The Immortal Dream

by Czar_Yoshi

Royal Spectrum

Five days into my stay in Wilderwind, I was finally starting to remember what it was like to relax.

I sat on a rooftop near the city outskirts, feeling downright pleased with my appearance. Two days ago, Puddles had decided to write off my armor from Rhodallis as a lost cause, and a five-hour marathon of visiting blacksmiths, armories, clothiers, boutiques and hobby shops left us with the materials to do something about it. A marathon session of crafting ensued, as I brought to bear everything I had learned from making my previous clothes in Icereach, soaked in Puddles' knowledge of armorcraft and blended them together, and after a day and a night and another day in her workshop, it was finished: Halcyon Coat, Version Three.

Made by my own hooves. Rugged and stylish, with bits of visible armor on the surface and sturdier plating underneath, it had a high collar and a half-cloak big enough to sweep but too small to get in the way, and a weight profile that was slightly unbalanced to the left - just enough that it would be counterbalanced by my favored satchel, or by a hidden detachable ballast. It cut a colorless profile with its thick black fabric and strips and studs of non-reflective silver metal, the cloak cast slightly to one side to show off my boots as well: slim and sleek and tall and plated and powerful, a hint of elegance to remind everyone that I was still a mare under this elaborately armored costume.

I felt cool. Ridiculously cool. Powerful, cultured, refined and even clean, five days in a row of real baths leaving my fur not sweaty and not full of sand. Sure, my sword hadn't gotten the royal treatment yet; it was still the same big block of metal it had been a week ago. But it was up next, and I didn't feel like waiting that long to show off the new me.

That was why I had half-jumped, half-climbed to the roof of a storefront overlooking a busy Wilderwind market street, and was currently striking poses in full public view.

I hate to burst your bubble, Faye said in my mind, but I think this is too normal around here for us to get as much attention as we would elsewhere.

I shushed her. Let me have this. Besides, there were at least a few looks of envy in the crowd below, more than there were of annoyance. Mostly from foals, granted, but still.

One of the reasons I could relax so much and afford to spend time showing off was that Rhodallis was gone. The day after I encountered him in the tower with Puddles, his airship had left, drifting lazily south with its corny, painted-on shark face and taking my paranoia with it. I had watched for a solid hour as it meandered away, and the sight of my problems disappearing like that had unlocked something in my brain. Something I was now taking full advantage of, adjusting myself so that my cloak caught some air.

I wonder if this look could use a mask, Faye mused. Not the magical way that we do it. A real one.

Good question. But there would always be room for adjustments later. Right now, I just wanted to bask in what I had, while that sense of accomplishment was flying high and before the world could get a word in edgewise and subject this coat to the same fate as my old ones.

Hopefully that wouldn't be soon. I had taken extra care to make this one intended to take that kind of abuse.

"Only a few more hours until sundown," I remarked under my breath after another round of posing. "You think we should keep working this venue, or try another one? I'd kind of like to get a bigger reaction than this..."

I think you're going to have to actually do something for that to happen, Faye pointed out. Too bad we don't know any good acrobatics tricks.

Yeah. For some reason, that kind of movement had never properly resonated with me, possibly because I wasn't built for it or possibly because my teachers were the least-acrobatic creatures in the north. And this wasn't the time to make myself look silly by trying to learn. Showing off, showing off...

I hopped down from the roof. Puddles had given a lengthy talk about how to build shock absorbers into armor for things like this, but I had my bracelet, and that was more than enough to get me through a little fall. Ponies gave me a slightly bigger berth than they would for an unarmed stranger as I started walking, which wasn't saying much when over half the crowd was either visibly armed or clearly didn't need a weapon.

You'd think this place would be perfect for showing off gear like mine: no one would find it out of place, and plenty of others to one-up with my skills. But maybe I'd have better luck being patient and strutting my armor in Izvaldi, instead...

And then it hit me. "I know where we're going," I whispered, the crowd too thick for anyone to realize I was talking to myself as I turned and abruptly started marching uphill.

Dare I ask? Faye sounded amused. While dressing up had been her hobby originally, I was taking it far further than she ever intended. What she saw as a means to hide her hooves was a means to me of feeling cool.

She would get to watch and see. And she just might see me make a fool of myself, but I suddenly remembered a place where I could definitely get an audience, without fail.

I rounded the city, partly retracing the route I had taken with Puddles on my first evening here, partly making up my own shortcuts by using bracelet-assisted jumps to climb walls and walk on roofs. Investing in a grappling hook like Puddles might not be a terrible idea... but I turned out not to need one, flipping up onto the plaza outside the central tower and even sticking a slightly respectable landing.

A few ponies on the plaza gave me an oh, it's a hooligan look. Rude.

Oh, Faye said, catching onto my plan as I stepped through the lobby doors. Are you sure this is a good idea?

Well, it wasn't like the tower had any defenses against strangers wandering into its lobby. And I had been allowed in here before - near the top, even. The worst that could possibly happen was that I got shown to the exit, and if my new getup couldn't impress those dolled up elevator attendant mares, then I was a fraud and it wouldn't impress anyone. So as far as I was concerned, this was a great idea. Outside of freak accidents, what could go wrong?

Don't jinx it, Faye sighed.

Nobody stopped me at the door, and I made it most of the way to the elevators without anything happening. See? No jinx. I didn't see the mare who had been eyeing me up last time among the five or so hanging out in the elevator area, but that wasn't necessarily a good or bad thing. The ones who were there, with their humongous bows and intricate make-up jobs and scandalously skimpy neon dresses, all fixed me with looks that said you belong here, though I felt like they didn't actually recognize me and were trained to do that to anyone.

"Hiii," one of the mares said, a teal pegasus with a dark purple mane and a matching neon blue dress, stepping forward to greet me with a blue-lipsticked smile. "What's your business today, Ma'am?"

I turned my chin up, adopting an aloof expression like Puddles used as the Black Knight. "Waiting. For someone."

"I seee," the teal mare said. "May I ask who and where?"

"That's classified."

The teal pegasus gave me a look that saw right through me. "Well, we've got plenty of waiting chairs right over there, okay? Please enjoy your stay!"

She gave me a deep bow, and then went back to titter with her companions about something. The expectation that I would go sit in the lobby chairs, away from the elevator entrances, lingered heavy in the air. So, feeling silly and not letting it show, I went and did just that.

You know, Faye said in my mind, you're probably at least the thousandth one this year to try to proposition those girls. You might be the most innocent, or have the purest intentions, and you might not even be in the bottom tenth percentile for how suave you were... but that was never going to work.

Shut up. She didn't need to rub it in.

Faye giggled.

So I sat there and stewed, precious daylight wasting away as I fought between the desire to go do something else and the urge not to look bad by getting up and walking away. Several elevators came and went, new mares and griffonesses emerging from them as the clients they were escorting left the tower, and old ones ascending with new clients. After a while, the pool was completely rotated out save for the blue mare who had told me to take a seat. If she left, then I could leave too while she was gone without losing face. But my paranoia, reinforced by the fact that she snuck a glance at me at least once every minute, told me she wasn't going anywhere.

It was basically a staring contest, and she clearly knew it. She was daring me to leave, and her prize for winning was nothing more than knowing I would feel silly about it. But she also won if I stayed here, and her prize was knowing that she had wasted my entire evening. On the scale of problems I had dealt with in my life, this was so tame it was almost funny, but still. How had I let this happen?

Another elevator slid to a stop. Out stepped a mildly uncomfortable middle-aged stallion in a suit so small it made him look puffy and bloated, with square-rimmed spectacles and a double chin and a briefcase and a minuscule tie. Much more important was the valet who was with him: the same mare who had escorted Puddles and I last week, with her purple coat and magenta mane and eye-searingly red dress.

This was... I didn't know whether it was good or bad. But when the blue mare who had been watching me leaned over and whispered something in her ear, and when she turned to look at me as a result, and then when the two of them exchanged a lightning-fast kiss from an angle clearly meant to allow me to see it, I had a feeling I was in for something awkward. Especially when the purple pegasus started coming my way.

Deliberately and directly my way. Any coolness I had been feeling, any desire to show off my new coat had by now thoroughly evaporated.

"Hey there," the purple pegasus said, giving me a sly, sideways smile. "Lissa says you were waiting for someone? And that you neglected to mention whether that someone was a client or a certain employee?"

My stoic facade was all I had. "I did say that."

The purple pegasus advanced into my personal space. "Well, lucky you, running into someone who already knows all about the unique nature of your business here. Won't you please follow me?"

I glanced around. What were the odds I was about to be arrested for... something?

Lower than the odds that a valet who remembered taking me to a VIP area and had clearly been interested in me at the time wanted something more benign out of me. And really, I had come here in the first place to show off. And I was a batpony, so I could escape quite a few bad situations with shadow sneaking. I stuffed my paranoia into a tight little box and wordlessly got up to follow her, hoping that the worst fallout from a little adventure like this would be me feeling really, really awkward.

She led me back to the elevators, pushed a button and waited for the doors to re-open on the one she had stepped out of... but someone had already called it up to another floor. As she pouted and summoned another, the blue pegasus - presumably Lissa - bumped conspicuously into my side.

"Heeey," she said, her voice not quite low enough to avoid being overheard. "Thanks for waiting, and I hope you don't have any real business we're distracting you from? Flarefeather's been talking so much this last week about meeting a real sarosian, I just couldn't let you get away. Mares, right?"

"Shut!" The purple pegasus - presumably Flarefeather - smacked her with her tail, which was too short and fluffy to have any effect. She looked pointedly away from both of us.

The other valets giggled, and Lissa strolled smugly back to her post.

I tried to process that without dropping my guise. She had been baiting me into staying here on purpose? Whatever these elevator attendants were up to, it was certainly complicated enough for someone with a boring job to have come up with it. But maybe it wasn't sinister. As long as Flarefeather didn't want anything from me that I wasn't actually looking to give. And I had come here to be the center of attention, even if this really wasn't how it was supposed to go...

The elevator opened, and Flarefeather all but pushed me inside.

I noticed she didn't even ask me where I was going before pushing in a number, not using her rose rapier key to access the VIP floors this time. "What do you want with me?" I asked as the elevator started to ascend.

"What!?" She gave me a shocked, innocent expression, and then a predatory smile. "Aww, that's my line! You did come here to see me, right?"

I considered how to respond to that. "That's classified."

Flarefeather flicked my chin with a wingtip, making me take a step back. "Ooh, you're not very good at this. But, I could tell, from how oblivious you were last time. Let me spell it out for you, sarosian: I, Flarefeather, want to do you a favor. Even if you didn't come here to see me, you'd be a fool not to change up your reason."

I frowned. "Why?"

"That's not the right question." Flarefeather flicked at my muzzle again with a pout. "The question you should be asking is, 'What kind of favors can you do for me, Flarefeather?' Because it's obvious you don't know how this works, and you're throwing away a grand opportunity here."

I stood my ground. "You're being unusually pushy."

"Well, excuse a filly for dreaming." Flarefeather rolled her eyes. "Come on, drop the act! Whaddya want!? A filly this talented and beautiful doesn't fall into your lap every day, missy, not even if you're Lord Wilderwind himself. What? Do? You? Want?"

She punctuated every word with a tap of her rose rapier on my nose.

"I'd like to know what's in it for you," I said. "You clearly want me to owe you a favor. What?"

Flarefeather rolled her eyes. "Who cares? Did you or did you not come here to see me?"

Uhh...

"If your stubborn little shtick won't let you answer," Flarefeather threatened, "then prove you've got a different reason by telling me what floor you're going to. Because you still haven't protested me punching in a random one. And Geirskogul is out of the office."

"Fourteen," I said, picking a random number fast enough that it wouldn't sound like I had to stop and think.

"Auditing?" Flarefeather frowned. "Also known as the most boring department of all time? Why do you wanna go there?" Nevertheless, she punched in something further, and the elevator reversed course, starting to go down.

"Business," I lied.

She gave me a smug look. "Sounds to me like you don't know enough about the fourteenth floor to tell when I'm making stuff up."

I winced. Visibly, since there wasn't much point anymore in hiding it. I was so flustered, I had fallen for something like that...

Flarefeather paused for a moment, considering something. "If you're being obtuse because you wanted to ask me out and then saw me kissing Lissa, just so you know, it's an open relationship. We wingmare for each other all the time."

I had absolutely no idea how to respond. But I let my posture drop nonetheless.

The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. Ahead was a hallway full of nondescript doors. I noticed that it was actually the seventeenth floor, not the fourteenth as I had requested.

Flarefeather shoved me out of the elevator, and the doors closed behind us, leaving us both in the hallway as the elevator whirred away.

"Come!" Flarefeather demanded, actually kicking me in the rump. "If you've got nowhere better to be, then guess what, I do. You just actually don't talk much, do you?"

"If you were in my situation, you wouldn't either," I told her, dropping my demeanor and speaking normally for a change.

"Aww, scared of saying something you'll regret?" Flarefeather's predatory smile returned as she pulled out her rapier and used it to unlock a door. "Come on, what's a little secret between friends? I don't have to tell anyone about anything, whether it's your weird gaffes, your weird desires, even your weird tastes in music! I mean, seriously, a real-life sarosian?"

She dropped the door and whisked herself to my side, grabbed my wing, and extended it, feeling it all over. "Wow. These really are real."

I felt my old, familiar aversion to being touched rear its head. "Are they usually not?"

"And you've even got the fangs!" She slid back and kicked the door open, revealing... a messy dorm room. With windows, two beds, two desks, two dressers, the works. "Seriously, anyone who wants to be on your bad side is a loser. Give me a little credit."

I blinked past her at the room. "Is this yours?"

"Sure is," Flarefeather said, strolling in and stepping over a heap of clothing, leaving it up to me for once whether or not to follow. "Want some tea? Or are you more of a smoothie filly?"

I frowned, standing in the doorway. "You know, this is how people get drugged or poisoned and abducted..."

Flarefeather actually stopped what she was doing and stared at me. "Who hurt you?"

Her shock was so genuine, it actually registered on some deeper part of my brain that hadn't yet been infected with paranoia.

Flarefeather frowned. "Are you actually as hardened as you looked with the Black Knight the other week? Is this, like, some residual last-of-your-kind trauma from what happened twenty years ago?"

"...Yes," I said, deciding to gamble on the truth. "I've lost count of how many legitimate-looking jobs I've been fooled by. And offering free favors and hospitality without telling me what you want in return is setting off all sorts of red flags. Sorry. It's nothing personal."

"Wow, okay. No tea it is, then." Flarefeather turned back to the middle of her room, then took a seat on one of the beds. "Uh, there's no traps. I promise. Nothing out of the ordinary going on here at all, just a normal mare with normal mare-level secrets wanting, uhh... Never mind. Boy, this might be more trouble than it's worth..."

I pushed past my paranoia and stepped into the room, taking a seat on the other bed and successfully not stepping on any traps, be they malicious or simply something spiky hidden under the clothes on the floor. "You could just tell me what you want."

Flarefeather got her smile back. "A cool and exotic friend? Who wouldn't?"

I blinked. "That's it?"

"That's seriously not normal where you come from?" Flarefeather tilted her head. "You think everything's gotta be a transaction, or something? What, were you raised by capitalists?"

"Just not accustomed to getting my fair share when everything's over and done with." I shrugged. "Would be great if there was a better way, but that's just not how my life works. You'd be jaded too if you'd seen half the things I have."

"Okay. Hmm. Okay." Flarefeather held a wingtip to her chin. "My gut says 'trouble, stay away,' but you did just say you think that's a dumb way to live. Do I gamble? What's the worst that could happen?" She locked eyes with me. "Seriously. If I solemnly swear to show you a good time for free, with no ulterior motivations beyond enjoying the challenge of brightening up your gloomy mug, what's the worst that could happen to me?"

Well... Hmm.

"Right now?" I shrugged. "Actually, nothing is hanging over my head immediately right now. I'm wanted by some pirates, but they left Wilderwind a week ago. With my luck, I could still walk into a random building and get abducted for no reason. That did happen once. I think I got framed for some crime and arrested, but I never investigated once I got out."

Flarefeather whistled. "Okay, so pirates and unjust arrest. No biggie. Us Wilderwind Escorts have enough friends in high places to get out of literally any legal trouble, even if we really did break the law - but don't tell anyone, I play it straight and narrow since I'm a good filly. And this sword isn't just for show. Can't fulfill our duties without being highly trained as bodyguards, you know!"

She whipped out her rapier and did a quick blade dance that was far too fast for my eyes to follow, grinning as she landed. "So? What else?"

"And there's no chance your employers are secretly using you and could turn on you at the drop of a hat?" I pressed. "Wouldn't have anything to do with me, but if we're talking about my bad luck rubbing off on you..."

Flarefeather chuckled. "Not on your life. Let's just say I know why I have this job, and it's what we in the business like to call a non-revocable privilege."

She threw in a wink for good measure, but I wasn't convinced. "Nothing shady that I should be paranoid about?"

"You've got it bad, you know that?" Flarefeather took a step closer, still smiling. "It's, mmm... garden-variety shady. Or maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm special. Actually, forget what I said, I've already confirmed you're not the type to be impressed by that. Let's just say the powers that be have a vested interest in letting me do whatever I want. And if you've really got such a rough lot in life, sounds like you could use some powerful, no-strings-attached friends, no?"

I leaned back. "You sure you've got no ulterior motive?"

Flarefeather gave an exasperated sigh. "Sue me, I can't prove it. And anyway, am I not allowed to? Aren't you? You still haven't told me why you came here in the first place, even though I know it was to see me. All I want is to have a little fun." She pouted, puffing out her cheeks and daring me to deny it.

"...Fine," I said. "I'm here because I just spent several days making this new armor and wanted to show it off to-"

"Are you serious?" Flarefeather was immediately in my face, grabbing and lifting the cloak on my armor, testing various plates and pads, lifting my legs to inspect my boots and prodding everywhere with her rapier. "You made this? And you wanted to do a completely and absolutely normal thing like having friends to show off your cool talents to? This seems pretty functional..."

I deflated, unable to summon the willpower to push her away. "Telling you kind of hurts my case."

"Aww, so that's why you clammed up!" Flarefeather gave me a silly smile, letting me go but still standing in my personal space. "What a cute reason. And it's a double win for me, because now that you've done something cool for me, by your twisted logic I'm in your debt and have to repay the favor. You wouldn't do paranoid little me the disservice of being forever in your debt and knowing you could come to collect at the most inconvenient possible moment in time, would you?"

"You're mocking me," I pointed out. "And you won't find it nearly as funny if we actually get in trouble because I decided to hang out with you."

"Sounds like a wager I'll happily take," Flarefeather insisted. "Come on. Tonight? Right now? I've got a bet to win, a point to prove and a hottie to impress. All you have to do is say yes, and you can write one down on the books as a deal that didn't go south. Fantastic deal, going once..."

I hesitated. "Just so you know, I'm not really into romance..."

Flarefeather looked only slightly put out. "That's fine! I can do platonic. Seems like a waste, but the client is always right. Also, um, we're not supposed to do anything more than flirting with clients in the first place, so technically that's more legal than any of the alternatives?"

I squinted at her. "Just what kind of services does your job even entail?"

"Oh, loads." Flarefeather shrugged. "Tower security and eye candy for the executives, mostly. The higher-ups say those go hoof in hoof, since clients are much more likely to behave themselves around someone they want to impress. Now, personally, I've found they just have different kinds of bad behavior instead, but that's what this beauty is for." She gave her rose rapier a loving nuzzle.

"Huh. Makes sense." I nodded.

Flarefeather leaned over and gave my shoulder a flurry of paper-light punches. "Look at youuu, having a perfectly normal conversation with me! See, things aren't so bad! Come on, let's go hit the town! The alternative is me having to get all blushie crushie for fat business stallions who are twice my age for the rest of my shift. You wouldn't do that to me, would you?"

At this point, I really couldn't say no. "Your bosses are okay with you just walking off the job for a night? And I don't really know any places to go, or what to do there."

"Who's walking off the job? You're a client." Flarefeather gave me a huge wink. "See, I'm still dressed up and everything! And don't you worry. I know so many good spots in town."

"Alright, then." I nodded, deciding that if this went poorly, there was nothing I possibly could have done to prevent it anyway. "Lead the way."

Flarefeather sprung to her hooves, crossed the room, and unlatched the window, pushing it wide open. And then, to my horror, she picked me up, grunted beneath the weight of my armor, and hefted me out into the sky.

---

Seventeen floors and a lot of green bracelet fire later, I was more intact than the part of the plaza where I had landed.

"This is," Flarefeather said, looking even more awkward than she had made me feel in the lobby. "Not how I've ever had a date start before? And also completely my fault? I'm so sorry..."

"It's... water under the bridge..." I pulled myself to my hooves, checking every limb over and over for breaks. Activating my bracelet early this time, not being caught in a ladder, and not hitting any pipes on the way down meant I was in far better shape than when I fell in the Flame District, and I was pretty sure this was a shorter fall, too. My armor was more or less intact as well, though it was visibly banged up enough that I'd have to re-polish it tonight... I was pretty sure I could still walk, at least with a little help from my bracelet. And I definitely wanted to go anywhere but here, because people were staring.

"I should have asked if you could fly in that!" Flarefeather squeaked, mortified. "And how are you still standing? How did you not get crushed by your own armor, let alone the ground!?"

I didn't feel like letting any bystanders start asking the same questions, and I definitely didn't feel like waiting around for someone to come and demand compensation for the inch-deep Halcyon-shaped crater in the plaza. So instead, I returned the favor for all of Flarefeather's touchy-feeliness by grabbing her, hefting her onto my back, and bounding away, jumping off the plaza and crossing a few rooftops before landing in a nearby alley.

She looked stupefied as I set her down.

I glanced around, then sighed. "Cursed power bracelet. Don't ask." I patted my foreleg. "I'm alright."

"Alright, so I guess your appearance isn't just for show," Flarefeather laughed nervously. "Maybe actually you don't need a bodyguard after all, not that I'm bad at it. Though I'd forgive you for questioning my competence after I actually almost killed you ten seconds after daring you to show me how bad your luck could really be, haha..."

"It's fine." I shook my head. "If I wasn't ridiculously durable, I would've kicked the bucket long ago. The real place my luck will show its colors is when someone wants that hole filled and forces me into a devil's bargain to cover the cost."

"I'll, um." Flarefeather swallowed. "See to it that doesn't happen? To the best of my ability?" She shuffled slightly. "Are you actually cursed? Or do these things just happen to you as some kind of cosmic joke?"

I shrugged. "Honestly, I'd prefer if it was a curse. That would mean there might be something I could one day do about it. So, you still want to tag along with me? I can't promise we won't randomly find ourselves at ground zero for the next world conflict, which has also happened to me before."

"Now there's a story." Flarefeather laughed again, regaining her composure. "I think I'll take my chances with you, at least for tonight. If you really aren't mad about me almost killing you and all. At the very least, this is way more exciting than my usual life. And if I jinx us too hard, maybe you can get some useful data points for figuring out your curse?"

"Knock yourself out." I rolled my eyes, but returned her nervous smile. "I'm actually really not concerned about physical danger, just because I can do that. So if you've got political danger covered, and you're not yet running for the hills, maybe we'll make a great team."

Flarefeather perked up further. "Yeah, maybe!"

"Just, err, try not to overestimate your ability to cover political danger," I added as a whisper. "Otherwise you really could be forced to run for the hills."

Flarefeather fully regained her predator's grin. "Oh, I'd like to see that happen. Wilderwind can't cross me."

I shook my head. I had a way out in Puddles. If she made herself eat her own words, that would be on her. "So where are we going? I don't have any time limit, and was up pretty late last night..."

"Do you like jazz?" Flarefeather winked. "I know a great jazz club..."

---

Attending a jazz club was not something I had done before. It was the kind of experience you went to to make yourself feel refined and cultured more than for the entertainment itself, though I might have been missing the point... not that I didn't enjoy myself. Actually, I found myself wondering if Ironridge had any establishments like this, and imagining taking Coda to one while showing her the world after we were reunited.

I didn't know enough about the world to do that mission justice as I needed to. Maybe hanging out with ponies like Flarefeather was a really good idea after all.

"Boom, look at that," she said as out hooves met the cold stone road outside, sunset long gone from the sky. "I tried my hardest to jinx us again, and nothing bad happened! Aside from tonight's artist being a little uninspired, but that happens. Better than the club hosts being snooty."

"This was fun." I nodded. "I appreciated it."

"You wanna..." Flarefeather gave me a sly grin. "Do it again tomorrow? And maybe I could walk you home?"

My paranoid side said something about her finding out where I lived, but after everything that had happened today, I didn't care anymore. I nodded again. "Sure. Why not?"

So we walked back to Puddles' ship, mostly in silence. I led us the long way around. Now that my paranoid side had been silenced, there was another side of me that was starting to wake up, remembering the good times with Corsica and Ansel back in Icereach, with Balthazar and the yaks, and even with Mother, too.

One by one, slowly but surely, I had left all my friends behind. My life had gotten less stable along the same trajectory. True, the Aldebaran incident had precluded all of that, but my life got back to normal for a full six months again after that happened, right?

Was this where I had gone wrong? Hanging out with Flarefeather felt fun, in a way that I couldn't properly quantify, even if I couldn't be certain what her motives were. But then again, what were anyone's motives for becoming friends? Hadn't I bullied my way into Corsica's life because I saw something in her that I wanted for myself? Maybe the reasons for forming a friendship didn't matter as much as the results.

So I would hang out with Flarefeather again tomorrow. And then I would probably leave her and Wilderwind behind, sailing on to Izvaldi in pursuit of my lonely quest to understand myself and my powers and Chrysalis and Coda.

Was that a mistake? Should I just settle down and stay with my friends, instead?

No. I couldn't. Coda was counting on me, Rhodallis would surely be back, the war between Yakyakistan and Ironridge had to be stopped, and Faye had sworn her own oaths about the legacy left by my birth mother. We couldn't stop yet. But the thought of continuing felt bitter, like this quest was taking me into territory I suddenly had a new reason not to want to explore.

I couldn't stop. There was nothing for it but to enjoy the present while it lasted. At the very least, right now there was no reason to hurry.

We arrived at last at the ship. "I know this one," Flarefeather said, nodding absently at it. "You're staying with the Black Knight?"

"Yep." I nodded as well. "So, uh... What time would be reasonable for me to show up tomorrow?"

If Flarefeather was thinking about how my lodging implied that I would be transient, she didn't show it. "Bright and early," she said without hesitation. "I run elevators all day long. If I'm not there, assume I'm with someone and will be back within an hour. And don't be shy about mingling with my other friends while you wait; I'm sure they already knew who you were. Lissa is just a tease."

"Bright and early?" I raised an eyebrow. "You got something planned, or you just want to slack off that hard?"

Flarefeather giggled. "Who wouldn't? Don't forget to show up, now."

"I've got no intention of missing it." I turned to look at the ship, then made up my mind on the spot and hugged her. "Thanks. I needed a bit of coaxing out of my shell."

Flarefeather awkwardly returned it. "So is this a platonic hug, or did you change your mind, or...?"

"Platonic." I quickly let go; initiating contact myself didn't make it feel any less awkward or wrong. "Just a thank-you I thought you'd appreciate. I guess you turned out to be genuine after all."

Saying that would surely jinx it. Surely-

"Actually," Flarefeather said, as I braced for the gotcha I knew was coming. She lowered her voice conspiratorially, standing in a beam of light emanating from the ship. "Before I go, you wanna see something wicked cool?"

"Do I?" I stepped forward, curious what other shoe was about to drop.

"You're pretty special, being able to take a beating like that," Flarefeather muttered, waving me even closer. "Forget making your own clothes and literally being a sarosian. Now, I don't have special powers, but the truth is, I'm pretty special too. In fact, I've got a deep, dark secret pretty much no one but my bosses and the other escorts have seen. Not even my exceptionally lucky dates, and certainly no platonic friends. So? Wanna see my secret?"

Did I? Maybe I did. "Show me," I whispered, sensing that this was a real token of friendship and not the last-minute trap I was fearing. "What is it?"

Flarefeather crouched down, covering herself with her wings so that only I could see. Then, she bit her foreleg, gently easing off one of her tight, neon boots.

My heart stopped.

Beneath her boot, her leg started off the same purple as the rest of her coat... and then it broke into every color of the dawn, exactly the same as Procyon's.

Her eyes glittered as she looked for my impression. "The Royal Spectrum. Incredibly rare on a pony. It's real, not a dye job! But you clearly already know what it is... Heh. I'm special too."

She slipped her boot back on, and before I could find words to match my feelings, she was gone, soaring off toward the tower in a trail of purple and magenta.

Comments

[KMCA]

Up until that last moment I loved her... now I'm a bit scared of her.

[Okie Brony]

Her eyes glittered as she looked for my impression. "The Royal Spectrum. Incredibly rare on a pony. It's real, not a dye job! But you clearly already know what it is... Heh. I'm special too."

Hmm, interesting. I wonder what it means. Guess we'll find out when Yoshi feels like telling us.

I'd call this a nice little slice-of-life chapter, if you could call 6,000+ words "little."

[PropsValroa]

This was amazing. Maybe Flarefeather really does mean well and want to be Halycon's friend, I found the two of them to be adorable in this chapter - Halycon's awkward standoffishness contrasting with Flarefeather's giddy and witty dialog. Something tells me that Flarefeather isn't to be trusted, and she knows a lot more than letting on. The royal spectrum? Wonder what that means...a slice of life chapter now and then is good. I loved it!

[Venlinelle]

On the one hoof, you’re really introducing new characters like it’s Ironridge over here, but, on the other, Flarefeather is adorable. I always like seeing our protagonists interact with normal ponies; I’m reminded of the conversation in TOW in Kinmari where the party was casually explaining their adventures and the staff kept having to go “Wait, back up, did you just say you got better from being dead?”

It’s also nice to see Halcyon being her normal, dorky self. She hasn’t gotten much time to exist in one place in the world lately, and I confess I’ve been having some difficulties staying invested in her story when it seems to change focus with every chapter (I’m sure you have everything planned, of course, but that’s been my experience lately). Having a relationship (platonic or otherwise) with somepony seems like it could be a nice emotional anchor.

Also, are you a Cosmere fan? Because between the “Royal spectrum” and the Thrill from TOW, I’m noticing some parallels. Which may be coincidental.