Act 1 of 7: Episode 2 of 15: Pawning One's Heart
Adventures always seem to begin in an inn,
after a pint and a lengthy conversation.
Once she'd given her word to the guards that Kavesh wouldn't eat anypony, and that he'd wear a muzzle to prove this fact, Sunkissed Amber went inside the inn to meet up with Ridge Dasher. The gray pony had been joined by Ocean's Sledge once he'd gotten over the shock of hearing they'd managed to “tame” a Ruined, and the dark blue pony immediately took a liking to Moonlight Silence up until she opened her eyes fully and briefly displayed the supernatural flames that betrayed her true nature. She enjoyed showing off what she was to the unsuspecting, but as long as they were innocent they had nothing to fear.
Kavesh was too large to fit through the inn's doors, so he had to wait outside, leashed and muzzled. He would have plenty to see and sniff, as both guards and village ponies kept coming up close to him to gawk. Many of them hadn't seen a live Ruined before, much less one up so close and “captured.” The muzzle itself would have been beyond easy for him to break out of, but here he'd be killed before he could escape. While the ponies were soft, what they lacked in strength and fighting skill they made up with numbers and more magic wood. He was not strong enough to kill them all on his own.
That of course didn't mean he couldn't psyche himself up for later by talking to anypony who'd talk back, whether it be trading verbal barbs with a growl, or by speaking to those who seemed downright curious as to who and what he was. While speaking in pony words infuriated him, in doing so his edge was kept sharp and when he was ready he would see his foes (and all these soft ponies!) dead at his clawed hooves.
“All right, to recap,” said Ridge Dasher as the group sat down at a corner table in the inn's lower floor. “The Dragon's Heart is in a pawn shop...”
“Your dragon will pay for that.” Moonlight Silence said, glancing at Sunkissed Amber.
“You'll have to catch him first, and...” The apricot-colored mare tapped her rear hooves against the ground. “... I don't think you'd want me to hit you again with my rear hooves.”
“You'd never get close.” Moonlight Silence licked her lips.
“I don't need to.” Sunkissed Amber ran a hoof down one of her braids.
“We've got a bag of coins now that most of the trade goods were sold...” Ridge Dasher continued.
Sunkissed Amber held up the small leather bag, bulging with coins. “You'd of thought the ponies here never saw some of the stuff I had. I'd be a rich pony if we didn't need to buy more supplies like food and hiking gear for a trip into the mountains.”
“Speak for yourself, I don't need such things.” Moonlight Silence replied, looking smug.
“We've got a professional assassin in town who can spell disaster for us all...” Ridge Dasher said, pausing to give a passing tavern wench an order for four hay sandwiches and several carrots and potatoes.
“Wait, what?” Sunkissed Amber turned her head to look at Ridge Dasher, who was all seriousness.
“... and we have some unfinished business to take care of, because I'm a part of a planned coup back at the base.” Ridge Dasher finished as Ocean's Sledge joined them at the table with a second bag of coin.
“Wait, WHAT?!” Both Moonlight Silence and Sunkissed Amber said at the same time.
Ocean's Sledge eased himself into a chair. “He's right. Certain mid-ranking members of the Iron Stone Stallion Base have been wanting to... 'take care' of certain higher ranking members, to put pressure on the Commodore to lighten up and begin some much-needed reforms. I'm one of Ridge's allies in the plot, giving his group weapons and armor to... ahem, put pressure on the Commodore. We don't plan on killing them, just remove them from power.”
Ridge Dasher nodded. “We're not merciless killers like some kind of organized crime; we entered the military to fight those kinds of beasts. Ocean here helps me with supplies, and when he comes to the base every now and again he keeps his ears open more than I could. When the time is right, we're going to pressure the Commodore out of his command position. Both me and Ocean decided that it would be best to bring you into full confidence, because the appearance of a serious troublemaker in the village means we need to get out of here fast.”
“What kind of trouble?” Asked Sunkissed Amber.
“His name is Jester's Thorn. He works for the Commodore though it's usually 'off the record'.” Ocean's Sledge said, lowering his head. “Simply put, he's an assassin and a leg-breaker that does what the Commodore wants in exchange for gems. No one knows where the gems go, because they're hard to convert to accurate coin, but he always wants gems. More and more gems, of any kind.”
“If Jester's Thorn finds evidence of a “surplus” of weapons, he'll get suspicious because he knows Ocean's good friends with Blazing Wheel and his ideals. On top of that there's no way he doesn't know that I'm in town. We can hope he's got his own orders and that he'll ignore us while he carries them out, but I know he dislikes me because I'm the 'pet' of Blazing Wheel. I know the Sarge sees something in me, and the fact he is putting forth more effort to train me has got to be annoying him to no end.”
“It looked like he was looking for something. I saw him flying around town on those clockwork wings of his.” Moonlight Silence said. She disliked Jester's Thorn; the stallion had come to her every now and again to ask for this magic chemical or that rare spell claiming “base business” to try to get a discount. She'd been always fairly compensated, but he still made her unliving flesh crawl. He was worse than a sociopath, he was an extremely polite one when he was doing wet work.
“What could he be looking for?” Ocean's Sledge asked. “There isn't much in town. This is a place of farmers, not business ponies or any place the royal family would get involved with directly.”
“I have my guess.” Moonlight Silence muttered under her breath.
“All right, so what's the idea?” Asked Sunkissed Amber.
“We buy a wagon with the combined funds of Ocean's savings and your profit, we load the wagon with weapons and gear, and we escape without Jester's Thorn getting involved. You said the Dragon's Heart was in the pawn shop...”
Moonlight Silence rolled her eyes. “It's in the pawn shop. The...” She looked at Sunkissed Amber harshly. “Brat put it out in th' open as th' sun was rising. Nopony knows it's there and ah figure that anypony inquiring into it will be remembered by Jester's Thorn if he goes in and asks around for 'unusual activity.'”
“All right, new plan.” Ridge Dasher didn't miss a beat as the wheels in his head clicked and he switched from train of thought to train of thought. “I'll 'convince' one of the merchants to part with a wagon using Ocean's funds. You get the Dragon's Heart and we'll meet by the north gate and escape under darkness. I don't want Jester's Thorn getting our scent any more than he already has.”
Their food was brought to them and after Ocean flipped the wench a few coins as a tip, they dug in and remained silent for several minutes. Sunkissed Amber ate quietly, just turning over things in her head, while Ocean's mind was awash in different potential outcomes that he was trying to come up with counters for. Moonlight Silence of course did not need to eat physical food, and Ridge Dasher helped himself to her hay, stuffing his muzzle like a glutton. He hadn't eaten much at all since the attack by the Ruined.
“I think he would have done something about you already, if he didn't have anything else to do.” Ocean's Sledge replied. “Meanwhile, what's with your friend here? She didn't touch her food.”
“I'm not their friend, dearie.” Moonlight Silence's stripes faintly rippled through her coat and she gave him a low, feral smile.
“Well, what's your story?” Ocean's Sledge was truly ignorant. “You wouldn't be following these two around for no reason.”
“I have my reasons, dearie.” Moonlight Silence was in no mood to talk. So many ponies in one place made her nervous and the longer she stayed here the more of a chance somepony might somehow might get a deal on the Dragon's Heart. “I gave my word, and I will keep it.”
“Try and keep it without killing Gleam.” Sunkissed Amber said between mouthfuls of hay.
The lich shot her a look. “All right, all right. Killed, no. Inconvenienced... on the other hoof...”
“Well, I want to know. You're obviously not from around here, you're trying to hide an accent.” Ocean's Sledge prodded.
Moonlight Silence locked eyes with Ocean's Sledge, and her supernatural green pupils opened up, the orange fire coating the entire eye. Ocean's Sledge went rigid as the lich held his gaze.
“Fine. You asked. But don't say I didn't warn you.” Moonlight Silence began, as Ridge Dasher moved to stand in front of the table, to try and conceal her eyes from anypony looking in their general direction.
The fire in the lich's eyes flickered just a little, almost hypnotizing the earth pony. “I was born two hundred and twenty years ago in a village that no longer exists. My family was moderately wealthy and had set an arranged marriage between myself and a noble stallion with military honors known as Steel Ironhooves...”
Ridge Dasher's eyes snapped open in surprise and Ocean's Sledge tilted his head in surprised confusion.
“I see the two of you know your history, then.” Moonlight Silence said, giving them both a knowing look as Sunkissed Amber looked first at Ridge Dasher and then at Ocean's Sledge. She was completely in the dark here; being a farm pony with duties and jobs to perform didn't leave much time for the study of military history.
“... He had everything my family wanted, and he himself was rather a handsome stallion, so I didn't complain.” Moonlight Silence continued, as Ocean's Sledge opened his mouth to say something but closed it again, the fire in the mare's eyes keeping him rooted to the spot.
“He gave me everything I would have wanted. Affection. Material wealth. A small militia to defend my mother's home. Honor to the family name. We were both happy as the required years passed before we could get legally wed and thus solidify ties to each other's families.” She looked away for a moment. “Unfortunately it was all a lie. He never loved me, not one day in the many years we were together before the marriage was supposed to formally happen.” Moonlight Silence pawed the ground briefly, almost digging a divot as long-buried emotions started coming to the surface.
“He was seeing not one, not two, but three other mares at the same time, attempting to get all the local big families under his control while each remained ignorant of the others. He was discovered eventually, but instead of doing the honorable thing and coming back to try... try and make some part of it right by marrying me and sticking to one mare, he fled! He left me at the altar of the gods... gloating about it from a safe distance so I couldn't wring his thick-brained neck!”
Sunkissed Amber tried to put a supporting hoof on the mare's shoulder, but the lich shot her a look that froze her blood cold.
“He called me as ugly and worthless as the other mares he was trying to sway and he ran away to raise an army of bandits instead, throwing aside everything his family stood for just for his own amusement. He wanted to take us all into political confidence and then ruin our families from within!” Her words were wavering now as she was resisting the urge to cry. Ocean's Sledge blinked a few times, trying to shake off the hypnotic effect of the fire in the lich's eyes. He could almost swear that there were those shapes and images in it, depicting her story.
Moonlight Silence's stripes began to fade into sight as her accent began to return and her rage was evident. “He left me alone, had taken it all from me. Ah was heartbroken. Mah family name was already damaged when others in th' family turning ta darker magic. Ah joined them in rage, wanting ta teach him a lesson he'd never forget! He ended up betrayed by th' very brigands he'd hired, and th' other mares in his attempted politics caught up ta him instead. He died before ah could give him what he deserved... and ah will not stop until his descendants suffer the same heartbreak of having victory snatched out of their mouths! Dearie, he needs to see what his actions did, and his descendants will deliver the message!”
Ocean's Sledge shook out of the hypnotism as the lich's coat was now fully striped. “That's... really petty.” He said, unimpressed.
Moonlight Silence scoffed at him. “Ah. Don't. Care. Ah didn't learn ta bend death itself just ta be told how petty it is.”
“So who's the target?” Ridge Dasher asked, sitting back down as the fire faded from Moonlight Silence's eyes.
The lich snorted. “Your high an' mighty Commodore. And no, ah'm not going ta help ya in ya little mutiny. They're out for bigger fish, and ah'm going ta use that fish ta lure them into a trap from which there will be no escape. It just so happens that his path and Amber's here...” She looked at Sunkissed Amber with a feral glare. “... cross in Trol'Kyanis. I'll deliver this mare to where she needs ta be, then our alliance of convenience ends. The Commodore wants the Dragon's Heart and I'm not about to let him get it.” Her coat faded back to its honey-gold state and the accent faded away.
“Okay, okay.” Ridge Dasher sat back and processed this, before looking out the window and catching sight Jester's Thorn in the sky. The gray pony quickly pressed himself away from the window as if to hide. “I'll send a note back with Ocean to take to Blazing Wheel when the Commodore isn't looking. Ocean is welcome on base, he shows up occasionally to sell his creations to us, and he can be discreet when he has to. We'll take the cache and use it on our own quest, because it's not a short journey to the coast. Unless, of course...” He turned to look at Moonlight Silence.
“No, dearie.” Moonlight Silence took pleasure in shooting him down. “I want to lure him and make him expend resources. If we use magic, so will he and he will be at greater strength. Not an option.”
A new voice came from somepony approaching. “The only option you actually have is to do what I tell you.”
Everyone froze as Sunkissed Amber looked up to see a large crimson pony approaching the table wearing a pair of folded clockwork wings. His cutie mark was of a bloodied jester's mask surrounded by rose bushes, and she could see that where the clockwork wings met his back, there were scars. Originally she thought he was a large earth pony, but the scars marked him as a pegasus that had lost his wings, probably in a fight. Unless you knew to look for the scars, they'd be overlooked. His eyes danced with mischief as he helped himself to a seat, pushing himself over Ridge Dasher in order to sit between Sunkissed Amber and him.
“Oh boy, here we go again!” Ridge Dasher said, looking away and rolling his eyes. He'd had several run-ins on base with him, though mostly they were verbal sparring matches versus Jester's Thorn's overconfidence.
“What is THIS thing doing in MY reality? It's icky, send it away.” Moonlight Silence was only half joking as she brought out her accent, her stripes again barely visible across her coat as she growled at him. “Ya don't belong here and ya have thirty seconds ta make yerself scarce before ah decide ta do somethin' about it.” She hoped her accent would jog his memory of all the times he'd tried to kill her in various double-crosses...
“Well, well, well. Look what the dragon dragged in.” Jester's Thorn slapped Ridge Dasher on the back. “Find some new friends, I see?”
“It's still four more friends than you have, Jester.” Ridge Dasher shot back.
“Ah ain't your friend, dearie.” Moonlight Silence smiled, pleased with herself about the fact.
“I wasn't counting you.” Ridge Dasher said with a smile as he glanced at the lich. “I like my friends refined and cultured, like Kavesh.”
Moonlight Silence's eyes snapped open and she was silenced for the moment.
“Who's this?” Sunkissed Amber asked. “An old friend of yours?”
“Oh, we're just good friends...” Jester's Thorn began. “I'm Jester's Thorn, professional sniper, assassin, and ladies' pony. You'll have to forgive Ridge, I get under his skin sometimes.”
“Ladies' pony? Are ya kidding me, dearie?” Moonlight Silence said with a scoff.
“You mean all the time. What do you WANT, Jester?” Ridge Dasher growled. “You're obviously on orders for the Commodore if you're hanging out in a village like this one. I know you think a place like this is beneath you.” It was no secret to the ponies on base that Jester's Thorn and the Commodore didn't like one another but he still worked for him.
“Just like you, Ridge.” Jester's Thorn wiggled his eyebrows. “And everypony else.”
“Why are you here, Jester?” Moonlight Silence growled as her accent vanished again. She was getting tired of bringing it in and out, but if the crimson pony hadn't recognized her accent from earlier, he wasn't going to and stronger... measures... would need to be taken...
“I'm searching for something, and I think you can all help me with what I want.” Jester's Thorn said, ordering a round of drinks for the group. “I'll admit, I didn't expect to see you here; I figured you perished in the Ruined ambush after that caravan's destruction.” His eyes turned to Sunkissed Amber. “Miss Amber, you have something my... employer...” He spat in disgust. “... wants. I can see to it that you're paid quite a bit for it.”
Sunkissed Amber glanced at Ridge Dasher and then at Ocean's Sledge. Both had expressions of 'This is not a pony whose hit list you want to be on.' Unfortunately for them, she was not a liar, nor would she have been a good one if she'd tried. That didn't mean she couldn't lead him on a merry chase first. “I'm sorry, but the Rod of Abstraction isn't for sale. If I tried to wrest it from Moonlight Silence's hooves here I'd only get myself hurt.”
Now it was Jester's Thorn's turn for his eyes to snap open and be silent as he considered this, and Moonlight Silence glared at her, unhappy with the direction the conversation had turned. With a “What are ya getting me into, dearie?” expression, she remained silent.
“I see.” Jester's Thorn said after a minute. “Well, that makes this game interesting.”
“It's not a game. I told you it's not for sale.” Sunkissed Amber replied.
“I'm talking about the Dragon's Heart, girl.” Jester's Thorn's eyes sparked briefly. “Where is it?”
Sunkissed Amber folded her front hooves in defiance. “It's... safe. The expressions on the muzzles of my friends here tell me all I need to know. It's not for sale either, and I don't care how dangerous you think you are about it.”
“I'm patient... to a point, miss Amber.” Jester's Thorn said. “I will get that Dragon's Heart; your cooperation isn't needed. Besides, the Commodore paid for me to take you out, so buying it from you is sort of a moot point, isn't it?”
Ridge Dasher's sighed and looked away. Now they really were in trouble. That was Jester's Thorn's M.O. – to be polite to his targets, to approach them and even buy them a round or two, then tell them flat out he was gunning for them. Jester's Thorn relied on his reputation to get him out of trouble, but more often than not the reputation was deserved. If he was attacked in broad daylight, a swarm of muscle-unicorns would be at Jester's Thorn's call for future revenge.
“You'd better hope your friends, or not-friends as the case may be, are good at protecting you.” Jester's Thorn finished as the drinks were brought. “I always allow my targets to buy out their contracts, though. So you might live through this one yet. You can be my friend by buying your way out via payment of the Dragon's Heart... or you can be my enemy and die at a time and place of my choosing, and Ridge Dasher knows it. He can't stop me.”
Ridge Dasher and Ocean's Sledge exchanged looks. To call out for help in an inn full of ponies would likely just cause Jester's Thorn to run for it and for the base to make the village's life difficult.
“He's not getting it.” Moonlight Silence said.
“And how do you know that?” Jester's Thorn asked.
Moonlight Silence's patience ran out and her eyes fully opened, revealing the supernatural green sheen and orange flames. Instantly the crimson pony recoiled with a look of horror as he recognized the honey-gold mare.
“That's right.” Moonlight Silence said as her stripes slightly shone through like oil on water against her hide. “You remember me now, doncha, dearie?”
With an expression of “How did you wind up with a thing like her!?” on his face, Jester's Thorn quickly left the group with a snarl on his muzzle. This little game just took a sharp increase in difficulty, and Jester's Thorn had to go plan carefully. He had NOT intended to get an old enemy involved, especially one he'd never succeeded in killing in six attempts! As he reached the door of the inn, he whirled back on the group. “Be careful, Ridge. You don't have the... safety net you thought you had.” Another wry smile, and then he was gone.
“What was that all about?” Sunkissed Amber asked.
“He fears his own death, because of where he knows he'll end up.” Moonlight Silence said after a minute, her accent coming out. “He's tried ta kill me a few times for interfering with his local plans. Ah don't consider this village under my protection, but any time he gets involved I tend ta lose... information gatherers.”
“You mean those in thrall to you.” Ridge Dasher almost spat. “If Jester's Thorn threatened me like that, I can only assume...”
“Not all of them.” Moonlight Silence quietly shot back.
Ocean's Sledge finished Ridge Dasher's sentence. “... that Blazing Wheel and those 'in the know' are somehow compromised.” He put a hoof to his face and groaned. “Over before it began.”
“Are we having fun yet? Because I sure am not.” Ridge Dasher groaned.
“So what do we do?” Sunkissed Amber asked. “He hasn't found the Dragon's Heart, which is good for us, right?”
“Well, I can't go back to base now.” Ridge Dasher replied, setting aside his mug. “If Blaz... oh, gods, Silent Rings!” He shivered for a moment, thinking of what Jester's Thorn might do to the lovable doctor pony, then steeled his resolve. He'd gotten into the military to deal with bad types like Jester's Thorn, and if Jester wanted a fight, he was going to get one the likes of which he would never forget, assuming he was found and all the pieces recovered! He was going to look forward to having a Jester's Thorn-shaped muzzle imprint on his shield resulting from the force of a death blow...
“Got something in mind?” Ocean's Sledge asked.
“Okay, we don't really have any other plans. We have to get the Dragon's Heart before Jester's Thorn finds it. As little as I like the idea, I think Moonlight Silence should be the one to get it out of its lockup. Sunkissed Amber can buy our supplies with her profit while trying to locate Gleam, because we're going to need some more muscle besides Kavesh. Ocean's Sledge can shadow Sunkissed Amber and watch for Jester's Thorn, because he's going to want to stay away from Moonlight Silence and might even use Amber as a hostage to get it.”
“I won't let him.” Moonlight Silence said quietly.
“I'll go to where we hid a cache of gear for Blazing Wheel. He can hold his own for now; we have to get out of here and find some better terrain to make him come to us, then we can turn Cra-- Kavesh on him; he's been scratching for some glory in between scratching the fleas out of his filthy hide. With him out of the way we can head for Triple Hooves and onward to the coast.”
“Somehow I don't think this little trip is going to be that easy...” Ocean's Sledge said.
“They never are, dearie. They never are.” Moonlight Silence replied, looking out the window and watching Jester's Thorn fly off, resuming his laps.