• Published 6th Feb 2018
  • 3,251 Views, 433 Comments

Freeport Venture: City of Giants - Ponibius



It’s not every day you discover that your friend is in an Daring Do novel, but that’s exactly the situation Sunset finds herself in. When she asks Puzzle Piece, she uncovers a truth far stranger than fiction: one of the fabled City of Giants.

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Chapter 19

Puzzle Piece

We continued through the darkened hallways of the pyramid. The place was eerily silent. Despite it being dead for thousands of years the sense that people should still be here yet lingered. Unlike those made by the ponies of Selerika, this pyramid was supposed to be a place where people worked and lived, not a tomb. That feeling was not helped when we walked past skeletons dotting the hallways and rooms we came across. Most were Dromaed, but there was the odd equine or other creature as well. Had they been slaves of the Quinzametin? Or served as guards, bureaucrats, some other purpose? It was impossible to tell just by looking at them. Whatever clothing or personal items they had worn had long since rotted away.

We passed through another one of those creepy crystal gardens, all of us tensing as we did so, wary that we might be accosted by another baleful dream spirit. But while that odd melodious music played once, again we weren’t pulled under this time. There were other rooms as well, some with yet more skeletons, and a few with decayed furniture, pots, and other objects that still survived in some decayed state. The sight of each artifact left to experience the ravages of time unchecked drew a glower from the Do-mare, but she didn’t dare actually try and pick anything up for fear of damaging what was left even further. Whatever the purpose of most of the rooms were this one could only guess. Time had eroded their identity, whether they were living quarters, offices, supply rooms, or something else.

Though eventually we arrived at a chamber that had a more obvious purpose. Lining each side of the room were cells large enough to easily fit half a dozen individuals each. Their doors had long ago rusted shut, and could probably have been snapped apart in their dilapidated state. Each cell’s floor had its own collection of long silent skeletons.

The Alya-mare took a step away from the nearest cell and moved closer to the group, staring at one of the skeletons as though it might jump to life at any moment. “What is this?”

This one scowled as it considered the most likely possibility. “Holding pens for their slaves?”

“Sure looks like it,” the Do-mare said. “It might be some sort of jail, but the layout of this place would make it weird for that. No, this was probably a slave pen. Guess that figures, with how these giants were supposed to be pretty bad.”

“I wonder why each cell has dead in them,” this one mused. “Slaves aren't particularly useful dead, and just leaving them here to die doesn’t seem particularly productive.”

The Idea-stallion nodded. “And you would think that if the Dromaed took the Quinametzin down they would free the slaves in the process. Leaving them here to die goes with the whole rebellion and war of liberation thing, which is what it sounds like happened when the Dromaed rose up against their masters.”

This one continued forward until it noted a cobbey hole which probably served as a guard station, if this one had to guess. There was yet another skeleton, this one wearing a suit of black armor that had somehow survived the millennia. This one gestured at the skeleton for the others. “Though if those are slaves in those cells, they didn’t die alone.”

The Do-mare frowned and scratched the side of her head. “Weird. Very weird.”

This one drew on its knowledge of other revolts and revolutions that had happened in the past. Given this one’s line of work—former line of work, it was prudent for this one to know about how such things happened. “There’s one possibility. It's not a stretch of the imagination that when the Dromaed rose up, any collaborators to the Giants might have been shoved into those cages instead of the slaves and were left to die. Slaves don’t tend to be kind to those they overthrow. A lifetime’s worth of abuse can make them outright vicious in striking back against their former masters.”

There had certainly been cases like that in Freeport back when slavery had been legal. Especially right after the Necrocrats had fallen and the Council came to power and freed all the slaves. While efforts had been made to try and curb the following retributory acts of violence, there was only so much that could be done when the flames of revolution were burning at their hottest. The fact the Necrocrats had all but been wiped out was in no small part due to their former property rising up against them and getting revenge for their enslavement.

The Alya-mare grimaced. “It's not like slave uprisings are exactly the nicest things to happen. Whenever the Empire has a civil war things can get... unpleasant. Even for the innocent. Sometimes especially for the innocent.”

“So perhaps things turned bad.” The Idea-stallion stroked his cheek. “Like you said, it’s one possibility. Even if it’s hard to confirm either way without knowing who these poor chaps were.”

“Especially when we're just looking it over real quick,” the Do-mare added. “We'd want a team of archeologists with plenty of time to do a proper study of the whole city to get the big picture.”

This one decided now wasn’t the time to bring up the logistical difficulties of getting a whole team of archaeologists out here. This one liked to think it was pretty good at taking care of itself, but this journey had nearly killed it multiple times. A bunch of academics probably wouldn’t last a week between the dangerous environment and the hostile natives. But that issue could be left for another day.

What was more of an immediate concern was what we found in the next room. Before us were several forges that reminded this one of a foundry. Beyond that were several stone tables, each bearing tools that looked like arcane enchanting tools, if somewhat different in appearance than what this one was used to. Some of them were made of obsidian, but a closer examination confirmed most were some sort of metal so black that it was darker than the shadows cast by our lights. Some of them showed the marks from the passage of time, but others had withstood the weight of millennia remarkably well. There were even some half-complete artifacts, exotic necklaces of beads, talismans with unknown iconography stamped on them, weapons of a variety of types, and parts of armor.

“Hm, looks like some sort of magical workshop,” this one guessed. “I don’t recognize some of these tools, but some of this was definitely used for enchanting magic items.”

The Do-mare stepped close to the table and motioned for the Idea-stallion to take a picture. “That’s what I’m seeing too. This is all pretty remarkably preserved compared to everything else. I wonder if there’s some sort of preservation magic in here? The air’s a lot drier too, which would help keep everything from decaying as fast.”

“What’s this?” The Alya-mare pointed to a slab of black stone. It was about the size of a bed and hollowed out with a shallow depression. At its foot was a channel that ran down and away from the slab to a smaller bucket sized block of stone.

The Idea-stallion hummed as he looked it over. “It looks like it's made for gathering up some kind of liquid and channeling it off.”

The Do-mare examined the slab and grimaced as she read the arcane sigils carved into its sides. This one started to get a good idea of what we were looking at when it saw a dagger sitting on a small table next to the slab. This one picked it up and examined it. Its handle was carved out of bone, with more iconography running all along its length. Initially this one thought the blade was obsidian, but a closer examination revealed it to be a metal this one had never seen before. It must have been the same material the guard’s armor and the magical tools were made of.

This one turned the blade in its hooves as it imagined its purpose. “Weren't there tales about the Giants being into blood magic?”

The Do-mare gritted her teeth. “Yeah, it's a table for blood sacrifices.”

The Alya-mare took a step away from the table. “But why? Why do something that awful?”

“Power, usually.” The Do-mare braced her hooves against the table and glowered down at it. “It’s a tale as old as time. There have always been those who would do anything for power, and blood magic is a quick and easy way to get it for the unscrupulous.”

“How dreadful,” the Idea-stallion said. “To kill someone just for some extra power...”

Was this what the Dromaed were so determined to keep hidden? It would make sense. This wasn’t the type of knowledge or tools you wanted to get out into the world, though that did beg the question of why the Dromaed hadn’t just destroyed everything here. This stuff already seemed too dangerous to leave lying around where someone like the Ephemera-mare could pick them up.

“Come on, let’s keep moving.” The Do-mare started leading the way further into the magical workshop.

This one started to follow her, but then something caught this one’s attention out of the corner of its vision. There was a flicker of movement within the dark reflection of the dagger. This one focused on its surface, and from within its dark depths a Dromaed skull of pale green luminous light emerged, screaming the howl of the damned.

“Feed!”

The single word struck this one’s mind like a physical force, and with it came needs. The need to draw blood, to strike down with it and—

This one dropped the dagger as if it had stung it.

The Idea-stallion looked back to this one. “What is it?”

This one rubbed its hoof as it cast a wary look at the dagger. “There was ... something in that dagger.”

The Do-mare scratched the back of her head. “Something like ... what, magic?”

“Definitely something magic,” this one said. “But it spoke to me. Or … screamed, rather.” A shiver ran up this one’s spine, and this one determined it was not going to be picking up that dagger again.

The Idea-stallion shot his own wary look at the dagger. “Well that sounds bloody ominous.”

“Maybe it's psychic residue due to what it was used for?” The Alya-mare nodded to herself as she tried to reassure herself by rationally explaining the horrors that the dagger had been used for. “Some magic items can be affected by what they're used for or who uses them. Some particularly potent artifacts can even gain an intelligence of their own, under the right circumstances.”

“Sounds right, if there were that many blood sacrifices.” The Do-mare walked over to a nearby table that had several half-complete artifacts on it and pointed to a sword lying on top of it. “A lot of this seems to be in a similar vein. See how this sword has these little grooves in it? Designed to channel the blood of whoever you stab with it to empower the blade.” She shivered as well, keeping her hoof well away from actually touching the weapon. “Okay, so it's still history and ought to be preserved, but not this stuff. These things are just ... evil.”

So there were limits to what the Do-mare wished to preserve. Not that this one blamed her for drawing the line at blatantly evil or dangerous artifacts. You wouldn’t keep a live fire gem in a museum, after all. Some things were just too dangerous to keep lying around where anyone could gawk at them.

“I'm inclined to agree.” This one's eyes fell over a whole set of armor made from the black material and tried not to look too deeply into its depths. “Looks like they were bringing prisoners here to use their blood to empower whatever they were working on.”

“And I think I might have found where they produced all this black metal they were using.” The Alya-mare pointed a hoof at a construct that dominated the back wall of the workshop.

It was a pyramid the size of a small house, all black metal and stone with sigils and iconography written all over it. The pyramid hummed with latent power, slumbering but waiting to be awoken. At the top of the pyramid was another sacrificial slab like the one we’d examined, only this one drained right into the interior of the pyramid. Sitting on a decrepit conveyor belt were several bars of the black metal, and three stacks of the black bars sat next to the base of the pyramid.

The Do-mare grimaced as she realized the implications of what she was looking at. “Well, that's horrifying.”

The Idea-stallion paled at the sight. “Were they ... somehow refining metal out of blood?”

The Alya-mare circled around the pyramid, and her ears flattened. “Looks like it. Take a look at this.”

This one walked next to her and saw a slide that ran down the back of the pyramid, and a chute that led to a pit. This one used its lighting gem to look into the pit and saw bones. A lot of bones.

“They used blood to make whatever this metal is, and I don’t think that’s the only material they used.” This one moved away from the hole, trying to keep its revulsion in check and keep its head. Out of the corner of this one's eyes it thought it saw another screaming skull in the reflection of one of the metal bars, and it could swear it heard that unearthly screaming once again too. “They probably used their slaves and other undesirables as ... fuel for their magical artifacts, in addition to their other magic. Not hard to imagine why the Greenseers don't want something like this to be stolen.”

“I say!” the Idea-stallion exclaimed. “The world is better off without things like this in it!”

“We agree,” said a familiar reptilian voice from behind us. “Pity outsiders covet such wicked things.”

This one spun around to see Stass and a pair of other hristak standing at the entrance to the workshop, and they did not look happy to see us here. “It seems you've managed to catch up with us.”

Stass nodded slightly. “You had a head start, but we know the jungle and the city far better. I’m almost surprised you’ve made it this far, but your invasion ends here.”

“Great.” The Do-mare planted her hooves in preparation for a fight. “So what happens now?”

“Surrender, and the Greenseers may show mercy.”

The Do-mare snorted. “Yeah, I don't think so.”

This one wasn’t any more convinced to surrender itself either. “I tried that earlier. That got me a death sentence. Not a whole lot of reasons to give myself over to what you call a justice system if that’s all I have to look forward to.”

“Really, you can keep all of this.” The Alya-made stepped behind the rest of us, her shoulders hunched. She waved vaguely at the workshop. “I don't want any part of it. This stuff ... it’s evil. What was done here is about as wrong as anything I’ve ever heard about.”

Stass hissed. “Then why come here?”

The Do-mare let out a long sigh. “Because I wanted to find out what happened here. This is the only known ruin of a civilization that disappeared a long time ago. Most of what we know back in Equestria is just myths and legends by this point.”

“And some things should stay that way,” Stass countered. “These evils can never be known by outsiders lest they be repeated.”

“Okay, I get it,” the Do-mare said. “Some horrible things happened here, evil things that never should've happened. That magic should have never been used, and hopefully it will never be used again, but that doesn't mean you should just hide it all away and pretend it never existed. That's how you forget, and things like this ... shouldn't be forgotten.”

Stass growled deep from within his throat and the grip on his serrated club tightened. “You do not understand. We keep the knowledge of the Quinametzin secret to protect the world. You have only caught a glimpse of the true evil that was the Princes of Blood. In the twilight of their age, when the Quinametzin Empire fell into civil war as its sanguine lords fought one another for power, they unleashed great horrors upon the world in their desperate grasps for dominance. Blood flowed like rivers to fuel their magic—terrible spells that made the land and its people scream, and dark beings whose names should never be uttered were summoned. It was only because the Quinametzin were destroyed that the world was saved from some great catastrophe. If what they knew were ever to be unleashed once again, the results would be equally as terrible.”

“Secrets have a way of getting out,” this one said. “And the bigger the secret the harder it is to keep. And this is a big one.” As a spy, this one had certainly played its part in both keeping and revealing secrets, and this one knew exactly how difficult they were to keep.

Stass shook his head. “We have destroyed everything except what lies in Zhilius. Every city, every sacrificial pyramid, every vile magic item they created, every book—everything. Only Zhilius remains, and only then as a monument to the follies of the Quinametzin, something to show the hristak what they must defend against. If some remnant of the Quinametzin were found elsewhere or their works recreated by others, we must be ready to face that evil for the good of all.”

This one tried to imagine the logistics of the task the Greenseers and the hristak had put before themselves. An empire must have had many dozens of cities, with all the artifacts and buildings they must have built over time. It must have taken them many, many years to destroy all of that and make sure they had hunted everything down. But then, they had had many centuries to do that.

The Do-mare scowled after being presented with that information. “So you want to keep the knowledge of what the Quinametzin were doing secret? Okay, I can get wanting to keep the specifics of how you turn blood into metal secret. But there’s other stuff you’re keeping secret even now.”

Stass’ tail twitched as he hissed. “What are you talking about?”

“Like the fact that I’m pretty sure there were no giants.”

Stass bared his teeth in a growl. “The Quinametzin are real, I assure you.”

“Oh, I’m sure the Quinametzin are real, just not giants.” The Do-mare pointed to one of the few intact cartouches on a nearby wall. It showed what looked like Dromaed standing above a huddled mass of slaves, with lines of power leaving the slaves and going into the Dromaed. “This whole place is Dromaed-sized, the steps, the door sizes, the tools—everything was designed for use by creatures your size. Like the ones who lived here were you. Nothing here looks like it was designed for creatures supposedly the size of Tyrant Lizards. You're not protecting the world from the artifacts of some evil monsters who died out an eon ago, you're just covering up the crimes of your ancestors!”

Stass snarled and took a couple steps towards us, his tail whipping violently. Yet he had no immediate reply. This one only had a rudimentary knowledge of Dromaed body language, but it was pretty sure the Do-mare had hit the nail on the head.

That had ... several implications.

“It’s all myth, isn’t it?” this one asked. “A story that’s been passed down from generation to generation to warn of past evils while dissociating yourselves from the sins of your forebears.”

“What happened here was very real,” Stass hissed. “Yes, the Quinametzin were our ancestors, and the Greenseers destroyed them.”

One of the other hristak, this one with bright red feathers, hissed at his compatriot. “Stass, they are not to know about—”

Stass held up a talon to silence him. “They have come this far despite the trials and tribulations. Let them know the rest of the story they worked so hard to seek if that is what they truly desire.” He turned back to us. “The Quinametzin threatened to destroy everything with their foul magics, and the land screamed in pain as the Blood Princes fought one another. The Greenseers could take no more, and so acted. They unleashed a plague upon the Quinametzin—a terrible one, in order to save the world. Nine in ten afflicted succumbed, and more yet for generations as the plague resurfaced time and again to ravage our people. But it was necessary lest everyone be killed by Quinametzin madness—including your equines, who were also victims of the Quinametzin’s slavery and bloodletting.”

The Do-mare clenched her teeth. “That isn’t something you should have hidden from the world. Yeah, it’s not nice, but it happened a long, long time ago. You can’t be blamed for what your ancestors did.”

“And yet their sins continue to affect us to this day,” Stass countered. “It is a burden we carry, and duty demands we protect everyone from the horror they once unleashed.”

This one’s eyes flicked to the sacrificial pyramid behind us. “The problem is that this place still remains as a target.”

“Which is why we guard it.” Stass took a test swing of his club. “As you said, secrets are hard to keep, but it’s a burden we know well and have endured for millenia. There have always been those attracted to the evil of Zhilius, who, rather than be horrified, would actually seek to replicate it. So they must be silenced before they take that knowledge out into the world.”

He motioned the others and they moved to flank us. This one placed a hoof on a dagger, ready to pull it out if need be, but was hoping that a fight might still be avoided. At the very least it would be to our advantage to put some doubt in our opponents’ minds about what they were doing. The idea of fighting these three was not one this one relished. These were trained warriors also capable of magic. This one didn’t doubt for a moment they were perfectly capable of killing us if it came down to it. Maybe we’d win, maybe not. Casualties were likely, whatever happened. This one preferred the option with a higher chance of none of us getting hurt. “See, the part where all of us die is where I take exception. Not the part where Ephemera dies, just to clarify, but I rather place a significant value on our own lives.”

“Pity we cannot trust you enough to leave you alive,” Stass insisted.

This one backed up to buy some time to talk, the others doing the same. “Any interest in negotiating? This doesn't have to come down to a fight. We could help one another. We want to stop Ephemera as well.”

Stass brought himself to a hesitant stop. “Where is Ephemera?”

“Like I said last time we spoke, the last time I saw her was at that bridge,” this one said.

Stass frowned, visibly considering his options. “Can you help us find her?”

This one nodded. “We can help you search for her, yes. That’s why we came here. It seemed like the most obvious place she’d come.”

Stass stood there as his tail swished back and forth. “Perhaps we could cooperate to put an end to her and move forward from there.”

The red hristak hissed as his head snapped to Stass. “Did the Greenseers not declare that the interlopers must die?”

“Yes, but the Greenseers are not here, and the task of protecting Zhilius’ secrets is ours,” Stass said. “The other ones are far more dangerous than these four. If these outsiders help us capture Ephemera...”

“This is blasphemy,” the red hristak insisted. “We should slay them and be done with it.”

Stass looked him right in the eyes. “Do not think so narrowly. The others have thus far eluded us, and they outnumber us. We should use these ones against them if they will aid us. What comes after that will be for the Greenseers to decide. All that matters is that Zhilius’ secrets are kept, not the details of how it is done.”

This one was somewhat surprised the Ephemera-mare had eluded the hristak. Perhaps she was using some form of magic to protect herself. That was the only thing that made sense to this one if the hristak were as good at tracking as they said they were. They had certainly caught up with us, after all.

“Helping you stop her would be an acceptable price for our lives,” this one said. The Do-mare squared her jaw, and this one could sense she wanted to argue about something, but she remained silent.

“I make no promises; I cannot overrule the Greenseers.” Stass’ club dropped into a more relaxed grip, though his fellow hristak gave him wary glances. “But ... if the facts change, so will their decision.”

The Do-mare let out a huff. “I guess that's fair. At least I get it now why you want to keep this stuff quiet.”

This one placed a hoof on her shoulder and whispered into her ear. “Bide your time for now. We can work out the details later when we don't have to worry about fighting them. Maybe after we’ve helped them we can convince them to let you have some non-harmful artifacts for the museum.”

The Do-mare glowered but nodded her head.

Stass grunted and hefted his club to his shoulder. “From all that you told us, this would be her destination, correct?”

“This is the biggest building in the city and this place has exactly the sort of things she would want to steal,” the Do-made confirmed. “She’s coming here, trust me.”

“Yes, she seemed like the type that would seek our darkest secrets,” Stass hissed. “But if we know what bait to set for her, then we can lay our trap.”

This one shrugged. “No sense running around the city after her when we know she’ll end up here eventually.”

Stass motioned for his fellow hristak to take positions around the workshop. “Then we wait for our mutual enemy.”


Daring Do

“You're making the Dromaed nervous,” I told Puzzle as he kept pacing back and forth. We’d been waiting since the Dromaed had decided a fight to the death might be a dumb idea after all when Ephemera was still running around. Alya and Capital had settled on talking to one another, with Capital carrying most of the conversation while the hristak took to watching both us and for Ephemera.

Having way more experience with waiting than I liked to think about from all my travels, I’d taken to sitting against a wall, and caught a brief nap. I’d woken up to Puzzle pacing like he was trying to wear a groove into the floor. That wouldn’t have been so bad, if a bit uncharacteristic for the normally laid back spy-for-hire, but he was drawing looks from the hristak. I’d seen those before, they were the nervous types of looks that could cause our precarious truce to break down.

Puzzle scowled and started speaking Equestrian instead of the Zebrican we’d been using thus far. Little surprise, he was perfectly fluent in that language as well and I couldn’t even note a Freeportian accent in it. “Of course they're nervous; they don't know if they can trust us. That and the fact they're all xenophobic insular tribalists who think the rest of the world doesn't affect them.”

Okay, that was more biting commentary than I’d expected from the guy who was normally so level-headed. “Yeah, and they're also nervous 'cause you're pacing around and clearly on edge. We just finished making sure we wouldn't have to fight them, let's not ruin that already.”

Puzzle narrowed his eyes as he watched the hristak with a sideways look. “That's all assuming they don't decide to kill us by the end of this anyways. We have very good reasons not to trust them either.”

“Sure we do, and they don't have much reason to trust us.” I leaned my head in to give him a sharp whisper. “Which is why you should cut it out acting so twitchy before it sets something off!”

“I'm not twitchy!” he shot back. “All we're doing is waiting!”

“You are twitchy,” I insisted. “If I didn't know better, I'd think you were on drugs and going through withdrawal.”

“I'm not on anything.” Puzzle took a deep breath and sat down next to me. Now suddenly looking really tired, his wings slumped and the tension in his shoulders gone. “Just... I've got a problem. A big one.”

I blinked. “Oh Celestia, you are on something.”

“No I am not!” Puzzle snapped, his brow furrowed. “I've never done anything like that in my entire life!”

I crossed my forelegs over my chest. “You’re irritable, nervous, and you’re not acting normally. If you’re not coming down from something then explain what is going on.”

Puzzle fell silent for several seconds as he stared forward. “I have a condition. One that ... has been with me my entire life. It's starting to become a real problem.”

I rolled my eyes. “Wow, that's really vague and unhelpful.”

Puzzle growled. “How much do you like talking about uncomfortable facts about yourself? Especially to someone you haven’t even known for that long? I bet you have a few skeletons in your closet you don’t like to talk about.”

“Difference is, mine aren't causing a problem for all of us right now,” I pointed out.

“I'm aware of that.” He rubbed the bridge of his muzzle. “I'm not handling this well.”

“Gee, ya think?”

Puzzle scoffed and shook his head. “You know, I'm starting to understand why you might have so much trouble keeping company while traveling the world.”

I snorted. “Because I have a low tolerance for getting the runaround?”

Puzzle shot me a flat look. “A certain lack of tact. Not that you don't have your virtues to make up for it. I've certainly been in worse company in the past.”

“Back at you.” I poked his side. “But you’re avoiding the main issue. How about you tell me what’s going on already?”

Puzzle grimaced and looked away from me. “The thing is that... I'm not exactly as I appear to be.”

I frowned. “Still keeping it vague and nonspecific, I see. Out with it already.”

Puzzle let out a huff. “What I'm trying to explain is—“

“We know what you are, beast.” The red colored hristak was stomping his way towards us. “You're a shapeshifter, a liar, a vampire, an evil that needs to be purged.”

The both of us stood up and I stepped forward to confront the Dromaed. “What in the feather are you talking about?”

“This.” Red’s wrist snapped out and a gold dust shot from his claw. It stuck Puzzle in the face, and there was a bright flash of green fire. Before I could demand what the hay he thought he was doing, the words caught in my throat as the fire died away. Instead of a zony standing next to me, there was now a creature of black chitin, still equine in shape, its legs were full of holes and its eyes were solid blue.

“You're one of those love-sucking bugs?! A changeling?!” I took a step away from the thing that called itself Puzzle and braced for a fight. Red hefted his club, ready to strike. Capital and Alya each let out gasps of surprise and Capital inserted himself between Alya and the potential threat. The other two hristak prepared their weapons as well, blocking the exits to prevent the changeling’s exit.

“Yes,” Red said, his body poised to strike the second the changeling tried something. “We’ve seen your kind here before. The Thirsting Queen has tried to steal Zhilius’ secrets in the past, and we have stopped her. Just as we will stop this monster now.”

“We suspected one of you might be one the Thirsting Queen’s drones,” Stass announced grimly. “One of our guards was spotted destroying the thunder lizard’s pen the night you escaped, but when we looked into the matter the guard was locked up in our cells. He could not have committed the crime. That left two possibilities: some sort of illusion had been used to trick us, or at least one of you was not what you seemed.”

It put up its hooves in a calming gesture. “Now let's not do anything rash. This doesn’t need to come to violence. This one isn't like one of the Old Mind’s drones. This one isn't going to attack you and try and feed on you.”

I started figuring things out. If Puzzle really wasn’t one of Chrysalis’s drones, then that must have made him a Free Mind. They were supposed to be located out of Freeport, so that much lined up. But that still left a few other nasty implications for his behavior. “But that's why you're so twitchy, isn't it? 'Cause you're hungry. I know those fangs of yours aren’t for show.”

Puzzle’s ears wilted. “That's part of what this one wanted to explain, yes. But that isn’t—”

“You lied to me!” I snapped. “You lied to me about who you really are and only started to tell the truth when you were forced to! So am I just food for you then? Is that the only reason you were cozying up to me? So that you could sink your fangs in me and get a nice meal in?”

Puzzle took a step back away from me. “No, of course not!”

I couldn’t believe him. He’d lied about who and even what he was. What else must he be lying about? “What, were you twitchy 'cause you were trying to figure out how to get me somewhere you could chomp down on me?!”

Puzzle bared his fangs in a scowl. “This one wasn't about to just feed on you without permission! It wouldn’t do that!”

‘Without permission’ meaning he did want to make a meal out of me, he just wanted to talk me into going along with it so he wouldn’t have to have a guilty conscience. “Even if that's normally how it goes, I bet that changes if you get hungry enough...” My eyes narrowed. “And given how you’ve been acting, I bet you're very hungry right now.”

His wings snapped out. “What is this one supposed to do? Starve to death?!”

I scoffed, I was just about done with Puzzle all around after what he’d just pulled. “Well considering your idea of food is me, that sounds like a whole lot of not my problem!”

“Do not listen to this monster.” Red inched closer to Puzzle, his club at the ready to cave in the changeling’s skull. “They are creatures of deception and cannot be trusted.”

Puzzle backed away from the approaching hristak. “Will you listen to this one? This one isn’t—”

Whatever he was about to say was drowned out by a deafening and unearthly shriek. My hooves shot to my ears to try and block out what sounded like the howl of the damned, the noise so all encompassing it struck at my very core. Then I saw the origins of that sound: a rolling tide of pale green spirits, vaguely Dromaedian, skeletal and howling as they moved forward in a stream towards the hristak guarding the doorway. He brought his shield and spear up in an utterly futile attempt to ward off the spirits as they crashed into him. They didn’t so much strike him as roll through him, dragging his soul out of his body as they passed, his anguished screams adding to the chorus of the damned. His body fell to the floor like a puppet whose strings had just been cut.

“The hay?!” I screamed. We all stared in horror at what had just happened. Was this yet another danger of Zhilius? Some sort of attack? Whatever it was it had caught the hristak as flat-flooted as the rest of us.

Then the cause of the attack made itself apparent as there was a shimmer in the air, and a wall of ghostly faces appeared and then parted with a dying gasp. Behind the dissipating magical veil, Ephemera smiled. She was flanked by her zebra bodyguards and a dozen more of her goons behind her, but what drew my eye was what she was wearing: on her right arm was a black gauntlet that extended all the way up to her shoulder. Pale green sigils burned all along its length, casting Ephemera in a ghostly glow.

“Why hello there DD, how’s it going?” the bitch said with sickeningly fake sweetness. Before I could answer her horn lighted with the same pale green light as the gauntlet, and she swiped it through the air. A wall of ghostly fire appeared above me and descended. Puzzle and I scrambled. I dove behind one of the workshop tables just as the fire hit the floor. Red tried to do the same, but he was too slow and was consumed by the flames as they exploded upon touching the ground. Flames licked over the edge of the table, but I didn’t feel heat from their presence. Just ... cold, cold in a way that bit into my heart.

“What is that?!” I peeked my head over the table to see that Puzzle was out of sight. Stass charged Ephemera while Capital was getting Alya to cover.

Ephemera’s evil laugh echoed through the workshop. “You like it?” She took a moment to admire her new toy as its sigils burst into light with renewed vigor. “My patron knew where one of the Giants’ caches was, and he gave me one of their weapons to play with.”

Ephemera cast an amused smirk Stass’ way as he closed the distance between them. She stomped a hoof, and a green wave of rolling specters and stone launched at her attacker. Stass slipped to a halt, and he bit out words of power. Vines shot up from the ground to create a shield between him and Ephemera’s attack. But it wasn’t enough, the rolling wave crashed into and smashed aside his barrier to send him flying. He hit the ground in a tumble.

“Was that all? I expected more from the daunted hristak.” Ephemera laughed maliciously and leveled her gauntlet to finish off Stass. But the sigils on the gauntlet extinguished, causing her to scowl at her newest weapon. “Damn, out of power. I really must ask my patron to give this thing an upgrade.” She shrugged. “Oh well, I know how to give this thing some juice again.”

She pointed her hoof at one of her minions, and his eyes widened in horror. Tellingly, he started backing away from her, and the rest of her minions got well clear of him. “N-no, Lady, please don’t! I—”

He had half-turned to flee when Ephemera struck. A green beam shot from the gauntlet and plunged into the goon. A pained shriek echoed through the chamber as his soul was ripped out of his body and dragged into the gauntlet, and its sigils burst back into malevolent hungry flames once again.

I saw my chance, my one shot to stop her. Whatever horrible weapon she’d just gotten was seriously bad news. There was way more space between me and Ephemera than I liked, but somehow I had to close the gap and get at her before she could cast more spells with that thing. Otherwise we were all dead.

I leapt over the table I’d been hiding behind. It was all or nothing. But there was a flash of something black in my peripheral vision, and next thing I knew my left leg had been snagged, twisted painfully, and my face hit the stone floor. I tried to push myself up, but whoever held my leg wrenched it back, threatening to break it if I moved. A dagger pressed against my neck, its cold steel promising death if I kept resisting.

“This one suggests you stop before you get yourself killed, Do-mare.” Puzzle held me fast and his dagger pressed just a millimeter closer to almost draw blood.

I hissed in pain as he held me in place. “Gah! Should’ve known you’d stab me in the back, Puzzle!”

“To be fair, this one is very good at what it does.” Puzzle painfully pinned my arm behind my back and lifted me up to my hooves, his dagger not wavering from my throat for a second.

Ephemera raised an eyebrow as she held her gauntlet up at us. “Puzzle? So that’s what you really look like?”

“That must be what attacked us out in the jungle!” one of her goons called out.

“Yeah, kill it dead, Lady Ephemera!” called another.

Ephemera shot them a withering glare to silence them before turning her attention back to us. “They are right, unless there’s another vampire in our midsts. The attacks did stop after you left us.” Her eyes narrowed and the sigils on the gauntlet burned brighter. “So tell me, why shouldn’t I kill you where you stand? Make this good, because you’re also holding my worst enemy right next to you, making for a very appealing two-for-one deal right now.”

I fully expected her to blast us. It’s not like Ephemera would lose any sleep killing Puzzle. Endless night, she wouldn’t have lost sleep murdering one of her perfectly loyal minions just a minute ago, assuming she ever thought twice about it to start with. Not that it wouldn’t be just rewards for Puzzle to get wasted by his employer.

“Because this one caught the Do-mare exactly how this one said it would.” He positioned me between him and Ephemera like I was a shield. “That was what you hired this one to do, after all: to counter the Do-mare.”

Ephemera snorted. “Please, I had already won this fight before you managed to tackle DD. More importantly, you abandoned me on that bridge. Did you think I would forgive that?”

“I did no such thing.” Puzzle smiled. “This was all according to plan.”

Ephemera dropped her gauntlet slightly. “What plan?”

“The plan to deliver the Do-mare to you on a silver platter.” Puzzle started pushing me closer to Ephemera. “Why do you think this one asked you so pointedly if you could deal with the Dromaed that had ambushed us? This one wanted to make sure you were confident you were going to be fine dealing with those savages before it started the next phase of its plan. You were, and as we can all see, the Dromaed failed to kill you just as this one knew they would.”

“How did you even managed to get away from the Dromaed?” I demanded. “It sounds like they had you dead to rights.”

Ephemera’s ear twitched. “I’m not as easy to kill as you think. I was more than capable of holding those savages off long enough for my patron to come to give me some relief. I didn’t need the help, but the sentiment was appreciated. But let’s not get distracted by me. There’s still the matter of why you felt it smart to jump off a bridge instead of helping me.”

Puzzle smiled. “You see, this one needed to make it look good for the Alya-mare when we made our exit from your group. The situation needed to look dire enough for this one to convince the Alya-mare to run away with it and into the jungle despite the dangers and make it seem like a good idea.”

The changeling shot Alya a smirk as Ephemera’s goons closed in around her and Capital. “This one needed to convince her that this one was her savior and protector. The Do-mare and her associates weren’t likely to trust this one all by itself, and for good reason. So this one needed a ... morality pet, we’ll call her. A poor mare in over her head who just wanted to save her family by collecting her seeds and had just been saved by a dashing rogue who’d had a change of heart.” He chuckled to himself. “A fine story, isn’t it? It pulls at the heartstrings, and was this one’s in to gain the Do-mare’s sympathy. After all, this one could simply have abandoned the Alya-mare and concentrated on saving its own skin, but how could this one be all bad if it was willing to save her out of the goodness of its heart?”

I growled and started to struggle, but another press of the dagger to my throat reminded me that I was caught fast. “You’re such a jerk! I bet you also kept her around to feed on her.”

Puzzle shrugged uncaringly. “Admittedly, that was a nice bonus on top of everything else. This one won’t turn down an emergency food source when it presents itself.”

Alya stepped closer to Capital, a pained grimace on her face. “Y-you used me? You only helped me to get at Daring?”

“Sorry about that,” Puzzle said, not sounding sorry at all. “But you were a necessary pawn in my plan. If it makes you feel any better, you worked like a charm. The Do-mare was so convinced we were a couple of helpless victims caught up in the Ephemera-mare’s schemes that she was willing to go so far as to break us out of the Dromaed’s prison.”

Tears started forming in Alya’s eyes. “Y-you’re terrible!”

Capital wrapped an arm around Alya to comfort her. “How in the world did you manage to find us? That jungle is dense to say the least.”

“Oh that part is simple.” Puzzle dragged me towards Ephemera as he explained. “The same way this one found you back at that little port city to take back the Ephemera-mare’s compass: this one placed a tracking gem in the Idea-stallion’s bags while we were still on the ship. You really are too trusting of your help. Why if, for example, someone looked exactly like your butler who would question them tidying up your saddlebags a little bit? All this had to do was follow its gem and it would find you eventually.”

Recognition flashed behind Capital’s eyes. “That was you who stole the compass?! You transformed into that scamp who pickpocketed me!”

“Yep, that was all this one,” Puzzle admitted. “This one did have to make sure the Ephemera-mare got to Zhilius for the coup de grace to its plan, naturally, and for that we needed a compass.” He frowned, a note of irritation finding a way into his tone. “Of course, this one didn’t plan on nearly getting eaten by a Tyrant Lizard, but this one made it work out. Part of this one hoped that by luring the Tyrant Lizard to your group it might even make a snack out of the Do-mare, or at least some of her companions. It might have disappointed the Ephemera-mare a bit if some random giant lizard ate her nemesis, but sometimes we have to make allowances for unexpected elements to our plans. At the very least it would make for an entertaining story to tell everyone later.”

“You fiend!” Capital’s brow furrowed. “We put our lives on the line to help you, and this is how you repay us? With betrayal?!”

“When this one signs a contract it fulfills it,” Puzzle said cooly. “This one is a professional. Though this one will thank you for saving it. No sense being rude about this.”

“I can tell you where to stuff your professionalism,” I told him as he brought me before Ephemera.

“Now now, no sense losing your dignity at this late hour,” Puzzle mocked. “Besides, you were so useful in helping us find the most valuable of Zhilius’ treasures and getting past this city’s various dangers. Suckering the Dromaed into trusting us was the icing on the cake. Everyone who could oppose the Ephemera-mare all in one room, warily eyeing one another, and could all be scooped up with one, big, decisive blow. All this one had to do was time the coup de grace of its plan just right to seal the deal. It’d been simple enough to place a couple of tracking gems on the Ephemera-mare’s employees and then wait for her to draw near.

“Once this one knew Ephemera-mare was close to striking, this one created a little drama here to distract everyone. Ideally, this one wanted to convince the Do-mare to let it feed on her.” Puzzle smiled in a nasty way that bared his fangs near my neck. “From there it would have been simple to use this one’s venom to paralyse the Do-mare and leave her as weak as a kitten to be captured. Alas, the hristak interrupted this one’s plan before it could pull it off, but overall this one would say things turned out pretty well.” He waggled his dagger in front of my neck. “Wouldn’t you say so?”

“I hope you get what you deserve once Ephemera gets bored of you,” I told him.

Ephemera frowned as she watched the two of us. “You should have included me in this little scheme of yours before you went running off.”

“And for that this one apologizes.” Puzzle inclined his head in reticence. “This one wanted to prove how valuable it was to you, but it worried that one of your minions might overhear our conversation and somehow screw up the plan. Loose lips sink ships, and this was far too important to screw up because of a few indiscretions. Not to mention none of them know how to act, and this one needed everyone to act naturally. To do that certain deceptions were needed.”

A smiled slowly spread over Ephemera’s face. “I suppose I can’t be too mad. Especially when you are giving me DD’s head on a silver platter.”

“This one likes to think it’s the results that matter at the end of the day.”

Damnit, some of it sounded like it was horseapples. Part of me suspected Puzzle was blowing smoke and had only changed sides at the last moment to save his own hide. Or maybe he’d been playing both sides the entire time.

Whatever the case was, he’d betrayed us, and I’d let it happen. I was so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I should know better by now than to trust anyone. How many times had I been betrayed by now? Too many. Far too many to have trusted Puzzle for even a second. I’d been a fool to ever think there might have been something good in him. At best he was a cold-hearted mercenary. At worst he was every bit as bad as Ephemera, if not worse. And now we were all screwed because of my mistake.

“I should never have trusted you!” I screamed. I felt so stupidly helpless. Puzzle had me dead to rights, and there wasn’t anything I could do.

Puzzle grinned evilly. “No, you shouldn't have.”

I forced myself to try and figure out a way out of this. I decided to ask a question nagging me to buy some time to think. “How did you even get here?” I demanded from Ephemera. “We nearly got killed at least a dozen times getting here.”

Ephemera rolled her eyes. “Like I said, I’m not so easy to kill as you seem to think. Though it certainly helped that my patron knew how to bypass many of the dangers of Zhilius. Still, there were some ... necessary sacrifices. I’m down to...” She glanced back at her minions. “A third? A quarter of what I started with. Oh well, I can always get more of them.” She smirked at Puzzle. “Though I will say, splurging on a more competent minion now and again might be worth it.”

“This one hopes it’s answered all your questions to your satisfaction?”

“I’d say so.” Ephemera raised her gauntlet at me, and its sigil burned brightly. “It seems you were worth every bit I spent on you, Puzzle. Now be a dear and lemme get a clear shot. I've been waiting a looong time for this. She just doesn't stay dead.”


“Puzzle! Why did you betray the Do-mare?!” Kukri lip quivered as she looked up at Puzzle with big, hurt eyes. “Why are you so EVIL?!”

Puzzle raised an eyebrow. “So quick to judge this one, Kukri? Don’t you see the truth?”

Kukri’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “What’re you talking about? You lied to the Do-mare and gave her to that evil heartless bitch the Ephemera-mare.”

Puzzle flashed my apprentice a grin. “Actually, everything this one had just told the Ephemera-mare was a lie.”

Somehow Kukri’s face managed to screw up with even more befuddlement than before. “But-but-but... You just said everything was your plan!”

Puzzle flicked his hoof. “A verbal sleight-of-hoof. All this one did was string together several events and then claim they were all part of some big elaborate plan. If you really think about it, it should be pretty obvious that it was all a lie.” He started counting off points with his wings. “First, any plan that requires several factors well beyond your control to go a very specific way is a really stupid plan. Just think about all the ways the plan this one lied about could have gone wrong: what if the Ephemera-mare got herself killed in some stupid manner while this one was off gallivanting around the jungle? There were dozens of ways she could have died between the wildlife, the Dromaed, and the dangers in Zhilius. What if the Do-mare and her companions told this one to go away? What if this one got seriously hurt diving into those rock infested rapids? What if the Do-mare failed to break this one out of its cells, or thought stopping the Ephemera-mare was more important than helping this one? On and on this one could go. Way too many maybes to account for it to be a safe plan to bet this one’s life on.”

I frowned as I thought about how convoluted a plan like that would be. I’d had enough of my own plans come apart to know how easy they were to unravel, and I’d never come up with anything nearly this complicated. “Right, point taken.”

“Not to mention all the things this one couldn’t have known about,” Puzzle continued. “How the Dromaed would react to everything, when, or even if, the Ephemera-mare would show up, and what we’d actually find in Zhilius. This one lied about its tracking gems. They only had a big enough range to work within Freeport’s city limits, not the vast tracts of a jungle. Not to mention this one had used its last tracking gems back in the port.”

“But why lie about all of that?” Kukri demanded. “Why attack the Do-mare when she was going to stop the Ephemera-mare and hold her prisoner?”

That was a very good question. The suspicious part of me wondered if Daring had been right about Puzzle telling a tall tale to convince Ephemera that he’d been on her side the whole time. Him being outed as a changeling had not gone well for him, so just to survive he might have decided to switch sides. I didn’t like to think about Puzzle like that. I’d known him too long, thought of him as a friend, and I didn’t want to think he would betray someone like that, even if he was in a tight spot. So I gave him an opportunity to explain himself.

“To put it simply, this one was trying to save her life.”

Kukri’s eyes narrowed. “You have a very funny way of doing it, giving her over to one of her worst enemies.”

Puzzle held up a hoof for Kukri to give him a minute to explain. “Here’s the situation: no offense to the Do-mare, but most likely she was going to get herself killed charging the Ephemera-mare at that time and place. The Ephemera-mare would have had plenty of time to cast a spell with her new weapon to kill the Do-mare before she could have gotten close enough to hit her.”

Daring blew strands of her mane out of her eyes with a huff. “I might have been able to dodge whatever spell she threw at me, you know.”

“Perhaps,” Puzzle allowed, not sounding particularly convinced about the idea. “But even if you managed to close the gap, there were still the janissary bodyguards to deal with. Fighting trained alchemically enhanced warriors two against one wouldn’t have been easy, and the Ephemera-mare wouldn’t have been that bothered by blasting one of her bodyguards if it meant she killed her nemesis in the process. And after all of that she could have thrown her minions at the Do-mare to dog-pile her. Even if this one threw itself into the fight there was an equal chance this one would have been killed by the Ephemera-mare or one of her bodyguards as well. In short, the odds of us winning a straight up fight were bad given the circumstances.”

That sounded like Puzzle’s way of thinking. He wasn’t the type to throw his life away in a heroic last charge when there were other options. No, he was the type to try something clever. Like Celestia always told me: if you can’t win the game, change the rules. Of course, that depended on all of this actually being the truth.

It was always hard to tell what was and wasn’t with him. For all I knew he’d been playing all the angles, and setting himself to come out on top whoever won in Zhilius. Sure, he might have preferred for Daring to win in the end, but that wasn’t the same as saying he was willing to go down with the ship.

“Still, putting a knife to Daring’s throat and making the both of you sitting ducks doesn’t seem all that much better, though. Seems like you were just playing for time.” I frowned as I thought about what Puzzle might have been up to. “Unless you were planning something.”

“Admittedly, this one was playing for time right at the start. Pretending that this one had been working for Ephemera the whole time kept both of us alive for a couple of minutes—a very valuable couple of minutes. Time for this one to come up with a plan. A head-on fight was off the table, but this one came up with another option.” He held up his hoof, the one covered by his shock gauntlet. “One zap with this and the Ephemera-mare wouldn’t be a problem anymore. Taking her out would hopefully break the morale of her goons and make them run. Her bodyguards might still be a problem, depending on how diehard they were about protecting their lady, but at least then it would be more of an even fight.”

“Just one problem with that little plan,” Puzzle continued. “This one had to be close, and it means really close to pull it off. Given any time to react and the Ephemera-mare might blast us both for this one’s trouble. Not to mention her bodyguards had extremely fast reflexes as well and were wary of any tricks on this one’s part. So this one had to be close enough to the Ephemera-mare so that none of them could stop this one from hitting her with this one’s shock gauntlet and take her out of the equation.”

“Hence why you’d been sneaking us up closer to Ephemera the whole time you were being a chatter-bug,” Daring said. “You wanted her to trust you enough to give you your shot.” She glowered at him. “Not that I knew that at the time.”

Puzzle shrugged. “Unfortunately this one couldn’t tell you what it was up to without tipping the Ephemera-mare off to what was going on. Not to mention it was a lot easier to fool everyone if you acted like you’d been genuinely betrayed.”

“So how did things work out?” I asked.


Puzzle Piece

This one raised an eyebrow as the Ephemera-mare prepared to fire. It was a struggle not to throw the Do-mare aside and take cover as the sigils on that gauntlet glowed, but this one maintained its cool. This one wasn’t close enough yet to use its own gauntlet and needed to play for more time. “Going to end it so quickly?”

The Ephemera-mare’s cheek twitched. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She's been a thorn in you side for this long, hasn't she?” This one dragged the Do-mare closer to the Ephemera-mare, removing most of the distance between us until this one was but a couple of steps away from her. “This one would have thought you’d want to enjoy your ultimate victory over your nemesis.”

The glow of the sigils dimmed as the Ephemera-mare considered this, her desire to hurt others being provoked by this one. “Ooh, right, the old draw it out and make her suffer trick. Sounds fun.” She smirked evilly and came a couple steps closer, past her bodyguards. Maybe close enough for this one to hit her, maybe not. Considering everything rested on this gambit working, it wanted to hedge its bets as much as possible.

The Do-mare started struggling again before this one tightened its hold. “Go ahead and do your worst, Ephemera! I’m not scared of you!”

The Ephemera-mare chuckled. “Well when you make such a convincing case for me to hurt you...” Her eyes flicked to this one, and there was an ugly light in them that made this one stiffen. “Actually, I get it. You did say you were hungry, and she clearly hates the idea of letting you have your way with her.”

This one’s hunger roared back to this one’s attention, the dam of discipline holding it back nearly bursting at the mention of the idea of feeding. “This one would think that you would prefer to have her all to yourself,” this one temporized, trying to regain its concentration. It needed to think, and not about how hungry it was. This wasn’t the time for it, no matter if this one was dying for a meal, for anything to make that gnawing, ever present pain of starvation go away. This one so missed the euphoric feeling of a good love meal. This one wanted, needed to feed, as much as it needed to breathe after being plunged into the lightless abyss of the sea.

“Oh don’t worry about me. I just got a new way to kill things.” The Ephemera-mare admired her new weapon, the baleful light flickering in her emerald green eyes. Then her attention turned to the artifice responsible for producing the black metal that made the production of her gauntlet possible. “And now I have the option to build lots more. So I'm feeling magnanimous. Just make her suffer and I'll be happy.”

This one was … Hungry. So hungry. This one could sense the love in the Do-mare. There was the love of her family, her love of adventure, the sense of discovering something new and the excitement that brought with it. She loved it all, and her love hurt this one, to have it denied.

And all this one had to do to make that soul-gnawing pain go away was sink its fangs into this pony and feed. Then this one could be sated, sated enough to think, to plan, to not be in continuous pain.

This could even work towards the plan. Just a little feeding and the Ephemera-mare would be convinced this one was working for her. Then when she dropped her defenses it would be her turn to die. All this one had to do was feed, make the hunger stop, and then stop the Ephemera-mare. It was so simple, and this one wanted it. All this one had to do was feed on the Do-mare, and then it would all work out...

This one flashed an easy smile. “Actually, this one was lying about being hungry. That was all an act as well.” This one puckered its lips in a fake pout. “Aw, poor old me is so hungry. Please Do-mare, will you let me feed on you so that I’ll feel better? Pretty please? Really, this one was just hoping to hit her with some venom to make capturing her easier, and create a distraction. Nothing more. This one is quite alright.”

“You’re such a bastard!” the Do-mare spat. “I can’t believe I ever trusted you!”

This one only half heard the Do-mare’s words. Spots flashed through this one’s vision as it fought back its hunger, and it was all this one could do to keep its knees from shaking. There was a toll for denying this one’s hunger, and this one considered itself lucky not to have fallen over yet from denying it so long.

This one wanted to feed, so terribly...

But it would have been wrong.

Evil.

This one was no saint, but if this one had done as the Ephemera-mare had bidden and fed on the Do-mare, a personal line would have been crossed, one that could never be uncrossed. If this one had let itself be used as a tool to violate the Do-mare in such a way, then what else could this one justify to itself down the road? How long before this one really became the monster it pretended to be? That was the danger in wearing a mask, if you wore one for too long, you could lose yourself.

The Ephemera-mare shrugged. “Whatever. I’ve got other options.” She condescendingly patted the Do-mare on the head. “As for what I have planned ... think of the worst thing you can imagine. The very worst thing.” She smirked. “And then think harder.”

This was this one’s shot. The Ephemera-mare’s leg was extended touching the Do-mare, and all this one had to do was wait for her to withdraw it enough so this one didn’t accidentally shock the Do-mare. But then she said something that made this one pause. “Hm, though now that I think about it, my patron will probably want to see you and decide your fate himself. Not that I mind, he can be very inventive when he puts his mind to it. Delightfully so.”

In the crisis of the last few minutes this one had nearly forgotten about the Ephemera-mare’s patron. “Your patron? Where is he?”

“He’s already here,” called a voice from within the darkness beyond the doorway. Then a towering figure emerged into the light of the workshop, canine teeth flashing as he grinned down at us.

“We meet again, Daring Do,” Ahuizotl said.

Author's Note:

Thanks to my editors Chengar Qordath and Comma-Kazie for all their help, and to my pre-readers Brony Writer, wolfstorm56, Trinary, 621Chopsuey, Rodinga, PoisonClaw, and Swiftest for their hard work editing.