The World of Yesterday
Hi Scoots
Hay baby
To my dearest Scootaloo
Hiyah Sexy
Hi Scoots,
How did the talent show go? Lots of out-of-towners this year? Gets bigger all the time. I’ll bet yah a bit that Sunny Daze and Peachy Pie won again. Those two are unnatural with those darn skates.
I totally reached the big time this week. I’m officially a Pony-at-Arms. Which basically means that I stand in a line with a bunch of other soldiers and point spears at things. And when we’re in peacetime—like right now—it means I get to guard a lot of stuff. It’s kinda relaxing. You stand where they tell you and don’t let anybody get through unless they’ve got permission from the right ponies.
I say ponies, but there’ve been a lot of griffons in and around Cloudsdale lately. From all over, too. Griffonstone, Fillydelphia, even some from overseas in Felaccia. Those last ones are ambassadors for some event the higher-ups aren’t allowed to talk about. And since they screen my mail, I’m not allowed to talk about it either.
Ask Scuttlebutt about it or something, if you can stand being by him long enough to ask.
Cool thing happened yesterday. The Captain of the Guard visited. She’s a tough old b noble warrior by the name of Stonewall. Real hard-nosed type. She was inspecting the Cloudsdale troops for strong, upstanding sorts. Naturally, I caught her eye. She used me as a sparring partner.
My feathers still won’t sit straight.
Random fact: Did you know that Captain of the Guard isn’t a military rank? It’s a noble title, like Princess or Viscount. Stonewall’s actual rank is Centurion. So she’s a centurion and a captain at the same time. Not confusing at all.
I put in my transfer request for the Ponyville Barracks again. Probably gonna get the same response as last time, but I’m holding out hope. I wanna see you again.
And my big bro, and my new little nephews, but mostly you. It’s been a whole freaking year. But you knew that. So I’m just complaining for the sake of it.
If I’m honest with myself, I’m having doubts about all this. But I’m holding out hope. That’s something you taught me.
I love you, Scootaloo.
Rumble
***
Daring Do stood with mouth agape as Typhoon flew towards the ceiling. Daring’s wicked foe held the crystal in a vice-like grip, snarling at the archaeologist. “You have failed, Daring Do! My victory was assured the moment you entered my domain!”
Daring Do’s typewriter rattled as she pounded the keys. Ideas transformed themselves from thoughts to words. Letters flew across the page to land in a misshapen heap at the end of every paragraph.
“Shut up!” Daring flapped her wings in a flurry of feathers. She shot like an arrow towards the other pegasus, narrowing in on the gemstone in her grasp. “Drop the crystal or I’ll drop you!”
A blade flew from among Typhoon’s feathers, streaking across the sky to slice through Daring Do’s wing. Daring tumbled, meter after meter, until she landed with a crash against the stone floor.
“The time has come, and you are here to witness history!” Typhoon took the crystal to the ring of metal on the far side of the room. She set it on the podium at the center, and a low thrum, like a crazed heartbeat, echoed throughout the cavern. “Or, at the least, to witness me rewrite it!”
Her eyes flicked from sentence to sentence. Her lips moved as she read over her story. Mistakes stood out like punches to the face, but they could be fixed in the second draft, once her editor went over it.
“At last, all the powers of time are mine!” Typhoon detached a control panel from the ring, jiggling knobs and pressing flickering buttons. “All the triumphs of the princesses shall be mine to achieve! Equestria will belong to me from the very dawn of history!”
“Huh. Writing faster than I can type. As usual.” She leaned on one hoof as she used the other to roll the page out of the typewriter. She flopped it onto a stack of paper beside her on the desk. “Daring Do and the Guttural Gibberish, coming to a book store near you.”
Rain pattered against her tent. A nearby lantern illuminated the droplets as they crawled their way down the canvas. The low thrum of distant thunder rose above the conversation dotting the campsite. The card game across the lot was getting especially raucous. Sounded like it was about time to join it, if the pot was that impressive.
“Knock, knock,” Martial Paw said, poking his gray-flecked head into the tent. He tilted his beak to indicate her work. “Manuscript finished yet?”
“Almost.” Daring Do hung her silver pocket watch from her hoof. She leaned it back and forth in a lazy arc. “Last few chapters. Got a heck of a climax running. Story’s finished up here, you know—” She pointed at her head. “—just needs to get finished on paper.”
He eased himself out of the downpour and into the dry air. He peeled his soaking hood away from his feathers and shrugged back his cloak. He shot her a small smile and eased up to the desk. “Do you mind?”
“Eh. Be my guest.”
He grasped a few pages in his talon and held them to the side of his head. His right eye looked straight at the words as he read aloud. “‘Daring Do charged headlong through the corridor as Typhoon’s time portal opened. Her legs burned. Her wings screamed. There was no way she could keep up with the dastardly creature. “Farewell, Daring Do!” said Typhoon. She held the controller aloft, dangling it just within view. “Eternity awaits beneath a kingdom’s worth of rubble!”’”
“I’m fairly proud of that line,” Daring Do said.
Martial chuckled before continuing. “‘Explosives lined the walls and ceiling. Daring Do cringed and piled on the speed. She had to reach the portal before it became fully activated. She knew there was no other way to save the timeline from Typhoon’s reign of terror.’”
He clicked his beak. “It’s a bit more tell than show, I notice.”
“That’s why I have an editor.”
“Touché.” Martial Paw paced across the tent, careful to step around Daring’s cot. “‘Just when all hope seemed lost, just when it seemed Typhoon’s victory was assured, a shout was heard from behind the portal. Tick Tock barreled into Typhoon, knocking the controller from her hoof. They grappled to the ground, rolling and punching, until they reached the sparkling, shimmering doorway into the past.’”
Daring Do clutched the watch between her hooves and pressed the smooth metal against her lips. Her brow furrowed as her ears dipped back.
Martial’s voice slowed. “‘Daring Do leaped to Tick Tock’s assistance, grasping Typhoon by the back of the neck. The villainous mare broke away and dove for the controller, murder in her eyes.’”
Having reached the end of his snippet, Martial laid the pages on Daring’s folding desk. “Tick Tock and Typhoon. I’m getting a distinct sense of déjà vu.”
Daring snorted. “Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.”
She clicked her tongue. She put just a little too much emphasis on the “dead” part of that sentence. She rose from her chair, her joints groaning beneath her skin. “Besides, that’s how I write all my books. I take real life and make it family-friendly. I see no reason to stop now.”
Martial moved to the side to let her pass. “Emotional health, perhaps?”
She picked a coat off her cot and slid it over her back. She took her pith helmet, twirled it, and set it on her head. “My emotional health is great. Writing helps me cope. Makes me think about how I’m feeling. Lets me work through everything. Figure it out.”
Martial drummed his talons across her typewriter, clicking the keys but not pressing enough to trigger them. “Five hundred pages of coping.”
“Something like that.” Daring Do brushed aside the tent flap. Rain poured down in a murk of moisture, clouding anything more than a couple meters away. “I… I think we all gotta work through this kinda stuff differently, you know? It’s… a chance to see Time Turner do something awesome again.”
Martial grimaced as he tugged his hood back into place. “And a chance to put a certain immortal assassin through the wringer?”
“I don’t give Hurricane any more credit than she’s due. Which is nil.” She tucked her watch beneath her shirt and shot Martial a lopsided grin. “Sounds like the game’s getting good. Wanna force them to deal us in?”
Martial looked to the sky with a sigh. “I came here to get out of the rain.”
Daring laughed and trotted out. “Come on, spoilsport. Show us your game face!”
Martial clicked his beak. He rolled his eyes and followed after her, his paws squelching on the muddy ground.
“Doc!” A black shape materialized out of the spray. Features grew sharper as it neared, showcasing perforated legs, sharp fangs, and multifaceted eyes. “Doc! H-hold up!”
“Blank?” Daring glanced over her shoulder, pulling her sore wings tight against her sides. Water ran in streams down the changeling’s smooth carapace. “What’s up? Something happen in the city?”
“Y-yeah.” Blankety Blank grinned, letting out a low giggle. “We found another chamber. A big one.”
Martial ran a talon underneath the strap of his side-slung bag. “Looks like Threehoof Bluff just wasn’t in the cards today.”
Daring stuck her tongue out. “That was awful, Marty.”
“I try, Dr. Do.”
***
Hexagonal lights glowed overhead as they made their way through the ancient changeling structure. Daring Do stepped around a long, tubular device, lying lengthwise across the ground. Three seats sat at intervals along the body, with ratty, decayed cushions. “What do you make of that?”
Bankety Blank pointed a wing to an exposed gearbox halfway down the deconstructed machine. “The motors are d-designed for rapid vertical movement with small horizontal v-variations. I’d say either oars or wings, but that’s speculation.”
Martial ran his talon down its smooth, bronzed metal casing. He pulled his arm away when the hull tapered. “It gets thinner at the end. Reminds me of a dragonfly.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” Daring Do tilted her helmet back to get a look at the bridges overhead. The delicately carved designs carried over to the underside, showcasing stars, the moon, the sun, clouds, birds, dragons… anything to do with the sky. “I guess even creatures who live underground have a love for open air sometimes.”
Daring chanced a glance at Blank. He cantered at the front of their little group, but she still noticed his wings drooping. His eyes lacked that certain sparkle he usually had in the face of new discovery. His voice was a little slower than his signature warbley chitter. “You feeling okay, Blank?”
“Huh?” The changeling blinked, several tiny lids closing over individual facets. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just tired.”
“You could have stayed behind at camp.” Daring shrugged, nudging him with her shoulder. “Got some shuteye. A giant door should be hard to miss.”
“No, it’s not.” Blank gave her a wheezy laugh. “It’s just that the door closes when I’m not there.”
“Suspect.” Martial Paw took a notepad from his bag, pulling a pen from behind his feathery ear. “Any particular theories why?”
They stopped before a doorway the size of a three-story building. Threads of bronze and silver were sewn into the stone, creating a spider web of designs and etchings. The patterns met at the center, where the door was split by a seam right down the middle. They found their root at a plain plate at the base, embedded into the floor.
“I think only a changeling c-can unlock it.” Blankety tilted his head from side to side. “Aaand it does a good job locking itself.”
Daring studied the door, but found nothing to indicate that the designs were writing or images. Just threads of metal meant to transport magic from one place to another. “It’s like how you turned on the lights in here, right? Put your hoof on that plate and it takes some magic from you?”
“Ye-yeah. Just a spark, though.” Blank waved a hoof. “I c-can make a hundred times that amount of magic with one m-meal. I d-don’t think it’s so much p-powering the devices as it’s…”
“Giving them a message?” Martial drew the door carefully, one painstaking detail at a time. “A jolt to say ‘hello?’”
“I was gonna say a c-command.” Blank approached the panel, holding a hoof at the ready. He turned his multifaceted eyes to Daring. “I’m j-just not sure who’s giving the order; me or someone else.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Daring said, clutching Blank’s shoulder. She grinned. “In the meantime… Open sesame!”
Blanekty Blank nodded. “Y-you might not wanna touch me when this happens.”
Daring lifted her leg away, taking a step back. She held her breath as Blank touched the plate, and flinched when a spark snapped at the tip of his cloven hoof. He stumbled back, sucking the spot where the magic had burned.
The constant clang of oversized clockwork was joined by a smaller, faster clatter, like a clock wound too tightly. After a moment, the grind of stone on stone announced the movement of the door. The two halves slid apart from each other, receding into the walls. Dust fell from the cracks and crevasses, either from age or from the rock scouring itself. The room beyond lay in darkness, until the hum of magic reached into the deepest part of it.
The honeycombed ceiling lit, and the room became a showcase of history.
Daring Do stepped inside. The room was rounded; not a perfect circle, but oval at the least. The floor fell away in layered steps, each a ring that ran completely around the room. A throne sat at the far end, cast from not bronze or silver, but the purest gold. Each armrest ended with the head of a changeling, its mouth open, its fangs bared. The back of the chair arched high and slit at the end, having the appearance of two curved blades facing away from each other. That, or a forked tongue.
Daring ignored it all. She went right to the room’s single, continuous wall. Pictographs lined the floor and the ceiling, while in between, massive murals depicted images she’d only dreamed of seeing.
The snakelike bodies of draconequui tangled around a tree as fae—mystical creatures from the distant past—approached as an army of winged warriors. Further in, the fae were victorious, shackling mortal beings and forcing them to work to the bone.
Daring Do paused before the largest picture. It showed six changelings, all arrayed beneath a representation of the sun itself. Each changeling wore a necklace with a colored crystal, save for the sixth, which wore a crown. Magic arced from the crystals, trailing from the changelings to strike at a massive, fiery fae.
Daring’s eyes went wide. She waved behind her, never taking her eyes off the etching. “Marty. Marty! Blank! Look!”
They flew, their wings either fluttering or buzzing their way to her side. Blank stood to her right, while Martial took the left. Martial Paw flipped to a new page and scratched his notes anew. “What’s up?” he asked. “Something caught your eye.”
“Yeah.” Daring Do placed her hoof on the changeling with the crown. Its crest was a lavender, six-sided star. “I’ve seen this picture before.”
Blankety’s brow furrowed, his exoskeletal plates overlapping. His eyes shot between Daring and the mural. “How? Where? I’ve never seen anything—”
“Canterlot Castle.” Daring Do swallowed hard. “The Great Hall. With all the stained glass windows. Th—” She pulled her helmet off and ran a hoof through her damp mane. “The one from, like, ten years ago. No, eleven. The one they made when Nightmare Moon returned.”
“What?” Martial squinted, turning his head to the side so he could look at the picture straight-on. His beak dropped open. “Six changelings…”
Blankety chattered something unintelligible and probably dirty. He grabbed Daring’s wing, but she couldn’t turn away. “C-changelings,” he said, “wielding the Elements?”
Martial’s pen fell from a limp talon. He bent over, scrambling to pick it up before it rolled down the stairs. His wings flared as he regained his balance. “Plucked pinions. The Elements belong to the changelings?”
Daring’s eyes trailed to the fae. The creature—a large, flaming bull—reeled back from the overwhelming power. Magic chains clasped his limbs in a bitter, ironic mirror to his treatment of the world’s mortals. “This is the last picture. The last chapter in their history. This… this is what led to them building this city. This whole empire! Their story is…”
She finally tore herself away from the wall. She looked to the empty throne, to the dilapidated flying machine, to the grinding clockwork outside. “Their story is Equestria’s.”
“Triumph over tyranny,” Martial whispered. “All thanks to the Elements of Harmony.”
With that said, the room groaned a deep, mechanical sigh. The three of them held their breath, barely moving, as they waited for the other horseshoe to drop.
The door slid shut far faster than Daring thought was possible.
“Holy horseapples!” She spread her wings, ignoring the sharp pain in her joints. “Those on a timer or something?”
“I—I don’t know!” Blankety trotted towards the entrance, his eyes searching for another bronzed plate. “I-it never closed while I was inside before.”
He slowed. He lowered his head as his ears drooped. “I c-can hear the voice again.”
“Here we go again,” Martial muttered. He flipped to a new page with a tense flick of his claws. “What does the voice in your head want this time?”
Blank sat and pressed his hooves against the sides of his head. He took in even, deep breaths as he listened. “It’s asking ab-about the Elements. It wants to know where we’ve seen them.”
He moved his mouth, but nothing came out. He turned to Daring with a pleading gaze. “What do I say?”
Daring considered that. Her first instinct was to bust the door down and run for it. Her second was curiosity. “Ask it who it is.”
“What?”
“Ask it for its name.” Daring brought her face close to Blank’s and rested her hoof on his foreleg. “Tell it that you refuse to talk with it until it does. Tell it that you can’t trust it unless it does this for you. Until we can be on equal footing.”
“Oh yes,” Martial Paw said, drawing his machete. “Explain to the omniscient voice that you refuse to do as it says. Threaten it with silence if it doesn’t acquiesce. Go ahead, Blankety. Throw your weight around while we sit inside a giant death trap.”
“Cool it, Marty.” Daring shot him a sharp glance. “I know what I’m doing. I think.”
She brought a feather to Blankety’s cheek, bringing his eyes back to hers. “It’s gonna be okay, Blank. Just focus. Be polite, but let it know that in order for this to work out, we’re gonna have to understand each other. Tell it—”
“I heard, pony.”
The throne vibrated, shimmering with inner light. The room dimmed until the seat of honor was the brightest thing in it. Martial backed away from it, his machete ready. Blank crouched, his plates shifting to cover sensitive areas. Daring stood up as tall as she could and cracked her neck.
The air swirled over the seat, taking a green tinge. A double helix of light pulsed with every word. “You have come to my kingdom not to steal, but to learn. Why?”
Daring Do sucked her lips in. She took a hesitant step towards the throne. “I’ll answer the question if you answer one of ours. Deal?”
Her breath felt loud in the closed room. Every sound echoed off the rounded wall. The muted churn of gears seemed to mirror the wheels turning in the voice’s head. If it had a head.
“That seems acceptable,” the voice said. “Answer my question, pony.”
“We’re explorers.” Daring puffed her chest out. She patted her shirt, her eyes examining every facet of the throne. There were no seams, no mold lines, no chisel marks. It was pure and smooth. “Researchers. We’ve been following rumors of a lost changeling city for a long time. We came here to learn about the past.” She sucked in her cheek. “And to prevent someone from abusing its technology for wrongdoing.”
The voice let out a garbled sound, like an electronic sigh. “You believe your words, at the least. Very well; a question for a question. Speak, Mandible.”
Daring Do squinted. “Mandible? There’s nobody—”
“Sh-she means me,” Blankety said. He stepped forward, his knees knocking. “She’s talking about me.”
Martial Paw let his blade’s point drop towards the ground. “When did you get a name change?”
“Wh-when I was twelve.” Blank swallowed hard enough for it to echo. His lips trembled. “Wh-who are you?”
The twin streams of light streaked upwards and met above their heads. There was a flash, a crackle, and a shower of sparks descended upon the throne. They moved in zigzagging, erratic patterns, tracing shapes as they fell. A body took form, from a scraggly horn, to lace-like wings, to four legs with gaping holes. “I am Cicada, Queen of the Changeling Empire. This is my palace, my home, my sanctuary.”
The hair on the back of Daring’s neck stood up. “Um. You’re taking notes, right, Marty?”
Martial jolted. He slid his machete into its sheath and produced his pen. “Uh huh.”
The magic making up Queen Cicada tilted, giving the impression that she turned her head. A spider web of lines came together as she raised a hoof. “And you, pony… to whom do you owe your allegiance?”
Daring Do scuffed a hoof. “Princess Celestia of Equestria. The pony who raises the sun every morning. She’s kinda a big deal.”
A strange, raspy crackle issued out from the throne. Cicada spread her illusory wings. “It seems so. Her very name holds a great deal of meaning to you.”
“Personal friend, you know.” Daring shot Blankety a wink. She raised an eyebrow at the changeling ghost. “So, Queen Cicada, are you actually alive or what?”
“I will accept questions from Mandible.”
Daring coughed into her hoof. She grinned hard, baring her teeth. “Okay. Blankety, would you do the honors?”
Blankety Blank’s head nodded in a blur. “Are you alive? W-what are you?”
“I live.” The queen’s voice warbled, seeming to whisper from everywhere at once. Did it come from the throne, or were there speakers in the wall? “My heart yet beats, though my body has faded away. I live on eternal in this place. I am the sanctuary.”
Martial’s beak snapped shut as his talon itched towards his hilt.
Daring coughed just loud enough to get his attention. She met his eyes and shook her head ever so slightly. He relented.
“My next question is thus: What do you intend for this place?”
Daring laughed in the back of her throat. This could be it, the answer that decided whether they left on good terms or running from an immortal bug-creature. Her adrenaline pumping, she grinned wide. “We wanna study it. We want to learn about it; to understand it. And then, when everything’s recorded, we’ll leave it as we found it, practically undisturbed.”
The immaterial changeling queen leaned forward. “With the exception of the dagger.”
“Yeah, that.” Daring waved a hoof. “I’ve sorta made a living out of securing dangerous artifacts like that.”
Queen Cicada was quiet for a long, long moment. Sweat trickled down Daring’s neck as she sought an exit.
“Continue,” the queen said.
Daring almost breathed a sigh of relief, but didn’t want to give Cicada the satisfaction. She nudged Blankety. “Ask her about Ahuizotl.”
“Th-the creature who came here before us.” Blank eased half a step forward, his hoof raised. “The one who took the Sp-Spade of Hearts… how long ago was he here? Do you have any clue where he went?”
“He stole the dagger fourteen sunsets ago. That is all I know of him.” Cicada spritzed and sparked as her body shifted in her throne. She gazed directly at Daring with what might have been eyes on a corporeal being. “You, pony. I have one final question and will say no more today. How do you know of the Elements of Harmony?”
Daring snorted. “I thought the last question was supposed to be the hardest.”
Cicada said nothing.
“Whatever. Sense of humor notwithstanding…” Daring took a step to the side, putting the mural of the six changelings in view. She gazed at the one in the middle of the group, the one with the starred crown. “A great evil returned. One with the power to snuff out the sun. Six friends, united in purpose and heart, solved the riddle of the Elements and used its power to cast the evil out.”
She lowered her eyebrows and watched Cicada for a reaction. None came. “They returned the Elements to the Tree of Harmony, but its power still flows through their fairy strings. They fight for harmony and friendship to this very day.”
Cicada’s voice was a hissed whisper. “What species are they?”
Martial drew his blade. Daring didn’t blame him.
“Hey, come on.” Daring shrugged. “I thought it was our turn to—”
“The species.” Cicada’s voice was a snap from a hot flame. The trailing lines that made up her body fell out of alignment for the briefest of instances, before settling back together.
Daring’s wings spread despite the groaning in her bones. “Ponies. Every single one of them.”
Cicada’s body vanished. The throne stopped humming. The hexagonal lights brightened.
Daring nearly fell to her knees when the door opened behind them. She managed to keep her dignity by steadying herself with a hoof on Blankety’s back. “Okay. Could have gone worse.”
Blank’s forked tongue flicked out to taste the emotions on the air. “She s-says we can go. She will have words with us later. I… I think she wants to think about stuff for a while.”
“I don’t blame you, Queen.” Daring jerked her head towards the entrance. “Let’s head back to camp and try to make sense of Marty’s handwriting. I think it’s about time we sent Celestia a progress report.”
Martial twirled the machete and slid it back into its sheath. Again. “I don’t believe I’ve seen a conversation with so many ups and downs since you tried to convince your military friend that a vacation to Zanzebra wasn’t complete without a few fisticuffs.”
Daring trotted forth, casting one last glance at the murals. “Yeah. I won that argument, too.”
***
Mi Amore Cadenza blinked awake, the pillow feeling fuzzy against her mouth. It felt like slippers were covering her teeth, and her tongue had a rouge hair tickling it. She rubbed it away with a hoof and let her wings shift beneath the covers.
Her husband kissed the back of her neck. “Morning, Beautiful.”
Cadence sighed and let her eyes fall closed. “You have a disingenuous way of being genuine, you know that?”
“Mm hmm.” Shining Armor’s kisses continued down her back as a hoof ran over her feathers.
Cadence brought a foreleg over her face. “I gotta get up. Today’s the day the talks with the changelings begins, and I’ve gotta look my best, and I’ve gotta not freak out, and—”
His hoof to her chin and his kiss to her lips ended her tirade before it could begin. She welcomed the interruption. His strong blue eyes gazed deep into hers.
“We are still on vacation,” he chuckled.
“That just means we go where the weather’s nicer.” Cadence pecked his nose. “And your parents spoil our kids.”
He shuffled closer until his side was against hers and his forelegs could wrap around her middle. “They’re safe, you know. Flurry Heart, Twilight Amore, Silver Lance. Mom and Twilie will take care of them. Ponyville’s still the safest place to be.”
She rested her head in the crook of his neck. “I’m a mother. I worry about this stuff.”
“Me, too.” He drew his cheek along her mane, brushing against her ear. “But once you’ve done everything you can do, you’ve gotta trust that things will work out. Right?”
Cadence sighed. “They don’t always.”
“No.” Shining relaxed his neck, letting his head fall against the pillow. “But how’s that old proverb go? ‘No one has added a single day to their life by worrying? Nor a single inch to their stature?’”
“‘Worry not what tomorrow will bring, for tomorrow has worries of its own.’” Cadence rolled her eyes, tilting her head back to see the bottom of her husband’s chin. “These aren’t tomorrow’s worries, Shining.”
He pressed his lips against her forehead, between her eyes. “Maybe not,” he murmured.
A smile slipped across his face. “But I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She touched a wing to his side. “So very much.”
His fetlock looped around hers, giving her a squeeze. “Hay. Ever think about having another one?”
“Another what?”
“Kid.”
“Really?” She jerked her head to tap her horn against his cheek. “Personally, I think we should spend a few years figuring out the ones we have before we add a fourth.”
“Ah. I can see that.” Shining nodded, gazing into the middle distance. “So… wanna just do it, then?”
“Do it—?” Cadence couldn’t stifle her snort. “Shining! We just woke up!”
He leaned his head down to whisper in her ear. “We’re on vacation…”
She giggled as her tail wrapped around his legs. “We haven’t even had breakfast yet!”
His breath tickled the hair on her cheek. “Vacaaatiooon…”
Laughing quietly, breathlessly, she twisted to face him.
Shining looked her up and down. “So, is that a ‘no,’ or—?”
She pounced on him, locking lips and rolling across the bed.
Somepony chose that exact second to knock on the door.
Cadence’s head popped up, her mane a puffy, multicolored mess. “Oh, for Peat’s sake, really? Now?”
“Your Highness? It’s Raven,” the interruption on the far side of the door said. “Princess Luna sent me to inform you that—”
“Oh, of course it’s Luna!” Cadence propped herself up, placing her forehooves on her husband’s chest. She patently ignored the hissing guffaws he was hiccupping up. “You tell that cold fish to butt out of my personal time!”
“I’ll be sure to tell her that, next time I see her. Word-for-word.”
As Cadence glared at the door, she could almost feel Celestia’s longtime personal assistant adjusting her glasses dismissively. “Well?” Cadence asked. “What’s she want?”
“As I was saying…” Raven spent a measured amount of time clearing her throat. “Princess Luna sent me to inform you that the Felaccian envoy is arriving today.”
“The griffons?” Cadence flopped down a little too hard, bumping her hoof against Shining’s belly. He grunted, but otherwise kept up his little laughing fit. “I guess that means I need to be present?”
“At your nearest… convenience, shall we say?”
Cadence pressed a hoof to the base of her horn, screwing her eyes shut. “‘Convenience’ she says. I’ll show you convenience, you—”
“I can hear you, Your Highness.”
“Tell Luna we’ll be along soon.” Cadence sent the door a saccharine smile. “At our nearest convenience.”
“Very good, Your Highness.”
Cadence wrapped her forelegs over the top of her head. She blew a long, hot breath through pursed lips as Raven’s hoofsteps retreated down the hallway. She turned to her husband. “Having seen both politics and the battlefield, which do you prefer?”
“There’s a difference?”
“Ha.” She spread a wing to flick away the covers. “I’ll be in the bathroom getting ready for—”
“Hold on.”
Shining snagged her elbow with a shimmering pink spell. He cracked a grin, rolling a hoof up and over his head. “I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty inconvenient right about now.”
***
Cadence landed in Canterlot’s airship harbor with a click of her hooves. Airships great and small, multicolored and plain, fast skiffs and mighty cargo vessels, all hovered around the piers. Crew members hailed, passengers disembarked, and one or two tourists bickered over a borrowed map. One end of the harbor was closed off to the public, instead occupied by a single alicorn mare.
Cadence cantered her way up to Luna’s side, accompanied by a cadre of Royal Guardsponies. “Good morning, Luna.”
Luna sent her a sidelong glance, half-spreading her wings in a regal fashion. “You took your sweet time, did you not?”
“I was…” Cadence gave her a cheeky grin. “Inconvenienced.”
Luna’s brow furrowed. “Is that what they are calling it these days?”
Cadence’s smile faded like smoke on the wind. “I can never tell if you’re joking or not.”
“Ponies tell me that is a fatal flaw of mine.” Luna nodded towards the east horizon. “In more immediate matters, our naval border guards sighted the Felaccian ships approaching. They should be here in a matter of moments.”
Luna licked her lips, her ears swiveling to catch miscellaneous sounds. She smirked. “The guards are taking bets on how King Andean Ursagryph plans to one-up his entrance from the last visit.”
Cadence leaned her neck back, feeling the wind against her face. “He’s a fan of showboating?”
“He missed his calling as a ringmaster.”
Cadence laughed. She stretched her wings out; she considered mirroring Luna’s pose, but decided against it, instead unfurling her feathers to their full wingspan. “I’ve never met him before.”
“It is an experience. He is interesting, if nothing else.” Luna tilted her horn to point out a growing dot in the sky. “A staunch ally, once he is convinced.”
“Convinced of what?”
Luna shifted her stance to look Cadence in the eye. “That you are not his enemy.”
Cadence sucked on the inside of her cheek. “No pressure.”
“None whatsoever.”
Across the way, a diamond dog screeched at a minotaur—in a voice like boulders snapping in half—about the proper procedure for packing eggs. The minotaur responded by picking up the dog and shaking him, and then set him gently back on the ground. The diamond dog wandered away, its eyes twirling.
Cadence’s nose wrinkled as she smiled. “I appreciate how much returning to Canterlot feels like coming home.”
Luna’s star-sparkled mane waved in the breeze. “Spending two thirds of your life in a place will do that to you.”
“Yeah?” Cadence returned her attention to the dot. It had grown to at least the size of an orange, and split in two somewhere along the way. “Is it the same for you?”
“Not so much.” Luna waved a hoof at the sky, picking out the sun beyond a thin coating of clouds. “I’ve barely spent an eighth of my life in this city. It wasn’t even the capitol a thousand years ago, let alone a bustling metropolis.”
Cadence gave her a double-take. “One eighth of a thousand years is still over a century.”
Luna raised an eyebrow, tilting her ears to the sides. “I wasn’t counting the banishment. I rarely do unless mentioning the added lifespan aids in browbeating an ignoramus.”
“Alright, Your Majesty,” Cadence said with a tiny moan. “What age do you consider yourself?”
“A spry, sprightly eighty-six.” It was Luna’s turn to smirk, bouncing her hooves in a little, understated dance. “Seventy-four when I was banished, and then a thousand years of issues to be worked out.”
Cadence rolled her eyes up and back, shaking her head. “Practically a spring chicken.”
“When a thousand years old you reach,” Luna said, swinging her hips, “look this hot, you will not.”
Cadence flicked her ears back, letting her wings droop. “I still can’t tell if you’re joking or if you’re that hopelessly deluded.”
The rumble of engines grew louder as the dots took form. They were twin airships, cigar-shaped, with wings and propellers growing from every side of the envelope. The canopies were not slung beneath the airship, but were set atop, giving them a view of the sky. Observation bubbles were built into the structures, set at even intervals along the length. At the prows sat long, metal spears, sparking with electricity.
Pegasus guardsponies flew upwards to escort the ships, while griffon soldiers flew in wings of five to meet them. An aerial dance moved in and out between the airships, a joint performance by pony and griffon both.
Cadence found herself smiling as she watched the show. Between the expert flying, the static in the air, and the swirling clouds, they nearly put the Wonderbolts to shame. Rainbow Dash was gonna have to step up her game.
Ropes were flung down from the sides of the envelope. Ground crew scurried to secure the dirigibles, tying them fast. The foremost ship, with a Felaccian constellation painted onto the side, connected first. Two wings of griffons landed beside the cargo bay door, which swung downward to meet the side of Canter Mountain.
The soldiers snapped to attention, their long, angled weapons held upward.
Cadence and Luna stepped forward, their faces masks of serenity, as they prepared to greet the ruler of a foreign land. Cadence buried her nervousness, pushing it aside to be dealt with later. Whatever happened, it was nothing compared to the coming meeting with the changelings. However Andean responded to her, she could deal with it. She just had to think back to Shinging Armor’s strong blue eyes—
Two young griffon girls bolted from the airship in a flurry of fur and feathers. “Princess Luna! Princess Luna!” They nearly bowled Luna over from sheer momentum as they wrapped her in a winged embrace. “We missed you!”
Luna laughed aloud as she returned the hug, spinning the griffon chicks around. She threw the smallest into the air and held her forelegs out as she fluttered back down. The littlest was a bundle of white fuzz and silvery feathers, with brown speckles on her paws and talons. She squeaked her delight in the griffon tongue. “Kroota Vreev! Equestria gawrock chakii!”
The elder chick squeezed Luna’s foreleg with wings that ended in fiery red feathers. “Stella says it’s awesome to be back in Equestria, Princess Luna.”
Luna touched her cheek to the little griffon’s. “And it’s wonderful to have the two of you back.” She turned to Cadence, resting a hoof on the griffons’ shoulders. “Princess Cadence, I am pleased to introduce you to Princess Corona and Princess Stella of Felaccia. Children, this is Princess—”
“Mi Amore Cadenza!” Stella squeaked. “Princess of Equestria and Empress of the Crystal Empire! The one who defeated the evil Queen Chrysalis with the power of love!”
Cadence was hit with several realizations at once. First, that these griffons were perhaps the most adorable thing she’d ever seen apart from her own children. Second, that they seemed to know far more about her than expected. Third, that she had yet to see their infamous father.
“It seems you’ve heard a lot about me,” she said at last.
“Father tells us all about you in his bedtime stories,” the eldest, Corona, said. “Is it really true that your firstborn created a snowstorm when she was an infant?”
“Pretty much.” Cadence nodded, her mind flashing back. “Yes, that pretty much covers it.”
“Gawrock!” Stella yelped, pumping a fist.
“Stella, mind your manners,” a deep voice rumbled from the airship. “We are in Equestria now.”
Stella cast a quick glance over her shoulder. “Sorry, Father!” She blushed bright, giggling as she touched her beak with a talon. “I mean, ‘awesome’.”
Cadence took a step back as a large, dark-furred chest loomed into the sunlight. Looking up, she beheld the massive, bald head of a condor. A beard of black feathers swayed beneath a wicked beak. Strong talons scratched at the stone as the King of the Griffons carried himself from the gangplank to solid ground. Wings unfurled as wide as the stained glass hall in Canterlot Castle. A scabbard longer than Cadence’s body hung from his side. His rear, rather than that of a lion’s, was similar to that of a powerful grizzly bear.
As an alicorn was larger than the average pony, so King Andean Ursaryph was to the rank and file griffon.
He gave Luna a deep bow, until his head was lower than her horn. “It is an honor to return to the company of such steadfast allies.”
Luna returned the bow with a reverent flare of her feathers. “It is an honor to welcome you back, Your Grace.”
“Indeed.” He rose to his full height, gathering his daughters to his side. “Though next year, I think it high time we scheduled a visit that does not happen during a national upheaval.”
Luna cracked a grin. “Then I suggest you avoid Equestria.”
“Never!” Stella spread her wings to flutter above the ground. “Equestria’s totally worth it!”
Andean nodded. “That is a hard truth to deny.”
Cadence dipped her head as Luna indicated her with a flick of her horn. “This is my niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire. She will be working with us during our peace talks with the changelings. You may observe, though the treaty will be between Equestria and the changelings alone.”
“Very well.” Andean’s wrinkled pink brow furrowed. “An acceptable arrangement. Though I have a request on my daughters’ behalf.”
Luna winked at the children. “Name it.”
Andean’s talon practically enveloped his youngest. “Last time we visited, due to extenuating circumstances, Corona and Stella were unable to fulfill their desire to visit Ponyville. I was hoping that arrangements could be made.”
Cadence’s eyes widened. Stella seemed to be around the age of her son, Silver Lance, and Corona was perhaps a bit older than Flurry Heart… “Maybe they can stay with Twilight?”
Andean turned his head to the side, so that one eye could look directly at her. “Elaborate.”
“M-my mother- and sister-in-law are taking care of my children during my—” She shrugged. “—my husband’s and my former vacation. My kids are around the same age as your daughters, and might make for good company. I know Twilight Sparkle will be excited for a chance to learn your language and customs, and they both love children.”
Corona’s breath left in a whoosh. “Twilight Sparkle? We’re going to stay with Twilight Sparkle?”
Stella’s response was a spatter of high-pitched birdsong.
Andean looked from one chick to the other, a wry eyebrow inching upward. “I do believe, Princess Cadenza, that you have made my daughters’ wildest dreams come true.”
Luna stepped to the side to allow a wing of griffon soldiers to pass her. She watched the other airship dock behind the first. The second ship was bedecked in an array of yellow-orange flames. “What good is an alicorn princess that can’t grant a wish or two?”
They moved towards the castle, across the aerial harbor grounds. Cadence gave the airships a final, appraising look. “They appear to be very formidable vessels.”
Andean inclined his curved beak and ran his talons through his beard. “A great upgrade from their failed predecessor, with stricter security and greater defenses. These sister ships are as swift and reliable as their namesakes.”
He ticked his youngest beneath her beak, eliciting a squeak. “The ship with the constellation of the Phoenix is named the Stella.” He smoothed down the head feathers of his eldest. “And the one with the roaring flames is named the Corona.”
“We’re sister ships, too!” Stella said.
His wingtips touched his daughters along their sides. “Now, children, I want you to do your best to make friends with Cadenza’s children. The friendships of today—”
“—are the refuges of tomorrow,” Corona finished.
Cadence slowed to walk side-by-side with Luna. She spoke with a magically-enhanced whisper, directly into her aunt’s ear. “He seems like a decent guy.”
“He is,” Luna whispered back. “But make no mistake, that sword is not merely for looks.”
Jagged lines of gold shot across the scabbard, giving the impression of lightning strikes. The hilt had a red pommel stone, which flashed in the sunlight. The cross guard curved toward the blade the slightest bit, made to catch the opposing sword and inconvenience the attacker.
Andean’s wide-angled eyes caught her staring. “A wise creature once said ‘speak softly and carry a big stick.’ I prefer to roar loudly and swing a blade.”
“Well,” Cadence said, “I feel like you’ll fit in pretty well around here.”
***
“Mandible.”
Blankety Blank jerked awake from his fitful sleep. His heart beat at a consistent pace, but it felt overburdened, trying to move too much magic and blood with each pump. He touched his face and felt hair; his disguise held. “Wh—what?”
“Mandible, do not answer aloud. Speak with your heart. Speak as a changeling. You know how.”
He scrunched his eyes tight. He forced his heart to be at ease. Quieted the pain in his chest. It fluttered, but he was able to find a small measure of peace. “Queen Cicada?”
”That is correct.”
”How are you speaking to me?” He brushed aside the lip of his sleeping bag and listened to the patter of the jungle rain. ”We’re outside your sanctuary.”
“My sanctuary is far larger than the ziggurat. It extends far underground. Your leader was right to call it a city.”
Blank shuddered as she continued: “Where my sanctuary is, so too goes my influence.”
He stood up and got a drink from his canteen. He licked dry lips and shook the sweat from his mane. “What do you want with me?”
“I want to know why you so hate being a changeling.” The voice was calm, but hid the slightest knife’s edge. “Such that you would cast away your given name. The very name written upon your heart since birth.”
Blankety Blank leaned against a table, which was covered with various baubles taken from the world beneath. Gizmos, doodads, trinkets… even a partially-working gearbox. “Because the changelings have become something terrible. We no longer live in grand cities and vast empires. We are creatures hiding in the dark, hoping that nobody squishes us. We are castaways. Monsters.”
“No.” Cicada’s voice grew in strength with each word. “We are mighty, the chosen protectors of the world. The chosen rulers. We could be so once again, if only you would help me.”
“My allegiance is with Equestria.” Blank turned his pink eyes to the roof of the tent. The moon glowed bright through the canvas. “With Celestia. With Daring Do. They are the protectors of the world now. They are the heroes of this age. I will have no part in the changelings. Not if I can help it.”
”You would abandon your own kind in exchange for life with the ponies? Don’t you see that you are so much greater than they?”
“I th-think you’re wrong.” Blankety’s lips trembled; his throat bobbed. “I kn-know you’re wrong. The changelings t-tried to destroy me. Th-the ponies saved me.”
He shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. He spoke at a whisper. His voice cracked. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m one of them.”
There was no answer from Cicada. Green fire transformed Blank’s disguised hoof into its original cloven form, so that he could pinch the bridge of his nose. He set about scratching down what he could remember of the conversation, ready to deliver to Daring at the nearest opportunity.
“You are so much greater than they.”
The hair on the back of his neck prickled. He underlined the sentence and folded the page into his saddlebags. He blew a breath through his lips as his heart thrummed all the harder, the shape of Queen Cicada’s words all but etched in.
“What sort of voice did I l-let into my head?”
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Dude that was amazing! I loved the interactions in this story! Between Daring, Blank and Marty, to Cadence and Shining, to Cadence and Luna (that one was my favorite!) Btw, LOVE the Queen! She's creepy... I love it! Can't wait for next chapter, keep up the awesome work!
Oh dear. Is Rumble having complications getting back to Ponyville? That could be a problem.
If that is how the stories Daring writes get changed, I have to wonder how first one was changed?
Did Cicada use the dagger on herself to keep herself alive? I once came up with a similar character who preserved their mind in a computer, but due to differences in how brains and machines work he was unable to learn, and kept trying to become King of the World again since it couldn't imagine any other kind of world.
Nice to see the issue of Luna's age come up, since if she did age on the moon it was probably slower.
Do they have a ponified Star Wars here? Or at least a ponified Yoda?
Same question about Teddy Roosevelt. I mean, even in the human world from which he obtained gunpowder Teddy hadn't been born yet, I don't think.
Smart of Blank to write down his conversation to report it rather than keep it hidden. That already puts him in a better position than most people who have others try to psychically manipulate them.
This was a cool chapter, I'm looking forward to seeing more.
Good to see the ponies learning the truth about the rise of the changling empire, though they don't yet know about the fall... But of course the real highlight of this chapter was seeing our two favorite chicks again.
Of course there's nothing wrong with it, but yeah, that sounds a bit cougar-y to me. Then again, Marty probably has a cousin who's half cougar, right?
Six dozen of one, half of another, as an old friend of mine likes to say.
Family values then, for a very specific range of them.
Dang it Hobbs, that was subtext and you made it text!
He forgot "Hiyah, Scooty-booty."
Not in the least. I just wish her full birth name was "Commander Lieutenant Stonewall."
I agree with Daring's logic, myself. It does seem like a good way to work things out.
Dun dun dun! Now to hope Celestia finds out about this before the negotiations conclude.
Well almost. I mean, they didn't have time to carve the faces of the scurrilous foe that brought them low, so that shall remain a mystery for now.
That's how you get the scales named after you!
Barely. I mean, his job is 50% lion tamer, and that's almost the same thing! (I guess the other 50% would be falconer).
One upside of being trapped as a discorporeal entity in a rock is that your body doesn't age. I wonder if that means in a millennium or two Luna will grow as big as Celestia?
Two centuries past where Yoda made it, and the midnight milkshake is still bringing all the stallions to the yard!
I missed you too!
And now they shout things in Griffish!
Wait a minute..... I thought the HPverse was canon-compliant through the end of S4 and then diverged. Was Flurry Heart born after Daybreak?
Nooooo.... Stahhhhppp Cadance, reign in your shipping senses..... Oh who am kidding, go hog wild!
If I buy an expensive parakeet just so I can preen it, I'm blaming you Hobbs.
Andean certainly has grown. It seems he is as implacable a friend as he is a foe. He's a regular care bear-butt!
Uh oh. I was hoping Cicada could be reasonable. In any case, what happens when the changlings find out about this place, return to their ancestral homeland, and also they would like their cultural artifacts, the EoH back, please?
I'll admit, I was surprised to see that Flurry Heart exists in this universe. It seems like a natural born alicorn would have been a bigger deal in Daybreak, (especially when Hurricane was commanded to "kill the youngest alicorn") but I guess it can't be helped that it was written before season 6
Luna has played a lot of Star Wars video games, hasn't she?