Twilight: Scarabi Station
For a few moments, the carrying rig appeared to defy gravity and remain floating in midair. Then another wet crack announced the snapping of the other wing and the platform, still harnessed to the corpse of the roc, simply dropped out of the sky. At the same moment, Twilight got a glimpse of a dragon’s tail, semi-transparent in her sustained mage-sight, swinging towards her. She had barely turned when the appendage slammed into her, throwing her through the air like a cannonball. Suddenly panicked, she fought to arrest her roll and return to a stable glide before Tharalax decided to grab her while her defenses were essentially nonexistent.
Her uncontrolled tumble came to a dead halt as Elli caught her with an outstretched arm, used her momentum to wheel around, and set her flying towards the falling platform in a single motion. “Ye take care o’ th’ platform, darl!” she heard the griffin call after her. “We’ll make sure Tharalax can’t interfere!”
Twilight flapped her wings a few times to stabilize her flight and then aimed down towards the platform, which was starting to tip in its fall, lightning her horn and struggling to find composure against the all-too-familiar tide of rising panic that she knew would paralyze her if she let it.
Calm down, she told herself. Yeah, the platform is falling and it’s starting to tumble and your sister and your friends are going to die if you… NO! It won’t help them… thinking of how… no, no, no, need to focus… focus on stopping the tumble… focus on slowing the fall… focus…
Some small part of her sighed in relief as the panic began to recede and the comforting embrace of remote calm rose to take its place. Time appeared to slow down, although Twilight knew that she was only perceiving time as moving slower because her well-trained mind was running faster, and her mage-sight let her see the entire situation as if in clear day.
Her friends were all in the process of moving towards the back, trying to provide a counterweight to the falling leading edge. Futile, her mind told her. And the most rational response to the situation. She swept in closer as she fed power into her horn, her mind now running through hundreds of diagrams she’d seen of flying machines, each one appearing superimposed over the platform, running the gamut from fixed wings to the strange pedal-powered contraption Pinkie had rigged up once to follow Rainbow Dash and Gilda Grimfeathers around. Broad, very long to either side, shallow upward arc, she decided as she sent the magic forth.
Complex constructs using pure magic were an art form in and of themselves, and every unicorn had their own special way of putting them together. Twilight’s was to build them from the inside out and so, the first thing that appeared was the beams of the frame. Metal joiners popped into place, and the pieces of wood they were meant to join, all secured with nails the screws and adhesives that they would be if the wings were real. Panels appeared, thin wooden sheathing bent over the frame with dozens of broadhead nails securing them… and the results were both immediate and dramatic: the platform rushed even faster towards the ground.
W..what? Panic threatened her again but Twilight beat it down and the problem immediately became clear: like any fixed-wing craft, pointing it downwards as the platform was caused it to travel in the direction it was pointing. In a controlled manner, but no less quickly and fatally for all that control. What was needed was control surfaces… or some kind of counterweight to push the “tail” down so the “nose” would move up and subsequently halt the downwards flight.
Twilight fed magic into her horn again, keeping a careful “eye” on her font despite knowing that even these massive and complex constructs were as teacups from the ocean of her magical reserves…
And then she stopped.
Her mage-sight had only registered the wounded changelings spread through the structure as the wavy dots that represented ponies with horn-magic who were at rest and not using it. Some were slightly brighter--Rarity was noticeably so, given her gift for exquisitely fine manipulation in service of her dressmaking--but most were dim. The talent that was now blazing like a miniature sun, however, had been totally invisible until it exploded into being and Twilight watched in amazement as an intricate tail section was formed onto the back.
It was clear that unlike Twilight, this talent was an artist of some kind, because the elements formed as if somepony was doing a sketch and then painting it in, the outline of the construct appearing as glowing lines and then filling in with a skin, trim tabs, elevators, and a rudder. The changeling’s magic then flowed to Twilight’s construct, and flaps, slats, spoilers, and ailerons were “painted” onto the wings in quick, deft, precise motions.
With the pieces in place, the movable parts suddenly moved, all the elevation elements tilting upwards to shove the rear down and bring the nose up. As Twilight watched, the front came up and the fall was converted into forward motion. She could see that the invisible “pilot” was still bringing the platform down, but now it was a thing of control, a precise glide to let it strike the ground flat instead of at full speed and rolling destructively.
Flaps and spoilers moved and the platform slowed just as it was close to striking the ground… and then it was down in a spray of sand and a mass tumbling of the ponies on board. Twilight dismissed her constructs and trusting the Drake sisters to do as they said, she flapped closer to the downed platform and set her wings for a landing.
Naturally, she came in slightly too fast and too low and went tumbling head-over-tail through the oddly soft-feeling sand, coming to rest on her back and feeling slightly disgruntled. Oh sure… I can build wings onto a brick and make it fly but I still can’t land… she grumbled to herself as she rolled to her feet and folded her wings.
“That was awesome, sis!” Twilight looked up just in time for her bright pink sister to wrap hooves around her in an enthusiastic embrace.
Twilight smiled and returned her twin’s embrace. “I try,” she said. “I wish I could claim all the credit but I wasn’t the one flying it.”
“We could sorta tell, sugarcube,” Applejack said with a grin. “Question is, who we got ta give thanks to?”
“I couldn’t tell,” Twilight admitted as she next accepted an embrace from Pinkie next, silent but no less enthusiastic. “It was one of the changelings on the upper decks but at that distance, with mage-sight, I could only tell that she’s unusually talented.”
“Tail?” Pinkie guessed.
“Yes,” Twilight nodded. “And all the movable parts on the wings.”
“Pretty neat, sis,” Dawn grinned. “Pulled all the blueprints outta yer head in seconds. Yeah, I’d sorta like to kill you for that ten seconds we were falling faster, but I forgive you on account of us being not-dead.”
“Thanks,” Twilight said as dryly as she could. “How’d the wounded weather the landing?”
“Not much you can do to cracked skulls and being run through to make them worse,” a changeling mare commented as she appeared over the rise of a dune, visibly favoring her left side. “We’ll be fine, Princess Sparkle, but none of us are suited for a long desert journey.”
“Not seein’ how we’re gonna get ta civilization without a long walk,” Applejack said.
“We send up a flare and await aid,” she said as if this was obvious. “It should take no more than a day, and we’re both well-provisioned and have very robust shelter.”
“A flare?” Twilight looked at her. “We’re in the middle of a desert. The flare would have to be visible at an extremely great distance…”
“Four kilometers, actually,” the mare interrupted. “It’s about that distance to the nearest outpost.” She smiled a little. “Come now, did you honestly think our route took us through a desolate waste where we’d have no hope of rescue if something went wrong?”
“I think we were a bit more occupied with ‘holy buck that’s a giant bird’ than wondering about how you laid out the route,” Dawn said.
“Fair enough.” She bowed to them. “I need to return to the top of the carrying structure to direct the flare. If you need anything of us, don’t hesitate.”
“We won’t,” Twilight gave her a little smile in return. “I’m glad you’re all OK.”
“We were in excellent hooves, Princess,” the changeling said warmly before disappearing behind the dune again.
“So where’d Elli an’ Delphine go?” Applejack squinted into the dark. “Thought they were stickin’ with you.”
“Fighting Tharalax,” Twilight replied, glancing back in the direction she’d flown but not seriously expecting to see the griffin sisters. “If past history is any indication, they have nothing to fear from him. And unfortunately, even if I thought they needed my help, I’m not that good of a flier and don’t know where they are relative to us.”
“Great,” Dawn sighed. “Someone sent the two of ‘em to help us and they’re off doing whatever wherever. Oh well… ‘least now we can just kick back, take a load off, and hang with the bug-ponies. Should be a great time.”
Twilight just shook her head and looked up at the sky, locating the two constellations Luna had built. “I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t be able to build wings for a falling box if I had Tharalax batting me out of the sky for his amusement,” she said. “So wherever they are, they’re helping us by being there. Now give me a moment… I need to concentrate on the constellations.”
“Um… didn’t we already have this discussion?” Applejack ask, standing beside her and looking up at the twisted lash and the bell.
“The constellations are only part of the messages,” Twilight told her, focusing her sight on the space around the formations of stars, looking for the slight ripple in their wake that would indicate that Luna had wrapped a magic-scribed message around one; if she’d been unable to form constellations, the message would have been written around a lone polaris star, its magical intensity and brightness obscuring the spell from even focused observation--unless you knew what to look for.
Twilight found the ripple around a polaris star being used as the tip of the lash constellation and concentrated on it, sending a small ‘hook’ of magic to unfold the spell Luna had used. In keeping with her aunt’s affection for art, the sand around her faded into the inky, star-speckled blackness of the night sky, a complex illusion but one that’d be simple for somepony who used it as her canvas every night since time immemorial. Within this illusion, one of Luna herself appeared, and the expression on her face was troubled.
“Twilight, I hope that you’re well,” she said in a voice echoing with the effects of it being created of magic rather than a natural voice. “We have found Lashaal but made the error of allowing her to bargain for a stay of execution. She fulfilled her end, but then betrayed us when Spite left on her own to assassinate the Evil responsible for the efforts against the Provinces, called simply ‘Master’. She has released some manner of beast called a ‘Zambet’ that has been conditioned to hunt specifically for you. I, in turn, am hunting it and hope to slay it before it can travel east.”
The illusion paused for a moment, closed its eyes and took a breath. “Twilight, by now you will have met the changelings. I wish I had some justification to offer but there is none. When you receive this message, if they have treated you well, tell them everything. They will help you, as is their way.” The illusion opened its eyes again and its expression grew warmer. “Be safe, Twilight, and your friends as well.”
The illusion evaporated, and Twilight found herself in the middle of a circle of ponies who were all watching her. Or, she realized a split-second later, watching the illusion convey Luna’s message. When it had dissipated, her friends and sister all stared at her a moment before Applejack’s expression became faintly ill.
“Ah invited her into mah house,” she said. “Fed ‘er, gave ‘er a place ta sleep, was right neighborly to her. Let er near Applebloom. An’ she goes an’ thrashes Rainbow but good an’ now, she’s set some monster on yer tail. An’... an’... Ah didn’t notice a thing wrong with ‘er! Ah’m supposed ta be attuned to Honesty, and Ah couldn’t pick up on one mysterious mare lyin’ through her teeth.”
Twilight moved to give the stricken-looking farmpony a hug but Dawn beat her to it; noticeably, Applejack didn’t pull away slightly the way she usually did when Dawn got close. “Oh, don’t be silly AJ,” she said as she hugged her. “Your element is Honesty, not Omniscience. As long as she picked her words carefully and avoided saying anything outright false, nothing stood out.”
Dawn let Applejack go and stepped back to stand near Twilight. “And… we don’t really know what creatures like her are all about. We know what Spite is and how she works but she’s just one kind… maybe Lashaal can… I don’t know confuse the Element. It’s not like you spent all your time hanging around with your five Element-bearer friends and running at full power. Could be that the Elements are only as strong as the pony without all the rest of them nearby, attuned, and pointed at something.”
“We don’t know much about how they help, or even if they help on an individual basis,” Twilight added, seizing the opening Dawn had provided. “Applejack, you’re just one pony. A wonderful pony, my friend, a great farmer, but still just one pony. Lashaal fooled everyone who met her; she even strung Luna and Spite along when they didn’t execute her immediately.” She gave Applejack a grin. “Don’t tell me you think you’re more perceptive than Luna.”
Applejack smirked just a little. “Ah… suppose not,” she said and sighed. “Ah just feel responsible, yanno?”
“We know, darling,” Rarity said, patting Applejack on the shoulder. “I undertook the… work I won’t speak of because I felt responsible for my friends. It doesn’t have to make sense, except to you.”
“Aw, thanks Rarity,” Applejack gave her a grateful hug.
“Don’t mention it, dear,” Rarity said kindly. “But even though you did nothing wrong, there’s still this ‘Zambet’ after Twilight.” She looked at Dawn and Twilight. “Any chance one of your books mentioned such a thing?”
Twilight shook her head. “It may be in some of the more exotic and rare books I have at the Golden Oaks or brought with me in the train car but I’ve never seen a creature called a ‘Zambet’ in any texts.”
“Do you remember any mention of a creature associated with smiles?” Pinkamena asked. “It’s what the name means… ‘smile’.”
“No offense, Pinkster, but how the hay do ya know that?”
Pinkie giggled in a characteristic Pinkie way. “Element of Laughter, remember? Smiles are sorta my reason to be.” The smile evaporated almost instantly. “So I hope you don’t mind if I’m a little offended here. Smiles aren’t for hurting, they’re for helping, and the thing that wants to hurt my friend is called ‘smile’.”
“Thanks, Pinkie,” Twilight smiled at her. “But no, I don’t remember anything about creatures having to do with smiles either. Maybe we can ask Queen Chrysalis if her people maintain an archives or a library… if they’ve been here a long time, they might have most of the exotic volumes I have, plus some I don’t.”
“Or ask Nightmare Moon,” Dawn said. “We know she ain’t quite Luna, which means she’s someone else and that someone else might know things none of the rest of us do.”
“Speakin’ of Chrysalis an’ Nightmare, didn’t that changeling say somethin’ about sending up a flare?” Applejack looked up at the night. “Ah mean, aren’t flares usually… Ah dunno… real bright an’ such?”
“We’re assuming it’s magical,” Twilight pointed out. “They might have had to unearth it from the…”
She was interrupted by a throaty whoosh from the direction of the downed structure and she could see a small object like a fireworks rocket zipping upwards. Remembering what flares (and fireworks) usually did when they reached their apex, she averted her eyes just before the entire landscape lit up like noon, bathed in searing white light that would be hard to miss from any distance. Her eyes averted, she noticed something strange: she appeared to be casting two shadows, one from in front of her where the flare was burning… and one from behind.
“Gee, didn’t know there were two changelings shooting off flares,” Dawn commented as she stepped to a side and studied her shadow. “The other light is about fifteen degrees to your left and…”
“...seventy-eight degrees upwards,” Twilight finished with a nod, having to smother a grin. She adored her friends, were amazed by what they could do that she couldn’t, but it was nice to be around a pony like her. “And holding steady, which means…”
“...someone’s hovering in midair while they’re holding it,” Dawn concluded. “Hey Drakes… that you two?”
“Faith, but the two of you are quick on th’ uptake,” Delphine said with a laugh. “Sharp as tacks, these Sparkles.”
“Aye,” Elli agreed. “Now would ye douse th’ bloomin’ lamp? Makin’ it a wee be hard ta see.”.
“Beggin’ pardon, sister.” And just like that, the light behind them disappeared even as the flare was beginning to slowly drift back to earth, sputtering out as it went. Twilight turned to find the two griffins just alighting, Delphine in the middle of tucking an aged-looking lantern under her cloak as she did. “There’s a good lass! We knew ye could do it, Princess.”
“Cool lantern,” Dawn responded before Twilight could thank Delphine. “That’s what was making the other really bright light, huh?”
“One of the magical tools of me order,” Delphine said. “Each Inquisitor receives a lantern an’ a misericord to mark who they are. Tis traditional, at least in Ratnisbon, for an Inquisitor ta light his lamp when he carries out his duties, and ta douse it only when the truth has been found and th’ Emperor’s justice dispensed. This far afield, with none ta minister to, it is a weapon against th’ Void, perhaps one of th’ most potent of all.”
“Sure left ol’ Tharalax scorched an’ cryin’ like a whipped child,” Elli chuckled. “Th’ evil ol’ screw ‘as been well-punished for his latest evil an’ when ‘e feels ‘is backbone get a mite harder, we’ll put th’ beast down good an’ proper.”
“I’m not sure you’ll get the chance, Ladies,” the changeling mare from before remarked as she walked over, still favoring her left side. “The Empress will certainly want his head far more than you ever could. Tharalax struck her niece, endangered Bearers of the Elements, would have gotten her other niece killed, and killed many wounded changelings besides… and that doesn’t count the faithful roc he murdered. He must know that Empress Moon will kill him and make a trophy of his ethereal head to illustrate the consequences of betraying her.”
“Ah’ve been wondering ‘bout that,” Applejack said. “Why do ya call her ‘Empress’ anyhow? If anythin’, she’d be a Princess cuz Luna is.”
“When she was first presented to us, in the company of Tharalax, he called her ‘Empress’ although he clearly didn’t want to,” the mare said. “So we took to calling her ‘Empress’ as well, to spite him, and then later out of respect.”
“He certainly doesn't treat her like his empress,” Twilight said. “In fact, Nightmare told me that she had no power to control him short of threatening him. She feared that something just like this would happen.”
“And so with the consent of Queen Chrysalis, she put the posts on alert and arranged for rescue to be on hoof if it was needed,” the changeling said. “Other measures were taken for your safety as well, including the exhaustive provisioning of the carrier and sending military doctors along with the wounded. I doubt she knew that you’d be bringing bodyguards with you, but that changes little.”
“Oh, she didn’t bring us, darl,” Elli smiled. “We were bid ta come by another, and that other ain’t known ta anyone ‘ere. We were bid ta follow Twilight Sparkle an’ ‘er companoins, and that where she went, we would go also. We are not ta ta leave ‘er, or allow ‘er ta come ta harm.”
“A pleasure.” The mare bowed. “If I may invite you to the makeshift shelter, ladies, there will soon be pads and blankets for sleep laid out and rations to slake hunger and thirst if you ate too lightly in the company of Maredusa. Rescue ought to come to us by noon tomorrow or sooner, and a much more reliable way of reaching Scarabi put into effect. This was the best way to transport masses quickly, but it’s clear that we underestimated Tharalax’ fixation.” She grimaced. “Or perhaps this was always his mission but it was concealed from us until he thought it too late.”
“But why now?” Dawn asked. “I mean, he’s sorta supposed to be Nightmare’s thug on a sorta-leash, right? So why not just play along until we get to this Scarabi place and do his thing when everyone thinks they’re safe?”
The mare shook her head. “Tharalax is strong, cruel, and cunning… but not particularly clever,” she said. “In the first place, it wouldn’t occur to him to be subtle. In the second place, he’s been barred from our city and Nightmare devised a runic wall of sorts that ensures he cannot enter. As to why now… well, let us just say that the outposts are very well-hidden and unless he took great care, he’d have no way to know that this isn’t a stretch of desolate waste with no help in reach.”
“Cunnin’ is right,” Elli sighed. “Killin’ the roc keepin’ th’ platform aloft was cruel an’ effective. If not for ye an’ yer facility with magical constructs, Princess, he would have killed many, includin’ th’ only ones who kin bear an’ use th’ Elements.”
“It wasn’t just me,” Twilight admitted. “I think Queen Chrysalis sent a magi of great skill concealed among the wounded. I only did the constructs of the wings; she built a tail section, control surfaces, and actually landed the platform.” Something occurred to her. “Sort of strange that she’d know how to do that since the only flying contraption we’ve seen among her people is this platform carried by a giant bird.”
The changeling mare laughed. “Princess, we’re changelings. For all you know, all the ponies who fly your Equestrian machines are changelings in a guise.”
“Point,” Twilight conceded. “But if that’s the case, why doesn’t anyone notice? I know I’m unusual with how good I am with magic but being able to feel a latent spell is almost universal among unicorns.”
“It’s not a spell,” she replied. “Our guises aren’t just illusions, they’re full transformations. If I was to use your shape as a guise, I’d be an alicorn, not just look like one. My magical reserves wouldn’t be any greater than what I have, but the physical differences between you and I would be miniscule.”
“You mean you could replace anypony?” Pinkie gasped with a look of impossibly wide-eyed (and thus probably extremely exaggerated) fear.
The mare gave her a level look. “You read too many ghost stories.” She shook her head with a derisive snort as she turned and started back over the dune towards the structure. “I can have whatever body I can imagine. Why settle for someone else’s?”
“Any body?” Rarity repeated.
“Uh-oh…” Dawn muttered.
“Darling, did you say you can have any body you can imagine?” Rarity asked as she trotted up to walk beside the mare.
The changeling looked at her. “If you get within a hundred meters of me with a dress, I’m not responsible for your pain and suffering.”
Rarity affected a wounded look. “I said nothing about dresses.”
This got her a level look. “You’re a fashionista and a dressmaker. Your designs have been seen on some very important ponies. A single pony who could model any design you might dream up would be worth their weight in pink diamonds. I might be a rube but I can add and subtract, Rarity.”
Rather than being chastised, Rarity’s attentioned sharpened visibly. “Pink diamonds?”
“Yes, an exquisitely rare type with miniscule amounts of chromium that give it a very slight pinkness,” the mare confirmed. “The only veins I know of run through the mountain into which Scarabi is built. By far the most difficult gem to cut because the chromium gives it extremely intricate and complex fracture points, but it’s well worth the effort.”
“You’re a gemcutter then?”
The mare smiled a little. “Among other things. At any rate, Rarity, no dresses please.”
Rarity was silent for several steps. “Hats?”
She stopped and looked at her oddly. “Hats?”
“Hats are an integral part of the cultured fashionista’s arsenal, darling,” Rarity gave her a winning smile.
The mare considered this and as they stepped into the still-intact carrier, she smiled more. “Hats would be acceptable, assuming I’m ever in the Carousel Boutique again.”
The mare was several steps ahead before it registered and Rarity rushed after her. “Again? What do you mean again?”
The changeling’s reply was lost as she and Rarity disappeared up the stairs and Twilight decided to find a bench and lay down. She was amazed to see how intact the structure was, not even showing signs of cracking or other strain from impacting with the sand. Of course, that was probably because the ground was sand but the durability was still very impressive. Just as the changeling had said, pads and blankets were being spread out around the structure by several uninjured changelings wearing the universal symbol for medical pony, a red cross. She watched her friends disperse themselves throughout, taking bedding and helping the changelings to lay it out.
“And ‘ow are yer reserves, Princess?” Twilight startled a little as one of the healers seemed to appear out of nowhere beside her. She turned her head to look at the mare, whose turquoise mane was cut short and streaked with red and was wearing a custom-fitted white coat.
“Quite fine,” she assured her. “Nurse…?”
“Doctor, actually,” the mare corrected her with a tired smile, speaking with a strong Trottingham accent. “Doctor Ratchet Limb. So reserves are good… any other physical complaints?”
“Had that dragon smack me with his tail, but I don’t feel sore,” Twilight told her. “So… Ratchet Limb?”
“Talent for prosthetic limbs,” the doctor supplied as she lightly prodded Twilight into rolling onto her side, carefully prodding and checking her. “The Royal College of Sciences and Engineering in Trotsford has published some truly inspired work on the subject in the last ten years. When my year rotation comes due, I’ll be able to continue my work with a unicorn colleague. The work is exciting beyond easy description, and you may roll back on your belly if you like.”
Twilight did so. “I take it that changelings wandering around Equestria must be pretty common then.”
Ratchet nodded with a little smile. “Extremely so. To keep the guise requires no effort, and Equestria has enough ambient love to nourish a thousand times more of us than are alive today. More than one changeling has lived most of their life in Equestria.” Her smile dropped, replaced with a slightly sad expression. “Although those that do cannot take a mate or a lover, except of their own gender.”
“Why…” the answer came to her even as she asked and she nodded. “Ah, of course. A changeling parent give birth to a changeling foal and the charade would be over.”
“There are ways around it,” Rachet said as she gestured for Twilight to roll over and expose her other side. “A skilled enough parent can guise-lock their child until they’re old enough to control the guise consciously. But that’s no way to raise a foal, always afraid that if she forgets, she’ll be mistreated.”
“You wish you could take that step with your colleague?” Twilight guessed as she rolled.
“Handsome, intelligent, very considerate of me, and is assured of a university position and the generous compensation that comes with it.” Ratchet sighed. “A good stallion that would be a good husband. But if I can’t be his wife in every sense, if I can’t have a family with him, why burden him with the knowledge that his colleague and possible marefriend isn’t what she appears?”
“I see.” No wonder Luna made sure to express her regret about what she and Celestia did. “I wish there was something I could do. Maybe I could talk to Mother…?”
Ratchet stopped her examination and looked curiously at her. “You’re the daughter of one of the Sisters?”
“Yes,” Twilight smiled as she tended to, whether on the surface or not, when Celestia was brought up.
“Luna’s?”
She sighed. “Why does everypony who doesn’t know assume that? No, my mother is Celestia.”
“You have her talent, her intellect, her coloration, and her affinity for the night,” Ratchet pointed out. “So Celestia… mmm… well, it couldn’t hurt. You’re kind to offer, Princess Sparkle.”
“Just call me Twilight,” Twilight said, wincing as Ratchet pressed lightly against her barrel.
“Of course.” Ratchet very gently pressed the spot again and then moved down slightly and pressed again, drawing another wince. “Well, a line of bruised ribs for certain. Do you have any objection to me using magic to accelerate the healing?”
Twilight gave her an odd look. “Is there a reason I would?”
“Not a rational one, but I try to be considerate regardless.” Ratchet lit her horn and Twilight felt it press against the bruised area… and the discomfort rapidly faded into a pleasantly warm sensation that spread over her side before slowly fading into the slightly cool desert night. Behind the warm sensation came the absence of pain and Twilight gave Ratchet a grateful look.
“Thanks,” she said. “So how’re your other patients? I know we asked that other wounded mare but…”
Ratchet looked oddly at her. “Wounded mare?”
Twilight looked oddly back. “Yes, the one that Rarity was talking to as she walked up the stairs.”
“The only mare that’s ambulatory…” Ratchet sighed and rolled her eyes. “Lemme guess… seemed to know everything about everything, but you can’t describe her to me?”
Twilight blinked. “Of course I can! She was favoring her left side, was a mare… um..” she trailed off as she tried to concentrate on the image she had in her mind, only for it to… slip somehow. “...how’d you know?”
Ratchet smirked. “Let’s just say I know her style. It’s just like her to sneak aboard and take a ride without anyone noticing. Or maybe the only ones who didn’t know were everyone else on the platform; Queen Chrysalis asking one of her daughters to secretly help an honored guest is just like her.”
“So she’s…”
“Princess Lepinora bar Chrysalis,” came a voice with an odd accent that seemed to literally come from an inch away from Twilight’s ear. She jumped and jerked her head around to find no one there. A moment later, a girlish giggle came from just above her on the structure and a changeling with the anisoptic wings seemingly unique to the royal family seemed to flow over the edge and buzzed her wings at the last possible second, touching down in the sand beside Twilight with a feline grace.
It was clear that Lepinora was related to Tettidora and Thryssa; something about the sharp lines of her face and the very slightly almond shape of her eyes reminded Twilight heavily of the other two sisters and even somewhat of Chrysalis herself. Beyond that, however, Lepinora looked like no other changeling Twilight had ever seen before. Her mane was cut both long around her face and short over her forehead and around the back of her head. The two unusually long segments were woven with jeweled pins so that it appeared that gems were flowing down the sides of her face. Not only was it cut strangely, but it was streaked with uneven hints of bleached white, the ordinary turquoise, and a shocking array of colors that made Rainbow Dash’s mane look colorless.
The odd mane momentarily distracted Twilight from something else: Lepinora’s face looked disjointed somehow. As the princess turned slightly so she could vault the rail, Twilight realized what it was that her mind had interpreted as disjointed: literally every visible inch of her body was carved with a dizzying array of looping lines, circles, and symbols. She’d seen a pony with full-body tattooing of course; one could hardly grow up in an extremely cosmopolitan city like Canterlot and not experience a heavy variety of ponies, but Lepinora had taken it to an extreme, right down to her eyelids, the entire surface of her ears, and even her teeth and tongue as Twilight realized when she grinned and opened her mouth to speak.
“A pleasure to meet you, Princess Twilight Andromeda Sparkle,” she almost-purred in that odd accent, something between Saddle Arabian and Germane. “Child of Princess Celestia du Solaris, niece to Princess Luna du Selune, sister to Royal Guard Captain Shining Armor, bereft of her adopted parents and claimed by her true parent.” The princess bowed deeply. “You are richly welcome to us, Twilight, and your sister and friends as well.”
“Hello Princess,” Ratchet sighed. “Overly dramatic, as usual.”
“Hello Nurse Ratchet,” Lepinora responded with a grin. “Stick in your plot, as usual.”
Ratchet gave her a sour look before looking at Twilight. “Is there anything else I may do for you, Princess?”
“Just see to your patients Doctor,” Twilight smiled. “I’m sure the Princess has something she wants to speak to me about.”
“When doesn’t she?” Ratchet sighed as she turned and went up the stairs. With the medical pony gone, Twilight turned back to Lepinora to find her achieving Pinkie Pie levels of personal space invasion.
“Ratchet can be forgiven for mistaking you for Luna’s foal,” she said casually, as if the end of her muzzle wasn’t only a hair’s breadth away from Twilight’s. “You have the presence of the warrior-scholar about you, that hint of constant calculation, that flicker of a million tiny equations always being formulated, always being solved.” She pulled back to a more polite distance and looked slightly up at Twilight. “I’ve long wanted to meet the apple of Celestia’s eye, the prize and ornament of her court, but the closest I’ve ever been was attendance at the Grand Galloping Gala before you were detailed to Ponyville.”
“I thought you told Rarity you don’t wear dresses,” Twilight said.
“I don’t.” She smiled a little. “Although if my sisters ever blackmailed me to into it, I’d certainly go to Rarity for the garment. That way, when Rarity becomes the name in fashion, I can say that I wore her work when she was just a humble dressmaker in a small town.”
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate having a princess say so,” Twilight smiled.
“I’m sure she already has,” Lepinora’s smile got brighter. “But no, I wasn’t wearing a dress at the Gala. I was doing a favor for a Wonderbolt, covering her for the public appearance while she was recovering from a hangover I had absolutely nothing to do with.”
“So you do replace ponies.” Twilight deadpanned.
“She asked me to and she was the best drinking buddy I’d had for ages.” The princess shrugged. “Friends cover each other’s plots and besides all that, you can’t have too many markers to call in when you’re someplace you’re not supposed to be.”
“She knew you were a changeling?”
“No, but she knew I was a friend.” Lepi tapped a hoof on the decking under her. “And I was, and I still am. A lot of my work is markers, deception, and maneuvering for maximum advantage against ponies who are not my enemy and will never be my enemy but doing a favor for Misty was a pleasure. It was an intelligence coup as well, but it’s good to have a friend to celebrate our return with.”
“Do you… mind if I ask how you plan to do that?” Twilight gave Lepi a nervous smile. “I mean, I hope you don’t take it as suspicion but your exile wasn’t… um… amicable and it sounded like things were ugly… um… back then.”
Lepinora frowned. “I’m told it was extremely ugly, yes.” She tapped her hoof again on the decking. “I think Tetti and Mother should tell you of this. The strategy is theirs and you deserve to hear it from them.”
Twilight wrinkled her brow at the odd phrasing. “I deserve to hear it from them? You make it sound like I won’t like it.”
“It’s nothing like that, I assure you.” Lepinora said. “What I meant is that in our way of thinking, you’re the heir to the Equestrian throne. The affairs of the nation are as much your business as they are the business of your mother and aunt. So you deserve to be told our intentions, as a gesture of respect for your rank and your birthright. I swear to you, we intend no harm or ill… that hatchet was buried centuries ago.” She sighed a little. “Even if the heir to our throne doesn’t quite see it.”
“Yeah, sorta got that ‘chip on my shoulder’ vibe off her,” Dawn commented as she trotted over to Twilight with two rolls of bedding arranged on her back. “And may I say, you look like you could have a promising career walking some streets?”
“My marefriend likes the tats,” Lepi grinned. “Says she thinks they make me look alluring and all bad-filly.”
“Sounds like she has good taste.” Dawn grinned back. “So, big sis is heir to the throne, massive chip on her shoulder, and so… what? Do you think she’s gonna throw a monkey wrench in this great plan?”
“Thryssa would never do that,” Lepi said instantly. “She’s displeased that the plan doesn’t allow her to inflict some kind of humiliation or pain on Princess Celestia, but she knows there’s higher stakes than mother’s approval. She’s in the position she’s in because Mother knows she can swallow her resentment and do her best. Letting go of an injustice a thousand years old--and only an injustice in the sense that it was slightly disproportionate--would just let her enjoy the triumph more than she will.”
“You lot sound real confident in this plan of yours,” Dawn noted.
“At this point, we have every reason to be,” Lepi beamed. “The one crucial pony has been brought into the scheme, the one crucial element is in place, and even Celestia is looking forward to it even though she doesn’t actually know what it is yet. Well, she knows what it is but she doesn’t know all of what it means.”
Twilight and Dawn stared at her. “You could have just said it’s none of our business,” Twilight said.
“Why deflect a question when I can use it to confuse others?” The changeling princess winked at them. “Rescue should be arriving by morning so you two grab some shut-eye. Don’t worry about Tharalax… he knows better than to try to come down here after us.”
“Why?” Twilight took one of the bedrolls from Dawn’s back and laid it out on the deck.
“Oh, let’s just say that there’s a reason we fly over the sand or go under it instead of trying to travel on it.” Lepi grinned, lighting her horn and assuming the disguise of the entirely ordinary-looking mare, favoring her left side. “Sleep well.”
A stiff breeze swept over the railing and caused the page Twilight had been reading from to slip her magical grasp, followed by a dozen more. The alicorn sighed and patiently turned back to the page before slipping a bookmark into the volume and standing up to look out over the desert underneath.
It had felt like she’d just shut her eyes when she’d been awoken by the fierce brightness of day as well as the commotion of the changelings starting to awaken, tend to their needs, and pack up. Curious at how they appeared to be getting ready to move, she’d glanced over the edge of the grounded platform and gaped wide-eyed at what appeared to be a ship resting on a sand dune beside the platform with what appeared to be a set of small sails jutting up from the deck and a half-dozen propellers at the bow, midship, and stern with an extra two on booms in the back. It was very large, moreover, about the height of a 2-story house with a large captain’s cabin sticking up in the front. It was painted a cherry red with the name “Red Mambo” stenciled in black on either side.
Somewhat more ominously, ports had been cut into the sides and the brass muzzles of cannons protruded; Twilight calculated their weight at about two stone each based on muzzle size which made it a carronade configuration. A shorter-range arrangement for close quarters and emphatically not, she realized, for bombarding settlements or fortifications.
It transpired that the Red Mambo was a vehicle called an “airship” that used a magic-laced stone to give it levitation and steam boilers to drive its many engines. It was well-armored, well-protected, and crewed by the changeling equivalent of the Royal Guard, the veterans and gifted among the monarchy’s armies. This, of course, had invited the obvious question and of course it came from Applejack.
“An’ why didn’t y’all pack us aboard this thing instead of gettin’ someone killed an’ scaring the apples outta the rest of us?” She asked the Throne Guard who appeared to be in charge--Lepinora had done nothing to correct this impression, and neither Twilight nor Dawn had felt comfortable mentioning it--a mare who’d identified herself as “Masquerade”.
“Orders,” she’d replied with a shrug. “Carrying you via roc as far as possible and having an airship on standby in case something went wrong were my instructions, and I simply obeyed. Feel free to take it up with somepony in authority when you reach Scarabi, but we need to leave as soon as possible. Kindly enter now, and chastise me later.”
Twillight could tell that Applejack wasn’t pleased with the non-answer, but the farmpony had yielded to the urgency of the moment and helped load up the airship. It turned out that most of the changelings were staying behind; of those traveling with them, only Doctor Ratchet and the disguised Lepinora had accompanied them.
“This airship travels much faster than the one being brought to take the rest of them,” Lepinora had said when Twilight asked her. “Since Tharalax is quite clearly targeting you, we need to get you behind Scarabi’s walls as soon as we can. No more bear-baiting, no more drawing him out, just a run to the capital. The wounded will be plenty safe, I promise.”
It turned out that the captain’s cabin contained a small library and between that and the fact that it was now more an issue of passing the time, Twilight had happily selected one that looked interesting (“On the Flora and Fauna of the Changeling Barrens”) and found a place near a railing to read. Until the breeze had flipped a few of the pages, she’d been engrossed with the book; now, as she looked over the railing, she found herself engrossed with what could only be the changeling capital of Scarabi.
The entire city had been built out of a black, dull stone which made the walls and gates look somehow menacing, despite the colorful banners flapping gently in the wind and immense tapestries hanging from the crenulations, each adorned with the cutie marks of Celestia, Luna, and an inversion of Luna’s mark that Twilight supposed was a reference to Nightmare Moon. The cutie marks were arranged in an inverted triangle with Celestia’s at the bottom--not surprising since the changelings seemed to hold their exile against her specifically--and above the triangle was a kite shield with a green crystal heart in the center and a spear and sword crossing just below center, all set against a vibrant sky-blue background.
The walls were unusually tall with towers jutting slightly out over the battlements so that archers could fire on enemies that were staying close to the walls to avoid the defenses. The gates looked particularly ponderous, protected by a trio of portcullises that were offset from one another to appear to be a solid wall of metal; only as the airship got closer was Twilight able to see their true nature. But the walls and the city coming into view beyond them weren’t the most striking thing about Scarabi; that honor belonged to the palace.
The palace actually floated above the city, a delicately-carved piece of art in gleaming obsidian with soaring rooftops, pointed arches with stained glass windows under them, and the dome and telescope of an actual observatory towards the easternmost edge of the levitated structure.
“Tetti’s observatory,” Lepinora commented as she joined Twilight at the railing, still in her ‘injured mare’ guise. “It’s not strictly hers--the foundations were put in place a couple generations ago--but she owns it now and oversaw the installation of a superior telescope. Took her forever to gather the parts but only Trotsford and Celestia’s School have comparable ones.”
“How long has she had the superior telescope?”
“About five years.” Lepi grinned at Twilight’s suddenly wide-eyed expression. “You want to know whether Tetti studied the ‘Mare in the Moon’. The answer is that yes, she studied the shape and concluded that it was an unnatural occurrence, and that it was a protective seal of extremely high complexity and power. She also noticed that the four stars positioned forty-five degrees off each compass point were moving into the disruption position at an extremely regular pace. She theorized that they had been set in place so that they would reach their positions precisely one thousand years after the seal was put in place, and that the release point was within the next four years.”
Twilight furrowed her brow. “Protective seal?”
“Yup.” Lepi shrugged. “I’m not a magical scholar, so I can just repeat what Tetti said to me without entirely understanding it. What I know for certain is that she called the entire thing of Luna coming back a few years before it happened, though we didn’t really know why she was there until Nightmare told us about the event. I mean, we got our hooves on the storybook about the ‘Mare in the Moon’ but it was clearly fictionalized.”
“Clearly…?”
“Yes,” Lepi nodded as the airship approached one of the palace towers that had a long platform extending from it to act as a mooring point. “Luna was never jealous of her sister. Why would she be? She had ample overt power of her own but unlike Celestia, her power could be subtle and gentle as well. Celestia herself was a gentle creature even a thousand years ago, but the sun is all fire and rage, and there’s nothing gentle or subtle about it.”
Twilight eyed her. “How are you so sure of this?”
“Logicked it out mostly,” Lepi said, giving a wave to the guards standing on the platform as they caught ropes from the crew and helping to guide the airship in. “It was within weeks of us leaving that the knock-down drag-out fighting between her and Celestia started. Ponies don’t go from satisfied to blind jealousy in a month, especially a pony with Luna’s level head. Jealousy is an absurd explanation, clearly invented for the story.” She shrugged as the airship was pulled gently closer to the mooring. “Or maybe Celestia’s broken heart led her to grasp for any explanation she could find. All I know is, the story is a mix of fiction with the facts.”
Twilight absorbed this for a moment, watching the changelings tie the Red Mambo to the moorings and extend a gangway for them to exit. “So a month after your…” She trailed off as her mind took the next logical step. Within a month of the exile Luna, who the changelings admire as their defender in the court, was fighting Celestia for control, she realized. “She rebelled over your exile.”
“That’d be the logical conclusion,” Lepi nodded. “But we still don’t know for sure because Nightmare has yet to tell us. Now that Dawn and yourself are here, I’m certain she will. After, of course, we find our honored guests accommodations.”
“Hang th’ accommodations,” Applejack declared as she appeared from belowdecks with the rest of the girls trailing her (even Pinkie, to Twilight’s momentary surprise). “Ah’m plumb eager ta hear how Luna got mixed up with Nightmare cuz it ain’t like the Elements plucked her outta thin air an’ Nightmare herself said she didn’t force anything on her, an’ she was tellin’ the truth.”
“The accommodations are on the way to the throne room,” Lepinora said, walking out onto the gangplank and over to the tower. “Feel free to bring the book with you if you’d like, Princess Sparkle.”
Twilight smiled as she tucked the book into her saddlebags and followed the disguised princess. “Thank you. It’s a very interesting volume; your lands have much more variety than I’d have thought.”
“We were pretty surprised by it too, when we started to establish ourselves,” Lepi told her, using a quick touch of magic to pull open a hatch leading to a staircase. “The Barrens have the appearance of an arid waste, yet the soil has proven very good for citrus and cacti grow like weeds and there’s quite the variety of things living in them, besides ourselves of course.”
“Must get sorta boring eatin’ just cacti an’ citrus,” Applejack said as they entered the tower.
Lepi chuckled. “Well, yes. Fortunately, within a hundred years of exile, our traders were hard at work buying Equestrian produce. Sort of hard to enforce an exile when the ponies you exiled can look like any pony they want to, and Celestia was more than a little distracted from us by heartache.”
“So the exile was…”
“...never all that effective.” Lepinora nodded. “Anyway, I wish to officially welcome you to the Obsidian Palace.” She trotted several paces ahead and turned to them, bowing as the flicking green flames that signaled the changeling transformation magic swept over her, revealing the exotic markings and attractive slimness of her true shape. “I apologize for concealing it to this point, but I am Princess Lepinora das Chrysalis, Queen Chrysails’ youngest daughter.”
There was no response from the other mares, and Twilight turned to see that they were all looking a little uncomfortable. “We… sort of know, Your Highness,” Rarity finally said. “It’s not a very large structure and we… overheard you, Twilight, Dawn, and Doctor Limb.”
Lepi eyed her and gave them a rueful smile. “Well, I suppose that’s what I get for being careless, isn’t it? Still, this entire production was designed to deceive Tharalax, and deceive him it did. Not only did he not know I was there, not only did he fail to kill you five, not only has he signed his own death warrant, your bodyguards thrashed the horseapples out of him.” She looked passed them. “Speaking of the Drake sisters, where are they?”
“They left,” Pinkie said. “Did that funny teleport thingy that Spite does, and said they were going back to watch the changelings that were left behind.”
“They must have determined that their charges were safe and that there was a strong chance Tharalax would try to circle back.” Lepi grinned toothily. “I’d love to see him try. Idiot’s under the impression that we left the changelings back at the wreck undefended.”
“Something lives on the sand that you’re not really eager to mess with?” Dawn guessed.
“We call them the sand drakes,” Lepi confirmed as she resumed walking them towards their accommodations. “Their nature isn’t really clear--they appear to be made of sand although we know they’re not--but we know they’re highly intelligent, highly territory, highly dangerous, and very good neighbors.”
“Sapient?”
“Yes, although they’ve worked very hard to hide it, even harder to conceal the fact that they can speak Equish fluently.” Lepi stopped before a door and gestured to it and then the other three rooms around it. “These are four of the palace guest rooms. We furnished them so that married couples could stay comfortably, which means that single mares should be even more comfortable. I assume that you and your sister would be alright sharing the room, Princess Twilight?”
“Of course,” Twilight smiled a little at Dawn. “I see no problem with it.”
“Yeah, it’s not like her neurotic is contagious,” Dawn grinned back cheekily.
“Technically, you were assembled from Mother’s memories of me, which would include what you call my ‘neurotic’,” Twilight pointed out.
“Well, yeah, but I focus it on much more sophisticated and valuable things. For example...”
“Ah still have mah rope Dawn,” Applejack said flatly.
“Apples! I was going to say apples,” Dawn said, giving Applejack an innocent look. “Anyway, I’m fine sharing with big twin sis.”
“That’s good,” Lepi grinned at her. “Anyway, I’ll give you all time to settle in and maybe…”
“Would you mind escorting us to meet Nightmare now?” Twilight interrupted.
“I wouldn’t mind, but Nightmare Moon hasn’t arrived yet,” Lepi replied. “Neither has my mother or my sisters, although I believe Thryssa won’t be able to join us in the throne room.”
“But ya said…”
“What I said was that we’d talk to Nightmare after I found you accommodations, and that the accommodations are on the way,” the princess said. “At no point did I say whether Nightmare was even available to be spoken to immediately, although at that point, I believed she was. I’ve been informed differently since.”
Twilight looked at Dawn, who looked right back at her before giving Lepinora a quirked brow. “Unless you’re telepathic. I don’t remember anyone talking to you during our walk down here.” her sister said.
“I’m not telepathic,” Lepinora said. “I just have other ways to have information conveyed to me without it being audible or visible to someone unfamiliar with the system.” She gestured back towards a blank wall they’d just passed. “For example, I have the Throne Guard hang a different banner for each member of my family or of the court that’s present in the palace so that I can always know immediately who’s available without needing to be told. As you can see, the wall is blank which means that not even certain important nobility are here at this time.”
Twilight glanced at Applejack, got a nod, then looked at Lepi. “Do you know when she’ll arrive?”
“I don’t, but I will shortly.” Lepi smiled at them. “Until then, relax and enjoy your accommodations. If you’re hungry, any of the guards will happily direct you to the kitchens, or the palace library, or anywhere you wish to go. If the fancy strikes you, I see no reason that you couldn’t visit the city itself, although I doubt Nightmare will be gone long enough for you to properly enjoy it.”
“Thank you, Princess Lepinora,” Rarity said. “For being so hospitable and for the kind comments about my work.”
“I know my own, Lady Rarity. We artistes thrive on praise, our very food and drink.” Lepi bowed to them. “A pleasure to have met you all.”
Twilight made sure to give the princess a bow in return before nosing the door to the room open. Having lived in the palace at Canterlot, seeing that the guest room was lavish and beautifully decorated came as no great surprise. What was a surprise was realizing just how familiar-feeling the room was, and it took Twilight a moment to pin down exactly why: the room was an amalgamation of her room at her adoptive parents’ home, her room at the castle, and her room at the Golden Oaks library. Her bed from the castle had the small basket Spike still liked to sleep in at its foot, and the headboard was clearly from the bed she slept in at her parents’. The nightstand was from the library, the lights around the perimeter from the castle, as was the carpet, and as Twilight looked around she spotted several more elements.
“This… is enormously creepy sis,” Dawn commented. “I mean… sheesh. It’s clear that whoever did all this decorating spend lots of time in all three rooms. If I see a crib with Luna and Celestia dolls in a corner, I’m outta here.”
“Yes,” Twilight agreed. “I think it’s pretty clear what they were trying to do, set up a room that would be familiar and comfortable, but I don’t think they realized that it’d come off as a little creepy that they’ve been watching me that closely.”
“It does appear to be what they do, darling,” Rarity said as she stepped into the room through the still-open door. “For me, they imitated my creation room and my current room. I actually find it quite flattering that they made such an effort to make us welcome, right down to creating guest rooms we’d feel comfortable in.”
“Still creepy as hay, Rares,” Dawn said. “I mean, they’ve been watching us. Like, since Twilight was five. I feel like someone’s been stalking me.”
There was a long silence after this, Twilight fighting to stop herself from smirking at her twin, Rarity just arching an elegant brow, before Dawn finally facehoofed. “Shut up,” she grumbled. “It’s not the same thing.”
“Ah think it is,” Applejack said, giving Dawn a little grin. “Mite odd seein’ the room I’ve been in since Ah was a foal recreated here but… sorta homey too.”
“I sorta feel sorry for them,” Pinkamena said from one of the bookshelves. “They had to try to combine my foalhood room with my adulthood room.” She paused thoughtfully. “Graninite chic with an explosion of party. I don’t know how it could possibly work, but it sort of does.”
Twilight glanced around at them. “How…?”
“How did they already look over their rooms and get over here so quickly?” Dawn patted her on the shoulder. “Your neurotic sometimes leads you to lose track of time, sis.”
“I have a practiced eye,” Rarity supplied before Twilight could reply.
“Ah know mah room cold,” Applejack said.
“I’m me,” Pinkamena said.
Dawn sighed. “Ya just had to blow the joke, didn’t you?”
“Only because it’s you, darling,” Rarity said brightly. “Anyway, it’s been several hours since breakfast and I’m starting to feel a little peckish. And I’m ever so curious to discover the unique taste treats that come of this exotic place, aren’t you?”
“Eeyup,” Applejack agreed. “Ya’ll fancy a quick kitchen run?”
“I could stand some more of that prickly pear,” Dawn grinned. “C’mon big twin sis… let’s get you properly stuffed for storytime with Nightmare Moon.”
Twilight looked longingly at the bookshelf but nodded. “OK. It has been a while since breakfast.”
“I always knew that Tharalax would stick the knife in our backs,” Nightmare sighed as she picked up her teacup and sipped delicately from it. “I just didn’t expect him to seize such obvious bait.”
“Beggin’ yer pardon, Miz Empress, but Ah sort of object to being your ‘bait’ without bein’ asked or told,” Applejack said, fixing Nightmare with a gimlet eye over the rim of her cider mug.
“I was not the origin of the plan, Applejack,” Nightmare retorted a little sharply. “I have never asked that Chrysalis’ people obey my wishes, nor would I want such a weight. “All this was the design of Princess Lepinora, including her concealing herself among the wounded. I required of her many redundant plans to ensure your safety, one of which was equipping Twilight with certain of my magicks.”
The Throne Guard escort--led by the same Masquerade who’d been aboard the airship--hadn’t arrived for some time after Lepi had left them, and Twilight had enjoyed both the light snack of lemon-baked nogales paddles that the chef had happily whipped up for her and the others, and lounging on the bed with the book she’d borrowed from the Red Mambo. The walk from their rooms to the throne room had made it abundantly clear that despite a strong resemblance to the Royal Guard, the changeling Throne Guard was very animate and friendly, more than one giving them a quick wave of greeting as they’d passed.
The throne room itself, guarded by Throne Guards in more ornate armor and the distinct anisopteric wings of changeling royalty, was vast and open, roofed with glass that caused the now-setting sun to bathe everything in a rich rainbow of fiery color. The dais at the end of the room was much larger than the one that Celestia and Luna shared, having six thrones to represent Chrysalis, her husband, and her four daughters, each with their cutie marks engraved on the back of the throne. The only one of the four daughter thrones was occupied by Tettidora, and the throne beside her (which Twilight guessed was the throne of the one princess she hadn’t met yet) draped in a violet cloth with Nightmare resting in the seat.
The Equestrian mares had all been brought to their seats and drinks set before them; as with the rooms, the changelings had clearly studied them carefully because while Twilight, and Rarity were poured a very delicious apple peel tea, Applejack and Dawn had been given mugs of Sweet Apple Acres cider, and Pinkie a pitcher of some kind of party punch.
“I regret that I didn't take your offer of knowledge,” Twilight admitted after a sip of her own. “Seeing what Tharalax did to that poor roc…”
“The Void is brimming over with monsters Twilight,” the black alicorn said sadly. “I fear that Tharalax is by far the least dangerous kind, the kind that is so blatant and sadistic that he can be easily outsmarted. Nonetheless,” her draconic turquoise eyes briefly glowed “I will kill him and take my time about it. He struck out at my family and my allies knowing the price of such insolence, and now he will be an example.”
“Yes, the Void.” Twilight took another sip. “Spite gave us a very basic idea of it.”
“I’ll certainly tell you more, as the Void is part and parcel of my own tale.” Nightmare finished off her tea with a large swallow and put the cup aside. “I’m certain that you’ve heard me referred to as ‘Empress’ outside of Queen Chrysalis pointedly trying to nudge me into addressing her more as a friend than a colleague.”
“Yeah, Lepi told us it’s what Tharalax called ya and then the changelings called ya the same to annoy him.” Dawn nodded.
“He doesn’t call me that by choice, but because the number who know me by my given name are extraordinarily few. The title by which I’m known by almost all of creation is the Dread Empress of Nightmares, the most ancient and powerful nightmare living.” Nightmare said. “My race is a cousin race to the void dragons such as Einspithiana and Tharalax but while we are draconic in the Void, we are formless outside of it.”
Applejack coughed and gestured at her. “Um… ya look pretty formed ta me, yer Empress-ness.”
“And you seem much more akin to Spite than Tharalax,” Twilight added.
“I am,” Nightmare nodded. “I knew Einspithiana in her relative youth and did what I could to mentor her. I had written her off as too stubborn to hear wisdom of experience, before she proved that she had been listening. But that’s her story; I promised that I’d tell you mine.”
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YAY NMM story time.
Damn. I had forgotten she hadn't died!
5314012 I didn't know she hadn't either. I just randomly picked out the name of a Wonderbolt and went with it.
ok, now I seriously suspect that the fourth Chrysalis daughter we haven't seen yet is Cadence.
P.S. if this is not a spoiler, how old is Chrysalis?
11274342
I haven't actually thought of that. But now that you ask...
Late 40s since I'm using a human scale of aging.
Call it... 47.
11279612
only 47? given that Luna hoped that the granddaughter of the first Queen could live to see these days, I assumed that Queens age more slowly and, with a balanced diet, are able to live longer than others. Not as long as Alicorns but still.
...I honestly don't know whether this is you don't understand astronomy or Equestria’s stars just work different. In our world Polaris is the name of one particular star, which happens to be the North Star at the moment. But putting aside the oddity of having more than one North Star, which is a title, they shouldn't have multiple Polarises. Polarisi. Polaristars.
So, in the spirit of honest curiosity, what do you mean here?
I would assume that if the Element conveys any sort of aid in detecting deceit it would rely on intent, not fae rules. It's the Element of Honesty, not Truth. It's about the heart, like Loyalty, Laughter, and all tha rest. There are outward expressions, to be sure, but at the core it seems to be more about the makeup of a person.
Of course, neither I nor Dawn have ever been given a detailed description of the finer details of the Elements.
Romanian. Probably irrelevant, but it's a piece of information. Nothing came up when I tried looking for a legend about it. And there are plenty of monsters with a creepy smile, things that show up if you use the English term, but way too many to mean anything.
I don't know if you can tell, but I'm a bit excited.
Hmm... That sounds like an enchantment, rather than transfiguration.
Will Sipte do some flashbacking, perchance?
What, I like making new words by reconjugating old ones on the fly. It's a hobby.
11279612, 11279705
Wait a minute.
Form this text we're told that it has been eight generations, counting both edges, since Luna’s banishment. That means each generation would have to average at least a century. Now, it's important to note that doesn't mean they live 100 years, but that they bear an heir at about 100 years old. Human generations are commonly put at around 20-30 years. These guys are probably living around 200 years.
...Wait. That wasn't supposed to mean specifically eight generations was it? Did Nightmare just mean a distant ancestor?
P.S.
I just thought of something. Wouldn't the ages be a strike against that theory? She had to be at least 10 by the time Luna returned, if she was Luna’s kid then she'd be younger than Applebloom.
Also, having peaked at the upcoming chapter title I see what you meant in the Author's Note.
ponies
There’s somethin' off 'bout tha tenses on this one. I can see a few ways that it might be corrected.
Two issues. First, you seem to say that the only person sitting in a princess seat is Tetti, and also that Nightmare is sitting in a princess seat.
Secondly, I think you should add a 'was' after the end of the part inside the parentheses.
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The concept is a star that is a fixed point, the "pole" around which all the other stars are orientated. My understanding of Equestrian astronomy is that because the nature and position of the stars are controlled by Luna, in the way that the movement of the sun is controlled by Celestia, the polaris or pole star is not fixed over a magnetic pole but something more akin to the focal point of a work of art. Despite having an explanation in my head, though, it's probably best to change this in a way that would make my intentions more clear.
Yeah, basically. The idea is that Dawn treats "true" and "honest" as synonymous, influenced by the fact that when she was assembled by Celestia out of her memories of Twilight and of her Friendship Reports, it captured a version of Twilight that still had a tendency to jump to conclusions based on her own biases and thinking. Thus, factual = honest and honest = factual instead of being different ideas.
Google has betrayed me; it claimed it was Polish.
This is because I lifted the extremely broad conceptual outline of Zambet from a story on FimFiction.net called "Asylum." In that story, the "creature" with the impossible smile was more a manifestation of mental illness (as far as I could tell) rather than what she became in this story.
Well-spotted. :)
One that I share IRL but don't indulge when writing.
Yeah, although the queens are meant to live a really long time given that they're otherwise mortal.
Well, yes, if the person making the assumption was stopping to carefully logic it out. Even in reality, most people don't come to a conclusion and then stop to carefully examine their assumptions.
Thank you.
Yup. Now that I look at it, I think it's missing a "would."
Well-spotted, and that sounds like a solid suggestion, thank you. :)