The Dead Land
“Daddy!”
Princess Twilight’s castle was enormous. Its tallest towers outflew the clouds. Its smallest rooms had space to spare. Empty space; at times cold.
The Fires of Friendship burned within the crystal walls as Spike cantered down the vast halls. A pretty name, he decided, for what was basically ambient magic emanating from the Elements of Harmony that had grown the castle from a single seed. The entire castle shimmered with the cheerful, rosy glow, just bright enough to light the way.
“Daddy!”
Spike winced. He could hear the voice echo through every part of the castle. It was amplified by the crystal structure itself so that any cry for help, any call for a friend, could be heard from any room.
“Daddy…”
Sometimes, the cry came for somebody who couldn’t come. In those times, Spike hoped that maybe he could provide a little comfort. A placebo, but an aid nonetheless. He placed his palm against a wooden door fastened to the structure and knocked with the other hand. “Flurry? It’s Spike.”
There was a moment of silence broken by sniffling. “Come in.”
The door cracked open, guided by a soft-glowing spell. Spike took the invitation with careful steps, peering into the room. Flurry had settled in as firmly as if she’d lived there her entire life. Lightning orange lampshades covered the lanterns, lighting the room the same color as her magic’s aura. Simple flower designs and polka dots were fastened to the walls as stickers. A lace canopy hung above her bed, ostensibly to protect her from creepy-crawly spiders.
She pulled the covers up to her chin. Her wings folded around her body to encase her in a protective cocoon. “I… I forgot Dad isn’t here.”
“No. No, he’s not.” Spike eased himself up to the bed. He swished his tail aside to rest atop the comforter. “But maybe I can help?”
“Sweetie Belle…” Tears pooled in her big, blue eyes. They were just like Shining’s, really. Kind and trusting. “Sweetie Belle’s hurt. I s-saw her.”
Spike reached a clawtip out to nudge the canopy aside. He brushed her cheek and eased her onto her back. “Sweetie Belle’s fine. Better than fine.”
“No.” Flurry Heart had no hope of overpowering his grip, but Spike eased off his pressure, letting his hand move away from her. “No, she’s hurt. Scootaloo’s hurt, too. And—and somebody else. They’re in danger! I saw it right… right…”
She turned her head this way and that, taking in the sights offered by her guest room. “I was… at her house.”
“It was just a nightmare, Flurry.” He ran his claws through her mane, combing it back. She yawned and rested her head against the pillow. “It’s not real. You’ll see tomorrow. I’m gonna take you guys to visit Sweet Apple Acres, and you’ll meet all the Crusaders. But you gotta go to sleep first.”
Flurry nodded and covered the side of her head with a wing. “Morning ’ll come whether I sleep or not.”
Spike grinned. He tilted his head to the side and gave her a catlike grin. “You sure about that?”
Flurry frowned and stared at her flower-bedecked wall. “Sometimes I can’t sleep.”
Spike’s smile faded. He looked down, resting the pads of his feet on the fuzzy rug beside the bed. “You have a lot of nightmares?”
“Uh huh.”
He furrowed his brow. He scratched a pitted scar burrowed into his chest, around which dead scales flaked away. “Me, too. You talk to Luna about it?”
“Uh huh.”
“Me, too.” Spike and Flurry met gazes for a moment. She was so small in that moment, despite her enormous wings. He rested his claw on her foreleg. “What did she tell you?”
“Not to let my fear control me.” Flurry’s cheek smooshed against her pillow. “I think she tells that to everybody.”
Now there was a truth nobody had the guts to tell Princess Luna to the face. It wasn’t that she was wrong, Spike figured, it was just that after a while, such things seemed trite. “How long have you been having nightmares?”
“Since…” Flurry Heart nibbled her lip. “Since Auntie Celestia was attacked. A year and a half ago.”
She sat up, and Spike didn’t stop her. He suspected a talk might be more restful than sleep. “After the assassin got her… got her with the spear, the guards came to take me away from the School for Gifted Unicorns. I didn’t know what happened until Daddy told me. I stayed in the safe house for months. It felt like forever. And… and the guards were always talking about Hurricane. How she might come to get me, too. How she’d hurt so many ponies…”
Flurry shivered, hugging herself tight. Spike slid closer to wrap his arm around her shoulders. “And… and I saw her when I dreamed. And… and she was with two evil ladies. And they were all chanting and dancing and doing evil magic and—”
“Flurry.” Spike wiped away her tears with a smooth-scaled finger. “Flurry, it’s okay. It was just a bad dream. It’s gone now. It can’t hurt you. It’s scary, sure, but it fades.”
Flurry Heart sighed, letting her wings droop. She rested her head against Spike’s chest. “I miss my Daddy.”
“You’ll see him soon.” Spike gave her a squeeze. Just a slight one. Just enough to say he was there. “I promise.”
He looked to the door to see Twilight Velvet peering in. He gave her a wink. She smiled and backed away, no doubt heading back to her room to finish off the night.
“Tell you what,” Spike said. “Will it help if I stay in here for tonight?”
Flurry thought. A smile touched her lips. “I think so.”
“I’ll be right back.” He bounced to his feet. His clawtips skritched across the floor. “I’ll get a pillow, a blanket, and we can have a real sleepover.”
Flurry lay back, drawing the canopy tight around her. “Thank you, Spike.”
“You’ll see.” He sent her a surefire grin, as devil-may-care as he could manage. “Nightmares only last until the morning. Once you wake up, they’ve can’t hurt you.”
“What if it’s a Nightmare?” Flurry lifted herself up, the skin tight across her face. “Like, a real one. A bad one.”
Spike’s claws dug into the palm of his hand. He hid his arm behind the wall, out of sight. “You tell that Nightmare who you’ve got as friends. Who you’ve got as family. Then remind them that in order to get to you, they’ve got to go through us.”
He turned, but her voice stopped him in his tracks. “Don’t get hurt, Spike.”
He sucked on his scaled lips. His clawtips drummed against the scar on his chest. “Don’t worry about it, Flurry. Nothing hurts me.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He flexed a filmy ear as he looked over his shoulder. “Don’t you trust me?”
The lights dimmed as Flurry Heart rolled over. “I don’t know.”
Spike’s tail swished behind his back. He dropped to all fours to move with more grace, as opposed to waddling around on his hind legs. “I’ll be right back. You sit tight, okay?”
“Okay, Spike.” Flurry’s wing dragged her blanket to her neck. “And thank you.”
“Any time,” Spike sighed. “Any time.”
***
Daring Do picked up the head of an automaton. The same automaton that had attacked her when they’d first entered the ancient city. The pincers had been dented by the hard landing, but it was otherwise way better off than the rest of the body. They’d had to sweep it up.
Metal wires trailed from the base of the neck, wires that had once wrapped around a heart. A pony’s heart. A pony’s heart ripped right from its body. It was sick.
“What kinda mind thinks this stuff up in the first place?” She polished the bronzed surface with a rag, getting it to shine. The clockwork city clanged and churned around her, echoing from wall to wall. She could hear conversation down a ways, between a couple fellow adventurers. Humphrey the Camel and ol’ what’s-his-name. The chubby pony. “Tribble” or something like that.
She stuffed the head in a bag, closing the loop with a pull-string. They had a whole bundle of stuff to carry aboveground this time. It was the longest she’d spent in the city, and probably the longest shift their expedition had seen. There was always more. More rooms to explore. More murals to photograph. More scraps to tinker with. It was as full a window to the past as any temporal portal.
“Doctor Do!”
“Uh huh?” Daring pulled a list from her shirt pocket and added the head under “objects collected.” “Yours truly.”
“We’ve found a new chamber! A big one!” A speck of orange coat bobbed at the edge of her vision, alongside a smile easily described as too big for its britches. “It houses numerous devices similar in construction to the one you just put in that bag. Automated mechanical monsters, for lack of a better word.”
“Cool.” Daring tapped her pen against her lip. It would be a gamble when it came to Queen Cicada. How much was she willing to part with? Would she be willing to part with anything? Was she just waiting for an excuse to come down on them with righteous, murderous fury? Did changeling ghost royalty even need excuses when it came to that? What about—
“Do you wanna see it?” The pony beside her pointed at something. “I mean, it’s right over there if you do. I’m just saying. It’s a cool discovery.”
“Not now, Dribble.” Daring turned away to gaze up at the giant clockwork gears chugging away on the walls. Each one was as big as a house, at the least. Each one had enough force behind it to crush a pony without slowing down. What drove them? What powered the—?
“I mean, I could give you a tour if you wanted.” The pony walked itself back into her peripheral vision. “And it’s Quibble. Not Dribble.”
Daring lowered the list, folding it away to a secure pocket. “I’m just a tiny bit busy, Earful. If you’ll—”
“Really?” The pony touched his chest, tilting his head back with a dour frown. “We’ve known each other for ten years now. Ten. A decade. Two fives. And you can’t be bothered to remember my name.”
“I remember your name fine, Scribble.” She slapped her forehead, biting back a curse word that would probably curl his mane. “If I look at your room will you shut up?”
Quibble Pants bit his lip, his eyes darting back and forth. “Technically, yes.”
“Make it ‘literally yes’ and you’ve got yourself an audience.”
Humphrey waited for them down a side hall. He stood next to a hole in the wall that she could have sworn wasn’t there before. “So good of you to join us, Friend Daring.”
“Hi, Humph.” Daring slipped a foreleg around the camel’s long neck. She hissed into his ear. “You were supposed to keep the tourist out of my mane.”
“A thousand pardons.” Humphrey’s large teeth ground together as he stepped aside. He lifted a gnarled hoof to invite her into the new chamber. “He has a way of getting away from me.”
Daring Do rolled her eyes as she stepped inside. It was darker than the main room, having only a few burning lanterns rather than the magical illumination coursing through the ceiling. Dust kicked up beneath her feet. Humphrey and Quibble followed her in, Quibble’s mouth moving a mile a minute.
“I’m just saying, if the changelings didn’t want this room found, they should have locked it with something more complex than a four-digit code. I mean, we’ve already deciphered their numbering system, so it was easy as pie to pick out a combination with significance. Month and day of the summer solstice, by the way. Apparently a big celebration for these guys, judging by the glyphs we found in the main chamber. Armies of changelings all gathered together to remember the day—”
“Wibble Dance.” Daring Do’s heart sank as the room came into focus. “Shut up.”
The shadows became crisp and angular as her eyes adjusted. Automatons, just like her attacker, lined the walls, their chests open and empty. Dead, colorless eye sockets stared at her. Razor-sharp blades glinted, ready to gut anypony who dared awaken them.
Further in, other machines awaited. Larger machines, with passenger compartments. A six-legged tank. A winged, dart-shaped airship. A massive enclosed structure with lobster-like pincers. All of them carried forward the running theme of insectoid designs, from pill bugs, to dragonflies, to scorpions.
All of them had an open, gaping receptacle, ripe for a power source.
“All is well?” Humphrey poked his head through the doorway, his lazy eyelids narrowing to a keen edge. “Is there something wrong?”
“If Ahuizotl got ahold of these…” Daring galloped to the biggest vehicle—based on some sort of crustacean. Its claws were jagged, ready to tear wood, metal, and flesh asunder. “He’d raise a whole mechanized army… and… and it’d double as a hostage situation. He could kidnap anybody and turn them into his mindless robotic slaves!”
Quibble Pants grabbed an automaton by the cheek and tilted its head to the side. “Good thing he missed this room. Wouldn’t wanna think about what these things are capable of.”
“They are majestic, aren’t they?”
Daring Do’s back prickled from her dock to the crown of her head. She backed away from the tank to watch twin streams of green magic twist themselves into an approximation of a changeling queen. The ghostly afterimage swayed on its hooves, gesturing a skeletal horn towards the mechanical monsters. “My city was secure from all harm with these on patrol. Every enemy was seized. Every danger was uncovered. Every crime was prevented. ”
Daring Do eased herself towards the open door. A flapped wing pushed Quibble and Humphrey to take the hint. “Yeah, sounds great. Good efficiency, once you have the heart for it.”
“Indeed.” Cicada matched her pace, her faux wings fluttering her along. Her hooves drifted several inches above the stone floor, trailing green sparks. “And we never lacked for willing hearts. Not until our slaves rebelled.”
Quibble Pants choked. “How inconsiderate of them.”
“You make light, son of the earth.” Cicada lifted a dangling hoof to point straight at his chest. “It was a tragic hour for my kingdom when I was forced to put down the rebellion. So many ponies died that day…”
Humphrey reached beneath his robes. Daring couldn’t imagine what sort of weapon he thought would be effective against a ghost. “Pony slaves, of course.”
“Of course.” If Queen Cicada had eyes, they would have bored holes in Daring Do’s skull. “They have the most effective magic for working our devices.”
“Yeah.” Daring flapped a wing in Humphrey’s face to force him out of the room. “Yeah. Looks like it’s getting late, you guys. We need to head up for the surface. Got a big day down here tomorrow.”
“What?” Quibble shot her a double-take, his muzzle scrunched to one side and his eyes wide. “You want to come back down here after—”
“We’ll talk later, Stubble.” Daring Do gave Cicada the biggest, most plastic smile she could create. “It sure was swell, Queen Cicada, but we’ve got to—”
“It’s a shame you couldn’t see the grandest collection.” Cicada tilted her ersatz head back, her hollow form tingeing the air with a distinct green pallor. “Unfortunately, your immortal foe absconded with it alongside my Spade of Hearts.”
Daring Do released a curse straight from the bottom of her breast. “Holy rutting horseapples. Of course he did.”
Humphrey backpedalled as Daring Do all but climbed over him to get past. “I take it this is bad news, yes?”
“You bet your third hump it is!”
“I have only the one!”
“It’s because you’re a lousy gambler!” Daring Do pulled her helmet low, her heart pounding, her eyes darting. Where did Ahuizotl find them? How could he have moved them? How did he move an entire army of mechanoids without anybody in Equestria noticing?
Where were they now?
“It seems our roles are reversed these days, Dr. Do.”
“Gadz—!” Daring hopped to the side, all four hooves leaving the ground. Cicada was there, hovering at her side. “Uh, how so?”
“Once, we changelings were masters and protectors of all.” Cicada circled Daring. Her glittering body froze in one position, always facing Daring, never leaving her sight. “Now you ponies have taken that particular blessing. Now the changelings are less than slaves. Less than animals. We are monsters to be exterminated.”
“Hay, look.” Daring pressed her hooves to her chest. She aimed her back against the wall and spread her wings. “I’m smart enough to know that not all changelings are evil. Just the dumb ones. I’ve got changelings for friends—”
“And yet Mandible follows you like a lost dog.” Cicada leaned in close, taller than Daring by a full head. “He thinks himself your inferior. Utterly devoted and utterly subservient. How is that not slavery?”
Daring Do spread her wings despite the pain in her joints. Behind the queen, Quibble had picked up a stick and seemed prepared to brain the phantom. For some odd reason, Daring thought he’d be less than successful. “Wait. Look.”
Quibble paused, as did Cicada. “Speak,” the Queen said.
Daring removed her pith helmet and shook out her grayscale mane. She gazed into the padded liner, tilted her ears back, and breathed a sigh. “We lost someone. Someone very important to both of us. And… and we just sorta found ourselves in the same situation. So he’s stuck by me, and I’ve stuck by him.”
Daring stood up and set the helmet firmly on its proper perch. “And I’m gonna stick by Blankety Blank no matter what. Because he’s my friend.” She smirked. “Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.”
Every muscle in Daring Do’s body tensed as she walked through the changeling ghost. The magic that tied the queen together waivered and fell apart. The threads of light leaped at each other, weaving an erratic dance through the low light of the city.
Daring kept walking. She didn’t spare the bags so much as a glance. She put one hoof in front of the other, climbing a handy ladder to the entrance and hoping that Quibble and Humphrey got the hint.
Cicada waited for her at the top. She hovered before the entrance, her head low, her horn pointed at Daring’s ladder. Daring sucked on her lips, her wings spread for a quick glide back to the bottom.
The expected blast of magic didn’t come. Cicada spoke in a low, buzzing, distorted voice. “A friendship such as yours is one I’ve not seen in a long, long time.”
“Um.” Daring grinned and leaned her elbow on the edge of the ladder. “You just need to get out more, that’s all. Kinda hard to nurture friendships from inside an underground city and stuff.”
Cicada might have nodded. “When you return, remind the changelings of what once was. Of what might be again. I look forward to seeing your relationship develop.”
She vanished without a trace. Not so much as the burning scent of magic or the crackle of sparks was left in her wake.
“It’s totally not politically correct for me to point this out…” Quibble Pants climbed onto the ladder, sending tremors wriggling upward. “But she’s super-spooky, right? Ridiculously spooky. One of the spookiest queens ever. Is that just me? We’re all thinking it, right?”
Daring groaned and rested her head against the cold, stone floor of the changeling city. She hauled herself up with her forelegs and steadied herself at the edge of the bridge. “Just pack up the stuff and let’s get back to camp. I think I’m about to go on a long, long trip.”
***
Martial Paw deflected the tip of his opponent’s blade. The griffon opposite him reeled back for another stab, but it was just as easily knocked aside. “You’re telegraphing. If you’re going to stab, then stab. Don’t make a big show of it.”
The other griffon swung his sword in a figure-eight pattern. Martial took a calculated step back and watched the rapier contact thin air. “It’s pretty, at the least.”
“Aw, sh-shut up.” The other griffon lunged with the weight of his entire body. Martial stepped to the side and drove his opponent’s sword into the dirt. The griffon stumbled and sank to the ground, scuffing his pure white feathers with dirt and grime. His pink eyes narrowed to slits as he glared at Martial. “N-now you’re just showing off.”
“No, that’s what you were doing.” Martial twirled his sword along the edges of his talons. The ornate hilt flashed as it caught the light of the evening sun. He held the blade pointing up in a brief salute. “Swordsmanship is about speed, not strength. Precision, not force. If you have a sharp blade, it should only take the minutest of movements to injure your enemy.”
Martial reached his talon down. The other griffon grasped his foreleg and allowed himself to be hauled to his feet. He brushed the dust from his formerly pristine feathers. A tuft of down drifted around until it vanished in a blaze of green fire.
The griffon brandished his blade, raising it above his head, his free talon held forward. “Ready for another go?”
Martial’s thin blade whistled through the air. “At your leisure, Mr. Blank.”
Blankety Blank stabbed thrice in quick succession. Martial’s blade countered each time, allowing Blank’s rapier to slide edge-to-edge with his. Blank swung, gripping his sword with both talons. Martial leaned back, shifting his paws to put him to his opponent’s left. With Blankety’s sword completely opposite him, he was open to jab Blank in the flank.
Blankety all but tumbled away, his wings flapping erratically. He swung his rapier with crazed jerks of his talon. Martial walked back, his blade at an angle, ready to catch the sword should it come too close. His opportunity came in the form of a half-baked jab. He looped his sword around, slipped it underneath Blank’s crossguard, and sliced upward.
Blank’s sword leaped through the air into Martial’s waiting talon.
Blankety Blank rubbed his talon. His beak hung open, his tongue feeling around for some sort of response. “Huh.”
Martial flipped Blankety’s rapier around and allowed the disguised changeling to grab it. “I’ll admit it. That was showing off.”
“Really.” Blankety Blank’s body sparked with green flame. It burned away the white feathers, revealing black carapace from head to hoof. The sword hung in his magical grip before sliding into a scabbard. “I w-wouldn’t have guessed.” He glanced from side to side, his multifaceted eyes flickering. “Can you teach me that trick?”
“In your case, I think we should get the basics down first.” Martial aimed the tip of his sword at Blankety’s cloven hooves. “Overcoming your unfamiliarity with fingers, for example.”
Blankety nodded. He walked across the campsite to his tent, where he stowed away the scabbard among his satchels. He opened a clamshell mirror, touching the hard exoskeleton of his cheek.
Martial passed an eye over Blank, searching for injuries. He gave the side of the changeling’s torso a double-take. He couldn’t see where his sword had struck. There was no damage. “Not a scratch, I see.”
“N-not much danger of that.” Blank’s horn sparked with the beginnings of a familiar, oft-used spell. “Our carapace has a lot of resistance to puncture wounds. Comes with being ba-basically bone.”
Martial grimaced. A painful memory struck, banished with the next thought. “I’ve seen swords cut through bone.”
“Th-then don’t hit me with one of those.” The flame ignited at the tip of Blank’s horn. It trailed across the surface of his body, replacing blackened chitin with a soft coat of white hair. He blinked, and his eyes became whole and unsegmented, a light pink in the irises. His angular, cloven hooves rounded out to become a smooth arc. His wings vanished entirely, as did his horn.
Martial scratched the raised feathers between his ears. The sight was always a spectacle, boggling and strange. To see a creature change so utterly, from griffon to changeling to pony, was a thing not many had seen and lived. Of course, he supposed it was because most changelings kept to themselves. If you saw a changeling transform, most times it meant it was too late for you.
Blankety shook out his pale, pale mane. “Who taught you to sword-fight? I don’t think they’ve got m-many schools for that in Equestria.”
Martial Paw returned his rapier to his hip-mounted sheath. He smirked, sitting on his haunches and crossing his forelegs. “Really, now? What gave you that indication?”
Blank raised an eyebrow. He clapped his forehooves together and shrugged.
“Touché.” Martial rested his talon against the hilt, stepping back from the entrance to the tent. The sun set behind him, casting an orange glow across the campground. A bird trilled a song that Martial knew well; he resisted the urge to hum along. “I learned swordsmanship from my father. He was the head of the Polemaetus clan, back in Felaccia. A long time ago.”
Martial closed his talons around his beak as he thought. He slacked his grip to get a word or two out. “He came up to me one day. ‘Marty, my boy, it’s time we leaned you somethin’ that’ll actually help you through life. On account of it’s hard for your enemies to stick a blade betwixt your ribs if you’ve already done so to them. Mapmaking’s swell for your younger years, travelling the world and makin’ a name for yourself, but when you’re an old buzzard like me, you’ll need somethin’ to keep you active.’”
He smiled, hunching his wings back and splaying the feathers. “So that was childhood. Mapmaking, navigating, and geography in the morning, swordsmanship in the afternoon.”
“Wait.” Blankety tilted his head to the side, scrunching his muzzle. “You’re a Felaccian noble?”
“No.” Martial waved a talon. “No, but that’s a different story altogether. Long story short, my father imparted his own love for the blade to me. I’ve practiced ever since.” He tapped a claw against the side of his beak. “And now it seems I get to pass the knowledge down.”
Blankety rubbed his chin. He stood to all four hooves and took a shallow bow. “Then I’ll t-try to be a pupil worthy of your father’s instruction.”
“I think you will be.” Martial clapped a talon on Blank’s back. “I will warn you: We have a name for the fighting style you were using back there.”
“Which is?”
“The Dead Griffon’s Twitch.”
“Oh har-de-har.”
“Time and practice. Years of it.” Martial spread a wing to point to the center of camp. “Now come on. Supper’s calling and if we’re lucky, Cookie’ll have an extra portion for two hardworking individuals such as ourselves.”
They had barely gone two steps before a commanding voice called out their names. They turned to see Daring Do galloping from the outskirts of the camp, barreling through the underbrush. She skidded to a halt beside them, breathing heavily, raising a hoof to ask them to wait.
Martial looked her over, noting several cuts and scrapes sustained from her headlong charge through the foliage. Leaves and ferns were stuck in her mane and tail. “Dr. Do, I presume.”
“Gugh.” Daring Do pushed her helmet back, baring her forehead. “Change of plans, guys. Pack up; we’re heading back for Equestria tonight.”
“Tonight?” Martial furrowed his brow. His gray-flecked feathers shivered against his sides. “What of the city? What’s calling us back home so soon?”
“First of all, that thing we awoke in the ruins.” Daring glanced around, laying her ears flat. “Queenie-poo? Yeah, probably should have stayed asleep. She’s kinda nuts. Secondly, you remember the big, angry mechanical ant that attacked us?”
“G-gonna be hard to forget,” Blankety said.
“Well, now Ahuizotl has access to a whole army of them.” Daring Do walked. Martial didn’t know what else to do but follow. “And since he’s stolen the Spade of Hearts, he has a way to power them. To control them.”
“Well.” Martial clicked his beak. He stopped beside the entrance to her tent when she went inside. “That’s not ideal.”
“No it ain’t.” Daring bustled around her tent, stuffing anything and everything into whatever receptacle was close by. “But it does give us an edge in knowing what sorta twisted plan he’s making up. And it can’t be easy to move that much machinery incognito. He’s gonna be harried. Careful. Slow.”
She popped her face through the tent flap. “And when he slips up, I’ll be the first in line to kick his tail.”
She glanced between Blank and Martial. “What are you guys waiting for? Get packed up! It’ll just be the three of us—” She slapped her forehead. “Drat! Marty, send a message ahead to the princesses and let them know we’re coming. Blankety, let the crew know we’ve gotta get the airship in the sky in the next couple of hours. Tell the camp Humphrey’s in charge until we get back.”
Martial flicked his lion’s tail, swatting an oversized anansi away from his flank. “Will we be back?”
“Maybe. Probably not.” Daring Do hefted a bag onto her shoulder. She trekked out of the tent, dragging another suitcase behind her. “Depends on how long it takes to put Ahuizotl down.”
The satchel hit the dirt with a powerful thud. “And trust me. This time? He’s not crawling away. We’re putting him six feet under or my name isn’t Daring Freakin’ Do.”
Martial tipped his beak, his talons gripped tight around the hilt of his second-favorite sword. “Whatever you say, Miss Yearling.”
***
Cadence sat at the head of the hall, a short distance removed from the two thrones of the High Princesses of Equestria. Celestia and Luna sat with assured smiles, their backs straight and their wings spread regally to catch the sunlight. The stained glass windows cast rainbows of light across the floor of the Grand Hall, on which dozens and dozens of ponies stood.
Nobles, reporters, curious citizens from all walks of life. It was a crowd the likes of which Cadence hadn’t seen since the last Crystalling. Of course, they all had good reason to be there. Very good reason.
King Andean Ursagryph sat on the opposite side of the platform, his Blitzwings arrayed around him in a protective shield. Their angled weapons were held straight up, propped against their shoulders. The weapons seemed different than the volleyguns they’d wielded against the assassin the last time they were in Equestria. No longer were they spears tipped with a bronzed cylinder, now they were almost completely tubular, with a firing mechanism near the back.
Cadence caught a glimpse of iron sights, much as she’d seen on a crossbow. No doubt these were tuned for accuracy.
“Cuss!”
Cadence smiled as she turned to the pony beside her. Her cousin, Prince Blueblood, struggled to hold onto his young daughter. “Now, now, Jade,” he said. “A lady does not swear in public.”
“Cuss!” Jade giggled proudly at her perfect enunciation. The little unicorn filly puffed her cheeks out until they looked like tiny green tomatoes. “Cuss!”
“Jadeite Jasmine Blueblood!” Blueblood clicked his tongue, turning to Cadence with something not unlike sheer terror in his eyes. “You’ve had three children. How did you manage to avoid this?”
“By never cursing around my children.” Cadence nodded, desperately trying to avoid the evil, evil grin she wished to offer him. “Yep. Seems to have worked pretty well.”
Instead, she reached across to touch her hoof to Jade’s soft cheeks. “You learned it from watching Daddy, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”
“Cuss!” Jade agreed.
“More likely from her mother,” Blueblood muttered at a low growl. “Honestly, Cadence, she’s too young to understand it’s wrong.”
Cadence smirked. “What’s your excuse?”
“Pish posh.”
“Pitch potch!” Jade said.
Blueblood lowered his eyelids. He placed a small kiss on his daughter’s lips. “You and I, we’re going to have a long talk about this once you learn Equish.”
“Squish!”
“Exactly.”
Cadence sighed as Queen Chrysalis II walked into the hall, accompanied by her entourage of loyal changelings. They huddled close together, staying around the queen’s legs. Ponies near the front of the crowd backed up several steps. They seemed to avoid looking the changelings in the eye. Cadence couldn’t blame them. She’d seen her husband under changeling control, and she suspected most of the ponies were old enough to remember the attack.
First at the wedding, and then all the subsequent plots the original Chrysalis had hatched, once upon a time. Kidnappings, sabotage, collaboration with beings imprisoned deeper than Tartarus itself. Everyone had been affected by a changeling at some point in their life, no matter how faintly.
“I suppose your wife stayed home?” Cadence spread a wing to lay it across Blueblood’s back. He cradled his baby girl, his expression sour and his horn buzzing with an uncast spell. “I’m surprised she allowed you to bring the baby.”
“She’s in no state to make decisions.” Blueblood ran a hoof across Jade’s mane. “And I want to keep her close.”
Cadence searched out a particular set of eyes. There, at the foot of the podium, with his fellow Royal Guardsponies. Shining Armor wore his full dress uniform, royal purple accents and all, armed to the teeth with javelins slung across his back. He felt her eyes on him and turned to offer a reassuring smile. His blue eyes met hers, kind and trustworthy, flashing with iron. Nothing bad would happen. Not under his watch.
“Fleur will come around eventually.” Blueblood settled back in his chair, holding Jade’s forelegs and letting her hind legs stand on his chest. “Once these changelings offer up proof positive that they’ll do as they say.”
Celestia stood up. The crowd hushed. She made her way down the steps to stand beside Chrysalis II. “Ladies and gentleponies, this is a very historic day.”
Cadence held her breath. She watched Chrysalis closely, judging her every move, every expression. The changeling hunched, her brow low. Her strange pink eyes jumped from pony to pony. Her hooves shuffled on the marble floor. Her wings vibrated against her carapace.
“For too long have the changelings and ponies lived in fear of each other.” Celestia jerked her attention away from the changeling queen. By contrast, Celestia stood tall. Her wings held steady to reflect almost heavenly light. Her voice was strong and sure. “For too long have we found ourselves embroiled in a conflict with no rhyme. No reason. No purpose other than the very hatred and terror it generated. Living each day fearing attack and reprisal. Living each day in fear of one who could be our friend.”
She threw a hoof out, startling Chrysalis. “The changelings have made the first move, my little ponies! They have come to beg for friendship. For peace! I promise you now, as I always have in the past, that I shall do everything in my power to make Equestria a safe, secure, joyous place for all creatures.”
She looked over the room, panning her head slowly. Cadence knew from experience that every pony in the audience would feel, if only for an instant, that Celestia was looking directly at them, and them alone. It was a neat trick, all told, appearing to focus on everything while only focusing on one or two general locations. She’d tried it herself on occasion, though whether the illusion was successful, she might never know.
Celestia, though? She was a pro.
“Friendship begins with a single step.” Celestia took Chrysalis II by the hoof. “The changelings have made theirs. Can we do less?”
High Princess Celestia of Equestria frowned deeply, from the edges of her eyes to the droop in her wings. “I know that many of you yet distrust the changelings on general principle. Most of you remember the dark times we faced not twelve years ago, when all seemed lost. Rest assured, the ruler that facilitated those attacks is no longer at the head of the changeling kingdom.”
The crowd murmured, though it died the instant Celestia opened her mouth once more. “Their new queen is the very changeling you see before you. She came here herself, at the risk of personal harm, with a cry for help. Would you please lend her your ears.”
Chrysalis stepped forward and spread her wings. She kept her head down, barely looking at her audience. “I—I rejected Queen Chrysalis the Tyrant’s ideologies. Sh—she saw both the changelings and the ponies as expendable pawns in her quest to become all-powerful and all-ruling. Truly, I know that the changelings are family. Irreplaceable and… and oh so dear… ”
Her fangs pricked into her bottom lip as she stomped a hoof. “And ponies are not slaves, or livestock, or enemies. W-we are all people. We all have hopes and dreams and lives worth living. And… and I want that for my people as much as you want it for yours. Please help us do that.”
Cadence winced as Chrysalis II paused, seeming to choke on her own words. The changeling forced them out, one by one, her voice weak. “As proof of our dedication to peace between our kingdoms… I present to High Princess Celestia…”
She blinked rapidly, her eyes turned to her hooves. “The corpse of Queen Chrysalis the Tyrant.”
Celestia raised her wing and her voice. “Bring in the gurney!”
The doors parted behind the crowd. The squeak of wheels on marble was soon overpowered by gasps and cries of horror. Royal Guardsponies made their way down the hall, splitting the audience to give the gurney room to travel. Six ponies pulled the ropes, while three others pushed from behind. A lump of white cloth covered the payload, but there was little mistaking what lay beneath.
The guard at the lead removed her helmet, shaking out her green mane. “Your Majesty. We found this just where Chrysalis the Second said we would, right in the depths of the Badlands. With your permission?”
Celestia bowed her head. “Proceed, Captain Carrot.”
Care Carrot’s horn shimmered with a pink glow. The sheet was cast aside to reveal a charred husk of a changeling queen. “The mortal blow was dealt by a spear through the torso. The body sat exposed to the harsh wind and stifling heat of the Badlands for years, now. There’s not much left but empty carapace.”
She glanced over her shoulder, giving Celestia a nod. “But there’s little doubt. This is her.”
Celestia stomped a hoof, preempting her subjects’ questions and protests before they could emerge. “I asked Captain Carrot to bring this here because I want you to see the evidence. The proof. The assurance that the changelings have indeed cast aside the old ways in favor of a new tomorrow.”
She spread her wings and lit her horn with a majestic glow. “Spread the word, my little ponies. The peace talks begin now!”
The crowd erupted in an indecipherable roar of questions and shouts. Cadence could barely focus on any of it. She locked onto the cadaver sitting across the hall, its hollow eye sockets staring at nothing, and its mouth open in a silent scream of agony. This was the enemy who haunted her darkest nightmares. This was the monster who nearly took away everything Cadence held dear. This was the creature that had nearly killed Twilight and Celestia, nearly prevented her children from ever being born.
Chrysalis the Tyrant was dead. Slain by a spear in the depths of the Badlands. Left to die alone. Left to bake in the sands.
Cadence really didn’t want to feel happy. She didn’t want to feel exhilarated that such a constant fear was vanquished. Squashed like a bug. Annihilated. Made null and void. She felt bad that she could even think of the death of a creature to be a good thing.
“Heaven’s above, what is that expression supposed to be?”
Cadence snapped out of her reverie. She stared at Blueblood with a deep blush on her cheeks. “I’m sorry?”
Blueblood covered Jade’s eyes with a hoof. He lowered his eyebrows, nibbling his lower lip. “Your expression. It’s, shall we say, totally inappropriate for the circumstances?”
Cadence almost laughed. She tightened her throat to hold it back. “What do you mean?”
“Cadence. Dear cousin. You’re smiling.” Blueblood shook his head. He turned back to the corpse and suppressed a gag. “And it is not an entirely friendly smile, either.”
“I…” Cadence blew a breath through pursed lips. “I think I need some air.”
Celestia lead Chrysalis II out, heedless of the reporters and nobles screaming her name. Luna brought the Royal Canterlot Voice to bear, shouting down even the loudest protest. Andean was content to sit quietly, regarding the proceedings with a cocked brow and a palm on the pommel stone of his sword. Care Carrot spoke with Shining Armor, before leading the gurney into the back of the hall to be stored wherever Celestia deemed fit.
Cadence watched Chrysalis the Tyrant until she vanished from sight. She set her jaw and wished desperately that she didn’t feel utter elation.
Her ears burned. She snapped her head around to catch the younger Queen Chrysalis staring at her through an open door, tears staining her blackened face. The changeling queen ducked away, her wings fluttering in her wake.
“I suppose that horrid queen was her mother,” Blueblood said, rocking his daughter back and forth. “Must be a strange thing indeed to experience all this. Her family tree may be more messed up than my own.”
Blueblood snorted, pressing his lips against Jade’s forehead. “And here I’m distantly related to Sombra himself.”
“I think you’re a little farther removed from pure evil than she is.” Cadence stood up, more from nervous energy than a reason to stretch her legs. “I’m still not entirely convinced.”
Blueblood sighed. He stood as well, placing Jade on his back. She gripped his mane in a vice-like grip and pulled back. He grunted, but otherwise took it in stride. “I dare say, Cadence, I’m hard-pressed to think of anything that would convince you.”
Cadence offered him a small, lopsided grin. “Divine intervention?”
“I’ll put it on the list.” Blueblood shut his eyes and moaned. “Now to look forward to several hours of fruitless negotiations before I must go home to console my hysterical wife. It’s a wonderful life, Cadence. Blinking wonderful.”
“It’s about to get worlds better.” She tilted her horn towards the doorway most of the royals had escaped through. The crowd was getting rowdier by the minute, scraping for even the smallest exclusive. Any edge on the competition. “Shall we be off before they skin us alive?”
“Let us,” Blueblood said.
“Cuss!”
“Please hush, Jade.”
***
Spike swallowed hard. His tongue failed to find an appropriate response. His eyes barely believed what he saw. His ears stung as Flurry Heart wailed at the top of her lungs, utterly and completely inconsolable.
Sweetie Belle’s front door was shattered. Everything in Carousel Boutique was upturned. Cloth and ponnequins lay scattered and spoiled. Caution tape covered the gaping entrance, and police ponies swarmed the business-cum-home. A blood stain was plainly visible in the middle of the showroom floor.
Silver Lance tucked himself beneath Spike’s tail, his eyes wide. “What happened, Spike?”
Flurry Heart hiccupped as she ran out of air. Her face was red and tear-soaked. Her wings covered her head in an attempt to banish the impossible vision.
The impossible vision that had come true.
Twilight Amore hovered above and behind, planting her forehooves on the crown of Spike’s head. She frowned at the chaos within the boutique. “Sooo… where is Sweetie Belle again?”
“She’s gone!” Flurry sobbed. “She’s gone and Scootaloo too! I saw them!”
Spike knelt down and wrapped his arms around her. He brushed her cheek, trying and failing to look her in the eye. “Flurry. It’s… it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have—”
She buried her face in Spike’s chest, weeping with all her strength.
Spike sucked in a breath through his razor-sharp teeth. He lifted a hand to hail one of the officers. “Excuse me! Is there anything you can tell us?”
The officer glanced up from a clipboard and shook her head. “Sorry, um, sir. There’s an ongoing investigation and—”
“I understand that,” Spike said, digging his claws into the pavement. “But as the personal assistant for Princess Twilight Sparkle, I think I might be able to help.”
Officer Clops held her breath. She released with a whoosh and lowered her paper. “Several members of the volunteer fire brigade were responding to an alarm bell in this area. They found Carousel Boutique as you see it now. Doors busted, everything torn up. The only pony inside was critically injured. They managed to get him to the hospital before he bled out.”
Spike stroked Flurry’s mane. “Sweetie Belle?”
“Nowhere to be found.” Clops shrugged. “Our witness wasn’t conscious to be questioned, so the crime scene’s all we have to go on at the moment.”
“Do you know his name?”
She flipped the clipboard back a few pages. “The fire brigade identified him as one of their own members. One Button Mash.”
“Oh gosh.” Spike knelt down to look his young charges in the eye. “Guys, I’m going to visit my friend in the hospital. I’m gonna find out who did this, why, and where they’ve gone. I’m gonna make this right.”
Twilight Amore wrapped her forelegs around her torso. “So that’s a ‘no’ for the tour of Ponyville?”
“You guys stay with Twilight. And Grandma.” He brought his knuckle up to bump Amore beneath the chin. “You’ll get the tour when the griffon princesses show up, right?”
Twilight Amore covered up a frown with a grumpy, half-interested expression. “Whatever. I guess the city’s big enough for the five of us.”
He patted Silver Lance on the head. “I’m counting on you to fill Twilight and grandma in, okay?”
Silver saluted with a sharp snap of the hoof. “Sir, yes sir!”
Spike turned to Flurry Heart last. Her sobs had receded, just enough for her to listen closely.
“I’m gonna find them, Flurry.” He gave her as reassuring a smile as he felt appropriate. He wasn’t entirely convinced, himself. “Do you trust me to do that?”
She shuffled her hooves. A wingtip brushed at her cheeks. “Maybe?”
Spike sighed, letting a plume of smoke roll from his nostrils. “That’s good enough for me.”
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Another great chapter MyHobby. You did a good job bookending the chapter with Flurry's vision and them discovering it wasn't a dream. Maybe now they'll listen to her, she could be a valuable resource. So long as, you know, they also help the poor filly who only seems to get visions of evil.
So, Quibble Pants, canon, even if Daring either can't or won't say his name right. You did a good job of getting his character down.
I have to wonder, do those robots have to have hearts to work? Could they be reconfigured to run on, say, human-made generators? Tightly compacted thunder clouds? The power source those giant griffon airships used in Daybreak?
So, Thorax, either not canon or his attempt to spread friendship to the Changeling Kingdom didn't go so well for him, or for Equestria. As for Cadence's reaction, well, I'm sure most of that is relief, right? Also, Jade is cute.
Thanks for the chapter, looking forward to more!
Quibble, huh?
Let me check that schedule... yes that aired on the day you released the previous chapter. So he's in there suddenly.
Careful, though. I'd totally want to know if Daring Do is just always a dismissive jerk who resents him, or if that's teasing, and if Quibble is a half-decent adventurer or not. This story has enough characters already!
I figured this was gonna be Button's and Sweetie's show just on their own, but it looks like a lot of people are gonna get involved...
I like this chapter, but it also made me feel sorry for you Hobbs: You put all this work into retroactively fitting in Quibble Pants and Flurry Heart in this chapter, meanwhile Thorax the friendly changling is running around, playing havoc with cannon!
Yeah, it's not like alicorns get precognitive visio-OH WAIT!
Oh man, has Daring Do been funding her expeditions in part by cashing in on the "adventure tours" market? Smart move. Great Quibble appearence overall.
Yeah, I'm sure telling the changlings about this is at the top of AK's to-do list.
For people who haven't read your oldest stuff, it's good to finally get a handle on Martial. I bet Martial Paw is related to old Chancellor Southpaw, isn't he? I bet he owes something to Corvus.
Also cool to see Blankey working on learning more self-defense. Flight, fingers, disemboweling claws, a Griffon is a solid combat form.
OMG, I totally forgot about baby Blueblood! Exactly as adorable as I would have guessed.
Now that's how you make an entrance! Chryssi Jr inserted the spear as a coup, right?
Wish I could take out a life insurance policy on Poni Caballeron right now.
Ah, yep. There it is. There's the obligatory cute baby. The story is now official. I like how you explained Flurry Heart's absence from Daybreak, but the show is not making things any easier for you with all of these new characters and canons is it? I think at some point you're just gonna have to cut your losses and call this an AU series, but if you can keep working new elements of the show in like this, more power to you!
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Now, now, you know the rules. Superheros and princesses don't get to go to therapy. They get to have their issues exasperated to prolong the drama.
Sad to say, but Equestria (and the ancient changelings) don't have much in the way of AI. Something needs to lend intelligence to the automaton.
I actually haven't seen the episode yet, but I think we might be able to explain Thorax's lack of success... at a later date.
7523382
He's only getting a cameo, since I've only known about him for roughly a week, but I do have a nice, thorough history of his adventures with Daring Do.
She's a dismissive jerk, yeah, who doesn't necessarily appreciate his presence. She's not malicious about it, but she does have the darndest time recognizing his contributions. She mostly resents the fact that he's better at solving puzzles than her, due to his unbelievable logic skills. He's one of those folks who solves Rubiks cubes for fun.
I was just worrying about that, actually. I've thought about comparing the cast of this one to DayBreak, which had my largest cast ever, but I think doing so might drive me crazy. So many characters have full arcs in this story, it's nuts. I think it'll be manageable once the characters start teaming up, but we'll see.
This is the next big climactic episode in the ongoing story that is The Heart's Promise, so there's gonna be a lot of characters all doing their thing. But it all revolves around Button and Sweetie. The plot, the backstory, the machinations, it all comes together with those two ponies.
They will get their day. And that day is today. But not right now today. More like in a couple chapters today.
7523602
Havoc nothing! I'll find some way to use him! I swear it! AhAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!
In Flurry's case it's more like a presentcognitive, wouldn't you say?
In Spike's defense, the only Alicorn who's shown to have such visions is Celestia, and she probably doesn't air that particular set of dirty laundry too often.
Problem there is that there's actual threat to life and limb during her adventures. It gets hard to find a pony willing to sign that particular waver.
Quibble's appearance is totally your fault, you'll be happy to hear. I just wish I could have done more with him, but that's what happens when a new character appears mid-story.
Nobody wants a ticked off changeling ghost haunting them in the middle of the night.
"Daaaaring! Whyyy haven't you told the changelings--"
"The heck are you doing in my shower!? Out! Out!"
"Buuut the chaaaaangelings!"
"Holy water! Holy water! Holy water!"
"That's not holy water, it's just your shampoo."
"At these prices it had better be holy!"
Funny story about that. I re-read a couple of Martial-centric chapters in Sonata de Equestria and had to laugh when the poor guy couldn't even handle a sword. And then had to admit to Dash that he got clobbered in his one action scene prior to the finale. I think Heart's Promise Martial is to Sonata Martial like Batman is to Barnacle Boy.
That said, he did woo Rainbow Dash and defeat an Alicorn Amulet-empowered mad griffon lord, so hey, maybe it's Heart!Martial who has the living up to do.
Southpaw is unrelated--and currently enjoying retirement in the Equestrian equivalent of Tahiti--but there is something ubiquitously seedy about the Corvus clan.
"Hello, my name is Martial Paw. You killed my father. Prepare to die!"
I wonder if a dragon is a compatible form for changelings...
How could I neglect to show how Blueblood was making out? The guy's got a special place in my (red)heart, don't you know.
Oh yes, as she told Ahuizotl:
There's some baaaad blood in that there family.
I really, really, really hope that you remember you said this. It will be absolutely wonderful if you remember you said this.
7531262
After you mentioned that, I looked through the whole of the Heart's Promise continuity for cute baby appearances (hereafter known as CBAs) and found shocking results.
Fahr Drill had no CBAs, on account of being short and to the point, focusing on teenage colts. And Big Mac.
Lord Mayor Applejack had no CBAs, on account of the youngest character, Crisperfall, being seven years old. However, Megan's appearance resulted in some language issues, so there were examples of applied malapropism.
The Unmitigated Disaster had no CBAs at all. And frankly, if Twilight ever wants a CBA of her own, she might want to consider rethinking Featherweight's proposal.
Nature in the Wild has a similar issue to Farh Drill in that all appearing characters are teenagers. Unless you wanna count the scene at the end when they reach the beach.
Lightning Struck Home was similarly devoid of CBAs. But it did have a cute owl appearance (COA), so it balanced out.
An Equestrian Griffon almost counts, because Stella was ever-present. But she was nine. A Cute Stella Appearance might be even better than a CBA...
The Worst Kept Secret didn't even have an owl to break up the childless monotony!
All in all, while I'd like to say that CBAs are a Heart's Promise staple, they are not available in all the stories. But believe you me, the longer the story is, the more chance I'll feature at least one CBA.
Just you wait! The next story will have Thorax and Quibble teaming up with Sassy Saddles and Treehugger in a grand adventure across the world to battle the Equestrian equivalent of the Equestria Girls Shadowbolts!
I will not write this story, but somebody should.
Funny thing is, the series as a whole became an AU the instant Friendship Games aired. So, the next EG story is gonna have to be marked AU based on that alone. However, I don't know if I really need to mark this story AU since by and large it follows canon. The non-canon stuff doesn't get mentioned.
I don't know! I just go with my gut.
7535750 Thank you so much!
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Who Thorax? Are we still talking about him? I was focused on the episode yesterday. For a episode focused on a local sport, it was weird they way they had Twilight Sparkle give this lengthy exposition on how there are no such things as faeries, magical healing is impossible, and Diamond Dogs wielded the original Elements of Harmony.
Hehehe. I bet she would be more likely to haunt Blankety, like a nasty version of Princess Luna. "Face your fears Mandible! Your fears of not being superior to all other life-forms!"
Oh I like that. The old one was gutsy, but the new one definitely fits the role of Gentletiercel Adventurer.
I definitely think of Corvus as the 6-taloned man.
I like to imagine Blueblood and Fleur ended up going into labor while in Ponyville, and Redheart helped deliver the baby.
I was as surprised at this result as Flynt Coal. But then I realized I had been thinking of kids up to like 12 as cute babies, so that's on me. I was counting Bearbutt's kids, Pumpkin and Pound in the most recent story, and Flurry Heart and siblings. Extremely adorable children, but none of them babies. Wait, wasn't the youngest Cake a CBA in Scootaloo Will Fly?
I really appreciate all the effort you put into keeping this canon, it helps it feel still tightly tied to the show, and I enjoy that. I know it might not last forever, but I do appreciate you keeping things close together while you can.
Well, if you gotta retcon, then you gotta retcon. But with how absurdly organized those guys were, and with the way they had moles in the top level of everything, I'm kinda having a hard time buying "oh yeah, we had a safe house and it totally worked."
And Chrysalis Jr is really laying it on thick, isn't she? Almost thick enough to make me wonder whether that old carapace is a corpse, or a molting...
Although given the way she acted with Ahuizotl, she may actually be on the level here.