Sword and Sorcery

by CCC

Chapter 11: Cautious diplomacy

Fluttershy was very, very worried about Krager. The human was clearly getting more and more nervous all the time. It had started when Rarity had spotted him trying to steal two of the Elements of Harmony; he'd put them back, and briefly tried to pass it off as an accident, which Fluttershy didn't believe for an instant.

It was clear that he had no idea at all what it was he'd tried to steal. He'd probably gone after them just because they were shiny, and protected. Still, the fact that he'd tried at all suggested that Sparhawk's accusations had not been entirely without merit.

Still, everypony deserved a second chance; and, thanks to Rarity's intervention, Krager hadn't actually done anything that couldn't be recovered from. Not in Equestria, at least.

Krager's nervousness had only increased when he saw the train. It was immediately clear that, whatever else Elenia might have, it certainly didn't have trains. Nor, for that matter, did it have any form of self-powered vehicle. It had taken some coaxing (and a pretty direct threat from Rarity) to get Krager onto the train.

Once on the train, he seemed to be getting more and more nervous as the distance to Canterlot dropped. There was nothing unexpected about being nervous about seeing the Princesses; most ponies were. Fluttershy herself tended to be nervous about meeting them (or anyone else, but especially the Princesses).

Fluttershy was starting to worry that Krager might do something silly. Like try to jump off a moving train without wings. So she resolved to keep a very close eye on him, and hopefully catch him if he tried anything like that.

*

Rarity was very, very worried about Krager. His abortive attempt at stealing two of the Elements of Harmony had been the start of it; it was clear that the creature had a problem with the notion of other peoples' property. And it was with the idea of protecting other ponies' property that she had started keeping an eye on him; and that was why she'd elected to travel along with him to Canterlot.

But there was more to her worry now.

Krager was a species unknown to her, but he was still a male; and Rarity knew how to read males. The long glance at the bar when they'd walked past it. The way his nose twitched when they passed Berry Punch in the marketplace. The way he sat in the train, facing the refreshments car but far away from it.

Rarity remembered what Discord had said; that this was a human who'd drank until his liver had shut down, poisoning himself with alcohol over a period of several years. That was more than a casual drinker; that was a symptom of someone who had a serious problem. (That, or humans had astonishingly weak livers. Rarity doubted that.)

Krager was clearly torn between really, really wanting a drink, and afraid that if he drank one, he wouldn't stop.

This gave Rarity two reasons to keep an eye on him; to make sure that he stole nothing else, and to keep him away from anything alcoholic.

*

Krager was very, very worried about himself.

Trying to take those necklaces had been a mistake; a classic case of putting the cart before the horse. A pity, really; the opportunity had been there, and, from the care that they were treated with, he could probably have found someone willing to pay a pretty penny for them. If they even used pennies, in the land of talking horses.

What he should have done is escape first, and worry about long-term survival later. Now he was on his way, in some kind of strange machine, to meet with some sort of princess. Probably for a brief trial – more than likely nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to find out if he had any information that the ponies would find useful – and then imprisonment, execution, or worse, deportation back to Elenia. Krager had no illusions about what Sparhawk would do to him if he ever went anywhere near to Cimmura again; after all, he had played a part in kidnapping Sparhawk's wife, and Sparhawk did not easily forgive where she was concerned.

Worse yet, both ponies were keeping a very close eye on him (not that he could escape from this terrifyingly fast vehicle in any case), and he hadn't had a drink in close to twenty-four hours (a new record).

The only bright side was, the train was taking him further from the portal all the time.

* * *

Twilight stopped, just short of the portal. “We're going to want to be careful, this time.” she said. “There could be any number of them on the other side, they know we're coming, and we don't know much about how they're arm-”

“Don't be a silly-filly.” volunteered Pinkie. “We're going to be great – oh!”

She suddenly began vibrating on the spot. “O-o-o-o-h-h d-d-d-e-e-a-a-r-r...”

“What is it, Pinkie?” asked Twilight, anxiously.

“Somepony's going to have a life-changing epiphany.” said Pinkie. “I think that's what it means. I've only ever had that one once before...”

“Yes, and there was a hydra.” pointed out Twilight, firmly. “Do you know where, Pinkie?”

“Right on the other side of that archway!” said Pinkie, pointing. “And pretty soon, too. Ooooh! I want to see!”

“No, Pinkie, wait -” said Twilight, but too late; Pinkie bounced through the portal pretty promptly.

Twilight glanced at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “Right.” she said. “Be prepared for anything. Spike, send the first scroll.”

With her two friends behind her, Spike nervously sitting on her back, and a shield spell ready in her mind, Twilight rushed through the portal.

* * *

“I still say you should have told me.” grumbled Sparhawk.

“They're not quite as closely related to Faran as humans are to trolls.” said Aphrael. “And you know as well as I do that most humans don't believe that humans are related to trolls at all.”

“It's not in how closely they're related.” said Sparhawk, still watching the portal. The preparations for the strangest diplomatic visit that Cimmura had ever received were as complete as they were going to get (the castle was still a hive of activity, but they'd be busy getting ready right until the guests trotted over the drawbridge, if not longer, in any case), and it was just a matter of waiting for the guests of honour at this point. “It's a matter of how closely they look like they're related. It's like – well, when you're in your real form. You're not human, but you look human, enough to fool anyone.”

The military preparations were complete, at least. Most of the stakes that they'd hurriedly hammered into the ground to break a possible cavalry charge from the portal were still there, but a path had been cleared for the diplomats; close on fifty very well-disciplined Church knights (1) waited, with crossbows ready at hand; and, in case this was insufficient, the Child-Goddess Aphrael herself was present, ready to help protect the family that she had adopted.(2)

“That's silly.” said Aphrael. “No Styric would be fooled for an instant. Even some Elenes can tell the difference between a goddess and a human. Someone's coming through.”

“Hi!” The particularly pink pony that had arrived seemed entirely unworried by the sharpened stakes, or the several steelclad soldiers standing around. “I'm Pinkie Pie! Wow, there's a lot of new people here. What's your names? Anyone want cake? Everyone likes cake, right?” Somehow, she managed to pull a full-sized cake out of her mane, and held it up for all the knights to see.

The first of the Elenians to react to the pink party pony with anything except mildly stunned silence was Aphrael; she simply vanished from Sparhawk's side and reappeared in front of Pinkie.

“You.” said Aphrael. “You are not a pony.”

“What do you mean?” Pinkie leaned back. “Of course I'm a pony!”

“No,” said Aphrael, “you're a -”

It was at this point that three ponies and a dragon hurried through the portal. They looked nervously around at the field of sharpened stakes, at the black-clad knights surrounding them.

“Ambush!” called Rainbow Dash, and there was a flicker as Twilight's shield spell suddenly encompassed the group.

“Oh, don't be silly.” said Pinkie, bouncing among the stakes. “They're all just here to say hello and have some cake!” She started handing out slices of cake on plates to the knights, one by one (where she got the plates from, none of the knights could tell). The knights looked at Sparhawk, Sparhawk looked at Aphrael; Aphrael nodded, Sparhawk nodded, and the knights graciously accepted the cake (though they kept their crossbows close at hand).

“It is not an ambush.” confirmed Sparhawk. “It's just caution. We still don't know what to expect from your side of the portal, so we threw together a few little defenses, in case anything... hostile came through.”

“That's probably a good idea.” said Pinkie, nodding. “The portal's pretty close to the Everfree Forest, so all sorts of dangerous animals might manage to slip in. Timberwolves, for example.”

“Right. Um.” Twilight, noting that most of the knights had their hands full with Pinkie's cake, cautiously lowered her shield. “Timberwolves. Right. Um, you might want some sort of fire to deal with them. I'm not sure what those are -” she nodded at the crossbows - “but hitting a timberwolf with one of them probably wouldn't do much. That axe, on the other hand...” She nodded at the single Genidian knight, a tall, bulky human well over six feet in height, who was holding a huge, double-headed battle axe. “That would probably be just the thing.”

Sparhawk nodded. “We shall keep that in mind.” he said, keeping his voice light, non-threatening. “If you'd like to come along this way, I'll show you the way to Cimmura. A few of my knights will be accompanying us; these woods are fairly safe, but not entirely without dangers of their own. Ulath, you stay here in case of wolves; Talen, Kalten, Berit, you're with us, get your horses.”

Ulath, the burly, chain-mailed Genidian nodded. Three black-armoured Pandions stood up, and went to fetch three horses.

“Hoooold on, there.” said Applejack, grabbing Rainbow's tail in her mouth before she could rush off. “Remember we're jus' here to visit fer the moment.”

“I still say they're slaves.” grumbled Dash, folding her forelegs and sulking.

Faran, Sparhawk's horse, had seen a lot in his time. But even this jaded warhorse took a step back on seeing a pony exhibit that level of forearm flexibility without apparent discomfort.

(1) Mainly black-armoured Pandions, but there were also a mail-shirted Genidian knight and a steel-armoured Alcione in the group

(2)Her incarnation as Princess Danae was simply, for a few hours, not in existence anywhere; which was causing a group of servants at the castle, and her mother, some consternation. She'd reappear quietly there as soon as she was sure that there wasn't an attack coming here. Twenty minutes' consternation was well worth it if she could divert an invading army.