Caverns & Cutie Marks: Our House Now

by TheColtTrio

Chapter 51: We've Officially Run Out of Chapter Titles

“I can’t believe I’m stuck working with you again,” Grill grumbled.

Solosun rolled his eyes. “So you’ve said. Multiple times by now. But things are different than they were before.”

“Yeah. Before, if I wanted to punch you square in the beak, there was an annoying pony to stop me. Now I gotta rely on sheer willpower.”

“Oh spare me. I’m not letting you get under my feathers this time. Not with a small army of alicorns waiting for us outside that dome.” Solosun peeked through the tent flap at a well-guarded tent not far away, containing the Orb of Glacious—the two halves held together by the magical power Moon Dancer had put into it. “No, we have a show of force big enough for Equestria to see. Now we wait for the ponies to get scared of our reformed Orb, and they’ll come to negotiate peace.”

“We don’t have a zoggin’ reformed Orb,” Grill pointed out.

The griffon let the tent flap drop and walked back towards the minotaur. “But they don’t know that. All warfare is based on deception.”

Grill folded his arms in front of his chest. “This literally could not get any worse.”

“It CAN get worse!” A grey pony appeared in the tent entrance, tracking water on the floor as pranced in. “I just washed my hooves. That’s why they’re wet.” He looked at the two bandit leaders, who were staring daggers at him. “No other reason.”

Grill snorted, sending steam into the air. “You’re back,” he growled.

“Well, you know what they say,” Light Patch said with a shrug. “Can’t keep a bad pony down.” He leaned casually against the wall of the tent, only to catch the edge of the tent flap and tumble out with a yelp. A moment later, he reappeared in the entrance. “And I think it’s safe to say, I’m the worst pony out there.”

“What do you want?” Solosun said sharply. “If you’re looking for your little partner in excavation, she’s locked up safe and sound.”

“Oh, Moon Dancer?” Light Patch made a dismissive noise. “I already got her out of here.”

“WHAT?” Grill leapt to his feet, grabbing a nearby spear.

“Relax,” Solosun said with a grin. “He’s bluffing.”

Light Patch looked between the two bandit leaders, then shrugged. “Suit yourself. Isn’t anyone going to ask how I got in your fortress of solitude?”

“The same way you got out last time,” Grill spat. “Disappearin’ from where you are, and appearin’ where no-one’s lookin’.”

“The more important question,” Solosun said as he rose to his feet, “is what you intend to do in the middle of the most powerful force north of the Crystal Empire.”

“Yeah, about that.” Light Patch brushed a spare bit of snow from his hoof. “I kinda sorta need my Orb back.”

“Your Orb,” Grill repeated blankly.

“My Orb,” the pegasus echoed back. “Yeah, see, you’ve been kinda borrowing it this whole time? And I need that back to fix some problems I may or may not have caused back in Canterlot. I know, I know, Wits said ‘no disintegrations’, but you haven’t seen how he plays Coltsader Kings. I just need to put some particularly problematic pony politicians on ice for a bit, then I’ll definitely give you the Orb back.”

The tent went deathly silent. Light Patch cleared his throat. “Please?”

“You have to be,” Solosun groaned, pinching the bridge of his beak between two talons, “the worst pony I’ve ever heard of.”

“But you have heard of me,” Light Patch replied smugly.

A moment later, Light Patch was thrown to the ground with a griffon’s claws around his neck. “Well,” he muttered, spitting out a mouthful of dirt, “that could’ve gone better.”

“You,” Solosun growled, “are an idiot. Back in Griffonstone, you would’ve been tied up at the end of a banner and used as target practice. However, you will make an excellent addition to the growing store of hostages we’ve collected. Maybe with the three of you, we can negotiate a more reasonable peace with the Crystal Empire.”

With a hiss, Solosun pulled his claw away from the pegasus. He stared at the shallow cut running along his leg. “What? How did you-” He glared at the pony slowly standing upright before him, and the glow that was moving along their body. “What is happening? What are you doing?”

With a shake of his head, the colt’s mane changed from brown and pink to mint and seafoam. Wits End stood before the two bandit chiefs, his mouth set in a cocky smirk. “I’m distracting you,” the unicorn grinned, “ya big turdblossums.”

In an instant, the tent was torn from the ground. Grill and Solosun looked around to find their entire combined camp lying on the ground, with either Alicorns or Crystal Empire Guardsponies standing over them. Not far away, Moon Dancer and a squad of pegasi were handing off the two halves of the Orb of Glacious to a team of Crystal Ponies.

Solosun grit his beak. “How?” he managed.

“What, you think I just popped in here on my own, and wandered into the middle of the enemy camp on a laugh?” Wits asked. “I have a regiment of Alicorns on my side, bird boy. They cut a hole through your little dome long enough for me and Rogue Squadron to sneak through. They disabled the Orb, while I kept you two busy so you couldn’t organize your, quite frankly, pathetic excuses for a civil war.”

Grill stared at the Crystal Empire ponies around them. “But… but I thought-”

“That you were outside our territory?” The bandits turned to see Shining Armor approaching, coming to a stop next to Wits End. “The Crystal Empire’s pretty big, but when we have exact coordinates, it becomes a lot easier to find some bandits.”

“And a messenger dragon helps with getting those coordinates right to the Captain of the Guard,” Wits finished. “Plus, knowing that said Captain assumes that his sister’s dragon’s clawwriting means the message comes from his sister helps to cut down on the back-and-forth.”

Shining Armor blinked. “Wait, you mean Twilight isn’t here?”

“In a minute, Chad.” Wits smirked at the two bandit leaders. “Any other questions before you get locked up in pony prison for the rest of your lives?”

“Yes,” Solosun growled. “With nothing to lose, what stops me from tearing out your throat, like a true Griffon mercenary?”

There was a dull thud, followed by the heavy thump as Solosun hit the ground. Iron Maiden stood behind him, dropping the tent pole she’d been holding in her magic. “I do,” she said flatly, looking down at the knocked-out griffon. She turned her steely gaze on the minotaur next. “Any more questions?”

Grill meekly raised a hand. “What’s the chances of gettin’ out early with good behavior?”

* * *

Light Patch took his seat near Holdfast as Just Duty settled in on one of the usual royal guard sentry positions close to them, as did many other ponies and non-ponies as they also filed into the large chamber. “It’s a thing of beauty isn’t it?” Holdfast asked, a small smile playing on his lips.

“I suppose it’s nice enough,” Light Patch remarked looking around. “a bit gaudy for my tastes honestly.”

“I’ve always thought of this room like the cooking of somepony who thought adding everything into the same meal was a good idea,” Just Duty noted. “Honestly mixing Appleachian wood inlays with Nimbusian column design, and then you have all of the Porsk fine stone work-” He paused at the glare Holdfast sent his way. “What?”

“I’m talking about the government, you two.” The senator sighed heavily. “This room is the inner workings of the greatest machine made by the hooves of the living.”

“This whole couple of weeks has been like learning how the sausage is made.” Light Patch interrupted, earning his own glare from the stallion.

“I saw how the sausage is made once,” Just Duty remarked, enjoying the small twitches playing around Holdfast’s face. “A Griffonian meat plant. I couldn’t eat for two days after that.”

“You’re both cretins.” Holdfast muttered, just before Blueblood, who’d entered without their notice, banged his gavel against the center podium.

“Gentle Colts and Gentle Mares, and all other Gentle beings. Let us bring this session to its beginning. It’s too nice of a day to spend it all tucked inside with friends.” The three stallions smiled as Blueblood either misread the room, or simply failed to notice the general sense of animosity amongst all the ponies present. “There is really only one thing to do at this time. A quick yea or nay vote on a bill, then we can be onto bigger and brighter things in our day, such as lunch.”

“I hope he had a heavy breakfast,” Light Patch muttered quietly, earning a light smack from Holdfast.

“So then all in favor of the Notability Of Battlefield Legacy Events bill, say Aye,” Blueblood called, smiling constantly as he watched ponies of his party raise their hooves, but the smile faltered at the lack of any outside the party. “And opposed?” Now Blueblood’s smile faded as for the first time in all of Equestria’s history every single pony on the council had voted on a bill: granted, this was mostly against.

“And now the show begins.” Holdfast muttered with an almost feral grin.

Blueblood swallowed loudly and resisted the urge to shuffle the pages of the bill on his lectern. He looked around at the assembly and weighed his options.

“Any particular reason you’re still standing there?” a voice called to the white unicorn. Blueblood blinked, looking to where the question had come from. Amongst a knot of ponies in the Harmonists Party, one pony was standing, eyeing Blueblood with ill-concealed irritation.

“Pardon me?” Blueblood asked, mind racing absolutely nowhere as panic slowly filled his chest.

“You proposed the bill, it was voted down, end of story,” the pony said. “Do you have something else to say, or do you need longer to count? Seemed pretty straightforward to me.”

A ripple of laughter passed through the council and Blueblood flushed brightly in embarrassment. He cleared his throat, waiting for the noise in the chamber to subside before speaking. “Honoured councilmembers,” he said, “might I suggest we look over the wording of the bill before we vote? I do not feel the true sentiment of the text was completely understood for all present.” Blueblood quirked the corner of his lips in a small smile, evidently pleased with the phrasing of his request. The ensuing laughter left him most confused as he stood awkwardly at the lectern.

“It would seem like a fairly straight forward bill,” one of the other ponies mentioned, “You want to memorialize a battlefield with a park.”

“A theme park that would replace the nearby town,” Light Patch added aloud to stir a little more resentment.

“That nearby town being Ponyville,” Holdfast said, his voice carrying with practiced ease. “Where one of our few remaining Princesses resides.”

“Hence why we in the Royal Wisdom party voted this down,” an older mare said, moving to stand up. “Now about that ‘getting on to lunch’ you mentioned.”

“I’m not sure what you’re trying to do, Blueblood,” a pony from Blueblood’s own party called, “but drop it. The bill was voted down. Let's just let this one pass us.”

Blueblood smoothed the expression on his face to hide his pout. “But certainly we can convince Twilight Sp-”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle!” a member of the Considered Action party shouted.

“Ahem, Princess Twilight Sparkle to move into the castle here in Canterlot?” the unicorn finished. “It shouldn’t be that hard.”

“And what about the rest of Ponyville?” It was an EPF pony this time. “Do you expect them to move half their population just for the construction of a park to memorialize the battleground of a duel? A duel between a defunct ruler and an officer of an invading army, no less?”

Blueblood’s brain was near steaming now as he bounced between the two possible answers rattling away in his skull.

“Aaah...” he hummed. “Yes?”

“And who will fund this mass migration of misplaced ponies?” a Communialist pony asked.

“More than that,” a pony from the Natural Harmonists party cut in, “who will pay for the park itself? Do you expect us to build over the site of the battle? Or somehow leave that area untouched?”

“Leave that scar on the land untouched?” a Natural Course member gasped. “Why is this even a discussion? We should be healing that land, not commemorating the scab!”

Blueblood blinked at the rapidly fired questions and locked onto just one. “Well… I’m sure if we ask nicely, the Second Alicorn Diarchy can pay for it all.”

“I might actually have to break up a brawl,” Just Duty quipped, looking a little more attentive than he’d had been.

“You want to ask... an invading force to fund the construction of a theme park and memorial where a critical member of their command staff got their flank handed to them in a widely public display?” an older stallion wearing a medal or two still from his time long ago in the royal guard stated simply.

“Are you dumb?” a councillor from Noble Thought asked, prompting Light Patch to lean over to whisper to Holdfast.

“I mean if he wasn’t we wouldn’t be doing all of this to him.”

“Let’s not be mean,” Holdfast muttered back, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “A few more comments like that, and he’ll have all the rope he needs to hogtie himself.” He gave the pegasus a sidelong glance. “Perhaps you’d like to throw a little kindling on the fire?”

“With pleasure.” Light Patch smiled and turned to look towards Blueblood, before turning back just as quick, this time with a sheepish look, “Just as soon as I think of something. No wait, I just remembered a good one.” The pegasus raised his voice, as if trying to talk to Holdfast but being just loud enough to be heard. “This still seems like a better idea than putting his newly hired butler basically in charge of the nation.” Light Patch finished with a satisfied smile.

“That was the best shot you had?” Just Duty asked.

“This is why I wanted to deal with the alicorns,” Ligh Patch said. “I’m not suited for politics-”

“A commoner in charge?” the leader of Noble Thought shouted, ignoring their monocle which had popped off their face. “What game are you playing at Blue Blood!”

Blueblood blinked. “Game? Whatever do you mean? I merely trusted my butler to look after the throne in my absence.”

“Your absence being a long jaunt around the Summer Estate?” snarled a member of the Royal Guard Reformists. “You let your butler run the country while an invading force marched across our territory?!”

“Shooda lef da throne to da ‘Ogz’z!” roared the sole member of the Hogz Tribe in attendance. “Puny ‘ittle poneez don know nufink ‘bout foightin’! We’z kooda run doz ally-cornz back da way dey came wit eaze! No problem! Stoopid butt-ler fot betta than puny poneez did! Right propa ‘Ogz iz ‘ee!”

“...Quite,” sniffed the Noble Thought leader as he polished his monocle. “One way or the other, Blueblood, your behaviour during this whole kerfuffle has certainly given us pause for concern.”

“But… the bill...”

“I think that’s quite enough tormenting the poor colt,” Holdfast whispered to his compatriots as he stood. “Gentlemares and Colts, if I may! It seems-” His voice was lost in the low rumble of ponies’ voices as members of each party began talking over each other, occasionally punctuated by Blueblood’s impotent yelps for order, or an attempt from the Hogz Tribe representative to start a WAAUGH. “Perhaps that was more kindling than necessary…”

Just Duty stepped up and, with a swift motion, brought his hoof down on the desk Holdfast and Light Patch had been sitting at. With a sharp crack, the desk split in two, silencing the room as they all turned to look at the seeming wanton destruction. “Oh, none of you give me that look. This desk was broken and you all know it. The lot of you are just mad y’aren’t the ones who did it yourselves.” Just Duty nodded before turning to go back to his position near the back wall.

Holdfast gave a subtle nod to the Paladin, then cleared his throat. “Since we have a convenient silence here,” he said, “please allow me to step in for just a moment. It seems that we’ve reached an ideological impasse here. Here we are arguing about what to do with a few dozen acres of land, while more important issues remain undealt with. War, gentlemares and colts, is still being waged on Equestrian soil; not just by invading alicorns, but by bandits running rampant in the north.”

“A-an excellent point, Senator Holdfast,” Blueblood coughed. “If we could just-”

“With all due respect,” Holdfast said, leaving Blueblood muttering to himself, “the root of those issues sits right in this very room. My good regent, I am afraid that if one were to lay the blame for the current state of Canterlot and its rulership over Equestria on one pony, that pony would look an awful lot like you.”

Blueblood blinked. “I have a doppelganger?”

“...No. I am speaking of you, sir.” Holdfast ignored the spluttering regent and turned his gaze to the rest of the surrounding ponies. “My fellow Equestrians, in the best interest of Equestria and her ponies, I must call for a Vote of No Confidence against Regent Blueblood. Is anypony willing to second this call?”

“Aye,” came Char Cuterie’s voice. “Enough playing around at rulership. I second the motion.”

“And I third it,” Heavy Wait’s wheeze echoed through the room. “In the interest of Equestria’s priorities, of course.”

“Then,” Holdfast said, “all those in favor?”

Blueblood would be slightly pleasantly pleased upon later reflection many years later: that was the second time that day that the entire council had voted on something. And for the first time in history they had all voted unanimously. Granted, it was to oust him from office, but he hadn’t exactly wanted the job. It was just sometimes that great ponies got hoofed great responsibility.

As the former regent was led away from the podium, one pony voiced what every senator was thinking. “So… what happens now?”

“As these are extraordinary times,” Holdfast said, calling on the research he’d done after Light Patch had first come up with this crazy idea, “the senate would act as a regency council until such a time when we can elect a proper regent. In the meantime, we can nominate some ponies for short-term leadership.”

“Does this mean I can go get lunch now?” Blueblood asked.

“Just Duty, can you please escort him from the chambers?” Holdfast asked, getting a nod from the stallion.

A wry smile played across the senator’s lips. “Also, I would like to nominate Just Duty as temporary regent,” he said quickly, forcing the smile off his face as the larger stallion whirled around on the spot and glared at him.

“You son of a-”

The rest of what the Paladin said was lost as Light Patch burst into laughter.

* * *

Two hours to pen and send a letter requesting a parley with Sol Eater, Co-Ruler of the Second Alicorn Diarchy.

An hour more to write missives to Equestrian Military Command.

Nearly TWO DAYS to receive a reply from Sol Eater. Granted, Purple Heart spent those two days setting his trap in place, but the anxiety was burning something fierce inside him. Remarkably, the monarch had agreed to the call for parley and had outlined the time of their arrival on one of the bluffs not too far from the portal. All this worked perfectly for Purple Heart and he only had to move his trap from the other side of the encampment.

So now he stood there on the third day, waiting for Sol Eater’s arrival atop the bluff in question. In hindsight, any hilltop would do. With the amount within view range, any could have fit the parameters Sol Eater demanded. All she had to do now was come to him.

Squinting his eyes against the bright, mid-morning sun, Purple Heart scanned the sky. Several clouds coasted overhead, one of which drifted across the sun above and supplied a short stint of shade for the purple earth pony. With a sigh, Purple sat on his haunches, having been standing for nearly two hours now. The reply had dictated an arrival time of shortly before noon, but Purple Heart’s paranoia demanded arriving early in case of any surprises. It also gave the purple stallion ample time to finalize his plans to full readiness.

Unconsciously, Purple Heart started to hum, allowing himself a small respite from the madness of the last few months.

“Yohohoho, yo hoho hoooo,” he sang softly. “Yohohoho, yo hoho hooooo. Yohohoho, yo hoho hoooo. Yohohoho, yo hoho hooooo…

“Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo,

Umikaze kimakase namimakase,

Shio no mukou de, yuuhi mo sawagu,

Sora nya wa wo kaku, tori no uta...

Sayonara minato, Tsumugi no sato yo

DON to icchou utao, funade no uta,

Kinpa-ginpa mo shibuki ni kaete,

Oretacha yuku zo, umi no kagiri.”

Swaying back and forth, Purple Heart resumed humming. He closed his eyes and sat there on the bluff, hoping this moment wouldn’t end. If only Wits and Light were here to share it with him.

Something struck the ground not far from where Purple Heart sat, shocking the purple earth pony out of his singing and bringing him to his hooves. The cloud of dust kicked up from the impact masked whatever had landed and had barely started to dissipate when another impact rocked the hill. Purple Heart coughed, waving at the dust with a hoof. Then the third impact hit. With a groan, he started waving his hoof rapidly, trying to keep dust away from his face as at least a dozen more impacts shook the hillock. When the trembling ceased, Purple Heart cracked an eye open.

“Can I look now?” he asked.

“Yes,” a harsh voice confirmed. Opening his eyes fully, Purple blinked several times.

Sol Eater stood several paces away from him, glaring at him with her hard gold eyes, her wings flared behind her majestically.

Purple Heart inclined his head to the monarch. When he raised it, he saw Sol Eater’s arched eyebrow of surprised confusion.

“Can’t hurt to be a little civil and respectful, can it?” he quipped, a small smile on his lips.

Sol Eater didn’t return the smile.

Purple winced and glanced at the alicorns behind Sol Eater then back at the monarch. “Your coterie?”

“Indeed. These are my Primarechs,” Sol Eater stated.

Purple Heart blinked rapidly and looked over the alicorn ruler’s shoulder again. “...Wat?” He counted quickly. “Why’s there twenty of them?”

A frown creased Sol Eater’s brow. “Why would there not be?”

“Cos eighteen follows through on the reference,” Purple Heart explained vaguely.

Sol Eater glared at the purple stallion. “Are you quite done wasting time?”

“Eeyup.”

Sol Eater closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, then exhaled one long, drawn out breath. Opening her eyes and looking hard at Purple Heart, she spoke. “Now, you requested a parley.” Her eyes narrowed. “For what pur-”

“Seduce me.”

Sol Eater gave the purple earth pony one long, slow blink of confused disbelief. “I beg your pardon?”

“Seduce me,” he repeated firmly.

Sol Eater looked over her shoulder at her soldiers, fruitlessly expecting an explanation from them. Her forces just stared back at her blankly, offering no assistance. She turned back to Purple Heart. “I don’t think-”

“SEDUCE ME!” roared the purple stallion.

“I’m sorry, but you just do not do it for me!” cried Sol Eater, flaring her wings defensively.

“Piss biscuits,” Purple Heart grumbled. “I was sure that would work...”

“I can guarantee it would not have!” the sun-themed alicorn said. “Now, kindly explain to me the purpose of this ‘parley’ you have called!”

“Honestly, the parley was just to get you here so I wouldn’t have to go searching for you,” Purple Heart explained.

Sol Eater blinked. “That is... fair,” she admitted. “I was in the midst of raiding some poor, defenseless hamlet for supplies, but your invitation for talks of surrender intrigued me.” She straightened, coming to her full height. “What are the terms you wish for Equestria’s surrender to the Second Alicorn Diarchy?”

Purple looked up at the towering alicorn for several long seconds of silence. Behind Sol Eater, the other alicorns started shifting anxiously as the silence dragged on. Sol Eater herself was watching Purple Heart while Purple Heart in turn was staring at Sol Eater. With the dumbest look on his face he could manage.

“You have managed to make your face appear flat from the front,” Sol Eater commented, ignoring the sighs of relief from behind her. “Are you doing that for some inane purpose other than to look dull and dim witted?”

“Nope.”

“...You are mocking me, are you not?”

“Eeyup.”

“...”

“Is it working?”

Sol Eater’s right eye twitched. “Is what working?”

“My attempt at stalling?”

A beam of incandescent light struck Purple Heart in the chest and tore through him, carving a whole clean through the purple earth pony.

“You never intended to surrender, did you?” Sol Eater asked the corpse irritably.

“If you’d paid attention to the message, you would’ve known I was asking for your surrender,” the corpse said.

The alicorns blinked in unison.

“Ah, seems the jig is up,” Purple Heart’s string clone mused thoughtfully as it unravelled. Strings wafted into the air and disappeared.

A vengeful scowl twisted into being on Sol Eater’s face. “FIND HIM!” she ordered thunderously. The alicorns leapt into action, soaring up to give themselves a clear survey of the surrounding area. The portal loomed to the east, a monolith of power that the alicorns ignored in favour of spotting their quarry. It wasn’t long before one of their number did.

“There!” they cried, pointing with a hoof back toward the hillock the short-lived parley had taken place on. Sol Eater looked around and zeroed in on Purple Heart. The earth pony in question was sitting on his haunches right behind her, his eyes glazed as he stared off into space. With a snap of her hindquarters, she pulverized the purple stallion with a devastating kick of her back legs.

A look of righteous fury crossed Sol Eater’s face as more strings drifted on the wind.

“There!” Another alicorn pointed.

“There!”

“There!”

The air was quickly filled with cries of alicorn after alicorn spotting Purple Heart. Each of them were pointing in different directions. Sol Eater leapt into the air and surveyed the surrounding landscape. Her soldiers weren’t wrong. Twenty Purple Hearts were scattered amongst the hills below them. Subconsciously, she noted there was one Purple Heart for each of her Primarechs.

“Kill him. Kill him now!” Sol Eater ordered. The alicorns hesitated. “DO IT!” Each of the twenty Primarechs plunged earthward, pouncing on each Purple Heart. Each Purple Heart exploded clouds of green strings and Sol Eater gave a roar of frustration. Then she spotted him. One more Purple Heart running towards the portal. The alicorn monarch scoffed. If he thought to pass through the portal, he’d be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Sol Eater’s scoff turned into a choke of surprise. Severn thick green coils erupted from the running earth pony and latched onto the archway that contained the portal. Eyes widening with fear, Sol Eater dove towards Purple Heart.

“Stop him! He intends to destroy the archway!” she cried, hurriedly calling her magic to bear. With practiced ease, her Primarechs leapt to join her and formed up behind her, lending their magic to the spell Sol Eater was crafting. As the formation plunged towards him, Purple Heart added more strings to the twelve coils. The timing had to be perfect. With 21 alicorns thundering towards him, he pushed string after string towards the portal.

He looked over his shoulder and was nearly blinded by the corona of light flaring around Sol Eater’s horn. But he saw enough. A number of strings, just enough to do what he needed, plunged out of his hooves and into the ground, coiling tightly underneath his weight. The formation was mere horse lengths away when he jolted upwards, propelled by the released tension of the coiled strings beneath him.

As one, the Primarechs and their leader gasped in surprise.

As one, they pulled up just enough to not crater into the ground.

As one, they vanished through the portal back into the Game World.

With a heave on his strings, the thick coils circling the archway erupted towards the portal and flattened into the thousands of strings that made them. Interweaving seamlessly, they sealed the portal with a dome of threads, deep enough for a pony to stand in without splattering against the newly formed wall, but small enough that only one pony could stand comfortably.

“Iris engaged,” Purple Heart gasped, “and locked.” He disconnected every string until one remained to connect him to the improvised seal on the archway. He could disconnect it later. Now however, he needed a nap. One more string clone appeared beside him, blinking silently at him in a prompting manner.

“Go inform the Colonel,” Purple Heart slurred, “move camp down here. Ima slep na-”

With a heavy thud, Purple Heart slumped against the archway and conked right out.