Golden Age of Apocalypse - Book III: Legacies

by BlueBastard

Chapter 8 - Querelle des Bouffons

Chapter 8—Querelle des Bouffons

Sunset could feel the edges of her mouth beginning to strain from having to smile so much. I betrayed my mother, turned into a raging she-demon, and straight up burned my own life out...for this? Looking into the mirror and having seen herself as an alicorn princess had not included having to stand alongside Celestia and greet a whole menagerie of nobility. She felt like she could die again from the monotony of it all.

In fact, if anything, it felt kinda like her first day back at Canterlot High following the whole timeline change that resulted in Sunset being made a French princess—if in title only—in addition to resurrecting as an alicorn princess to be. The reactions from the student body had run the gamut, from those who still hadn’t forgiven her for the walking nightmare bitch she’d been originally, to those who didn’t make a big deal of it (though admittedly the only people who fell into that category were those who Sunset would count among her direct friends), and those who immediately wanted to cozy up to Sunset for their own personal gain.

It really is amazing how high school is basically a microcosm of society at large, she thought, while smiling all the while, shaking the hoof of a noble whose name she’d already forgotten and would likely never need to learn again.

But she hoped that like high school, barring the fact of what she’d been, nothing extremely bad was going to happen.

In a gazebo in the castle grounds, away from the grand party being held elsewhere in the complex, a dark pony with bright mane hairs arrived and waited. Getting into the castle unseen had been a slight hassle, but nothing too troublesome. In a way, this was something of a homecoming for Neon Lux, and now everything had been set in motion. Soon, the four Scions—Raspberry Beryl, Lockbox, Corner Shot, and Sunset Shimmer—would be gathered properly for the prophecy to be fulfilled, bringing back their master Sombra from beyond the grave and to take back control of the world from the unfit hooves of the Alicorns. A smile came to his muzzle as he thought of the grand irony that one of the Scions themselves was an alicorn.

“Even their vaunted bloodline can not deny what the truth stands to justify,” said Neon Lux with a chuckle. “Everything the Covenant has worked for...the day has waited long enough to come!”

“But we are not at that stage yet,” came a new voice, and soon Neon Lux was joined by his wise oracle, Tiny Dynamine.

“Oracle Dynamine,” said Neon Lux, “you’ve been disappearing more frequently as of late…”

“Are you questioning my divine mission to our Lord?” questioned Dynamine. Curiously, Lux thought he heard a bit of disgust in Dynamine’s voice on the word Lord, but maybe it was just her being disgusted with him. “I trust I can have more faith in you having done yours than you do in me having done mine?”

“Yes, Oracle” nodded Lux, recomposing himself. “The identification spell has been cast so that all of our loyal Covenant members will be able to pick out at a glance where the four Scions are while they do their business, with Corner Shot being in position to take care of matters when the time is right. And one of our most truly faithful, Barkeep, will lead the charge, for he hates the alicorns more than even we do!”

“Good,” said Dynamine, who didn’t seem exactly that focused, so much so that Lux wondered if she was entranced with a vision. “Soon, everything I-we’ve worked for will come to fruition, and the wrongs of the past will be made right! Come, Lux, we must return to the hideout, we have much to prepare!”

It didn’t take long for Celestia to notice Sunset was already beginning to tire of greeting the nobles.

[I know it’s a hassle, dear,] she said telepathically, [but it is part of being royalty—we should be done soon enough.]

[I understand the necessity of it all, despite the choice natures of some of these ponies,] replied Sunset telepathically as well, [but it just feels like...well...I shouldn’t even be here.]

Celestia turned to look down at her daughter with concern, though the mental conversation continued. [Let’s discuss this more in private. We’re nearly finished here.]

And sure enough, they were, but not nearly soon enough, in Sunset’s opinion. By the time they had finished greeting the last noble (an elderly stallion who seemed pleasant enough, but just went on and on), Sunset was drained. Fortunately, Celestia had a private room designated for her to take refuge in when she needed a break from long nights such as these. That was where she and Sunset continued their talk.

“Now, what’s this about feeling like you don’t belong?” Celestia asked.

“I don’t know, I just….” Sunset struggled to find her words for a time, and Celestia patiently waited for her. “You and all the other princesses have lived such amazing lives and done such amazing things. It seems only natural you would become alicorns. But everything I did to earn my wings felt more like repentance. And even then, I don’t think it was enough to make up for all the bad I did.”

“Sunset, it isn’t about making up for the past. It’s about doing what you can for a brighter future, here and now.”

Sunset took a moment to mull this over. She didn’t look convinced. “That’s nice and all, but I still don’t feel like I deserve… any of this. Even when I try to do good things and help others, I keep messing up. Like last month, when I took in a veteran and his daughter who were in danger and every decision I made seemed to only put everyone in danger. Or even the other night, when I let that Allucinor thing get to me.”

Taking an uneasy look back towards the reception, Sunset continued, growing more and more manic. “All of those people out there—ponies, humans, and everything in between—think that I’m this perfect goddess who can do no wrong. What’ll happen when they all realize I have no idea what I’m doing?!”

Taking a moment to sip from the mug of coffee she had poured for herself, Celestia said, “Thousands of years ago, there lived a young filly just like you. Her mother left her the throne when she was even younger than you are now, and no matter how hard she tried, her mother’s horseshoes always seemed too big to fill.

“Her early years on the throne were plagued with so many problems, and it always seemed that her every decision only made a bad situation worse. But do you know what happened?” Celestia asked with a warm, encouraging look. “She persevered. She kept making mistakes, but each time she did she learned something new, and kept learning and growing until she became the leader many ponies continue to count on today.” Then with a playful smile, Celestia said. “I’m talking about myself.”

“Yeah, I guessed that,” Sunset said with a grin of her own.

“I haven’t stopped making mistakes, of course. My folly with Luna is the stuff of legends. And….” Celestia’s eyes grew sad, and her entire posture fell as she said, “I let the thought of your death consume me to the point I neglected all those who count on me.”

The two were silent for a time. After everything that had happened between them, the topic of the long winter that followed the war with Tirek had never come up. It was a difficult subject for both of them, and one both felt shame for. Sunset didn’t know what to say to her mother then, so she said nothing.

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you that they have everything figured out. That they don’t ever have doubts about what they’re doing,” Celestia said so quietly Sunset almost couldn’t hear her. “Any one who claims so is lying.”

Sunset looked up at Celestia in awe. Hearing the pony in charge of the fucking sun itself admit that she too, had no idea what she was doing was an eye-opener. “Wow, I didn’t...I didn’t know,” Sunset voiced.

“I don’t go around talking about how much I worry over every little thing I do,” said Celestia, letting out a chuckle. “It’s not a good image for the general public, after all.”

If Blueblood had been able to, he would have found any excuse—any at all—to avoid having to come to the reception. Namely, he just wanted a break from having to pretend to being a colossal plot hole and constantly misleading mares into thinking they had a nephew of Princess Celestia in their grasp only to wake up the next morning in whatever situation he concocted in such fashion that he could get rid of them.

But, alas, since this was a reception for none other than the newest alicorn princess, his status forced him to come. And worryingly, another pony had figured that out: specifically, Heatherfield. He’d had to play his unenviable role for years but in all that time, he’d never had to deal with a mare like her. She was single-minded in her pursuit of him, evidently only moreso after he’d given her the slip at the last party thrown in Sunset’s honor. He never bothered to find out what trouble she’d gotten herself into and he didn’t want to find out—she was trouble in and of herself and he wanted no part of it, as he wasn’t sure he could talk his way out of a second encounter.

And that seemed to be inevitable as for the past ten minutes, he’d been doing his hardest to simply avoid having to even confront her. She’d noticed him and so it was all he could do to keep hurredly moving through the party, always keeping a look over his shoulder as Heatherfield implausibly seemed to be getting closer and closer and-

“Oof!”

“I beg your pardon?!” said Blu, slipping into “asshole mode” to confront whatever poor sod he hadn’t noticed and of course ran into...for all of five seconds.

“Well, I never!” gasped the human Octavia.

Both immediately changed their tone when they realized who they’d run into.

“We have got to stop running into each other like this,” she remarked with a smile.

“Yes, well, I suppose even humans can’t help but be attracted to my dashing handsomeness.” He then realized that this might be his chance to get rid of Heatherfield—the fact it would involve spending time with Tavi of course being a solid bonus. He stuck out his hoof, offering it to the human girl. “Now I suppose you want to dance with me, then?”

Tavi looked at him briefly in confusion, but then noted that while his body language suggested indifference, his eyes were practically pleading.

“Well, if you insist,” she said, playfully feigning as much disinterest as Blueblood was as she took his hoof into her hand.

From a distance, Heatherfield saw the act and was outright scandalized. Blueblood, her Blueblood, was heading to the dance floor with one of those damn humans? He must be drunk, clearly. Her citrine eyes narrowed with fury behind her gainsboro and purple locks, she quickly would have to devise some kind of plan to free him from that human harpy.

Soon, Tavi and Blu were slow dancing and looking quite odd—but neither of them cared.

“It’s funny,” she said in a low tone so only Blu could hear, “but this reminds me of something I used to do with the family dog years ago—a Great Dane we called Fortissimo. He was about the same size as you and Sunset as ponies.”

“Are you calling me a dog, Miss Melody?” he asked, lacing his usual faux self-important tone with a hint of playfulness. “I know that my reputation precedes me, but I think I’m owed more respect than that!”

Octavia matched his playful tone with one of her own. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Your Grace.”

The two of them couldn’t stop themselves from chuckling tenderly as they both grew more and more lost in each other’s eyes—this was doing nothing for Blueblood’s supposed guise as a plothole, but...he didn’t care. He couldn’t do that to Tavi. But he had to do something to address the fact he was finding himself more and more attracted to her. “Look, I know this is a bad time, but I feel like we need to talk about—"

“No, I understand—you have to keep appearances up and all, and this might be the last time we have a chance like this to talk. But, please, I know what you’re going to say.”

Blu’s heart skipped a beat. “You...you do?”

“Yes, and...you don’t have to apologize.”

That confused Blu. “What do you mean?”

“Seriously, Blu: I know you feel like it’s somehow your fault for all the misfortune I’ve encountered here in Equestria. Honestly? I can’t wait until I get home and can put all of this behind me, this whole affair has almost completely been a horrid experience.”

“I...yes, of course,” he replied, ears drooping. The fact was, she was right: she’d gone through what could only charitably described as her own personal Tartarus ever since arriving here. Between Fujitsu and then the incident at that specist restaurant—and boy howdy had Blu taken probably more than a little satisfaction at personally managing the fine those plotholes were going to have to pay given the laws that their cook broke by assaulting Whiskey, Amicable, and Tavi—he couldn’t blame her for never wanting to come back to this world. It certainly had been nothing that suggested Equestria was a good place.

Noticing Blu’s demeanor, Tavi quickly added “But if there’s one good thing that came of this trip, it’s that I met you. And really? It was all worth it for that.”

“Really?” Blu immediately felt his heart rush at that. He felt like a little colt, almost, it was most unbecoming of one of his position and completely out of ‘character’ for him, but damn it all, he liked hearing that. “It’s a shame that once you get back to the human world, we won’t have a way to communicate.”

“Well, maybe there is a way,” suggested Tavi. “Sunset mentioned that she communicated directly to Princess Twilight via a magic candle and a smartphone.”

“A what?”

“A smartphone—it’s a communication device.”

“Well, that’s...that’s a novel idea! I’ll have to talk with Sunset and Twilight about it but, yes, if we could keep in touch, I’d really like that. It’s...well, rare that I can find somepony to confide the truth in, given my line of work.”

“I understand, but...it’s very noble of you to do it.”

To anypony who might have been paying attention to the odd couple, they would have remarked that it seemed both had been genuinely more happy in each other’s company than they had at any point in the past week when they hadn’t been together.

Divine Right, Captain of the Friendship Guard, would honestly have loved nothing better than to have spent the evening in the company of Twilight Sparkle. He longed for the opportunity to finally get to speak at length with the fine lavender mare on a casual level again, something the two really hadn’t had an opportunity to do for years, not since Twilight had been sent to Ponyville and their lives had seemingly taken different paths. But now, as he stood guard at the main entrance, he watched as the beautiful princess was making her way through the crowd.

“One of these days, I’ll…” he sighed, not finishing the thought. The truth was it was practically unheard of for a guard captain to woo a princess; indeed, Shining Armor had only pulled it off because he and Princess Cadence had been virtually an item since their late foalhoods and then he’d become a guard captain.

Divine, on the other hoof, had not realized his feelings for Twilight until after she’d moved to Ponyville. He wasn’t sure how he’d lucked out in taking command of the Friendship Guard in the wake of his predecessor’s departure, but as much as he would say he loved his job...he did want more.

“Now, that’s a look of lovesickness if I’ve ever seen it,” suddenly came a voice.

Startled by what sounded like being addressed, and then a bit more by the fact his posture had slumped slightly, Divine immediately straightened up, but he wasn’t sure who had addressed him. Until they ended up walking right up to him, bringing him both relief and fear.

Because if there was any one pony who was empathic to the point of knowing how others felt? It was Princess Cadence, Alicorn of Love.

“You’re cute when you try to hide it, you know?” mused Cadence with a giggle.

“H-hide what, Cady?” asked Divine. Had it been over literally any other regular old unicorn, Divine would have easily asked Cadence for advice, given their close bonds as royals and cousins. But in this case, the mare of his affections was her sister in law and he knew very well of their closer bond.

Before she could comment, Shining Armor, dressed in his dress uniform, came alongside his wife. “Oh, come on, we’ve both seen the way you look at my sister,” he added with a smile on his face.

“Ah, Shining, is there something I can, uh, do for you and Cadence?” Divine asked, hoping to change the subject.

The couple looked at each other knowingly before turning back to Divine. “Div, do you really think I can’t tell you have a thing for Twily?” Cadence asked him drily.

“I, uh…” Divine sighed, she was right: it was futile to hide the truth from the Princess of Love. “I just can’t ever seem to find the right time to say it.”

“Well, now seems as good a time as ever,” said Shining. “I mean, it’s a big party and she’s still out there wandering all alone. Maybe now is the time to ask her to dance?”

“Are you asking me to ask your sister to a dance?” asked Divine, raising an eyebrow. “Because I’m still on duty, and—"

“Oh, come on, this place is crawling with guards and you’re the head of Twilight’s own Guard division. If shit hits the fan, what better place for her captain than to be by her side?” He then leaned in to whisper in Divine’s ear, adding, “And if anything does happen to her, well...it isn’t just me who is going to want an explanation and between us, she’s got the bigger horn.” He then gestured with his head to his wife, whose half-lidded eyes certainly suggested that should anything happen to her sister in law, it would not end well for Divine.

“I...sure. Let me ask her, then,” said Divine, who magically teleported his helmet back to its presumed place in a guard armory, then cautiously walked off to do the requested act of asking Twilight Sparkle to dance while feeling the combined gaze of Shining and Cadence the entire way.

“Do you think we were a bit too rough with him?” Shining wondered, once he was sure Divine was out of earshot.

“Nah,” said Cadence, “and besides, sometimes you gotta engage in a little tough love to get things moving. In this case, it appears to have worked.” She gestured with a hoof over to where Divine had caught up to Twilight and evidently asked the question—even from a distance, it was clear that he was extremely nervous about it. And then extremely relieved when Twilight enthusiastically nodded and the two ponies headed to the dance floor.

“Well, hun, looks like you still got it,” said Shining, giving his wife a quick peck on the cheek.

“Who said I ever lost it in the first place?” replied Cadence with a warm smile. “Now, all this talk of dancing has me antsy!”

Before Shining could say anything, he found himself being dragged over to the dance floor with the others. He wasn’t exactly unhappy about it.

After making sure the few ponies who seemed to be occupying the bar knew he was ‘going on break’, the barkeep departed from the reception’s bar ostensibly to use the little colt’s room.

Except there was a much more pressing matter at hoof. Fortune had of course worked out in favor of the deserving side and while it necessitated some more...arrangements...to be made, the fact there had been a willing party on the inside had made it almost suspiciously too easy to alter the plan.

Darting into a side corridor as to avoid the gaze of anypony actually coming to use the restrooms, Barkeep found his contact already waiting.

“Took you long enough,” the other pony said.

“Hey, look, it’s a reception—hearts are going to be broken and some ponies would rather crawl into a bottle then deal with their problems. Besides the night is still young—unlike that bag of bones that still calls herself a night princess—and ripe for some mayhem.”

“Are you saying its time, then?”

Barkeep gave the mare in a maid’s uniform his version of a charming smile. “Oh, definitely—release the party favors. It’s time to get this party truly started.”

To any normal member of the reception crowd, the only thing that made Whiskey stand out from the other SIREN members posted around to maintain security was the fact the twin-ponytailed girl had two swords on her person that were both a far cry from the standard issue formal design the other SIRENs wore.

But independently of the other SIRENs, and even to her actual marching orders, she wasn’t simply milling around keeping an idle eye on the party. Instead, she’d reverted—partially to her own shame—to her old habit of simply shadowing her liege, invisible to them unless she needed to directly intervene. Ever since she’d been made a formal member of the SIREN guard, Whiskey couldn’t believe how liberating it felt to be treated as an actual individual instead of just an assumed presence or, as the former Kashingo had experienced first-paw, be berated and shamed. To simply return to being a non-entity, even temporarily, brought back trauma Whiskey doubted she’d ever truly get over: after all, she hadn’t been sure if Sunset would have shown mercy on her or if Kashingo would have had to take her own life out of shame.

But privately, there was one individual that Whiskey valued more than even Sunset: that person being Octavia Melody. Even if she hadn’t intended it, Tavi had set in motion the sequence of events that had led to Kashingo being forever shamed...and yet had set her free as Whiskey. And where Whiskey trusted Sunset to be able to handle herself if need be (she was after all, one of the five alicorns), Tavi did not have magic at her disposal and thus would need protecting.

Of course, Tavi would insist that Whiskey not be mindlessly protective, which while Whiskey appreciated, was why the kitsune-as-human kept her observation at a distance. Right now, she watched as the fair Octavia danced with Prince Blueblood—another noble Equestrian who had shown Whiskey compassion—and the kitsune couldn’t help but smirk at the amusing sight of the human dancing with the comparatively much shorter unicorn.

“Hey, Whiskey!”

Blinking in surprise, Whiskey quickly looked around, her primary hand instinctively moving to rest on the hilt of her sword in case of the worst. However, it was only Softwing coming toward her, wearing a dress that seemed to attempt to—and quite honestly not exactly succeed in—contain the ample mounds of flesh on the young woman’s chest, a feature the transformed griffoness herself seemed to still be coming to grips with.

“Oh, Miss Softwing! Is there something I can help you with?” asked Whiskey, her hand coming off the sword hilt.

“Well, for starters, you can stop calling me Miss Softwing. I am your older sister now, after all,” the woman said with a grin.

Whiskey was caught off-guard by that. “Um….”

The former griffoness decided to let the SIREN off the hook. “No, rather it’s just something I thought I’d bring up to you. You remember that we’re moving to the human world tomorrow, right?”

Whiskey nodded, not sure of what to say. Internally, she still was unsure how she felt about that: while she’d been able to mold herself into a SIREN easily enough, given it was essentially just her transitioning from one strict, regimented military life to another, but in the human world she’d have to blend in. And that meant having to be a “normal teenager” as Sunset had told her.

And from what Whiskey had observed from the mannerisms of Sunset’s inner circle of friends? It was the complete opposite of the kind of lifestyle Whiskey had only ever known. How Captain Dazzle and Commanders Blaze and Dusk managed to balance both lives was an art form Whiskey would have to figure out and master fairly quickly.

“Well, odds are it’ll be a while before you come back to this world, right?” Softwing stated.

“That is likely, yes.” That was true—since she couldn’t go back to Inari, nor could she be a citizen of Equestria. No, Whiskey really didn’t have a land she belonged to. Rather, she belonged wherever Sunset wanted her, and soon that would be the alien human world which Whiskey had only briefly glimpsed when Sunset had shown everybody at her Preps speech.

“Then now might be the time to at least see about any business you might still have to take care of before leaving tomorrow.”

“Now? But I’m on duty.”

“Say you’re carrying out a special request from Sunset’s Seneschal, because you basically are. If one of the triplets raises a stink about it, let me talk to them.”

“Oh, um, okay.” The truth was Whiskey wasn’t sure what business she had left to take care of—having been a retainer for Fujitsu for at least the past fifty years, she’d simply lived to serve him. But in the corner of her eye, Whiskey saw none other than the Inari ambasador, Han’nya, moving through the crowd toward a door which she knew led to the beautiful—and largely unoccupied—castle gardens. “Maybe I do have something that I should settle before leaving Equestria…”

“Where did you ever learn to dance?” laughed Twilight, blushing slightly as she and Divine finally left the dance floor, exhausted but full of energy at the same time—though neither knew really why.

“Our caretakers made sure that Highfalutin’ and I were well trained as nobility for all manner of needs,” Divine answered, “and that includes having at least a basic education in dancing. Thank goodness Saddleworth isn’t here because, let’s be honest Twilight: you have a lot to learn when it comes to dancing.”

“Dancing isn’t an academic field of study. Well, maybe interpretive dance I know a thing or two about, but actual formal dancing...I always have had four left hooves.”

“Well, it was adorable, all the same,”

Twilight blushed even harder as the two approached the bar.

“I guess the bartender’s on break,” said Divine with a shrug as he walked behind the counter. “No matter, I know a drink or two myself.”

“Dancing and personal bartending,” said Twilight, “guess it was a good move to make you the captain of the Friendship Guard.”

“Just two of my many skills, though obviously dancing and being able to mix alcohol doesn’t defend as well as skills with a sword and shield.”

“I guess you’re just full of surprises,” said Twilight, before sighing. “We aren’t even on a real date and you’re already far better than my previous one.”

“Oh?” asked Divine, ignoring the implication that Twilight may or may not have been making with the “date” comment and focusing more on getting the drinks mixed.

“Yeah, I doubt you know who Smouldering Looks is.”

“Of course, the big fancy male fashion model?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow as she leaned on the counter. “You didn’t take me for a fashion stallion, Div.”

“I’m not, but I know of him because he was also nominated Equestria’s top bachelor for the second year in a row, namely because he somehow managed to avoid being in the country during the whole Tirek business and most of his usual competitors...well, we both know too much about those dark days.” Divine was hoping she wouldn’t inquire why he knew about Equestria’s most eligible bachelor: the reason being in a fit of existential crisis on whether or not Twilight would even entertain a romantic relationship with him, Divine had tried to see if he resembled any of the hottest stallions that would themselves catch a princesses’s eye.

“Well, whatever, Rarity pulled a few strings because you know how much of a romantic she is and is always trying to set up her friends with dates.”

“Trying to beat Cady at her own game?”

“Maybe. But Cady would have at least known from the get go there was no chemistry. Turns out Rarity set me up with a gay stallion. I don’t even know how she did it but it probably involved him trying to be a gentlestallion about the whole thing. But, likewise, he obviously was not into me and kept talking about how tough it is to be a supermodel as well as how he and his partner, Life Bloom—he’s a medic in the guard as I was reminded constantly—and...ugh, I don’t want to think about it.”

“I don’t understand why a stallion would hide being romantically attracted to other males,” admitted Divine, “Discrimination based on sexuality really isn’t a thing ponies do.”

“He said he keeps it quiet because of his job—won’t attract as many pretty mares to whatever he’s promoting if they knew publicly they stood less than zero chance of getting him as a husband. It’s just such disgusting, dishonest duplicity that it really isn’t something I want to be part of.”

“Then don’t,” said Divine, who finished pouring the drink and slid it across the counter to Twilight. “This is a little something I like to call the ‘Mount Canterhorn’—a mix of vodka and butterbeer with a little whipped cream topping.”

Twilight took a sip of it and it was good. “You know, Div,” she said, “I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you tonight. It felt...right.”

“I feel the same way,” said Divine, his own heart skipping a beat. Was this possibly leading where he thought it was leading?

“That’s great!” said Twilight with a sudden spike of enthusiasm, before settling back down with the cutest blush Divine had ever seen. “I, uh, mean, you wouldn’t be against—”

“Doing this again back in Ponyville?” said Divine, finishing her sentence. “I mean, I’d be more than happy to, if you are. Except...” he sighed. “You know, if I did, I would have to step down from being the captain of your Guard forces. It would be a conflict of interest.”

Twilight gave him a smile. “Oh, I’m sure we can think of something.”

From a distance, Cadence spied upon the two and nodded approvingly.

“Yup, still got it,” she said to herself with a grin.

However, on the other side of the reception, another individual who was in need of Cadence’s skills looked morosely out onto the dance floor. Romance had never truly been Applejack’s thing—especially given her reputation as one of the toughest girls at Canterlot High tended to scare off all but the dumbest of jocks who thought she’d be just a good one night stand. But she was still a girl at the end of the day and with the growing number of her friends in relationships—Rainbow with her on-off status with Soarin’, Fluttershy pretty much having Puppytails wrapped around her finger, and...whatever exactly was going on between Pinkie and Sunset.

So to see her own local counterpart cutting up the dance floor with that beige coated, maroon and charcoal maned stallion with the seafoam eyes? It made her heart pang with longing she wasn’t used to, wondering if she’d find her own better half someday.

“Penny for your thoughts?” asked Rarity, walking up with a flute of champagne. Naturally, Rarity was just living it up, this being the kind of well-to-do outing she lived for, even if the majority of the attendees were not even the same species.

“Just wonderin’, that’s all,” said Applejack.

Following AJ’s gaze, Rarity immediately figured out what it was the human was wondering about. “I dare say you’ll find your man someday, Applejack. There’s somebody for everyone out there.”

“Yeah, as soon as Ah can find a man who isn’t scared stiff I’m going to crush him with my thighs.”

Meanwhile, pony AJ and her possible paramour were just walking off the dance floor when the former realized they were headed straight for the human Rarity...and the human Applejack. Instinctively, AJ started to veer away from the humans, hoping Boomer didn’t notice. Unfortunately, he did.

“Something wrong, AJ?” he asked, before glancing between her and where they had been heading, immediately putting two and two together but somehow getting five. “Oh, yeah, humans—after what I hear went down at the parade grounds involving the first of Sunset’s guards taking out all those griffns, I can’t blame you for being skittish. To tell the truth, they freak me out a little as well—how can they live with so little fur on their bodies? Is that why they’re always wearing clothes?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” she said in response, rolling with what she was given. To anypony who truly knew Applejack, Element of Honesty, she was a contender for the worst liar on the planet with the obvious tell of her eyes darting all over the place. Boomer, however, was still an acquaintance and so was not familiar with this detail.

Still, the two continued to walk away from the humans, while talking about how scary the humans were, and shortly ran into the pony Pinkie and Fluttershy, both of whom had come stag.

“Hey, AJ!” said Pinkie happily, before immediately noticing AJ was definitely uncomfortable about something. “Is everything okay?”

“Er, no, everything’s fine!” she lied. The look from Pinkie and Fluttershy confirmed they knew she was lying and without even asking, made it clear they wanted the truth.

At the same time, Boomer seemed to fixate his attention on something. “Hey, is that...it is! Wow, I haven’t seen Leafwing since we left the guard academy and he got posted to Saddle Arabia!” He turned to AJ with an apologetic look, “Sorry, but I gotta go say hi—he and I were thick as thieves back in the academy.”

“Huh? Oh, no, don’t go worrying none—go catch up with yer friend! Ah’m not goin anywhere!” Her strained smile lasted as long as it took Boomer to vanish into the crowd, before she dropped it and turned back to her friends.

“You know,” said Fluttershy, “Normally it isn’t like you to hide what’s bothering you, Applejack.”

“Is it the fact that the other you isn’t a farmer, like you?” asked Pinkie, once again showcasing an uncanny ability to hit home with little assistance.

AJ sighed; at least with friends as good as these, she could feel safe in confiding in them. “Yeah, Ah still can’t get over the fact she and Ah are so different, despite obviously bein’ two versions of, well, ourselves. Ah can’t help but resent her—an Apple givin’ up th’ farm life! Ah just can’t understand it. But Ah know it’s wrong, an’ that the other AJ—the other me—is her own person, but Ah can’t help how Ah feel.”

“And so, what, are you just going to let it sit until she goes back home?” asked Pinkie. “It isn’t like you to avoid a problem, Applejack. Barring that whole werewolf thing from so long ago it hardly even relates to what’s going on right now.”

“Tell me about it—sometimes Ah wonder if it was all a bad dream, but that’s besides the point. The problem here is...Ah don’t know how to approach it. Ah’ve been a silly pony through this whole thing but Ah don’t want to muck it all up the wrong way, you get me?”

“You’ll figure out something,” said Fluttershy, reassuringly with a smile. “Besides, your counterpart is more like you than you seem to realize. Between me and my counterpart? There’s definitely more different than similar.”

“Ah hope you’re right,” said Applejack, glancing over to where her human counterpart was still chatting with human Rarity. “Ah feel like Ah just gotta fix all this before it’s too late.”

Elsewhere within the festivities, Razz found herself party to a conversation that she wasn’t quite sure where it was going. As it was, she was seated at a table with Lockbox and human Rainbow Dash, who were quite engrossed in some kind of argument involving a field Razz was unfamiliar with: magically enchanted weapons. Though if that was a good or bad thing given the current circumstances was still up for debate.

“But you’re a unicorn!” said Rainbow, pointing at Lockbox’s horn, “and you’re a blacksmith! What do you mean you can’t make swords that shoot lightning?”

“Because magic doesn’t work that way!” sighed Lockbox. “To infuse magic into an item, you have to implant an entire miniature latticework of magic channels to ensure the effect is distributed evenly. And even then, since weapons aren’t sentient things, you have to infuse a magical core, which in itself is an extremely risky proposition if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. Not to mention that because it’s a core and not a wellspring, it’s not alive, so it needs to be replaced on a regular basis.” Lockbox then shrugged, adding “And I honestly can’t do that kind of thing. Normal arms and armor, in addition to any kind of non-magical metalsmithing? Sure, I can manage. But you really have to have a talent—as in, it’s what your cutie mark represents—to pull off magical weapons on that scale.”

“Oh, uh, okay then,” said Rainbow, looking dejected—her heart evidently having been set on commissioning some kind of magical sword that shot lighting for all Razz could figure.

“Why do you even need a weapon?” Razz asked. She honestly would have prefered to distract herself with caring for Heliodor, but the guard had politely asked for him to be left out of the reception, citing how much of a fire hazard he would be if he got startled or, unfortunately more likely, attempted to be stolen. The last time he’d been stolen had nearly gotten Blueblood killed—albeit more from raging dark unicorn distraught over heliodor’s untimely first death than anything to do with phoenix fire—but he was still an extremely rare variant of an already uncommon species and with so many dignitaries around who would covet such a rare prize for their own courts, it would have just been more trouble than it was worth.

So, instead, at that moment he was standing guard on a provided birdstand over the Alicorn Amulet, which Razz had left in a secured box in her room.

That did, however, leave Razz with only her distant cousin Lockbox for company, though this discussion with Rainbow over ‘anime weapons’ certainly wasn’t getting anywhere productive.

“Because being able to have weapons made specifically for us, the first humans since ever to wield magic, to reflect our standing with Sunset, who is a Princess if this day means anything. Hey, what about a Big Fucking Sword?” asked Rainbow, evidently having given up on the magical weapons and just going for simple weapons of absurd size instead. “Like Dragon Slayer from Berserk! Maybe also his armor...though without the whole insanity thing.”

“How big are we talking?” asked Lockbox skeptically.

“Oh, somewhere north of 400 pounds. The armor also kind of looks like a werewolf and—"

“400 pounds?” Lockbox laughed. “Forgive me but you’re not an earth pony, and if what I’ve been told about Sunset’s inner circle, even though you may be magical, strength isn’t your specialty. Maybe a shield or something would be more your speed—like Flash Magnus in the old legends, his shield was strong enough to survive raw magma in the heart of a volcano without magic!”

“A shield?” scoffed Rainbow. “That’s totally uncool and I’m sure my counterpart would agree!” A thought then occurred to her. “Though, that Rising of the Shield Hero seems to be a new title everybody’s getting interested in.”

Lockbox turned to Razz, exasperated. “Do you have any idea what the hay she’s talking about?”

Razz shook her head. “Not a damn clue.”

“OH!” exclaimed Rainbow, slamming her hands down on the table dramatically. “What about the Master Sword?! The Blade of Evil’s Bane?”

“Blade of ‘Evil’s Bane’?” Lockbox shook her head. “Again, with magical weapons—because that’s what this ‘Master Sword’ seems to be based on the absolute lack of information you’ve provided—but the only things even comparable to having a pretentious title like that which I can think of are alicorn weapons, and those only really work by channeling the magic of the user, so it’s dependent on the magic level of the wielder. Obviously, somepony like, say, Princess Celestia is obscenely powerful in her own right, and the sword benefits from that. In your hooves...er…”

“Hands,” said Razz with a giggle.

“Yeah, those. Anyway, it wouldn’t really be any better than a regular sword. Probably worse, given that the magical core would try to absorb your magic, and just leave you exhausted.”

Just then, Razz felt her blood itch. A quick look at Lockbox confirmed she’d felt it, too.

“Hey, you two alright?” asked Rainbow, who seemed a bit more concerned about still not convincing Lockbox to forge her some kind of exotic weapon from human pop culture.

“It’s magic business,” said Razz, “ask Sunset to explain. Otherwise, nothing for you to worry about right now.” However, as she said that, she thought in the corner of her eye she saw a pegasus who seemed to be preoccupied in trying to hide in the crowd, with fidgety wings...and a hairclip.

Corner Shot?

Razz recalled the discussion with Sunset earlier about how she hoped this reception would go without a hitch. Razz was beginning to worry if she’d instead invoked the Rule of Magical Surety: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

“...so that was when the Admiral decided to punish us by having him try out being our drill instructor. And it started with him blowing his whistle in our ears at five in the morning to make us run laps around the house,” said Adagio, recounting the beginning of what had become their first experience with Troubleshoes in his element as a military instructor.

“He also sprayed us with freezing water from the garden hose halfway through the—I wanna say fourteen?—laps, as if running in the chilly morning wasn’t bad enough,” added Sonata, shivering at the mere memory of being that cold. “It’s nothing compared to the kind of extreme training we used to do like Cycling.”

“That’s us being forced to exercise for twenty four hours straight,” explained Aira.

“Yeah, although if I’m brutally honest? I think the only reason that’s no longer on the table is because we have our lives as normal teenagers going to a prep school so we can’t actually be held at home to work out. Zacherle doesn’t have a football team—though there I think me and my sisters would still stand a fair chance against any regular old high school footballers.”

On the other side of the table, the local Adagio, Aria, and Sonata sat with varying faces of shock at the near horror stories being told to them. The triplets were taking a quick break from their guard duties and had run into their counterparts, so they took the opportunity to continue trading stories with each other.

“You had to suffer worse when you were part of the original SIREN?” asked siren Sonata.

Adagio nodded. “With the original SIREN, we were basically trained from birth to be killers. Sometimes, the Canadian government would use criminals as effectively live target practice to train the initiates so they would become numb to taking lives. I first shot a man to death when I was eight.” The absolute look of horror on pony Adagio’s face led to human Adagio quickly adding to her statement “In the old timeline, that is. My sisters and I still have the memory and the training from then, but in the new one, that never happened.”

“I couldn’t imagine making any new Hooves have to go through that,” remarked pony Aria. “Sure, we have a grueling initiation course to make sure all Hooves are prepared to defend the Princess and other Ladies against all conceivable threats, but there is no shame in flunking out—there are other ways to hold up our tribe’s promise to serve the Princess that are not as violent or, admittedly, as themed around domestic upkeep.”

“You were also born with magic powers,” pointed out human Aria. “You can hum a tune and make all kinds of things happen, including taking on a much larger form capable of flight. You sirens are pretty much born with magical advantages.”

Just then, a buzzer went off on Adagio’s phone. Pulling it out of her pocket, she noted which of the many timers on it had gone off. “Okay, ladies, break’s over, back to work.”

“Aye!” Sonata and Aria said in unison. The three sisters bid the other three sisters farewell before disappearing into the crowded masses.

“It’s always nice to talk with them,” said Sonata with a smile before adding somewhat less mirthfully, “Even if most of the details of their lives are quite frankly horrifying.”

“And yet they turned out alright. More than alright actually, if I understand their position in their new SIREN organization correctly,” said Aria, who took the opportunity to make sure her collapsible hoofheld crossbow and the ammunition was still safely accessible under her outfit.

“Well, they also had a point in that we have a job to get back to as well,” said Adagio.

However, no sooner had the trio started to part when as one they all saw what appeared to be a Hoof heading off into the depths of the castle.

“Who is that?” Adagio asked, pointing the figure out. Aria and Sonata looked up just in time to see a midnight blue tail disappear through a door leading to a hall outside of the reception area.

“Harmonica Glow? No. Bassoon Blast?” Sonata asked, then groaned. “There must be half a dozen Hooves with those colors!”

“Well, whoever it is seems to have left her post,” Aria pointed out, and the three of them exchanged a meaningful look.

Hooves weren’t in the habit of taking unscheduled breaks. If one of them was leaving her post, it could only mean there was trouble afoot.

“If something’s going on, she may need backup. C’mon,” ordered Adagio, and together the three of them headed out the door after her. The other Hoof was moving fast, and once or twice the triplets almost lost her, but eventually they caught up to her as she approached the main ballroom—the one closed and off limits due to the Allucinor Wing infestation—and the Hoof who was supposed to be guarding it, one Lentando Fury, was nowhere to be seen.

Adagio called out to her, but the other Hoof must not have heard her as she entered the ballroom without hesitation. So with a growing sense that something was very wrong, the three siren sisters followed her in.

The main ballroom was dark, lit only by the moonlight shining in from the windows and the blue bioluminescent glow from the hundreds of Allucinor cocoons covering the walls and ceiling. The other Hoof sat in the center of it, her back to them as she surveyed her surroundings. Adagio and her sisters wasted no time in approaching, snapping off sharp salutes when they saw the uniform of a senior Hoof.

“Hooves Dazzle, Blaze, and Dusk reporting,” Adagio stated. “What’s the situation, Ma’am?”

The figure turned, and the triplets recognized her as Latendo Fury herself. “Nothing that concerns you three.” She then flashed a smile that was closer to a sneer and said, “Why don’t you just run along, like good little dogs?”

Adagio knew that they had been given a direct order, but something about this whole situation seemed wrong.

“With all due respect, Ma’am, we’d like to be informed of the situation,” she said as she slowly reached for her collapsible spear. She only hoped Aria and Sonata had the presence of mind to go for their own weapons.

“Figures you three would try to interfere,” she groaned, before promptly letting out a subsonic wail that, with her siren powers, was more than enough to seemingly trigger every single Allucinor Wing cocoon in the ballroom to begin to hatch.

“Oh no,” gasped Aria, before turning back to Lentando. “What in Tartarus have you done, Lentando?”

“Why?” was all Sonata could ask.

“The fact you even need to ask is more proof of the problem!” Lentando shouted, promptly assuming her full siren form, clearly looking for a fight.

Whiskey felt extremely nervous as she walked behind Han’nya. Hardly a week ago, she wouldn’t have really felt anything—namely because under those old circumstances, he may have regarded her as much as the breeze in the cool evening air. It was made worse by the fact it had been his offer to return Whiskey to her life as Kashingo that she’d turned down in favor of life with the humans. They were not as prominent in kitsune mythology as they were in pony lore, but stories like the fabled Megan taking down an emperor in a bloody battle certainly were not unheard of.

“I know you’re there,” said Han’nya, catching the distracted Whiskey off guard. He turned to face her, but when he seemed to finally register the true nature of the human in front of him, he actually appeared startled.

“I’m sorry!” blurted Whiskey, old instincts immediately returning and she dropped to the ground in a deep bow, arms outstretched toward the ambassador.

Han’nya blinked in surprise, and then...laughed.

“Please, rise, Kash...no, that’s not who you are anymore, is it?” He stated, almost more amused than anything. “Ah, yes, Miss Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, I believe?”

“Y-yes?” she answered cautiously, rising only to a kneeling position—she may have abandoned her old ways but the senior officers had made it very clear to respect them when interacting with other cultures, even one that had formerly been her own. And Han’nya was certainly one who deserved respect.

“Please, stand up—the fault is mine, I was expecting...well, not a human, but I can tell you are the vixen formerly known as Kashingo, are you not?”

“I am her, your highness.” Whiskey stated as she got back to her feet.

Han’nya nodded. “Yes, I see now—if only to satisfy my curiosity, can you please take your true form?”

“Of...of course!” she stammered, and immediately a cloud of leaves swirled around her—where the young Japanese teen had been standing, in her place was a gold-and-black furred kitsune, but still clad in her SIREN outfit, the only difference being that the two ponytails having moved to their true place as actual fox tails sticking out of a hole in her pants.

“Very interesting…” the ambassador seemed to look Whiskey over, but not in a sexually predatory way as she had been so used to Fujitsu doing. No, Han’nya seemed to be inspecting her like a soldier, and the subtle nod suggested he...approved? “Very interesting indeed. I am glad that we have met in this circumstance. I had hoped for a chance to speak with you personally, Miss Whiskey.” He gestured to a nearby stone bench. “Will you sit with me?”

Nodding in turn, Whiskey wordlessly approached and sat down next to the ambassador. She kept a wary eye out, however; having been a retainer herself, she knew that no less than two other retainers were around, doing the same distanced shadowing she had been doing to Tavi earlier. And should they deem it necessary to attack her, Whiskey knew she would be no match; ambassadors typically had bodyguards with no less than four tails.

“Do not worry: they will not interrupt us,” reassured Han’nya, easily reading Whiskey like a book. “I knew you were there from the moment you followed me into the garden, but that was because you wanted me to.”

“Yes,” admitted Whiskey. “I know this is extremely outside of how Inari usually handle things, but—"

“Ahahahaha!” laughed Han’nya, startling Whiskey. “I’m aware, but the truth is, Miss Whiskey, you are quite unusual yourself. I have been keeping tabs on you ever since I learned what became of the former Kashingo. You are a very different individual to the one who arrived with that scandalous half brother of mine the other week, to which I dare say is for the better.”

“I wish to speak to you about that, namely…” she sighed. “I feel like I am not doing our people justice. I appreciate the gift of the swords you gave me, but the fact is I was given an almost unheard of chance to redeem myself after being kicked out of my clan by Fujitsu. And I turned it down because...because I honestly prefer my new life as Whiskey. I couldn’t go back to being Kashingo. And I don’t know if that is worse than simply having been stripped of my position, and even my name, in the first place.”

Han’nya did not immediately respond, taking time to consider his words carefully. “Given how our culture raises swordvixens like you and what you have endured, I can see why you think that. But...if I am to be honest, it was not you who wronged our ways, it was our ways that wronged you.” Han’nya shook his head in disgust as he added “Fujitsu had no right to kick you out over such a trivial matter, especially given the so-called ‘offended party’ took no offense at all. I have the testimony of Princess Sunset herself on that, and I would think that Equestria’s newest princess is a word to back.

“Furthermore, he had the audacity to flippantly disobey a direct command—even after I told him in no uncertain terms—to attempt to kidnap not only part of Sunset’s family, but one from a completely different world? The fool could have caused a crisis between worlds on a scale he can’t even comprehend, all because he sought the clouds and rain with a human. He has done much to damage the relations between Inari and Equestria, and even the human realm as well, though Princess Sunset has assured me she would do her best to intercede in that regard.” Han’nya then turned to Whiskey, “But that’s why I’m glad you chose not to come back as Kashingo.”

“You’re...glad?”

“Indeed. There is much that can be learned from the current state of affairs, where the humans of another world first establish relations with Equestria challenge the old myths. And their first real impression they have of our people, the Inari, is that one of them—a noble, no less—wanted to take one of their daughters by force to be, if I remember the term correctly, a ‘trophy wife’. No amount of diplomacy is going to settle that problem, not immediately. That takes trust, and trust can only be earned over time.” He looked at her intently, adding, “And they trust you implicitly. You are, after all, the first non-human who was chosen for Princess Sunset’s personal guard, over any member in the actual Equestrian armed forces.

“I understand you will wear your human disguise almost perpetually while you live in that world, but even so, you represent all of Inari should the time come when you must reveal who you really are. It is not your own honor that you must redeem, because you never truly lost it—it’s the honor of all kitsunejin that you will uphold, for no other kitsune is so trusted with the life of an Equestrian noble.”

“I...thank you…” Whiskey was truly taken aback. She hadn’t expected the conversation to go where it had, but it certainly had led her to revisualize where she stood. The realization that she was the only frame of reference that an entire civilization would have for her kind...it was a lot to take in.

“Now, I expect that you should get back to being a, ah, ‘SIREN’ I do believe, but before you go, is there anything you’d like me to take back to Inari? For instance, a message?”

“Actually, yes, if you could tell my clan back home that—”

Before Whiskey could finish, two four-tailed kitsune swordvixens appeared, looking clearly agitated. “Your highness, we must depart with haste” one of them said. Then turning to Whiskey, added, “And you need to return to your forces—they will have need of you shortly.”

“What’s going on?” he asked, standing up immediately. The answer provided itself as a worryingly familiar looking blue butterfly appeared hovering above them all, fluttering toward Han’nya—and only stopped when one of the vixens quickly drew her sword and sliced it in half.

Instinctively, Whiskey turned toward the ballroom where she’d followed Han’nya out...and gasped. Hundreds of similar blue butterflies were pouring out from the windows.

Author's Note:

As always, a reminder to check out and update the TV tropes page!

Comments

[Darkstory]

Damn it the butterflies are here, run for your life.

[EmotionBreakerSlayer]

Me- *Screaming internally because one of the equestrian sirens (Hooves) went dark side* What in the holy hayseed! This siren gonna be on a lot of ponies/people's bad side... is this one of the sombra cult's inside ponies...

[Teraunce]

Well I see Chekhov left his armory lying around again. People really should stop tripping over it.