//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: A Foul Light Shines // by Karazor //------------------------------// Chapter Seven Arriving at Twilight’s home, Rarity pulled the door of the library open, asking Twilight, “Now, what kinds of important-looking documents do you have here?” The two trotted in, Twilight trying furiously to remember if there was anything like that in the stacks. Spike stuck his head over the railing of the second floor, a quizzical look on his face. “Twilight? Rarity? What are you two doing here? I just heard that roaring noise a couple of minutes ago!” The little dragon craned his head back over his shoulder. “Don’t tell me Rainbow Dash chased ‘em away already, I didn’t even get to meet ‘em!” “Now, Spike, be nice,” Twilight chided. “I’ll have you know Rainbow is on her best behavior.” The lavender unicorn started rifling through some of her stacks of official documents in the government records section. They all looked disappointingly bland, mostly consisting of things like census reports and tax records. “Well… why are you here, then, instead of out there?” Spike asked. “We need documents,” Rarity answered, flipping quickly through a stack of papers Twilight recognized as weather reports that she’d been referring to the day before, when she’d been helping Rainbow Dash. “Papers, scrolls, books, something like that. Something impressive, but not tacky.” “What about the letters you get from Princess Celestia, Twilight?” Spike disappeared back into Twilight’s bedroom, re-emerging a moment later with a roll of parchment in his stubby-fingered hand. “These have seals and stuff on ‘em.” “Oh, let’s have a look,” Rarity said, levitating the paper down and unrolling it so she could look at it. “Oh, my, yes, this is very nice. Celestia’s royal seal, and that gorgeous elegant script. Oh, my, does she really illuminate the first letter of every page? I didn’t think anypony did that for a simple letter, what a delightfully classical touch! Are there more of these?” “Oh, yeah, a whole bunch! Hold on!” Spike exclaimed, dashing back into the bedroom and re-emerging with a handful of rolled-up scrolls. “Oh this is perfect! Thank you, Spike!” Rarity beamed at the dragon, levitating the bundle of papers toward herself. “Anything for you, Rarity…” Spike said, but the white unicorn’s attention had already been directed elsewhere. “Now, I’ve got some ribbons here,” The designer opened a small pocket in her cape that Twilight hadn’t noticed before, levitating out several ribbons, “And I see a few candles that I could use for wax. I’ll make some seals and streamers that look quite impressive, won’t take more than a few moments…” “Do you need my help, Rarity? I’d like to look up a spell really quick, but if you need me…” Twilight trailed off. “Hm?” Rarity hummed, looking up from her work on the letters, “Oh, no, darling, I’ve got things well in hoof here. Go ahead, but this won’t take me long at all!” Twilight nodded, trotting quickly to the magical reference section of the library and leaving Rarity in the throes of creation. The academic knew exactly what she needed, and she thought she remembered where the book in question was. Indeed, she found the book on linguistic spells right away, pulling it off of the shelf and flipping quickly through it. Twilight had decided that being able to understand the humans, with or without their creepy talking skull-things, would probably prove incredibly useful. She located the universal translation spell near the back of the book, and started reading, brow furrowed in concentration. The spell was amazingly complex, but not terribly power intensive. Almost any unicorn could cast it… if they had the fine magical skill, or the proper talent. Fortunately, she did have that level of skill, though this spell was right at the edge of what she could handle at her present level of advancement. She read through the spell several times, to make certain that she fully understood it, before setting the book aside. She closed her eyes, turning her focus inward, and started weaving the spell together. Twilight wasn’t the fastest spellcaster, especially when it came to delicate work like this, but so long as she wasn’t pressured for time there was almost nothing she couldn’t do, magically. The spell formed as a fractal lattice in her mind, glimmering threads of power threading through one another in an intricate dance of energy and thought. She found the process if its formation intriguing; she hadn’t done any linguistic spells beyond the most basic forms before. Twilight found the incredibly complex network of image and concept the spell was creating to be endlessly fascinating, and she had to force herself to finish the spell, allowing it to coalesce around her brain, integrating flawlessly into her speech centers. With the spell in place, she’d be able to understand the speech of almost any creature that used language. It was slightly dangerous; using this spell to interact with beings whose concept of communication worked in ways radically different from her own would put stress on her psyche, but based on her brief interaction with the humans and the reports from Manehattan, she strongly doubted that they were anywhere near that alien. Their facial expressions and body language were fairly close to pony norms, too, so it wasn’t like they were blob-monsters that used scent to communicate, or anything like that. It was really a pity that she couldn’t cast this spell on anypony but herself. The sophisticated, delicate linkages of the translation spell required intimate familiarity with the neural structure it was to be used on; the kind of familiarity that could only come with living inside said structure. Twilight was fairly certain that Rainbow Dash at the least would have leapt on the opportunity to use this spell, and she suspected the other five would be interested, too, to varying degrees. Oh, well. At least Twilight would be able to understand the humans without the aid of translators. She re-shelved the book, heading back to where she’d left Rarity. The white unicorn was right where Twilight had left her, putting the finishing touches on the bundle of letters. They really did look splendidly official now, sporting extra seals and ribbons of varying colors and forms. If Twilight didn’t know that it was just a collection of letters, she suspected she’d be fooled, though it remained to be seen if it would satisfy the humans. She told Rarity so, thanking the designer profusely. She also told Rarity about the translation spell she’d found, asking if the other unicorn wanted to try casting it herself. A spell requiring fine control and a delicate touch should be right up Rarity’s alley. “Hm.” Rarity muttered, as she rolled up the finished “diplomatic credentials” and slid them into a scroll case she’d decorated. “I’d like to, dear, but to be honest, I don’t think we have the time. We need to get back as quickly as we can. Perhaps I could look at it later today?” “Okay, that sounds good.” Twilight said, turning to leave. “Let’s get back, then. Spike! Take care of the library, please!” “Aw, can’t I come al…” The dragon was interrupted by the closing door. “Nuts.” The two unicorns trotted briskly back to the edge of town, trying to hurry without getting themselves out of breath. Rarity didn’t want it to look like they’d been rushing, insisting that the humans would likely take them more seriously if they appeared unruffled and unworried. They paused behind a building just out of sight of the landing area, readjusting their clothing, and calmly walked back into view, glancing around as they did so. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around the human diplomats, unleashing a barrage of questions about what kinds of food they liked, what kind of party games they played, if they had a favorite kind of music, and other things to that effect. The tall, bald human in the back of the group was watching the pink mare with an expression on his face that suggested he thought she was utterly mad, or perhaps possessed. The other humans were mostly ignoring her, only glancing briefly at her as she passed through their line of sight, save for the hunched one in the brown robe, who was evidently striving to answer as many of the bubbly party pony’s questions as he could in a quiet, resonant voice. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, was hovering in front of one of the human guards. Twilight was relieved that at least she didn’t seem to be trying to tease a reaction out of the poor creature as she had with Celestia’s guards, instead contenting herself with trying to peer into the human’s reflective visor. (And evidently not meeting with any success) The lavender unicorn was impressed by the guard’s stoicism; Rainbow had her eyes about half an inch from the hapless creature’s visor, squinting and craning her head through various angles and trying to shade the visor with her hoof in an attempt to see past the visor’s surface, but from all appearances the human hadn’t moved an inch. It had to be funny as heck from the other side of that visor. Twilight and Rarity threaded their way through the crowd, keeping an unhurried pace. As they got closer, they heard a voice speaking to the humans, complete with the metallic echo of a human-language translation from one of the creepy skull things. “And do please forgive my friends; while they hold important positions, they haven’t been well-schooled in etiquette, and their behavior can often be a bit on the uncouth side.” The voice held a strong trace of a Manehattan accent, and was smooth and cultured. Twilight wondered who the heck that mare was; nopony but she and her friends were supposed to be talking to the humans yet, and that voice didn’t sound familiar at all. “That’s quite all right,” Tangro’s light baritone replied, “We have become accustomed to less than perfect manners in our travels throughout the galaxy. Though I must say that your own manners more than make up for the mild rudeness of your friends, Miss Applejack.” Applejack?! The two emerged from the crowd, in time to see the orange earth pony answer in a smooth, Manehattanite voice completely unlike her normal Western twang, “Thank you for your kindness, sir. I confess that my own manners are a bit rusty, but your patience and tolerance is sincerely appreciated. Rainbow, dear, if you haven’t been able to see through that visor by now, you’re not going to.” “Aw, c’mon A.J., I think I’ve almost got the right angle! And why the heck are you talking like Rarity all of a sudden, anyway?” Rainbow glanced over her shoulder at Applejack, catching sight of the returning unicorns as she did so. “Oh, hey, Twilight. Find what you needed?” “Yes! I’ve got it right here!” Twilight answered brightly. Applejack looked back, spotting Twilight and Rarity as they walked up to stand beside her. “’Bout dang time y’all got back,” she growled under her breath. “An’ you owe me one, Rarity. Makin’ me have to talk all citified an’ fancy…” She lapsed into a grumpy silence. Rarity gaped at the farmpony in disbelief for a few seconds. Shaking off her surprise, she then intercepted and drew Pinkie Pie aside as Twilight removed the fabricated documents from her saddlebag, holding them in front of her in a light purple glow. “Here you are Mister Tangro, my credentials, as requested!” The talkative, light-maned human stepped forward and held a hand out imperiously. Twilight had to fight the oddest urge to shy back from him, and carefully set the rolled letters in the human’s extended hand. Why does this one make me so uncomfortable? He’s the smallest in the group, and he hasn’t made a single aggressive move. So why am I so nervous? It was a question to ponder. Maybe the other humans would trigger feelings of unease too, once they started talking. She hoped not. She concentrated on not showing her nervousness, keeping her expression to a simple raised eyebrow as the light-maned human unrolled the bundle. Oooo, I hope this works! The human flipped past the first page, quickly enough that Twilight knew he wasn’t actually reading it. Whew! Tangro looked at several more pages, eyes ostentatiously scanning along the lines of text, though it was pretty obvious he was just making a show of it. Twilight fought back a relieved grin as the human gave a satisfied nod and held the packet of papers out for her to retrieve. The light-maned spokeshuman turned to his dark-maned leader, as Twilight tucked her packet of letters away. “They look solid to my eyes, my Lord, but of course I can’t read a bloody word. I am reasonably certain that this is the one those others were talking about though; supposedly, it speaks for the Sun Goddess or planetary leader. Either this one’s the actual leader and the god is just a myth, or this god-figure is the being Setaron sensed earlier and this is a representative. Shall I bring out the Warrant, and see how impressed they look?” The seneschal had maintained an even, respectful tone despite what he was saying, and Twilight’s mouth nearly dropped open as she listened to his appallingly rude words. The leader, Anderocus, nodded gravely. “Go ahead, seneschal. But don’t try too hard to overawe them; we need them impressed, but not frightened.” Twilight suppressed a shocked look, stunned that the humans would be speaking so frankly in front of her. That was when she realized that the skull-translators hadn’t said a word during the exchange; only the spell she’d cast had allowed her to understand the human language, and they clearly had no idea that she knew what they were saying. She was torn; should she tell them she could understand them, and risk embarrassing them? Should she not tell them, and have to risk them finding out later? After a few moments of mental dithering she tried desperately not to show on her face, she decided to stay silent. She was, after all, supposed to try and learn about the Princesses’ friend, and should the humans prove reluctant to talk about him, being able to understand them when they didn’t know she could might prove to be helpful. Tangro had turned and made a quick beckoning motion toward the shuttle as Twilight wrestled with her indecision. Now two of the flying skull-things came whining out, bearing a large, ornate box between them. They set the case down between Tangro and Anderocus and released it, jointed metallic arms withdrawing into the metal mass that sat where the spine would probably connect in a living creature. Tangro made a great show of undoing the latches of the case, slowly raising the lid and removing a bound collection of flexible, metallic sheets. The short, slight human turned, holding the metallic book out in both hands with a ceremonious air. “Twilight Sparkle, envoy of Equestria, you gaze now upon the Anderocus Warrant of Trade.” Tangro intoned, “Granted to the Anderocus dynasty in the name of the Holy God-Emperor seven thousand years ago by High Lord Theseus of the Council of Holy Terra, this imperishable document grants its possessor power and authority commensurate with a planetary noble. As you can see clearly noted here, we represent the might and the glory of the Imperium of Man, even here outside its vast borders. Where we step, the Emperor leaves his footprints.” Twilight was simultaneously awed by the age Tangro claimed for the book, (seven thousand years?) and amused by the incredible pomposity of his little speech. ‘The might and glory of the Imperium of Man?’ Pff! Full of yourself much? She was beginning to realize that the translation spell made listening to him a bit confusing; she heard everything he said twice, and she suspected that before long the odd echo effect would end up giving her a bit of a headache. She filed away the idea of a God-Emperor; the label was close enough to how Celestia was sometimes described that it might pertain to the individual Luna had wanted her to ask about. Still, the age of the artifact he held was entrancing. She stepped closer, ignoring the intensifying creepy feeling the human caused, and he knelt to let her better examine the metal-leaved book. Like Tangro a moment ago, Twilight was completely unable to make any sense of the writing in front of her, (her translation spell was limited to speech, not text) but the book that contained it was gorgeous. The pages were inlaid with amazingly intricate pictures and writing so tiny it must have required a needle to engrave, all plated in metals and wafer-thin gem slivers. The sheaves of metal that formed its pages were so thin that they bent like paper. It was a work of art as much as a historical artifact, and it took the unicorn’s breath away. She suspected Rarity was similarly entranced, but didn’t want to show disrespect by looking over her shoulder. Twilight forced herself to nod calmly, accepting the remarkable document at face value. Tangro gave a thin smile, straightening and carefully placing the Warrant back in its resting place. The two skulls that had borne it before buzzed down, metal limbs unfolding, and carried the ornate case back into the vehicle from whence it had emerged. Of course, Pinkie Pie could be relied upon to break any somber mood. “Hey! Twilight!” The pink earth pony not-whispered loudly enough that the unicorn was certain everyone in the immediate area heard it, “I gotta go change some stuff for the welcome party! Buy me, like, five minutes! I‘ll pay you back later in cookie-shaped-time!” Pinkie zoomed off, pausing to collect a few confederates from the crowd before galloping back into town. The humans looked a bit taken aback, and Twilight gave them a nervous grin. “So…” she said, just to break the silence, “Now that we each know we belong here, why don’t we introduce our groups?” She pointed out each of her friends in turn. “As I said, I’m Twilight Sparkle, speaking as a representative of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. This is Applejack, who I think you’ve already formally met,” The farmer nodded noncommittally, adjusting her hat, “This is Rarity,” the unicorn bowed, “That’s Fluttershy over there,” Twilight hadn’t heard the yellow pegasus speak a word since the human vehicles had landed, but she wanted to include all of her friends. She squeaked as the humans’ attention was drawn toward her, and Twilight hurriedly continued. “Rainbow Dash is, er, over in front of that guard,” The cyan pegasus was still trying vainly to peer into the beleaguered guard’s visor. She turned when her name was mentioned, grinning and waving a forehoof cheerfully and going right back to what she was doing. Twilight had to try really hard not to facehoof. “And Pinkie Pie is the one that just ran off. She was putting together a party in honor of your arrival, and I guess she needed to change something.” “No need to be concerned,” Tangro replied, with a slight self-deprecating smile, “As I am well aware, one’s majordomo can often focus on their plans to the exclusion of all else. We feel honored that you would plan a celebration for us on such short notice!” He stepped aside, clearly about to introduce his party, but his speech was interrupted, to his evident irritation. The tall figure in the decorated armor standing at Anderocus’s left shoulder had been watching Rainbow Dash and the guard since shortly after the two unicorns returned, and it finally spoke up. “Miss Rainbow Dash,” it called, in a firm contralto voice that sounded slightly harsh, perhaps from age, “Those visors are one-way. No matter what angle you try, you’re never going to see through them.” There was a slight hint of amusement lurking under the observation. “Aw.” Rainbow’s disappointment was clear as she backwinged a short distance away from the guard, who continued to stand stock-still. “I wanted to see if they looked like the rest of you guys under those helmets.” “You could have simply asked.” Twilight decided the guard leader sounded female, and labeled her as such in her mind. “Sergeant, remove your helmet and rebreather, please.” The order was clearly directed at the guard Rainbow had been pestering, and again the skull-things didn’t translate it. Huh. They only translate when they’re talking to us? Twilight mused. “Yes, ma’am.” The guard replied briskly, in a voice that also sounded female, slinging the box-thing she carried over her shoulder and reaching up to remove the helmet and mask. The face that was revealed was subtly different from the ones Twilight could see, though she couldn’t really put her hoof on what precisely the difference was. The creature’s skin was fairly pale, and its mane was cut very short indeed, and was an unremarkable shade of brown, as were her eyes. “Oh, thanks!” Rainbow aimed a grin at the guard leader. She cocked her head, studying the revealed face closely, then moved sideways to hover in front of another guard. She looked off into space for a moment before addressing the new guard. “How did that go…? Uhh… Srr-junt, ruh-mov yrr hll-met and ribreethr, please.” She actually used the humans’ language, coming very close to the leader’s pronunciation. Twilight saw Tangro’s eyes widen as Rainbow mimicked the words the guard leader had used to order the first guard to remove her helmet. This one stayed still, however, and a chuckle escaped from the leader’s helmet. “Nice try, but that won’t work. He’s not a sergeant.” Rainbow cocked her head again, looking at the guard leader thoughtfully. “Hey, could you say that last sentence again?” “He’s not a sergeant.” The alien repeated, echoed as usual by the skull-translator. Rainbow had her eyes shut, and Twilight saw the pegasus’s lips moving silently. After a moment, her eyes popped open again, and she swung back toward the guard she’d addressed unsuccessfully. She hovered a bit higher in the air as she said, “Ruh-mov yurr hll-met and ribreethr, please! Ha!” Twilight was sincerely impressed. It seemed like Rainbow had managed to simultaneously listen to both the translation and the original language, and managed to derive the word she’d needed to subtract to make the request nonspecific. Her accent wasn’t very good, but she was clearly understandable. Maybe including the multicolored pegasus hadn’t been a mistake after all! The guard she’d addressed broke the stillness of the line, turning hesitantly to look to his commander. Receiving a nod, the guard mirrored the sergeant’s actions, slinging the box he carried and removing his helmet. This one’s face was a darker color, light brown instead of pinkish, and its hair was almost black, cut just as short as the sergeant’s. Its lines were more like those of Anderocus, Tangro, and the tall bald individual, and Twilight wondered if the general cast of features she was noticing on the sergeant’s face was characteristic of human females. Anderocus and Tangro seemed to be male, as was this guard… she’d have to see more humans to draw a proper conclusion, but she thought it a solid hypothesis. Rainbow grinned triumphantly, clearly pleased with herself. Tangro cleared his throat, drawing Twilight’s attention back to him. “Yes. Well. Perhaps I should handle our side of the introductions now?” He directed a hard look at Rainbow, who did a little midair flip that ended with the cyan pegasus landing back with her friends, between Twilight and Applejack. Her grin didn’t diminish, and the light-maned human harrumphed. “Very well. As I said before, I am Aleron Tangro, seneschal and chief majordomo to my master, Rogue Trader Perseon Anderocus.” Tangro bowed, and gestured toward the tall, dark-maned leader who had yet to directly address any of the ponies. “This is Commander Seria, leader of Lord Anderocus’s household guard.” He indicated the tall, armored human with the female-sounding voice who’d spoken to Dash. She slammed her right fist against her armored chest, producing a hard thump of impact and bowing slightly. “Behind her stands Confessor Kessar Deumos, an anointed Priest of the Ecclesiarchy and a devout servant of the God-Emperor of Mankind.” The tall, grim-faced bald human in the back of the group inclined his head slightly. He seemed to be staring into space slightly above everypony’s head, evidently unwilling to make eye contact for some reason. “And next to the confessor is Malachai Setaron, chief astropath of the Lux Foedis.” The robed figure didn’t move, but it had to be the individual that Tangro was referring to. Twilight cocked her head, trying to see under the figure’s hood, but met with no success. Tangro gestured off to Twilight’s left, “And finally, accompanying us is Magos Tersiaard of the Adeptus Mechanicus, a high priest of Mars and leader of the Lux Foedis’s tech-priests.” Twilight turned to look where the seneschal had indicated, and nearly jumped out of her skin. The gigantic figure in the red robe was standing not two bodylengths to Applejack’s left, having somehow moved there from the foot of the red vehicle’s ramp without her noticing while Tangro was introducing the rest of his party. It was easily close enough for one of its weird metal limbs to reach out and touch the orange mare. Following either Tangro’s gesture or Twilight’s gaze, Applejack glanced casually to her left, yelped in surprise, and almost fell down in an attempt to leap away from the looming, multi-armed shape. She came close to knocking Rainbow Dash over, too, as the pegasus seemed to be listening intently to Tangro, exhibiting a degree of focus that was somewhat unusual for the athlete and not paying attention to what her friends were doing. How in the world can someone that big move that quietly? Twilight wondered. This close, she could actually see the face underneath the giant’s hood. She almost wished she couldn’t; it was fairly unsettling. The upper part of its face was either a mask or a molded metal skull, with the three asymmetrically-placed green glass lenses she’d been able to see before as eyes. The bottom half was a nightmare mishmash of mandible-like metal tines, pipes, and ribbed tubes, and it really didn’t look like there was room for a face underneath. The overall appearance was so shockingly alien and grotesque that it was almost sickening; it probably would have been sickening if Twilight hadn’t seen the horrible abomination that Hammer N’ Tongs had become only three days before. Applejack’s shock at finding that staring at her from almost within touching distance was easily understandable. Even Rainbow looked a bit unsettled, when she looked to see what had scared Applejack. “Sorry ‘bout that, mister.” Applejack said to the giant, a bit sheepish over her startled reaction. “Ya startled me some.” “I take no offense.” Tersiaard replied. His voice was metallic and echoed, as though he were speaking through a long metal pipe, and pitched remarkably deep. It was also cold in tone, and most interestingly, he didn’t speak through a translator. Creepily, the lavender unicorn couldn’t see any motion underneath the metal mass of its lower face that might have come from a mouth; the words simply seemed to emerge from Tersiaard’s face, in unaccented Modern Equestrian, accompanied by a slight waving of small metal armatures. “Well, it is certainly a pleasure to meet all of you!” Twilight exclaimed. “To the best of my knowledge, you’re the first space travelers to visit Equestria, so welcome!” She grinned again. Her enthusiasm was genuine enough, though Tangro was still creeping her out for some reason, and the giant Tersiaard flat-out scared her a bit. “Hey, is that a mask, like those helmets have?” Rainbow asked the huge figure of Tersiaard, interrupting Twilight again. “I wear no mask.” The cold voice answered, still speaking Equestrian rather than the human tongue. “As is custom for a senior member of my order, I have replaced much of my flesh with the pure metal perfection of the Machine.” The limbs projecting over his shoulders flexed, giving Twilight a good look at the bewildering array of tools at the end of some of them. Many of those tools looked… uncomfortably sharp. “You… replaced your flesh? With machines?” Dash echoed, eyes huge, a trace of fascinated horror in her voice that mirrored what Twilight felt, and echoed what the unicorn saw in Applejack’s face. The pegasus was clearly fumbling for words, and finally settled on, “…How?!” “The mysteries of the Machine are not for the uninitiated to ponder.” The metal figure answered, its metallic voice suddenly dripping with menace without seeming to change its tone. Several of the metal arms protruding from his back flexed forward, their heavy crab-like clamps extending threateningly with what looked like lightning crackling along their surfaces. Dash blinked at Tersiaard, taken aback by the response. The three green lenses set into the metal face glittered with a cold light as they stared unblinkingly at the athletic pegasus, and Twilight shivered. “Rainbow,” Rarity whispered, “don’t ask him any more questions.” “Ah’m gonna have to agree with her, sugarcube,” Applejack carefully sidestepped to put herself between Rainbow and Tersiaard. Twilight caught motion out of the corner of her eye right before the guard commander, Seria, stepped up next to Applejack in between the pegasus and the multi-limbed giant. “Magos, that’s enough, sir. She didn’t mean anything by it.” Her stance was relaxed, and she had one hand resting casually on her hip, where the handle of a long, slender object hung on her belt. Though the commander had been one of the tallest of the humans to step out of the blue-and-silver flyer, Tersiaard still loomed head and shoulders above her. “The xeno asked a question. I supplied the answer.” The giant said, switching smoothly to the human language, its voice as cold as before. “I will not share the mysteries of my Order.” “I won’t try to compel you to.” Seria replied. “And they won’t either. It was just an offhand question, she meant no insult.” “Perhaps.” Tersiaard’s general body language didn’t change, but it hadn’t changed, at all, since the giant had walked down that ramp. The metal arms did retract a bit, though several of the metallic tentacles extended in their place. Twilight wasn’t sure what she should do; Applejack and Rainbow were both tense, and Rainbow had a look of frightened bewilderment on her face, wings half-flared as though she couldn’t decide whether she was going to have to defend herself or not, looking from Seria to Tersiaard and back again. It was obvious that there was a confrontation of some sort going on, but what had sparked it was a total mystery. Surely, the metal giant couldn’t be reacting this strongly to Rainbow’s simple question! It had been more rhetorical than anything else! “Please step back a few paces, Magos. You’re making them nervous.” Seria’s stance was still relaxed, though Twilight wondered what the thing at her hip was and why she seemed to be making sure Tersiaard could see her hand on it. Tersiaard didn’t move. Twilight glanced at the other humans. Tangro was watching the confrontation impassively, though an odd light glittered in his eyes. Anderocus was clearly masking something, and the priest, Deumos, simply stared straight forward, seemingly ignoring the whole issue. The ten guards had almost imperceptibly shifted their grip on the box-things they held, and though their stance seemed the same, tension crackled in the air around them. The academic managed to catch Anderocus’s eye, giving the human leader a pleading look, hoping he’d do something before someone got hurt. She wasn’t sure that was going to happen, but the huge tech-priest was frightening her, and while Seria seemed relaxed the reactions of her subordinates indicated they were a split-second away from violence. She caught a troubled look in Anderocus’s eye, and he glanced away, looking askance at Tangro. The seneschal didn’t seem to notice, however, so the dark-maned leader cleared his throat, addressing the red-robed giant. “Magos, the Commander speaks with my voice on this. Please step back a short distance, so as not to frighten the locals.” Tersiaard did nothing for a long second, finally taking two precise steps backward. The tension that had built up dissipated almost immediately, and Seria’s hand fell away from her belt. She turned to kneel next to Rainbow Dash, who still looked confused and a bit hurt, and said quietly, “Don’t worry, that wasn’t your fault. Just don’t talk to him for a while and everything will be fine.” Like the Magos, Seria spoke Equestrian without the aid of a translator, but unlike the giant she had a strong, noticeable accent, though she was still easily understandable. Rainbow blinked. “You speak Equestrian? Why are you guys talking through those creepy skulls, then?” She still looked a bit skittish, but her curiosity had evidently pushed past that, a feeling Twilight was well acquainted with. Seria shook her helmeted head, rising. “I’m the only one that speaks this language. The servo-skulls are easier.” Wait, what about Tersiaard? Twilight wondered, he seemed to speak our language just fine! She filed that question away for later, not wanting to push the commander right after she’d helped Twilight’s friend. Seria turned, pacing quickly back to her station behind Anderocus. “Thank you sir, I thought that was going to get really ugly for a second there.” She commented as she passed the leader, switching back to the human language. “Quite all right, Commander. I was starting to get worried myself.” The leader shot a slightly angry look at the seneschal. “Tangro, I’d rather expected you to defuse that.” “I was trying to avoid a show of disunity, Lord.” Tangro answered smoothly. “Just as well, they’ll feel like Seria’s on their side now, and they should respond to her more positively. I can use that.” Seria’s helmet pivoted to point at Tangro. “That’s not why I stepped in.” She said, icily. Rainbow and Rarity were watching the human group carefully, unable to understand what the bipeds said to each other. Twilight wished she could translate for her friends, but she was now doubly wary about revealing to the humans that she could understand their language. She also wished the humans would settle down and stop bickering so she could try and learn what the Princess had asked her to! “It looked to me like the Magos was going to hurt the little rainbow one. I didn’t intend to just stand by while he did it.” “He would have done no such thing.” Tangro scoffed. “I have known Magos Tersiaard for longer than any of you. He’s grumpy, yes. He snarls occasionally. But his priorities are in order, and he wouldn’t jeopardize our efforts to get what we need to fix his precious ship.” Fix the ship? It’s broken, or am I misinterpreting? “You realize he can probably hear you.” Deumos observed, speaking for the first time that Twilight had heard. The tall, bald human had a deep, resonant voice that carried beautifully. Twilight suspected he’d be a remarkable public speaker. “Of course he can,” Tangro replied, acidly. “He could almost certainly hear us anywhere in this field. He doesn’t care. And that’s my point! Magos Tersiaard generally doesn’t care what we do or say, or what anyone else might do or say. Certainly he wouldn’t be sufficiently motivated to become violent over a mild slight!” “And when he killed one of my soldiers for fixing a vox improperly?” Seria asked, a dangerous edge in her voice. “A misunderstanding.” The seneschal waved his hand blithely, “And the man shouldn’t have been playing with that machine anyway.” “Um… excuse me,” Twilight interjected, hoping to find a way to set the humans more at their ease. “I’m sorry to interrupt your discussion, but perhaps we could move to the town square and start the celebration?” The suggestion that the huge ‘tech-priest’ had killed one of his own people over something as minor as fixing a machine worried her seriously, and she made a mental note to keep a close eye on him. “Of course,” Tangro replied smoothly, one of the skulls translating his voice now that he was addressing her. “Please, do lead the way.” “All right, this way, please.” As Twilight turned to lead the humans into town, Fluttershy caught her eye. The yellow-coated pegasus had been completely silent the entire time, saying nothing to her friends or to the humans. Twilight stepped closer to her friend and asked quietly, “Fluttershy, did you want to come to the party with the rest of us?” “Um, actually, Twilight, these humans are a little scary.” The reply was so quiet, Twilight could barely hear it, and she was standing right next to the nervous pegasus. “If it’s okay with you, I was going to go home and check on my animal friends. Maybe I’ll see you later?” “I understand,” Twilight said. “And maybe they’ll be a little less scary once they’ve gotten used to us.” The unicorn heard the echo of her voice emerging from one of the skulls. It made her a little self-conscious, knowing that the humans were hearing her like that even when she wasn’t talking to them. Rarity nuzzled Fluttershy comfortingly. “I’ll come visit you just as soon as I can, dear. I’ll make sure to tell you all about the party!” Fluttershy nodded, big teal eyes peeking out from under her long pink forelock. She unfolded her wings and flew off toward her house, at the edge of the Everfree Forest. The humans were watching Twilight expectantly, so she shook aside her concerns for the moment, and set off in the direction of the town square, where she knew Pinkie had set up the festivities. I hope I bought her enough time, Twilight thought to herself, oh well, she’ll either be ready or she won’t. The human group followed, holding their pace down politely. Those long legs of theirs could evidently propel them at a fair clip, even walking. The guards mirrored their entrance, falling into a column behind the five apparent leaders, and the huge Magos followed at a fair distance, somewhat to Twilight’s dismay. She hoped he would behave himself. Rainbow Dash fell behind the other ponies, flying along next to Commander Seria. “Hey, uh, Seria, right?” The helmeted head swiveled to look at the pegasus. “Yes, assuming you’re talking to me.” She was still speaking the human language, as Twilight could hear the echo from one of the translator skulls. “I just wanted to say thanks. For, you know, talking that big guy down.” Rainbow glanced nervously back over her shoulder at the red-robed Magos. “I thought I was gonna be in serious trouble there. I totally could have taken him, though.” “Think nothing of it.” The commander made a dismissive gesture with one hand. “I don’t think he was actually going to hurt any of you, but I wasn’t sure you knew that, so I just thought I’d step in.” The helmeted head looked Dash over in frank appraisal. “And I wouldn’t be so confident about taking him on in a fight. The Magos is… formidable.” Wait, that’s not right. Twilight thought, overhearing the conversation behind her. She said just a few seconds ago that she was worried that he was going to hurt Rainbow! The lavender unicorn wondered why the human had just lied to her friend. Worse, she’d lied really well. It just made her even more uncomfortable, knowing what the humans were saying to each other. But… isn’t that just what they’re doing? Their skull things have translated everything we’ve said, even when we weren’t talking to them… “Well, thanks anyway.” Rainbow continued. “Sure made me feel better. What ticked him off, anyhow? I’d just asked him a question!” “The Mechanicus like their secrets. They like them a great deal.” Seria shrugged. Her voice turned serious. “You should be very careful when you ask him questions, miss, and what questions you ask. It would probably be better to come to one of us instead, rather than asking him.” “Sure thing!” Rainbow said, beaming. “So, if I want to know something, I should ask you?” “You could, of course, ask any of us, miss Rainbow Dash,” Tangro put in smoothly. There was a sour grunt from the tall, bald Deumos, and the seneschal added with a thin smile, “Except perhaps Confessor Deumos, he’s a bit grumpy. Any of the rest of us would be glad to enlighten you… providing of course that you’re willing to answer our questions in turn.” “Oh, uh, thanks!” The cyan pegasus sounded a bit discomfited, and Twilight wondered if Rainbow was getting the same weird vibe off of Tangro that was creeping her out. “I’d be glad to! Twilight’s better if you want questions answered, though.” Twilight mostly tuned the conversation out, as Rainbow started asking Seria about the vehicles the humans had arrived in, with Tangro butting in occasionally. While the discussion was interesting, it wasn’t immediately relevant, and they’d nearly reached the town square. Twilight glanced around, making sure everything seemed in order. Except… she could see several clouds in the sky, off to the west. She had specifically asked Rainbow to make sure the day was cloudless, and she knew for a fact that the pegasus had passed that instruction along to her team. She cleared her throat. “Rainbow Dash?” “Yeah?” Rainbow looked at Twilight, clearly a bit annoyed that the unicorn had interrupted her conversation. Twilight jerked her head meaningfully, trying to draw her friend’s attention to the clouds without actually mentioning them, but Dash (being Dash) didn’t catch it. “What? You got something stuck on your horn?” Dash squinted slightly, looking at the unicorn’s horn, but obviously not seeing anything there. Twilight sighed. “No, Rainbow. Look up in the sky.” The pegasus complied, gazing up with a puzzled air. Finally, she realized what she was seeing, and her rose-colored eyes narrowed. “Aw, drat. I told the whole crew to keep it clear. Assigned quadrants and everything so nopony would get overloaded!” She made a frustrated noise and covered her eyes with a forehoof for a moment. “I guess with me down here and Nimbus on night shift, somepony decided it’d be okay to slack. Be right back.” She flapped her wings hard and shot away in a prismatic blur. Applejack snorted, muttering, “Well if that ain’t a case a’ the pot an’ the kettle, I don’t know what is.” Rarity snickered. “Pardon me,” The voice was Anderocus’s, echoed by a skull. “What had her rushing off in such a hurry?” Twilight glanced back over her shoulder at the human leader. “Oh, it was nothing major. We’d planned on having a nice, cloudless day for you, but it looks like there was a bit of a mix-up. Rainbow’s taking care of it now. And she isn’t really in any particular hurry, she always goes that fast, it’s just her thing.” The human’s dark eyebrows went up, and he looked at the sky as the clouds began to disappear. He blinked a few times, eyebrows still raised, a thoughtful look coming over his face. The other humans seemed largely uninterested, save for Magos Tersiaard at the back of the group. His head was lifted, glittering green lenses clearly watching intently as Rainbow Dash swiftly cleared the clouds away, and the unicorn could see his head moving slightly as he tracked the pegasus’s movement. She suppressed a shiver. That level of attention couldn’t be good. Twilight’s attention was snatched away from the metal giant by a sudden musical fanfare. Balloons in various bright colors drifted up, and several pegasi scattered bags of confetti from the sky. “Hello, everyone, and welcome to Ponyville!” Pinkie Pie’s voice rang out. Several firework rockets streaked upwards, trailing sparks and smoke and exploding with sharp cracks that made the human guards look around warily. A huge banner hung across the street, reading “Welcome!” in much neater writing than Twilight had ever been able to coax anypony into managing when she was putting a festival together. (Not that Twilight was jealous or anything.) Cheerful music rang out from where a familiar-looking group of musicians had set up. Pinkie was standing in the center of the square, wearing a top hat and carrying a conductor’s baton tucked under her foreleg. Oh, no. Twilight though, frantically, Nonononono, she’s not going to sing, is she? We talked about this; no singing, not even if the castle is sinking into the swamp, whatever the heck that means! That almost-war with the buffalo was enough! Her concerns proved to be unfounded. Pinkie waved her baton, held crooked under her forehoof, at various parts of the village square. “We’ve got games, treats, music and dancing allll ready for you! You can play pin-the-tail-on-the-pony, which you may not have played since you don’t have tails, so it’ll be fun and new! It’s super easy to learn, and I bet you guys’d be the best at it! There’s bobbing for apples, and horseshoes and ring toss and races and all kinds of other stuff, and if there’s a game you want to add, just tell me and the pink pony’ll get ya set up!” Pinkie grinned and winked, tipping her hat. “If you don’t feel like playing, there’s a dance floor right there, with the bestest musicians in the country ‘cause I got my sister to bring her band in from Canterlot, and they can play all kinds of music!” At Pinkie’s reference to her sister, a gray-coated earth pony with an elegantly-groomed dark mane and striking purple eyes paused in her bass-playing to give a short bow. Several ponies had already taken station at the dance floor, and were cheerfully stepping through a classic line-dance routine. “Aaaaaand if you’re hungry, and who wouldn’t be after flying down from space, I mean, really,” Pinkie continued, “there’s a whole bunch of tasty treats, fruits, vegetables, candy and baked stuff, all fresh and I can personally say they’re all delicious.” The pink mare tossed a cupcake into the air, catching it in her mouth and chewing with exaggerated gusto. Or maybe it wasn’t exaggerated. Twilight heard a couple of amused chuckles behind her. Pinkie smiled widely, bright blue eyes sparkling. “And if there’s anything you can think of that I forgot about, just let me know! Have fun!” Anderocus bowed, smiling politely. “Thank you, Miss Pinkie Pie.” He turned to his retinue. “Gentlemen, ladies, standard social drill. Mingle, be polite, and don’t give too much away if you can avoid it.” There were noises of generalized affirmation, and the human group broke up smoothly, suggesting long practice. Confessor Deumos planted himself at the entrance to the square, driving his staff into the ground and standing stiff-backed, the grim expression still set on his face. Anderocus himself drifted toward the snack tables, Tangro tagging along behind, with two of the guards following. Seria wandered toward the dancing floor, watching calmly as the ponies danced, her arms folded behind her. The guards broke their unified column, slinging the box-things they carried over their shoulders to free up their hands, and going off in pairs to wander around the square. Tersiaard stayed in the street, still watching Rainbow Dash clear the last of the clouds away from the western horizon. Twilight shivered again, resolving to keep the athlete away from the metal giant as much as possible. She didn’t think Dash would put up much of a fight about it, either; she’d seemed genuinely frightened by Tersiaard’s sudden hostility. It would probably be a good idea to have somepony keeping an eye on the Magos, and she started thinking about who would be the best choice. The flying skull things went off in various directions, one at the shoulder of each of the human leaders, one accompanying each pair of guards, and Twilight was startled when one buzzed down to hover at her shoulder, and two more took station next to Rarity and Applejack. Applejack headed for the games area on her own. Twilight started to follow Anderocus as Rarity already had, reasoning that the humans’ leader would be where her attention should be focused, when she saw the stooped, brown-robed human looking around as though lost. The lavender unicorn stepped up to him, trying to remember his name, which was a bit difficult since he’d barely spoken since exiting the blue-and-silver flying machine, and hadn’t drawn any attention to himself. It came to her just as she opened her mouth to speak to him. “Mister… Setaron, isn’t it? Are you all right?” The hood swiveled toward her, revealing a leathery, aged-looking face with a kind smile. “Oh, I’m fine, thank you. I just haven’t been to any social events in a very long time, and I find myself somewhat at loose ends. I’m not sure what I should be doing.” Twilight’s stomach lurched as the human’s brown hood slipped back a bit, revealing the rest of his face, including his eyes. Or rather, where his eyes should have been. She gasped, “Oh, my goodness! Are you hurt? Do you need a doctor?” “A doctor?” The human’s brow wrinkled over the empty pits of his eye sockets. “No, I feel quite fine. Why? Is something amiss?” Twilight felt a sick pang, as the human unintentionally (she devoutly hoped) came very close to quoting what the daemon-possessed Hammer N’ Tongs had said to her three days ago. She fought back a brief spike of terror, swallowing a few times before she regained her voice. “I w- was talking about your eyes.” “Ah, I see. If I may make a small joke.” Setaron smiled again. “No, there’s nothing wrong. My eyes have been gone for a very long time. Most of my life, actually. I hardly even miss them, these days.” Twilight realized that Setaron wasn’t bothering her the way Tangro had, despite the unsettling lack of eyes in his face. Anderocus and Seria hadn’t either. She wondered briefly why the slender seneschal put her so on edge. “What happened? If you don’t mind my asking.” “I-” The eyeless human hesitated frowning. “I’m actually not sure what I should tell you.” He cocked his head, looking thoughtful. “I don’t see what it could hurt, but…” Twilight’s curiosity was well and truly piqued. “I’ll promise not to tell anyone else, if it’s something embarrassing.” “Oh, it’s not embarrassing, it’s just…” Setaron trailed off. He shrugged. “Oh, well, what could it hurt for you to know? I’m an astropath. I use my powers to relay messages between ships, worlds, what have you.” “What kind of messages?” Twilight asked. “All kinds, really. Hm… do you have a postal service, anything like that?” “Of course! We send letters and packages from city to city, usually carried by pegasi. Oh, and my assistant, Spike, can do something similar: he’s a dragon, and his fire can carry messages back and forth, across great distances.” The local post office was run by a gray pegasus named Ditzy Doo, who had a rather extreme lazy eye. Twilight figured the humans would meet her sooner or later. Perhaps she and Setaron would find something in common . “My function is something along those lines, though I simply send the contents of a message, rather than a physical object.” Setaron paused, tapping his chin with a finger. “Actually, rather than the direct contents, I send the thoughts that make it up. It’s actually quite complex, and difficult to explain.” Thoughts… astropath… “Oh! You’re a telepath, then? That’s a very rare talent, I only know of a few unicorns who have that ability!” She paused, trying to remember what she knew about telepathy. She hadn’t actually met any telepaths before, but she’d read about them. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anypony who had anywhere near the kind of range you seem to be talking about, though. Is that normal?” “It’s… normal for astropaths, yes.” Twilight raised an eyebrow at the evasive answer. “Okay. Soooo… an astropath is different from a normal telepath? How?” “Erm.” Setaron’s head swiveled around blindly. Finally, his shoulders slumped. “Well, honestly, I can’t see why I shouldn’t tell you. Astropaths are soul-bonded to the Emperor; the process greatly increases our strength and sensitivity, and wards us from the predations of the Warp, but in so doing it burns our eyes away. A small price to pay, to serve the Emperor.” The last sentence was spoken in a reverent tone, while the astropath stroked a slender chain he wore around his neck. “The Emperor? Can you tell me about him?” This was the second time she’d heard a reference to an Emperor, and Twilight hoped that might be the person she was supposed to find out about. “The God-Emperor of Mankind. It is he whom all in the Imperium serve, and who wards us from the Ruinous Powers.” Setaron intoned. “Um, no offense, but that doesn’t really tell me very much.” Twilight gave the human an apologetic smile before realizing he couldn’t see it. “Who is the Emperor?” “That is a simple question with a very complex answer,” Setaron replied. “And I’m afraid I am not the best person to answer it. You should ask Confessor Deumos, instead. He is quite well versed in the Imperial Faith.” Twilight looked toward the entrance to the plaza, where the Confessor stood. The human was standing ramrod-straight, his face so grim and hard she was surprised it hadn’t cracked into pieces. “He... doesn’t look like he’s feeling talkative.” “Perhaps later, then. The Confessor can be a bit difficult to approach at times. I could introduce you, if you like…” Setaron was interrupted by the returning Rainbow Dash streaking out of the sky. She slowed down at the last possible instant, touching down lightly in the very middle of the square on all four hooves. It was a very theatrical, attention-grabbing entrance, which was doubtless exactly what she’d been aiming for. Of course, she apparently forgot that the wind she’d brought along in her wake didn’t slow down when she did, so it blew dust all over the square, and many of Pinkie’s banners and streamers were torn away and went flying to parts unknown. Anderocus managed to hold on to his elaborate capes, but Tangro lost one of his, and shot a glare at the pegasus. “Oops. Heh, heh, sorry ‘bout that.” Rainbow chuckled, looking sheepish. “Um… do you want me to go get that for you?” “No, that’s quite all right.” Tangro replied, icily. “I’d rather keep the rest of my clothing, thank you.” He and Anderocus returned to their discussion with Rarity, the seneschal ostentatiously ignoring Rainbow, who drooped a bit at the snub. Rarity caught Twilight’s eye and winked, telling her that everything was going well, so the lavender unicorn didn’t need help smooth ruffled feathers. Dash made her way over to Twilight and Setaron, still looking chagrined. “Hey, Twilight. Hey… uh, robe-guy. Sorry about that; Skyfall had a bunch of screwy formations rolling in from the Everfree, and he kinda got overwhelmed. Took care of it, and moved some of the others’ sectors around to help him out, just in case.” She glanced back at Anderocus and Tangro. “Um… you don’t think they’re really mad, do you?” “I don’t think so,” Twilight reassured her friend, “That Tangro guy does seem like he’s a bit touchy, but I think he was just making a point.” Dash shivered. “That guy creeps me out.” “You too?” Twilight frowned. “That’s odd. He bothers me, but I thought it was just me…” “How was that accomplished?” Tersiaard’s metallic voice rang out behind the two ponies with heart-stopping suddenness. “Gah!” Rainbow yelped, spinning around with her wings flared to see that the huge tech-priest had managed to come up behind them unnoticed. “Where the heck did you come from?!” Twilight felt her heart hammering in her chest. That was twice that the giant had managed to sneak up soundlessly like that. “Over there.” One of the metal arms on Tersiaard’s back extended, pointing back to the street where Twilight had last seen him standing. He repeated his question. “That cloud removal. How was it done?” Rainbow backed up a few paces, still-flared wings betraying her tension. “Um. I just do it, you know? It’s a pegasus thing, kinda hard to explain.” “Insufficient.” Tersiaard stated coldly. “I require more information. What precisely did you do?” “Should we do something?” Twilight whispered to the astropath next to her. “I… don’t think so. If he decides she genuinely can’t explain it, he’ll probably give up. I hope. Trying to intervene would almost certainly be a bad idea.” The eyeless human whispered back. “It’s… I just… argh, I don’t know how to explain it to someone who isn’t a pegasus!” Dash shook her head in frustration. “Look, I fly up, I hit the cloud. If I hit it one way, it dissipates. If I hit it another, I can make it rain, or push it around, or whatever!” “Insufficient.” The metal giant said again. Conversation around them had petered away, the nearby ponies watching wide-eyed. “What mechanism is employed? What specific effects are achieved? Is intent a factor?” Dash bit her lip, glancing at Twilight for support. The unicorn mouthed, tell him what you can, hoping that Rainbow would be able to read her lips. “I… uh… I… Look, it’s pegasus magic, okay? I can’t tell you how I do it, any more than you could tell me how you… how you move your arms!” The Magos stared at the pegasus for a long, tense few seconds. Finally, he inclined his head, saying, “I could in fact describe the mechanics and processes of my arms to a complete layman in substantial detail. I accept your protestations of ignorance, however, and shall seek out the information I desire at another time. You would do well to educate yourself.” With that, the giant pivoted, heading back toward the landing field with heavy, ringing footfalls. “Geez, what is his problem, anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked rhetorically, glaring at the human’s back. “‘Protestations of ignorance.’ Pfeh.” She quoted, in a mocking approximation of the Magos’s voice, “Jerk. I know exactly what I’m talking about, I just can’t explain it.” “The Magos has an insatiable hunger for knowledge, like most of his order.” Setaron told her. Rainbow snorted. “For someone who likes to know stuff, he sure gets mad when someone else asks him questions.” Setaron nodded. “The Mechanicus like to know the answers, but they’re often reluctant to share them. Knowledge is power, after all, and I believe they enjoy being powerful.” The pegasus chewed her lip for a moment, thinking. She finally nodded, slowly. “Okay, I guess that makes sense. It doesn’t make him less of a jerk, but I kinda understand where he might be coming from.” “You do?” Twilight asked. “Kinda.” Rainbow chewed her lip again. “If he thinks that knowing everything is what makes him special, then sharing all of it would pretty much make him not special, wouldn’t it? ‘Cause then everyone else would know it too. What’s his cutie mark, anyway?” “No idea.” Twilight replied. It sounded extremely selfish to her, but Rainbow’s reasoning seemed sound. “I don’t think we’ve seen any of their cutie marks. Setaron, what’s yours?” “My what?” The blind human asked uncomprehendingly. “Your cutie mark. Like this.” Rainbow Dash clarified, turning sideways to show off the cloud and multicolored lightning bolt on her hip. “You know, the thing that shows up when you figure out what you’re good at. You guys are all wearing too much for us to see ‘em.” “I’m… not certain what you mean,” Setaron said, and Dash finally looked closely at him, seeing that he lacked eyes. “Oh, uh, sorry.” Dash winced. “I, uh, thought you had, you know, eyes. Wow. Um… help me out here, Twilight.” The lavender unicorn took pity on her multicolored friend, and decided to chip in. “Setaron, do you know about the markings each of us have on our hips?” “I did hear them mentioned, yes. There was a great deal of speculation about what they could signify; I believe the favored explanation was rank or caste markings.” Both ponies frowned slightly, sharing a glance. “You don’t know what they are?” Twilight asked. “Are we supposed to? I don’t believe any of your people told us what the symbols meant, unless perhaps they spoke to Tersiaard and Tangro after I left.” Setaron sounded confused. “Huh. Interesting.” Rainbow Dash observed. “That’ll be something we’ll need to remember.” “This is kind of a major thing, Rainbow. If they don’t have cutie marks, how do they know what they’re good at?” Twilight was seriously troubled by this information. If they didn’t know what they should be doing, how was she supposed to know which of them to talk to on any given subject? Rainbow cocked an eyebrow at her. “Prooobably the same way griffons, or dragons, or buffalo do.” The pegasus drew out the word ‘probably’ with a sardonic flair. “Cutie marks are pretty much just a pony thing, Twilight. Not having ‘em isn’t that unusual.” “But-” Rainbow interrupted her. “Eh. Don’t worry about it, Twi. They’re not ponies, so there’s gonna be some things that’re different.” Rainbow looked around, her gaze lighting on Seria, who was still standing watching the dances. “Hey, warn me if that big metal jerk shows up again, will ya? I’m gonna go talk to Seria some more.” “I’ll come with you,” Twilight was curious about the guard commander too; she’d seemed the most approachable of the human party. Belatedly, the unicorn remembered she’d been talking to the astropath, and turned back to him. “Mister Setaron, would you like to come along?” The astropath shook his head amicably. “I’m afraid the commander doesn’t particularly care for my company. I’ll speak to Confessor Deumos, and let him know that you were inquiring after the Imperial Faith. Until later, then.” Setaron bowed, turning to head for where the grim-faced Deumos stood. How does he know where to go, Twilight wondered, he doesn’t have any eyes, and Deumos hasn’t said anything, so he couldn’t be following his voice! She shook herself. Yet another question for later.