Starstruck

by Vest

Chapter 6: Clarity

Illustration by Arctic-Sekai.
Special pre-reader thanks to Dracon Pyrothayan

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Astray and jaded by a past they drink,

Focus pulled faded, moods falter and sink.

Yet when lost in blues, just laugh and blink,

Clarity imbues in a blast of pink.

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Chapter 6

Clarity

It wasn't much to ask for.

Such a simple inquiry would usually summon a quick answer; generally heavy gasps between rapid words describing what was bothering him so much. In the long span of the Princess of the Night's tenure, amid lengthy dealings and interactions between all sects of Equestria's denizens, it would be assumed a decree for a testimony would be earmarked in her repertoire with a phoenix feather.

So why was it, then, that she couldn't push herself any further? She slowly approached the slouching unicorn, his forehoof twisting small circles in the floor. The walls faded into muddy irrelevance; the lava-soaked ambiance snuffed out by his uncharacteristic silence.

She inhaled sharply. It wasn't so much to ask for.

“Forsooth, Devon!” Luna exhaled. “We try to keep thee company and in good cheer, but thy focus on the floor is unbreakable.” She pressed her shoulder against his in an encouraging nudge. “We art trying to help thee, but if you insists on keeping to the ground, we cannot.”

His body didn't move, those orange eyes not easing their grip from the circular imprint his hoof dragged through the soot coated bricks.

“Yeah...” Devon pressed through grit teeth, finally pulling his eyes off from the floor. “I’m sorry, it’s just that... I’d rather...” He paused, trying to piece together some coherent justification that wouldn’t devolve into some elaborate excuse... or petty guise for sympathy... or even a shred of...

“An explanation,” Luna chimed in softly, “would at least be a start.”

The visions from the box followed him closely, accompanied by the lingering question of Luna’s forgiveness of the egregious lie. When he looked up to meet her gaze, the near-sincerity that met him gnawed at his conscience. He yearned to let out the images, but he feared the repercussions of his honesty from before.

So far, honesty hardly been a friend of his.

The Princess let out a small snort. "If thou desires to remain distant..."

Deception, on the other hoof, was faring even a poorer friend.

“We won’t press thee on it, but,” Luna tried a new angle. “but if there was something we could do to help thee focus and get back to thy stride?” The Princess nudged the unicorn again, trying on an encouraging tone. “We need thee to be more collected to endure the trials ahead.”

“There’s more?” Devon huffed. “I’m sorry, Princess, but I don’t know how many more of these I can take! That box was just...” He let out a visible shiver. “This was a whole lot more than I bargained for when I said I’d help you out in the archive, Princess.”

“Is that what’s troubling thee?”

No. Well...

“A little.”

Yeah, but...

“I just think,” Devon lifted his head and slowed to a stop. “If we were just trying to hide from that black-coated guard guy, we could have just hid out by the entry stairs til he was gone.” As he spoke, logical gears spun to life in Devon’s mind. “Yet instead of taking a second to find a way back up, you proceeded without hesitation.” He chose his words carefully, tip-hoofing the line between sounding despondent and convicting. “But we kept going in anyway, and things...” Careful. Careful... “Things... kept getting to you.” He may not have the best handle of traps, but the puzzles, the gaps that she wasn’t telling him began to fall in front of him. “You’re not just hiding from Canterlot.”

Luna sighed and nodded. “Aye. We’re pursuing something we believed we hath put behind us. But fate, t’would seem, still has a grasp on us.” Luna shook her mane, her tone growing simple, humble, even. “I seek to undo a great mistake of my past, and Devon...” her tone wavered, as if the words caused considerable discomfort. “I... need... you... your help.” As she pushed the sentence from her throat, Luna shook her head sharply, as if shooing an invisible insect.

“Wait, what do you need my help for?” Devon asked with a raised brow. “Not to get down on myself, but I haven’t exactly been a lot of help, have I?” Letting out a small scoff at his own expense, Devon grinned. “You coulda put anypony in that box and probably not have them completely... well... you saw how I went.”

“But tis fate that put thee here. Unless we succeed, I face a terrifying fate, Devon.” Luna extended a hoof and pressed it on the unicorn’s shoulder. Her emphasis on fate send an uncomfortable shiver down his spine. “And to succeed, I need thee to face what comes to us and not wither.” The Princess looked down at him, seeing his nose sifting through the saddlebag again.

She still had difficulty grasping the sight of a unicorn using muzzle and hoof to sort through his books without the assistance of magic. She felt the impulse to lend a bit of magic of her own to help, but by the time she got a good glimpse over his shoulder, saw that he already had a ruffling journal hanging limp by the spine between his teeth.

If there were two qualities he’d grown adept at without telekinesis, it was finding the hard way to delve into a book and to hide away even for just a little bit; both of which seemed to go hoof in hoof. He flipped stacks of pages aside, until his eyes caught something rather distinct.

The methodically aligned words and notations of the journal suddenly stopped. The hoofwriting had gone from a tight, carefully crafted stream into a frantic explosion of quick notes and hastily etched drawings. Numbers, diagrams, symbols and cryptic etchings bordered various blocks of quick incomprehensible notes.

Whatever the architect had stumbled upon at this moment was surely substantial. No longer had the journal felt like a guide for any passerby as it became more a fervent squall of personal notations and arrangements of advanced magical formulas intended only to be read by the author himself.

He turned to the next page carefully. Each proceeding page became more dense, packed diligently with compressed lettering, almost drawn black with crosshatched overlapping of words and designs. A quick flip of a hoof drew back an almost blotched out page strewn edge to edge in delirious sketches, revealing a spread of two completely blank pages suddenly staring back at him.

The etchings... Did it just suddenly... stop?

The unicorn paused, scanning the suddenly blank spread. His eyes wandered curiously, wondering if the architect had determined to make the indecipherable puzzle of sporadic scribbling his final word.

“Devon?” Luna called out to him, but took a quick step back as he responded only with a lean closer to the journal.

He flipped another page. Blank. Spending less time than on the last, he flipped again, with the same result. Page after page of blank parchment stared back at him until, after a quick mindless flick of a hoof, a jarring burst of large page-devouring letters jumped out.

THEY EXIST.

The imprints of the author’s ink-stained hoofprints around the page’s edges showed that whomever wrote it was in such a hurry they used their hooves instead of a quill.

“What exists?” Luna asked over his shoulder. “Oh,” she pulled her head back seeing Devon twist his head around from the journal. “Sorry. We could read such large text from afar.”

Devon slowly turned the page, the journal returning back to its normal structure. Though blotches of black ink bled through, dotting the pages beneath, the text within still retained legibility, even bending around some blotches as the architect’s notes realized the mistake of his rushed folly.

Apparently, he used the entire ink jar, too. Out of black, he must have switched to light brown.

Year 2 Month 7 Day 20

The voices are real!

I finally pieced together that it was my family’s pendant that brought the voices to me. When I wore it to the gala, I figured it was nothing more than cider and sleep deprivation twisting my senses into hearing things. But I worked late again, and the missus insisted that I wear the pendant.

When I was walking home, the voices began again, this time they were clear. They did not just speak to me, but I spoke in return!

I spoke with the stars!

I could scarcely believe it myself, but I believe there is no other explanation. It explains my family’s fixation with fortune telling. They always had an ear to fate and those who weave it, if this pendant is any indication. Tonight, after my finance is asleep, I will leave the house and speak to them further. Last I need is another thing for her to call me crazy over, she just doesn’t understand it at all.

“I’m... not sure,” Devon admitted, quickly flipping to the next page. “Something about a family pendant, voices, and...” He turned back the page, skimming the last snippet. “He could tell others’ fortunes using the stars or something.”

The Princess remained silent.

Not looking up, Devon reiterated his finding. “Like, the stars... talked to him?” He turned to the next page. “Sounds weird.”

Year 2 Month 7 Day 21

Another night spent conversing with them. It is strange how they speak, where the words don’t come from outside but from within. In my own voice!

They told me things, many things, about destiny and how powerful it is. They are beings of clear laws and order. Everything is direct and concise. I envy it to the politicking and backstabbing of Canterlot and the petty nobility that grows like a wild weed.

But what can a scribe do to bring this ideal to the nobility?

The fiance caught me asleep at the window this morning. I don’t remember when I fell asleep, or even that I had. When I asked if there was a way to bring the order of the stars’ fate to Equestria, I must have blacked out. But when I woke...

I woke with a vision. A goal. I can do more than simply point ponies towards their fate, or guide their path. I can CRAFT the path. With the stars’ assistance, fate is mine to bend and shape. To think of the good I can do with this! With the foresight of the stars, I can ensure that the world is better off, and that mistakes are avoided.

Missus thinks I’m needing more sleep, among other things. She’s worried about me, I know it. I may bring her in to this knowledge. Her intellect would be valuable. But her doubts in this project, and its strain upon both of us, it seems she can hardly stand to look at me anymore after all we put into this. No doubt, she’d find some trivial reason to slow me down further, she always does.

If I kept that memory recollection ward on me, I’d just feel worse knowing how enthusiastic she would be about this. I wish I could get the passion and support she used to have.

“Yeah, just as I thought.” Devon muttered, closing the journal. “Apparently whomever built this place dabbled a bit with fortune telling and star reading. Except,” he put the journal in his saddlebag, hoisting it into position over his back, “He said he isn’t just reading fate. He thought he... could change...” The charcoal unicorn’s voice trailed off as he turned around.

Luna’s silence would be deemed a deceitful observation from previous. Absence would’ve been more fitting. He scanned the magma-lit chambers around him, seeing a narrow point of cobalt light radiating from around the corridor forward. Before a narrow, branching hallway lay a long bench and desk. The desk was cluttered with detritus and dust from a millennium of neglect.

Approaching the Princess, he picked up his speed towards her. The sudden clattering of his trot grabbed her attention, but upon making eye contact with him, she drooped back down, huffing with a descending neck.

The unicorn couldn't help but feel he missed something, like she didn't choose to leave him to his reading.

It was like she didn't want to see his face... when he put two and two and two together.

* * * * *

Narrow lines of red light cut across his dark face as he slowly paced in front of the closed blinds before the window. He held his head as low as his scowl, pondering the questions over and over through his head between each jangling step, his eyes needing nothing more than the dim glow of the setting sun outside to dramatically traverse the room in heavy hoofsteps.

“Sir, you sure we need all the lights off?”

“Easy, constable Jetlag,” Stormblade uttered in a low dramatic grimace of contemplation. “You’re hampering my low dramatic grimace of contemplation, what all with that loose cannon attitude.”

He turned, pacing back in front of the window. Another succession of red slicing light traversed across his face, each like a weathered scar, not unlike the lines of cases that scarred his psyche.

“Sir, perhaps we’re taking this whole good cop, bad cop thing...” Jetstream hesitated, leaning forward from off the wall to devise a proper approach. “I think your dedication to your plan of interrogation is-”

“You know not the sights these tired eyes of mine have seen,” Stormblade interjected. “It’s easy for you to brush it off, you’re callous and unfeeling while I...” He tilted his head up, and planted a hoof against the window blinds. They pinched together in a shrill wisp, dropping the room into darkness. He breathed in deep between clenched teeth. “I... have seen all walks of Equestria, I at least have something to live for.”

That...

“I’m not sure I, umm...”

... Didn’t make any sense.

“I said go easy!” Stormblade smashed a hoof on the ground, firing a wildly assertive glance towards the private. “Think of the things this poor girl here would tell if she got the full force of your,” he swung a hoof to his forehead, pleading to nopony in particular, “unbridled maverick interrogation methods, no!” He suddenly jumped forward, planting his forehooves atop Jetstreams shoulders. “I would not let you do to her what you did to Loose-Lipped Lenny!”

“Loose-Lipped... ?” The cyan pegasus uttered stepping back, shaking a strand of rainbow mane from his eyes. “Ah.” Again with the whole cop fantasy thing.

The entire evening was proceeding very similarly throughout. It was after their fifth attempt at executing some sort of police-style interrogation... well, interrogation being Stormblade’s term for ten seconds of questioning amid twenty minutes of reminiscing of a cold case that existed only in the Captain’s fantasy-laden mind... had they been given a lead. Coincidentally, the lead was the easiest to acquire, since it was one of hundreds of flyers posted around the train station.

Stormblade raised a flyer up to his shoulder, and with his other forehoof dropped the window’s pullcord. The blinds shot up, dousing the room in radiant tangerine light. Between heavy shadows, a single pink earth pony sat at a small table, looking toward the Captain.

“Dearest,” the Captain began, “I understand you’re a bit nervous.”

“Hah, nervous?” The pink mare laughed, rolling her eyes to the side. “Not at all! I’m so glad you actually came by, Twilight is the one who is so nervous, I think she’s about to flip her lid, but come on I mean ‘flip her lid’ what does that even mean? Ponies don’t have lids, except eyelids, but they-” She hushed herself with a snort, seeing the flyer in the Captain’s hand. “My flyer! Have you come to answer it!? Do you know where Twilight’s big crown thingie went!? Do you, do you, do you!?”

“Jetlag,” the Captain called while walking towards the shadows to the waiting pegasus. “She’s not answering our questions.”

“Silly!” The mare laughed. “You haven’t asked anyth-”

“This is your chance,” Stormblade waved the cyan pegasus over. “But so help me if you lay a hoof on her like you did to Fatty Fitzfeather, I’ll see to it you get no more help from the commissioner in staying off desk duty!” As they brushed shoulders, Stormblade jabbed a hoof into his chest, leaning in close with a low whisper. “Remember, she’s supposed to like me, okay? You weren’t very bad cop to that yellow pegasus, I was the one who ended up making her cry, not you.”

Yep, been like this all evening.

Calmly, Jetstream slowly walked up to the table. He nodded quietly to the pink pony, ensuring to give a reassuring grin. With a soft plant of his hoof, he presented the flyer before him.

“We’re so sorry to interrupt and enter into your palace suite, ma’am.” Jetstream breathed out heavily. Over the pink earth pony’s shoulder, he saw a rustling in the shadows, the Captain standing tall while mouthing bad cop, bad cop. Fine, he might as well. “So, umm,” his mind suddenly pulled out spontaneous idea, and from out of nowhere, began the best bad cop routine he could muster.

Like he would jokingly do in unsupervised company outside of Stormblade’s watch, Jetstream delved right into his best and long-practiced impersonation of the Captain.

“Nyaw, haw haw,” Jetstream sneered, attempting his best Stormblade-style guffaw. “See, you’re going to give me what I want to hear, because I’m the one who is in charge.” The words. Oh how naturally and easily they came to him. “For I’m Capt... -” Whoops, too naturally. “For I’m, err-umm,” Save it, save it! “I’m constable Jetlag!” Surprisingly he even nailed the demeaning mispronunciation of his name to the decibel.

“Oh by my honor!” Stormblade cried from the corner of the room in a raised octave. “Now see to it immediately that you cease, J. Lag!” Huh, the Captain was even making up buddy-cop nicknames, too? “We don’t need a repeat of how you floored, Jimmy Cherry Chonga!” He really was that far gone? “She’s just a girl, J.!”

Yep. Apparently so. The Captain whirled into the room, slamming a firm hoof on the table. The flyer kicked into the air, drifting into a quick grab from the cyan pegasus. “I’ve seen enough to know you’re just a lowdown crooked copper,” the Captain winded up for another lengthy diatribe, probably already has some internal fiction penned ready to lament over for the next ten minutes. And fiction was certainly a much-dabbled hobby of the Captain, as Jetstream very well knew.

Yeesh.

As Jetstream very well knew too much. The pegasus clenched his eyes shut, shuddering at the pedantic filth he had chanced upon earlier, the stray imagery of the Captain weaving constellations and night magic with his hoof before Princess Lu-ooh by Celestia’s graces why couldn’t he scrub the image from his mind!?

“Are you okay?” The pink pony leaned across the table with a quizzical glance, completely ignoring the Captain.

Jetstream looked up, the Captain was now back out the window, tapping on the glass whilst blustering incoherently of metaphors about his love to serve on the force being like the setting sun.

“Fine, actually,” the pegasus righted himself on the chair, glad to see that his success at bad cop came from the sincerest of inspirations. He turned back to the pink pony. “So you’re Pinkie Pie I take it.”

“Last I checked,” she smiled, pulling the flyer back to her. “And I take it you’re supposed to be the bad cop in this act?”

Jetstream turned again to the Captain, the black-coated pony leaning to the floor with hooves outstretched, seemingly comforting an imaginary fallen soldier while issuing teary last rites. “Saw right through it, huh?” Gee, that obvious?

“Naw, I had a hunch a minute before you got here.” She stood up, and with a quick giggle, lifted a drooping forehoof beside her face. “Ol’ Pinkie Sense kicked in, flipping fetlock,” she turned sideways, “shifty shoulder,” faced backward, “rollin’ rump,” making all the corresponding motions. “It usually means a big ol’ circus was coming to town. But the way it acted when you guys showed up, it was like I was being visited by the biggest circus in the universe!”

Jetstream’s focus shattered as a piercing “WHYYY!?” echoed through the room.

“Well,” the pegasus sighed, watching Stormblade drop to his knees with arms outstretched. “Can’t say your Pinkie Sense was wrong.” He could almost see the imagined raindrops bouncing off the Captain’s face the way his eyelids fluttered. “So, listen this shouldn’t take long at all, we just need to know where your friend Twilight is at the current moment.”

“Oh,” Pinkie giggled with a slight tilt of her head, “You guards, I mean,” she narrowed her brow with a playful growl, “You roughneck coppers want answers!? Well I ain’t gonna be one to talk so easily now, you hear! Not after what you guys did to Tommy Two-Bits! He was my brother, you hear, he was...” She sat down, easing her tensed face, “You’re not in this at all, are you.”

“It’s...” Jetstream flinched as the Captain cried out, gripping his side dramatically as he fell to the floor. “... Pretty much a one-pony show.”

“That’s strange,” Pinkie commented, two words the pegasus felt could apply to just about anything happening in the room. “I would assume the royal pegasus guard would know Twilight’s location at all times.”

“Yeah, that’s the first thing we assumed, except... well...”

“If I don’t survive this,” the Captain flopped onto the couch, his hoof outstretched to grip at an imaginary paramedic’s collar. “Donate my millions to a foal hospital!”

The pegasus continued. “His method acting sort of caused us...” Sigh. “Him to pronounce the guard’s record keeper a liar and evidence tamperer, and our...” Groan. “... Rough and tumble no nonsense crime solving chemistry demands we not dignify him with our attention any further.”

“And refurbish my luxury yacht into a kitten orphanage!”

“I, uhh...” The pink pony slowly turned her head back to the pegasus. “I suppose I find that very highly plausible, actually.” She lifted her head, gazing out the window. Along the prickly silhouette of Canterlot rooftops, her outstretched hoof pointed towards a large structure just a few blocks away. “Twilight last said she was going to do further research on-”

“Fate! She had me in her grasp!” A rustle of jangles emerged from the shadows into the low sunlight with an outstretched hoof. “But I pulled through, J., darnit I pulled through! I had to, for the sick filly waiting on me, I survived using sheer force of will, undying as my... undying love for the city.” The captain sauntered beside the cyan pegasus. “And THAT!” Stormblade smacked a foreleg into Jetstream’s shoulder, and in a single swipe of a black hoof hurled him out of the chair. “That is why I’m the one who asks all the ques-”

“Twilight’s at the Canterlot Archive!” The pink pony quickly smiled, waving a hoof forward. “She said she’d be there all night!”

“Aha!” Stormblade crossed his forelegs, leaning back in the chair. “See constable Jetlag, I told you, you attract more flies with honey than vinegar.”

It had been like this all evening.

* * * * *

A mistake. A huge mistake.

I have just made an unforgivable mistake. The stars, the fates, the power, all of it. You can’t just go rushing into it. The stars, they... they are too specific. They know not of emotions, restraint, or context. From so up high, the very concept of subtlety is lost to them, they wouldn’t know the difference between a pint of cider and a tsunami of raw apples!

My dearest, sweetest love. My love!

It was such a simple request, so easy. I just wanted her to be more supportive. To not chastise me so much. To be happy of my accomplishments, and that I’m pulling my family bloodline out of the undignified dredges of hoof-reading and gypsy mind games. The stars said they could try and convince her, like they convinced me! It was so foalproof! But...

Writing.

They wanted it all in writing! And so I obliged, giving them the opportunity to intervene! Convince her, I penned. Have her eager to help me!

And now! Oh, she is supportive. She’s loving, she’s tender, she’s warm. All! The! Time! How empty she looks at me, how forced the words, how devoid of, of...

Sincerity!

The long-lost coos I yearned for have returned, but lost is the sincerity behind them! Where’s the mare unafraid to call me out, and make me better by pointing out my flaws! The mare who dared to steer me right! The mare who, if I just told beforehand, in pure sincerity like I should have...

The mare who would’ve stopped me...

“Ah ha!” A royal Canterlot blast of decibels reverberated off the low walls, interrupting Devon’s reading.

Devon’s shoulders jumped up his neck. “Hyuh!?” He impulsively shut the journal closed.

“Echothyst!” Luna called. “How fortunate, for we hath wondered if such a treasure would last here.” Striding purposefully towards the desk, Luna lit her horn and scooped a pair of intricately carved gems from the corner.

“Whatothyst?” Devon asked, craning his neck to peer over Luna’s shoulder at the two twin baubles. Each were a brilliant sky blue, carved and framed with identical gold frames. “Never heard of it. What is it?” Rather than simply answer, Luna floated one towards Devon’s ear. “Uh, Princess? What are you do-hey!” Despite his protests, Devon found the gem hooked around his ear until it hung snugly against the side of his cheek. Just as he was about to pull it off, the unicorn saw Luna lay its twin against her ear with a dainty flick of magic. Silently, she turned and strode down the hall, leaving the confused unicorn standing still with a cocked head and puzzled expression.

At the end of the hall, Luna paused.

“Hello! Devon!” a voice boomed in his ear, carried by the echothyst in perfect clarity.

“Gya-YEAHGH!” Devon flailed at the sudden voice right at his side. As the wince died down, an ethereal giggle whispered through his ear.

“Our apologies, but tis been so long since we used these.” The Princess rolled out another giggle. “We worried that such things mayhap hath been lost. As thou can see... er... hear... echothyst is a gem that carries thy voice to its twin. There always be two gems of identical echothyst, and these are priceless, as no twin gems hath ever been found so close.”

“So...” Devon spoke slowly, still a bit amazed at speaking to a pony he could barely see over such a distance without shouting. “You can hear me right now?”

“As if thou were right at our side. These gems only occur naturally, they could never been forged, either by hoof or magic.” She flicked the shimmering orb with a tip of her hoof, nestling it comfortably against her mane.

“These would have really been useful a room ago,” Devon grinned. He exhaled heavily,. “not going to complain about it now.” Reaching up with a foreleg, Devon slid his hoof along the adornment’s surface. “How far can this work? Just across the room?”

“As far as we could test such things,” Luna said, her voice mixing oddly as close in his ear and closing as she returned from the hallway, “the echothyst’s voice can stretch forever. It should prove more than valuable for the maze ahead.”

“A maze?” Devon blinked.

“Please do not tell us that thou hast some horrible tragic past with a maze as well, Devon. We’re likely going to travel its depths for some time... we hath no idea what the correct course is.”

“Funny,” the unicorn retorted. “But this time, I think I’m in good shape for once.” Devon beamed brightly as he snatched two pieces of broken stone from a corner. “Take one of these.” Seeing Luna’s look of frank puzzlement, Devon hefted the chunk of stone in his hoof and dragged it across one of the labyrinth walls, leaving a jagged line of worn stone and scratch behind. “We each take one and go different ways. Drag that along the wall and we’ll always have a path back to one another.”

Luna blinked, the idea slowly taking shape.

“And since you know so much about the echothyst,” Devon added, flicking his ear to jingle the small gemstone resting in it. “If either one of us finds something, we just need to call it out, and we have a line right back to the other.”

“Devon that’s,” Luna huffed, then smiled, “brilliant! Howforth did thou gain this skill?”

“A horrible, tragic past,” he said with a wry grin. “I worked in the Archive for a few years. And I’ve never met a maze tougher than the stacks there. So I always carried a quill with me so I could mark my way. Same idea, really. Worked pretty well til Boxtops got wise to me sneaking off for long lunches.”

* * * * *

Jangle, jangle. “Long lunches, you say?” The Captain loomed over the green unicorn. “I should’ve figured she’d be coerced into hiding by the undisciplined riff-raff of Archive peons.”

Lily Boxtop squeaked in a sudden outburst of uncontrolled resentment, but quickly snared her murderous forehoof back to the ground. “Y-yes, well,” she breathed heavily, attempting to look up to Stormblade’s smarmy countenance. “This was where I last saw him. I warned him not to bother the Princess but-” she immediately pulled her face away as the Captain smiled. Couldn’t do it. Just couldn’t make eye contact with him.

“An accomplice!” the Captain smacked fetlock to hoof. “I should’ve known. These...” He scanned across the Archive foyer, observing the lines of ponies traversing the aisles. “... These... underlings would be so ignorant of protocol!”

The green unicorn looking up with pleading eyes to the cyan pegasus standing at the end of the aisle. He returned her glance, only to shrug his shoulders and roll his eyes. She snuck a yearning look to the overflowing cart of scrolls she had been left with, left behind by that ingrateful post-ditching magically-inept unicorn, a peasant task gnawed at her sanity. But at this point, a far greater alternative than conversing with...

“Captain Stormblade,” Jetstream interjected, advancing from the end of the aisle. “Sir, I-”

“Hmm?” the black-coated stallion swiveled a condescending grin at him. “Were you addressing me?”

Right, still with the good cop, dunce cop routine. The cyan pegasus breathed in deep. Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. “Detective Stor-”

“Nyeh-eh-eh, nope.”

Puppies. Ice cream. Puppies playing in ice cream. “Detective CAPTAIN Stormblade?”

The Captain shifted, quickly swiveling to the pegasus stallion with... “Yes?” ... Oh that horrible, horrible proud grin of his.

Jetstream swerved between the unicorn and the Captain. “Sorry to interrupt-”

“Oh!” The Captain interrupted, turning to the green mare. “Looks like we’re doing this the hard way.” He took two long strides backward. “Remember, J.! One more incident like with Miss Pinks and the commissioner will have BOTH our badges!”

He paused, keeping his eyes fixated on the Captain as he slowly backed against the shelves. Seeing Stormblade’s focus not deviating in the least from the green unicorn mare, he sighed, slowly facing the Archive supervisor.

“Sorry... to... interrupt.” Yeah, he was pretty far over the insipid fantasy. “We just need to find Miss Sparkle.”

A plan immediately hatched in Lily’s mind. She eyed the Captain as he brutishly nuzzled through the shelves of books, seemingly convinced that he was hot on some lead involving the dust wedged between the aisles. An opportunity to rid the pesky officer breached. “Why yes, Miss Sparkle, I heard that Twilight went to the top floor,” she pointed a hoof to the highest reach of the foyer. “Find the, uhh...” Make up something, make sure it doesn’t exist, “... Daring Doo fanfiction aisle.” Oh come now, make sure it isn’t completely stupid either. “Then!” She quickly exclaimed over Jetstream’s emerging inquiry, shooting a foreleg toward the distance. “Back row, right, right, left, right, across the ceiling, you can’t miss it, bam, there’s Twilight!”

“I’m where?” A purple mare suddenly appeared from around the aisle.

“Hyah-ah!” Lily spun, her tail whacking Jetstream in the nose. “Oh, you’re...” the supervisor chuckled, masking her defeated plan. “Ah-huh, h-yes, you’re... just right here now. This here is, umm,” she extended a foreleg, motioning it to the cyan pegasus. “Constable J. And his commanding officer-”

Jangle. “Detective Captain Stormblade!” A black hoof reached out with salutations.

Twilight narrowed her eyes, an acidic groan gurgling through. “Stormblade.”

The black officer pony smiled, retracting his hoof across his chest. “Detective Captain Stormblade, at your serv-”

“Stormblade.” She cut him off, rolling her head to the side. “Yes. What?”

“Detec-”

“What!?”

Jetstream sauntered back, lowering his head. He attempted to retain a visual on the Captain’s reaction to a Ponyville filly so blatantly refusing to address him by title. The black stallion’s scowl turned onto the cyan guard, and he quickly assumed a most innocently nebulous posture. No ideas here, Captain. Inspiration meter’s needle still stapled at zero! Satisfying as it was to witness, the pegasus knew not to get his hopes up. Unlike him, the purple unicorn didn’t have to remain a part of his regiment for extended periods of time. Even with his best efforts, the pegasus would still get a hoof to the back of the head for the slightest mistake in the Captain’s interpretation of protocol. To so blatantly disregard it, though, Jetstream could hardly imagine Stormblade’s reaction.

“Ha ha! H-Hah!” The Captain laughed.

Well, true to initial feeling, Jetstream could hardly imagine that reaction. Inspiration made way for confusion and curiosity.

“As I should’ve known,” Stormblade’s smile widened with an outstretched hoof to wrap around her shoulder. “Esteemed student of Celestia, still so much to learn, so much to-wu-woah!”

The Captain tipped flat against the floor as Twilight popped out of sight under the Captain’s reaching foreleg, leaving him with just musty air to support his overbearing weight. A twinkling pulse on the opposite side of the Captain summoned the purple unicorn’s return in a blink of teleportation.

Twilight raspberried, twirling to make a brisk exit away from the Captain. Passing by Jetstream, she slowed, taking a lengthy glance at him. Suddenly, she grinned, and with a twist of her neck, motioned him to follow her.

Rounding into the main Archive foyer, Twilight’s horn illuminated, and in a swath of telekinetic energy, she lifted the helmet off of Jetstream’s head.

“I knew I recognized you.” The unicorn dropped the helmet into her hooves, the rainbow ball of hair beneath it poofed out in an eruption of wild colors. “I see what’s happened with your mane. My friend Rarity, well she...” Her horn shone again, a twirling vortex of sparks ascended to the tip in an augmenting ball of spiked light. “She showed me a mane-fixing spell you might want for that.”

Really!? Even after the way the jangling jerk agitated her so much, she still found it in her heart to fix his mane!? He gasped! “Really!?” He used to wonder what friendship could be! “I would be eternally grateful!”

Twilight chuckled at his enthusiasm. “Must’ve be difficult to live with, huh?” You have no idea. A halo of pink and blue specks spun and descended into the rainbow mane. “Here goes!” The specks grew, and joined together with narrow barbs of energy that wrapped around his mane like a shimmering net. A white plume coalesced and wafted away into the air, leaving behind a more voluminous, shinier, perfectly rounded sphere of neatly arranged rainbow.

Jetstream gawked at the monstrosity.

“There you go!” Twilight smiled warmly, quickly plopping the armor back on the guard’s head. “That’ll clear up that helmet-hair for weeks!”

“Miss Sparkle, I...” Jetstream’s jaw hung open, speechless. “I don’t know what to...”

“Oh, tish tosh,” the unicorn chuckled, nudging a fetlock into his chestplate. “I haven’t forgotten how you helped us against that killer muffin swarm on the train earlier! I still owe you.”

“Us!” A familiar jangle cut in. “And I’m fine, nopony help me up or anything. Constable J. Lag, I see you’ve been interrogating the suspect.”

“Suspect!?” Twilight’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Yessir, I...” Jetstream lowered his head, turning it over his shoulder to the purple unicorn. “Just go with it,” he whispered lowly. “He’s being especially Stormblade this afternoon since Luna disappeared.” He immediately regret making such elaboration when Twilight’s posture fired into a rigid stance.

The unicorn’s voice ascended higher. “Princess Luna! She... she’s gone-”

“Missing, yes,” Stormblade nodded. “Last saw her right down that corridor there. A few hours ago.” He pointed a hoof to the aisle. Lily peeked her head up, and seeing the black hoof directed at her, immediately flopped for cover behind the cart of scrolls.

The cyan pegasus attempted to reason with Twilight. “It would please the Captain if-”

“Detective Captain.”

Gyugh. “It would please the...” Nincompoop. “... Detective Captain if you had any leads so we could please hopefully get this pursuit resolved quickly.”

The unicorn turned to Jetstream, a subtle twinge of pity in her eye. Sure she was a master of all sorts of magics, a quick learner and dynamic in a range of unicorn capabilities. But she also knew that magic was to be used smartly, not as a crutch but as an accessory to existing skills and knowledge. A wild idea came to her.

“Maybe,” she thought out loud, turning to the pegasus guard. “Perhaps I could create a charm of some sort...” The plan rolled together, but the more it panned out, the more complicated it felt in execution. “I’d need a tangible vessel, an effigy of some sort, and maybe...” She laughed. No, this idea was terrible, far too complex. “Hah, and maybe something directly off the Princess like a lock of mane.”

Okay, that wild-eyed look the Captain suddenly popped into kinda creeped her out.

Eh, worth a try. “And, you have all those things immediately on hoof don’t you.”

The Captain motioned her back into the aisle, but shook a dismissive fetlock at Jetstream when he attempted to follow. He sauntered low, quietly motioning the unicorn close to him, ensuring nopony else could see past their eight-legged huddle. He quickly shushed her, and digging a hoof into his red jacket, presented two dolls.

“Oh!” Twilight reeled, but immediately pulled back in towards the Captain. For Jetstream, she knew to just soldier through whatever weirdness was at hoof. “That’s... that’s you?”

“Shh,” the Captain nodded. Fiddling with the small dolls, he presented a cobalt one, its cyan eyes covered by a long blue mane.

“I understand,” Twilight lied. She’d seen many things in her days, but a grown stallion collecting pony figures? “This is a perfectly suitable effigy, but now we just need to lace it with a lock of the Princess’ hair so it can track the source, leading you to her. But I don’t know where we can actually get access to...”

She looked closely at the doll, seeing a subtle blush in the Captain’s retreating face. “Really?” Excessive abuse of power, anypony? “You actually stole Luna’s hair to make... you know what, sir... ?” Twilight took a long stride back. “No more questions from me, no more questions from you. Deal?”

The Captain nodded tentatively.

“Excellent. Now, I don’t know if this works, so hoof over the other doll of yourself real quick for a test.” She levitated the Stormblade figure between them, pinching a cone of magic alongside its telekinetically outstretched mane. “Let’s see how well this works.”

A second aura of radiance surrounded Twilight’s horn, and she clenched her teeth in concentration. Glowing, the Stormblade doll shimmered in narrow lines of transcending energy, each ripple converging rhythmically into the figure’s waving mane. The tips of the mane wrapped around their ends, squeezing tightly into the same shape of the cone of magic alongside it.

The cone flickered, jumped with a narrow jet of sparks, then wrapped like melting wax into the Stormblade figure’s mane.

“There,” Twilight exhaled deeply, satisfied with her magic hoofiwork. “Now the lock of your mane you used for your doll,” she tilted it straight up, clenching it against her fetlock, “should now always be pointing... at...”

Something was wrong, very strange. Twilight’s eyes popped wide in shocked disbelief, immediately detecting the flaw in her test spell. Instead of the doll’s mane forming a directional cone towards Stormblade...

“You didn’t even use your own mane for your own doll!?”

... It pointed at Jetstream.

* * * * *

It’s worse than I thought.

She’s been radiant all day today, everything I say just makes her burst out into uncontrollable laughter and unending swooning over me. What’s the value of reward if there’s no way to fail pleasing her? Even when I commented being tired from so much work and so little sleep, she immediately locked her hooves around me and tucked me in, singing me a lullabye. Despite protests that I didn’t even have dinner yet, that the sun was still setting, she seemed to think ahead and served me a bowl of my favorite soup in bed. But I couldn’t do this, I had work to do still!

It took an extra twenty minutes to get her to stop apologizing and accept that I just needed some space. She said she understood, but those eyes, how empty they looked seeing her turn away. The way she blinked... how devoid of purpose they sank... as if she just...

She forgot she had eyes.

Despite the difficulty to do so, I’ve taken some time to focus on our next step. For the chamber gate at the Archive, we needed material to test with. Jokes, specifically. We needed lots of jokes to ensure our ward for the laughter chamber would hold, and so that it could be implemented within our guardian. Oh, he has matured very well, much more gracefully than we expected.

My head’s in a fog, though. Only punchline I could devise is an absolute dud:

Hear the joke about wrapping paper?
Never mind. It’s tearable.

I tested it out, reading it aloud a few times much to my own displeasure. Unsurprisingly, my love found it irresistible. The way she howled and pounded her hooves on the floor, it was like she’d seen a mime trampled by a minotaur. It pains me knowing that only under the influence of the stars would she not slap me across the muzzle for such awful humor, yet the ten minutes she spent rolling on the rug in tortured fits of laughter, I knew their influence was worse than I thought.

I think it would help my dearest to bring her along with me tomorrow. Perhaps her involuntary happiness would do well to ensure the best possible enchantment for our little lava guardian. Lemons, lemonade, I suppose.

Luna and Devon's breaths hushed as an unsettling stillness enveloped the frigid, damp room. Greeting them upon their entry, a warped wooden ornament hanging out of the wall sputtered and fired awake, a magical plume of fire dancing to life as they passed near its proximity. Devon reached out to the torch, gripping it tightly and clenching it close to him.

Finally. He could provide some light of his own.

Deafened by the rhythmic percussion of their own hoofsteps reverberated between echoing shale walls, Luna stopped suddenly to gaze around the cavernous expanse, the veins and cracks in the walls dancing like electric strands from the sibling blue and orange lights of Luna's horn and Devon's torch.

Noticing the telltale absence of the graceful royal beats complementing his canter, Devon's ears perked behind him, ultimately guiding his eyes back to where she stood alone, a piercing silhouette unwavering in her own cobalt glow.

He raised a hoof, "do you... Is there-" just barely commencing the forward arc towards her-

"-Stop!"

When her voice pierced the echothyst, the joints in his fetlocks seized, every fiber of every muscle bit down unanimously against bone, not even his eyes daring to blink as the fetid air's droplets gently kissed his brow.

"What is it now?" Devon’s eyes narrowed onto her gaze, trying to make sense of the darting movements of her unfocused irises.

She closed her eyes, tilting her head back, a soft exhale breaching through flaring nostrils. She took another step forward, and with Devon’s focus intent upon her, he saw what she had just run in to. The floor panel she was on was conspicuously depressed, and a lingering whisper of pink gas still hung around her. A wide smile drifted across her face.

He jolted forward, but only saw more ominous panels at his hooves. Thinking safely, he hesitated and observed the Princess. What had just befallen her this time!?

Luna's stoic exterior faded away as insurgent bolts of movement seized her. Like a pond, movement and shivers rippled across her body. He was amazed. Speechless. How her mane ebbed with the riveting pulses, her body arched into a graceful vessel reaching to clench onto otherworldly vibes. Why was he so taken by those cute... adorable... flaring nostrils... ?

She laughed wildly. "See!?"

Nope, nope, he wasn't staring at her, not at all. Really! Devon shook his head, adjusting his focus back to the shale walls around him. Pulling his jaw askew, he again scanned for any sort of hint of what Luna was about to reveal to him.

"It's not very far."

Strange. Her voice had changed to be more... chipper. Chipper? Yes, certainly more upbeat. Seemed she was channeling some emotion beyond her own control. What even fired from the floor panel? Laughing gas? Some vision-inducing powder?

"Just move your little rump!"

Was it... singing? Luna? Singing? Oh, how lucky Devon felt, after all those long-winded diatribes about how we Royal Canterlot Elite doth not dare disgraceth thine tongue betwixt foalish peasant lyrical vanities he could totally hold this over her head for his amusement. Luna. Singing. Priceless.

"We can make it if we try,"

Priceless. His grin stretched maniacally across his face as he clapped his hooves together trying to suppress the laughter, fearing his erupting chortle would knock her out of the trance and end his fun. He could only imagine her horrifying embarrassment. This had to be the worst of the deathtraps they'd stumbled across. Not the most dangerous, but by far the most memorable.

"With a hop,"

Suddenly, Luna's eyes shot open as an explosion of pink light flooded in from the floor. Devon flinched from the abrupt flash of color bursting forth in an orb of a million dagger-sharp pins of light. A searing glow illuminated every inch of shale, washing it in a fiery shade of deranged pink. Hold on, pink. Pink. Pink... With a hop... Where had he heard this song before?

"Skip,"

Oh horseapples.

Devon bounded forward in a flailing explosion of panicked limbs screaming. "AND JUMP!!!"

A magnanimous crash resounded through every atom of the cavern, the shale floor and walls disintegrated to cascading powder as a pink spike of magma rocketed upwards where Devon was standing, wisps of the fuchsia slag sticking to and singing the tip of his tail. As his hooves sunk into the crackling floor, veins of prismatic rose shades percolated between the grated scars expanding wildly beneath him!

Luna froze, still locked in her hypnotic giggle fit, her eyes still dancing with pink hues as her body fought the gas. Her head slunk back limp, and jerked upwards as her rear hooves buckled helplessly through the floor.

Luna was falling through!

With more strength than he knew he had, Devon grit his teeth and drastically leapt forward, closing the gap. Time slowed, the deafening cavalcade of the pink lava droned into a dull hum. He could feel the burning air lapping against the ducts of his eyes, the shale embers stinging the back of his nose, and the swirling maelstrom of lava reaching to ensnare her into its deathly maw.

Her.

Still unknowing of what was happening, still frozen by the lungful of gas hijacking her body, still laughing. Still... oh mercy, how amazing she looked when those nostrils flared like that...

Focus, Devon!

With a disorienting jolt, his shoulder embedded deeply underneath her foreleg, the momentum slinging her across his back. He felt the biting, corrosive lick of magma leap up his flank, a blast of steam pushing him forward, and amid a volley of dust, stones, and unfathomably hot air, Devon held tightly onto as much cobalt hide he could as he careened, somersaulting through the cataclysmic hail storm of fire. The pink spike that burst through the floor withdrew, leaving an outward-spreading crevasse.

His stomach floundered as he felt himself falling. Falling. Falling through pelting rocks and nipping ash, holding himself between the furious belching salvo of pink annihilation and the murmuring Princess. Falling together as one spinning projectile as he clamored to hold onto her ribs, shoulder, and-

With a meaty thump, the world spun and a snare of pain jolted up Devon's spine, dislodging the mare from his grip.

Ground.

Solid, unshaking, unexploding ground!

He twirled his neck around to look where Luna had landed. He found himself peering down the long gnarled hallway they arrived from, unable to seen more than a few dozen haunches through the enveloping darkness. Devon tried to call out, but could only sputter out errant coughs as vaporized rock coated the back of his tongue. With a second convulsion of greater vigor, he coiled his head upwards to attempt clearing the detritus from inside his mouth a third time, the hallway clouded up in his vision.

He almost didn't hear the rustle, and almost didn't see the tendril of astral blue in his peripheral vision. Forcing his clenched eyes open, Devon arched back to see Luna pulling herself from behind a large stone, shaking herself off.

"By yonder, what hast thou done to us!" She stomped angrily across the hall. "Devon! Our head! It, we..." She was furious. "Art thou daft!?" Raging. "Hast thou gone mad!?" Gloriously, beautifully, safely raging, oh thank Celestia!

Devon spun onto his hooves, and gently smiled. "My lady," he tried not to burst into relieved laughter, heaving breaths interrupting his words. "You were... I think... gas..."

"Gas... !?" She reeled, nickering. "I mean... why yes, Devon, seems we were struck with such a trap of laughing gas."

"Actually, it was-"

"-And what did'st we telleth thee!?" Luna shook her head, approaching the archway leading into the spewing pink lava pit. "I hath yelled stop! Dost thou remembreth!?"

"Yes! Then I-"

Looking up to her, fumbling with a regiment of jumbled diction fighting all at once to propel forth from his larynx, she returned to him with a small snort. “Tis of no matter, Devon. We are both safe now, aye?”

Nostrils flaring.

"Of course, m'lady."

Forgiven. He choked down his bubbling outburst of protest, along with his pride and a tablespoon of shale soot. Devon shuddered a moment as the taste of both mixed and settled.

* * * * *

She’s still there.

Somewhere underneath. She’s still there.

The last few days... what days... what day is it!? How many has it been? Existence has blurred into a single wisp of time, sunrises and dusk, all inconsequential. I have pleaded with them, but they... they have it in writing! I tried to reword it, tried to debate the phrasing of the request, but who am I to argue with the stars!? I might as well just be a futile lunatic waving his hooves at the night sky, screaming irreverently to nopony.

But I know now. I know she’s still underneath that insincere personality, she’s trapped within her own false candor! It was marvelous, so terribly, awesomely marvelous! Only something that she... the sincere SHE would do!

I was feeling so terrible about the last few days... weeks... I don’t know. Time. I was feeling so terrible about the last span of time, I brought her along with me to the finishing touches of the Laughter Chamber’s gates. We had a guardian in place, an elemental lava dragon hatched and raised within from Tartarus, but with no guiding enchantment to give it a purpose. The wards were set, we had the riddle all set. It was so simple! Tell it a joke, share a good laugh! Giggle at the ghostly!

I now know how furious she is with me. Furious enough to sabotage the project, and do everything in her power to destroy it from the ground up! How... I have to admit, how relieved I was to see, that maybe... just maybe... there was hope.

There was no greater relief in my life than when my dearest love, from within the entrapment of a fake copy of herself, helped me to complete the guiding enchantment to complete the dragon’s conditioning...

... And tried to murder me with it.

I was thinking it would be the kind, easily entertained mare I brought down with me. I was hoping for a gossamer lava dragon to be imposing but just wanting a laugh. I never expected the enchantment to go THAT deep, and find the sincere raging pony lost below. It had to be her. It had to be. Because that dragon was definitely in no mood for laughter.

Laughter seems to be its point of contention!

I can still feel the sting of its claws lashing across my face, the force of its tail knocking me against the wall, and the searing heat of its claw pinning me. If my crews hadn’t thought to knock out the lower supports and collapse the floor it stood on, I would’ve certainly gotten what I’m owed.

The gate’s riddle may need tweaking, we’ll see. But restructuring the architecture is nothing in comparison to the rebuilding she’ll need tonight. Masonry has rules and structure.

She does not.

How I remember. She clung to me, cried against me... well, part of her did. If getting mauled wasn’t an option today, I could at least afford her the second best thing. It was hard to fight through her exterior protests, her insistence, and her tears, but I think I finally did something right.

I had to push her away.

“Lava dragon.”

“Aye, correct,” Luna nodded.

“Just making sure,” The charcoal unicorn rolled Luna’s brief explanation in his head, hoping for it to stick anywhere in the realm of coherency. “You just said...”

Luna’s eyes lit up, again delivering an affirmative nod. “Lava dragon.”

“Those...” The charcoal unicorn slowed, scratching a hoof to his shoulder. “Those are two words that should never be in the same sentence. In fact...” He stopped, squinting heavily at the floor, vigilant for more of those plates. “Doesn’t help they’re also the only words in the sentence.”

“We needed a creature near immortal as guard.” She tilted her focus forward, increasing her pace down the stable path left by the dragon’s eruption. “Aye, we aided in taming the lava dragon and placing it within these walls. T’was merely a hatchling we we caged it and placed it here, but if the same beast dwelleth here...” Luna trailed off. “We imagine it would be far more dangerous to both of us.”

Devon sucked in a deep, contemplative breath. Everypony knew dragons were bad news, but one that lived in lava? Extra bad news. Blowing out slowly, the charcoal unicorn mused aloud. “Well, was the rest of the journal correct? Does it really despise laughter?”

“Well... .” Luna hesitated, rolling her eyes and mashing her lips in an exquisite duckface that did little to inspire confidence. “They did for truly weave the spell thy books speak of, but...”

“But... ?” Devon echoed.

“We never put it to a proper test. We only believeth that the spell worked and the dragon hunts laughter. The only way we doth discover if it worked would be if we ventured through the maze.” Luna gave the charcoal unicorn a small, sheepish look. “T’was nothing we ever expected to test fully. Or at least test of ourselves.”

“Simple enough,” Devon said with a small smile. “Just walk through and not laugh and we shouldn’t wake it up, right?” By the time he had finished speaking, the pair had crossed the unstable floor and stood before the first split in the maze.

“Aye, at least we believeth it.” Luna chirped. “Let us move carefully through yonder maze and so long as our attitude and outlook remaineth somber and controlled, we shall find little trouble before us. With our echothyst and thy markings, this labyrinth should quail before our combined might!” Devon turned and found Luna’s determined smirk and, for the first time since he entered this dungeon, felt the same surge of confidence.

“See you on the other side!” he called, turning left into the maze as Luna turned right.

“And likewise to thee!” Luna tapped a hoof to the pearled echothyst in her mane. “Hesitate not to call upon us if thou need aid or insight!”

Devon couldn’t believe it himself. He hadn’t felt this in control of a situation in years. He never expected to bring any practical knowledge from his job to the rest of his life, and certainly not anything as simple as a way to avoid getting lost in a vast set of shelves and stacks. At least not anything pertaining to something more draconian than Boxtops. Scraping his rock along the wall as he walked, Devon focused on the glowing crystals lining the floor and ceiling that lit his path.

Rounding a corner, Devon felt his stone guide rattle over something other than wall. “Huh?” he paused. “What’s that?”

“What is what?” Luna’s voice chimed in his ear.

“There’s something here, hang on.” Stepping back, Devon used his free foreleg to brush over the imperfection set into the wall. With each stroke of his hoof, more was revealed.

“It’s an inscription! It’s words!” he called out.

“Do tell, Devon. We remembereth the maze, but the inscription? What is the message of the wall?”

“Let’s see here...” Squinting, Devon read the old hoof-carved words slowly.

“How many Unicorn settlers does it take to change a torch?”

“Excuseth me?” Luna balked.

“Fifteen. One to move the torch and fourteen to petition for knighthood.” Devon blinked. “Huh? I don’t get it.” Across the maze, Luna got the thousand year old joke.

“Pft... snrk...” she gasped, a joke that hit home and hit hard. “Oh that’s... that be... pfft! Ahaha!” Luna’s laughter echoed across the walls and rippled into the echothyst hanging from the unicorn’s ear.

Then they heard the thick, liquid rumbling.

From behind, Luna felt a growing heat like the heat from an open oven build behind her. “Erf...” she swallowed, turning and beholding the beast. What the journal and history did not say was that the captured dragon was more like a dragon hatchling. As large as the tunnel now, it was no hatchling. The Princess could not even tell what color its scales were, for it wore a thick coating of lava, burning pink with the magic imbued into the chamber and dragon. It looked little more than a giant, animate scoop of magma colored like frosting, the only discernable feature being a leering, grinning maw lined with lava-dripping teeth.

“Luna?” Devon’s voice rang through the echothyst charm. “What was that sound?”

“We hath found the dragon...”

* * * * *

“Luna! LUNA!” Devon called again. “I hear it right behind you, how close is it?!” Instead of a spoken answer, Devon heard the liquid crush of magma mere haunches behind the Princess. Icy terror rushed through his mind, the Princess was being ran down by something unspeakable, and he was getting the live commentary on the event. He rushed to another inscription and his eyes danced over it.

“What did the rake-using serf tell the spade-using serf?”

“Didest thou forget thy tongs!”

Were it not for Luna’s panic going on in his ear, Devon could have stared at the joke for hours before realizing it was a joke in the first place. Duty and another yelp from Luna following a crash of stone and lava stirred him to action.

The beast tracks by laughter. I just need to laugh!

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Devon mimicked the sounds of laughter, but by no means was it a genuine laugh. “Ha! Hey! Dragon! Laughing over here! Ha! Ha! HA!”

“Tis no good!” Luna’s voice leaked through the echothyst. “This beast be a cunning hunter! It is smarter than to fall to thy fake laughs. If thou art to laugh, thou must be sincere!”

“How can I do that now?!”

“Thou hast better findeth a way!” Following the command was another hoof rattling crush of stone and magma. “And quicker rather than slower, if thou please!”

So lost in his frenetic struggle to summon humor in the face of such calamity, Devon didn’t feel his saddlebag shifting and a the small tickle of green and cyan magic climbing up his shoulder to the other side of his face.

How can I think of anything funny now?!

He wasn’t aware of the magic swirls forming in the corner of his sight until it burst forth with a sudden onslaught of memories. “Hey, what is-”

“Bookmark!” Lily Boxtops snarled. “For the thousandth time, where are my mane clips?”

“Aren't those them... on your tail?”

The Glyph chirped giddily, seeking approval for the excavated memory. It rolled another paisley image together, triggering a succession of déjà vu that smashed another image together.

“Puh-LEEZE Mister Bookmark! Find them by the time my public hearing is over or I’ll have your cutie mark!”

“Pffft...” Devon had nearly forgotten that day of work. The vision did not contain the shriek from his boss when Princess Celestia plucked all the mane clips in the middle of Boxtop’s speech, but the image was there. “Gheheh...” the unicorn felt a chuckle bubbling out of him. The memory from Glyph was so vivid that the emotion itself was real. Even in the middle of the chase, he could not help but first snicker, then laugh. “Ahahaa!” He had to pause and lean against the wall, doubled over in a laugh as the whole show played out in front of him.

“Yes! Devon whatever thou did, it worketh!” Luna’s voice was a bigger joy to Devon than the laugh he managed to summon up. “The dragon turneth back towards thee!”

How wonderful! Finally did something right and saved the Princes-wait.

“Towards me?!”

“Well, clearly! For thou hast its attention now. Best hurry on before it reaches thee!”

“And when it does find me?” Devon huffed, throwing his laughter out and body back into the chase. “How are you going to laugh?”

“The jokes ‘pon the wall, I shall read one, or you readeth one to us and we’ll draw it off of thee!”

“This is crazy, Luna.”

“Aye it is, but t’would seem that we hath no choices.” Devon couldn’t argue that point, and picked up the pace of his running. For a few moments, he was swallowed in the blissful rhthym of his hoofbeats as the maze fell into quiet again. Part of him flickered a small flame of hope.

Maybe it went away?

Maybe it lost interest?

Devon heard a sound like a boiler the size of Canterlot palace.

Figures.

“Um, Luna?” Devon murmured into the echothyst charm. “I think it’s coming this way.” The gurgle grew louder, and soon was joined by pounding footsteps of weight and strength that shook the very floor the charcoal unicorn charged over. “Definitely coming this way!” All he recieved for a painful few seconds was dead air from the echothyst. “Luna?!”

“Aye, we’re here but,” her voice paused. “We cannot findeth a single blighted joke ‘pon the wall! Art there any near thee?”

“Uh... uh...” Devon stammered, frantically brushing down the wall to reveal another inscription. From the near corner, he could hear the gushing approach of the lava dragon. “What did the earth pony squire say to the pegasus knight?” The dragon’s brilliant pink light appeared at the end of the corridor, chasing Devon’s last laugh.

“We giveth up!”

“Four hooves on the ground and put on thy wing harness!” Despite the fact a lava dragon was just rounding the hallway and spotting its new prey, Devon still couldn’t fathom what on Equestria Luna was getting out of these jokes. But the laugh piercing through the echothyst told the charcoal unicorn more than enough. The dragon halted instantly, pink lava sizzling across the stone as it homed in on a new source of laughter and hauled off through the maze towards Luna.

“He’s coming your way, Luna!! Devon called. “How much longer do you think we have to go?”

“We sincerely hope that ‘tis soon! Lift thy hooves and we’ll warn thee when to summon thy laughter again!”

Devon wasted no time. He had never run this far or fast in his life, but adrenaline makes one forget the ache in their limbs, and a lava dragon is a wonderful source of motivation for one to keep going. Puffing and panting, Devon blindly rounded corners, turning back from dead ends and almost instinctively avoiding loops back to where he started. In his mind’s eye, the stone walls and crystals were simply a tall set of Archive shelves, and the lava dragon Lily Boxtops. Part of Devon, in a deep recess, wondered what would be worse chasing him, the dragon or the boss, but filed it away for further discussion when a voice barked in his ear.

“Devon! The beast closes on us! Listen!" The Princess cleared her throat, her tone delivering a methodical read. "Upon when dost thou knowest a tenor be at thy door!?"

A... tenor? “Oh! Shoot!” Music humor? "Glyph?" Devon grunted and turned his head to shout at his saddlebag. "Glyph!?"

"Ha, ha," the Princess chuckled, "when he hath no key and makes early his entrance!"

The charcoal unicorn winced. “Glyph!" Yeah, not gonna happen. He prodded the weaving enchantment. "Help! Something funny on the double!” With a chirp, the swirl of light burst out of his bag and climbed up Devon’s shoulder as he rushed through the tunnel. He only skidded to a halt when he saw the glittering paisley at his peripheral vision. “Come on, come on, tick tick tick!”

Twisting and morphing before Devon’s eyes, Glyph felt its master’s urgency and extended its power deep into his mind. Piercing the cloying tension of diverting the dragon’s appetite for laughter made finding buried humor difficult. Finally, Glyph seized on a fragment of memory and with a delighted surge of magic, sent the image out in front of Devon.

“Dev’s ya little sneak! What're ya's doin’ up there with momma’s puzzles?!”

“Sollllvin’ em!”

The vision coalesced into the unicorn colt cheerfully obliterating jigsaw puzzles intended for teams of adults with vastly more free time than most would have. Devon grinned at the triumphant smile looking back at him, then broke into a small laugh. Right at his hooves was the pot of glue that the colt used to ensure that he alone was the master of the puzzle, and that he wanted more art for his wall.

Wistful, nostalgic laughter echoed through the chambers and corridors and into Luna’s echothyst earpiece. “Well done, Devon!” she called, turning to see the bubbling mass of lava, just barely concealing the gaunt and shambling dragon pause and wheel back towards the side of the maze where Devon presumably was.

Immediately, Luna pressed on, faster than before. No time to waste now! Rounding a corner, the Princess saw a new bewildering array of cross-tunnels and paths. Grinding her teeth, Luna poured on speed, pushing her body towards limits she had not used in centuries. The stone scraped so furiously alongside that its path was not simply a mar on the stone, but a sparking gouge ground into the slab-like walls. From her earpiece, Luna could hear Devon’s frantic breathing and panting and the constant clatter of his hoofbeats. As she rounded another bend, she heard a new sound in the echothyst; a thick, chuckling burble.

“Devon! We can hear the beast from here! Dost thou need us laughing?! There be no carvings here! Thou must supply a new joke!”

“Doing my best here!” Devon squeaked as he ducked and slid under a fallen pillar. “Little hard to read it off when there’s a lava dragon chasing me!”

From his position, Devon could not pause long enough to even notice any detail smaller than the wall itself. Pink, flickering light illuminated the walls to his sides and front and the roar of the beast sounded like a thousand barrels of tar bubbling over. Rounding a bend, Devon finally saw a relatively clear inscription. “Okay! Okay!” Devon heaved, feeling the heat of the pursuing lava beast.

“What’s the difference between a third dynasty banner and a fourth dynasty banner?”

“I think I hath heard this before...”

“Fifteen round knots!”

Vowing to stop trying to understand such things, Devon could only gasp in relief as her laughter filled the echothyst earpiece and the dragon immediately about-faced and stormed back through the maze for another volley.

"Never hath I hesitate to borrow money from a pessimist," Luna began. "They never expect due return henceforth in time!"

Glyph immediately jumped in to the rescue, beaming another embarrassing memory from the charcoal unicorn's foalhood. Quickly, his mother's excited face looked to him with great joy.

"Guess who just got you accepted into buffalo ballet class!?"

He heard the humiliated whimpers crawling from his former self bubbling to the surface. It was a memory that certainly didn't bring a strong sense of happiness; if anything it summoned a bit of a traumatic reminder of her obscure parenting methods. But as the feelings subsided and the Glyph's image receded back into twirling designs, his present mindset suddenly burst with a distinct sensation of euphoria. How long had it been since he'd seen her...

... That happy?

He blinked, inhaling heavily, riding the warm wave of actually seeing her in... a different...

"Time!" Luna cried out. "Get it!? Come on, any chortle be right about now!"

He closed his eyes, and cracked a soft chuckle that seemed harbored within for decades. The unfamiliar sensation carried with it a fresh volley of sincere laughter to the surface.

The single mindedness of the dragon proved both a blessing in how easily it was diverted, but a curse in that it never lost interest. In mid-sprint, the charcoal unicorn could only ponder on those insights for brief periods as he struggled to find a legible inscription on the wall.

“No no no no no!” Devon croaked. How can this thing find us faster and faster every time?! Whirling around another corner, he spotted a carving on the wall, but could only recognize it as such before the rumbling, gurgling roar of lava behind him rose to an unearthly fury.

“Devon!” Luna shouted, still sprinting. “We are nearing the exit, methinks! Findeth another humorism forthwith! We can hear the beast right behind thee!”

“Okay here goes...” Devon started reading another wall, dodging the furnace-like belch of heat yards behind him. “Why did the Princess cross the cart path?” Speed of the moment got that joke out in a hurry.

“This hath better be good, Devon...”

“To get-ACK!”

“We... do not comprehend... get-ack?” Luna mused.

“Not the punchline! This thing is right on top of me!” Devon shouted as a bubblegum-shaded lava-coated claw slapped across the next wall, firing out a surge of heat and embers that singed his mane and tail. More pressingly, the second claw drove the unicorn back to running, away from the joke. From her position, Luna could only listen on at Devon’s panicked yelps and stammers as he took off running again.

“Bookkeeper!” Luna’s voice boomed in his ear. “Dost thou know not a single joke?!”

“Not...” He winced heavily, “... off... the top of my head!” Devon responded as another claw smashed into the wall mere steps behind him, showering him with debris and sparks. To the unicorn, his only hope lay in outrunning this beast, and it was a race he was losing by the second. “It’s kinda hard when it is so clos-” A sparkle of light on the corner of his vision interrupted. Crawling in, Glyph flared a single image in front of Devon’s eye. “Now, Glyph?” A succession of quickly twirling paisley and chirps pulsed before him, a sharp warmth latching onto the back of his head. “Not really the time fo-oh no... rerf! Way!”

The image before him was recent, very recent. An ancient book opened in his hooves and a single line burning in his memory.

The unicorn sneered in disgust, shooting the shootiest glance of shooty disapproval that eyes could shoot. “There’s no way that’ll work!”

“Thou must try! We’ll do our best to laugh!” Luna urged, worry heavy in her voice.

Guess it’s the last choice I got.

Clearing his throat, Devon ducked around another trio of corners before he read from the magically-induced memory in his peripheral vision.

“I have a joke about wrapping paper...” Oh he was going to find some way to hurt that Glyph for this.

“Yes... ?” Luna asked.

“Never mind.” He paused uncomfortably. “It’s tearable.”

Devon heard Luna’s hoof impacting her forehead as the joke drove in so deep and horrible that it stopped her in her tracks. A low, pained groan travelled through the echothyst.

Yet the words traveled through the corridor, weaving and permeating through the masonry overhead... and fell upon twitching orange ears laying in wait.

Above him in the hidden pathways, Gina froze at the joke. “Nrgk...” her mind blanked. That joke was wretched, awful and deserved nothing less than withering scorn. Yet, even as her mind knew it and raged against such a travesty to humor, a laugh started emerging out of her throat. Her mind pinged in a scalding jolt of vestigial reflex, a powerful instinct reaching high and bucking squarely against her lungs, cannoning a violently wild laugh.

“Gyah... ahaha. Ha! HA! AHAHAAH!” Flopping onto her back, Gina’s whole body was lost to full-body laughter.

Laughter from... but not of herself.

Instantly, the dragon stopped and lifted its head, inclining it towards the ceiling. With a surge of power, it shot up against the overhead masonry, aggressively and persistently shattering stone tiles. Uncaring as to why or what diverted the dragon, Devon hurried past the beast while it raged and slammed against the room. He only knew that he had a window of opportunity, and whatever it was, it must be better than the fate he was facing seconds ago.

Rounding another corner, Luna’s heart soared as she saw the large gate into the laughter chamber. “Devon! We hath found a way! Hurry!” The Princess jammed a shoulder against the hulking door, only to hear the telltale clattering of chains and iron bolts.

Devon bound down a narrow length of the maze, and upon clearing a sudden curve, nearly smacked into her ribs as he skid to a halt. “Really? Locked!?”

“No!” Luna stammered, feeling her hooves against the edges of the door, pressing against it. “It... it doesn’t even have an unlock mechanism!”

“What!?”

“They...” She turned around, pressing tight against the unmoving barrier. “They must have never finished it!”

Devon slowly turned around, expecting to see a blazing reptilian scowl lunging in to devour them. Instead, he saw the glowing pink wings ascending in a rapid glide upwards, converging murderously upon a single orange speck dangling from the ceiling.

A dozen fingers of billowing smoke exploded from above, the drooping tendrils sinking downward with zephyrs of fire spiraling around them. A thundering crack echoed through the cavern, launching a thick sheet of dust off the floor and walls as several bolts of glowing pink cracks careened in an expanding radius around the dragon’s impact. Multiple slabs peeled from the masonry above, dislodging and falling before a single large hulk tore and dove from the ceiling. The thick chunk dropped quickly, pushing aside the dust into a perfect ring, the lava dragon and the orange speck latched firmly on its underside.

Just before shattering into the floor, the orange speck shot into a blur at the dragon, the impact sending both the glowing pink creature and the plummeting debris spinning in opposite trajectories. The dragon smacked solidly into the column, cracking it down the middle, causing the wall to slowly droop inward.

An orange torpedo of spinning hooves flipped backwards, landing with a heavy clap on the floor. Gina stared down the dragon, pacing sideways around the chamber’s circumference, her eyes locked like a vice on the rampaging lava dragon.

Pink wings unfolded and pressed against the wall, the ascending creature’s shift causing the wall to give way and tumble with the dragon’s flight. The room shifted and turned, and in the rippling quakes that ravaged across the floor, the stone walls collapsed inward upon one another like dominoes. The thick volley of tumbling smoke concealed the dragon, only a blurry silhouette shown through a pink aurora pulsing in the middle of the choking detritus.

“Nice to see you again,” the orange unicorn growled through a smile. “You may not recognize me, guardian, but...” She stopped, dragging a low forehoof in front of her, “I can’t forget you.”

A blast of hot air pummeled the edges of the chamber as the smoke was blasted away by a quick swing of pink wings. The dragon narrowed its white glowing eyes, and pounced to the middle of the chamber. Through opening cracks in the floor, dozens of lava jets shot upward, creating a speckling haze of caustic pink sparks to dance around the dragon. It reared itself for another dashing lunge, but suddenly hesitated. The dragon’s claws punched into the floor, its head curiously leaning forward.

“I know who you are.” Gina breathed in deep, lowering her head. “I created you.”

Devon took a quick step forward, but found himself immediately pulled back by a cobalt hoof. Was this? Was she? Impossible! It was impossible! The guardian would’ve been made over a thousand years ago, when the Archive was created! Devon tried piecing it together, but found his focus shattered by a sharp roar and thundering of claws pelting the ground as the dragon lowered itself into an aggressive stance.

“Yes, yes...” Gina seethed, plodding in heavy methodical steps towards the creature, a contorting band of magic congregating around her horn. “I know all your tricks. I know your anger, ha hah, oh yes, I know.” She hopped, landing with her shoulders low, ready to charge. “Believe me, dearest,” she sneered. “I know.”

The dragon slammed its tail down, sending another volley of pink embers skywards through the floor’s cracks.

“And if you’re anything like me,” Gina continued unintimidated. “You can’t be reasoned with. We both know the only way...” The glow around her horn grew. “... Is putting...” Flared. “... You...” Sputtered. “... Down!” Exploded.

A blinding column of marigold pierced through the air, slicing a clean hole in the wall behind the dodging dragon. A voluminous blast of smoke and rock erupted behind the pink guardian, casting it temporarily in a veil of dust before peeling it away with a diving lunge.

Gina’s horn flickered wildly as two bands of cutting magic gashed the air in front of it, prompting the dragon to tuck and spin sideways. She launched into the air just as the creature’s crashing maw gnashed towards her, a foreleg kicking powerfully off the dragon’s nose as she leapt into a forward spin over the bouncing guardian.

The creature clamored to its claws, spinning to regain its footing, turning only to see the speedy battery of orange hooves blindside its jaw. The rapidly striking unicorn skipped backwards quickly in retreat, threading narrowly between the slashing nails of the guardian’s grip. Her horn immediately pulsed to life, pinging another solid blow above its eyes.

The dragon arched back with a room-shaking groan, swinging its tail towards her. She spun sideways, tumbling across the floor. As the pink lava tail contacted, the floor gave way beneath it, causing hot jets of air to jettison through newly opened cracks.

The orange unicorn stood tall, shooting an icy glare at the pink guardian. “Your moves, your anger, your aggression!” She chortled, shaking the dirt from her mane. “I know all of your’s! But mine...” She tilted her head up, summoning another wave of magic up her horn. “... No way you could know, because...” Exhaling heavily, a churning ball of fire permeated into existence before her. “... I forgot all of mine!”

The fireball heaved menacingly towards the creature. Swiftly throwing its wings down, it shot into the air before a wisping trail of pink magma, the fireball slicing through the trail unimpeded. It exploded against the wall, casting an overwhelming incandescence over the room.

Disoriented by the sudden blast of heat, Devon turned, finding himself immediately covered by a comforting cobalt wing sheltering him. A royal forehoof hooked around his shoulder, and immediately tucked him to the ground, his peripheral vision catching a menacing wall of searing embers barreling upon them. Impulsively he tucked into a ball, but immediately recovered. Pulling the Princess’ wing aside from his face, he saw her head kneeled low, a twinkling shield of bright blue telekinesis diverting the remnant embers of the fiery blast.

Yet instead of turning to check on the charcoal stallion, Luna’s face remained fixated on the orange unicorn, her scowl unwavering.

A spurt of lava surged from the pink guardian’s maw, the streaks of fiery slag strewn around her. Gina hopped to the side in a roll, her horn taking a firm hold of the floor between glowing cracks and lifting a solid slab of rock in front of her. Another lava spurt slashed against it, slowly melting a burning hole through it. The dragon readied itself for another volley, only to see through the dripping slab’s breach the orange unicorn sprinting madly towards it and hop upwards. All four hooves landed squarely on the slab, pressing it to the ground in perfect balance, and in the recoiling momentum, flung herself back into the air.

The dragon slithered and twisted, pressing itself low on the ground. Rotating onto its back, it shot its neck outward with its jaws wide open, ready to bite down on the orange unicorn sailing upside down above it.

Gina smiled. “Just what I knew I’d do!” She immediately wrapped a band of telekinesis around the perforated slab, flinging it above her head. She pulled her hooves inwards, and with a strong twist of her haunches righted herself, her rear leg carrying the airbore slab along with it, leveling it between her and the dragon’s wide open jaw.

The slab wedged firmly between the roof of its mouth and lashing tongue. The creature howled and twisted, but the slab’s weight pressed its head firmly against the floor, neither its claws or flopping wings could reach the unicorn mare standing atop the slab. Gina’s horn sputtered to life as she stared down through the melted edges of the slab’s hole, the rippling pink depths of the dragon’s throat in clear view.

Just one shot.

All she needed was one shot clear down the back of its throat, and it would be no more. Commence the execution.

“I’m sorry,” Gina’s voice suddenly softened empathetically. “Shh, shh...” A long-dormant impulse kicked to life in her, a strangely meandering remnant of muscle memory still kicking around her larynx.

A final prayer.

“My stars above reigning the night.”

She clenched her teeth shut, seething. The energy atop her horn coalesced, burned, and boiled through the air.

“Our darkened eyes yearn for your light.”

The dragon suddenly stopped, its wide eyes fixated firmly upon the orange unicorn.

“Hold virtues true to give me might...”

And it stopped struggling.

“The wrongs I do...”

It stopped.

“... To do what's right.”

This wasn’t...

“The wrongs I do!” She reiterated in a battle cry.

This wasn’t right.

“To do, what’s...” She exhaled deeply. “What’s...”

Right?

Like looking at her own reflection. Scared in the face of defeat. Unknowing how to stare down her own demise. Unwilling to destroy what she had worked to create, no matter how much deep down she wanted to undo it, how much she yearned for it to be gone. Just knowing it was a part of her, that it was her. Her magic. Her personality.

Her hatred.

A whipping of wings turned the dragon back over, casting Gina off of the protective slab. The pink guardian extended forward, straining to lift its head with the weight wedged in its mouth. A deafening screech reverberated through the walls, and a powerful detonation of lava spewed from its mouth. The slab cracked, fizzled, and shattered into a hailstorm of blazing pebbles.

Gina slowly paced backward, feeling the augmenting heat as the plodding creature patiently closed the gap between them. She strafed to the side in a rapid gallop, guiding the guardian to the very center of the room. It lowered itself, raising its tail menacingly above, gripping the floor for an attack.

At the end of its waving tail, she saw it. A sparkling brass adornment, a single jewel in the middle wrapped in marigold magic.

“There you are, dearest.” Gina grinned and immediately began charging up her horn. “Plan B,” she closed her eyes, concentrating all her focus on the magic clinging around her horn. Her body relaxed, her rear legs drooping under their own weight as every muscle within her sacrificed all available strength for the massive surge of raw magic looping and re-looping before her.

The dragon resumed its advance slowly, but seeing the quickly augmenting sphere of magical energies culminating menacingly before it, wasted no time to go into a full sprint. It bounded, lunged, and with a fevered heave of its wings dove into the air. It screamed like a dart through the floating embers, and dove with near supersonic speed upon the unicorn.

At the last millisecond, she jumped backward with her eyes pulling open, falling sideways with each rear leg pressing atop the dragon’s front teeth. Letting the dragon’s inertia push her away, she spun her head upward, and with time slowing to an adrenaline-fueled stasis, focused her accumulated magic straight upward to the center of the ceiling.

A pearl beam of light and shrill sound cleaved through the hole in the ceiling. The air warped inward, tugging the simmering edges of the damaged ceiling inward to a blinding singularity before recoiling outward in a rippling nova of careening fire. A column thick of flame jet downwards into the cavern, bringing with it a thick salvo of heavy debris.

Gina kicked a rear leg against the dragon’s jaw, stunning it just long enough to skitter back onto her hooves and make a mad dash back for the center of the cavern. Feeling the rancorous lava breath of the pink dragon behind her, she bounded with all her strength forward towards the falling column of fire.

A large rafter landed sideways in front of her, bouncing upwards. She flopped onto a rear leg, sliding underneath the rebounding support while the dragon leapt over it. A series of raining spears, halberds, and javelins assaulted from the falling ceiling debris, forcing her to zig zag wildly under and between the falling projectiles.

The shrill metallic whine of slicing iron caught her ear. She bound low, and with hooves outstretched, leapt sideways into a tucked spin as she felt the frigid caress of a gigantic axe blade clanging firmly through the floor just behind her spine.

Flinging forward with her momentum, she leveled on four galloping hooves again, now feeling a caustic bite burning up her tail. The dragon roared, its prize just one quick claw swipe from its possession! Gina closed her eyes, lowered her head, and charged through the errant tendrils of fire rippling from the bottom of the falling column of debris. Passing just beneath it, she could feel the heavy cushion of weight snagged beneath the hulking rubble, she could hear the whining screech of dropping metal, she could see the twisted steel wreck emerging from the flames in its glorious return.

“Jerry!”

*KR-LANKH!*

The dragon’s shoulder’s dropped beneath the luggage car, the overpowering weight pressing it to the ground. Bellowing in shock and surprise, the pink guardian flailed its limbs and wings wildly, but was unable to get its claws beneath the vehicle. The dragon slid to a stop across the ground, coming to a flabbergasted rest at Gina’s hooves.

She looked down at the dragon with reassuring eyes. “I know girl, you don’t have to tell me, I hate losing too.” Gina snorted into a giggle and skipped in triumphant steps around its wings. “Of course,” she continued in an optimistic tone. “Technically, since you came from me, you also kinda won!” She halted, scrunching her nose up. “Ooh, which means I also kinda lost, too.” The orange unicorn tilted another sympathetic look towards the flailing dragon. “Eep, tough break for both of us, huh?”

The dragon bellowed, attempting to lash a pinned claw at her.

“I know!” Gina beamed. “And you fought brilliantly as well!” She stepped up to the stirring tail, spotting the brass jewel around it. “Now hold still, this will just take a second.”

The orange unicorn narrowed her eyes and scrunched her brow, watching intently at the tail ornament, her eyes matching its motions in perfect cadence. A very soft glow of telekinesis wrapped around it, but wavered and dissipated with each sudden jolt of the flipping tail. “Easy, girl!” Gina attempted to soothe it. Finally, an opportunity arose as the tail hit the top of its arc, and the orange unicorn’s magical grip locked onto its target. “Easy girl,” she reiterated, uncertain if saying it to the dragon or to herself.

The metal clasps on the side unhinged, and after a grinding shrill of rusty pops, the adornment broke free. A marigold throb emanated around its central jewel, the hoof-width brass artifact pulled away and fell to rest in Gina’s outstretched hooves.

“There,” she looked down at the jewel, seeing the last embers of sputtering marigold dissipate into the air. Her eyes suddenly clenched shut, and she snorted through suddenly twinging nostrils. She wiped at her eyes. “At least one of us...”

The dragon suddenly stopped clawing at the air. Its limbs and wings drooped limp, emotionless, almost uncertain what to do with the enchantment no longer dictating its actions.

“One of us.” She sniffled again, “Gets to be...”

It stopped.

Gina turned.

My stars above reigning the night,

Tired and blurry in vision... .

Our darkened eyes yearn for your light.

... She hoisted the last drops of her energy to her horn...

Hold virtues true to give me might,

... Wrapping an orange field over the train car.

The wrongs I do,

She slid her hoof into the adornment, clenching it around her like a gauntlet. The jewel, resting just above her fetlock, sprung to life in a deep hue of orange.

To do what’s right.

She aimed the gauntlet to the hole in the ceiling, motioning upward while hoisting the train car off the pinned dragon.

What’s right.

“Get lost!” she shouted in defeat.

* * * * *

Outside the city, the last wisps of the day’s warmth peeled from the sides of the mountainous terrain. The sky was descending from its early evening pink to a receding shade of teal, the first specks of starlight making known their presence upon the landscape. With the bustling outskirts of the city turning in, retreating to the warmth of the packed market square and royal palace, the typical ward of tranquility stooped to keep watch over the intertwined mountain trails...

“Pony feathers!”

... Was surreptitiously interrupted.

The orange glow of lantern light preceded the slow steps of an armored pegasus and black-coated stallion. They weaved cautiously through the darkening landscape, quickly covering as much ground as possible in the hope to utilize as much of the dwindling sunlight as possible.

“Sherpa St-t-ormblade,” Jetstream stammered through chilled breaths. “Anyth-th-thing the m-matter?”

The jangling earth pony stomped a hoof down in frustration. “That Sparkle filly, this hunting charm is of no use!” He unfurled his jacket collar, tucked low against his gut, and checked the Luna doll in his pocket. “It’s wrong!” He shook it, running a hooftip against the base of its mane. The hair realigned, forming back into the telltale cone that was driving them along the lowly alpine path.

“Do you th-think,” Jetstream began, “maybe if I t-took a look at it you’ll-”

“No!” Stormblade impulsively hid the Luna doll back into his coat. “I mean...” He cleared his throat, tugging the jacket collar close to his neck. “Miss Sparkle instructed the charm be top secret!” He combed a hoof through his mane, turning his gaze to the ascending stars. “It’s top secret unicorn magic, only to be seen by high ranking officials and licensed sherpas!”

“But you’re not a license-”

“Change of plan!” The Captain announced, pounding a hoof against his jangling chest. “We exchange this with Twilight for a functioning charm that will actually give us a sense of where to-”

*FWOO-OOM-SH!*

The Captain’s words immediately shushed as the rim of the mountain trail bend illuminated in brilliant pink light. His eyes narrowed as he held a hoof to his brow, only barely able to make out the silhouette of a blazing pink dragon gliding freely out of an indistinguishable alcove ahead.

He blinked, sneaking yet another curious look at the Luna doll, her mane pointing directly at the alcove.

“Change of plan!” The Captain announced.

* * * * *

The Princess of the Night fell heavily to the floor, heaving and panting out the exhaustion of forced laughter. Beside her, Devon quickly wheeled forward, unsure of of what kind of protection he could offer the Princess, but every instinct warned him of the mare’s obvious display of power and unhinged fearlessness.

“What?” the orange mare snickered at his defensive posture. “I just saved the both of ya from a lava dragon and not even a thank you?” For a few seconds, the orange unicorn was seized with unstable giggling. “C’mawn. How about ‘thanks’?” Another giggle and she strode purposefully towards them. “Then how ‘bout a name? I know the Princess. But I wasn’t told a thing ‘bout her little partner.”

“Devon Bookmark,” the charcoal unicorn spoke evenly.

“The name’s Gina. Orangina if ya feelin’ formal about it, Dev’s.” The orange unicorn’s grin was an unusual blend. It was equal parts dangerous, forced and ingratiating. By no means was it genuine, she didn’t even try to make it genuine. “And you and I and the guys upstairs got business.”

“Uh huh,” Devon said, circling around Luna to keep himself between the strange unicorn and the Princess. “And just what exactly are you doing down here anyway? And how did you get down here in the first place?”

“Gyeah!” Gina cackled, the grin appearing only more menacing. “Well, your second question’s kinda irrelevant Dev’s, cuz I’m here right now, ain’t I?” The fiery unicorn pressed forward, lowering her head until she locked eyes with Devon from a mere horn’s length away. “Guess you could say I'm a search party of sorts. To answer the real question y’asked, I’m here on behalf of the folks upstairs. They got a whole lotta plans and it looks like it’s me who’s gotta make sure they go off.” Gina fell into a spastic giggle. “What? Too crazy to believe? Well-”

“Upstairs?” Devon interrupted. “What are you going on about?”

Gina smiled broadly. Whispers leaked into her ears that only she could hear. Pieces falling into place. “Just call me the pony lookin’ out fer fate. I’m here t’make sure that things happen the way they’re meant t’happen.”

She furled her brow, narrowing her eyes at him in a manner determined for him to detect.

... Bookmark...

Comments

[Vest]

Just going to throw in a bit of an author's note.

This is actually two chapters merged into one. Taking a bit of feedback from others, and seeing that you all had some very legitimate questions about what roles some characters played, I found it would make for a better story to integrate one big reveal alongside another big reveal. Both of which pertain to Gina.

We now know what influence is driving her to act so crazily, and how that influence came to play within her.

These were originally going to be broken up between two different chapters, and the latter reveal being accomplished via long teary-eyed open-hearted confession of some sort. Then I thought how tediously boring that was, and decided "instead of crying and whining, let's do something similar, except by 'similar' I mean 'fighting a freaking lava dragon'." There actually wasn't a lava dragon in the story outline until about four days ago. But in our effort to piece things together with greater overlap, we found an opening for one!

And while you guys may have your opinions on the dragon, I absolutely had a blast writing that scene. Especially the part when she is about to atomize its brains out, and sees herself in it. Scared. Helpless. Under the spell of another.

I actually had a lot of difficulty emotionally in getting the scene together when she frees it. I wanted her to do it like a bawss, but I also wanted to show that it was tearing her up inside. She was able to free her imbued self, but she still remains under the celestial influence of the architect. So even in her moment of triumph over such a massive adversary, she's still in defeat.

And she hates losing.

As usual, all comments and crits (especially crits) are welcome! Thanks everyone!

[Jane]

As always, authors make me jealous. The ease with which you sew scenes together always astounds me. That, and coming up with completely new ideas and writing about them in such detail while giving characters a believable persona. Kudos.

[Alondro]

Oh no, not fate again!

Dammit, now I have to destroy the stars too. And there are so many of them!

A Deux Ex Insert's work is never done!

[Blazinblade7]

1705737

Omg (probably a spolier) But is Gina the scribe's wife?(note: You can delete this if you want)

[Keairan]

Anyone else wondering how long it will take Jetstream to snap and kill Stormblade?

[Bookmaster]

1706488 3 chapters at most

[cheerilee-party-hard]

Great chapter! I loved the scene with the jokes! Were those original?

[Scyphi]

It tickled me pink to see Twilight to be the one to have the sense to actually be the first to not pander to Stormblade so much. He certainly doesn't deserve it. He's clearly in a world of his own at any rate, anyway. How he was ever determined fit to even be in the royal guard, much less in a position of power, is beyond me. Hopefully he gets himself decked, or seriously clobbered/maimed in some way, before the story ends. It'd be so satisfying to read that.

Seemed like there was something else I wanted to comment on but I can't remember what it was...hopefully it wasn't anything important...

Anyway, anxiously awaiting for more.

[Ogopogo]

Without a doubt this has to the among the eloquently written story on this site now. True, it may quickly become one of the longest, but it is a real treat to see something of such quality written and posted on here.

[Rust]

I write with a slight tremble in my fingers, in part from story-induced adrenaline, hilarity, I-see-what-you-did-there-ness, and a healthy dosage of that feeling of childlike wonder you get when you see something truly incredible and is burned into you mind for the rest of your life...

GINA HOLY MOTHERFUCK YOU CRAZY MARE YOU GOT YOURSELF A BACKSTORY! And it's goooooooood... I went from a certain sense of apathy for Gina straight into emotional investment. Suddenly, she's a pony I can care about. Suddenly, she went from a unbalanced plot device to a living, breathing, hurting character with a huge amount of involvement with the situation in general and still kept her as a drive to the story. Suddenly, Gina is best pony.

I could not stop cackling at the coy little cracks that were made about authors --of fanfiction, in particular-- and bronies during the Captain Jingle-Jangle scenes. In another life, he would have made a superb actor, don't you think? He seems to have the drama and narcissism down pat. I can't help but get the feeling that he's gotten gradually more ridiculous as the story progresses, though. And poor Jetstream. He's got more patience than Big Macintosh. If Jangles doesn't get the business end of the Poetic Justice Stick by the end of this, I'm going to have to write one myself to avenge the undignified treatment of his unwilling minion.

The scene was interesting, although I've seen the setup before in the classical Greek tales of the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. You put an surprising spin on it! The original scheme of the room was more supportive of the ideal of Laughter, but in the twisted, warped version, it's anything but funny. This raises the question -- are the other rooms tampered with by Gina's interference? Have their Elements been tarnished by the unicorn's righteous malevolence? I know she's had a hoof in the completion of two rooms, now. It's not unlikely that the streak will continue.

Also, Luna, what the hell is down there that is so important? I theorize that the "Stars" might be something she's well aware of, the very danger she's trying to destroy. She might be after a weapon, a long-forgotten spell, some source of power that would allow her to cleanse Gina. Or, I don't know, there's a giant freakin' robot mech-suit down there or something. I don't know. I'm utterly clueless as to the bounties of their efforts.

One more thing. Do yourselves a favor...don't ever get into stand-up comedy. If that joke about the wrapping paper was original... the both of you should be ashamed.

Detective Captain Stormblade: i.imgur.com/pyXCr.gif

[djthomp]

Well, there's some backstory now, as well as a pretty epic chapter. Gotta agree about Gina, my opinion about her just took a pretty extreme about face.

[curran]

1707150 To a degree, the jokes are original. I was handling that section, and when I got to writing the jokes, I wanted to make sure that they were jokes that made sense not only in the physical setting, but would also work only on Luna. So I basically did my best to make jokes that, to anyone who wasn't there (1000 years ago) they are pretty much unrecognizable as jokes. After all, what jokes of ours would last a thousand years and still make sense? It turned out to be a lot harder than I thought to write jokes that could be construed as funny if you were there without actually being there. As far as the wrapping paper gift...well...puns. Puns never stop hurting, regardless of time.

1707477 I fully agree. I loved Twilight being the one who kind openly snubbed Stormblade's attempts at being...well...Stormblade. The whole Detective Captain sequence was Vest's idea, and we had a lot of fun dreaming out just what kind of fantasy was playing in his head during the whole escapade. Personally, my favorite part was when he was grilling Pinkie Pie, because she just saw his crazy fantasy land and decided that it would be fun enough to join in on. That part cracked me up.

1707913 Thank you for the praise! We're still struggling a bit with the length, but hey, the way I see it is that folks seem to be liking it for the most part. And, to be totally honest, for the past few chapters we start them all "okay! Gonna make this real slim and sleek and...oh...totally long again." Alas! But still I'm having a great time with it.

1708257 As always, these comments are the most exciting, and such an affirmation. Thank you! I'm really glad you like Gina so much now, this chapter was really huge for her and I'm glad that everyone is feeling it too. Vest has done a magnificent job characterizing her in this sequence. And there's only more good stuff to come!

[Scyphi]

1710102
Yeah, it's totally something Pinkie would just roll with. But at the same time, you can't help but notice that even Pinkie seemed to see that Stormblade's antics had their pitfalls.

It was also during that sequence that I became convinced that Stormblade has only ever lived in his own fantasy world, and has at some point gotten it mixed up with reality.

[Vest]

1705959 Thanks for the compliments! I do spend quite a bit of time, though, just sitting down and churning a scene through my head many times before I can extrapolate enough details from it. Also, I have the luxury of being able to go back to a scene, and just throw additional details in there. So when I re-read a section, for example the dragon colliding into the ceiling, in my head the text will create an image of an explosion. But then my head will start adding details to it like spiraling fire careening up appendages of smoke, but the text won't emphasize that at all. So, in the second read, I can take the base image that the text recreates, and with the new image in place, expand upon the details.

Not too much, though. I learned to knock that excess off.

In essence, just wad the very basic details down first, then add whatever seems fitting on each subsequent pass.

1706139 Yep, manipulating faith. Been kinda done to death, but hopefully our planned take will have an original spin to it.

1706435 You are correct. And I don't mind spoilers in the comments. I'm assuming that people read the story before reading the comments, and if people do have legitimate questions/concerns that may need clarification, spoilers are a must in the discussion.

1707150 Curran wrote most of them, and I'm assuming they're original. However, we're taking joint credit (blame) on the wrapping paper one. PM him for our home addresses to send boxes of dead rats.

1707477 Thanks for the compliments! I really liked how Stormblade lost all favor with Twilight in the first chapter, and felt that after spending so much time building up her bitterness toward him, it would be a waste to not revisit it. And come on, we need more adorkable. Badly. Like a lot of things in this chapter, it wasn't in the first outline and didn't exist until just a couple days ago. But after finding we could sneak a scene in without breaking the flow of narrative and getting Stormblade on his way into the archives in a more plausible manner than original, it just blossomed beautifully. Original idea was not having him visit the Mane 6, but Devon's mother, but the series of events that originally got him down there was pretty weak IMO. I mean come on, MLP fanfic needs more MLP. It's also nice because I don't have to explain Twilight's characteristics too thoroughly, though I'll still make at least some attempt to treat her as any other character.

1707913 Much appreciated, thank you! This certainly isn't planned to go on for as long as something by Short Skirts and Explosions, but it still has quite a while to go! I'm glad to see more and more new readers chancing upon it and voicing their opinion. Knowing that people like it really drives me to push further. It gets faves and dozens of views daily, but those are just numbers, they don't really tell me anything. Finding out what people like and what works, as well as what needs work is what truly pushes me to keep going!

1708257 As always, you have the most wonderful comments to read! There were even some parts where I would finish up some paragraphs, and I too would just sit there completely blasted by shaking fingers. Curran can attest, I spent a good few minutes just sipping a cup of tea, recollecting my thoughts after putting myself so deep in Gina's persona while writing the bit at the end of the dragon fight. I forgot to remove my mindset from her's, so when she set the dragon free...it actually hurt to write. She was able to free the creature from the enchantment that raged within it, but she couldn't free herself.

Glad to see you enjoy the little jabs at my fellow bronies and fanfic writers. I think it's really important that despite all the talent and energy circulating across FimFiction, we still have the ability to take a step back and laugh at the very fact that we're writing fan fiction for My Little Pony. There's a surviving shred of my psyche that still clings to 2010, a past self, that I refuse to let go of. It's hilarious to think what that old self would say if he saw that I'm not just watching My Little Pony but am so inspired by it that it drives me to Fan Fiction. Awkward wording emphasized on purpose. Much like Stormblade's own hoof-written love story with Luna (God I can't apologize enough for that), I like to throw in little reminders from my 2010 self that I'm fully aware of what I'm doing, and that I am comfortable enough with it that I can laugh at myself. I feel this is how the overwhelming majority of Bronies feel, too. We know. A cursory glance at the fanbase leaves us wide open to jokes. But I feel that nothing turns people away further than those who take the show way too seriously, and think they're somehow superior.

Won't say where, because I made a bit of effort to make it fairly subtle, but there are hints of what Luna's after in the chapter. I didn't expect most people to get it the first time, but after seeing what happened with Gina, hopefully they could put two and two and two together.

And don't you worry none, our standup career officially ended back in 2004. Kinda hard to get invited anywhere after that riot that burned down the Laugh Factory...

1708930 Whew, thank you! I'm really glad people were willing to jump up and say "Gina sucks, what's her deal!?" Well, she always had a deal, but we were originally going to put it off until later. To which you guys responded "That sucks! You suck! Make Gina not suck!" Can't really disagree with that. Seeing the response to this chapter, I'm quite glad to see our gamble is paying off. I was afraid we'd get complaints from people saying it was revealed too soon, too fast, too suddenly, or that they missed it entirely. Glad to see those concerns were ill-founded!

1710151 You worded it so concisely perfectly. Stormblade definitely is the kind of person who comes up with a fantasy, then treats reality like that fantasy happened in order to force it to happen. It's something I've seen people do, by the way, especially in the corporate world. If somebody wants to be hired to a management position, he'll just start acting like he's already the manager. Done right, it makes him assertive and demonstrate initiative. Done wrong, and you get a complete jerk that nobody likes.

And oh my word, Stormblade takes it to tremendous lengths, and certainly does it wrong. It's what makes him assume that he's really a Captain instead of a substitute, and what makes him assume that he's destined to win Luna at the end of this perceived hero's journey he's written for himself. Everything else, honestly, is just a continuous exhibition of how deep into his own fantasy he gets.

[RealityCheck]

Okay, it's a good story... but either lighten up on the purple prose or get a thesaurus and a dictionary. You misused more words than I could count.

[Alondro]

1711843 Can I blow up some of the stars? They twinkle and remind me of sparklt vampires. For this affront, they must be destroyed.

(But what about the life on planets around them?!)

It's the life's fault for evolving next to stars that remind me of sparkly vampires. Guilt by association.

[Sleipnir]

As a geology enthusiast, I feel the need to remind you that just standing near a lava stream is enough to kill under most circumstances. Lava is usually over 1000 °C, which emits quite a bit of heat.

Awesome chapter, by the way. I really don't have much else to say.

[Vash_ts]

this story is awesome, but sometimes it hurts my brain...

was pinkie a pegasus?

[RealityCheck]

1719318

If so, then it's not much of an excuse for incorrect usage of words, excessive verbage, meandering abstractions, purple prose, etc. I too was an early reader. That did not result in me writing as if I had eaten a dictionary and failed to digest the meaning of half the words.

As she slowly approached the slouching charcoal unicorn, his forehoof twisting small circles in the floor, the very essence of the room retreated out of her comprehension into a muddy shroud of irrelevance, the brick pattern of the floor pinching inwards where he sat, the lava-soaked ambiance diminishing and snuffed out by his uncharacteristic silence.

Gah!

The room seemed fade into the background as she approached where the slouching charcoal unicorn sat, his forehoof twisting small circles in the floor, everything muted by his unnatural silence.

Better. Not great, but better.

Look, I know the temptation to slather on heaps of words in order to make it sound "better" or "more grown up". Take time after writing to sit down and trim back and prune your work. If two words will fit where six were used, go with two. Double check the definitions of words before using them. Don't over-explain (especially in action sequences--- tight, terse phrasing conveys the idea of fast action and hard hitting punches. And if there's a commonly used phrase for a particular punch, kick, throw, or martial-arts move, USE it. You do not need to describe, in baroque detail, someone getting punched or judo-flipped.)

Now let's talk misuse of words.

He paused, trying to piece together some coherent justification that wouldn’t devolve into some elaborate excuse... or petty guise for sympathy... or even the simplest countenance of...

In this particular example "countenance." It means "A person's face or facial expression." It seems that you thought it meant "appearance."
(in which case, you should have used "appearance.")

There are other examples dotted throughout your writing. They're as jarring as stepping on a lego.
I'm sure you think you know the definition of every word you use.... but use a dictionary anyway. Believe me, been there, done that--- it is tremendously embarrassing to throw around tenpenny words and then find out you threw a brass farthing in the middle of them. The more verbose and flowery you get, the more you risk screwing up that way.

Just something to probosculate upon.

[Vest]

1719614 Thanks for the thorough and in-depth criticism. I'm really going to need a lot more no-nonsense comments like this to help give a solid direction on where to improve on future chapters. The purple prose issue is an ongoing process, and while I could just sit back and idiotically giggle "old habits are hard to break," we both know it should still be taken very seriously and immediately. So its your feedback that truly helps the most, especially how you pull out individual sentences that you consider great offenders of it.

Considering you spent all that time pulling out those excerpts and even explaining a bit on a few of them, it would be really unfair to just go "okie dokie, I'll keep it in mind on the next chapter" and leaving them there. I'm going to rework them a bit, and please do feel free to respond if you consider their wording better! Wish I (and especially you) could have the time to go over the entire chapter and have dozens of instances pinpointed and modified accordingly, but it's definitely way too long of a chapter to even humor the idea of a fullblown nitpick.

Thanks again tremendously for all the time and energy you spent on that comment! It's the raw feedback I sincerely need.

[ResidentZeldaBau5z]

1712267 Solution- Have Link perform full Triforce fusion. Replace the stars with dim orbs of mystic energy and hard light. These orbs will then provide the planets around selected stars with light. No probs. Link can demolish the selected stars, build and distribute the orbs, and rehash the solar systems in about 13 hours. Then you got another 9 hours before the 22 hour time limit is reached and Link's body burns out like an empty shell(to be reincarnated later). Whatcha wanna do with the remaining nine hours?

[ultra1437]

1682878
As it turns out, i've lost what i meant to say about the chapter (chapter five) itself. I've read this one and hot damn was it different.

I had a feeling the lava dragon wasn't meant to be there originally, based upon its story being so small compared to the lead-ins for the other chambers. It seemed a bit rushed, but still fairly well developed.

Now, I probably will have to re-read this chapter, as I've had to for each one, but it's not a bad thing, it keeps it fresh in my mind.

The ending of the chapter, with Devon playing pseudo-meatshield for Luna, while heartwarming, does not speak well of his self-preservation, and a possible unhealthy obsession with her, if previous chapters hadn't already partially confirmed the latter.

Now what i had in my original comment on chapter five still holds, and this is all i can remember from it. I've ended up reading most of these chapters twice or more to get major bits in them. In some areas there's just a comma missing that screws with the flow, (Like the description of the hanging machinery over the lava, in chapter five) while others are seem too verbose, using extra words or weird phrasing to describe something.

The machinery statement earlier, is as such.

The only objects that marked it as more than a caved-in section of the structure were its clear path and a single metal rail that ran through it. High above the rail, attached by pulleys, chains and a morass of gears and cogs hung machinery, silent and seemingly inert.The rail itself held above the steaming heat of the lava flow from one end of the chamber to the other, terminating at a block on the far side and a bank of metal boxes on the side where Devon and Luna stood.

The single change i would make here, besides fixing the spacing between 'inert.' and 'The rail' would be adding a comma after 'cogs' to signify the exact object in question that's being described. I had trouble figuring it out until i went word by word. The addition of a comma here fixes that problem of identification.

It's little things like that, that break the immersion of the story somewhat, forcing me to go back and re-read confusing bits for context I missed.

[MDSK]

Stormblade

[xbox432]

Ah, finally found some time to catch up on my Pony! Wheeee, this chapter is just super-de-duper amazing! You are definitely one of the most elaborate writer's on this site, your word play is amazing. And since your story pulled me out of the funk I was in I hear-by use my awesometastic editing powers to point out a few typos:

*merely a hatchling we we caged it - merely a hatchling when we caged it
*A column thick of flame jet downwards into the cavern - A thick column of flame jetted downwards into the cavern
*As 'Vash_ts' said earlier, you called Pinkie a 'Pink Pegasus' several times during the interview, or you got her and Jetstream mixed up?

[Vest]

1771091 1713553 Whoopsies! Got my consistency temporarily mixed up there. The "pink pegasus" error has been fixed. Thanks!

[Vash_ts]

1775627 you are welcome!

[xbox432]

1775627 No prob Vest, Glad we could help.