Breakfast of champions
The illusion cloaking Hornet was truly remarkable. Errant hairs swayed back and forth in the steady breeze. The strands of her somewhat curly and rather wavy mane bobbed with her every movement. When she blinked, her eyelashes clung to one another before being pulled apart. Up close, the illusion was perfect—which was more than a little unsettling. The not-pegasus had changed; today, her colours were black and yellow, just like her namesake. Her eyes glittered like emeralds as she watched the rising sun.
"You are watching me and not the sunrise," she said to Sundance in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.
"Did you sleep well? Did you find a place to settle in? Were you uncomfortable being away from your fellow 'lings?" Of course, Sundance had nothing to say about her not-so-subtle accusation.
"I slept just fine," she replied, almost smiling, almost smirking. "Last night, I got ''ling-napped by a gang of orphans, who pulled me into their orphan-hive. I told them bedtime stories, and changed myself into the characters in their book. Even did the voices. I became an elephant… a very small elephant, mind you. Not enough room. And I became a spider. And a crocodile witchdoctor. What a crazy time we had. I gave them story time and in return, I got to bask in their love overnight, so I am fully charged and ready to do whatever it is that we're going to do today."
"That's amazing."
"I know."
"No, really… that is amazing. I worry about them getting bored sometimes. I bet that was a lot of fun."
"It was. Tonight, we're going to do it again. I think I'll call it Madam Bedbug's story hour."
At the mention of bedbugs, Sundance shuddered.
"Oh look," Hornet said as she extended her left wing and pointed with her primaries. "Megara and River Raider. Here they come."
"Why do we have to leave on an empty stomach?" asked Sundance, who found this quite disagreeable. He wanted breakfast. There was an empty, cavernous ache in his midsection that he didn't like at all.
"I could regurgitate you some—"
"No, that's fine. Thank you, Hornet."
"Just think of it as honey."
Now a bit queasy, Sundance wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to enjoy honey ever again.
"They're waving to us. Come on, we'd better go. Adventure awaits!"
Megara flew very much like a thrown anchor. For Sundance, this was a relaxed pace, and this seemed to be the case for River Raider as well. Hornet however, was a speedy flier, as well as an impatient one, and so she flew in loops and circles around her companions. While her illusion was convincing, she didn't fly like a pegasus. Not at all. Not even a little bit. At any given moment, she could fly off in any given direction, and do so without turning her body around. In short, she flew like a bug, buzzing along, hovering, and zooming about.
It wasn't hard to spot a changeling, Sundance thought, if one knew the differences.
With his armor at home, Sundance wasn't sure what he was supposed to do in an actual fight. This uncertainty filled his stomach with butterflies, which wasn't much of a breakfast. Megara had outfitted him just before leaving. A few javelins, some war darts, and Lucky, his pony shoe tomahawk, which Sundance thought rather looked like a question mark. The javelins were slung low on his side, beneath his left wing, down near his belly. As for the war darts, they were attached to his figure-eight harness, along with Lucky.
All he could do was trust in Megara's wise judgment.
"Hornet, can you shape-shift?" Megara asked as the agile 'ling flew in circles around her.
"Not very well," Hornet replied. "I can change how I look, but I can't mass-shift very well. Not like the others."
Sundance had no idea what this was—and he didn't ask.
"Specialised illusion magic," River Raider said to him. "At least, that is the belief. Illusion indistinguishable from reality. I can smell illusion though, so I know what's up."
Hornet asked, "You can smell illusion? How does that work?"
"It smells like deception." If there was more to be said, River Raider did not elaborate.
"Some think that mass-shifting is a type of transmutation magic." Flapping her wings, Megara continued along at a sedate pace, very much like a hurled brick or a tuba catapulted towards the sun. "Sumac has a hypothesis that there are multiple types of mass-shifting, which might explain all the discrepancies to be found. But sorting this out is nigh-impossible, because magic doesn't like to be studied and actively thwarts all efforts of understanding."
"I can't become a big scary dragon," Hornet began, "but I can become a me-sized dragon. Or a me-sized displacer beast. I'm very good at that. The illusion aspect feels natural. But… monster transformations make Simulacra and Simulation upset. I make them upset."
"Aw, cheer up, Ladybug. We'll show them the good you can do." Genuinely upbeat, Megara waved her broad paws about, which caused her to slow down a bit. "I think that you're just what we needed… and what I think matters more, because I am the Manticore at Arms. I keep others safe. So don't be troubled, Ladybug."
"I'm no ladybug," Hornet replied, flitting to and fro. "I'm a hornet!"
Halfhill Hub was exactly what its name implied. A hill. Cut in half to allow for a level track which passed right through the middle of where the whole hill had once stood. There was an open air market here, farms, it was a thriving community—and Sundance owned half of it. The news left him speechless. What could he say? What could be said? How did one respond, exactly to this sort of discovery? There were farms here and he'd just flown over an enormous watermelon patch. Tall, leafy green plants swayed in the aggressive breeze. In the distance, there was a train whistle that grew fainter with each second that passed.
"Sumac never intended to keep this." Her voice subdued, Megara had none of her usual overabundance of good cheer and enthusiasm. "But it had to be protected. He even had a fence constructed to show where your land ended and his began. It's that stone fence right over there that runs right up to the tracks. Also, the tracks form your northernmost borders."
A bit bewildered, Sundance offered no response, but just stood there, looking about.
"This is one of Equestria's most important hubs," Megara continued as she gestured with her paw. "There are a great many railroad agents here that secure goods. Company agents live and work here, buying goods and produce to ship off to markets in the big cities. A lot of mineral ore ends up here from freelands just to the north… unclaimed lands part of no holding, no barony. Farmers bring their goods here from hundreds of miles in all directions. Most of Lulamoon Hollow's alchemical supplies are shipped from here due to safety regulations."
"I had no idea any of this existed," Sundance said.
"When you came to visit, you passed so very close," Megara said to him. "But you stayed close to the Canterhorn. Trust a pegasus to fly by landmarks. Had you flown out just a little further, you would have found this place. Would you like to meet the ponies living on your lands?"
"No," Sundance blurted out without a second's worth of thought. Then, he had to think about why he'd said it for a time. After a considerable pause, he shook his head. "We came out with a task in mind. If I meet them, things will get complicated. A lot of things will have to be said. There might be questions. I might have questions. They might have questions. I don't have answers. The job won't get done."
"Right." Megara leaned in a little closer. "You're taking this well, Sundance. It's expensive to maintain this place." Holding out her paw, she pointed with an extended claw at a wooden watchtower. "The guards cost a precious bit of coin. Some time ago, Pebble didn't pay enough for guards. Had to cut expenses somewhere, she insisted. I told her not to cut expenses from security. She didn't listen.
"Low-grade mercs are really no different than bandits. They just clean up better. Sooner or later, their true colours shine through. The griffon merc clan that was hired, they got a little rough with the locals. A bit grabby. Wanted themselves some incentives they felt they deserved. Then they wanted an increase in pay… to keep the peace. Without that increase in pay, there might be trouble, they said. That was the implication. When asked to clear out… they demanded a hefty sum to break their contract."
Wearing a grim expression, Megara shook her head from side to side.
"I had to go through and break me some necks. Many necks were broken that night. Many heads were unscrewed and the contents found therein inside the bodies spilled out. I had to clean up after Pebble's little mistake… which is why she listens to me. You'll listen to me, won't you, Sundance? You… yer a smart-enough fella. You'll learn from the mistakes of others, right?"
He hurriedly nodded whilst he also shuddered in revulsion at the notion of unscrewed heads.
"Good. Good. That's what I like to hear. Can't abide willful stupidity that hurts the lives of others. That's why I am the Manticore at Arms. Sumac wanted you to know that when you can afford to contribute your half to all of this, you'll get half of all the returns. But there'll be no cuts, no trimming of the corners to reduce expenses. You come to the table ready and willing to spend, or you don't come to the table at all. Everything stays the way it is, and it is costly."
"When I prove myself worthy, we'll sort this out," Sundance said, his voice strained and thin.
"That's what I like to hear. You're humble, Sundance. That's good. A haughty lord might demand what was his, and let all this come to ruin. Don't be a haughty lord, Sundance. Be a humble one. These ponies and creatures are counting on it. I'm counting on it. We don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past and I don't want to go unscrewing heads because it makes an awful mess. Not to mention I find the screaming and the pleading and the cries for mercy downright annoying. It's like claws on a chalkboard. I have a job to do and all that pitiful screeching makes my job stressful. Why is it that nopony ever thinks about the stress I encounter on the job?"
Almost shivering from everything that Megara had said, Sundance chose to focus on the sunny, bright aspects of all of this, for Megara the Manticore at Arms was far too grim. He saw this for what it was; one of many futures. A sunflower reaching upward for the sun. He glanced about, his eyes going from place to place, from cottage to cottage, to warehouse, to market stall. Equestria's food came from somewhere. Little places just like this one. Nopony had told him—and he understood why on some level. What if he'd reacted poorly? Thrown a fit? Demanded what was his? The creatures living here were protected from all threats—including him. He thought about the previous Milord and wondered if he knew.
Sumac had done right by these creatures, and Sundance was grateful.
Now, more than ever, he had to do right. There was a ready-made community waiting for him. But this also represented a great deal of complication. Responsibility. This would only make things harder, more stressful. As he stood there, thoughtful, he felt the oppressive weight of some unseen, intangible force pressing down upon his head, which threatened to bend his neck. Rather than succumb to the weight, he thought about what he could learn from this place—there was much to be learned—and he knew that he could use this place as a template of sorts to build up other successful communities.
It was only during this moment of understanding that he knew what an asset this place was.
"I don't think I can do this."
"River?"
With an itch deep within his brain, Sundance turned to face River Raider, who stood a short distance away. She was unsettled, that much was clear—and even worse, she appeared to be in pain. He could see it on her face. No… worse than that, he could feel it in his mind now that he paid attention to it. The itch was more than a mere itch. When he focused upon it, he felt things. Sensed things. While he didn't fully understand what he felt, what he sensed, he knew that he could comprehend these things if given enough time.
"You know"—her voice gentle, reassuring, and kind, Hornet moved closer to River Raider as she spoke—"I might be able to block your mind from others. We changelings have to protect ourselves from psychic backlash because as a hivemind, we are weak to such things. While you are not a changeling, you are mind-aware. Will you let me help you? I am eager to test myself."
"You'd do that for me? Why? You have to know exactly what I think about you."
The pain in River Raider's voice wasn't registered by his ears, but by the itch inside of Sundance's brain. It was strange, hearing a sound but also receiving a signal that wasn't sound. This was new. It was different. As he stood there, trying to sort out what was going on, he felt a second presence in his mind. Something within him awoke. Was it the pain? His sense of compassion?
Everything felt dreamlike and Sundance wondered if he was perhaps asleep.
"What's going on?" Eyes flitting to and fro, Megara appeared to be attempting to size up the situation.
"You are not mind-aware," Hornet said to the mighty manticore. "You would not understand…"
Halfhill Hall existed within the granite heart of the hewn hill. Just inside of the doorway, Sundance found himself unable to move. Rough timbers—some of them still had bark on them—framed everything and formed rafters overhead. A long bar made of flowing shaped stone ran almost the full length of the hall. Clusters of tables filled the long room, with wide spaces in between. The overall effect of the entire room was just breathtaking—but the size, the size of everything left Sundance feeling small and foalish.
A minotaur bull stood behind the bar, and this did much to explain the immensity of everything in the room, from the tall doors, to the vaulted ceiling, and the sheer scope and scale of everything. The barkeeper was polishing a gleaming metal tankard larger than Sundance's own head. Then, with a gasp, Sundance paid full attention to the minotaur's horns, each of which had to be almost a yard long. What trouble one must suffer to pass through doors.
"Meg."
"Mundt."
"Tear somebody in half yet, Meg?"
"The day's barely started, Mundt. Give me time."
"Meg… what's the changeling doing here?"
"Nothing gets by you, does it, Mundt?"
"Get out."
"Now hold on, Mundt… she's with me."
"Don't care. Out." The minotaur extended one big beefy finger and pointed at the door.
"Well, now I gotta rip somebody in half," Megara said, almost muttering. "The day started out so nice."
The minotaur seemed visibly disturbed by this. Sundance felt somepony brush up against him, and realised it was Hornet. Then, to his left, he noticed that River Raider had dropped into a downright aggressive posture, with her hackles up and her ears forward like two fuzzy spear points. As for Megara, not much had changed. She had a calm, relaxed posture, and Sundance supposed that the potential for violence was nothing for her to get excited about.
"I was in Canterlot during the invasion, Meg."
"Well, Hornet wasn't even alive when the invasion happened. Wanna talk about all the awful things that minotaurs have done to ponies?"
"I'm an Equestrian," Mundt said, almost bellowing. "I had no part in any of that!"
Saying nothing, Megara squinted at the now offended minotaur, and waited.
Scowling, Mundt dropped his hand; his finger ceased to point. His broad shoulders rose and fell, while his nostrils widened and contracted. There was anger in his eye, dangerous anger, and Sundance wasn't sure how this would play out. The minotaur and the manticore seemed to know one another—maybe even respected one another—but all that seemed to be in danger of dissolving during this heated moment.
Almost snarling, Mundt squeezed the tankard held in his other hand and it crumpled like tinfoil.
"Think about what you're doing, Mundt." Megara's words were a flawless deadpan, devoid of emotion. "The Rangers don't have to operate out of Halfhill Hall. My father could find a place a bit more welcoming. No more bounty board. No more bounties. No more incentives from the Crown. Now… little Hornet here, she's come to prove herself. We came here today to find a bounty and do a little work. Are you gonna stop us from doing that?"
"No." Mundt spat out his response as if it had a terrible taste.
"Are you gonna stow this 'tude of yours?"
Mundt stared, but offered no response.
"Guess not. Well, that's fine. You can sulk and be a crycalf behind your bar. We'll go sit in the corner over yonder and stay out of your way. Mind you… you say one uncouth word to my little friend here… and you and I are gonna tango. Got that?"
The minotaur snorted, but no words were said.
"I mean that… I will drag you outside by your horns and I will thrash you. Don't make me do that, Mundt. We have a good working relationship. Don't mess that up."
Making a dismissive wave with his big beefy hand, Mundt finally said, "Go on. Sit down. I'll keep to myself. You'll get no trouble from me."
"Thanks, Mundt. You're a swell fellow."
After all of the dangerous intensity, Sundance could finally relax. He sat in the corner, because he liked the corner. It allowed him to see the whole of the room—and to keep an eye on Mundt. Perhaps there was a lesson to be learned in all that had just happened. How to handle things. A lesson in how to be authoritative. He would have to sort it out later, because he was far too unsettled at the moment. Hornet seemed genuinely upset, hurt even, but she did her best to hide it.
The problem was, Sundance could feel it, which left him confused on how to deal with it.
Across the table, Megara acted as if nothing had happened. She seemed cheerful. Upbeat. Her good mood seemed utterly unspoiled. As for River Raider, she was dark. Sullen. The anger in her eyes was like two lit coals left to burn. She burned with rage in the most literal sense, and Sundance could feel the sweltering heat emanate from her in unpleasant waves that left him more than a little sweaty.
The dining area was almost deserted; it was neither breakfast time nor lunch time, but that stretch that existed in between. Sundance thought of the city, where everything happened in shifts. A place could be empty but with the changing of the hour, it would be absolutely packed—only to be emptied out once more with the turning of the hands on the clock. Perhaps this place wasn't so different.
"The day grows near the big hours," Megara said.
"What's that mean?" asked Sundance. "An hour is an hour, right?"
"Octavia"—Megara cleared her throat—"calls the single digit hours small hours, and the double digit hours the big hours."
"Oh." Head almost bowed, Sundance rested his forelegs upon the table and wished that he wasn't sitting next to a raging furnace. "That makes sense."
"Of course it does," Megara replied.
Without warning, River Raider yawned and sent out a shower of lively sparks that bounced and danced over the smooth surface of the table. Alright, so one friend was flammable, and Sundance would have to keep this in mind. He would have to mind his feathers and—oh no, she was looking right at him because she knew his thoughts.
Some dreadful thing that couldn't possibly be a smile appeared upon her face.
It occurred to Sundance that he was the only pony in the group. There was a manticore, a changeling, and the nocturnal pegasus. None of them fit in, not exactly. He'd just witnessed the outright hatred that some had for changelings. How did the minotaur know that Hornet was a changeling? He cast his eyes on Hornet, who was not the cheerful 'ling that she had been earlier this morning. Madam Bedbug really needed a friend. Unfortunately, it did not seem that Megara and River Raider were the friendly sorts.
At this moment, Sundance hesitated; Hornet was female and this complicated things. What did he do? What could he do? What was right? Just how exactly did he go about this complicated business? Before he could sort these things out, Hornet wiggled around in her seat, scooted closer to him, wrapped her forelegs around him, and then clung to him. As weird as this was, it only got weirder when he thought about her offer to regurgitate some honey for him.
After deciding that no harm could be done, he slipped his foreleg around Hornet and held her.
The young minotaur maid had huge pillowy bosoms that seemed quite cumbersome given their peculiar location. Sundance was rather mesmerised by them as they swayed from side to side, to and fro, while also bouncing up and down with every movement made. Where they moved, his eyes followed, and he was so entranced that he failed to notice the dead-stare from River Raider boring into the back of his skull.
Such milk-bearing mammaries were magnificent, he decided, even if they had an odd placement that made no logical sense. The minotaur maid's dress strained at the seams in a struggle to contain her overly-generous assets, and her form-fitting outer corset threatened to burst with her every breath. It was a strange garment, one that lifted and separated, and held her bountiful bovine bust aloft. Sundance, ignorant of such things, suspected that said garment had more to do with engineering than mere fashion.
"Sundance…"
His head jerked around at the sound of Megara's voice. "Yes?"
"I do believe that River is about to slap the eyeballs right out of yer head."
These words caused a shiver. He dared not turn around. Instead, his gaze dropped to the table. Had he been staring? Was it obvious? His curiousness got him in trouble. It was curiousness—and not lust. Not at all. Just… fascination with another species. Which was a good thing. Right? The itch inside of his brain was like a lit match, now that he paid attention to it, and he wondered what it would feel like to have his eyeballs slapped right out of his head.
Surely, his mother would approve.
"Sundance finds your mammalian lactation organs of particular interest," Hornet said in the most helpful manner imaginable.
"They are magnificent," the minotaur maid said while pressing her hands against her bosoms and pressing them together. "I'm Milchmädchen. Everypony calls me Milly. Mundt is my father." She gave herself another squeeze and her leather corset creaked from the increased strain. "Sorry for the delay… I was churning butter and my father did not tell me that we had customers. He seems a bit miffed. I wish I knew why."
At a loss for words, Sundance almost swallowed his tongue.
"What might I bring you? Breakfast? Lunch? Brunch?"
Requesting a glass of chocolate milk seemed somehow inappropriate.
Was it worth sudden blindness?
"Is that special maple-cured boar bacon done yet?" asked Megara.
"Sorry, no."
"But I killed that boar weeks ago!"
"These things take time," Milly said apologetically.
"Well… argh." Wearing an expression of extreme disappointment, the mighty manticore rested both of her front paws upon the table. "I'll have the regular boar bacon breakfast platter and a pitcher of buttermilk. I guess. With a side of sadness."
"One side of sadness," Milly said as she began to scribble on a notepad. "I'll bring you your usual, Nutmeg." Then, with her pencil at the ready, she waited.
"I'll have what she's having," River Raider said. "But no buttermilk. Blech. Bring me a gallon of hard cider. I need to stoke my fire."
"More for me," Megara remarked.
Hornet, the helpful, clingy creature that she was, pulled herself away from Sundance and looked up at the massive minotaur maid that towered over her. She smiled, because of course she did, and then she introduced herself. "I'm Hornet. What do you got that's sweet?"
"What do we have that's sweet?" The question was repeated with an exaggerated sense of dramatic flair. "We have everything that is sweet. Pastries, donuts, pies, cakes, everything. And fried milk is one of the house specialties. Oh, and we have red velvet cake waffles. You might be interested in those."
"I'll have those," Hornet blurted out and she squirmed beside Sundance. "Smother them in syrup. And whipped cream. And everything."
"Sinful red velvet waffles, everything," Milchmädchen said whilst she wrote this down with her pencil. "Anything to drink?"
"Something sugary," Hornet replied.
"Apple juice it is. Orange juice would taste funny with the chocolate syrup."
Eyes still cast downward, Sundance wasn't sure if it was safe to look up, because he was within reach of River Raider. She had long legs. Shapely legs. Well-muscled legs. Too late, he realised that his mind was a-wandering and if this kept up, he was going to die. There would be no point in having breakfast, unless he wanted a last meal, as was the right of the condemned.
Across the table, Megara began to snicker.
"There's no menus," he managed to say with only a slight squeak to his voice. "What's the house famous for?"
"The mashed potato sandwich." Milchmädchen's booming voice almost echoed throughout the massive hall.
"A mashed potato sandwich?" Incredulous, Sundance forgot the danger he was in and only somewhat stupefied, he repeated himself. "A mashed potato sandwich?"
"Yes, a mashed potato sandwich. On potato bread."
"Mashed potatoes… on a sandwich?"
"It's no different than mashed legumes on a sandwich. Like peanut butter."
"But it is," Sundance replied. "It is quite different, I think. Peanut butter belongs on sandwiches. There's a difference. Potatoes are a side dish. Not a sandwich filler."
"Not really," Milchmädchen returned. "Savoury mashed spuds. Sour cream. Runny goat cheese. Green onions. Dill. Lavender. Three different kinds of pepper. And smoked salt. Best sandwich you'll ever have."
"Fine. I'll have one. With tea."
"Side?" the attentive minotaur maid asked.
"I get a side?" Sundance paused. "I suppose a side of house chips might be too much potato. Any recommendations?"
"Minced onion, black bean, and mushroom cornmeal fritters are a house favourite. The farmers love them."
"I'll have those. And uh… I'll also take a glass of chocolate milk."
"You'll be flying in the rear," Megara interjected with a snort of amused disgust. "Farmer fart fritters… I guess I'll take a side of those as well."
"Are they good?" asked River Raider.
"Concentrated calories," Megara replied. "Good for when there are no plans for lunch."
"I'll have some as well," River Raider said to the minotaur maid.
"I'll bring out a huge platter." Milchmädchen smiled and when she inhaled, her bountiful bovinely bosoms bounced. "Surely, such good friends can share."
With Megara gone to check out the bounty board, Sundance found himself with fine company whilst he waited for his food. Sandwiched between them, he waited for his mashed potato sandwich, and his mind drifted from subject to subject. Back when he was just a colt in school, this would have been a fantasy scenario, to have gone on what was arguably a date with not one, but three females. But he was older now, a bit more mature, and could appreciate the complexity of his adult relationships.
River Raider kept her distance and was mostly quiet. He wondered if Hornet was able to block out unwanted mental noise, but he didn't bother to ask. Whatever the outcome, River Raider didn't seem quite as dour as she could be, and might even be enjoying herself—though that bit of speculation might be stretching it a bit. As for Hornet, she was affectionate. Clingy. It was hard to not feel something. Her illusion was such that he did not feel hard chitin, but soft fuzzy flesh. She was warm and her body had a certain undeniable appeal that he did his very best to deny because he knew that if he went all in, River Raider would be quite uncomfortable.
So Sundance did his very best to avoid rising to the occasion.
"The others," Hornet said in a low voice, "are content to hide themselves away so we can discover ourselves as a species. And that's fine for them. But I want to see the world. I want to adventure. I want to discover things and see what's over the mountains. There's a horizon out there, and another horizon beyond that one, and I want to see all these horizons."
"That puts you at odds with your kind," River Raider remarked in response, and she shook her head from side to side with a soft sigh. "I sympathise. I really do. I exist at odds with my own species… I'm an outcast. But I stopped trying to fit in. I gave up on that weakness. I am my own creature now. A species of one."
"I am part of a hivemind." Hornet's words were now a mere whisper, a thin sound that was almost reedy. "I have no choice but to fit in, because I don't think I can fit out. There's a chorus of voices singing harmony inside of my head at all times, and I would be lonesome without it. I can't even begin to imagine how singular-minded creatures manage to exist. How lonely it must be. Such crushing loneliness."
With a jerk of her head off to one side, River Raider snorted and shot out a stream of smoke.
"Can you hear that chorus now?" asked Sundance. "I mean, we're pretty far away."
"Oh, I hear it." A smile parted Hornet's gentle features. "It is a distant sound, almost like a whisper. But it's there. The song says come home. It's hard to resist, and I want to obey. It beckons… and I feel the need to answer. But I have a job to do, and so it will be done."
"That sounds awful… being compelled to obey." Hunched over, River Raider went still.
"We all share the same wants, the same desires. Well, most of us. I'm different. But I take comfort in the fact that even with my differences, I still have the same shared wants and desires. The same compulsions. I want to raise a clutch of eggs. The urge is very strong. But the urge to adventure is just as strong."
"Yeah… but if you were cut off from the others and could think freely without influence, what is it that you think you would want? Do you think you'd feel the same? Or would your wants and needs change?"
Hornet blinked away her momentary confusion and then replied, "I don't know, River. I am unable to imagine that scenario."
"Then you're trapped, and that's terrible."
"I'm not trapped."
"I think you are."
"I don't think I am." Hornet pressed her hooves together and then squinted past Sundance to look at River Raider. "I am free to be my own creature. I am at this table right now following my own whims. But I am also aware of the needs of my species as a whole. We share the same worry and awareness. Single-minded creatures only think of their own needs and run amok—"
"That seems harsh," River Raider said, interrupting.
"But true." Hornet puffed out a bit, very much like a real pegasus—which she was not. "Single-minded creatures think only of themselves. They are motivated by greed. Lust. Overwhelming desires. Anything done for the whole of their society is secondary at best, and they focus on their own selfishness first and foremost. My kind… the worst thing we have… is… is… in clumsy words you would call it 'honey-lust' but it is mostly a compulsion to survive. We work very hard to overcome it."
"And what of the former Queen Chrysalis?" asked River Raider. "She was a creature motivated by lust. Desire. Greed. So much so that she enslaved her own kind. Her own offspring. She enslaved you, she starved you, and she held you back from your own potential. She even made it so it was impossible to breed without her, dooming all of you to a terrible fate."
"We are not the same species!" Hornet huffed, and as she did so, a flicker of green witchfire danced around her body. "We are remade. Different. Set free."
"My point is, being part of a hivemind doesn't mean you're immune to evil and corruption. It happened once, and could happen again. All that control and rigidity is dangerous." Again, River Raider snorted and this time, Sundance got a faceful of smoke.
He coughed.
"Not all harmony is good," River Raider muttered beneath her breath. "There is harmonious evil. There has to be. If there wasn't"—she paused only long enough to inhale—"then harmonious good would fall out of balance. Harmony would become calamity. Too much good is exactly the same as too much evil, and both are indistinguishable from one another when you go too far in either direction. If your kind slipped into evil again… how could you tell the difference with that harmonious chorus telling you want to do, what to think, and what to feel?"
"I… don't… know…" Almost stammering, Hornet wrapped her forelegs around her torso in a self-bug-hug.
"Sometimes… sometimes it pays to be the one voice that stands out and sings a different song." After a rough grunt and a smoky belch, River Raider's tone softened. "Wormwood was a voice that sang his own song. He had the courage to do his own thing. To go against expectations. His actions made my kind re-evaluate some of our behaviours. How we do things. Be your own bug, Hornet. If you can tune things out and gain some silence so you can focus your own thoughts, you should. Never be afraid to think for yourself."
"Shut the others out?" The not-pegasus shook her head in astonishment. "Such a thing is unthinkable."
"But it might be ultimately necessary," River Raider said. "You might one day change the fortunes of your kind. Or be a saviour. Or at least just have some perspective. Me… I can't shut others out, and that's my curse. I see them at their worst and know for a fact that most of their so-called goodness and honour is just so much shit."
"That's awful." Hornet's thin whisper had a faint drone to it, a vaguely insectoid sound.
"Meg wants to teach you how to fight. Well, I've decided that I want to do the same. Mostly so I can get over my own prejudices, which I am certain you are aware of. But even sensing how I felt about you, you offered to help me. Which makes you a good creature, I think."
"Aw, thank you."
"Oh look," Sundance said, "here comes Meg…"
"I found a bounty for a hemomancer," Megara said to the others as she sat down, "but I thought that was a bit much for our first day out. But I found something else. A perfect first assignment. So, we're golden."
Unconcerned by his own ignorance, Sundance dared ask, "What's a hemomancer?"
"A blood mage," Megara said while she got herself comfortable. "Blood wizards. They do blood magic. Spells that control blood."
"You're full of blood," River Raider said to Sundance.
"So I am," he replied, unsettled and disturbed as the ever-growing implications dawned upon him.
"You know, this is a bad sign. There was a day when Wardens would've hunted down a hemomancer. Or Solars." A truly ferocious frown contorted River Raider's face. "Now, with the war, and everything going on, it falls upon bounty hunters to deal with hemomancers. Says an awful lot about the sort of trouble Equestria's in."
"Maybe." The manticore grunted as she pulled her tail free from beneath her, leaning off to one side as she did so. "But we have more capable bands of adventurers than ever. Hunters. Rangers. Bold druids. Wizards wishing to test their mettle. Ponies like Sundance who wish to learn to fight. A hemomancer is just what we need. Honestly, these middling villains do us a service. We should be thanking them… just before we crack their skulls and send their souls to Tartarus."
"That's a funny way to look at it," River Raider said to Megara.
"But I'm not wrong," the Manticore at Arms responded.
"Can you even fight wizards, Meg?"
"Not really." This response was low, slow, and drawn out. "I mean, I have some magic resistance. A fair bit, actually. I even have a little magic. But a competent warrior knows their limitations. Most wizards are above my pay grade. It's a reasonable weakness."
"So… what's the bounty, Meg?" asked River Raider.
"An ogre." A bit of volume returned to Megara's voice and her eyes blazed with fierce intensity. "We're going ogre hunting. This is not a relocation mission. This is a seek and destroy with extreme prejudice mission."
At the risk of making a fool of himself, Sundance had this to say: "An ogre? An actual ogre? Like, the monsters from comics and movies? Those are real? Just what is an ogre, anyway?"
River Raider focused a downright barbarous deadpan stare upon Sundance.
"Haven't you ever played Ogres & Oubliettes? I see that I have my work cut out for me." Drumming her claws upon the table, Megara smiled and revealed far too many teeth.
"I can only assume that ogres are extremely dangerous," Sundance said. "Are you sure this is a good first mission?"
"Oh, please." The manticore dismissed Sundance's concerns with a casual wave of her paw. "My father took me ogre hunting when I was just a little cubby."
"And he wasn't arrested?"
The barbarous deadpan stare shattered; the mask broke and fell away as River Raider began to chortle. Sundance couldn't remember if he'd ever heard River Raider laugh before, but this felt like a new experience. Across the table, Megara's eyes glittered with dangerous amusement, and Sundance knew for certain that'd he pay for his wisecrack. It was worth it though, totally worth it. At least for now. When it came time to pay the consequences, he might feel different.
"Somepony failed their saving throw against stupidity," Megara remarked. "Yes, ogres are real. I can't believe that as a manticore, I'm having to explain this to a talking, flying, magical miniature horsie that is currently armed to the teeth with implements of injurious impalement."
"Hey!"
But Sundance's outraged cry of protest was ignored.
"Ogres are just really big goblins, really. And goblins are creatures that can breed with anything. Which means that goblins can be almost anything you can imagine, trait wise, and come in all sizes. From goblin-sized to ogre-sized. They tend to look a bit like Discord, but far less attractive. Not that Discord is attractive. I guess what I'm trying to say is, goblinoids are dirty, disgusting, filth-ridden, infested with fleas, and never bathe. At least Discord is clean and presentable. Except for when he isn't. There's a lot of times he isn't."
With an air of casual cool, Megara the Lioness cracked her paw-knuckles and then flexed her claws.
"We're about to break bread," she said, her eyes meeting those of every creature that sat across the table from her one-by-one. "And then we will go into battle against a worthy foe. Bonds will be forged. We will be battle-sisters and battle-brothers. We will see each other at our best and at our worst. There might be tears or embarrassing moments when we soil ourselves from terror. We would do well to remember that these are reasons to come together. Be supportive. Be good to one another."
Deep down inside of himself, Sundance felt something stir; was it inspiration or hunger?
"And then what?" asked Hornet.
"Then what?" A bit confused, Megara waited for Hornet to elaborate.
"I mean, we go out and deal with this ogre. And then what? Do we haul part of him back? How do we collect the bounty? Do we know where he is? There seems to be a lot of details unaccounted for."
"We kill him, plain and simple. We're not butchers and we don't take trophies. When collecting bounties, I'm as good as my word." Again, the mighty manticore cracked her knuckles, this time on her other paw. "We'll sort everything out as it happens. Try not to worry."
"So we just take a bounty, fly off, show up, and kill him?" Rubbing her front hooves together, Hornet seemed far too cute and adorable to be discussing such bloody business. "Knock-knock, Mister Ogre… time to die!"
"Yeah, that's the plan. More or less. Don't expect the ogre to quietly accept his fate. They never do." Leaning back in her seat, Megara poked an extended claw into her mouth, and picked at a spot between tooth and tusk. When she pulled her claw back out, it glistened with viscous manticore slobber. "That's the bounty business. Sometimes, sometimes we do relocations on some creatures. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are pretty insistent that we don't hunt certain creatures into extinction. Such as manticores. Because every now and then, there are exceptional manticores that rise above the rest and do great things. We might take a relocation job just so you can learn non-lethal combat."
"And we know he deserves to die?" Wide-eyed, Hornet awaited confirmation.
"He roams along the rail line and preys upon the various stops and loading depots. Travellers have gone missing. Some have escaped and reported the ogre. He lives along Savage Ridge… which just so happens to fall within Sundance's lands. Just south and east of here. Maybe seventy-ish miles or so. He's cunning, for an ogre. His hunting grounds, the tracks, are a good twenty-ish to thirty-ish miles from where he's suspected to live, so he's terrorising Sundance's northernmost border. There's an ore stop out that way… to the north of the tracks, outside of Sundance's territory, a water stop, and a postal platform way out in the alicorn-forsaken boonies. He's been spotted at each of these locations, which are miles apart. He's got a huge range… and we've got to find him."
"Well then, he's as good as dead."
"You're a bloodthirsty little ladybug."
"My home must be defended."
Megara smiled; the corners of her mouth kept going back, revealing more and more teeth. Too many teeth of too many types. Serrated molars poked out of pink-purple gums, along with teeth that were pointy like spear tips. Such a dangerous mouth, Sundance could not help but wonder how her tongue stayed safe in there. The size of her maw was impressive and he reckoned that she could fit a whole pizza in there, all in one go. It terrified him—but also left him curiously aroused. Megara was a feminine creature, of this there could be no doubt, and there was a certain inviting charm to her.
A dangerous inviting charm that only a daredevil pegasus could appreciate.
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Dude, get healthy, then write. I'd much rather go months without updates then see you compromise your health to write.
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There is no getting healthy. That's the long and short of it.
Oh...well best of luck to you.
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His condition is chronic and is deteriorating. The state refuses to help and considers him a statistic.
This vexes me.
Take all the time you need to look after your health. As much as we love your stories, your health always comes first. Ad hey, maybe one day you can write a little side adventure for hornet. She's only not the main character in this story ^^
a amazing chapter. and i agree with Aduck health first then and only then words to paper.
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i looked up how to make fried milk defiantly going to give this a try.
I do very much like Madam Bedbug so far!
Sundance's wandering mind is going to get him more knocks than any bounties they pick up. Yeesh.
Presumably an empathic connection to his subjects is one of Sundance’s Lord Of The Land perks. I wonder what River Raider and Hornet think of it since there’s no way they didn’t notice it.
Wow. New things to ponder and a waitress I’d love to see.
Sundance is surrounded by beautifully deadly females and loving it so far. Not sure I’d want to be in his hooves though.
I'm going to have to try that sandwich
I even have access to fresh lavender, which goes very well in a berry smoothie fyi
Madam Bedbug is awesome
Thanks for the amazing chapter Kudzu, and hope things get better for you soon.
Yeowch, sorry to hear about all the unrest that came with getting this chapter up, and in general. Hope the fevers ease up at least, among all the other ailments you deal with normally.
I did enjoy this chapter immensely though, for what it's worth. Phrases like "mind-aware" and "a hypothesis that there are multiple types of mass-shifting" really just tickle my lore brain and makes me wish I had access to a library/encyclopedia of this universe. For better, or worse,
or perverse. lookin at you, Sumac Apple 👀Madam Bedbug must be protected!
I had a lot of fun reading this chapter. I can feel the bonds being forged between the creatures-in-arms.
I'm a big fan of River Raider, actually. I appreciate our lack of knowledge and understanding of her, because mysteries are wonderful things; and also how little we see of her, it always leaves me itching for more.
... I suppose Hornet is rather cute, though.
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But that's a waste of perfectly good pre-undead!
Poor hornet. Attuned to the will of the hive, to reject all that made them changelings, to be new. To be free of aberritions. Free from her.
Regardless, if Hornets views are representative of the Hives, which I imagine they are, Sundance will need to investigate these attitudes towards independent minds. Even if there is no malice in it an idea of inherent moral superiority on either side will cause trouble eventually. In any case, it's not particularly harmonious even if all practical challenges are overcome.
I wonder if Sundance is technically part of a hive mind now, through both his connection to the tree of Twilights great project and his connection to the land itself. The sunflowers are not quite minds, or at least not quite individuals as they were in life. And then the mental influence of the awakened oak tree. And with the new presence of the hive intermingling with it all even as Sundance is going through his mental awakening. It's all so interesting to see how these forces will intertwine with each other, paralleling the growth of their influence in the story and the fate of the barony. I wonder if there are even little bits of Lunas statue singing their song of sorrow in Sundance's land. It wouldn't surprise me, especially with the barony's connection to the realm of eternal twilight. Maybe he can even help find some as he grows into himself.
And I'm only just now getting that his ability to perceive the blight on the mountains might have been an extension of his psychic awakening as he became attuned to the land. Only just now thinking of them as two sides of the same thing.
Oh god I think Sundance has a vore fetish
So...I love itso far. Super well written and all...but is the pairing thing meant to be a tease and nothing more?
Cause by now I've absolutely lost all hope that he will get with a character we like, or anyone at all really. He just seems to bubble between "im anxious and scared of anything sexual related" and "maybe I should find a partner."
Then when we make comments about the characters possibly pairing up, we get told "no" OR "those two would never work out"
Its put me out in terms of his love interest. At this point I've given up even caring about that aspect of the story any more because its just a big cycle of epic characters being teased in front of us and then being told in no uncertain terms, that Sundance won't get with them ever.
Then there is river raider. She scares him into even THINKING about it. On top of this, he is scared already think about it.
So he's too afraid to act on it. Too afraid to even think about it. And keeps doubting he can find anyone.
So is the goal of this story to have him completely alone and disinterested in love at all?
I feel like that's where this aspect of his character is leading and its....saddening.
Oo help clarify please?
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His actual love interest has been somewhat revealed on the Discord, along with major plot elements that are yet to come. There is a plan, an outline that is being followed. Sundance will find his love interest once he's matured, and not a second before.