Chapter 26 - Grand Tour
Sheerwater - The Safe House
All right, Frost, she told herself. This is it. Bigger than anything you’ve ever experienced. Except the day before, but that had hardly counted. They’d been inside a train, and the city had gone by so fast … Even walking it, it had been night, though it had seemed pretty busy. Or so she had thought. No one else seemed to share the idea. Not that she’d seen.
All right, she thought, taking a deep breath. Alchemy dropped down from the second level, jumping the distance rather than walking and then grinning at her. This is it.
“You know, it’s kind of nice not having to hide that all the time,” Alchemy said, looking at her as he stepped to the doorway. “I’ve never really had a chance to just casually make use of what I can do, I guess. Not like that.”
“You never did back on the Ocean?” she asked.
“There?” Alchemy shook his head, his ears standing straight up. “Not a chance. I even downplayed it when I worked on the boats. I needed to be tough, but never exemplary. I even faked a pulled muscle once, after I helped someone. Wasn’t hard, since I almost ran out of potion doing it, but …” He shook his head. “I already knew I didn’t want anypony else knowing about my condition, and once I heard about the cult, well ...”
“I understand,” she said, nodding. “That must feel liberating. Being able to just be yourself and make use of the capabilities you were given.”
“Yeah,” he said, his face thoughtful. “It really does. Kind of like stretching a muscle, only for everything.” He let out a short laugh. “Which is weird. Before this all started, I didn’t think it’d feel like that. I just wanted to be a doctor.” He shook his head. “Ready?” he asked, gesturing towards her with one hoof.
She took a quick glance back at her saddlebags and nodded. They were flat and empty, sagging against her sides since they held nothing but a few spare reeds and a map in case she was separated from Alchemy. Though she was hoping that wouldn’t happen.
They also looked odd against her newly darkened coat. She was so used to seeing her own, lightly-colored, ice-blue flanks that the darker shade of her sides felt … odd to look upon. Like she wasn’t herself anymore. The dark, almost midnight blue seemed off, strange when compared to her old coloration. Her mane and tail had been dyed too, the almost platinum, ice-white color replaced by a striking amber-colored hue. A necessary precaution, she reminded herself. Besides, Alchemy said it would wash out with the right counteragent.
Still, she had to admit … when she’d looked at herself in the mirror, the effect had been quite striking. She really did look like a different mare. Except for the cutie mark on her flank. Hopefully no one would notice that. She really didn’t feel like changing that too. At least the saddlebags would conceal part of it.
“Right, then,” Alchemy said, shooting her a smile as he pulled the door open. “Let’s get you your first good look at Sheerwater!” He tugged the door open with a flourish of his hoof and then made an “After you” motion. She nodded, squinting as the bright, afternoon light spilled through the doorway, and then stepped forward.
The first thing to hit her was the heat, and she reached for her magic, instinctively wrapping her body in a cooling field as hot air swept over her. She blinked, trying to force her eyes to adjust to the bright outdoor light as a hoof came down on her shoulder.
“Um, you might want to tone down your cooling spell a little,” Alchemy said, pointing at her forehead. “It’s going to attract attention like that.”
Her eyes began to adjust, and she turned her attention toward the tip of her horn, noticing the bright purple glow that was filling her vision. I shouldn’t be using that much magic, she thought as her eyes widened in surprise. Not unless … Unless it’s really hot.
She let out a sigh and began to ease back, narrowing the conduit of power that she could feel somewhere in the front of her mind. It was a bit like slowly tightening a muscle, holding back the torrent of energy that surged through her body so readily. The cool sensation faded, replaced by a rising warmth that made her feel like she was standing too close to an open flame … an open flame that surrounded her on all sides.
Someone was laughing, and she twisted her head to a see a griffon flying by, chuckling as he shook his head. “Tourists,” he said, just loud enough that she could hear it. “Can’t take the heat.”
She scowled at him, though the griffon didn’t notice. He was already flying away, his wingbeats carrying him off over the rooftops. What did he know anyway? He was wearing one of those scarves, so he was obviously … obviously …
The scowl slipped from her face, her jaw dropping as she became aware of the scenery around her. Even her magic faded, forgotten in the moment as she took in the sight of the city around her.
It was incredible. She could see dozens of griffons all around her, some walking, some flying. Griffons of every shape and color. And beyond them, what had to be hundreds were flying through the air. Maybe it wasn’t, but it certainly looked like it. And past that …
She craned her head backwards, tilting further and further back, her jaw dropping lower and lower as she took in for the first time the titanic pillar of stone towering above their safe house, which was nestled up near the side of one small corner. The pillar seemed to stretch on and on into the sky, at least as tall as the pillars that made up the supports of Cragtooth Heights. But the pillars there were unadorned, almost featureless.
Here, every available space looked as if it had been used. Wooden structures clung to the outside of the pillar, walkways stretching between them. Pathways and openings had been carved into the rock, and as she watched, a trio of griffons leapt off of an expansive stone balcony, spreading their wings and flying out across the mostly-cloudless sky. She wanted to step back, wanted to see as much of it as possible, from the homes and shops around the base, to what looked like a vertical garden stretching up one side, to the gently spinning vertical windmills on the top that she could just barely see the tips off. At the same time, part of her wanted to step forward, to get a closer look at the patterns that had been etched in the stone near some of the openings, patterns that she was sure were carved motifs and etchings in the reddish stone itself.
It’s like an entire city, she thought as she took a step backwards. If that’s been hollowed out, even partially … you could fit all of Ender’s Isle in there! Maybe more!
And it was just the first of many. She turned, her mind feeling like it was shutting down as she took in the taller, narrower spire of rock right next to it, and then the equal-sized column of stone past that, and the one past that, and … They just kept coming.
“Wow,” she said, her mind struggling for a more appropriate phrase and coming up with nothing. “It’s … Titanic. Seeing it on the train it was neat, but we were going fast, looking through glass. And it was dark.” She shook her head as it dawned on her how heavily she was staring. “I’m … a tourist.”
Alchemy laughed, and for a moment she felt like doing the same. She shook her head again, shutting her mouth and forcing herself to stop staring. You have a job to do, she reminded herself, feeling a pang of anger at her reaction. You need to focus and—
“Oh come on,” Alchemy said, apparently catching sight of her sudden change of demeanor. “You can laugh, Frost. It’s fine. I did the same thing this morning. In fact, I probably looked more ridiculous. A little like—” His jaw dropped open, his head tilting to one side and eyes going wide, tilting so far back they almost vanished back in his head. His tongue flopped out to one side, a spittle of drool almost dripping free of the tip.
“A ‘it ‘ike ‘at,” he said as she gave him a dumbfounded stare. “No?” he said, sucking his tongue back into his mouth and returning to normal. “Shame. I was hoping it’d at least be a little amusing.”
“I … No,” she said, shaking her head. “It was … different.”
“Well,” he said. “At least you’re not scowling again.”
“I wasn’t disappointed with the city—” she began, but Alchemy was already moving down the street. She hurried to catch up.
“Forget it,” he said. “Come on. This way.” He jerked his head towards an upcoming intersection. “We’ve got a ways to go before we reach the clothing store I found earlier this morning.
“I noticed you didn’t come back with anything,” she said. “Just food.”
He nodded. “I didn’t go by the genealogical society either. Well,” he amended, “I did but they were busy speaking with the guards. I didn’t want to raise questions. And I checked around the store, but wanted a second opinion before I bought anything.”
“I see.”
“It’s fine,” he said, waving a hoof. “We’ve got plenty of time. Besides, I don’t mind walking back to the society, it’s just a chance to see more of the city. And that way we can go right from there to the university, get our data back to back.”
“What are you going to ask them?” Frost asked as she matched his pace, her own mind jumping from question to question. “Do you have something in mind?”
“I thought I’d ask about the break-in,” he said. “Why somepony—or someone—would bother, and what they did. Nothing detailed,” he added, glancing at her. “Just enough to look curious and maybe get some information—especially if the griffon we speak to is talkative. And while we’re at it, I’ll tie it into that crypt that got broken into last night and ask about that.”
“What if they get suspicious?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow as she pulled her attention away from the city around her. How do ponies—or griffons—get used to this? she wondered. How does anyone?
“I’ll just make something up,” Alchemy said with a shrug. “I was thinking something about having gone on a tour of the graveyard where the crypt was—”
“Wait, what?” she asked, her shock cutting him off before he could finish his sentence. “They offer tours?”
“Well, yeah,” he said, slowing. “In the Empire, mausoleums and crypts can be two thousand-year old works of art. Stone edifices that have been carved and shaped by dozens of generations worth of griffons. They’re an attraction in the city.”
She frowned. “How’d you know that?”
“I read the back of the pamphlet that has our map on it,” he admitted with a shrug. “Still, they made it sound pretty neat.”
“Visiting a room full of bones doesn’t sound very appealing to me,” she said, a shiver running down her back despite the heat, ending with a twitch of her tail.
“Its not about the—oh,” Alchemy said, his eyes widening. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she said, turning her attention back to the city around her, her mind fighting to split its attention. All right, she thought as they turned onto another street, this one full of foot traffic. We need to talk to the genealogical society and see what happened with them, then we need to ask about the crypt. Then we need to go see this professor and ask him about the cults, and how that tied into that ancient city. She shut her eyes for a moment, reminding herself to focus on the task at hoof.
Yes, the city is impressive, she thought. But there are more important things at stake here. You need to stay focused! Do not let yourself be distracted.
It would admittedly be a lot easier, however, if she wasn’t already sweating under the oppressive heat of the sun. She tilted her head back, squinting her eyes as she looked up into the bright sky.
Crazy sapients, wanting to live in someplace so hot. Surely it couldn’t get any hotter, could it?
A chuckle from her side told her that Alchemy had noticed her movements. “It’s a good thing we’re going to the store first,” he said. “We can get you a nice hat. That should keep you a little cooler.”
“I still don’t see how more clothing is going to help against more heat,” she said, frowning. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Sure it does,” Alchemy said. “It’s like ice shades. The shades we wear on the dredgers to keep the glare from the ice off of our eyes?”
“I’m familiar with the concept,” she said, her tone sounding somewhat flat. Maybe the heat was sapping at her already.
“Well, the clothes do the same thing,” he said. “They keep the sun off, and keep you cool.”
She tried for a retort but gave up, shaking her head in frustration. “Very well. How much farther?”
“Actually, right up ahead,” Alchemy said, pointing with a free hoof at a double-storied stone structure up the street, sitting near the base of one of the narrower pillars. The front of the shop was set with wide, glass windows, tinted just enough that the clothing on display was visible but with a slightly darker shade to it.
She let out a sigh of relief as they passed through the entrance, a simple, glass-framed door that swung open at the slightest touch. Despite the burning heat outdoors, the interior of the store was cooler than expected, with a slight breeze flowing through the entrance as they trotted in. A bell above the door let out a little ring, and a pony sitting behind a nearby counter looked up at them.
Frost froze, her eyes opening wide as the mare smiled at them. “Welcome to the Pony Emporium,” she said, her voice cheerful. “We’ve got a wide variety of specials today. Can I help you with something?” A confused look flitted across her face. “Are you alright, hun? I don’t have something caught in my teeth, do I?”
Alchemy’s elbow caught her in the ribs and she jerked her eyes away as she realized that she’d been staring at the horn on the mare’s head. “No, no,” she said, shaking her head. “I just … You caught me by surprise is all.” She willed her body to relax, to drop the combat posture she’d begun to unconsciously slip into.
You’re not on the Ocean anymore, Frost, she thought, giving herself a mental thump. She’s just an ordinary unicorn.
An ordinary unicorn. It was almost … odd. The mare was giving her a sheepish look now, like she’d simply assumed incorrectly, shrugging while giving her bouncy, orange mane a quick toss.
“Well, that’s a relief,” she said, apparently not at all bothered by the odd look Frost still felt like she was giving her. Then the mare’s smile widened. “Weren’t you in here earlier?”
“I was,” Alchemy said before Frost could say anything. He stepped forward with a smile. “My friend and I came back to pick up a few things.”
“Oh, that’s excellent!” the mare said, dropping down behind the counter and trotting around the side towards them. “May Belle is upstairs helping another customer, so if you know what you’d like, I can get your order ready.”
“I know what I want,” Alchemy said, tilting his head toward Frost. “But my friend here doesn’t. She’s used to a colder climate … And a much smaller city,” he said, giving her a quick smile. She gave him a half-hearted one back, her eyes still drawn to the mare’s horn. “She could use a hoof picking out something.”
“Oh?” Frost froze as the mare’s attention snapped back to her, a smile that felt almost predatory on her face. “Well then,” she said. “That’s something I can certainly help with, Miss …”
“Glimmer,” she said after a moment’s hesitation. “Just Glimmer.”
“Well, then, Miss Glimmer,” the mare said, stepping and turning towards the rear of the shop. “If you’ll just come this way, we’ll see about getting you something suitable for this warm weather! Meet us in the back or at the counter when you’re done, dear,” she said toward Alchemy. “If you know what you want just find it and I’ll get you all set up as soon as your friend and I are done.” She began to move towards the back, a happy tune on her breath as she moved away between the racks of clothes.
“Don’t forget about our requirements,” Alchemy said, his voice slightly quieter as he gave her one last look before moving away. For a moment she frowned, and then she nodded as what he’d meant dawned on her.
Proper attire, she thought as she moved to follow Autumn into the back of the store. The mare was humming to herself as she wrapped what looked like a dress in a warm, golden glow, flipping it around in the air before settling it back on the rack. Clothing you can move in. Fight in. She understood that.
“So,” Autumn said as she came to a stop and turned back to look at her. “Not many unicorns where you come from?”
“Not really,” Frost said, shaking her head slightly. “Why?”
“Because you haven’t taken your eyes off my horn since you got here, girl,” came the reply. “If you stared any harder your coltfriend back there might start getting jealous.”
“He’s not my coltfriend,” she said, shaking her head. “And I … apologize for my actions. I’m not used to being around other unicorns.”
“Shame,” Autumn said, flipping her mane over her shoulder once more as she began moving towards the back of the shop. “A body like that, girl? You’re wasted on whatever rural home you came from.”
She didn’t respond. She wasn’t sure how to. Insults she could handle. Off-color comments? Easy. Flattery, on the other hoof …
“So,” Autumn said without looking back as she reached the back of the store. There was a wide array of fabric spread across the rear wall, a rainbow of colors and styles Frost had never seen before. “What are you looking for, hun? An evening dress? Something simple, maybe? To accent those legs of yours?”
“I … no,” she said, shaking her head and finally pulling her wandering eyes away from the horn. There’s no red band there, Frost. You can stop looking. “I just need something loose and comfortable. With plenty of space under it.”
The salesmare frowned. “Well, that’s a bit outside the usual request, especially considering what’s in season now, but—”
“I’m not interested in what’s in season now,” Frost said, keeping her voice level. “I need something that I can move in. Something that will keep me cool, but not catch or trip me up. Something I can easily discard if the need arises. And something that I can keep my equipment beneath without raising too much of a fuss.” She didn’t like walking around without a bow. She felt defenseless, even though she could get an arrow up to half the speed of a bow with a little effort. The bow was just faster.
“That’s … certainly not what I expected when I saw a young mare like yourself walk in the door,” Autumn said, her expression shifting towards one of puzzlement. “In fact, that sounds more like something I would expect a young griffon from a military wing to say.”
“That’d be perfect,” Frost said. “Whatever you would give one of them. Or something close to that.”
Autumn let out a long sigh, her face falling somewhat. “I should have known that musculature couldn’t have come from simple exercise. An adventurer, then?”
“Kind of,” she said, nodding. The salesmare’s expression took on a resigned look.
“Well, I guess not everypony needs to look fabulous all the time,” she said as she began trotting along the back wall. “Come on. This way to the … the more straightforward stuff. If we don’t have it, I can make it for you.”
“Wouldn’t that take a while?” Frost asked, following the mare.
“Not for me,” Autumn said, winking and twisting her hindquarters to one side so Frost could see the measuring tape on her flank. “Tailoring’s my talent. I’m good enough that I don’t even need to take measurements most of the time. Helps when you get a variety of customers.”
“What kind of variety?”
“Griffons, mostly,” Autumn said. “And ponies. Occasionally some zebra, since I do stock several imports from their country.”
The mare continued talking as she reached another section of the store and began pulling down a selection of clothing, passing each one of them to Frost. The cloth was light and thin, completely unlike anything she’d felt before, and even the ill-fitting cloak that she slung over her shoulders felt far less heavy than she expected.
“You seem surprised, dearie,” Autumn remarked after a moment. “Never knew cloth could be so light, did you?”
“It’s … surprising,” Frost said as she passed the robe back. “Not what I expected, certainly.”
“Well, I must admit that the cloak might be your best bet,” Autumn said as she wrapped the object in her magic. “But I really must ask. How … utilitarian … do you want it to be?”
“What?”
“What would you prefer, Glimmer?” Autumn asked again. “I can give you a basic robe for very little, but it won’t look very nice. It’ll be downright plain.”
“I—” She caught herself before she could ask for the plain one. We are supposed to be acting like tourists, right? So we need to fit in. “Actually,” she said. “What do you have that would look nice?” It felt almost odd to ask the question, but she reminded herself that there was a goal to it. “Something that’s not too costly, and can do what I’ve asked, but still look nice?”
“Hmm.” Autumn sat back as if the question had stumped her. “A robe might be a little out of place for that, I’m afraid.”
“Oh,” Frost said. “Well, in that case—”
“You’ll want something like this!” Autumn said, her horn lighting up and sweeping something from several aisles away across the store towards her. Frost froze as something light and cool settled around her shoulders, followed by something dropping atop her head. Her shock must have shown on her face, because Autumn just clicked her tongue.
“You’d think I’d know better than to do that to someone with your personality,” she said, turning and motioning towards a mirror. “But I just got so excited! It complements you perfectly! Take a look.”
It was a cloth wrap, Frost realized as she stepped up to the mirror. One similar to what some of the griffons she’d seen in the city were wearing. It was a light purple, the color not unlike that of her magic, and was just long enough to cover her back all the way back to her flank, where it rested lightly atop her saddlebags.
“Sure, there’s not much to it,” Autumn said as she stepped up beside her. “But it’s lightweight, easy enough to wear, and will do pretty much what you were asking for, provided you keep your saddlebags with you. Although,” she said with a glance at the bags in question. “I would recommend finding something that matches a little more.
“It’s fine,” Frost said, turning slightly and admiring the looseness of the cloth. Autumn’s magic had wrapped it well enough that it didn’t feel like it was going to come free at any moment—it actually felt fairly snug. But at the same time there was a sense of … she wasn’t really quite sure how to put it. Flow? She didn’t feel like she was wearing something. It was like the cloth wasn’t there.
“How do you like the hat?” Autumn asked.
She glanced at it. It wasn’t anything special, just a wide brimmed hat, although it did seem like it would block her view of the air—though that meant it would shade her eyes as well.
“It’s fine,” she said, nodding. “Just in case, though … do you offer sunglasses? Or better yet, sun goggles?”
“You mean sand goggles?” the salesmare asked with a shake of her head. “No. But hun, you can find those anywhere in this city. Though they might ruin the effect.”
Frost shook her head. Effect is not what I’m interested in, she thought, looking down at the wrap. “I’ll take this, I think,” she said, eying herself in the mirror. It looked … good, which was a little surprising. It even felt good, which seemed even odder. The mare in the mirror almost didn’t look like her, even though it was, and she knew it was. It was her … Just different.
“Well,” Autumn said. “If that’s all you need, then—”
“Wait.” She held up one hoof. “How much for one of the regular … day dresses? Sun dresses? The simple ones?”
The salesmare’s eyes went wide. “Which one?”
“Any of them,” Frost said. “Whatever you think would fit and look nice.”
“Would you like to try one of them—”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s … a favor for someone. Just something nice that I could wear on an average day.”
“Any specifications?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s just for the future. If I have the time.” Autumn’s satisfied look said that she was convinced something she’d done had made the sale, but Frost ignored it. “And surprise me,” she said. “Wrap it, fold it, or whatever you do and I’ll take it in my bags. This I’ll wear out.”
“Fold it!” Autumn’s indignant, shocked vocalizations followed them all the way to the front counter, though she still complied, delivering the asked-for item in a small bundle of thin, lightweight paper. Frost slid it into her bags without comment, pulling her band of reeds free at the same time.
“Ah,” came a familiar voice. “There you are.” Frost turned at the sound, paused, and then let out a loud laugh, the force behind her voice surprising even her.
“Well,” Alchemy said with a roll of his eyes. “I guess that answers that question.”
“You look fine, hun,” Autumn said, giving Frost a disappointed look. “Miss Glimmer here simply doesn’t understand the finer designs of zebra culture.”
“You look like a rainbow exploded,” Frost said, forcing her laugh back into chuckles. “And a paintbrush.”
Alchemy shifted, shrugging, the bright and multicolored—but mostly yellow—cloth rippling in a fine sheen. She wasn’t quite sure what it was—at least, what it would be called, but it seemed to be made up of a multitude of layers, though the material looked even lighter than what she was wearing.
“Plainsland robes,” Alchemy said, as if that explained everything. “Silk. Very comfortable. And cheaper here than they would be a lot of other places, save the Plainslands alone, for obvious reasons.”
“So, let’s see,” Autumn said, ignoring the banter as she punched a few buttons on the register. “That’ll be 227 reeds, please. No, not those, hun, those are the silver ones. You want the aluminum—there you are.” The register let out a small ding as Frost took her change and slid it back into her saddlebags. “Thanks for your business!”
“Welcome,” Alchemy said as they moved towards the door. Frost glanced at it, eyeing the bright sunlight.
Well, she thought as she raised her hoof to the handle. Time to find out if this works. She took a slight breath as she pushed the door open, and then stepped out into the sun.
It was warm. Definitely warm. But oddly enough, it wasn’t hot. Huh.
“So?” Alchemy asked, stopping next to her and tilting his head in the direction they needed to move.
“You’re right,” she said, surprised. “It’s actually cooler.”
“You should try zebra robes sometime,” Alchemy said, smiling. “They’re nice.”
“Hmmm … maybe.” She glanced down at the wrap. It actually looked nice in the light, though she wasn’t sure how that would hold over when she washed the dye out of her coat.
Tartarus, she thought as she looked at her coat. I didn’t even consider that when I told that mare to pick me out a dress. She almost let out a sigh. So much for that idea.
Even so, she didn’t turn and return it. Instead she moved down the street after Alchemy. She had a mission to do. And besides, something about it had felt … nice.
* * *
“Wait,” Alchemy said, his face bearing a halfway-believable expression of shock. “You’re telling me that this place was broken into as well?”
“Yes,” the griffon behind the desk said. There was a simple, tired, almost matter-of-fact tone to the way she said it, as if she’d been repeating the words all day from her front office and was already tired of it. Then again, Frost could see the look of resignation on her face. Whatever she wanted to do, she wasn’t doing it at the moment.
“Why would anyone break into here?” Alchemy asked. “I thought you just stored records and genealogy. Are you like a museum?”
“No,” the aide said with a shake of her feathered head. Her plumage was light, almost sky-blue. “While we do own a number of ancient clan treasures, none of them are kept here. They’re kept at the museum. Here we strictly do research and record-keeping.”
“What kind of research?” The question was out of her mouth before she realized what she was doing, and she gave the griffon a quick smile as her gaze shifted towards her.
“Genealogical research,” the griffon said slowly, peering at her with a look that said the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. “Tracking family histories that have been lost, building family roots, learning when and where one came from.”
“That takes research?” She saw the aide flinch at her question, wings spreading in annoyance, but she hadn’t meant to offend. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m just not too familiar with … what you do.”
“I suppose that’s fair,” the aide said, her wings settling by her sides once more. “After all, most don’t bother to follow their family line past the first century or two.”
“You go further?” Alchemy asked, leaning forward slightly. His eagerness put a nice touch on the whole thing.
“Indeed.” The aide rose slightly behind her desk. “We at the Imperial Genealogical Society make the study of our history, culture, and past of the most vital importance. Inside our archives, we have histories and family lines that we can trace back over three-thousand years; well before the Founding. We can trace entire clans back to their founding members, and then back forward again to distant relations they never knew they had. Building such a network involves no small amount of research, dedication, and hard work in the modern age alone, but to do such when studying a family that has been dead and gone for over a thousand years, well …” She shook her head. “There’s a reason the average member of the society can translate at least one form of ancient text.”
“So it’s difficult?” Frost asked.
“More than difficult,” the aide said, a proud look on her face. “We do work here that rivals the National Museum. Sometimes their findings are even based on ours! We’ve found names on ancient gravestones that were thought to be simple carved decorations. We’ve found links between clans that no one even knew existed. Our work is hard, tedious, and long-suffering. And it’s not at all helped by someone breaking into our records.”
“That’s what they broke into?” Alchemy said. “Records?”
“That’s all we have!” the aide said, her voice almost squawking with indignation. “Unless you’re looking for a few spare bits or access to our research, there’s nothing else here but records!” She shook her head. “That’s why a break-in here makes so little sense.”
“What kind of records?” Frost asked. The aide just looked at her as if it was one of the dumber questions she’d heard all day.
“Genealogical records,” the griffon said, her voice flat. “That’s what we do here.” She shook her head. “Sorry, why are you here again?”
“For me,” Alchemy said, raising his hoof. “I’m the one who wanted to come today. I didn’t know about the break-in, though.”
“You mentioned that,” the aide said, and Frost could almost feel the sarcasm in her tone.
“Yes, well, we were actually here because of something we were looking at yesterday,” Alchemy said. “We were visiting a …” He paused. “A mausoleum, I think? A crypt? I was told that you—I mean the genealogical society—were responsible for maintaining it.”
“Oh!” The aide shifted, her expression switching from bored apathy to wide-eyed interest. “We maintain several historical grave sites that no longer have clans. Which one where you visiting?”
“Um,” Alchemy gave the aide a nervous grin. “The one that got broken into last night? We went back to see it, and—”
“Oh, that one,” the aide said, though from her tone she was more upset by the thought of the crypt being broken into than anything else. “Yes, we’ve been having questions about that all day.”
“Well, it was interesting,” Alchemy said, a wide-eyed look of innocence on his face. “I was hoping I could learn a bit more about it, but with the guards everywhere ...”
“Right,” the aide said. “Well, what do you want to know?” Alchemy’s face lit up at the question, and Frost had to hold back a chuckle.
He’s actually pretty good at this, she thought. If I didn’t know that he already knew most of the answers to what he was asking, I’d probably assume he was just a weird, curious tourist.
“I had a couple of questions,” Alchemy said, speaking quickly, as if he couldn’t decide which to ask first. “First of all, how does a grave site end up without a clan? And who owned it before the society took over? Why do you keep them? When did you take it over? What was the clan who owned it before like? Who—”
“Whoa,” the aide said, holding up her talons. “Easy there. Some of those questions were answered by the tour you know.”
“Uh …” For a moment Alchemy froze.
“But I doubt they’re doing those today,” the griffon said, her eyes rolling upwards as if she was looking elsewhere. “Right. Break in. Well, I don’t have all those answers, but I guess I can get them for you, if you don’t mind a bit of a walk.”
Alchemy shook his head. “No, not at all!”
“Right.” The aide spread her wings and glided over her desk, coming to a stop by the small office’s door. “Just follow me, Mister …? Uh, I didn’t quite get your name.”
“Flask,” Alchemy said.
“And I’m Glimmer,” Frost said as the aide looked in her direction.
“Liris Valecry,” the aide said, pushing the door to her office open. “Follow me.”
“Valecry?” Frost said as she followed them out into the hall. “That’s an interesting name.”
“I can track it back almost fourteen-hundred years on both sides of my family,” Liris said. “My thesis on that was what helped earn me my job here.”
“On your name?”
“Are you aware how griffon surnames work?” Liris asked, twisting her head back to look at her.
“Not really.” She knew it was complicated, but she’d never asked.
“All our secondary names are made up of two parts,” Liris said. “The first is taken from the first part of the father’s name. The second, from the latter part of the mother’s. So my family name, Valecry, comes from my father, Valeiron, and my mother, Twirlcry.”
“That sounds … complicated,” Frost said. “Really complicated.” That kind of explains how Arwing could be Blade’s cousin though.
“No less complicated than how you ponies do it,” Liris said. “Actually, from a historical standpoint it makes even more sense. You ponies don’t even pass names on in some cases, due to your marks.” She shook her head. “To each their own and all that, but our system makes sense once you’re used to it. Because of it, we can track family lines back a long way.”
“As long as you know the child’s name, you can make a reasonable guess at the parentage,” Alchemy said.
“Yes,” came Liris’s reply as they reached the end of the hallway and turned, heading deeper into the building. “And you can trace the history of names by following different individuals. Some cultures have difficulty tracking daughters or sons or sons backwards, but our naming system allows us to track both with equal efficiency.”
“Anyway,” she said as the hallway they were following reached a junction with a larger one, this one slightly more occupied. Doors were arrayed about every twenty feet along one side of the hall, with plaques in Griffon set over each one. A few curious griffons glanced in their direction as they passed by, but none gave them more than a cursory look before continuing on their way. “You wanted to know about the old Skysinger crypt, then, right?”
“That’s the one that was broken into, right?” Alchemy asked.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” Liris said in disgust. “I still can’t believe someone would break in and …” Her voice trailed off into a long string of Griffon.
“Sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “Sort of lost it for a minute there. I’ve seen some of the reports on what happened, and it just makes me angry. There was no reason for anyone to break into such an old site.”
“Do you know what happened?” Alchemy asked.
“It was in the papers,” Liris said, waving a wing. Then she shook her head. “But you probably don’t read scratch, do you?”
“Scratch?”
“Sorry,” she said. “Office slang for ‘written Griffon.’ Dumb question. If you could read it, you’d probably be able to speak it, and they wouldn’t have sent you to me.”
“You do speak excellent Equestrian,” Alchemy pointed out.
Liris shrugged. “Thanks. Anyway, I don’t know much. Someone broke into the old place. Broke all the seals on the doors, ripped the place wide open and then broke into the graves themselves. Tore the rest of the crypt up too. Vases smashed, stone defaced, the works.”
“Did they take anything?”
Liris slowed, her paced coming to a stop as she glanced up at one of the plaques. “You know, we don’t actually know?”
“What?” Frost asked. “Aren’t you the ones who maintained it?”
“Yeah,” Liris said, giving her a flat look as she turned back. “And it was sealed. We just kept the outside nice and clean.”
“What’s it mean if it’s sealed?” Alchemy asked as Liris resumed walking.
“It means that …” The aide shook her head. “There’s not a good word for it in Equestrian, but the closest I can get is ‘Our deeds and bodies await the return.’”
“That’s a mouthful.”
“Like I said, in Equestrian you don’t have a word for it. But basically, a sealed tomb is one that its inhabitants had sealed to preserve their remains for the end of the world. We respect that sealing. Whoever broke into the tomb last night … didn’t.” It was hard to miss the lashing of her tail as she spoke.
So breaking a seal on a crypt is a cultural taboo, Frost thought. Interesting.
“Anyway,” Liris continued, glancing up at the next plaque as they passed it. “The only thing we can even start to assume at this point is that whoever broke in desecrated some of the graves, and, assuming they were in use, took the remains of whoever had been buried there. Again, it’s all speculation. A good chunk of the society’s archaeologists are over at the tomb right now trying to determine what’s fresh and what was broken before those thieves even opened it.”
“Sounds like a tough job,” Alchemy quipped.
“It’s going to be months,” Liris said, her voice coming out a groan. “Now that the crypt’s seal has been broken, we’re going to have to investigate and catalogue everything alongside the National—the museum—and figure out if it can stay or if we need to remove it for safekeeping. On the plus side, we’ll be able to read all of the names inside the tomb at last and check them against our own records …” Her pace slowed, her voice trailing off, and Frost looked up to see what was causing her to slow.
A griffon work crew had occupied the hall ahead, though at the moment they weren’t making much noise. They seemed to be measuring one of the doors, another member taking down the numbers as the two other griffons moved the tape measure around. The door itself was hanging open, the wood around the handle cracked and splintered.
“Right,” Liris said as the trio of griffons looked up at them and then went back to work. “This was the area that was broken into.”
Aside from the front door, it was the first sign of damage that Frost had seen. “Wait,” she said as she eyed the splinters of wood littering the carpet. “The one we needed to go to?”
Laris nodded. “It’s not the only place that was broken into, but it was one of them.”
“So we can’t go in?” Alchemy asked, sounding disappointed.
“There wouldn’t be a point,” Laris said, shaking her head again. “The whole place is closed off until it can all be catalogued again. The vandals pulled down shelves, scattered everything, and even set fire to some of the records.”
“Really?” Alchemy asked, casting a quick glance at Frost. She knew what the look meant.
Sounds like someone covering their tracks, she thought as Laris turned and began heading back the way they came. Making it harder to see what they were looking after.
“So I can’t find anything out, then?” Alchemy asked.
“Oh no,” Larris said. “I just won’t be able to answer some of the questions you asked. We’ve got backups of all of that stuff, in triplicate, at different locations. If anything was damaged or destroyed or taken, we’ll know about it before long. Until then though, we can’t use that archive. But there are a few other places I can get what you were asking about, if you don’t mind the wait.”
“No, no, not at all!” Alchemy said, grinning. “It’ll make a great story for when we get back, won’t it Glimmer?”
“Yeah, sure,” she said, trying to put a little enthusiasm into her voice and, from the raised eyebrow Liris gave her, failing.
“You can wait in the lobby if you’d—” she began.
“No, no, it’s fine,” Frost said. “It’s interesting enough.”
"Very well,” Liris said, turning down another hallway and away from the larger one they’d been following. “This way.”
This place is pretty large, Frost thought, eyeing the hallway as she followed and making some quick estimates of the size of the building they were in. It’s got to be several hundred feet across just judging from the size of the hallway we were just in. Which means the front of the building is just that: A front. At some point we passed into the ground below the upper levels.
They were moving back towards the front of the building now, bright sunlight filling the end of the hall as it opened up into a wide, double-leveled atrium. The far side was nothing but windows, letting in plenty of ambient light.
“The best I can do is try to find the answers is either translate one of the texts on claw that we have, or connect you with one of the guides,” Liris said, coming to a pause. “Other than that, you could try a library, but since I haven’t actually answered any of your questions, some of which you’d need to look up the information in the first place.”
“Either of the first two is fine,” Alchemy said, shrugging. “Sorry to be such a bother.”
“It’s fine, I needed an excuse to stretch my legs anyway,” Liris said, moving again, this time towards a tight spiral staircase in one corner of the room. “Anyway, in case they aren’t in—which they might not be with the whole break-in problem—I might answer what I do know off the top of my head. Which isn’t much, just how we acquire clanless graves.”
“It’s not super complex,” she said as she began climbing the stairs. “At least, not that I know of. Basically, when a griffon clan is breaks apart or dies off, the holdings are usually divided up. Back in the day, that meant usually they went to whatever clan that took their place. After the Founding, it stayed pretty much the same, except that in some cases, such as a peaceful dissolution—which to be fair hasn’t happened to a big clan in a while—things get auctioned off.”
“But sometimes,” Liris said as they reached the upper level. “Sometimes you get a case where something would be left over that no one wanted.”
“Like a grave site,” Alchemy said.
“Well, more often a crypt or a mausoleum,” Liris responded. “A grave site can be argued one way or the other, but a crypt is much larger and harder to ignore.” She tugged open a door and glanced inside.
“No guides,” she said. “All right, one second.” She vanished into the room and emerged a moment later with a moderately-sized notebook.
“The unnofficial guidebook,” she said, holding it up and then sinking back on her hindquarters. “Anyway, a lot of these crypts were mostly ignored or treated as tax sinks until about eight-hundred years ago, when the society was formed. The ones that weren’t owned were passed over to us, and the ones that were owned ended up being donated, since the king made the tax savings for it pretty clear.” She flipped the book open and glanced down at the pages. “All right, now you wanted to know about which of the crypts?”
“The one that was broken into,” Alchemy said.
“Okay, which is … Hang on.” Pages flipped by beneath Liris’s talons. “Okay, that’s right. That’s the Skysinger clan crypt. Dates from about fourteen-hundred years ago, ownerless before the society took over.” She flipped another few pages. “Looks like the clan that owned it broke apart because of debt. Some sort of deal with a crystal-heavy province in early Equestria that dove into the ground on them and left them destitute.” She looked up at both of them. ‘And … that’s it, sadly. You’d probably have more in the official records, but—”
“That’s fine,” Alchemy said. “Skysinger. Interesting. What about the other crypts you have?”
“The rest?” Liris asked. “You could probably still go take the tours. Those weren’t broken into—”
“We only have until tomorrow,” Frost said. Alchemy nodded in agreement.
“All right,” Liris said, flipping the pages a bit further. “Well, we’ve got … five, from the look of it.”
“What are the oldest ones?” Alchemy asked. “Do you have any from before the Founding of the Empire?”
“Um … Four, actually,” Liris said. “The Weathering Clan, the Thunderhead Clan, the Traveler Clan, and one that’s unlabeled. Three are still sealed.”
Alchemy glanced in Frost’s direction, and she nodded. Unlabeled.
“How old are they?”
“Three are the same age, actually,” Liris said, looking back down at the book. “The known crypts all date from around fourteen-to-fifteen hundred, each of their clans being a casualty in some way of the Founding. The unknown one dates back to sometime before that ... possibly as far back as two centuries or more before the others …” She twisted the book. “Sorry, there isn’t much past that. My guess is that they don’t talk much about it.”
Interesting, Frost thought. The dates don’t match up, but an unknown tomb … Then again, that’d be pretty obvious. Why wouldn’t Anubis go there if that’s what he was looking for? Unless … maybe he doesn’t know it exists? She gave her head a little shake. No, if there was something to the tombs, then he’d make it his business to know. Unless he didn’t—Arg! I hate finding my way in the dark!
“Does that answer your questions?” Liris was asking. “It should give you something to go on if you decide you want to learn a little more from somewhere a bit more prepared.”
“Thank you, yes,” Alchemy said, glancing over at Frost as he spoke. “You’ve been very helpful, sorry for the mess with everything.”
“Eh, it’s not such a big deal,” Liris said, closing the guidebook with a snap. “Although if you want more, you might want to try the museum or one of the universities. They’ve got some sapients there that could probably answer any more detailed questions you might have about the clans or the history, since we’re a little out of commission at the moment. Or you could track down one of the guides, but again, we’re a little out of commission.”
“Thanks,” Alchemy said, nodding. “I think we’ll try one of the museums. Glimmer?”
Frost nodded as he looked at her. “Yes,” she said, her mind already picking over the details Liris had just given. “I think we’ll do that.”
* * *
“Where are we going?” Frost asked as Alchemy made a quick turn off of the main street they’d been following. “This isn’t the way back to the house.”
“No,” Alchemy said, giving her a grin as he glanced back at her. “We’re taking a detour.”
“Are you sure we should be doing that?” she asked, frowning as she followed him down the narrower road. “We need to get back and let Blade know what we found.”
“Which is what?” Alchemy asked, still grinning. “We got information from the genealogical society, but it’s nothing we could use unless we wanted to try and—” He took a quick look around, and she lifted an eyebrow as he noticed the few other griffons using the same street. “Well, you know, visit one of them this late,” he finished, motioning with one hoof to point out how the sun was already just touching the tops of the smaller buildings around them. “Besides, Blade already had plans tonight. If we don’t catch her tonight, we can talk to her tomorrow.”
“What about our food?” she asked, tilting her head towards the bags slung over her and Alchemy’s backs.
“It’ll be fine in the heat,” Alchemy said, resuming his way down the street. “It’ll probably last longer than you will.”
She ignored the barb. For one, he was probably right. He’d done most of the shopping, picking out a variety of foods that were either only vaguely similar or in most cases completely unfamiliar to anything she’d ever eaten on the Ocean, several of which he’d claimed were imported from the Plainslands. Which meant they probably could handle the heat better than she had—though the wrap had helped, to her surprise. Far more than she’d expected it too.
Even so, she felt like she needed a shower. A cool shower. But … she had to admit, perhaps the idea of wearing clothes under all the heat wasn’t quite as insane as she’d assumed.
“Where are we going?” she asked. Ahead of them, one of the smaller spires of stone loomed over their street, a column of stone at least fifty feet across at its base.
“You’ll see,” Alchemy said, giving her another almost infuriating smile. “It’s something on the map I wanted to check out.”
“Will it take long?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
“Is it related to our mission?”
He paused, his pace slowing for just a moment. “Yes,” he said. “I think so.”
“Fine,” she said with a long sigh. “I wish you’d shared this with me earlier, rather than just deciding to make the decision.”
“It’ll be worth it,” he said, glancing back at her and giving her another grin. He was still wearing the ridiculous robes he’d purchased that morning, though judging from how little he’d sweated, they worked even better than her wrap. Or maybe the same resistance to the cold his potion had gifted him with worked the other way as well.
Or maybe I should have asked after a pair of robes as well, she thought. Then again, I still think they look ridiculous. How can he move and fight in those? Then again, there were all those stories she’d heard about the Plainslands. Clearly, they managed somehow. Or at least, they had in the tales.
The street ended as they approached the base of the tower, terminating in a large loop that circled the whole of the base and the structures that ringed it. Alchemy turned left, jumping out of the center of the street as a ball flew by, a pack of young griffons following. Frost waited until they had passed to continue across the street, only to have to increase her pace to catch up when she noticed that Alchemy hadn’t waited for her.
Something hit her on the flank and she let out a surprised yelp, spinning around. The ball bounced once before she caught it with her magic, and with the frantic scraping of dozens of claws against the warm stone, the entire pack of kits skidded to a halt in front of her.
“Üzgünüm,” one of the kits said. “Geri bizim topu alabilir miyim, bayan?”
She looked over at the ball, and then down at the eager, but slightly cautious looking bunches of feathers sitting in front of her. She could guess what the kit had been asking, especially as she could see a good half of the young griffon’s wide eyes following the ball back and forth as she let it bob in the air. She gave it a quick jump to one side, noting how some of the fledglings twitched. Hmm ...
“This ball?” she asked, giving it another little twirl. Tiny wings spread flared out, each of the young griffons jockeying with the others without lifting their claws.
“Yes,” they seemed to say with their eyes. “That ball.” She gathered her magic, her horn glowing beneath the rim of her hat and then—
Go! The ball hit the pavement with a loud slap before rocketing almost straight into the air, every one of the small eyes watching it shoot up into the sky. Then, as it started to descend, the entire group dove into action, tiny wings buzzing as each tried to fly slightly higher than their fellows.
She stepped back, a sense of satisfaction welling inside her as one of the highest griffons slapped the ball with a rear paw, sending it bouncing across the street. The entire group tore after it, her part in the ordeal already forgotten.
“So,” she said as she turned to face Alchemy. “Where are we going again?”
“That was nice of you,” he said, turning and moving towards a stairway set on the side of one of the buildings.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It had been something that normally she would have left for—for Barnabas. Had he been with her, she likely wouldn’t have had to grab the ball at all. He already would have taken it and tossed it out for the—
No! She shut her eyes for a split second, forcing herself to push the thoughts out of her mind. Focus on something else, she told herself. Like the stairs you’re climbing. Why are you climbing them? It was a valid question, one that she could focus on, one that would pull her attention away from that now-familiar hollow feeling.
“Anyway,” she said as she reached the top of the stairs. “What are we doing?”
“You’ll see,” Alchemy said, his infernal grin still fixed on his face. He moved across the roof, following the curve of the pillar and spiraling towards the center. She let out a sigh—one just audible enough that she knew he would hear it, sort of like the ones she used to give Bar—No!
Think about something else, she told herself. Like those not-bananas in the groceries! What are they? She’d called them bananas when she’d seen them, only for Alchemy to shake his head and say they were similar. Apparently, you cooked them, though she wasn’t sure how that made them different from bananas. Which you cooked, right? Maybe?
Up ahead, something was coming into view on the side of the pillar. A container of some kind, attached to the stone wall by cables and … It’s an elevator.
“Come on,” Alchemy said as she tilted her head back. There was a matching elevator at the peak of the column … at least it looked like there was. It was high up enough that it was a little hard to tell.
“Are you sure?” she said, slowing. “What’s up there that—Hey!”
“Just get in,” he said, his hooves on her saddlebags as he pushed her into the elevator. For a moment she considered digging in her hooves, but she could feel them slipping across the stone rooftop even without her resisting. Actual resistance wouldn’t get her anywhere.
The gate swung shut behind them with a click, the latch falling into place, and she took a quick look at the rest of the elevator. It was very … open, with only a chest high wall that was open along the bottom so she could see out of the car near her hooves. The wood she was standing on was solid, or at least felt solid, and the metal framework looked steady enough, but even so …
“Up we go,” Alchemy said, his hoof coming down on a lever near the door. The car lurched underhoof, jerking upwards before settling into a steady, smooth rise.
“Alchemy,” Frost said, shaking her head and looking over towards the orange stallion. “Where are we—”
“There,” he said, pointing. She followed the path of his hoof and her words died in her throat.
The entire city was spreading itself before them as the elevator rose, miles upon miles of streets tilting away until they looked like child’s toys. Still she went up, higher and higher as the car she was in lifted itself above the nearest towers.
She gasped as the entire valley came into view, spread out before her like a distant model. The elevator began to slow, but she barely noticed it. Every thought was fixed on the city.
It was incredible.
She could see dozens of towers of stone, each towering over the city, here and there connected at the lower levels by broad, sweeping arches of stone and wood, like the one their train had used. A gust of wind tugged at her hat, the lip flapping in the breeze, but she couldn’t notice something so insignificant. She could see it all. The stone pillars, the buildings and roads below them, the rivers encircling the city, and past them … green. Miles of green. The entire valley was filled with it, slope upon slope all the way to the top filled with green and gold and some sort of amber-colored stuff that looked a bit like her current mane color and …
“Farms,” she said as she realized what she was looking at. “They’re farms.” She turned, walking around the side of the elevator, the sun at her back as she followed the river along the side of the city, until she was looking south, at a vast, wide-open lake—a shimmering, crystalline blue surface wider and deeper than any she’d ever know. She could see faint shapes atop it, breaking the shimmering surface into cascading sparkles of light as they moved, and it took her a moment to realize that they were ships. Not airships that flew in the sky or ice dredgers that floated above the ice, but actual ships, the original forms of everything she’d ever known, moving through the water.
“It’s …” Her jaw felt like it wasn’t moving right. It had been easy to feel stunned at Blade’s abject declaration of the city’s size earlier, but now … “It’s beautiful.”
And it was. Strange, yes. Alien, almost certainly. But there was a beauty to the way it moved, the way it was arrayed, the way it looked.
“Here,” Alchemy said, lifting a latch at the rear of the elevator. A second door swung open, this one leading to a small, wooden platform. She looked at the top of the pillar for the first time, and she could see that it was open, clear of all obstructions save for a glass-and-metal railing and what looked like a few pairs of binoculars set onto the barrier. There was also a small box at the end of the elevator platform with a hole in it. Printed on it were three lines, one after another: Hibe, Michango, and Donations.
“I figured that you’d appreciate a chance to take your mind off things,” Alchemy said, pulling out an iron reed and dropping it into the box. “You seemed pretty enamored with the city earlier, and the map said this was one of the higher observation decks in the whole city. We’ve got plenty of time, and—”
“Thank you,” she said, stepping out of the elevator, her eyes still jerking towards the distant city. She could see everything. There were only a few higher points, among them the Imperial Pillar. She could see train yards, markets, flight schools, pumping stations, airship docks …
Anubis is docked at one of those docks, she thought, stepping towards the mounted binoculars. They were on swivels. It would be easy to—
No. She stopped, her hoof partway outstretched towards the binoculars. No. Alchemy didn’t drag you up here to look after something you already know about. He dragged you up here because … Because it’s what Barns would have done. Because it’s what Barns would want you to do. Remember? To stop. To have a life. To enjoy something.
To smile.
“Frost?” Alchemy asked, taking a step towards her. “You all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said, the words sounding strange in her ears, but then she said them again, with more force. “I’m fine. Not all right, but …” She shook her head and then tugged her eyes away from the distant airship docks, looking instead at Alchemy. “You’re right. This is a good idea. The city … it’s amazing.” She turned and looked back out over the distant scene, trying to decide what to look at first. The lake won, and she stepped over to the southern side of the pillar, ignoring the wind whipping around her and threatening to tear away her hat. She put her eyes to the glasses on the rail and watched as a ship cut its way through the water.
“Thank you,” she said again as Alchemy stepped up nearby and began peering through another set of glasses.
She meant it.
* * *
“You’re back,” Blade said as the door shut behind them. “Took you long enough.” the griffon was standing in the center room, a dark robe thrown across her body, though where she’d gotten it wasn’t clear.
“We took our time,” Frost said before Alchemy could speak. “We had to perpetuate our cover as tourists. And time was in our favor, for once, so it didn’t hurt.” She’d spent over an hour watching the city from the tower, moving from vantage point to vantage point as the metropolis flourished beneath her.
“Eh, no big deal,” Blade said, tightening a strip of dark cloth around her left foreleg. “Anything to report?”
“We have an appointment with Professor Stoneweather tomorrow afternoon,” Alchemy said. “And we were able to get a little information on the crypt that was broken into from the genealogical society.”
Blade paused. “Only a little?” she asked as Hain walked out of one of the other rooms.
“They couldn’t give us everything,” Frost said as she stepped forward. “The information that we were asking after? About the sealed, clanless tomb? It was stored with a bunch of similar information, all of which was destroyed or stolen when their building was broken into last night.”
Blade let out a long hiss.
“Sounds like that’s all the confirmation we needed, then,” Hain said. “Did you get anything on what he might be looking for?”
“No,” Alchemy said. “But we did get the names of a number of crypts that are similar in date and status. If he’s looking for something in one of them—”
“We’ll know after tonight.”
“Good,” Blade said, giving the strap of cloth one last tug. “You can fill me in on it tomorrow morning. Right now I need to move. Twilight won’t last long, and I need to be in position before dark. I’ll see you in the morning, and we can plan our next move.”
She nodded at each of them and then moved for the door, her cloak sliding along behind her and billowing in just the right places to make each movement subdued. A moment later, she was out the door and gone.
“Where’d she get the cloak?” Alchemy asked.
Hain shrugged. “Don’t know. She went out for a bit earlier and came back with it. I didn’t ask questions. You get everything else done?”
“We did,” Alchemy said. Frost gave the old griffon a curt nod in agreement, levitating her bags of food over her shoulders and depositing them on the kitchen counter.
“However,” she said with a quick shake of her mane. “There is one thing that I couldn’t find while I was out today.”
“Oh?” Hain cocked one grey-feathered eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“A shower,” she said, turning for the stairs. “I’ll return once I’ve found one.” Behind her she could hear shocked silence, and she caught a glimpse of Hain and Alchemy staring at one another as she ascended the stone steps.
“Did she—?” she heard Hain ask as she entered her room. The door shut behind her with a faint thump, cutting off any more of the conversation.
I did, she thought as she unraveled her wrap and held it out in the air. She’d need to clean it before she wore it again, but … she was going to wear it again. The thought surprised her almost as much as her parting words had.
Then again, perhaps they weren’t that surprising. It had felt good to just look at the city. It had felt good to buy something that wasn’t solely for the purpose of hunting down the cult. Speaking of which … The folded, paper wrapped dress floated free of her bags, and she stared at it for a moment before depositing it on the room’s end table, still wrapped. Not today. She didn’t know when.
But, she realized as she gathered her things and moved towards the shower, she did know one thing. The hollow in her chest?
It didn’t hurt quite as much anymore.
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Very compelling, seeing a pony so used to combat that it is her second nature trying to adapt to city life. She needs more hugs.
Got more information on the grave diggers, though I haven't been able to deduce to what end the raids are for specifically outside of skeletal servants.
Beautiful view of the city to top it off for Frost. And here's to hoping that the dress somehow makes her a Disney princess. XD Thinking more like regular town Belle outfit or something along the lines of that. Definitely a good idea of distracting her for the day, otherwise I'd see her run into the ground like another character of another tale I follow, or at least I used to.
Curious though, and I can't recall if you've answered this already. How do the reeds work, i.e. what they look like and how they're stored? My current headcanon is that they're like flat bars of the materials, with a hole or two that you can string them all up and wrap into a bundle.
Oh great, now I'm going to try and figure out what the parents are possibly named. So far we've come across two so...
Sun-
-Chaser
Prime-
-Tail
You, sir, need to stop releasing chapters until I'm caught up. >_< I'm currently at Chapter 14.
Awwww
Amazing chapter 
Adoring Frost more and more.
This reminds me of how Nova uses dye and not magic for his disguises.
Sombra's actions probably put a lot of ponies in debt. I wonder how much crystal's worth will be affected by the Crystal Empire's return.
Plaintains, maybe?
I loved this chapter! Seeing Sheerwater from Frost's view, reading Frost's awe at the size and beauty of the city, was beautiful to read.
Good job, Alchemy. In fact, great job. I get the feeling that he'll go a long way toward helping Frost keep her promises to Barnabas. I still like Blade the best, but Alchemy is Best Pony.
It was nice seeing the ice queen defrost a little. Her and Al being tourist-spies together was adorable, and that closing line brought a tear to my eye.
Copious quantities of WaFF were had this chapter, and that was really nice. A good break from the tension, I think. Now I just have to hope that Blade's night mission goes non-catastrophically.
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It's from The Walking Dead. IIRC, the primary character reads it the same way most do (Don't dead, open inside) and soon discovers that it was not a good idea to be curious.
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Well, we also "saw" him in season 2, which at the time I plotted out TDG Saga was what I went off of, but yes. That guy.
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They actually look exactly like they sound: A small reed. Or, for something most today are more familiar with, a straw. Just made of metal. It's lightweight and therefore easy to carry, as well as easy to tell the denominations with due to the weight and type of metal each is made of. Plus, easy to manufacture. So storing them would just mean bundling a bunch together in some form or another.
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No stopping this scheduled train!!! There's no brakes! And Blade took control of the engine anyway.
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Good! That means I'm doing my job (because let's face it, if 95% of us met her in real life, she'd really unnerve us).
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I was wondering if anyone would catch that. Yes, that probably made paupers out of quite a few sapients. Imagine having a family of six and finding out one morning that the entire nation you'd built your livelihood on was just gone. Never gets considered, but that had to be devastating.
Yup!
Vote "Sheerwater" for best fan tourist destination!
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As I've said before, Frost is a very difficult character to handle, and I'm consistently glad for reactions like this one. Shows I handled things right.
Awwwww. :)
6368168 If you're interested here's a more detailed post Viking put up awhile back with the details of all the currencies, including some basic exchange rates.
The economist hiding inside me loves knowing those background details are all in place.
Wait, a male and female went out together and there was the start of a friendship and no romance? Hollywood would call that heresy, I call it good writing. Looks like Barnabas isn't the only guy Frost can get along with. Hopefully she'll get the chance to come out of her shell. Even if only because it'll make her a better fighter, since she won't be as wound up, and can therefore pound Anubis into and even more fine paste,
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Some tropes and trends just deserve to be subverted (or bucked). I will do so when presented with the opportunity, especially when it makes for a better (or more real) story and character set.
Dead Silver actually got called out by Papa Pat in his review for doing something similar. Main character has a romantic interest (who is definitely reciprocative) ... and yet rather than dropping everything to pursue a possible romantic interest or shutting her down (typical cliche stuff), he continues with the more pressing (and vital) job he's on until the plots resolved itself, and then goes "Okay, now I can breath easy and think about other things."
Realism and respect! It's a thing!
Edit: And you'll find even more interesting scenario's in Unusual Events. I guarantee it!
My grandmother died recently. This chapter was just the pick-me-up I needed. Thank-you.
O.
T.
P.
Nice to see Frost living a little instead of existing. Alchemy as another brother, perhaps?
Wow. I knew it was gonna take something big to get through to her, but that was just... You did such a good job describing the view I could close my eyes and almost SEE it. I always knew it'd be alchemy who broke through her shell, I just didn't know how. After all, She's right, he really is quite a lot like Barns was. Always smiling, Always trying to help those around him, give them an excuse to laugh, or show them something new. It's why I liked Barnaby so much. In spite of the hard life he had, all the loss, and sadness, and even the Piracy, He was a good guy, with a heart of gold.
Awwwwe this has got to be my favorite chapter so far. Frost is such a great character and I’m glad she got to see the city.