, and he swerved towards it. "Don't, uh, try this on your own. Most pegasi stay away from thunderbirds. They've never bothered me, though."
"Noted. Weird magic again."
"Maybe. I think it's something to do with my Storm, but— Look!" He pointed ahead, where another ring of air was mostly clear of clouds. "The eye!"
He veered, banking around the outside, skimming the edge but never actually touching it. I looked curiously into empty space, wondering.
"What are we—"
Lighting cracked and thunder roared, causing me to flinch. For a long, burning second, I saw something in the storm. It was outlined in the white glare, iced with violent light for a fractured moment. A viciously curved beak, elegantly huge wings, a tail streaming with vapor, and eyes; piercing, intelligent eyes that were locked on us, flecked with static and dusted with dewdrops.
Then it was gone, leaving only the impression of gigantic power and grace, a raptor half-real, half unstoppable force of nature. I was suddenly very, very glad Silver was with me. If that turned against us, I had no doubt it would be no less terrible than the entire storm concentrating on our destruction.
"Woah," I gasped, adrenaline and awe racing through my veins.
"Beautiful, huh?" He grinned to me, and I grinned back, nodding.
"Can… Will we see it again?"
"Can't stay too long." But he continued circling. "Don't want to wear out our welcome."
"Woah," I repeated. It bore saying. "This… Woah."
"It's interesting, you know?" He smiled contemplatively. "So many wonders in the world, and so few actually bother looking."
"Mmm." I relaxed, listening to the storm around us, trusting him to carry me safely through it. "You know, with all the things that's happened to me… not all of them are bad."
"No?"
"No."
Some things would always be worth looking at twice, storing up and hiding in my heart. I was sure that after all this was over, at the very least I’d be glad I'd seen this, been given the chance to fly.
No matter what I fought against, what troubles my condition brought me, I decided then and there I would never, ever regret reaching for the sky.