The Immortal Dream

by Czar_Yoshi

End Of Prologue

For a moment, Twilight was quiet. Then she said, "No. I'm afraid that doesn't ring any bells. But I'll see what I can do to help you on my own."

Corsica looked her up and down. Didn't know anyone called Valey or Starlight, huh? Then why did she specify helping 'on her own'? Even if she didn't know the two ponies she was specifically asking about, surely a princess would have armies of other ponies to do the job...

Back in Icereach, Corsica had been surrounded by patent mongers who were notorious for never saying what they were actually thinking. In Ironridge, it had been the same, working in a governmental office and seeing the nonchalance with which everyone lied and obfuscated what they were actually up to. And Corsica's best friend had recently devolved into a serial liar who couldn't even talk to her anymore without hiding behind a different persona, as though it was work that needed to be foisted on someone else. So it was safe to say that Corsica felt practiced in her ability to tell whether a pony was avoiding trying to give her a straight answer... and still, she felt like a foal could have seen that Princess Twilight was lying through her teeth.

So she smiled. "Oh! So you do know them!"

Twilight sputtered, her composure breaking instantly. "What? No, that's not... I-I said I don't! I mean, why would you assume otherwise?"

Corsica sat back on her haunches and folded her forelegs, still grinning. "You're pretty new to this, aren't you?"

Twilight sighed. "I believe I said that a while ago, yes. And while I was prepared for someone to try and take advantage of me to get some policy concessions, I didn't expect you'd come here just to be rude."

"Sorry," Corsica apologized with a shrug. "Had a stressful life. But you are holding out on us, right? If contacting Starlight is impractical or something, you could just tell us why."

"Oh, it's not impractical," Twilight said, blinking and appearing to realize she had just essentially admitted to her charade. "I just... think... you would probably be better helped by someone else! I mean, it sounds like you've got a whole host of problems that brought you here, ones that definitely aren't urgent at all, because you know how hard it is getting here, and maybe you should ask someone who both wants to and is able to do something about it? At the very least, you should talk to Celestia."

"Yup. Waiting on her right now." Corsica bobbed her head. "Any idea when she'll be back?"

Twilight frowned. "Well, she shouldn't be that far away. She and Luna are just out cleaning up the magical aftermath of that freak storm that showed up during the Crystalling, so you could probably see them from any window... Your train didn't get caught in that, did it?"

"The storm? Nah, we waited it out before we left," Corsica said, waving her hoof. "You sure they're out there, though? Didn't your guards say they went to oversee things in Snowport, or something?"

"Snowport?" Twilight blinked, tilting her head. "I'm not familiar with it. Is that an outlier town that could have been hit, too?" She glanced around for the guards, but none were present. "Where's a map when you need one? I knew I should have studied this region's geography closer! I mean, I've tried it a few times, but the cartographical surveys of the area are all badly outdated due to the Empire's return, and it's not like there was any reason to conduct accurate surveys up here before that in the first place..."

Corsica raised an eyebrow. "Port town just to the east? Major trade artery between water and rail?"

Twilight squinted at her. "Why would something like that be left off all the maps?"

Corsica chuckled. Telling one princess things other princesses didn't want her to know sounded like a terrible way to curry favor with Equestria's monarchy, but if it was really set up in such a ridiculously floppy way, they deserved it and she deserved to be the one to do it. "Well, have I got a story for-"

The elevator door slid open, and the guard stepped back out, accompanied by two more guards and a pair of pegasi, one yellow with a pink mane and the other teal with a rainbow mane that was probably visible from miles away.

"Your Highness," the guards said, bowing to Twilight. "Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy."

Leif's eyes widened as she saw them, and she sucked in a breath. "You're the-"

The pegasus with the rainbow mane - who had better be Rainbow Dash, or else the universe was a fraud - raised an eyebrow at her and grinned. "I'm the...?"

Leif closed her eyes and shook her head, pointing a wing at Corsica. "Never mind. She's speaking for us."

"Come on," Rainbow Dash badgered her, "you can do better than that! The helmetheads say you're here from Ironridge? And I'm famous enough that you know me up there? Come on, you totally recognized me!"

"Rainbow-" Twilight began, lifting a hoof.

"Wait wait wait," Rainbow Dash interrupted, cutting her off. "Uhh... pop quiz, to make sure you're not pulling my tail. What are the four districts of Ironridge?"

"Day, Night, Ice and Sky," Corsica said. "Depending what time period you mean. They've gotten shuffled around lately. Some ponies disagree on what to call them."

Rainbow Dash raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What were they... twenty years ago?"

"Steel, Earth, Stone, Sky, Fire, Water and Shadow," Braen said, listening curiously.

"Woah, you can talk!" Rainbow pointed a wing at her. "And you're, like, a suit of armor... except you don't look big enough to have a pony inside? Do you know anypony called Shinespark?"

Braen stood proudly and puffed out her metal chest. "Shinespark is Braen's mother!"

Rainbow Dash stared forcefully at Twilight with a this-is-so-cool grin, daring her to get excited too.

"Rainbow-" Twilight tried again.

"No, wait!" Rainbow interrupted once more. "Do, uhh..." Her ruby eyes sparkled with anticipation. "Do any of you know a mare called Valey? And if so, is she still alive and kicking?"

"Sure do," Corsica said. "And she's the one who sent us here."

"Valey is other mother," Braen confirmed with a sage nod.

Twilight groaned.

Rainbow Dash whirled on her with a sky-splittingly stupid grin. "Yes! I knew it! I knew it! In your face! I told you she was still around!" She turned back to Corsica. "So, let me guess: you guys are either here because everything is magically nice and happy in the north now, and Valey wants you to go look for Starlight and tell her to come home... or, more likely, everything is a dumpster fire and Valey wanted you to go find her and ask her to come back and help save the city. Or the world. Am I right on the money, or what?"

"The second one," Corsica said with an appreciative nod. "See, you get it."

Twilight wilted.

"Hey, shellhead!" Rainbow yelled to one of the guards. "Think you can go find Starlight? She's probably still nerding out at Sunburst's house. And do me a favor and don't tell her about these guys or why they're here or any of it. Make it a surprise. I'll never let you live it down if I miss seeing the look on her face."

The guard stiffly saluted, apparently taking no offense to the nickname, and wandered into the elevator despite Twilight's look of resignation and outstretched hoof.

"Rainbow..." Twilight sighed.

"That's my name," Rainbow Dash said smugly. "So, wanna give me the lowdown on just how bad it is up there?"

Noting that Fluttershy had said nothing and was currently content to blend into the background, Corsica cleared her throat and prepared to launch into her spiel again. "Yakyakistan has been taken over by an evil shapeshifter called Chrysalis and her army of shapeshifting changelings and is preparing to wage holy war against Ironridge, which has had its government completely corrupted and hollowed out after itself being taken over by windigoes and creatures we're calling Changeling Bishops. Valey and her friends performed a successful coup and got the city at least partly under their control, but the war has been orchestrated by windigoes in order to create enough conflict to break an ancient seal and unleash all the windigoes on the world, instead of just the hoofful that are causing problems now. Also, there's a magic flame under the city I don't know much about that is currently gone and probably the reason the sky has turned gray."

"Oh my," Fluttershy said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Yikes," Rainbow said, her eyes wide, albeit not quite as shocked as Twilight. "That's awesome. I mean awful." She gave Twilight a look that dared her to say something. "There's no way we're not getting involved, right, Twi?"

"Before anything else, we're seeing what Princess Celestia has to say about this," Twilight said, forcefully tapping the ground with a hoof. "But we're not getting Starlight involved."

Rainbow Dash gave her a blank stare. "Why not? These dudes literally just said her old friends are still up there, still fighting for survival after twenty years."

"Eighteen years," Twilight corrected. "But that's the point! Weren't you listening when Starlight told us how hard it was for her to break free from that way of life? Eighteen years, and the north is still teetering on the edge?"

"Um, yeah?" Rainbow arched a skeptical eyebrow. "Which is all the more reason we should go do something? I know Starlight has, like, giga trauma from the bad old days, but she's an adult now. At the very least, why would you not tell her and let her decide for herself whether to go?"

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "How long has it been since Starlight started staying with us, Rainbow? How long has it been since she finished telling her story?"

"Uhhh..." Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her neck. "Like... three weeks ago?"

Twilight blinked, then started counting under her breath. "Has it really been that long...? Huh. Well, my point still stands!"

"Girls?" Fluttershy cleared her throat. "Should you really be arguing in front of our guests?"

Rainbow and Twilight both cut off, turning to stare at her.

"I know Starlight had a difficult time in the north," Fluttershy said. "And I'm sure she'd appreciate you being considerate of her feelings. But it looks like our guests have had a very stressful journey to get here, so maybe we should show them the same consideration, too."

"Oh." Rainbow Dash's ears fell. "Right. Uh, sorry. I-"

"Nah, you're good." Corsica gave her a lazy wave. "I like your attitude, anyway. Definitely need as many ponies in our corner as we can get if we're gonna lobby the government for resources."

Rainbow winked.

Twilight bowed her head. "I'm sorry too. I just... I thought we'd already dealt with the crisis of the day, and... No, I shouldn't be making excuses. You said you knew something about Princess Celestia being in a place called Snowport?"

The guards by the elevator hesitated. "Affirmative," one of them said.

"You know what she's doing there?" Twilight turned to them. "Or more importantly, where it is?"

The guards saluted in unison. "Only the basics, Your Highness," one reported. "And only by word of mouth. Some issue came up that needed royal attention, and she didn't want to get too many others involved after how eventful the day has been."

"I know where it is," Corsica volunteered. "We just came from there, actually. Why?"

Twilight looked at her. "Can you give me a bearing and estimated distance?"

Corsica blinked. "Why?"

"Group teleportation," Twilight explained. "It's a bit tricky to pull off over any sort of distance, but I am Equestria's foremost wizard. I should be able to get us there faster than a train, at least."

"It's two hours by train," Corsica warned. "You can seriously teleport that far? It's not exactly a novice spell, and I'm sure you know how badly the difficulty scales with distance."

"Oh, I know," Twilight said, sounding vaguely distracted as she counted Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, herself, Corsica, Braen, Leif and Nehaley. "Two hours, you say... I should be able to make that in about... thirty hops? Half a minute to rest between each one?"

"We can sit this one out," Leif volunteered, motioning to herself and Nehaley. "There are actually more of us, so it would be best to leave someone behind to catch them up on where things stand."

"Yeah, good idea," Rainbow pointed out. "By the way, did I ever get any of your names? Aside from Braen?"

A quick round of introductions left Rainbow looking vaguely disappointed that she didn't hear any more names she knew, but that was fine with Corsica. "Four ponies and a robot, then?" She gestured to Braen. "You really wanna take us and go chase down your princess?"

Twilight nodded firmly. "If even a quarter of what you've said is accurate, she needs to know."

---

"Huh," Corsica said, landing on wobbly hooves near the edge of the forcefield surrounding the Crystal Empire, her body feeling like it had been electrolyzed and gelatinized at the same time. "So that's what teleportation feels like..."

"What a strange sensation," Braen remarked, recovering in no time at all.

"Oops. First time?" Twilight looked abashed. "I guess I should have prepared you for it..."

Corsica shrugged. "Maybe first. Maybe not. Feels like the kind of thing I'd try to forget about on purpose." She glanced at the train station in the distance, where another of Seigetsu's convoy trains was just arriving. "You're really going to hop us all the way to Snowport like this?"

"I don't see why not." Twilight lit her horn again, looking completely fresh and ready for more. "Ready?"

Everyone nodded, and the group resumed jumping. As Corsica endured the cycle of compression, reconstitution and taking a few breaths to recover, two thoughts fought for dominance in her mind: first, Twilight had successfully ditched Starlight and avoided a meeting with her, at least for now. And second, just because Seigetsu's train ploy had failed to flush out any Abyssinian ambushes didn't mean there weren't any still waiting to happen across a group of unsuspecting teleporting travelers.

Of course, if there had been an ambush in the first place, it would have targeted the trains. And the odds of stopping on top of it when they were making such big jumps were minuscule. And even if they did, Twilight's magical stamina was remarkable, and Corsica didn't doubt for a second she could pull off another unprepared teleport in a heartbeat if she needed to. Several jumps in, the princess was starting to show signs of exertion, but was clearly pacing herself like a distance runner: she was no stranger to this, and had a lot more in reserve.

After about a dozen jumps, Twilight stopped, panting, on the smooth base of the Crystal Mountains, just where the slope started to rise, the train tracks visible in the distance below. "Think that's about halfway?" she asked, wiping her brow. "I could use a breather, just so I'm not completely wiped out when we get there... Five minutes?"

Corsica glanced around, noting that there was relatively little cover save for a smattering of boulders that had tumbled down from up high. Now that she looked more closely at the landscape, the field down below seemed to be marshland, fed by countless trickles of runoff from the mountains and disguised by lush, vibrant grass. "Sure," she said, a cool breeze blowing in from the east. "Take your time."

"Hey, so while we're stopped," Rainbow Dash said, apparently not yet remembering that she had sent a guard to find Starlight. "Tell us more about the north! What it's like, right now! Do they still have that crazy llama city in Varsidel that's constantly changing its name?"

"Llama city still exists," Braen confirmed with a sage nod. "Couldn't tell you its current name."

"That's a real thing? Wow. Never been to Varsidel." Corsica shook her head. "I'm from Icereach, with a little Ironridge on the side. It's tiny and out of the way, you've probably never heard of it."

"Icereach?" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Uhh... Twilight?"

Twilight's brow shadowed. "The research colony where those scientists were experimenting on windigo hearts."

Corsica's eyes went wide. "You know about that?"

"I heard about it from Starlight, who heard about it from Valey," Twilight said. "It's... a long story."

Corsica just shook her head. "I didn't find out about it until I went to Ironridge. Icereach is... closed off, both inside and outside. You can't learn anything there. It was literally growing up in a cave." She looked up. "Before I let you listen to me ramble, answer me this: what's the deal with Starlight? I'm gathering that you know her, she's got some bad history with our side of the border, and you're trying to look out for her somehow by not making her feel like she's obligated to return?"

"That's exactly it," Twilight said, looking away. "Well... more or less. She traveled there as a young filly, talented and alone, with far more power and far less stability than most ever have. I don't want to tell too much of her story for her, but she wore herself out taking on far more responsibility than she should have, and she did it because there was no one else who could. The only way she was able to break free from living like that was to make a pact with herself to trust her friends to take care of themselves and their home without her, so that she could set down her burdens and try to live a normal life. And, for as long as I've known her, that's what she's been doing. Can you understand that, and leave well enough alone?"

"Maybe." Corsica was forcefully noncommittal. "Here's a question, though: maybe she's done her time, and deserves to uncouple herself from her duty. Why not treat me like that too? How do you know I'm not just like her?"

Twilight looked taken aback.

"Hmm..." Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. "Well, Starlight was a pretty special case. She had some, uh... some stuff going for her that your average pony doesn't. Or going against her. But you've apparently crossed from the north, and rustled up three whole Writs of Harmonic Sanction to do it? And Starlight drummed into us how hard that is, so you're probably pretty hot stuff too." She turned to Twilight. "What do you think, Twi? She could be for real, here. After all, if one pony with that crazy of a history can fall out of the sky into our laps, why not two?"

Twilight, in turn, looked to Corsica.

"What are you looking at me for?" Corsica shrugged. "You're the ones who know Starlight now, not me. If she's really unfit for a war zone, fine. No one's fit for it. Me, I've got plenty of excuses to do nothing and not care, and yet here I am anyway because apparently I'm the only one in my group who can talk to leadership with a straight face. Someone's gotta do it, right?"

"Huh," Rainbow said, sagging a little. "Well, I guess the north just wears everyone down, then. I still think we should at least talk to her and see what she..." She blinked. "That guard's totally bringing her to an empty room, and no one will be there, will they."

Corsica suppressed a snicker.

"Hey!" Rainbow shook a hoof at Twilight. "Did you do that on purpose?"

Twilight shrugged helplessly. "Well, we did leave some of your group behind, didn't we?"

"Um. Girls?" Fluttershy spoke up quietly.

"Right," Twilight sighed, lighting her horn again. "I suppose it's time to get going again."

"Actually," Fluttershy said, "would you mind taking a quick detour down there?" She pointed at the forest fringe opposite the train tracks. "I think there are some wounded animals down there."

Braen tilted her mechanical head. "How can Fluttershy tell?"

"I just have a sense for it," Fluttershy explained. "I'm a veterinarian. When someone is in trouble, I can just tell. And I think a lot of someones might be in trouble."

"That's not good." Twilight frowned. "Rainbow, can you take a look? I suppose we can spare the time to go and help, but if there's something dangerous they were hurt by, we ought to know before teleporting down there."

Corsica glanced at Braen. Braen glanced at Corsica. It wasn't hard to tell what the mechanical pony was thinking.

Rainbow sped off in a blinding zip of color, so fast that tracking her made Corsica's head spin. Forget teleporting, that was how to travel efficiently...

Moments later, she came speeding back, pulling to an inertia-defying stop and saluting smartly. "Right on the money, Flutters," she said, hovering and not appearing remotely winded. "I found three polar bears wandering around suspiciously. They didn't look outwardly injured, but they seemed really confused. Didn't try to get too close, or see anything that could have hurt them."

Three polar bears? Corsica blinked. Duma had been meeting with a trio of polar bears when she first ran into him, in the Freedom Town bar...

"They look confused?" Fluttershy frowned. "I suppose they could be lost... but I'd understand if we don't have time for this, Twilight. I know we are in a hurry."

"Actually," Corsica said, "I think we should check it out. How long can it take? Besides, I'd like to see how you operate."

Twilight thought about this. "We are in a hurry, true. But I suppose if Celestia went there to accomplish something, we might get there and wind up waiting for her anyway. I suppose the worst that could happen if we're late is she goes back to the Crystal Empire and we miss her entirely." She glanced at Corsica. "But if you're fine with taking the extra trip, I can do it. Let's go take a look."

"Sure." Corsica nodded. "Just brace yourselves in case they're hostile. I can bail us out of an emergency, but I'd rather not get my hooves dirty."

"It's okay," Braen reassured her. "If fighting happens, leave everything to Braen. Built with many advanced combat systems just in case."

---

In retrospect, Corsica really should have kept her mouth shut about getting her hooves dirty.

The grass, which had looked like such a pleasant meadow from the train windows, really did hide a bog, fed by runoff from the mountains, and Twilight unknowingly teleported the group right into it. Fluttershy didn't seem to mind, and Rainbow Dash had been hovering when the teleport went off, thus arriving safely above the ground, but everyone else landed up to their belly fur in mud and muddy water, Twilight included.

"Aaack!" Twilight immediately teleported herself up onto the broad, sturdy roots of a tree, balancing on them and using her telekinesis to lift Corsica, Fluttershy and Braen free from the mire. With a hideous schlorp, the mud relinquished Corsica's legs and tail... but not her shoes. Her coat thoroughly ruined, she sat on a root where Twilight set her, looking forlornly at the spot of their arrival.

"Sorry," Twilight furiously apologized, already turning red at the cheeks. "I... I should have checked..."

Corsica started rummaging around in the mud where she landed with her aura. "No biggie. Just wish I could find my shoes again..."

Moments later, she retrieved her prizes, caked in mud and looking more like stones than regalia, just in time to see Fluttershy quietly point to movement through the trees.

The yellow pegasus, muddied like everyone else, flapped slowly forward. "Um... hello? Is anyone there? It's okay, I'm not here to hurt you..."

"Someone there?" a gruff voice called back.

"Someone's there! I heard a voice!" another said, excited. "Hey! Hey, whoever you are!"

Fluttershy sped up. "Huh," Twilight whispered, lifting everyone who didn't have wings and slowly flying behind her. "Usually, only Fluttershy can understand animals, but I heard that just fine..."

We emerged into a clearing containing three muddy, once-white polar bears, all seated on tree roots opposite Fluttershy. "More ponies!" one said jovially. "Well, our luck sure turned around fast!"

Corsica sized them up. It was undeniably the trio from the bar.

"So you can talk, huh?" Rainbow Dash asked, hovering. "What's up? I saw you wandering around looking like you'd just gotten off that spinny thing at a carnival."

"Why wouldn't we be able to talk?" one asked her, looking confused.

"Well, I guess it is lucky we can talk," another said, "considering our situation. Any of you ponies know where we are?"

"You're in a forest south of the Crystal Empire," Fluttershy gently said. "But how did you get here? I didn't know polar bears lived in these woods."

The bears shrugged. "Couldn't tell you if we tried," one said. "Our memory is completely gone."

"We just woke up here," another said. "Don't remember nothing. It's just a big mass of static. Feels like, uhh... You know, I don't know if I remember any metaphors to compare it to..."

"Don't even know our names," the third lamented. "It's humiliating. At least we seem to get along, so we were probably all friends?"

As they talked, a shiver ran down Corsica's spine. This was a group of Abyssinians from Freedom Town, lurking suspiciously near the train tracks, doing who knew what. Potentially even the hypothetical ambush Seigetsu was trying to draw out.

And yet, it seemed like the real danger out here wasn't Abyssinians, but the still-unaccounted for Yelvey.

"We shouldn't stay here," Corsica announced. "Whatever happened to cost you your memories, I'd hate to be here if it decided to return. There's a town nearby, along the train tracks and to the east of here, with some folks a lot like yourselves. Might be a good place to see if you can find anyone who knows who you are, or at the very least get some food and start putting your lives back together. Twilight?"

Twilight grimaced. "Well, I wasn't planning to do a marathon group teleport today with three bears in tow, but I suppose there's no time like the present to see if I can... I'm warning you, though, once we get there I'm not going to be up to the return journey for at least an hour."

"You can recover from all-to-nothing spellcasting in only an hour?" Corsica whistled. "Color me impressed."

Twilight blushed. Then she lit her horn, and prepared to teleport.

---

I stepped out of the bathroom, a happy Nanzanaya on my heels. The guard who was waiting for us looked visibly suspicious that we hadn't actually wanted to use the bathroom, but also professionally obligated not to ask.

"Have you any other business?" he asked instead. "Or shall I show you back to the waiting room?"

"Waiting room's good," I offered. "Got some ideas to run by my friends..."

Like whether we wanted to accept this zebra's request to hang out with our party and live and dine out of our wallet, in exchange for the possibility of information only I would receive and only I was aware was being given. Also, she was apparently here to petition Equestria for military aid for a nation on the opposite side of the country as Ironridge, which was potentially in direct conflict with our own goals.

It would be a hard sell... but I really wanted to know what she knew about that creepy third eye.

We entered the waiting room to find two guards, Mother and Leif. Mother was sound asleep.

"Hey," Leif greeted.

I looked around. "Where's everyone else?"

"Headed back to Snowport with Twilight to look for Celestia," Leif said, as if this was a completely unremarkable occurrence. "You missed a lot."

I blinked, her words slowly sinking in.

"How fortunate," Nanzanaya breathed. "There are now that many fewer ponies to countermand your generous offer of aid and succor!"

"Wait, what?" I shook myself out of my stupor. "They left? Without me? To go see...?"

"Yep." Leif was reading the magazine Seigetsu had put down when she left, and didn't look at all concerned.

I felt like I had been clubbed over the head. "How come?"

"Dunno. Do you want me to speculate?" Leif looked up from the magazine without putting it down.

I waited for her to go on, but she didn't, taking my silence as a no and returning to her reading.

Heavily, I dropped myself onto a bench. I was the one who knew about the pink flame, wasn't I? The one who had the most at stake, coming here to find a way to stop my biological mother and save Coda? Everyone else was...

We've got a long-overdue conversation to have about what everyone's here for, a memory of Corsica said in my mind.

Had she been right? Maybe that was important. I hadn't paid as much attention during that meeting as I could have, partly because similar meetings had all gone nowhere and partly because I was still shaken by the conversation Faye had with Corsica just before, which I didn't have any memory of. Meetings about why everyone was here always felt like veiled jabs at how I had passed out my two writs to ponies who wound up tagging along and contributing very little, anyway...

I swallowed, glancing again at Leif.

After a few moments of me staring, she said, "If you want to know something, ask. And be specific."

"Who all went?" I asked. "And why?"

"Twilight, rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Braen and Corsica," Leif said, still reading. "They did it because Twilight was unnerved after hearing Corsica's full report and wanted to get Celestia's feedback as soon as possible."

After hearing Corsica's full report? Fluttershy was here? Just what had I missed?

"Can't tell if you're keeping quiet because you're bad at asking, or because you already know what I'm going to say," Leif continued. "Guessing it's the former, hoping it's the latter. But I can see the look on your face, and unless you ask, I'm going to let experience be the teacher. And usually? It's harsh."

"What's on your mind?" I asked with a shiver, my earlier dilemma with Nanzanaya all but forgotten.

Leif folded her magazine. "We got tied up in Snowport for as long as we did because you wanted to be our spokespony, everyone let you, and then you made a suspicious enough case to Terutomo that it didn't get us a boat right away," she began. "Which worked out in our favor, because it turns out that would have been completely the wrong direction to go in, but that's just a fluke. Having someone else make our case this time is the pragmatic approach, even though you know more than anyone else about what happened in those caves in Ironridge and how they relate to why we're here. So for now, it's a matter of pragmatism."

She looked me square in the eye. "But it might not stay that way. There's something that's come between you and Corsica, and it wasn't always there... At least, not when we first met in Icereach. I suspect it involves you being clueless and not reading her signals, because overlooking the people around you is a major character flaw of yours. Take me, for example: I'm currently working for you on a very durable contract because I owe you my life and think helping you will further my own goals, and since that started you haven't asked a single job of me. So even though what Corsica did now was smart, putting her cards on the table and using them when you might have done otherwise, she didn't only do it because it was smart. I could tell she enjoyed it. And I think you should patch things up with her before things like this start happening even when they're not pragmatic. Speaking from experience: don't take your friendships for granted."

I felt alternately hot and cold. Was that what was going on here? Corsica had certainly been upset earlier. Was I taking her for granted and doing something wrong? I had tried to talk to her, I really did, but even though I messed up, Faye had me covered. Right?

Faye said nothing. I was alone.

"My, how dramatic," Nanzanaya breathed. "I never considered how avoiding such tensions might be a benefit of traveling solo! But worry not! Our accompaniment of each other would be mutually beneficial! Take me on as a traveling companion, and you would know exactly what I provide, and that I would stick around so long as you continue your own helpfulness to me. Any social slip-ups could simply not factor into it!"

"Sounds nice," I mumbled. "Hey, Leif. What do you think about letting her tag along with us?"

"A stranger we know nothing about?" Leif went back to her magazine. "Unwise. Working on contract, that's a little better, but make sure you've either got payment up front, something to vouch for it, or don't care about what you're parting with. And do a background check, just in case she's a local con artist."

I pondered what to say to that, and had almost come up with an answer when the elevator door slid open once again. A guard stepped out with a mare at his side.

"Is this the place?" she asked, glancing around, sporting a lilac coat and a purple mane and tail with a double blue stripe, styled in a way that looked fancy, yet without making too much of a statement.

"I believe so," the guard said. "But I don't see Princess Twilight anywhere. Did any of you see her?" He turned to the other guards in the room.

They replied, but my eyes were fixed on the mare he had arrived with. She looked healthy and well-built, but otherwise ordinary, probably in her late twenties. Something about her seemed to pull at my eyes, almost like looking at Yelvey had done, except much less noticeable and not discomforting or unpleasant.

And, most importantly, she was the spitting image - aged up, but still - of a portrait hanging in Valey's office in Ironridge, unadorned and sitting in a place of honor, labeled only as belonging to Starlight.

Comments

[KMCA]

Yay! Also poor Halcyon missed getting objective 1 and 2 at the same time.

[Boopers]

Well, congratulations on almost two years of this amazing story! 💚
Let's have a party!
Let's split the party!
And look at that chapter title :D
What an amazing milestone after just 600k!
Or should I also add TOW to the count? ;)

[PropsValroa]

There we go!

[-newt-]

I was kind of burning out on this story (that happened to me with both The Olden World and the Austaeoh books, which is why I haven't finished either. I think it's because of the length lol). But these past two chapters have brought me right back! Starlight's involved, Corsica and Halycon are hopefully gonna make up, we have a mystery person joining the crew - I can't wait!

[Alchemik]

This was the prologue?!?! We're two books in! ....right, actually reading chapter now.

Hahaha! Oh, what a place to get caught up. The end of the prologue, with all that entails.

Thank you, Czar. I eagerly await your next chapter.

[RoboRed]

It's her! She's finally here! The mare of the hour!
Man, I'm not caught up yet but I'm catching up right as things are getting really interesting.

I love how Rainbow Dash just came in and instantly blew away whatever covert pretense Twilight had for lying in true Rainbow Dash fashion.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "How long has it been since Starlight started staying with us, Rainbow? How long has it been since she finished telling her story?"

"Uhhh..." Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her neck. "Like... three weeks ago?"

Uhhh, okay. So right now is a pretty dang recent "when".

Twilight shrugged helplessly. "Well, we did leave some of your group behind, didn't we?"

It was bugging when and just how long it took for someone to point this out. Y'all just bounced out of there without part of the group including one of the most important ponies and nobody said anything?

The fact that those polar bears were in the middle of nowhere there and are the same ones from Snowport sans memories is....very concerning.

"Twilight, rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Braen and Corsica,"

Missed capitalization there.

Leif gave an honestly needed tongue lashing to Halcyon. Hopefully that's the motivation she needs to grow and open up more to Corsica.

Also, I do not trust that zebra.

[Venlinelle]

"No, wait!" Rainbow interrupted once more. "Do, uhh..." Her ruby eyes sparkled with anticipation. "Do any of you know a mare called Valey? And if so, is she still alive and kicking?"

God she’s just like me.

Rainbow Dash whirled on her with a sky-splittingly stupid grin. "Yes! I knew it! I knew it! In your face! I told you she was still around!" She turned back to Corsica. "So, let me guess: you guys are either here because everything is magically nice and happy in the north now, and Valey wants you to go look for Starlight and tell her to come home... or, more likely, everything is a dumpster fire and Valey wanted you to go find her and ask her to come back and help save the city. Or the world. Am I right on the money, or what?"

The fact that Dash is geeking out over the TOW cast is absolutely delightful. I love a good audience stand-in.

And Starlight is here at last! I can already tell this reunion is going to go horribly, but it’ll get better eventually.

[sploopy slooder]

ok but why the fuck did they just leave halcyon there? theyre only here BECAUSE of her. it perfectly logical that halcyon shouldnt be in charge but just ditching her when she goes to the washroom? who does that? leif didnt even give a real reason. "youre a shitty friend" has nothing to do with anything here.