Epilogue
Freeport Venture: Something Sweet and Sour
Epilogue
The next day saw this one sitting in one of the rooms of Daily Miracle’s healing house. After the craziness on Sweetash Isle, this one was quite content to read on its nice, comfortable seat-cushion. The room was a simple affair; it was clean, possessed a simple dresser, a nice comfortable bed, a small desk, and some cushions to sit on, befitting a room intended to allow someone to heal quietly. Perhaps not the most stimulating of rooms, but it had a utilitarian purpose to it.
Besides, it was not like the Miracle-mare was about to let this one leave just yet anyway—not with the wretched condition it was in when it arrived at her door. This one didn’t quite remember the laundry list of injuries the Old Mind and her drones had inflicted, but the heavy bandages wrapped around this one’s barrel were indication enough of that.
The Miracle-mare had also allowed this one to relax in the room where the Shimmer-mare was resting. She hadn't woken up since this one had gotten us off the island, but the Miracle-mare assured me that she would make a full recovery. This one would have felt a lot better if the Shimmer-mare was actually awake and able to talk to this one. Especially once it came to explaining to the EIS about exactly what had happened, and they would want to know how the White Pony’s former student had gotten so badly hurt.
Next to her was Kukri, curled up on a cushion and also sound asleep. She had refused to leave the Shimmer-mare’s side once she had found out what had happened, and she had been determined to watch over her mentor. Though in the end, her endurance had not quite been equal to the task of staying up until the Shimmer-mare awoke.
The Miracle-mare had also tolerated the squad of Doo Clan bodyguards this one had hired to watch over the pair of us. While this one was reasonably sure we had seen the last of the hive on Sweetash Isle, this one wasn't going to take the chance that the Old Mind was going to take advantage of our weakness to finish us.
It hadn't been a particularly pleasant conversation to explain to the Doo Clan what had happened to the bodyguards we had hired, but they understood all too well how risky mercenary work can be—especially in the face of a surprise as unpleasant and dangerous as the Old Mind and her swarms.
This one’s ruminations were interrupted when the Shimmer-mare stirred and let out a long yawn. This one put its book aside. “Hey. You awake there?”
The Shimmer-mare groaned as her eyes fluttered open. “I'm too sore to still be asleep.”
“That’s not surprising, after what you’ve been through.” Even after being unconscious for a full day, her skin was still pale, and her eyes sunken. “Water?”
She nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
This one poured her a glass from a pitcher sitting on the desk, and she took it gratefully. It took her a few attempts to drink without coughing, her throat probably being parched, but this one waited patiently until she had finished the glass.
“Thanks.” The Shimmer-mare cleared her throat before continuing. After giving herself a minute to regain her balance, she smiled down at Kukri. “She been here for awhile?”
“She flew here as soon as she found out what happened and swore she would stay up and take care of you as long as it took.” This one smiled down at the sleeping changeling. “Alas, while the mind was willing, she has but the body of a child.”
The Shimmer-mare chuckled. “Let her sleep for now. We can wake her up after we’ve talked about a few things.” She let out a tired groan and rubbed at her face. “So ... kinda fuzzy on how I wound up here.”
This one nodded. “You were pretty out of it when this one brought you here. It might take a little bit for any of it to come back to you, if ever.”
She grimaced and made a displeased grunt. “I remember something about poison...”
“You got a nasty dose of changeling venom,” this one confirmed. “Turns out the Old Mind—Queen Chrysalis was after you and attacked us with her drones. One of them managed to bite you in the initial part of the ambush. You then proceeded to nearly burn half the manor down.” This one grinned easily. “Nearly got this one, too. But you're alright now. You fell unconscious after that, and this one took you and got you off the island to see a proper healer. We gave you some anti-venom, along with some other potions to speed along your recovery. The healer says you'll make a full recovery, and this one trusts her. She’s done exceptional work with this one in the past.” This one paused, then amended, “Or on this one, it supposes.”
While this one could have told the Shimmer-mare about its own heroics, it had decided to keep that specific part a secret in the end. This one didn't like to advertise the full extent of its abilities, and there didn't seem to be any good reason to worry her about how close she had come to an unpleasant end. Just the bite and the knowledge that she hadn't pulled herself out of danger should serve as sufficient warning to be more careful in future situations.
Besides, the Shimmer-mare might become upset if she found out she wasn't the hero of the story.
The Shimmer-mare nodded her head, relief clear in her features. “What about Chrysalis and the other drones?”
“This one informed the Council of what had happened as soon as it could,” this one said. “They’re going to do what they always do when they suspect there is a hive in Freeport. They’ll send the condottieri to comb the island and sniff out where their hive is hidden away. From there, it’s just a matter of killing or capturing the drones, freeing whoever they had captured, and in general cleaning up whatever mess the Old Mind has caused.”
The condottieri had experience with such operations, and with this one and the Shimmer-mare having already killed most the drones on Sweetash Isle, it seemed unlikely they would face much resistance. Assuming the Old Mind hadn’t withdrawn what might have remained of her drones, in any event. This one just hoped that whatever might remain of the Sweetash family wouldn’t be upset about all the property damage we had caused in the fight. Little surprise, most sugar plantation magnates didn’t like it when you derailed their sugar production.
“Makes sense.” The Shimmer-mare let out a long sigh. “Guess it’s good that it’s going to be taken care of, but... Well, none of this is especially pleasant.” She rubbed the sides of her head. “I remember something about Chrysalis ... and Mom?”
This one gave her an easy smile and patted her on the leg. “You might have some fevered dreams mixed in there. Comes with being poisoned.”
The Shimmer-mare didn’t look this one in the eyes when she said, “I guess, yeah. At least we got out of it. ” She grimaced. “Even if we didn't get paid.”
This one sighed and nodded. This was a part of our conversation that neither of us was going to enjoy, even if it was necessary. “Yeah, a job where you get beat up and not paid isn't great, but they happen every once in awhile. This one has been through this more than once in the past.”
She wrapped her forelegs around herself. “Not exactly how I wanted to start the first job I found for myself. And here I thought I had a good gig lined up.”
This one waved dismissively. “You had bad luck. It happens to everyone. There were a few warning signs, but this one can help you find your next job and what to watch out for. You'll figure out what you should and shouldn't do soon enough.” That would go a long way, and had the side bonus of more closely tying the Shimmer-mare to this one. This job had only put emphasis on this one to make time to help instruct and teach the Shimmer-mare.
The Shimmer-mare sat in her own silence for a few moments, then slowly nodded. “I'll listen.”
This one placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “You feeling okay?”
She shrugged. “As okay as anypony would in my situation.”
“Not fun to face death, is it?” That was of course stating the obvious, but now seemed like a good time to bring the subject out into the open. Facing one’s mortality for the first time, and this one means really facing it, not merely as some vague concept that one only understands as a purely hypothetical inevitability, was something most everyone had to deal with sooner or later. Not that it was a particularly pleasant fact to deal with. “This one knows all about that, having had more close calls than it likes to think about.”
“I didn't care for it, no,” the Shimmer-mare said.
This one patted her gently on the shoulder. “Then try and learn from it. We got through it this time, and as long as we’re alive, we can do better in the future.”
The Shimmer-mare nodded and this one could see her self-assurance glimmer in her eyes. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”
“And there will be other jobs, just you wait.” This one grinned. “It’s only a matter of time until someone will want to hire Freeport's magus again.”
A smile returned to the Shimmer-mare’s face. “Point. I've never been short on offers. Not between you, the EIS, and everyone else.”
“See? You'll be back on your hooves in no time,” this one assured her.
“Just gotta make sure this never happens again.” A savage grin worked its way onto her features. “Also, payback.”
Somehow, this one wasn’t surprised that the Shimmer-mare would want to hit back at the Old Mind. She wasn’t the type to easily forgive, if ever. “It's not going to be easy,” this one pointed out. “The Old Mind's a slippery one. Not to mention one of the most powerful beings on the planet, with many centuries of experience that comes with being unkillable.”
The Shimmer-mare considered that for a few seconds. “Yeah, but you’re pretty clever and slippery too, and you’ve beaten her in the past, right?
This one shrugged. “A few times, yes. This one isn't exactly her favorite changeling the world. Not by a long shot.” This one couldn’t help but grin at some of its previous encounters with the Old Mind. “Especially after what this one did to her at Lubeak.”
“Huh,” she said. “You'll have to tell me that story sometime.”
“Oh, this one has a few tales to tell...”
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Is it wrong that I want to see a story/one shot about puzzles many adventures?
"simple affair, it was clean"
"affair; it"?
"long yawn. put its book"
Something appears to be missing there.
"Shimmer-made"
"mare"?
Ought this story to still be marked incomplete?
Sad to see it's over, I really enjoyed this one.
Wait. 'Incomplete'?
Needs to be "Shimmer-mare" both times.
Also, Incomplete tag on an epilogue?
Why would that be...
It just doesn't make sense...
Wait...
Please tell me this means we get to know what happened in Lubeak.
..What DID Puzzle to do piss Chrysalis off at Lubeak? That'd be a great story.
This was a quite enjoyable tale which has additional story hooks to boot.
Tell the tales please
Nice simple end. As far as I can tell, nothing too ominous like a last second twist, so I'm very happy with this story. Puzzle made a good protagonist- he's more tricky than Sunset's typical brute force approach. Him not telling Sunset about everything avoids complications (Sunset would not be happy if she remembered Puzzle's last trick), but also seems to fit into the whole shadow war going on between Chrysalis and the Free Minds. Everything is wrapped up for the moment, but it would be interesting to find out what Chrysalis had planned, though there are several obvious choices (brainwashing, replacement, etc.). I would to hear more stories about Puzzle's life, but the mystery is part of what makes his character intriguing. Just hope Sunset doesn't fall into a trap like this in the future.
Need more freeport tales! and Puzzle is a fun character. this was a great story!
What a fun adventure story. It was great to learn more about Puzzle as well.
A fun little story. There were some abundant mistakes though. Namely, "the Shimmer-mare" is referred to as "the Shimmer-made" just about every other time she's mentioned. Still, the errors weren't quite enough to take me out of the story, and I definitely liked it.
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Thanks for catching those, they're fixed now.
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I merely forgot to put the Complete tag on this story when I posted this chapter up.
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You're welcome.
On the whole, excellent job, Puzzle. That was a rough situation, and making it out alive and without Sunset being permanently harmed from the experience is a triumph.
If anything, that makes this situation that much more serious to the clans and to the Council.
Interesting. Makes me wonder if this is the seed of a long term, post-wedding Winningverse plot line to finally rid the world of Chrysalis. (Random thought I had while reading this bit, with the emphasis about friendship in the conversations between Puzzle and Sunset, I have to wonder if she might be starting down her own path towards princesshood. Winningverse lore tells us that ascension is not a Cadance and Twilight only activity, and I'm suspicious her status as Celestia's (former) personal student implies she's capable of it too.
Just like everyone else, I'm definitely curious about Puzzle's history with the Queen.
Fun story, and as always I'm definitely looking forward to more.
Lucky son of a zony.....
Okay... what is Chrysalis's major malfunction? Let's put aside Celestia idiot ball shackling (this is one thing I've never gotten from you guys... Celestia's one vice is Equestria, her subjects. If needed, she would have killed Luna to keep her little ponies safe. She didn't lose the fight remember? She held back, didn't fight at all. And used her last option. One should never mistake kindness for weakness Ponibius. If some bug fae dared harm a hair of Sunset... And lo she beheld a white horse, and the name set on her was death. And hell followed with her) but what is our buggyness thinking?
Seriously? You can milk a cow a hundred times lady, but only skin it once. And once she took Freeport or Equestria... what then? Sooner or later she and her swarm get squashed by those who aren't so soft. Or she starves once she conquers. Its like Sunbeam empire all at once.
And why is she doing this at all? Pimping out her changelings would probably be feeding them something that has the taste and nutrition of book paste, true, but why be whores when you could be idols? Child stars, entertainers, singers, doctors, visiting folks in hospice and retirement, they'd never starve. Hell, they could just walk up and whimper how they were hungry and the ponies would gush love at them like a fire hose.
And lets not forget Discord, who probably doesn't like his toys being broken, and a lofty and uptight mare like Chrissy... surprised he hasn't bugged her already.
Luna went nuts, the clans regarded their paters and maters as almost parents, Sombra was a dolt, and warlocks are short sighted children. What Chrysalis's excuse? She's had millienia to figure out what I noodled in a half hour, and has seen the Free Minds flourish.
Hmm... so, she does have a conscience... good. Last thing needed is another Sunbeam.
Or one could be a cold hearted blade mare such as Shadow Kicker, or merely regard others as things to be used like Sunbeam Sparkle. Being an indifferent frost cunt works wonders on ones empathy.
Gee, and Storm actively seeks to be another Shadow... what a happy time to be alive in their world, no?
But... whats weird is this is whats struck me with Assassin's Creed. Yeah yeah, bear with me... throughout the games, you and your fellows view what you're doing as horrible. Its not fun, or easy, and as one put "Killed before... and will again. I just prefer not to." And arguably the Templars are horrors that Nightmare Moon would be horrified by. Even then, whenever they could, an Assassin would stay with them before the succumbed, offering what little comfort they could. And when they could, offered Last Rites, treating their enemies as people then just animals or obstacles.
Sunset should be proud, she slayed a warlock... but all she feels is regret. Good... it means she's more a person of quality, more of mare, then Sunbeam or Shadow could ever dream of, and certainly more then what their built up to be.
So says the mare who will quite soon be sent Team Rocketing for her new throne via her food supply.
in more ways then you realize.
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and whether or not they are at pains to differentiate between the happiness sucking, two faced, parasitic assholes... and the changelings.
*tries not to ship SunPuzzle*
*fails*
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.... what a dreadful thought. A tsundere firebug nascent alicorn and a genderless cuckold bug husband. And keeping the same thought, I'd imagine changeling offspring retain characteristics of their parents so... Ones cunning and intelligence, the others tenacity and ruthlessness
The Aria Ta Loak of Freeport... No kings or rulers, and only one rule: don't fuck with the Shimmers.
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She's a being who regards other sapients as food, was raised by a mare who raised her other daughter to be a ninja, was raised amongst mercenaries, though most seem the Zaeed sort of merc, and while she may not be a hired blade, Kukri will still be trained to handle herself.
The death of a being who tormented her and the killing of the gold bag who hired it is probably just water off her back. But... I don't think Kukri is grateful for her sisters actions. She didn't do it because of justice, she did it because she was pissed, she lost control, and that was probably the first person she ever killed because she wanted to. Its a side to her sister I don't think Kukri realized she had... and more then likely a side she got from Knives.
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You know this might be heading towards a joke where everypony is a changeling just most of them are hiding from each other.
Now I want to know about Lubek.
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I think there are a few possible explanations (I’m going to act under the assumption that we are talking about the Winningverse characters given we are in the comments section of one of its stories). I think it’s likely that both Sunset and Twilight became more than a little fixated on being Celestia’s personal pupil, to the detriment of their social lives. It definitely seems like a big responsibility with a lot of effort.Sunset herself also began losing interest in other ponies once she figured out she was being groomed to become a princess (which Celestia did drop the ball on for letting happen). And both her and Twilight don’t seem to be especially social creatures by nature. I mean Twilight made her friends more or less on accident (or possibly because of destiny). And Celestia her self said friendship must be experienced, and can’t be taught. Not trying to completely absolve Celestia, she definitely could have made more of an effort to push both her students to interact with their peers more socially, and she shouldn’t have let her pride in Sunset keep her from seeing what was going on with her. But I feel it’s a little unfair to say she’s the worst friendship teacher ever. I mean, at the end of the day she did succeed, if nothing else.
I've always been kind of reluctant to wade into non-Chengar Winningverse stuff, since it seems like there's a never-ending well of it and I might never be finished with it all. But since I ran directly into a reference to this story when I started Thousand Masks, I figured what the hell. There's only so much Freeport stuff to get through in the first place, so I may as well bite the bullet and read it all in chronological order.
Gotta say, the change of perspective from Sunset to Puzzle was interesting. He definitely comes off as a much greyer protagonist than Sunset, and considering how grey Sunset already was, that's saying something. I think he also approaches problems in an entirely different way than her. The action scenes felt more... tactical, I suppose. Not that Sunset doesn't out-think her opponents too, but Puzzle is naturally a lot more devious about it. Also, with a villain like Chrysalis, and dealing with a hivemind rather than intelligent beings, there wasn't much call to pause and ask ethical questions like there would normally be, so Puzzle got to be a lot more violent and brutal. Since this is the first time we've been in his head rather than Sunset's or Kukri's, it does make me wonder if that's because they're Old Mind changelings, or because that's just how Puzzle normally operates. Sunset's delirious state was very revealing, as well, and I liked the fact that we were still able to get some insight into her character even while in Puzzle's perspective.
I wonder what happened to the real Sweetash family, though. I'm not sure that was ever answered.
So, on the whole, I liked this one. Onto the next.
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And then Twilight ironically went on to create a school for teaching friendship.
Celestia's students all seem to go off the rails eventually. Just never in quite the same way.
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Very good point.
I might have been a bit to harsh on Twilight's upbringing as well. She did manage to make and maintain two proper friendships, Shining Armour and Spike, and she didn't alienate her parents either.
That said, if she wasn't so focused on being Celestia's student she probably would have made friends with people that didn't have a familial obligation to hang out with her too
Yes Chryssi, messing with the pony Celestia cares about most is a great idea, it totally won't end with her going full Sol Invictus on your carapaced flank at all........
That was a good story.