6 - The Annals of Truth
Chapter 6: The Annals of Truth
Despite the delay, the train was well on its way, unmolested, to the capital of Equestria. Wealthy nobles, sightseers, and ordinary travellers on business, pleasure, or both, were seated comfortably. The travellers were told that a minor mishap had occurred on the line and the inconvenience had been promptly removed.
Comforted by the friendly tones of the conductor, none really questioned why the conductor, originally a male, was suddenly speaking in a falsetto, or sounded more like a mare than a stallion. They didn’t dwell on it long, simply glad that they weren’t going to be too late.
Meanwhile, icy silence had descended among the passengers in the first carriage of the 2:45 express to Canterlot. In this part of the train, the occupants had been well-aware of the circumstances, but only one pony cared, being the original conductor of the train.
“Hey,” he whined, “I would like to have my job back.”
“Oh quiet you, there’s no problem here now,” Mortimus snapped back. He would have had more patience for the conductor, but he lost it when the conductor insisted they follow protocol and leave the train in the middle of nowhere to wait for the Royal Guard. It might have done no harm, if the griffons weren’t coming as well. Mortimus didn’t know what they wanted, but from the angry gesticulations they sent his way as the train started puffing away, only solidified Mortimus’ belief that he made the right choice.
“I must insist,” he continued. “This is my train after all!”
“Shut up,” Mortimus growled, sinking into the seat and closing his eyes.
“But—”
Mortimus’ eyes snapped open. “Listen very carefully. I would like you to be perfectly quiet.” The conductor shrunk back, unable to hold onto his temerity under the gaunt pony’s frightening mask of carefully suppressed fury. Mortimus was ready to reach out and snap the conductor’s neck. The conductor, on the verge of saying something else, conjured fanciful notions of the Grim Reaper, and he suddenly thought it wise to keep quiet. Mortimus never thought he’d be glad of his looks, but in this circumstance it certainly came in handy.
Waiting a few more seconds in case the conductor had anything else to say, Mortimus finally gave the pony one more murderous look for good measure and then sank back into his seating.
“What’s going on?” It was one of Raven’s former ‘accomplices’ sitting across from him. Mortimus had some difficulty recalling his name, but then remembered when the pony couldn’t keep his hooves still.
“Swiper, right?” Mortimus asked.
“Yes, sir.” Swiper gulped. “I was was just wondering where the Boss had gone.”
“Boss?”
“Uhh Raven, sir, we sometimes call her Boss.”
Mortimus gestured behind him. “Raven is trying to get in touch with the drivers and explain what’s going on. She said she was going to smooth talk them.”
Swiper sighed with relief. “That’s good then.”
“I see,” Mortimus sat back and gave him a little smile. “You care for her, don’t you?”
Swiper shifted uncomfortably. “Don’t tell her this, but I sorta knew she wasn’t as… you know, old as she was.”
Mortimus gaped at him. “Then why…?”
Swiper shrugged. “None of us are really hard crims, we’re just getting by because we haven’t found another way. I can’t speak for the others, but I knew I didn’t want to sink further into the organisation. Still, we’re all rejects in some way or another, failures like us couldn’t find a decent job even if we tried.” The pickpocket glanced out the window and added bitterly, “Not anything that pays enough, anyway.”
“So what made you stop?” Mortimus frowned. “You can’t have just had these thoughts now.”
Swiper looked at his hooves tracing them along the side of the carriage. “I was a magician you know?”
“What?”
“Yeah I know, silly, right? But there’s an attraction. Not real magic, just sleight of hoof.” Swiper placed his hooves together then moved them apart to reveal a small coin. “Someponies just want to see an earth pony do some ‘magic’. It gives ‘em a sense of wonder, some of that mystery, eh?”
“But…” Mortimus didn’t know a delicate way to put it.
“Yeah, yeah, we have real magic. We have unicorns and spells and all that, but look at this.” He ran a hoof down his coat, changing the dirty brown colour to a bright pink. With another gesture it was dirty brown again. “See that?” He laughed at Mortimus’ shocked expression. “That’s what magic means to me. Something you can’t explain, the art of mystery and mystique.”
“I guess I can see that,” Mortimus admitted. “If you’re that good, what made you stop?”
“A unicorn and some bad luck,” Swiper replied quietly. “Some pony name Dixie or Pixie or something started showing off a flashier version of what I did. Nopony wanted to see a boring old earth pony anymore. Then the drought hit north of Filly Delphia and suddenly my family was neck-deep in debt. I was a travelling pony, but my family has roots as deep as the orchards they planted. I loved my parents, but it was really for my sisters.” He suddenly grinned. “My parents wanted me to inherit the farm, so I ran away. We’re on pretty bad terms right now, but my sisters always smiled at the little magic tricks as I worked the ground, when Ma or Pa wasn’t looking.”
“Do they…?” Mortimus trailed off as Swiper gave him a look. “Sorry.”
Swiper sighed. “Don’t be. I don’t have the right to be angry at you. None at all. They’re my choice after all.”
Swiper ran a hoof through his short-cropped mane, casting a shaded look towards Wile and Bricker. “We’re all the same, or at least in a similar situation. We usually do shakedowns and debt collecting, nothing too rough and tumble. We stick to the grey edges of the Law.” He looked at his hooves. “I guess we drew the line at ponynapping. We were darn sure surprised the human could speak. We thought it was some sort of weird, exotic animal.”
For a long time, Mortimus considered the other pony. Then he gave him a smile that told him he understood a little of his pain. “I guess I can sympathise. It’s hard for me to fit in as well. At least I found a place. I don’t know what I would have done if I was so desperate.”
Swiper glanced up, stared at Mortimus for a few seconds and gave a small lopsided smirk that told him he understood what he meant. “Thanks, but uhh, can you keep it on the down low? For the Boss?”
Mortimus glanced back at the train door. He spotted Secant humming to herself as she wiggled her fingers in a strange, wave-like fashion. He nodded.
“I’m sure you’ll tell her someday. She’s lucky to have you ponies around.”
———————
Raven poked her head in through the door, shutting it behind her and nodding to the admittedly intimidating Mortimus. Though he looked like he had a lot on mind, the pony gave her a thin, but surprisingly warm smile as she threaded her way down the aisle. Mortimus heaved a sigh, looking more than a little glad that nopony else seemed to connect the log laid across the tracks to the four new occupants now seated on the train.
As she took an empty seat near the middle of the carriage Secant moved to sit alongside her, all the while wearing that inane grin she had since the beginning. Though she disliked the overbearing human being so close to her, she had to admit, she was glad they didn’t have to ponynap, or she guessed humannap her. If she stuck to her side of the seat, she would tolerate her presence. Leaning against the window, she tried hard to ignore the human’s beaming smile and constant attempts to engage her in conversation.
Raven had a hard time believing the fantastical tales that Mortimus spun about Secant and humans in general. Some of it had to be true though, because the Big Boss specifically wanted the human. Whatever the Big Boss wanted, it was always valuable, and the things a human could do sounded really crazy. Still, it didn’t make sense that they were sent. They were after all, barely scraping by at the organisation’s lowest rungs. She wondered what kind of plan the Big Boss had. After all, it wasn’t like him or his second-in-command, Hard Line, to let an opportunity slip through their hooves.
Raven cast a furtive glance around the carriage.
Despite the presence of the human, and the assurances of her teammates, nothing could ease the churning knots her stomach was tying. Once the Big Boss found out about her betrayal, if there was a small chance that he got there before they could... he might not tell Equestrian Social Services, but there were other ways to extract revenge.
“You must let me stop the train!”
Raven snapped out of her thoughts as she glanced over to the conductor. Even though she wasn’t there for the larger part of his prattling, she was there long enough that it was starting to eat away at her patience. Making a quick survey, Raven saw that the other occupants of the small carriage were starting to show signs of ire. She was not the only one annoyed at the conductor. Making eye contact with Bricker, she frowned and nodded in the conductor’s direction. Bricker got the message and smiled wickedly.
He flexed his muscles. There was no practical use for the movement, apart from the added bonus of quieting the conductor for a brief moment in time. The other passengers nodded gratefully to Bricker, though the rich stallion that wore a suit that looked more expensive than the train itself, ignored the bickering. It was beneath him. None of them knew his name, either, he hadn’t deigned to offer it.
“Darling just relax,” the fanciful mare directed to the conductor with a hapless sigh. “All is well, is it not? We’re on our way and by some miracle, even on time!” Raven dimly recalled her name was Plush Velvet. She had almost forgotten she existed.
“It certainly is not!” the conductor grumbled. He stared out the window as if to find courage in the transitive landscape. “They haven’t even paid for their tickets!”
“Actually,” Swiper said awkwardly, “we did.”
Wile held out the tickets, all four of them.
The conductor went cross-eyed at the gold-coloured passes flashing in front of his nose. “What?” His mouth worked open and closed as he snatched them out of the air and studied closely. “T-They’re legitimate…”
Wile nodded. “Yeah, uhh, we’re technically passengers, right?”
“O-Oh,” the conductor mumbled. “Well, I must apologise…” He looked like he was torn between the loyalty of customer service with his indignation in dealing with the train mishap. Finally, the conductor sighed and handed back the tickets. “Please take your seats,” he mumbled, before exiting the carriage.
“Thank Celestia he’s gone,” Plush muttered. “He was certainly whiny, and I would know whiny!”
There were silent nods of agreement all around.
Mortimus raised an eyebrow. “How did you get tickets?” He sat across Raven and gave her a muted smile, which she shyly returned, though she fidgeted uncomfortably.
“We were given them by one of the organisation’s handlers,” she explained reluctantly. “We were supposed to get on the train and find the human, but, uhh, we missed it.”
“Missed the train?” Mortimus gaped. “But how did you get ahead of the train?”
Raven flushed. “When we said we ‘missed’ the train, we actually caught an early train.”
“Early?” Mortimus cocked his head. “You mean you caught the wrong train?”
Raven bit her lip, she wanted to be anywhere but squirming under Mortimus’ critical look. “Yeah, the train stopped at a junction and booted us out because we didn’t have the right tickets. I only realised we were on the wrong train when the conductor had told us.” She hunched her shoulders. “So I came up with the idea to stop the other train with a log on the railroad. We made sure that it was plenty visible so they could stop in time, and we had a backup in case something went wrong…” Raven fell silent when she realised she was babbling.
Bricker cut in as Raven sat there looking at her hooves. “She’s got a good head, she does.” Bricker nodded in approval. “Though I never knew she was that young.”
Raven didn’t say anything but pressed her hooves together tightly. “That’s all done for now. I wanted to help out my sister, but I didn’t want ponies to get hurt all that much. Mostly we just fleece those that can afford it, or those that haven’t been paying their dues. It’s mostly legal work…”
“It’s okay.” Mortimus stopped Raven and reached out, patting her on the shoulder. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. For now, we’ll concentrate on finding your sister and making sure both of you are safe.”
Secant ruffled her mane with a cheek-splitting grin.. “Don’t worry, Mortimus always knows what’s going on, he’s a good pony.”
Mortimus, though frightening to look at as a pony, had this smile that seemed to make her feel better. Raven shared it for a few seconds and allowed the annoying human to continue petting her. It did kind of feel nice.
Just a little.
————————
Royalty, accompanied by their famous retinue, made quite a splash landing in the centre of Ponyville. The small town, though usually the centre of many weird and wonderful events, wasn’t quite prepared for the arrival of three Princesses and the two Wonderbolts. Residents gathered around to gawk at the group, and chief among them were Twilight’s friends who had caught wind of Rainbow’s disappearance through a most reliable source of the pink variety.
“I just knew I had a feeling!” Pinkie exclaimed.
Well, the source didn’t have to be based on petty things like facts or physical evidence.
Rarity mumbled something and passed over a small bag of bits to Applejack.
“Thank you kindly,” the farmer murmured with a smug expression. Rarity flicked her mane out of the way and huffed. She seemed to remember herself as Twilight approached and bowed delicately.
“Princesses, Twilight, Captain,” she greeted smoothly.
“Hiya, Twi’!” Pinkie added, instantly breaking decorum. She paused halfway as she recognised the bundle of feathers on Twilight’s back.
“Dashie! Hello?”
“She’s fine,” Twilight said by way of explanation as Fluttershy and Applejack eased the unconscious pegasus off her back. “I think she’ll wake up soon, but we should get her checked out just in case.”
Celestia looked pleasantly surprised to see Twilight’s friends gathered. “Twilight, it’s wonderful to see your friends gathered here at such short notice.”
“If it’s a new spell, you must let us know,” Luna added with a crafty look.
Twilight chuckled. “I’ll let you know if I ever figure it out.” Pinkie grinned as Twilight shot her a look. “In the meantime, I think we should head to the hospital. We need to talk to Dr. Stable and Nurse Redheart.”
Fluttershy edged her way forward. “Oh, uhm, is Rainbow hurt? That’s terrible!”
Twilight waved her hooves frantically. “No, no, it’s something different. I’ll explain on the way, if the Princesses—”
Celestia shook her head. “You have it well in hoof, Twilight.” She gave her a reassuring smile. “In fact, I think I need to head back to Canterlot to coordinate guards. If something is happening with the changelings, we will need a swift response.” She paused. “Unlike last time.”
Luna reared her head. “Perhaps I should follow—”
Celestia held up a hoof, stopping Luna. “I think it’s best if you stay here with Twilight, Luna. I trust Twilight, but she may need some extra help with Exuviae out and about.”
Luna’s eyes hardened considerably when Celestia mentioned the name of the changeling Queen. “Indeed, her past transgressions are more than enough warning. A wise decision, sister. Forgive me, I wasn’t thinking.”
Celestia chuckled, then laughed at Luna’s stricken expression. “A little less stiff, little sister, we each have our own roles and I trust you.” Celestia gave Luna a warm hug, with Luna looking a little embarrassed to be in the centre of attention, especially with what seemed like all of Ponyville looking on.
“Ahem, well, yes, I best… apprise the hospital…” Luna got out before she flew off in a flurry of feathers and furious flushes of the cheek.
Celestia eyed the dwindling form of her sister, then turned to the rest of the ponies gathered. “Luna knows what Exuviae was like, as do I, so she may explain to you personally what misfortune befell us when we had to deal with her. She may be shy of showing her affection, but you are in no better hooves when it comes to protecting and defending those she loves and cares for.” She bent down low and nuzzled Twilight in a sudden hug that surprised the alicorn. “I need not tell you how much it would hurt to lose either of you, so please, be careful.”
Caught off-guard by the princess’ concern, Twilight stayed silent, only nodding in reply. Celestia held Twilight’s gaze for a few seconds more before parting. She turned to the rest of Twilight’s friends.
“Thank you for being there for Twilight, and for all of us.”
“No problem,” Applejack immediately replied.
“It’s no trouble,” Fluttershy said.
“We’re always there for Twilight,” Rarity said.
“It’s okay, Princess! Twilight will just blast miss meanie in the face, or Applejack will tie her up, or Rarity will dress her up, or Fluttershy will stare at her, or I’ll throw a party!” Pinkie whipped out her colourful party cannon. “I mean that literally!”
Applejack sighed and shook her head, smiling slightly as Pinkie bounced on top of her cannon. “Well, Princess, as you can see, we wouldn’t let Twilight, or anypony else down for that matter.”
Celestia looked genuinely relieved when she saw their resolute determination. “Thank you all.” She turned to Twilight and leaned in close, her voice just above a whisper. “Speak to Discord, if you can.”
Twilight blinked, her eyes filled to brim with questions, but already the Princess had turned around and spread her wings. With a powerful downstroke, Celestia took to the air, leaving behind Twilight with troubled thoughts.
————————
“Ugh, where the heck am I?”
“Dashie! You’re alright!” Powerful hooves were crushing the life back out of her.
“P-Pinkie! I… need… air… !”
“Sorry! It’s just so good to see you up!”
“Twi’?”
“Yes?”
“I’m in the hospital again?”
“Yep.”
“Where are the others?”
“Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy are outside, we decided to keep it to two ponies at a time so the bedroom wasn’t too crowded.”
“Right… but like… so that means… the human! Where’s the human?”
Twilight looked away. “He’s with the changelings.”
Rainbow frowned. “Changelings? What? Here? In Equestria?”
Twilight made a calming gesture with her hooves. “Rainbow, calm down, I know this is going to be a lot to take in at once, but let me go through it all and then you can ask me questions, okay?”
Rainbow’s questions were squashed under the troubled look sunk into Twilight’s expression.
“Okay,” she replied softly. “What’s wrong, Twilight?”
“The human, David—”
“Day-vid?” It sounded weird in her mouth.
Twilight frowned, but continued anyway. “That’s his name. He was taken with you to the caves to the west of here. We don’t know how they got in, but I think they masqueraded as medical staff and flew you both out in stretchers. Seems like they cast some sort of spell to keep you unconscious, but it didn’t work as well on David.”
Rainbow was about to ask a question, but held it back when she remembered what Twilight had told her. She gestured for Twilight to finish.
“Anyway, when I found out he was missing, Princess Celestia and Luna showed up—”
“What?!”
“—Then Soarin and Spitfire found out where the changelings were and we tracked them back and infiltrated the cave. We met Exuviae, and David was with her.”
“What?!”
“Turns out the human wants to help the Queen, although I don’t know why.”
“WHAT?!”
Twilight was spared another disbelieving shout from Rainbow, as another voice interceded.
“I believe she has deceived the human.” Rainbow’s eyes shot up and found that Princess Luna had entered the room, only just closing the door behind her softly. Twilight had also turned around in surprise, but it looked like more in surprise of what Luna had said rather than her sudden entrance.
“I heard you both conversing,” Luna replied to the unspoken question. “Especially Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow shrugged helplessly. It wasn’t her fault she was loud; Twilight had said some pretty weird things.
“So this Queen… does she have a name?” Rainbow asked.
As soon as she mentioned her, Luna’s expression darkened. “Queen Exuviae.” Her mouth twisted in a way that looked like she’d bitten a lemon. “An unpleasant individual we’ve had the displeasure of knowing in the past.”
“Who is she?” Twilight asked, unable to contain herself. Pinkie opened the door in response to the knocks from the other side. Belatedly, Twilight waited as the rest of the girls came in and shut the door behind them.
“Okay, now that we have all gathered,” Luna said impatiently. “I can tell you about Exuviae.”
“You don’t seem to like her,” Pinkie said with a frown. “She must be a meanie.”
“Yes, I must admit I don’t really have a fondness for Exuviae. She herself may not have directly been involved in invasions and such in Equestria, but she’d been at the heart of complex deceptions and manipulations that would put most the Court of Hibernatum to shame.”
“Hiber-what now?” Applejack blurted.
“It’s a griffon city,” Rainbow explained. She twitched at their stares. “What? So I know some geography. Plus Gilda tells me about it sometimes.”
Twilight nodded. “Hibernatum’s Court houses some of the most influential griffons in the land. It’s famous for their petty manoeuvres and treacherous politics.” Twilight grinned. “In fact, I read—”
“That’s right,” Luna interrupted. “Exuviae was a master at tipping the balance of power. She would often destabilise our relationships and the politics in the regions around to take advantage of the chaos and infiltrate yet more of her changelings. It’s mostly died down now since we’ve developed passive identification methods for changelings.”
“You mean those little glowing crystals in the walls and such?” Rarity said, her eyebrows shooting up. “I simply thought they were decorative.”
“Who can say they cannot serve a double-function?” Luna gave her a wry smile. “In any case, they’re not perfect, the crystals are prohibitively expensive to produce and can only detect for one pony each. However, they certainly discouraged any further incursions from changelings, at least in positions that matter.”
“So what Exuviae was saying might hold a grain of truth? The changelings are now being starved out?”
Luna rolled her eyes. “While it may be harder to obtain an abundance of food, the problem of changelings is the size of their Swarm. They are much too keen to expand and as a consequence, threaten to destabilise the equilibrium of nature. Exuviae simply wants the human for her own ends. She wants to eliminate the competition so that she can have any of the hunting grounds to herself.”
“I must say, I dislike that idea.” Applejack wore a disgusted look. “We ain’t some kind of food to just go out and hunt and eat.”
Fluttershy looked doubtful, but looked like she didn’t want to say anything.
Twilight glanced their way. “Exuviae and the changelings don’t look like they are well off compared to others in Equestria.” Twilight shifted uncomfortably as everypony stared at her. “I mean, I know the dragons are heavy traditionalists, so they haven’t made much effort in producing technology, but they have decent magic despite it all going into augmenting their physical abilities. Still, it does seem complicated, there must be some other explanation for Exuviae and the human.”
“We’re not sure,” Luna finally said. “Exuviae had been mostly quiet as of late, but there have been times before when she had our nation at the brink of collapse.” An intensely bitter expression passed like the head of a thundercloud through Luna’s face as she scowled in condemnation. “She cannot be trusted, that much we know.”
“So…” Rainbow said. “What are we going to do? Steal back the human?”
Luna smiled in a way that made Rainbow suddenly feel uncomfortable.
“Yes,” she said. “We are.”
—————————
Despite the awkward silence that followed, Twilight kept her tone decidedly chipper, despite it coming out more forceful than she desired.
“Before that,” she began slowly, “we should do some research on the human. We should interview Dr. Stable and Nurse Redheart on their findings.”
Luna nodded. “I have ordered them to report to us, so they should—”
A knock interrupted her.
“Ah, good timing,” Luna remarked, then telekinetically opened the door.
“You needed to see us, Princess?” Dr. Stable asked.
“Come in, come in,” Luna said, beckoning with an inviting hoof. “No need to feel shy.”
“Despite what you’ve done,” Twilight muttered to herself. Some of her friends shot her a querying look but Twilight sent one back that meant ‘later’. She hoped they would realise.
“What?” Nurse Redheart frowned.
“Nothing,” Twilight answered, with a forced smile. “We wanted to know what you wanted to talk to us about, concerning the human.”
At that, the two ponies relaxed, their excited enthusiasm erasing their initial unease.
“Yes!” Dr. Stable exclaimed, withdrawing a bag from one of his pockets. “Do you know what this is?”
“A plastic bag?” Rainbow called out from the bed.
Dr. Stable shot her quelling look and turned to Luna. “It’s a sample. Specifically a small snippet of human hair and some of its blood.”
Luna’s eyebrows drew together as she peered at the bag. “And…?”
Dr. Stable and Nurse Redheart looked at Luna like she was daft. “It’s shorter, that’s what.”
“What is?” Twilight interjected.
“The hair,” Dr. Stable said. “It’s shorter than when we first cut it.”
“Uhh…” Even Twilight didn’t get it.
“We’ve run some tests,” Dr. Stable explained patiently. “On both the samples and they react to magic. It’s crazy! The blood and the hair synergise with magic in very different ways.”
“But I don’t see how that…” Twilight trailed off. “What do you mean ‘synergise’?”
Nurse Redheart raised an eyebrow. “I mean ‘enhance’. For lack of a better word, ‘amplify’.”
“It does more than that,” Dr. Stable corrected impatiently. “It is revolutionary in terms of magic itself! Not only does it work with magic and enhances it, it’s highly synergistic with the caster too! When I was examining it under the microscope, I was suddenly aware that I had much better control with the fine-tuning knob. Nurse Redheart also noticed that suddenly all her blood sample batches were pure. Everything that I touched with magic suddenly worked! It’s amazing!”
“What?” Twilight replied, dumbfounded. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“We thought so too,” Dr. Stable admitted, “but when we started testing it with different materials, we noticed something.”
Luna leaned in. “What is it?”
“The hair and blood was getting shorter. Like we were using it up.”
“That’s impossible,” Twilight blurted. “The hair and blood can’t just disappear!”
“It did!” Nurse Redheart cut in. “That’s why we wanted more. We were already testing it on various substances and seeing the effects. It seems to just improve anything it mixes with, as long as there’s a bit of magic exposed to it. I believe if you ingest the blood, you could potentially become—”
“That’s enough,” Luna said sharply. She glared at them both. “Even if what you said was true, even if these miracles were true, do you think it is a good idea to continue testing without the human’s consent?”
“But…” Dr. Stable replied with a frown. “It’s just an animal.”
Fluttershy gasped and stepped forward. “Animal or not, they would both have feelings, did you consider that?”
Dr. Stable made a helpless gesture. “But can’t you see that there could be—”
“No way, I can’t believe that you—”
Nurse Redheart reddened. “You don’t know a thing about medicine you’re just a veterinarian!”
Applejack stomped her hoof, nostrils flaring in indignation. “Hey now, don’t you go insulting my friends—”
“It’s true isn’t it?”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“We still need to test—”
“Absolutely not—”
“Enough!” Twilight yelled. She glanced around to make sure she had everypony’s attention. She had it. Instantly. “Now,” she continued with a dark scowl, “let’s put arguments aside for now. Princess Celestia has ordered that we simply get the information about the human from you both. We’ve done it, you two are dismissed.”
“Twilight—” Luna hesitated as Twilight glared at her. Despite the shock evident on her face, Luna elected to stay quiet, her jaw snapping shut with a click. She waited a few moments more to see if Luna would speak, then turned back to the two medical staff.
“You’ve overstepped your bounds. You are dismissed.”
Dr. Stable tried one more time. “But—”
“Out. Now.” There was no mistaking the calm anger that seethed underneath her words. Both the doctor and nurse made themselves scarce.
“Who knew Twi’ could be so scary?” Rainbow muttered.
“I can hear you,” Twilight said without looking. She heard a gulp and rolled her eyes, turning around to the rest of her friends who were staring at her with wide eyes. She made an effort to calm herself. “We weren’t getting anywhere with those two. Our priority now is to retrieve the human and fetch the one from Manehatten.”
“Manehatten?” Rarity asked, perking up.
“That’s right,” Twilight gave her a slight smile. “We know of at least two humans, but there could be more.” A quill, parchment and an ink bottle burst into existence. “We’re going to split up into three groups.”
“What?” Applejack said.
“What?” Luna said.
“What?” Rainbow said from the bed.
Twilight pursed her lips, but didn’t comment. “One group will have to keep an eye on Exuviae, they’ll be going after David and getting him back.”
Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “I’m in.”
Pinkie raised her hoof. “Sounds like fun!”
Twilight nodded. “Another group will have to go to Manehatten—”
“Darling, can I suggest—”
Twilight finally smiled. “Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy, you can go.”
Applejack reared back. “What? Me?”
“Yes, don’t you have family there? Maybe you can get in touch? They might have heard something.”
“Well I suppose…”
Twilight gave Applejack a sympathetic look. “If you don’t want to go, I understand.” She raised her head and swept around. “I mean that. If anypony here is uncomfortable with any of this, please say so. I would like your help, but you don’t have to—”
“Nonsense,” Rarity said, flicking back her mane.
“Baloney,” Applejack added. “I was just being a stick in the mud. I reckon I can muster up the courage to visit the Oranges again.”
Rarity gave Applejack a teasing smile. “Even if you have to wear a dress?”
Applejack winced. “Yeah, even if I have to wear another dang dress again. Though if I can help it, it won’t come to that.”
Twilight smiled sincerely. “Thanks, Applejack.”
“Don’t worry about it, sugarcube, I know you’re fretting about these humans. Hopefully they won’t be as much as a hoof-full as the one down here has been.”
Twilight chuckled.
“Princess Twilight, I believe you have forgotten one individual.”
Twilight gave Luna a lopsided smile as she finished writing on the parchment, dismissing the quill and ink. “Sorry Princess, would you mind delivering a letter to the Crystal Empire?”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “A princess as a mailmare?”
Twilight shrugged uncomfortably. “An alicorn can make better time than a pegasus.”
Rainbow bristled. “Hey! If you—”
Twilight cocked her head. “Unless you want to fly all the way to the Crystal Empire?”
Rainbow froze, then shrank back. “Yeah, uhh sorry Princess Luna, I’m more of a sprinter…”
Luna chuckled, but shook her head. “Twilight, why do you wish me to head to the Empire?”
Twilight’s troubled expression flittered across her features. “In the letter is a list of books of things I can remember relating to humans. The Crystal Empire has a library that holds an extensive catalogue of knowledge that even the Canterlot Archives doesn’t retain. The Crystal Empire has been uniquely preserved for the last thousand years, and I think you can find something about humans there. With your knowledge and the library there, you can quickly find more information about David and hopefully the other human.”
Luna considered this, then tilted her head, raising her eyebrow in suspicion. “Surely you would like to go yourself?”
Twilight bit her lip and nodded. “I would, but…”
“But?”
“But I feel a little responsible for what happened to David.”
“It’s not your fault—”
“Yes, it is.” She clamped down on the discomfort seeping into the tone. “I’m a princess now, and that means things that Dr. Stable and Nurse Redheart and Exuviae have done should never have happened! In fact, they wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t so ignorant!” Twilight took in their sympathetic looks and heaved a sigh. Her anger was immaterial, and there was no use snapping at her closest confidants just because of her own shortcomings. “Sorry… It’s just that they took my friend right from under my nose. I feel so stupid.”
“Don’t you start blaming yourself for what other ponies or changelings did.” Luna softened her tone, giving Twilight a somewhat bitter smile. “Going down that road leads to ruin.” Placing a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, Luna gave the downcast alicorn a reassuring smile as she took the letter from her. “I will do as you requested Twilight, but I suspect that in your letter you will be asking after Princess Cadance or your brother?”
Twilight flushed. “How did you know?”
“If there’s one thing I do know,” Luna replied with an easy grin, “it is that Twilight Sparkle cares about her friends and family.”
Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but a flare of white and blue light temporarily blinded her. Out popped a scroll… bound with the Royal Seal of the Crystal Empire.
“Whaaa…?”
Luna peered at the seal with a cocked head. Her eyes widened as curiosity quickly evolved into concern. “That is an emergency spell unique to the Crystal Empire. It only works between blood relations, so I suspect Shining Armor will have sent this.”
Twilight could only nod as she opened the scroll. Her stomach felt as if there were a swarm of butterflies. She took a breath before diving into the contents.
Dear Twily,
Send help.
Love,
Shining
Twilight blinked at the contents and was almost about to say something when within moments, another scroll popped into existence. This time with writing that Twilight recognised was from Cadance.
Dear Twilight,
Your brother was panicking and didn’t think before sending the letter, so you might be worried. We would really appreciate it if you could—
HELP US.
Sorry about that, Shining took the quill from me. I would appreciate it if you could give us a little advice. We have a mysterious creature in our palace and it has told us some… very disturbing things. Attached is a sketch to help identify what it is. It claims to be ‘an Auditor’ though I suspect she’s informing us of her job rather than her species, I’m not entirely sure what she is other than that she looks like a human.
But seriously, we need some help.
Love,
Cadance
Wordlessly, Twilight passed the scroll back to Luna.
Luna took a few moments to read the contents, then turned to Twilight.
“I will leave at once,” she said.
————————
Cadance couldn’t process the fact that the creature could stand so calmly after what it did. Ahead of her was the remnants of her office, a more than regrettable casualty in the aftermath of what looked like a major magical fallout. Papers were scattered, ink was spilled, and the floor was littered with torn documentation and filings. Her work, handled for the Empire for the next couple of weeks, a monumental effort, lay shattered in the wake of this creature.
The creature stared around itself and seemed to catch onto her disbelief.
“My apologies,” it spoke in stentorian tones that sounded cracked with age. Underneath that, she sounded distinctly feminine. “I did not mean to disturb your furnishings.”
Clutched in her fleshy hands, bald of all but faint wisps of hair, was a staff that glowed blue. With a wave and muttered phrase, the creature set all her mutilated reports on fire.
“The mess is now removed.”
Cadance finally jolted into action.
“THAT WAS TWO WEEK’S WORTH OF PAPERWORK!”
A long silence stretched between them as Cadance stood in the doorway, her chest heaving with the exertion of belting out that violent bellow. The creature cringed a little.
“Ah.”
Cadance was ready to blast the creature out of the window. “Don’t ‘ah’ me! Fix it! Or finish all the paperwork again!”
“I apologise,” the creature said simply.
Cadance tapped a hoof impatiently on the floor before letting out her pent-up anger in a single, relieving breath. “Fine,” she said with a sigh, suddenly not feeling up to the task of throwing a fit. “It was just a lot of work that was all.”
It was more important that she found out why this ‘Auditor’ called ‘Written’ wanted to find a ‘human’. Something about the way Written gripped the staff like it was a branch held out to a drowning pony, and the way she was slightly hunched, told Cadance that it was almost as unsettled as she was. Whatever this ‘human’ was, it must have been important, otherwise why would she appear in the middle of the Crystal Empire? Even more urgently, why in the castle?
The creature brought a finger to its face and cocked her head in a way to suggest that it was considering something. As she tilted her head, the hood of her robe fell back and Cadance could finally see the creature’s wrinkled features. Her eyes, bright and penetrating, seemed to take her in without seeing her. Cadance shivered, it was the same sort of look some of the courtiers in Canterlot gave her when they cordially greeted her with barbed intentions.
“That is fair,” Written finally said. “I am accountable for this, so I must make reparations.” She bowed slightly, somehow sounding deferential without being subservient. “Allow me to assist you for the duration it requires to make amends for this grievous mistake. I am Auditor Written, at your service.” As she bowed lower, the tip of the staff touched the floor. With a flash, the staff burned a hole clean through the crystal. Cadance couldn’t conceal her shock as the creature righted itself and then looked apologetically at the floor.
“Ah, apologies.” The Auditor whispered something again and then waved the staff, then the hole in the floor, which was growing rapidly. In an instant, it was suddenly back to normal as if nothing had happened, making it seem almost like she just hallucinated it. Maybe she had, Cadance couldn’t wrap her head around it. The magic looked completely foreign, and though spells like that were possible with magic of her own, the staggering complexity of the spell was in startling contrast to the absurdity of the creature’s casual gesture. Cadance shook her head, she had to find out what—
“What are you… doing…” The beginning of Cadance’s interrogation trailed off as Written suddenly started strolling around the room and began picking books off the shelves in her study.
Written flicked through the book, but didn’t answer for a while. After flicking through half the book she glanced up. “I will need to attain a level of understanding of your culture and policies for the effective application of governance. Once I attain your trust, you may be able to help me find this other human.” She flicked through the rest of the pages then snapped the book closed and sighed. “Normally I wouldn’t have to disturb the inhabitants of these garden worlds, but I can’t sense the anomalies like usual, there’s something here occluding the Truth. Not surprising considering—” she glanced up as if suddenly aware of Cadance “—I intend to find the human, correct the anomaly and return.”
“What?” Cadance pursed her lips. Anomaly? Human? What is this creature talking about?
Written took another book from the shelf and flipped through it. “Do not concern yourself, I will be done soon.”
Cadance pursed her lips, getting the feeling that the creature was going to be a vexing conversant. “Okay,” she said, turning around. “Can you please stay in this room until I come back?”
Written looked up. “I give you my word,” she replied solemnly. She snapped the book closed with such force that it made Cadance flinch. Written seemed not to notice her reaction and simply picked another book.
Somehow Cadance got the feeling that the creature didn’t really want to help her, despite its seemingly neutral intentions.
I better let Shining know, she thought to herself as she reluctantly left the creature alone in her study room.
———————
Shining spotted a somewhat frazzled alicorn approach him from the other side of the corridor. In rare bout of clarity, Shining knew what was wrong.
“Is this about the comment I made earlier with my friends? I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking—”
“What? No.”
Then again, maybe he didn’t get what was wrong after all. There was only one course of action available to him after this.
“Uhh… what’s wrong?”
Cadance bit her lip and beckoned her husband over. “You wouldn’t believe me unless you’ve seen it.” She started off back down the corridor she came from as Shining scrambled to keep up.
A little shiver worked its way down his spine. It was an ominous premonition. “What? What’ve you seen?”
“It’s the strangest thing, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this creature in Equestria before. It stands on two legs, has hands like a Minotaur… in fact I’m not even sure it’s not some misshapen Minotaur, I mean it looks like one, but it doesn’t behave like one. At least, I’ve never seen a female like it…”
“Woah, woah, woah,” Shining interrupted, his head was spinning from the deluge of words. “I don’t get it, start from the beginning.”
Cadance took a deep breath. Something had rattled her.
“There’s this… creature… that suddenly appeared in my study. There was a loud bang and I came into the room to see that all my paperwork had been torn apart while it stood in my room, looking at me.”
“Your paperwork? You mean the one you worked almost two weeks on?!”
Cadance winced. “Yes. That.”
Shining scowled in condemnation. “Alright, so what does it want?”
Cadance half-shrugged. “It called itself ‘Auditor Written’ and asked me to take it to the nearest ‘human’.”
“You think it’s also this ‘human’?”
“I don’t know…”
Shining smiled. “But you do know somepony who would?”
Cadance grinned.
“Twilight,” they both said at the same time.
—————————
“We’ll try and find out as much as we can before sending a message to Twilight.”
Cadance rounded the corner, then stopped, staring through the doorway. She felt a sense of déjà vu.
“What…?”
The creature placed a stack of documents on her desk that looked suspiciously like the sheaf of paper and parchment of her former paperwork. Written straightened and gave her a self-satisfied smile as she gestured to the table.
“I’ve recovered all your reports and made my own notes, annotations and commentary on them. It was a simple matter of extrapolating from the raw data and writing it up.”
Cadance shuffled over and picked up a report. It was identical, save for the fact that it was in different writing. She read a little further. Discrepancies highlighted, calculations accurate, excellent recommendations written into the margins… the Auditor even suggested improvements to the tax problem they had with crystal mining, a problem she had spent many months debating with the Court.
“H-How?!” she spluttered. “We were only gone for ten minutes!”
Shining came up alongside and mutely sifted through them as well. Cadance heard the occasion gasp and frantic rustling as he read another.
“These are all…” he shared a look with his wife.
Written smiled. It had all the warmth of a glacier. “I’ve been doing this for millions of years. I’m used to it.”
Cadance looked up sharply. “Millions of years?”
Written nodded genially. “Of course, I am an Auditor. In any case, I trust this proves that I have made reparations. Would you honour my request?”
Shining placed the documents down and stared at Written with a wary look. “What request?”
“I would like you to help me find a human.”
Cadance sighed. “We have no idea what a human is.”
Written frowned briefly, then nodded slowly. “Yes… of course, you probably would not know what a human is. I thought because this was a…” She shook her head. “A human looks like me. Stands on two legs. No hair except on the head.”
“Aren’t you human?” Shining asked with a furrowed brow.
Written crossed her arms, leaning the staff against her body. “No, as I’ve mentioned, I am an Auditor.”
Cadance shrugged, they’d work it out later. “We can’t help you, I’m sorry. As much as we’d like to… we don’t have a clue where to start, or even how to go about finding one. I’ve never heard of a creature that is a human, but even if we did, I’m not exactly sure I’d want to tell you.”
Written crossed her arms. “Why wouldn’t you?”
Cadance rolled her eyes as she snorted. “No offence, but we don’t know you, or even what you are. You’ve mentioned you were an Auditor, but that doesn’t explain anything.”
Written uncrossed her arms and took the staff back into her hands. She ran a finger down the smooth wood as she contemplated what Cadance had told her. Finally, she just gave an almost self-conscious shrug.
Shining and Cadance tensed as she lifted her staff, but instead of waving it towards them, she touched the staff to the ground and murmured something. Instead of burning a hole into the floor like before, a glowing point of light blossomed from the tip and started tracing out a complex series of curves, lines and patterns on the floor. Along the lines were small points of light, which flared briefly before settling into varying shades of brightness as the pattern stretched out. It kept going, past their hooves and beyond the door.
“What are you doing?” Shining asked.
“Showing you a map,” Written replied simply.
Strange little symbols appeared under various points that connected to the single hub of light in the centre of her original casting. The pattern was mesmerising, with speckles of light traversing the lines, some slowly, some quicker than Cadance could register.
“This is a visual representation of the Ephemeris, a catalogue of all the known Realities from the Atrium.”
Cadance frowned. “The Atrium?”
Written tapped her staff’s end on the central point. “The Atrium of Articulate Creation, the point of all creation and where the Author resides.”
“The Author?”
“The creator of all Reality.” Written traced a glowing path from the Atrium to another node not far from it. “This is the Auditorium and next to it, the Centre for Reality Control within the Root of all Causes. This is where the Auditors come from. We enforce the nature of Reality and make sure that there aren’t any anomalies present.” Written held up a hand as Cadance was about to ask another question.
“Please, let me finish.”
Cadance reluctantly nodded.
Written moved her staff and walked away from the centre, towards Cadance. She stopped just in front of her and tapped a dull point on the Ephemeris that was barely visible over the sheen of the floor. “This is your world.”
Cadance blinked. “That tiny thing? That can’t be true. Our world is the only world there is…” She trailed off as she suddenly recalled Celestia mentioning a gateway to another world, and she wondered if it was a dot of light on the map. Her world was merely one of many? The scale was hard to take in, or even comprehend.
Written smiled. “Perhaps, or perhaps there is more beyond that which you can see.” Suddenly growing serious, Written tapped another point, closer to the centre and brighter. “This is another world. It is where humans have come from. At least, the ones you should know of, if you’ve encountered them in your history.” She tapped different points around the map, each lighting up a deep shade of blue. “These worlds are what we call Nodes, they connect to other worlds, one of which is yours. Since you are far from the Centre, it’s hard to reach your world, let alone enforce the Laws.”
Cadance’s head felt like it was spinning.
Written came back to the Node with the humans. “This Node is also notoriously difficult to maintain. Despite our best efforts, sometimes inhabitants slip through the cracks.” A small glow left the point and traced its way to Equestria as if to emphasise her point. “Before they can wreak havoc, we track them through the Registry and put them back where they belong.” Written’s eyes came up, the grey irises ringing her penetrating pupils as she stared at them both. “But that is a relatively minor problem to one I’m dealing with now.” Written returned to the centre of the Ephemeris and tapped the central point. The lines and light faded away.
“Some time ago, the Auditors disappeared. All of them, except myself. Something is deeply wrong with Reality and all that seek to maintain it. The Registry has been compromised, the inhabitants of the Atrium and its Departments have all gone awry, and I am no closer to finding anything that has happened ten thousand years ago!”
Silence smothered the study as Cadance and Shining stared at the Auditor. Written stared at them briefly, then took a deep breath, looking like she was trying to regain a measure of control. Her hands gripped the staff so tightly, her knuckles stood out in stark relief to her whitened hands.
“You must help me,” Written finally muttered, “Reality is at stake.”
—————————
With a flare of blue light, Cadance watched as the message was sent away.
“You think we were being a little overdramatic?”
Shining grinned nervously. “Maybe a little.”
Cadance glanced back behind her to where the Auditor was standing, looking a little lonesome… or maybe that was her imagination? “If what this creature says is true, then this could be bigger than we all imagined.”
“It’s hard to believe…” Shining muttered.
“That’s why we need Twilight here, she would know something about these humans, even if its obscure—” Cadance grinned “—especially if it’s obscure.”
Shining took a deep breath. “I know, you’re right. It’s just… a lot to take in.”
“I know what you mean.” She rubbed her eyes with a weary hoof. “I can’t get past just how… big it is.”
“No kidding,” Shining replied. “What are we going to do?”
Cadance considered it for a moment then shrugged, giving her partner a warm smile. “I think we should help, don’t you?”
————————
At the station, Twilight caught Applejack sending a glance more than once her way. At some unspoken prompt, she trotted closer to her as they waited for the train.
“What’s eating you, Twilight?”
Twilight glanced back at the rest of her friends before replying. “Something is wrong.”
“With the changelings? I gathered as much,” Applejack replied easily. “They might be tough to beat and we might be tested, but we’ve always come out the stronger for it.”
Twilight smiled at the word ‘test’. Though she no longer had the knee-jerk reaction, it still made her pause. Applejack knew full well, and grinned back.
Twilight took in Canterlot. From here she could see the city perched on the mountain, the castle dominating the view with the whimsical towers reaching out into the sky, like it was a tree poised to touch the heavens. As a filly, the tall buildings around her had always filled her with a sense of peace and safety, and it never failed to settle her thoughts whenever they turned troubled. Now, outside of the buildings, and spotting it from Ponyville, it stood in stark contrast to her castle which reared behind them.
It seemed the weight of the two were pressing down on her.
“Strangely, it’s not about the changelings.”
“The human?” Applejack muttered. “It was mighty confusing when you were explaining what exactly a human was.”
“I’m worried about them, I think they’re serious.”
“You don’t think they’re dangerous?”
“No!” Twilight lowered her voice, with a glance at the others. They were still chatting. “I mean, not that I think. The one I was in contact with didn’t seem so bad.”
Applejack smiled. “Nopony ain’t born a bad batch.”
“I think so too, I just don’t like how he stuck with Exuviae.”
“From the sounds of it, that changeling gives me the heebie jeebies.”
“Me too,” Twilight admitted. “She’s very calculative, and different.”
“To Chrysalis?”
Twilight shivered. “Yes. Her. Still, we have to get our hooves on David. There’s no telling what the changelings are planning. Whatever it is, I don’t think it’s going to be good.”
“Twilight, about the medical staff…”
She grunted dismissively, her brows coming together into a fierce scowl. “I’ll deal with them later.”
Applejack touched Twilight on the shoulder and looked into her eyes with sympathy. “Go a little easy on them. I don’t like to see you angry like that, Twi’.”
“You heard what they did—”
“I did, but they probably thought they were doing the right thing.”
“How—”
“Twilight.” Applejack took a deep breath. “Nopony does anything thinking they’re doing the wrong thing. They all think they’re doing the right thing. That they are justified.”
“Well you can’t just go around testing on anypony without their permission!”
“Of course not, and I’m not suggesting that. I’m just saying you shouldn’t come at them hard, you just need to show them that they made a mistake.”
“I can’t forgive—” Twilight cut herself off as she reared her head, shocked by her own words.
Applejack patted her friend on the back. “I’m just worried that you might be heading down a path you might realise you don’t want to take.”
That stymied her reply. She was getting so worked up on those two, she needed to see the bigger picture. With a swallow and a mute nod, Twilight gave her friend a weak smile. “Thanks, Applejack.”
Applejack grinned at her. “What’re friends for? Come on, let’s go see each other off.”
Twilight made her way towards the rest of her friends. Pinkie bounded over as the rest waved.
“Hiya, Twi’, you feeling alright?”
Twilight grinned back at Pinkie. She tried her best to match her smile, but nopony could ever match one of Pinkie’s jaw-splitting grins.
“Right now, I’m feeling fine.”
———————
They entered a wide cavern lit from all sides by what appeared to be veins of crystals marbling the walls. The floor, initially hard rock and dirt, ended at the entrance. Leading the way to the centre of the cavern were a series of geometric crystals inset into some glossy stone that looked similar to granite, except that it was dotted with red.
But all that was not what captured David’s attention.
“What’s that?” he spluttered.
In the centre, the sole object reigning over the confines of the underground chamber, was a massive crystal pillar. The crystal seemed to be made of one massive block and looked like it was growing out from the floor all the way to the ceiling. The crystal seemed to be lit within, with faint streams of lights coursing within it that gave it the appearance of something alive rather than an inanimate object.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” Exuviae murmured.
“What is it?” David asked.
She gave him a lopsided smile. “I don’t know what it is.”
“You took me down here to take a look at something you know nothing about?”
“Perhaps a more accurate description would be ‘I don’t know what it does’.” Exuviae trotted forward and placed a hoof on the structure. “Other than the hunch that it is possibly connected to other parts of Equestria and that it is made from some kind of magical crystal impervious to mining, I don’t know much about it.” The queen pointed a hoof to the ground. “See these?”
David glanced down. The geometric structures of the crystals resolved themselves to a regular pattern that looked like…
“Writing. These symbols look like some sort of writing.”
“I can’t read them,” Exuviae admitted, “but I believe them to be important.”
“Why are you showing me this?”
She shot him a look. “Isn’t it obvious?”
David glanced around. “You think I know something about this?”
Exuviae raised an eyebrow, but didn’t do anything else other than wait patiently.
“What? How would I know anything about this?”
The queen sighed. “You do seem awfully ignorant of this world. I had hoped that this could be something useful…” She shrugged. “It was simply a thought, and I wanted you down here for another reason. I wanted you to meet someone.”
“Someone?”
Exuviae shrugged. “My daughter, if you recall. You can meet her now.”
David scratched his head, then nodded slowly. “Yes… I think I remember you mentioning that.” Then the realisation hit him. “Your daughter? Would that make her the Princess?”
Exuviae snorted. “Goodness no, that’s a very pony way to look at it. My daughter is simply herself.” Exuviae glanced past David. “Ah, there she is now.”
Looking back, David spotted a diminutive figure approaching them from across the room. The changeling looked like a miniaturised version of Exuviae, only slightly bigger than two changelings that flanked her as a guard. When she approached, she gave a shy nod to him and a small bow to her mother.
“As you can see, Hyaline isn’t exactly the most comfortable in the spotlight.” Hyaline cringed slightly at her mother’s words, but didn’t say anything.
“I’m sure she’s just a little put off by me,” David interjected while he pretended to ignore the grateful look Hyaline sent his way.
“Ah, already you’re playing the diplomat.” Exuviae chuckled. “If you were not a human, but a changeling, I would perhaps be interested in, hmm, shall we say… acquiring you.”
David laughed nervously, but when Exuviae only looked at him, he quickly changed the subject.
“I know you’ve explained this to me before, but I’m a little confused, what exactly do you want me to do?”
Exuviae glanced at the two changeling guards, and by some unspoken command, the two bowed and left. Returning her gaze to David, she paced around him to stand by her daughter’s side as she replied.
“You will not have to do much, David. Simply stand by her side while I make the announcement.”
“To the rest of the changelings?”
“No, not anymore.” Exuviae’s mouth twitched. “The ponies had interrupted that course of action, we have to move faster than that.”
“What do you mean?”
Exuviae paced a tight circle as she bowed her head in thought. “Originally, I was planning on getting you to confirm my daughter as a successor, as this would deter the other changelings from taking advantage of our weakness. I was going to leverage you in our negotiations with the ponies, but now that avenue has closed to us.” She glanced at him from the corner of her eye as she paused briefly in her pacing. “And you have shown to be more autonomous than I originally gave you credit for.” Exuviae stopped and gazed at the tree, seemingly lost in thought.
David glanced at Hyaline, but the changeling princess—he decided that would make it easier to refer to her as that—bit her lip and looked equally lost. The ensuing conversation seemed to make her uncomfortable, and judging by the way she hadn’t said anything for last five minutes, seemed to point to the fact that she was more than a little shy.
“So…?” David prompted the Queen. “What’s our next step?”
Exuviae blinked and focused on David again. She gave a half-hearted shrug and gestured between the Hyaline and himself. “Much as I dislike the idea, I believe we should send a delegation.” A slow, devious smirk spread across her lips. “In fact, now that the ponies have been kind enough to show themselves into our home, I think it’s fitting that we should show up in theirs.”
“Don’t you think that’ll cause some, uhh, distress?” If the three princesses’ reactions were anything to judge by, then waltzing in with a changeling and a supposedly mythical creature such as himself would probably end up with mobs and pitchforks. Given that castles and villages were still around in rustic force, there was a fair chance that could happen.
Exuviae flicked a hoof dismissively. “Don’t worry about that, Hyaline will go in disguise.”
“It’s a little hard to cover up holes and black uhh, chitin?”
Exuviae burst into laughter. David frowned at her. He glanced at Hyaline, and even she was smiling. What was so funny?
“Oh I’m sorry,” Exuviae choked out, in between chuckles, “I had forgotten you would not know about our little skill.” A slow intimate smile spread on her lips, showing to full advantage her sharp, predatory teeth. “Watch this.”
——————
Green fire sprang up from the ground, quickly spreading upwards. At first shocked by the flames, David couldn’t stop his mouth falling open as the creature before him morphed, size and all, into a completely different creature.
In front of him was the pony he knew as ‘Twilight Sparkle’. Everything was the same at least as far as he could recall.
“Every time, it never fails to amuse me when I see their reactions.” Even the voice.
It was uncanny how she looked exactly the same. The size, the shape, the colours… no wait…
“I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have green eyes.”
Exuviae smirked with Twilight’s face. “A mistake easily corrected.” With a flash, her eyes turned amethyst. “Better?”
David shook his head in wonderment. “I didn’t know you could do that, I thought when you mentioned hiding and living amongst them… Actually, I don’t know what I thought.” Though Exuviae looked physically the same as that pony from before, she couldn’t quite replicate the bearing, the differences in her stance, her gaze, instead it felt like Exuviae in a second-skin.
“You’re quite observant,” Exuviae commented as she shifted back. “Your expression tells me that you think something’s off.”
“It just doesn’t seem right, it’s her, but not her. At least I think so.” David splayed his fingers as he gestured helplessly. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
“I think you’ve done an adequate job.” Exuviae smiled. “Perfect disguise is a skill that’s hard to learn. Even harder is copying behaviour. It’s also why we tend to track our quarry for some time before aiming to mimic them. Appearance is not always everything, though some changelings believe otherwise.”
David caught the tone of the latter end of the sentence. He thought about bringing it up, but Exuviae’s look made him change his mind. Instead, he gestured to Hyaline, while he directed a question he wanted to ask since she brought up the concept of a delegation. “Are you coming with us?”
Exuviae gave him a tight-lipped smile. “As much as I’d like to, I think a small group is better. Also, I need to keep an eye on my home.” She glanced back at the crystal pillar. “And what it contains.”
David nodded. It made sense, but there were a few things he needed to get off his chest. “First, I know the translation thing works between us right now, but once I’m away from here…”
“Ah, I was wondering when you would bring that up. Though she may look somewhat diminutive, Hyaline is quite accomplished with changeling spells. I’ve taught her all I know, and she’s been able to surprise me once or twice.” David caught the slight hint of pride under her words. “One day, she will be a powerful Queen. Right now, more than anything, she needs experience.”
“Do you expect me to, uhh, protect her?”
Exuviae laughed again as David flushed. “My, my, someone thinks highly of himself. No, you will have a few unobtrusive drones with you. We also have a contact within the pony world, an oddball of sorts. Hyaline will tell you everything you need to know as you go.”
“One more thing,” David added, this time his voice turning grave. “I would like to keep in contact.”
Exuviae smirked as she considered his statement, her look bearing the knowledge of the unspoken question. “And underneath that I’m sensing this is your way of keeping me accountable to my word?”
David gave her a cool smile, trying to play down the insidious flight or fight response that threatened his composure. “If need be.”
Exuviae tilted her head. “I’m impressed already.” She tapped the floor. “I believe this holds the key to powerful magic. Magic that can be used to alter this world… or perhaps visit others.”
Satisfied that Exuviae had a plan, David held out his hand.
“What is this?” Exuviae said suspiciously, staring at his open palm.
“Don’t you shake hands in your world? We usually do this during farewells or greetings, especially among friends.”
“Really?” Exuviae cocked her head. Her smile was an intimidating as it was intimate. “The usual protocol would be to give a polite bow.”
“Do you bow to your friends?”
Exuviae blinked. “Queens do not make friends. Alliances, perhaps.”
David chuckled, but when the Queen didn’t join him, he frowned at her. “You’re serious?”
“Yes, why would it surprise you? Friends aren’t a common occurrence among royalty. Often our goals are in contention with those that oppose us. Which are many, including our subjects. Those in the position of power are often alone. I’m sure it is the same in your world.” She looked away. “More so among changelings.” Exuviae glanced back at David. “Are you comfortable with being friends with a creature such as I?”
“Who cares? I’ve done less for people I’ve called friends, anyway. We’re trusting each other this much, why not go the extra mile? In any case, my arm is getting tired from holding up my hand, so can you…” He waited patiently with his arm raised slightly higher as a prompt.
Exuviae glanced at her daughter and back to David. She looked into his eyes, as if trying to penetrate through any potential subterfuge. Finding none, she hesitated, before delicately placing her hoof in his hand. He shook it a couple of times before letting it drop. It felt hard on the outside, which was to be expected, but underneath it was a little pliant, which surprised him.
“So now we have a physical accord, friend.”
David nodded. “I’ll, uhh, do my thing.”
“I certainly hope you’re more eloquent when addressing the ponies.”
“Wait, one last thing, what exactly are we bargaining for?”
Exuviae didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she gestured at the doorway, and David heard the approach of a couple of changelings.
“The Council. A place at the table, if you will. Hyaline will tell you of the details as you make your journey.” Exuviae paused, then added awkwardly. “Good luck, friend.”
David had the feeling he wasn’t going to get much else out of her, so he simply bid her farewell.
“Good luck to you too, Exuviae.”
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*Looks up from the goat at the altar towards the new chapter, and stops chanting* Oh, it worked?
7158330 Truly, your Magicks must have been ze greatest of all Magicks!
Praise to ze Busstop!
So, the events of this fic are an indirect consequence of the war between the Discworld Death and the Auditors?
Written is being helpful!
Silly Applejack, everybody's born a bad batch.
Small mistake I spotted.
“Yes, it is.” She clamped down on the discomfort seeping into the tone. I’m a princess now,
Forgot the quotation before I'm.
Am I the only one who thinks this story has started to get a bit too convoluted as of late? Maybe it's just the updates spreading further apart, but I'm having a hard time telling what's going on or where it's going at all. Too many subplots it seems.
human blood too OP sunnypack
pls nerf
also
bowchickawowow
7158488 *quickly blows out the candles, clears away from cheap-looking props, and throws the
old sheetcape behind a bookshelf*Ahem! Yes, well, I certainly wasn't using the suit of crescent moons from the Dark Tarotikum to try and influence one of our favorite writers to update one of our favorite fics
7159034
Subplots:
1. traitor/whistleblower working together with that graveyard guy who almost got kidnapped on the train but talked themselves out of it with their kidnappers.
2. displaced human with Excuviae
3. the antagonist being in crystal empire
the ponies kinda linger around these subplots but aren't one in themselves.
7158927 7158922 Thanks, I'm a total goofball!
7159034
Yeah, personally I couldn't give a shit about what happenes with the other "human", I just skip them for the good bits!
7159321
I thought the human with the changelings are the primary plot....
7159694 Ah, I call them subplots because I can't really tell which is the 'main' one, they're just three plots. Perhaps one is more than the other, but they'll converge eventually.
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
7158330 The goat's probably thankful.
...well, it would have been about five minutes ago....
This is getting better. Totally worth the wait. Will be patiently waiting for more.
For those who have difficulty following the story, there are currently 3 subplots centered around the humans: David, Secant, and Written.
David: Ponies vs Changelings. David is currently with Excuviae and her changelings, and David has agreed to help them. The Princesses and the Main 6 are trying to get David back and secure the other humans.
Secant: Secant & Co. vs the Underground. Secant and Mortimus originally were trying to find David, but are now trying to help Raven's group escape the Underground's hold on them, the first step being to rescue Raven's sister. They are currently on a train they took control of.
Written: Written vs Anomaly and stabiliy of Reality. Written's purpose is to correct Reality and bring things back to normal. Written is currently in the Crystal Empire and creating shenanigans while telling Cadance and Shining Armor about the threat in Reality.
Now would you look at that, a new chapter... Hold up, I'll be right back with some Swedish Fish.
It’s nice to see a new chapter out and I’m sorry to heir that you are having technical problems. However, you did ask to be shown any errors that might have popped up so here are the most noteable ones I saw. I hope things go smoother for you in the future.
Wait, what? Ponies control the weather in Equestria. How could a drought possibly happen?
Raven had [a] hard time
Despite [the] presence of the human,
I wanted to help
up[out] my sister,The word “over” needs to switch places with the word “something” so it reads; “Rarity mumbled something and passed something over to Applejack.” to fix this sentence.
Apparently Rainbow isn’t that good at listening.
She must [be] a meanie.
You think it[‘]s also this human’?
You forgot the apostrophe in the word “It’s”.
There is no “E” in this spelling of “or”.
She just an almost self-conscious shrug?
I think you forgot to put in a word somewhere in this sentence.
You have one to many “A”s there.
Written came back to [the] Node with the humans.
I don’t [know] much about it.
One of the reasons I love this story is that it's like we get four chapters in one. Anyways, looking forward to more in this exact format.
7160389 Sweet thanks. I'll get right on them. On the drought thing: Filly Delphia on the official map looks like it has huge farmland, getting weather ponies out there is a huge tasks, and there are still parts of Equestria that seem to have arid or semi-arid landscapes, also creating weather seems to require water to be transported to Cloudsdale where they manufacture the clouds, lightning, etc. That sort of stuff might not be as cheap as you think, especially if you have to ship all the way out to Filly Delphia.
Yes... yes you are. You are prey.
I trust Exuviae. I think the ponies are being a bit too preemptive in their assumptions of her motives, and it's annoying.
7159374 No problem!
7160559
And from another viewpoint, even if they have the money to get water out there normally, outside weather phenomenon no doubt also play a role in Equestria.
Equestria controls it's own weather locally (at least, as "locally" as one can consider in-country management of the elements), but they can't have much if any control over weather in lands outside the areas with strong pony influence.
So if there were a particularly strong heat front generated, say, on the Zebrican plains... it could continue to move several thousand of miles, and cause the humidity to plummet down to desert-like levels.
With so much water missing from the atmosphere, there would be greatly increased losses from local water sources such as ponds, mountain runoff, and even putting strain on the supply of ground water.
Granted, on Earth a simple heat wave would only account for a moderate portion of the water displacement it would take to cause a severe drought, but in Equestria most every natural event is especially potent.
So if that held true for their heat waves, instead of just a few days of hot and arid weather, perhaps it persisted for many months.
If that were the case, it could easily account for a drought beyond pony control, or even their ability to offset the loss with imported water (as you described).
At best, they could fight it with generating a cold front to combat it, but we all knows what happens when a significantly powerful cold front hits a heat wave... and I'm fairly certain Equestria would much prefer a simple drought over an artificially generated and sustained full-blown (no pun intended) super hurricane in the middle of a highly populated city.
Lack of water is one thing.
But winds powerful enough to do this...
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Hurricane_winds_drive_a_10-foot_2X4_through_a_palm_tree.jpg
i.imgur.com/1dgi4.jpg
i.imgur.com/Vg9hc.jpg
...are FAR more serious!
7159034
Yes. It would be nice if someone did a simpler take on the concept of humans being the Equestrian-equivalent of unicorns with the good fortune and immortality granting blood. A nice, simple human-hunting romp with gags, friendships, misunderstandings, and a bit of drama for those of us who don't like subterfuge and complex interpretations of life-after-death bureaucracy.
Not saying the author of this should write it; fans of Human Blood would be annoyed and there's nothing wrong with this kind of story, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought this was going to be a different kind of story than what it has turned into, just as I'm sure I'm not the only one who would probably enjoy something less serious more than this.
7161097 You know, I do like the appeal of doing something like that for side-splitting laughs. I might make one for the giggles after completing most of my incompletes. I'm not always a bore :P... sometimes.
7158668
Huh, that would actually match up neatly enough.
However, i don't think so.
7160739
I think it is both. Exuviae would be just as bad as the ponies expect, but the Human's novel methods keeps getting under her chitin enough to keep her straight, just as riding a Sand Worm of Arrakis!
Not to nitpick
7159878 It was a rubber one
*Goat makes that freaky goat-yell* Shut up.
Auditors, as beings of pure logic, must remain logical and precise at all times. They need not act according to YOUR logic.
A big update! Joyous occasion, this made me happy
I like it when a lot of stuff happens. It means that the chapter is not filled with fluff but actually progresses the story.
So, the whole of Reality is at stake. Fun times ahead.
Why do I have a feeling that Shining and Cadance sent the letters in that wording intentionally? Luckily Twi was with her friends, else she'd probably teleport herself there in a huge panic mode.
So, Exuviae is deceptive, but here she seems to have not really maleficent thoughts. Or she's that good of an actor.
Also, a shy daughter. Hyaline will be fun to learn about.
Have I ever said that I love your stories?
I certainly did. But it doesn't hurt to repeat myself. I love your stories!
Okay first off, this just has to be done:
SWIPER NO SWIPING!!!
I still can't believe nobody's done this yet.
Anyway, really enjoy what your doing here, I'll admit from the description I was somewhat wary to give this a try, but all in all I've found it an enjoyable story, a little convoluted for me to be honest (though it usually is when alternate dimensions are involved), and I admit I mostly skip the parts about the Auditors and Writers and Authors and whatnot, I'm nevertheless enjoying the ride so far, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
Lastly, my favorite scene in the chapter was probably the one with the snooty train-going mare in it. Say what you will about Ms. Plush, but at least she knows how whiny upper-Canterlotians tend to be.
P.S. Heh. Annals. Heh.
...
P.P.S. That innuendo would've been nice to add in Wander Over Yonder's episode The Party Poopers. If they hadn't already put one in anyway. To be honest, this story actually reminds me a bit about the show actually, specifically the themes, tone, and overall feeling of it. Feels right.
...
...
P.P.P.S. Sucks that those [Expletive Deleted]-headed TV execs canned it just so they could get more money off of the reruns. I hope the fans eventually turns things around and foil their plans like the protagonists'll foil Dominators. Also, sorry about rambling so much. But hey, Never Hurts To Help, with saving Wander Over Yonder!
Say, have you ever read the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix? The more you write this, the more familiar it seems to me.
God dammit, Shiny.
That gave me the funniest mental image of Shining Armor going into full Sparkle Panic and wrestling Cadence until she manages to put him in a headlock and continue writing. Craziness clearly runs in the family.
I've admitaddly not read the whole chapter yet, but...
So, no Equestria Girls in this universe?
Or is Cadance playing dumb about state secrets?
Guess both would make sense. Just curious which one it is.
7160675 Everything's prey if you're hungry (and determined) enough.
7162040
EQG happens at some point after Twilight's ascension, so maybe that's just a "not yet." The timeline of the show is notoriously murky, after all.
7162181
A fair enough point.
Excellent chapter!
The story seems very interesting so far and I really like the idea behind it.
As long as you don't make David a complete weakling, I'm following this.
7161218 Yeah, but I meant that I think the ponies are rushing into things and jumping to conclusions that may result in some bad things happening.
7162054 Exactly
...?
I think that if you went for 2000 word chapters, it would be much better.
I forgot where those ban pony came it,
Some one please explain?
Allahu ackbar
You asked for us to point out errors, so here they are:
Either change that comma to a period, or add a word: "Originally, I was planning on getting you to confirm my daughter as a successor, as this would deter the other changelings from taking advantage of our weakness."
The commas should be em-dashes: "David glanced at Hyaline, but the changeling princess—he decided that would make it easier to refer to her as that—bit her lip and looked equally lost."
Yet another comma splice. The comma after "changeling spells" should be a period.
One more comma splice. Either change the comma after "powerful Queen" to a period, or add a word: "One day, she will be a powerful Queen, but right now, more than anything, she needs experience."
Missing commas: "Do you expect me to, uhh, protect her?"
7174679 Thank you kindly, I do have problems with comma splices. My thoughts are faster than my literary skills.
7174679 Constructive criticism in action. Nice job, homeslice.
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