In which we learn our Heroine is no stranger to the diplomatic shortcomings of historical figures and Duisternis practices the commendable art of recycling.
Rosalyn closed her eyes in bliss as the cake simply evaporated on her tongue, leaving behind the most delicate taste explosion it had ever been her good fortune to experience.
“I take it you approve?” Celestia asked with a smile.
“This cake almost makes up for everything, Your Highness,” Rosalyn said, eyes still closed. “Whoever made this—well you aren’t paying them enough. You can’t pay them enough. There isn’t that much money in the entire universe.”
Luna chuckled. “Sister, it appears you have discovered a kindred spirit to share your love of cake.”
“Indeed,” Celestia said and took a small bite, a hum of pleasure escaping her. “Butter Cream has outdone herself. Rest assured, Rosalyn, I take a deep and abiding interest in her continued wellbeing.”
Luna snickered, “Sister, if you can tear yourself away from your greatest temptation, we should attempt to unravel this spell so that Rosalyn Parker may return home, hopefully this night.”
“There is always time for cake, Luna. You haven’t even touched yours!” Celestia said with a meaningful look.
“Whilst We do enjoy maestro Butter Cream’s efforts, We fear Our appreciation of her art pales before the towering heights of thine own, dear sister. Still, if it will speed our task We will consume this slice of cake with all due respect to the good Dame Butter Cream.” She grasped the fork with her magic and proceeded to sample her slice.
Her eyes widened as she looked down at her plate. Celestia watched calmly, waiting for her sister to react.
“It—is quite good,” Luna said after a long contemplative moment. “Perhaps We should offer this work of art a few more minutes to truly honor its creator.”
Celestia just smiled and took another bite.
ooOoo
“Hello doctor,” the fanged unicorn said with a smile as the other was escorted into his office. “We need to have a little chat.”
“Spare me your ranting, Sombra,” Rimor snarled. “I am well aware of the magnitude of the loss we’ve suffered. Two nearly completed subjects! I was mere hours away from waking the draugr in them! That stupid dragon led Celestia’s forces right to my doorstep! Your half-breed was useless and as for your troll,” Rimor spat on the floor. “He was an utter imbecile!”
“Silence, fool!” Sombra roared in a white-hot rage. “Hoë Towenaar may have decreed you are untouchable for now, but you are still mortal, doctor! You would do well to remember that if you ever hope to join the ranks of the immortals! Once Duisternis triumphs only the immortals will remain, so if your failures continue you will perish along with all the other mayflies!”
“And you would do well to remember who gave you that flesh you’re now wearing, Sombra.” Rimor hissed. “Without it you would touch the world even less than one of the Slange. I gave it to you and I can take it away just as easily! Would you prefer to be a shadow lurking in darkness again, Your Majesty?”
“You forget your place, Rimor,” Sombra said, his red curved horn starting to glow threateningly.
“Oh be quiet,” Rimor snorted. “The Slange value my services far more than they do yours, Sombra. I am the key to building our forces, you are merely a glorified games pony and we both know it. Hoë Towenaar holds the final say on all your plans,” The red unicorn sneered, “if they can even be called that. You never understood subtlety, you tin plated martinet!”
“I conquered an empire, mortal!” Sombra growled.
“And lost it to a pair feather dusters,” Rimor snapped. “Horns or no Celestia and her sister are nothing but preening pegasi with delusions of godhood. Yet they defeated you and reduced you to nothing but a dark stain, hiding your shame deep underground. Hail the conquering hero!”
Sombra snapped and blasted the unicorn taunting him with a tidal wave of purple light—only to see the spell sucked harmlessly into the dark portal that appeared suddenly in front of Rimor.
There was a brief moment of stillness before the portal vomited forth a boiling cloud of darkness that exuded a horrible stench and mind-numbing cold.
I see I am just in time.
The cloud’s voice was even worse than a windigo’s, faint and distant yet filling the ears like cold slimy ooze. Rimor shuddered even as he reinforced his warmth spell against the cloud’s supernatural chill.
Dr. Rimor, you know how touchy King Sombra is about his unfortunate overthrow. And Sombra, what have I told you about your temper, young unicorn? But I must say your Augmented Agony spell is coming along very nicely, wonderful work! Just try not to use it on Rimor would you? We need him in peak physical and intellectual shape so he can swell the ranks of the draugr and thus earn his immortality. We can’t let petty differences distract us from our glorious future, hmm?
Sombra’s eyes narrowed to slits but he slowly straightened. “As you wish, Hoë Towenaar. Have you heard Rimor had a small setback? He lost his lab to Celestia’s forces.”
How unfortunate! We will, of course, give the good doctor every possible assistance to get his new laboratory up and running immediately. Our plans require as many draugr as he can provide for us.
On another front, I have wonderful news my friends! Observe!
A black crystal appeared from the depths of the cloud and landed gently on Sombra’s desk. It flickered with deep purple lights from time to time.
“Is that one of my crystals?” Sombra asked, eyes narrowing. “Why is it flickering like that?”
Why indeed? Yes, my dear Sombra, it is one of yours, or rather it was. Right now it may very well be the key to Equestria’s downfall. And as Equestria goes, so goes the rest of Equis.
“A single crystal?” Rimor asked in puzzlement. “How can one crystal be the key to victory?”
As you said, doctor, it is a key. As with any key the power lies in the door the key unlocks, is that not so?
“So what door does this key unlock?” Sombra asked, baring his fangs in anticipation.
The magic of an alicorn, my friend, the cloud said with a chuckle. Magic that in turn will gut Celestia at the critical moment. And without Celestia…
ooOoo
“We can’t stay here,” Heavy Hoof said addressing the small circle of beings huddled around him. “There’s no telling if Duisternis had a backup plan in case this attack failed, and if they did we don’t want to make it easy for them to find us.”
“What do you suggest, Commander?” Lady Silkwind asked curiously. “Certainly I agree we shouldn’t stay here but this is a large caravan, easily spotted from the air. Do you plan to march through the night? Even if we did, wouldn’t the wagons leave a trail a blind rabbit could follow?”
“Happily, Lady Silkwind, Rolling Thunder has the Fixers. Four of the most creatively sneaky generalist mages it has ever been my pleasure to command. They can hide our trail once we leave here. While they may not be able to cast shield spells like Meteor Swarm and his bunch they are superb in the more subtle magics. They can hide our trail while we’re moving and our camp when we stop. With Stormwind’s wing acting as an umbrella we should be able to get to Hejm without any more nasty surprises.”
“I notice you didn’t say without trouble, Commander,” Teagan said drily.
He snorted. “We all know that’s not happening, Your Majesty. But as long as we can see trouble coming from far enough away we can deal with it. Although without our shield mages I’d rather not get into any standing fights. What I wouldn’t give to have Shining Armor with us right now.”
“You and me both,” Teagan agreed ruefully. “Not to mention Cadence and Twilight too!”
The caravan broke camp in the rapidly darkening evening. They headed on toward Hejm at Søyle’s insistence. She had objected strongly to Heavy Hoof’s suggestion they backtrack to throw off any pursuers, insisting the delay was unacceptable. The commander had yielded the point, admitting it would have been a gamble at best.
Emma submitted to being put on top of Kusken’s wagon without complaint, especially since Teagan joined her immediately.
“Legs finally give out?” the brown-haired girl asked sourly. She was still shaken from the aftermath of the swarm’s attack and not feeling particularly sociable.
“We’re in a hurry,” Teagan said, scanning the hills and sky as she spoke. “The trolls and ponies can move faster if they don’t have to hobble themselves waiting on a pair of human turtles. Besides, up high like this I get a better view—just in case I have to use Crush again.”
“You think Dusty had a plan B?” Emma asked apprehensively.
“Wouldn’t surprise me if they did,” Teagan replied, shifting to a more comfortable position. “Then again, they are arrogant SOBs. Maybe they figured there was no way we’d survive getting mobbed by those things. They didn’t count on me having a claymore.”
“What’s a claymore?” Emma asked curiously.
“It’s a type of mine. The military uses it kind of like a ginormous shotgun. It shoots hundreds of steel balls at Mach 3. 30% chance of hitting a man-sized target inside a cone fifty yards wide.”
“Yikes!” Emma stared at her friend. “Where in the world did you get one of those? Did Matt give it to you?”
“What? No! I put a bag of marbles on Crush and threw them at the swarm. Crush’s magic accelerated them to some ridiculous speed, like maybe fifty miles per second or something. That many marbles traveling that fast through air generates a freaking massive shock wave. Forget the marbles; the shockwave does all the damage. Thank goodness Crush’s magic kept the backlash to a trickle or we’d have died too.”
“Jeez, Teelo! That was just a trickle?” Emma asked numbly. “It took down a force field! You’re carrying around a portable nuke—you get that, right? If you used that claymore thing in Hejm the cave-in would kill everybody.”
“Duh,” Teagan retorted. “You think I don’t know that? When I fought Jern I was super careful not to use too much of Crush’s weight. It would have collapsed the cliff on our heads.”
“Yeah,” Emma said with a faraway look. “You know, it’s finally starting to sink in.”
“What is?” Teagan asked uneasily.
“All this. You,” Emma said waving her hand in a circle. “I mean, the changelings, yeah, that was scary. And these blood bird things, that was scary too. But it wasn’t real, not even when you hit Discord. Now it is.”
“So what changed?” Teagan asked.
“You did,” Emma said soberly. “You’re not just plain Teelo anymore. You’re a queen. Like, for real. I’ve been watching you fight monsters, and pull all these crazy super-powers out of nowhere. All that training you did with Matt—it was for this, wasn’t it? I mean, you can fly, or set off a damn nuke whenever you want. You swat gods around like they’re softballs for God’s sake!
“On the other hand if you screw up we could die. Which sucks.”
“Sorry you came?” Teagan asked with a wan smile.
“Sorry? No. Having a serious ‘oh crap’ moment? Hell yes.” Emma took a deep breath and let it out. “Looks like I seriously underestimated how hard this was going to be. But you know what? I thought you needed me before, but now I know you do. So I’m going to help. I trust you, and whatever help you need, I’ll do my best to make sure you get it. I promise.”
Overcome by emotion Teagan hugged Emma.
“You have no idea how much that means to me, Emma. You’re the best friend I could ever have,” Teagan whispered. Emma didn’t say anything, just hugging Teagan back.
Kusken had overheard the entire conversation, troll hearing being quite acute, but he gave no outward sign of it, stoically keeping the quickened pace of the caravan.
Do not worry, Queen’s Friend, he thought silently, you are not alone in your oath.
ooOoo
Thunder grumpily circled like the world’s largest dog as he settled into his new cavern. The floor was unpolished and his hoard was pathetically depleted. Although he wasn’t quite in dire straits yet, he would have to begin gathering gems within a month or face (shudder) the loss of his magic. At least the manticore he’d swallowed whole two hours before had quieted his hunger pangs.
With a disgruntled growl he settled at last, crushing several small stones beneath him into powder. Although they caused him no pain, the grinding noise made him huff in annoyance.
I must think of a suitable way to repay the troll queen for her efforts, he grumbled inside his head, slowly relaxing. She dared take advantage of me while I was temporarily destitute. How dare she think she is a dragon’s equal?
His eyes narrowed as he contemplated a suitable revenge against her and the ponies that had helped her.
Celestia would unleash Tartarus against me if I slew enough ponies to repay their debt, he thought sourly. Although he didn’t precisely fear the consequences of angering the alicorn princess, he was old enough to let prudence triumph over smoldering rage. While his scales would protect him against whatever attacks the ponies might launch, facing the Sisters both together was another matter.
The pegasi are not to be dismissed either, he thought as sleep stole over him. They are tiny and nimble and attack your wing roots. One pegasus is a pest easily swatted—but a swarm of them, especially armed with those cursed wing-blades they favor, can be dangerous if you let them get close enough.
Then there was his depleted horde. The gems fueled his breath and his flight, without them he was far too vulnerable to risk the Sisters’ wrath.
He was about to drift off when a chill breeze that stank of corruption blew into his cave. Bristling he raised his head, mouth slightly agape as tiny flames played around his teeth.
My master offers his condolences for your loss, Caelum Tonitru Genuisset, a loathsome whisper crawled inside the dragon’s ears making him snarl in displeasure.
“Show yourself, foul creature, and let me send you on to the next world where you belong!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Do you not wish—recompense—noble drake? Your horde restored to its full glory while seeing those who have wronged you bloody and lifeless at your feet? Will you refuse my master’s gift?
“Who is your master, windigo?” Thunder asked after mulling over the voice’s words.
He wishes to remain anonymous, great Thunder. But as a token of his good faith behold!
A slithering noise coming from his hoard snapped the dragon’s head around. His eyes widened as he saw a mountain of gems pour themselves out of thin air. Once the landslide of gems had stopped other items appeared—treasured items he recognized, ones dear to his heart that he thought lost forever.
Your hoard has been returned to you, Caelum Tonitru Genuisset. But this is only half of my master’s gift. The other half is a secret, perhaps more valuable than your hoard itself. Shall I reveal it?
“What secret?” The drake asked in a neutral tone, reeling from this unforeseen stroke of providence.
The location of those who have wronged you. The troll queen and the ponies that trapped you in your own lair. I can tell you where they are at this very moment.
“Tell me, undead spirit, what price would your master ask of me for this boon?”
None, it is a gift, great Thunder, freely given. My master simply wishes to see justice done.
“I will listen,” The blue dragon said, letting the flames in his mouth die. “Where is the troll queen?”