The sun was barely over the horizon as the large group of fifteen stood on the train platform. Twilight stood at the head of her group with Church and Washington at her side. Behind her, Caboose, Donut, Simmons, Rainbow Dash and Applejack waited patiently. Tucker, Rarity, and Sarge stood facing her, with Grif, Lopez, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie behind them. The depression of steam sounded from the train just off to the side as Twilight began briefing Tucker and Rarity’s group on their mission to Canterlot.
Pulling out and unfurling a large worn yellow parchment, Twilight explained, “I found a decent map of the Crystal Caverns. It’s a little old, but it should get you into Canterlot.”
Twilight passed the map from her magical aura to Rarity’s, and the fashionista put it away into her pocket dimension.
“Once you’re in Canterlot, Rarity can use her contacts there to try and find a way into the castle,” Twilight continued.
“I can call in a few favors, but breaking into Canterlot Castle might be a tad much for even the most influential ponies I know,” Rarity said.
“I know that some of the old noble houses used to have secret passages leading into the castle’s lower chambers. Most of them have since been destroyed, but with luck you’ll find one that’s still intact.”
“Once you enter the castle, you’ll need to find the orbital strike beacon,” Washington took over for Twilight. “It’s about the size of a large tablet. Check any relatively flat roof, open courtyard, anywhere it can transmit a signal with minimal interference.”
“Oh, and one more thing!” Twilight said, looking at all of Team B seriously. “You’re going to have to pass through the heart of the mountain to get to Canterlot from the lower caves. There’s a lot of old legends that say something about an ancient, great beast that lives there, so be careful.”
“Um… I thought that was just an old story to scare foals out of wandering into the caves,” Fluttershy said.
“Yeah, why are you warning us about something that’s just a myth?” Tucker asked. “Hey Church, when you go north, make sure you’re extra good so Santa Claus doesn’t cut out your entrails, or something.”
“So the guy who did that to my uncle really was Santa?” Caboose gasped. “Mom, why did you lie?!”
“Seriously, is there any other documentation on this ‘great beast’ other than some drunk guy one thousand years ago who said he saw something weird?” Grif asked. “If I say I saw a leprechaun right now, does that mean one hundred years later, people will be talking about the ‘legendary leprechaun of the train station?’”
“Normally I’d agree with you, but… let’s just say my friends and I have a bad track record when it comes to old legends,” Twilight said.
“All aboard for Vanhoover and the Crystal Empire!” the train’s conductor called out, and Twilight looked back at the other group with growing uncertainty.
“Okay. Well, this is it...” she said nervously.
The coming days would be incredibly dangerous for both teams. It was only through good luck that they made it through their adventure on Repertum with minimal casualties, and they’d failed their mission in the end. They couldn’t afford to fail this time, and Twilight couldn’t help but worry about what victory was going to cost.
“I can’t wait until we get to have a ‘We Beat the Mean Freelancer People’ party after we’re done!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
“Y’all stay safe. I’m bustin’ out the good cider when this is over, and I’ll be mighty disappointed if any of you don’ get to have some,” Applejack said.
“One more reason I must survive this!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
Fluttershy nervously mumbled something as Rarity stepped forward with a rack full of bright clothes. “I packed all of you some warm attire. I know they don’t call it the ‘Frozen North’ for nothing!”
“Aw, you made it in my color,” Donut said as he put a big, fluffy pink scarf around his neck. “Thanks, Rarity!”
“It’s so refreshing to know a stallion who isn’t afraid to wear pink! It’s simply a marvelous color and it suits you perfectly, Donut dear.”
“Well… technically it’s lightish-red….”
Rarity tilted her head. “What? That’s not a real color.”
“Yes it is!”
“No it isn’t!”
“Uh, I would know, I’ve been wearing it for years!”
“I would know, I’m a fashion designer!”
As the pair continued to bicker, Simmons looked over at Grif and Sarge.
“Wish I could come with you guys…” Simmons stated.
“Don’t worry, Simmons. Once we’re all back together, we can kill all of the Blues when they’re distracted celebratin’ the success of this pointless campaign!” Sarge said.
“Glad you’ve got your priorities sorted out, Sarge, ” Grif said. “Also, if the Blues were to do the exact same thing, you’d call it a cowardly strategy. If there’s one thing I haven’t missed about you being in charge, it’s the hypocrisy.”
“Your leader gives you hippos?” Caboose asked hopefully. “I wish ours did that….”
“ALL ABOARD!”
With most of their goodbyes said, Twilight and her group started boarding the train. Simmons lingered, turning to his longest friend on Red Team.
“Hey… you gonna be okay, Grif?”
Grif spared a glance in a certain yellow pegasus’ direction, knowing what Simmons was referring to. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“Oh, good… I’d hate for any unresolved mental trauma to affect your field performance!”
“Wow. I’m glad you care so much about my well being, Simmons,” Grif deadpanned.
“Yeah, poor field performance in battle typically results in death, so you’re welcome!”
“Whatever.” Grif made to turn away and join the rest of his group leaving the platform, but hesitated. “See you around… kiss-ass.”
“Yeah, until next time… slacker.”
“Church, can I have a hippo?”
Church turned to Caboose and looked at him with the same calm exasperation as always. “Why the fuck would you even think to ask me that?”
“Red Team’s sergeant lets them have hippos,” Caboose said with a nod.
Church wasn’t sure how to answer. “Okay… I honestly can’t tell whether you grossly misinterpreted something the Reds said, or if Sarge is actually crazy enough to do that. Both scenarios seem equally possible.”
“Either way, I think you owe me a hippo.”
“Ugh, just sit down and stare at the window.”
“I will name him Harry….”
As Caboose seated himself, Church took a look around the rather spacious train car as he listened to the click-clack of the wheels on the track. The only individuals on the car were the Reds, Blues and ponies of their group. Church turned around and found Twilight talking to a member of the train’s staff at the entrance to their car.
“Y’know, I gotta hand it to you, Twilight: I’m pretty impressed that you managed to reserve an entire car just for us.”
The staff pony at the door finished her conversation with Twilight and left, and Twilight turned to look up at Church. “And instructions not to be disturbed by anypony else during our trip.”
“Wow. Fuckin’ Ms. Moneybags over here.”
“Well, it was necessary to get you guys to the Crystal Empire without other ponies catching on,” Twilight explained. “Officially, Equestria doesn’t know about humans yet.”
“Well, what about the ponies from your town?” Church asked. “They seemed pretty used to us.”
“Only after forming a lynch mob that nearly killed you guys and getting a decree from Princess Celestia herself ordering them not to bother you.”
“Touchè.”
With nothing left to be said, Church wandered over to where Caboose and Washington were and sat beside his blue comrade.
“I gotta say, Caboose, I’m surprised you didn’t try to go with Pinkie Pie’s group,” Church said.
“Nah, we decided we needed to take a little break for a while,” Caboose said in a tone that almost sounded normal. “We had a disagreement about some very important social issues.”
Church just raised both of his hands defensively. “Whoa, okay. Pfft. I’m sorry I said anything.”
Meanwhile, Twilight walked past where Simmons and Donut were seated and placed herself in the booth with Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
“As much as I’m a mite nervous ‘bout this whole journey to the North, I am lookin’ forward to seein’ the Crystal Empire again,” Applejack was saying when Twilight entered.
“Yeah, it’ll be cool to visit the empire when it’s not being attacked by an evil king,” Rainbow concurred.
“How ‘bout you, Twi? Lookin’ forward to seeing Princess Cadance and yer brother again?”
Twilight froze when she remembered that she’d be seeing her brother, Shining Armor again. All at once her mind went back to her dream from two nights ago. She heard her parents voices in her head all over again.
Honestly? I hope not. I hope she never finds out she’s adopted….
“Twilight? You okay?”
“Huh? What?” Twilight cleared her head with a few shakes and found Rainbow Dash and Applejack both giving her concerned looks.
“You look like you just took a bite out of a rotten apple, sugarcube,” Applejack said.
Twilight momentarily considered telling them about what she’d learned the night before. After all, she’d told Church, and she hadn’t even known him as long as any of her pony friends. “Oh, I’m fine. Just… thinking about what lies ahead.”
She wasn’t lying. Turning to gaze out the window, Twilight spent the rest of the trip thinking about what she’d say to her brother when they arrived at the empire. Would he even know…?
The opening in the side of the mountain a fair climb up stood ominously before the group of seven. Like the maw of some great beast, the more the three ponies, three humans and one lone android stared at it, the more it seemed to stare back. A worn wooden sign stood just in front of the entrance with the words: “Lower Canterlot Mines”. Another had been unceremoniously nailed to the post just below it, reading: “Danger due to tunnel collapse. Do Not Enter.”
“Soooo, anybody else having second thoughts about this?” Tucker asked.
Rarity sighed. “Of course we’re having second thoughts about this….”
“I’m already on my fifth thought,” Pinkie Pie said. “No, wait! Sixth thought!”
“...but we have to go through with it either way.” Rarity glanced up the side of the mountain where Canterlot was perched miles above them. “Unless any of you feel like scaling the sheer mountain face for hours while hoping not to get spotted by patrols?”
“It sure is… dark,” Fluttershy muttered nervously.
“Eso no es un problema cuando sus ojos tienen la visión nocturna (That’s not a problem when your eyes have night vision settings),” Lopez stated.
“Yer right Lopez, the dark is frightening. Fear of darkness is a basic survival instinct, there’s no shame in it!” Sarge exclaimed. “That’s why we have our helmet lights!”
“No sé por qué me molesto (I don’t know why I bother).”
“Yes, and I have the flashlights Twilight packed for us as well,” Rarity said, opening her saddlebags with her light blue aura and levitating one to each member of their group who wasn’t wearing powered armor.
“Neugh… I think I’m gonna stay here, and y’know…” Grif stuttered, his voice cracking. “Try to… uh… think of an excuse not to come….”
“C’mon Grif, we might need ya!” Sarge exclaimed. “Who else is gonna run the orbital strike beacon out of the city if we can’t disarm it?”
“Sarge, you know I’m not cool with caves!” Grif exclaimed, his voice rising and his discomfort plain as he shifted in place. “You know what kind of shit lives in caves!”
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked curiously. “The only critters that would live in a cave like this are harmless little bats.”
“Don’t say the B word!”
Fluttershy looked up at her orange friend inquisitively. “Do you not like bats, Grif?”
Grif’s only response was the shiver that traveled up his entire body as he held up his arms and shook his head in a childish manner.
“Don’t worry, I communicate with animals, remember?” Fluttershy asked, gently patting Grif on the side. “If we see any bats in our travels, I’ll tell them not to bother you. Would that be okay?”
“You’d better. If any of the fuckers come near me, I’m opening fire!”
With no other ways for the group to delay going into the mountain, the seven of them stepped forward into the dark opening. They walked along through the tunnel for a while, their flashlights illuminating the walls around them. Wooden support beams lined the tunnel, placed there by the ponies that had originally dug it out many centuries ago. Rarity swallowed nervously when they passed a support that had split in two, but the tunnel remained standing. She forced herself to believe it was the work of termites and nothing more.
With one of his trademark ambiguous grunts, Sarge fell into step beside Rarity. “On the topic of creatures living in these caves, what’s the plan if that… ‘beast of legend’ hogwash turns out to be true?”
“Eh. It’s no big deal. We’ve got me!” Tucker said, joining them. “I fought a legendary beast on my quest with the alien. Wasn’t that hard.”
“Wasn’t that because your ‘legendary beast’ was just a dead cow’s skull?” Grif asked.
“What? How’d you know that?”
Grif shrugged. “Gossip spreads fast in our canyon.”
“Well, to answer your question, Sarge, I think that’s exactly why Twilight put Fluttershy on our team,” Rarity said, looking back at her pegasus friend.
With a start, Fluttershy looked around with wide eyes. “M-me?”
“Of course, darling! Your skill in taming dangerous creatures is unparalleled!” Rarity exclaimed, smiling confidently at her friend. “If anyone can deal with whatever lies ahead, it’s you, Fluttershy dear.”
Rarity returned her gaze forward and brought out the map of the caves as the group came to their first fork in the tunnel. Rarity knew that generally, whichever path was headed up was the one they wanted to take, but there was no harm in being sure. She didn’t notice the beads of sweat forming on Fluttershy’s forehead as she chewed her lip nervously. And as she picked a path and started down it, she didn’t hear Fluttershy’s tiny whimper.
It was well into the afternoon when the train pulled into the station at the Crystal Empire’s edge. Everyone in the group—pony and human alike—were in awe of the tall crystalline obelisks comprising the city. They were translucent like glass, but Twilight knew they were hard as stone. When the train came to a stop and ponies in the other cars started getting off, Twilight told the rest in their group to wait.
It was only after the rest of the ponies on the train disembarked and left the platform empty that a member of the Crystal Guard entered their car. Twilight was initially thrown off by the fact that the armored stallion was not a crystal pony, but an orange pegasus with a blue mane and tail. She figured he must have been one of her brother’s lieutenants from Canterlot brought in to train the Crystal Empire’s soldiers in modern military tactics. For all the good they’ll be. The soldier seemed momentarily taken aback at the sight of Washington, Church, and the other humans, but quickly regained his stoic guard’s composure.
“This way,” he said, clearing his throat awkwardly.
The group of ponies and humans followed the single armored pegasus out of the train and around the platform to the back of the station where more guards—actual crystal ponies this time—were waiting with a few carriages with blackout curtains. Twilight had made sure to contact Princess Cadance the night before, informing her that they were coming and that secrecy was of the utmost importance.
Not only did she want to make sure nopony saw the humans who didn’t know about them, but Project Freelancer had at least one unicorn in their ranks already. She didn’t want to risk any potential spies reporting their movements to the enemy. It was only a couple of days ago that Twilight had distrusted her beloved mentor for going to such lengths to keep her involvement with humans a secret. The irony was not lost to Twilight in that moment.
After everyone climbed into a carriage, it was a dark, quiet and leisurely ride to the center of the empire’s capital. The group was let out beneath a large tower-like castle that stood raised on four girders, completely covering a wide open square. Strategically placed guards blocked off several streets leading to the square, ensuring that no one saw the group entering the castle. Simmons and Church stopped to study the large heart-shaped stone floating in place between two vertical crystal pillars in the center of the square.
“What the hell’s that thing?” Simmons asked.
Twilight glanced at the object of their fascination and smiled. “Oh, that’s the Crystal Heart! It’s a magical artifact used to protect the empire and spread love and hope across Equestria.”
“Aww…” Donut cooed.
“Eugh. You could’ve just said it was ‘totally fucking lame’ and saved us, like, ten seconds,” Church said.
“Yeah. Why is everything in this place always a heart or a rainbow?” Simmons asked.
“What’s wrong with rainbows?” Rainbow Dash asked, giving Simmons an indignant glare.
The orange pegasus guard shushed the argumentative group and urged them forwards, casting a quick glance around the square’s perimeter. After entering a door in one of the large girders, the group climbed a winding crystal staircase before arriving in a grand, open hallway. Their host was waiting with several other ponies of the Crystal Guard. The pink alicorn princess with a mane and tail of violet, rose, and gold streaks smiled warmly when the group approached.
“Hello, Twilight!”
“Princess Cadance!” Twilight ran forward with a huge grin on her face.
The pink alicorn moved forward to meet her halfway, and together, the old friends danced in place as they recited their foalhood chant.
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” The two of them completed the dance by shaking their posteriors at each other and in no time at all were laughing like a couple of schoolfillies.
“Okay, two questions: Who the fuck are you, and what the fuck did I just witness?” Church asked.
Twilight looked back at the A.I. with abject horror before directing an angry glare his way. “Church! That’s no way to speak to royalty!”
“Let alone my wife,” another voice added itself to the conversation. A muscular unicorn stallion with a white coat and a blue mane and tail entered the hall from a side entrance. He gave Church a scrutinizing glare.
“Awkwaaaaaard...” Caboose said quietly.
“BBBFF!” Twilight exclaimed, rushing forward to embrace him.
“Hey, Twily!” His ire forgotten, the stallion caught Twilight in an affectionate hug and held her close. “You have no idea how good it is to see you safe. We were all so worried when we first heard about your disappearance weeks ago.” Shining glanced behind him. “Weren’t we, Mom and Dad?”
Whatever Twilight was about to say next died on her lips at the sight of the next two ponies to enter the room. Smiling widely at Twilight was her mother and father.
Her father, Night Light, was the first to put a hoof around her. “How’ve you been, sweetie?” he said with one of his winning smiles that seemed to glow as much as his blue coat.
After kissing her head and rustling Twilight’s mane a bit (which she hated on account of how much time she spent making sure every individual hair was perfectly aligned) Night made way for his much more worried wife. Twilight Velvet practically glomped the younger Twilight before she could so much as say one word.
“Your father and I were so worried about you!” Velvet exclaimed as she held an increasingly flustered Twilight tighter. “Are you okay? Are you hungry? Are you hurt? Traumatized?”
“If I’m hurt, it’s because I can’t breathe right now,” Twilight’s voice came out muffled from within her mother’s tight embrace.
Twilight Velvet was getting along in age, but her gray coat was still smooth and pristine, and her two-tone purple and white mane still full. Her youthful energy was made apparent by the speed at which she suddenly pulled herself back and grabbed Twilight by the face, squishing her reddening cheeks together as she carefully scrutinized her.
“You don’t look too bad. Oh, but you have a little smush on your face….” Velvet began gently rubbing at something on young Twilight’s left cheek.
“Wha… what are you guys doing here?” Twilight finally managed as her mother relentlessly fussed over her.
“Well, when you first disappeared without a trace, Mom and Dad wanted the whole family to be together during such a hard time,” Shining Armor explained. “Since Cady and I are kinda swamped with our duties to the Empire, Mom and Dad decided to visit us here!”
“We were supposed to head back to Canterlot a couple of days ago, actually, but all of the trains going there shut down for some reason.” Night Light gave another one of his winning smiles. “Oh well, I’m not going to complain about a little extra vacation time. Especially now that the whole family’s together!”
“Well, it would be nice to know what’s going on at the office,” Velvet said.
Although Twilight was glad her parents weren’t in danger with the rest of Canterlot, her mother’s comment had her growing concerned that a certain uncomfortable topic might be raised before she was ready. The fact that her mother was the Head of Foal Services in Canterlot made her wonder….
As Twilight continued to be subjected to parental embarrassment, the pink alicorn Twilight had addressed as Cadance said her hellos to Applejack and Rainbow Dash before turning to Church and the armored humans beside him.
“So you must be the aliens that Twilight mentioned in her message,” she said, looking curiously at the group.
Twilight removed herself from her parents’ clutches, hoping to reclaim some of her dignity.
“Yes. Everyone, this is my sister-in-law: Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” she said, gesturing to the pink alicorn with a hoof.
“Twilight, you know I prefer just ‘Cadance.’”
“Wow, so pink!” Donut squealed happily.
“Don’t you mean ‘lightish-red?’” Simmons asked dryly.
“C’mon, Simmons. That’s clearly pink!”
“I would still like to feed one of these horses a rainbow carrot…” Caboose added.
Ignoring them, Twilight gestured to the white unicorn stallion next. “And this is my big brother, Captain… er, Prince Shining Armor.”
“Hey there, uh… sorry about the whole ‘who the fuck is this’ comment about your wife,” Church said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. “Are we cool? Or should I start picking out real estate in your dungeons?”
Shining Armor smiled. “Oh, don’t worry. I don’t throw people in the dungeons for offending my wife.” His smile then took a turn for the mischievous. “If Cadance is really offended, she’ll come up with something much more creative.”
If an A.I. was capable of sweating, Church would have done so. “Noted.”
With that said, Twilight next introduced her parents, then the Reds and Blues in turn, giving her family little bits of information about each of them and their roles in her recent adventures.
“...And this is Agent Washington, formerly of Project Freelancer. He helped me return to Equestria the first time I went to their planet. As I understand, he’s since been working with Princess Celestia to ready Equestria’s military for war against his old program.”
“Which brings us to why we’re here,” Washington said.
The royal couple exchanged an uneasy glance. “Yes, we’ve received reports from Princess Celestia about a week ago describing an alien threat to Equestria, and warning us to be ready,” Shining Armor explained.
“I assume it’s this ‘Project Freelancer’ that you mentioned?” Cadance asked.
“Yes. I can brief you in full on the situation, but we have a specific objective to accomplish while we’re here.”
“That’s right,” Twilight said, taking over for Washington. “The key to beating Project Freelancer is in some ruins in the North, and after thorough research, I believe the Crystal Empire has a book that can lead us there.”
Cadance nodded. “I’ll give you clearance to access the archives. Even the restricted sections where King Sombra kept his research.”
Twilight couldn’t help but notice the way Cadance’s wings twitched in a way that resembled a cold shiver. Still, Twilight could see the logic of searching there. The remnants of an incredibly advanced alien race was definitely something that would have interested Sombra.
“In the meantime, I can gather my generals in the war room for Agent Washington’s briefing,” Shining suggested. “Who knows? Maybe he can help us create a new training regimen for the troops like he did for Celestia.”
“Oh! I can help with that!” Simmons said.
“Okay, I’ll join you as soon as Twilight and her friends are set up in the library, love,” Cadance said, giving her husband a little peck on the cheek before turning to lead Twilight and those accompanying her to the archives.
“Mind if RD an’ I catch up with ya later, Twi?” Applejack asked. “We’ wouldn’t mind gettin’ some fresh air after travelin’ all day.”
“No problem, Applejack.”
As everyone in the hall began to go their separate ways, Twilight lingered. Shining Armor was standing with Washington, giving orders to the orange pegasus stallion that guided them there. Her mind raced as she thought of a hundred different ways to broach the particularly uncomfortable topic plaguing her mind with her brother… if she could even call him that. And then there were her parents.
“You okay, Twily?” Night Light asked.
Twilight had been thinking about telling both of her parents about what was on her mind, but seeing them standing there looking at her with concern, she found herself unable to. Maybe she’d be ready later.
“Actually, I was thinking… maybe we can have dinner together as a family tonight?” Twilight said, giving her parents a smile.
“Why, that’s a great idea, Twily,” her mother said. “It’ll be just like old times!”
“Hey Twilight! Hurry up! C’mon, you’re the one who knows what we’re looking for!”
Twilight saw Church standing at the end of the hall. The others had already filed out, but he and Cadance remained to wait for her. In turn, Velvet and Night Light glanced back at Shining Armor, who had been talking quietly with Washington and Simmons as they made to leave through another door.
Night Light cleared his throat. “So, seven?”
Twilight tried to give her father a smile. One way or another, seven o’clock would be the time she learned the truth. “Looking forward to it….”
“So, how good’s your nose been lately?” Silversteel asked as he and Sunny stood on the side of the road in the middle of the opulent crystal city. The pair were facing the entrance to the aptly named Crystal Cafè, carefully observing the patrons on the outside patio.
“Well, I’ve been able to distinguish between each of the different perfumes and colognes the ponies use here, so I’d say it’s about average. Why?” Sunny asked.
“We’re meeting someone here representing the CO of the Whitewater regiment we’ll be working with,” Silversteel explained. “My contact instructed me to identify them by the fact that they’ll be drinking a special imported drink most ponies hate.”
Sunny raised an eyebrow. That was certainly a complicated way of getting in touch with your future boss. Was this level of secrecy normal for Whitewater? Sunny doubted it very much, and had a feeling she knew the reason. Regardless, the white mare turned toward the cafè and started sniffing. However, she spotted what they were looking for before she smelled it.
“You think this person’s drinking something ponies hate because they’re not a pony?” Sunny asked.
When Silversteel gave her an inquisitive look, Sunny just gestured her head toward the back of the outdoor cafè. Sure enough, sitting at a table in the shadow of the building was a lone griffin, quietly looming over a steaming cup. Tall and muscular, the griffon must have been about a head taller than most ponies. It had equipment and attire to indicate they weren’t exactly a city dweller, and had a certain rugged edge in its appearance.
“He certainly looks the part, doesn’t he?” she asked.
“I was gonna say something about profiling, but….” Silversteel gave the air a few sniffs. “He’s definitely drinking Eastmarch ground coffee. Bleugh! Don’t know why griffons like that stuff….”
The two of them stepped onto the patio and made their way to the griffon at the back.
“Mind if we join you?” Silversteel asked, taking a seat across from the griffon before he could even answer.
“You must be the latest hire out of Freeport,” the griffon said, and Sunny realized it was female. The griffon then looked at her and scowled. “This is a serious job we’re pulling here. You should’ve left your marefriend at home!”
Sunny glared at the griffon with an indignant snort, but Silversteel came between them before things could escalate further. “Whoa, whoa! Easy. Sunny’s ex-military, like me. We go waaaay back. She’s cool.”
The griffon scrutinized her for a few more brief seconds before shrugging. “As long as she can take orders and hold her own in a fight, fine. The more the merrier.” Leaning back, the griffon finally elected to introduce herself. “Lieutenant Graywing. Silversteel, right?”
The stallion nodded. “So, any word on our quarry?”
Silversteel had told Sunny about the exact nature of their job, and she had a bad feeling about it. She had a pretty good idea about the identity of the group of ponies they were going after.
“I don’t have confirmation yet, but just an hour ago, a few high-profile carriages moved from the train station to the palace. Guard escort and everything,” Ms. Graywing said. “My instincts tell me it’s them.”
“There was a private car on the train we arrived on,” Silversteel seemed dumbstruck. “No shit! We must’ve been riding with our targets!”
Turning to look down the street, Sunny looked up at the impressive blue crystal spire towering over the entire city. She felt pretty good about the others’ safety from these mercenaries as long as they were inside, but it didn’t hurt to probe for more information. It was, after all, the whole reason she’d tagged along.
“The Crystal Palace is well defended,” she convincingly mused. “It’s gonna be hard to get at them while they’re in there.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Graywing said, dismissively waving a talon. “They won’t be staying in the palace for very long. Our employer is certain that the targets are heading north into the Old Kingdoms.”
“The Old Kingdoms?” Silversteel exclaimed. “What in Tartarus are they doing there? You know the rumors about what lives in that place.”
“Pfft. I don’t put any stock in some lame-o pony fairy tale,” Graywing scoffed. “As a matter of fact, the rest of the company is already set up over there. We didn’t encounter any problems but the freaking cold.”
Lieutenant Graywing took another sip of her foul-smelling griffon coffee before she continued. “Your jobs will be relatively simple: Stay here and keep an eye on the palace. You’re both earth ponies, so you’ll be more inconspicuous. As soon as you see the targets leave, report to me and I’ll fly ahead and alert the CO. He’ll be waiting to ambush them with the rest of the company.”
“Seems simple enough…” Sunny said calmly, but inside, her mind was racing. There had to be a way for her to either warn them about the ambush, or keep the rest of the sellswords from finding out when they were coming.
“Oh yeah, you should know that our employer will be there as well. Said she wanted to personally see that things go smoothly,” Graywing said, giving Sunny the perfect opportunity to fish for more information.
“So, out of curiosity, who is our employer?”
Graywing gave her an unamused look. “Look, I know you guys must be curious, especially with what we’re gaining from this, but let the CO deal with the employer,” she said. “To be honest, I don’t really know who she is myself. Nobility, if I had to guess. She certainly acts the part.”
With a shrug and a dismissive wave, the griffon continued. “Anyway, once your job’s done here, head on up north and meet us. Map’s in the hotel room.”
“Okay,” Silversteel nodded.
“And give yourself a buffer between the targets when you go, I don’t want them to get wise to us if they see you following them.”
“Okay! This isn’t our first rodeo, you know!”
Graywing eyed them levelly as she stood to leave, her puffing white and brown feathers the only thing betraying her annoyance. “If we complete this job, we’ll have the equipment to outclass every fighting force in the world. I wanna make sure you dweebs don’t screw this up!”
Rainbow Dash and Applejack continued down the street, each carrying their fair share of unique goods from the empire. Applejack held a basket of various crystal fruits, and was curious to see how they stood up to her own family’s wares. Rainbow seemed to have grabbed whatever caught her fancy, including a novelty jousting helmet much like the one she wore at the Crystal Fair.
“So where do ya reckon we should go next, RD?” Applejack asked.
A growl from the pegasus’ stomach was her answer. “I wonder if they have a Burger Princess here?”
“The empire’s been lost in time fer a thousand years, so don’t get yer hopes up.”
Rainbow just groaned and looked around for a decent looking place to eat. A flash of movement in the corner of her eye as a winged figure took off drew Rainbow’s attention to a cafè across the street. She wasn’t sure why, but the flash of color on the fringes of her vision sparked an imperceptible sense of familiarity within her. But when Rainbow scanned the Crystal Cafè, she saw nothing but strangers.
“You wanna get something here?” Applejack asked, following Rainbow’s gaze to the cafè.
She gave the crowd of patrons another glance before returning her attention to Applejack. “Nah. Just… thought I saw someone….”
Rarity and the others tried to focus on the pictographs etched on the cavern’s walls, but the constantly flashing light and incessant beatboxing proved to be far too distracting.
“Pinkie, please. You can pretend we’re at a rave later!” Rarity groaned.
Pinkie Pie stopped strobing her flashlight and froze in place with her tongue partway out of her mouth as she stopped herself mid-beat.
“Sorry!”
Now with nothing but the helmet mounted light provided by Tucker, Rarity was able to get a clear view of the crude carving on the wall. It depicted what appeared to be a large serpentine creature with wings and a head that looked vaguely avian. Featureless ponies were etched all around it, dwarfed by the monster’s size.
Just beyond the ominous carvings was an especially large entryway where the cavern opened up significantly. It was much too dark to see very far ahead, however, one object stuck out. What appeared to be a statue of an earth pony stood in the center of the tunnel, facing the dark opening. The statue’s mouth was wide open, its face a twisted visage of terror.
With an uneasy breath, Rarity glanced down at the map Twilight had provided. If she was reading it right, they were right at the entrance to the heart of the mountain. A few other paths snaked around the giant cavern. Rarity thought that despite the detour they would provide, the much smaller tunnels seemed like the safer option.
The problem with that plan became apparent when the rest of the group came back from scouting the other routes.
“Well, it looks like every other route this way is blocked,” Sarge reported, followed by a “Si” of affirmation from Lopez.
Grif and Fluttershy came over from the other way, looking equally disheartened. “Yeah, cave-ins blocked off everything this way,” Grif said. “Well, no use trying to go any further. We did our best everybody. What’s important is that we tried.”
“Great. It looks like we’ve got no choice but to go through the massive chamber with the unsettling pictures and creepy statue in front of it,” Tucker noted, completely ignoring Grif’s laziness-induced defeatism.
“B-but… if there’s a great beast in there, it could just be waiting to gobble us up!” Fluttershy exclaimed.
“Mis sensores de movimiento detectan ningún movimiento (My motion sensors detect no movement),” Lopez reported. “Por otra parte, sólo va a comer aquellos de ustedes con carne real, así que no me importa de cualquier manera (Then again, it’ll only eat those of you who have actual flesh, so I don’t care either way).”
“Good thinking Lopez! We could send in a scout to determine whether it’s safe,” Sarge said, his eyes drifting toward a certain orange private. “We’ll need someone expendable, preferably with a strong odor to draw it out….”
“Fine! I’ll go! Anything to get us moving out of this cave,” Grif said, taking his first annoyed steps into the vast cavern. “Dumb monster’s probably fake anyway….”
The others watched as Grif made his way into the cavern and disappeared around a dark corner, the light from his helmet growing fainter the further he walked.
“Quick! Maybe if we collapse this passage, it’ll open up another one somewhere else!” Sarge said before being shushed by the others.
The cavern was so quiet that they could hear Grif’s miserable muttering even when he was far away.
“Stupid caves haven’t had anything interesting for hours. The sooner we find our way out, the sooner I won’t have to deal with any more….”
Silence suddenly reigned in the cavern ahead. The others waited and listened for a few tense moments.
“Um… Grif?” Fluttershy called out. “Are… are you okay?”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Before the others knew it, the light from Grif’s helmet was rapidly getting brighter. The rotund orange man raced toward them, screaming.
“OH GOD!!!!! RUN AWAY!!!!!! IT’S EXTREMELY SCARY!!!!!”
Grif tripped before he reached the others and landed in a puddle with a squelch. The others ran to his aid immediately (much to Sarge’s insistence that it was already too late for him and that they should move on).
“Grif, what happened?” Rarity asked, scanning the darkness for signs of his assailant.
Now a trembling wreck on the ground, Grif pointed a shaking finger up. The others slowly followed where he pointed, looking up just in time for something to come flying out of the darkness.
A swarm of ordinary bats no bigger than a pony’s snout fluttered by overhead, much to Fluttershy’s delight.
“It’s okay, Grif. These little guys are harmless,” Fluttershy said raising a hoof to allow one to land on her. None of them did, however. They just kept flying past her as fast as their wings could carry them.
“Wow. I know you’re scared of bats and all, but don’t you think you overreacted just a little?” Tucker asked.
“I-it’s not the bats….”
“Huh. The little fellas sure are in a hurry,” Sarge noted.
“They’re probably just late for Bat-Fest,” Pinkie said as if it made perfect sense. “I hear they have some good panels this year! I like the one about screeching.” Pinkie was quickly shushed by the others as she started doing her best bat impression.
Fluttershy held one of the smaller bats in her hooves and looked down at it with concern. “Oh dear, it looks like something really spooked them.”
Suddenly feeling very uneasy, Rarity returned her attention to the vast darkness of the cavern. She realized she could feel the faint presence of gemstones all around them, and came up with an idea. Lighting her horn, Rarity reached out to each of the hundreds of gems within the vast cavern and called upon a basic illumination spell she sometimes used to make some of her dresses appear to glow. The gems lit up one at a time, the dim, multicolored glow slowly making its way toward the other end of the cavern.
Looking carefully into the far, unlit area of the cave, Rarity saw what she had initially assumed to be the far wall begin to move. As more of the gemstones lit up from her spell, a wall of scales began to reveal itself on the far side of the room. Slowly, the ponies and humans present looked higher on the scaly, moving wall until they saw a pair of large, leathery wings. Finally, what appeared to be the head of a giant rooster swiveled to face them, and the creature roared with an ear-piercing shriek, revealing a round mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.
“What… the fuck….?” Tucker stuttered.
“Is that a… cockatrice?” Rarity asked breathlessly. “But it’s so big….”
“Just like my… dick...” Tucker trembled, his mind-numbing terror not enough to stop him from annoying Rarity through her own mind-numbing terror.
“That’s not just any cockatrice,” Fluttershy said, trembling. “Th-that’s a king basilisk cockatrice; they’re supposed to be extinct!”
“Clearly overhunting and deforestation didn’t finish the job…” Sarge said, raising his shotgun and cocking it confidently. “Fortunately, causing total extinction is what mankind does best!”
Rarity couldn’t even comment on how nonreassuring that remark was as the king basilisk roared again and charged forward.
“Today is a good day to annihilate another species!” Sarge proclaimed before charging to meet the monster, screaming heroically.
With an electronic swish, Tucker activated his energy sword and sighed. “Why couldn’t it be another dead cow?”
Tucker ran after Sarge, and with some hesitation, the others followed suit.
“Found it!” Caboose exclaimed, holding an old, leather-bound book (or hopefully, bound by something resembling leather) with unfamiliar words on its cover.
Church looked away from the bookshelf he was searching and sighed. “You’ve said that eight times in the past minute alone. That one isn’t even written in a real language! Just a bunch of gibberish!”
It was at that moment that Twilight walked by, looked over at Caboose, and smiled widely. “Oh, hey! You found it!” Twilight took the book in her magical aura. “Good job, Caboose.”
“I like helping.”
“Here, have a cookie. You’ve earned it, buddy!”
“Oh my God, YES!” Caboose caught the chocolate chip cookie tossed to him by Twilight and shoved it under his helmet.
The precious book levitating beside her, Twilight walked past Church as she made her way to the door leading out to the main section of the library. “And for the record, this is not gibberish, it’s Old Romaneian: the most commonly spoken language amongst the earth ponies before Unification.”
As Twilight opened the door and let some light into the otherwise dimly lit room full of books, Church took a glance at the shelf where Caboose had found Recolta Bogada.
“Huh. Right between Mysteries of Mind Manipulation and Unlocking the Werewolf Gene. This Sombra guy had some weird hobbies,” Church mused before following Twilight out of the room along with Caboose and Donut.
The bright, cavernous halls of the Crystal Empire’s central library was like a breath of fresh air after the oppressive dark of the restricted “Sombra” section. Church didn’t miss the way the two crystal ponies guarding the entrance wasted no time in sealing it with multiple locks once they were all out. Indeed, there was a certain unsettling nature to the darkness that permeated the room, making the walls seem to close in on them during the hours they were there.
Church forced those thoughts from his mind as he joined Twilight at the large round table in the center of the main library. Caboose and Donut wandered off to see what else they could find. With Rainbow Dash and Applejack out, and Washington and Simmons lending their assistance to the empire’s military training, that left Church and Twilight alone with the important book.
“So… explain to me how this book is supposed to lead us to the Forerunner ruins when we can’t even read the writing?” Church asked.
Twilight just gave him an eager smile as she reached into her saddlebags and pulled out several papers and another book. “Arcane Star had the sense to include a guide in his secondary sources for translating Old Romaneian.”
Spreading out all of the materials on the table in front of her, Twilight brought out a quill and got to work. She spent the first few minutes translating the title just to make sure the book was, in fact, Recolta Bogada. Once she was satisfied that it was, Twilight opened the book and began the translation process in proper.
“So, how long do you think this’ll take?” Church asked.
“Depending on where in the book the ruins are mentioned? Anywhere from one hour to several.”
“Damn. Any way I can help speed this along?”
“I suppose you could help with the translation,” Twilight said, thoughtfully tapping her chin. “I could show you how. It’s not actually that difficult. Just time-consuming.”
Twilight was interrupted by a grumbling in her stomach.
“Sounds like we should hope for the ‘one hour’ option if you wanna get some dinner,” Church noted. “I gotta say… I don’t envy having a flesh and blood body. Not needing to eat gives me time to… oh wait, I guess I don’t really do anything else. Huh. I wish I could eat a steak….”
However, while Church rambled, Twilight had frozen in the middle of writing part of a translated word. “Oh right… dinner….”
“Yeah, in hindsight, I guess not having a real body would be more beneficial to you, since you actually do stuff.”
“What am I gonna do…?” Twilight said at barely a whisper, her eyes growing big and worried.
“Well, I’m pretty sure they’ve got food somewhere in this place. Or… are you on a certain diet or something?”
“I’m having dinner with my family, Church!” Twilight exclaimed, looking anxiously at him.
“Yeah? Great. I mean, I’d be offended they didn’t invite me, but, y’know… can’t eat food.” Seeing just how distressed Twilight looked, Church suddenly remembered a conversation they had the previous day. “Wait, by family, do you mean… your parents?”
Twilight gave a solemn nod, and the library was silent. At least until its doors swung open and two sets of hooves echoed through the vast room. Rainbow Dash and Applejack walked in, each carrying a paper bag that smelled of greasy fried food.
“Hey guys, you won’t believe it! The Crystal Empire has a Burger Princess!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed around the hayfries in her mouth. “Applejack didn’t think there’d be one, but I had faith.”
“Clearly I underestimated the big city chains’ need to expand their soulless, processed franchise,” Applejack said with a hint of bitterness.
“Eesh, you having vinegar with your hayfries, Applejack?” Rainbow Dash asked as she and Applejack sat down at the table across from Twilight and Church. “Also, did you forget that you’re eating this ‘soulless garbage’ too?”
“Well, it is only one bit fer a Princess Meal….”
It was only as the pair ceased their bickering for long enough to open their respective bags of fast food when they noticed Twilight’s unusual silence.
“Twi? Somethin’ wrong, sugarcube?”
“No!” Twilight answered quickly with a smile she hoped looked convincing. A deadpan stare from Applejack indicated otherwise. “Yeah….” Looking at each of her concerned friends, Twilight sighed. “I have something to tell you.”
Twilight described in as much detail as she could remember the dream she had the night before.
“...and what’s more, I’m having dinner with them soon! I want to know the truth, but I… I don’t know if I’m ready for it.”
As she looked at her two pony friends deep in thought about what she’d just said, Twilight couldn’t help but wish Rarity or Fluttershy were here. They were usually better with this sensitive stuff.
“Well… shoot. I’m sorry, Twi. That’s a heck of a situation,” Applejack said.
“Well, who cares if you’re adopted anyway?” Church asked. “I mean let’s be honest, you turned out pretty good. That probably means your parents were doin’ something right.”
“It’s not just the possibility I could be adopted. It’s that my parents were effectively lying to me for my whole life! You’d think they’d have told me by now….” Twilight glanced down at the book on the table in front of her and said quietly, “I wonder if I should just cancel? Tell them I’m too busy down here. I mean, finding these ruins is kind of a priority. I can just wait to talk to my parents until after this is all over.”
Applejack put her forelegs on the table and leaned over to look her friend right in the eyes. “Twilight… yer parents are a very important part of yer life. Trust me: ya don’ wanna take ‘em fer granted until it’s too late. If you put off this talk now, who’s to say you won’t keep puttin’ it off in the future? An’ if ya do that, there’ll be a wall between you and them that’ll push ya apart until… until the day they ain’t around no more.”
Twilight thought about it. She rarely spoke with her mom and dad anymore as it was. She’d always convinced herself that she was too busy with her studies, but a part of her wondered whether she could have made more of an effort to see them. She remembered missing them terribly when she first started at Celestia’s School. How the princess herself ended up tucking her in and singing a lullaby for her as a filly when her mom could not. Yet, now they rarely even entered her mind.
“Yeah, not only that, but I know that not knowing the truth is gonna drive you fucking crazy for the rest of this trip,” Church added, glancing down at Recolta Bogada. “You said that translating this stuff wasn’t hard, so why don’t you let us take care of it while you take care of the stuff with your family?”
Trying to maintain a strong façade, Twilight nodded and gave them all a smile. “Okay. Thanks, guys.”
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Tucker screamed as he charged across the massive cavern toward the towering king basilisk cockatrice, energy sword in hand.
The monster merely lowered its head to Tucker’s level, directing a pair of glowing red eyes his way. All of a sudden, Tucker’s charge began to slow as the bottoms of his legs lost their color. Tucker forced himself forward, extending his energy sword as far as he could in an effort to gouge out the creature’s eyes. His body went completely gray before that happened, taking on a stone-like texture. The energy sword fell from from his frozen hand, winking out as it hit the ground.
“Wh-what the fuck?!” Grif exclaimed, firing wildly at the king basilisk with his BR and forcing it back a few steps. None of his shots seemed to do any lasting damage, though; his constant trembling didn’t do his accuracy any favors.
“Don’t look in its eyes!” Fluttershy cried out. She’d been meaning to do so since the fight began, but she had to spend time psyching herself up to raise her voice. “That’s how it petrifies its prey!”
“Don’t worry, I’ve already worked out a solution!” Pinkie exclaimed, pulling a cloth out of nowhere and tying it tightly around her eyes into a blindfold. She then proceeded to blindly grope her way across the cavern.
“How are we supposed to fight it if we can’t see it?” Grif asked, his head now fully turned away from the great cockatrice as he continued firing blindly at it.
“Oh, that’s easy!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, turning around. “Marco!”
The giant cockatrice roared loudly, and Pinkie turned in the monster’s general direction.
“Marco!”
Sarge, meanwhile, grunted with disapproval. “‘Don’t look in its eyes?’ Now see here, missy: looking in yer opponent’s eyes is a crucial part of any battle.”
“But aren’t you always wearing a helmet?” Rarity deadpanned.
“You can learn a lot from looking in yer opponent’s eyes,” Sarge continued as if Rarity hadn’t spoken at all. “It’s also a way to say to yer opponent: ‘I respect you as a warrior’, right before shooting him dead and tea-bagging the shit out of his corpse! Observe!”
Loading his shotgun, Sarge strode right up to the towering king basilisk and looked directly up at it. “Hey, buddy.” The leviathan looked down at Sarge in mild surprise, who glared directly up at it. “Yer about to get….”
Sarge froze up and turned to stone the second his eyes locked with the giant cockatrice. For its part, the monster actually seemed surprised at this development. Evidently, it wasn’t used to having its victims willingly petrify themselves like that.
“Marco!” Just behind the king basilisk, Pinkie Pie walked snout first into a stalagmite, falling back on her rump with a yelp.
With another roar, the cockatrice charged toward its next target, (knocking over the petrified Sarge in the process) and Lopez soon found himself running the other way.
“Hijo de puta!”
Fluttershy happened to be standing right in their path, and with a shriek, took to her wings and dove to cover behind the nearest boulder. Fluttershy took a moment to carefully peek over the top to confirm that the king basilisk was still chasing Lopez before she heard a dainty gasp beside her. Fluttershy turned to see Rarity crouched behind the boulder next to her.
“Oh, um… sorry, Rarity. Was this your boulder?”
“Coming through! Scooch! Scooch!” Grif vaulted the boulder the two mares were taking cover behind; an impressive feat considering his mass. Soon, the overweight human in orange was huddled up on the ground between the pair of ponies. “How the fuck are we gonna stop that thing?”
“Polo!” Pinkie’s voice echoed across the cavern. “Oops, I mean: Marco!”
Rarity just looked past Grif at the terrified pegasus. “Fluttershy?” The pony in question looked back, her yellow coat seeming to turn paler. “Now’s as good a time as any to use that special talent of yours!”
“Yes, um…” Fluttershy looked around for a bit, hoping to find an alternative. “...yes.”
With no other choice, Fluttershy flew out from the cover of the boulder and slowly approached the giant rampaging cockatrice.
“Um… excuse me, sir?” When the creature didn’t acknowledge her, Fluttershy cleared her throat and tried to be louder. “Sir! Could you please stop attacking my friends?” She then noticed who the creature was currently chasing. “And acquaintances?”
The cockatrice made no indication it heard her, merely jumping up and stomping down on top of a hapless Lopez. “Aye aye aye!”
Building up as much courage as she could, Fluttershy flew straight toward the king basilisk and gently tapped it on the shoulder. Fluttershy now had the monster’s attention, and she quickly looked down to avoid its eyes.
“Um, l-listen. I n-need you to stop hurting my friends right now!” Fluttershy said firmly, trying her hardest to look the cockatrice in the eye.
She tried to remember how she’d felt when the smaller one had threatened the Cutie Mark Crusaders back in the Everfree Forest so long ago. She tried to call upon that impotent rage that had driven her to enter the staring match with the cockatrice and win. She couldn’t do it this time, though. Every time she thought about using her Stare, her thoughts traced back to a more recent event in the Everfree. Whenever she tried to focus her rage into her eyes, she only saw her own furious face in the reflection of a domed helmet, and she remembered other events. She remembered critters fleeing in terror from her at the Grand Galloping Gala. She remembered reducing two of her best friends to tears after taking a minotaur’s seminar.
The monster cockatrice let out another deafening roar, and the sheer force of it shook Fluttershy from the air and sent her crashing down toward Grif and Rarity.
“FISH OUT OF WATER!” A still blindfolded Pinkie Pie leapt onto the cockatrice’s tail, holding it down and keeping the monster’s attention away from the trio hiding behind the boulder.
“I can’t do it, I-I just can’t do it!” Fluttershy whimpered.
“Of course you can, dear. You told me you out Stared a cockatrice before,” Rarity said encouragingly. “This one may be bigger, but that shouldn’t matter. Nothing can stand against your Stare!”
“But I can’t do the Stare anymore!” Fluttershy wailed. “Ever since I saw for myself what it looks like, it’s like… something’s stopping me every time I try it,” Fluttershy looked down and saw her reflection in a puddle. She wasn’t sure whether the water was trembling, or if she was. “Every time I use the Stare, it’s like… letting out a monster inside me. The same monster that escaped at the Gala. That said terrible things to you and Pinkie. I… I don’t want to let the monster out again!”
“Bullshit!” At Grif’s sudden outburst, both of the other ponies looked at him. “Everyone has a monster inside them. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Even you?” Fluttershy asked, looking at the usually relaxed orange man with uncertainty.
“Of course! You’ve seen what happens when I get angry: I went straight for the jugular in my argument with Sarge the other day. Yeah, it wasn’t pretty, but it was… it was me.” Grif hesitated and looked down. It seemed he wasn’t too proud of that side of him, either. “But that’s just the thing: that shit is only a part of me. You know that the real me is a cool, relaxed guy that a lot of people misidentify as ‘lazy.’
“And I know the real you is a sweet, kind, amazing person who’ll even help out an asshole like me when he’s down. Showing an uglier side of yourself every once in a while isn’t going to change that!”
Fluttershy looked at Grif and for the first time really wished she could see his face. She didn’t need to see it though. His words were enough.
She wouldn’t have had much time to look anyway, as with a flap of its leathery wings, the king basilisk cockatrice flew over the boulder the three of them were hiding behind and landed beside them. It slowly turned towards them, dropping another large stone. It was Pinkie Pie, who was frozen in the act of removing the blindfold from her own eyes with a look of triumph on her face. It would seem she got so wrapped up in her game she forgot they were fighting a dangerous monster.
The human and three ponies turned to run the other way, but a single bat fluttered past Grif’s face. With a shriek, Grif tripped and landed flat on his face. Wrapping its serpent-like tail around him, the giant Cockatrice dragged Grif toward itself.
“AAAAAAAUGH!” Grif screamed as the cockatrice lifted him up and tried to look him in the eye, but Grif covered his visor with his hands and squirmed away. “FLUTTERSHY!!!!! You’ve gotta try to do it! If you don’t let out that monster inside you, then this one will fucking eat me!”
As she watched the giant creature toy with her friend, Fluttershy felt the familiar sensation of hot rage boiling inside her. She looked around at the others who’d been petrified by the great cockatrice and let them create more anger inside her. Her brow lowering, Fluttershy took off and flew straight toward the monster again.
“You! Look. At. Me. Right now!”
The cockatrice froze, slowly turning to the little pegasus hovering beside it. Fluttershy didn’t flinch away this time, opening her eyes wide and unleashing her furious Stare right into the eyes of the cockatrice. Even as she started to lose feeling in her hind legs, Fluttershy kept Staring.
“You are going to un-petrify all of my friends, and when you’re done, you’re going to go back to your corner and go to sleep, or so help me you will be in a world of pain unlike anything your tiny chicken brain can imagine!” The numbness climbed up her back to her neck but Fluttershy only moved closer. “I am going to put the fear of Celestia into you so bad that you won’t even be able to have a single impure thought without remembering my judging glare! Now, are you going to unpetrify my friends, or are we going to continue this? Because believe me, I will continue my Stare even while I’m completely encased in stone!”
The cockatrice kept defiantly staring back, but reversed a little to gain some breathing room. Fluttershy’s vision started to fade as the rest of her head started to grow numb, but she kept her Stare going. Just before darkness swallowed her up, Fluttershy saw the king basilisk blink.
The next thing she knew, Fluttershy was on the ground feeling sore all over. A chorus of pained groaning echoed around her and when she looked around, Fluttershy saw each of the other ponies and humans getting up off the ground, no longer in stone.
“...Sarged!” Sarge sat upright with his shotgun raised before looking around. “Dammit.”
Looking off to the side, Fluttershy saw the king basilisk cockatrice asleep in the corner, exactly like she’d told it.
“Ugh, dude… I haven’t been stoned like that since college,” Tucker said. “Am I right?”
“Wait, you went to college?” Grif asked.
“Maybe. I don’t think so….”
Fluttershy nearly jumped out of her skin as she was suddenly crushed in a big fluffy hug.
“Omigosh! You totally saved the day, Fluttershy!” Pinkie exclaimed. “That guy was totally cheating at Marco Polo!”
“Well, I think I’ve had my fill of action for one day,” Rarity proclaimed before rounding on Tucker. “Don’t.” She then pulled out Twilight’s map of the cave network. “Come on, I think there’s an abandoned mining facility about a mile up we can make camp at.”
As the gang began to depart, leaving a softly snoring massive cockatrice behind, Grif approached Fluttershy.
“Listen, uh… I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t tell the guys any of the, y’know… sentimental stuff I said back there,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I kinda have a reputation to uphold.”
Fluttershy smiled. “It’ll be our secret.”
As the five ponies ate around the large, finely polished crystal table of the castle’s dining hall, Twilight remained silent. She was acutely aware of the large crystal chandelier hanging over her head, feeling like it could fall at any moment. It was amazing how something that seemed so fragile, so ready to snap hung just above the family’s heads while they acted like nothing was wrong.
“...Though, probably the most interesting challenge has been trying to reintegrate the empire into modern Equestria,” Cadance continued, having more or less led the dinner conversation thus far between delicate bites of her carrot and celery salad. “Shiny actually came up with the idea to apply for a candidacy to host the Equestria Games this year!”
“See? I do something smart every once in a while,” Shining said, eliciting chuckles from his parents.
Twilight raised an eyebrow at the news. She knew Rainbow Dash would be excited by it, being a huge fan of the games herself. Twilight didn’t make to say anything, though, and simply took another sip of her sparkling soup.
“Twily? Are you sure you’re feeling alright, honey?” her mom asked, nothing but maternal concern in her big blue eyes matching her pearl necklace.
“Yeah, we thought you’d have all kinds of stories from your adventures around alien worlds!” her father exclaimed.
“It was just one alien world, actually,” Twilight Sparkle corrected. “And if I try to tell you about my adventures there, we’ll probably be up all night.”
“Still, mom has a point,” Shining Armor said. “You definitely haven’t been yourself since you arrived.”
“Well, I have been through a lot lately.”
“This is different,” Cadance said, closing her eyes in concentration. “There’s a lot of conflicting emotions going through you right now. The… texture of these feelings and how deeply they’re rooted indicates to me that it’s family related.”
Quietly rueing Cadance’s empathy based magic, Twilight didn’t miss the way both of her parents exchanged a nervous glance. “Twily, you know you can talk to us about anything, right?” Velvet said.
Looking at the worried frowns of each of her family members, Twilight swallowed. This was as good a time as any to act.
“I… there’s this… scene that keeps playing over and over again in my head. I don’t know if it’s a memory, or just a dream, but… I’m a filly. Back in our home in Canterlot. It’s late, and I go downstairs for a drink, and… I hear you guys talking, and… you say that I’m... not really your daughter. That I’m adopted,” Twilight looked up at her parents, and the silence was deafening. She found her voice starting to fail. “Why would I think that? I mean, it can’t be true… can it?”
The silence that met her question pressed down on Twilight with more pressure every second it passed. Twilight Velvet looked at her husband, scowled at the table in front of her, and then spoke in a quiet, neutered voice. “I knew we should have just told her.”
Night Light looked at his daughter pleadingly. “Twilight, honey….”
Twilight looked across the table at Shining Armor, whose expression mirrored his father’s. It was at that moment that Twilight felt a fire rising in her chest, and she started to tremble as she glared accusingly at the white stallion.
“You knew?” she asked, her voice getting dangerously low.
Shining nodded. “I was with them when they first brought you home, but I don’t think I really understood until you went off to study under Celestia.”
Twilight turned to the alicorn beside him. “And what about you? Did you know the filly you were sitting all those years wasn’t actually related to the rest of her family?”
Cadance shook her head. “Shiny only told me after the wedding.”
The chair Twilight sat on was nearly knocked to the floor as she stood abruptly. Tears began to obscure her eyes as the hot rage continued to boil within her.
“Of course. Of course! Clueless, socially awkward Twilight is always the last one to know! It doesn’t matter if it’s about her brother’s wedding or-or the circumstances of her own freaking birth!” Twilight had to stop as she suddenly found it very hard to breathe. After taking a few heavy breaths, she just looked down at the table and realized she’d spilled her drink. “How could you lie to me all this time? Why couldn’t you just tell me?”
“We wanted to tell you, Twilight sweetie, but…” Velvet paused, struggling to find the words. After a reassuring pat from her husband, she did. “After you started your studies with Princess Celestia, the times we got to see you became so few and far between. We had to treasure every moment we got to spend with you, and we didn’t want to spoil it by saying something that would shatter your world.”
“It’s my fault,” Night Light said. “I should’ve listened to Vel….”
“No. We both procrastinated on this.”
Twilight could only stand there, shaking in disbelief as her breaths started coming quickly and uncontrollably. It was like she was having that nightmare all over again. Any minute now she’d wake up and be back in her bedroom. Or in Blood Gulch. Luna would come in at any moment and tell her it was all a dream. But she didn’t. It was real.
Suddenly feeling a wing draped across her back, Twilight looked up and saw Cadance standing beside her.
“Repeat after me,” she said gently, but with a degree of firmness. Cadance put a hoof to her chest and breathed in deeply, and Twilight followed suit. Cadance then released the breath slowly as she pushed out with her hoof.
When Twilight did the same, she found herself calmer, and even in her frazzled state, Twilight made a mental note to remember the technique in the future. Then she realized that each of the others were standing around her.
“Twily, you’re half right: we all should have told you this way sooner,” Shining Armor started, “but you’re wrong about the other half: we’ve never lied to you. Not once.” Shining then wrapped his forelegs around Twilight and pulled her into a warm embrace. “You’re still my Little Sister Best Friend Forever.”
Twilight Velvet joined in, hugging her from the other side. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you this sooner, and I’m sorry if you ever thought it means we’re not really family.”
Night Light joined in next, doing his best to wrap his forelegs around all of them. “We love you with all of our hearts, Twilight. We hope you can find it within yours to forgive us.”
Twilight knew she should’ve been angry. The ponies that had been her family had kept the truth from her for her entire life. It was her every right. However, as all of them stood around her, holding her in tight, loving embraces, Twilight could only think of Applejack’s advice to her earlier in the evening.
“Yer parents are a very important part of yer life. Trust me: ya don’ wanna take ‘em fer granted.”
Returning her family’s hug in full, Twilight felt more tears run down her cheeks. “You’re my parents. My BBBFF,” she sniffed. “There’s nothing to forgive.”
Twilight just sat there with her family around her as they all held each other. Cadance took a step back and let them have their moment, her eyes as glossy as the rest of theirs. The four of them must have remained that way for minutes before they finally and reluctantly started to break away.
“Well… guess we should get back to the food before it gets cold,” Twilight suggested with an awkward chuckle.
With warm smiles the family agreed and proceeded to just that, and for the first time in a while, Twilight Sparkle felt at peace. She forgot all about her troubles with Project Freelancer and the search for the Forerunner ruins. There was only her and her family.
“So, you must have a lot of questions, honey,” Night Light said before turning to look at his wife. “Vel, what was the name of that orphanage we found Twily at?”
“Mmm… Comfy Clouds,” Velvet said after some thought. “It was the one that used to be in Cloudsdale before they moved it groundside to accommodate non-pegasi.”
“Right.”
“So… what made you decide to adopt me?” Twilight asked.
“You mean besides the fact that you’re cute as a button with the chubbiest little cheeks?” Night teased reaching over to pinch Twilight’s cheek.
“Daaaaad, quit it!”
“Well, when you’ve been a foal services worker as long as I have, you can’t help but notice how… inadequate the system in Equestria is,” Velvet said, deciding to be the one to give the actual answer. “Your father and I decided we wanted to do our part to help.”
“You were barely a toddler at the time, and when we saw you, it was just… meant to be,” Night said.
Twilight nodded, before opening her mouth to carefully ask her next question. “And… do you know who my real… who my biological parents are?”
Her parents exchanged an uncertain look. “We… don’t actually know,” her mother answered. “I was able to use my connections in the Foal Services system to try and track them down. It was tough... you were transferred around a lot for some reason. I couldn’t find anything about your biological parents, though. It was so strange. According to the records you just… appeared in the system one day. I thought perhaps you were a doorstep filly.”
Night Light glanced over at his wife and bit his lip. “Your mother and I actually have an… interesting theory about that.”
“Well, you have an interesting theory.”
“When we went in to make the adoption official, Princess Celestia was there. It was under the pretense of spreading awareness of the flaws in the Equestrian Foalcare System - she’d made public appearances at a few other orphanages around Equestria throughout the week. But there was something strange about her appearance at this one. There was way less press, and the whole thing seemed a lot more… casual. Then she saw you, turned to us, and gave her Royal Blessing to our adoption. Told us to ‘take good care of her.’”
“Even as a colt, I thought something was strange about it,” Shining Armor added. “Recently, I’m starting to think maybe she knew… even then. Knew that you would become her protègè and the savior of Equestria.”
“Your father has another theory on what it meant,” Velvet said, before muttering, “Not exactly sure I’m convinced….”
Night Light cleared his throat and Twilight prepared herself for a long story.
“A couple of years before we adopted you, there was an especially big Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot with nobles from all over Equestria. At the Gala, we noticed that Princess Celestia was frequently seen in the company of a noblestallion: Sacred Home, of House Warmblood. You’ve probably heard of them, they’re the most influential noble family in Baltimare. Anyway, he and Celestia were together throughout the evening, even spending some time alone afterwards.
“Now, what you need to understand is that back in the time of pre-Luna’s banishment, it wasn’t unusual for the Princess to take on a… consort from time to time. After all, she’s a pony just like the rest of us. Nowadays, it’s a bit more taboo, but if you’re observant enough, you can tell when somepony she’s ‘friends’ with is something… more.”
“Allegedly….” muttered Velvet.
“He wouldn’t have been the first in recent times. Those very signs were on the wall with Celestia and Sacred Home. He stayed in Canterlot for months at a time over the following couple of years, but he didn’t have his own place. He seemed to be living at the castle. And of course, he was almost always seen in the company of Princess Celestia.
“Then one day, both he and the Princess just disappeared from the public eye. No one heard from Sacred Home since, and Princess Celestia only appeared in public again after approximately nine months.”
Twilight’s jaw slowly started to drift toward the ground. “Nine months…?”
Night Light nodded. “That’s right. Around the same time you mysteriously appeared in the Foal Services system… as barely a newborn foal.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide as she considered the one possibility that could mean.
“Your magical abilities are unlike anything anypony has ever seen,” Night Light said. “Either you’re the daughter of some very powerful unicorns—in which case I don’t see them giving you up—or… there’s more than just unicorn blood in your veins….”
Her every rational thought told her to reject the idea immediately, but then she started to remember her recent interactions with the Princess. She thought about how Celestia had been like a second mother to her all of her life, but did not once before question whether Celestia had treated all of her protègès that way or… if it was just her. Suddenly many of Celestia’s actions over the past weeks made sense.
“It wasn’t for a lack of faith in your abilities that I kept you in the dark, but out of a desire to protect you.”
Celestia brought a wing around Twilight and pulled her closer. With some hesitation, Twilight leaned into the embrace, and all of a sudden she found herself feeling good. Something about this just felt… right. Like this was the way things were supposed to be.
“You see, you’re…” Celestia paused.
Only now did Twilight realize how much that pause had stood out. Like Celestia was about to say something but had stopped herself at the last moment.
“You’re very precious to me….”
Some time later, Twilight stumbled back into the Crystal Empire’s archives in a daze. Church and the others immediately turned to greet her.
“Hey Twilight, guess what? I think we found the Forerunner ruins,” Church said, holding up a piece of paper with the translated text on it. Twilight didn’t see it. Somehow, she couldn’t make sense of the words.
“Twi? You okay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. “Did ya… talk to yer parents?”
Twilight’s mouth opened and closed like a drowning fish before she stuttered, “I-I think… I think Princess Celestia’s my mother!”