Quote and Curly Brace have been separated in a strange new land. The ponies of Equestria are terrified by the arrival of a floating island. And the Doctor is running loose! Is there any way to stop him?
A Cave Story crossover.
The Doctor is a madman. A ruthless, cunning madman. He has plans to wage war with the world and become the new leader. He has successfully obtained the Demon Crown -- an item granting the wielder powerful, evil magic -- amassed an army, and even developed a way to enhance his power further.
Quote and Curly Brace have followed this monster to the ends of the island to stop him and his nefarious plans. But it seems that the Doctor has a few more tricks up his lab coat. His plan is far greater than anyone imagined.
Now separated in a strange new land, the two must find a way to befriend the ponies of this world and protect them from the Doctor's arrival.
Because he's come declaring war. And with the power of a god, no one will be able to stop him.
The blue-haired witch opened her eyes. She was dressed in a sleeveless green top, dark green pants, and flat brown shoes. In her hand, she held a brown staff. She had pale skin and a blue crescent moon tattooed on her left cheek. She had bright red eyes. Seeing her master, Misery descended from her seat on top of the throne, floating gently down.
"What is it, Doctor?" Misery asked.
"I want to confirm that all of the Mimiga on the island are in our custody," replied the Doctor. The Doctor was a tall man, but the Crown sitting atop his head added to that height, making him seem more intimidating. Not that he wasn't. He had a slight hunch in his stature. He wore a lab coat and had thin rectangular glasses that glinted in such a way that one could never make out his eyes.
Misery answered, "Mimiga Village, Grasstown, and the Plantation have been thoroughly searched. Save for that one scientist, all of the Mimiga are accounted for."
"Good. And what of Balrog? Where is he?"
Misery furrowed her brow, puzzled. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen him for several hours. He was nowhere near the Throne Room. "Strange," she mused. "I'm not sure where he is."
"Well, no matter. The spell is fully prepared. It won't be long now."
"I understand, Doctor, but I wish to ask you something." Misery stepped toward her Master. "Are you sure you wish to follow in Halda's footsteps? I know you're aware of how brief his reign was. Would it really be wise to-"
Misery never saw the punch coming. All she could recall was being slumped against the stone wall, covered in debris, supposedly dislodged from her impact. She looked up at this human through half-glazed eyes, wincing from the pain. This creature had hit her many times before, but never this forcefully. Misery looked up fearfully into the eyes of her Master.
The Doctor's glasses glinted dangerously bright. "Watch your tongue, Misery. Don't you dare lump me together with that weakling. Halda failed because he had no plan. It's no surprise to me that he was defeated. However, my plans are far more ambitious than his. I'm going to surpass him sooner than you can imagine."
"Yes. Please, forgive me, Master," Misery gasped painfully, averting her eyes from her master's gaze.
"The spell will take some time to complete." the Doctor continued, flying up to the second level, The King's Table. "Heal yourself. I need you in peak condition for your next task. Do me a favor and...take out the trash," the Doctor said with a sneer as he vanished into the ceiling.
"Yes, Master," Misery mumbled. She cast a healing spell on herself, closing her cuts and numbing the pain in her head. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. Misery returned to her position on the throne, awaiting the intruder.
Quote sidestepped the behemoth's charge with ease, slashing it with his Blade as he dodged. He spun and faced the beast, pulling out his Spur. The monster was about two and a half meters tall and must have weighed almost 300 kilograms. Quote was about to start charging the weapon when the monster turned, opened its mouth, and let loose a volley of magic blasts. Thinking quickly, Quote pulled out his Bubbler and made a protective wall of bubbles. The magic projectiles dissipated harmlessly against the wall. Quote released the trigger on his gun, and the remaining bubbles shot toward the monster at blinding speed. It was hit by the barrage, unable to protect itself. There were now many cuts on its body, blood pooling in the grass. It broke Quote's heart to see this poor creature, this once-harmless Mimiga, now a raging death machine, suffer as it bled out. Quote switched to his Spur once again and began charging the weapon. The rabid Mimiga, programmed to kill because of the accursed Red Flowers, charged blindly at Quote. However, the damage it had accumulated was taking its toll, as the beast ran much more slowly, each step causing it pain. Quote heard the click of his weapon, now fully charged. He raised the gun and pointed the barrel to the Mimiga's face.
"I'm so sorry," he said, releasing the trigger. A massive laser shot out of the gun, nearly knocking him backward from the force. The shot hit the Mimiga in the forehead, blowing half of its head open. The Mimiga immediately fell to the ground and twitched a few times before lying still, liters of blood pouring out all at once.
Quote rubbed his eyes. He couldn't cry, but it was the closest he could come to doing just that. He felt absolutely miserable. The body of the Mimiga shrank down to its original size, the ugly wounds it had suffered now covering nearly the entire body. The somewhat humanoid rabbit-person was only about 1 meter tall. Quote thought back to when he first met the Mimiga people. The peaceful villagers welcomed him despite their own struggles with the Doctor. Quote was eternally grateful to them, especially to King, the village leader, whose sword now hung by Quote's side. They took him in when he had just awoken and was dealing with amnesia. He couldn't even remember who he was.
The Doctor had been abducting the Mimigas of the island and feeding them Red Flowers. The flowers were the source of all of this misery: they made the Mimigas grow massive and rabid, transforming them into living weapons that obeyed the Doctor. They were a force to be reckoned with, and the Doctor was amassing an army of them.
The worst part was, this was the third time Quote had dealt with one of those monsters. What's more, it scared him a little when he thought about how easy that fight was. The first two times, it had taken all of his concentration just to pull through and survive those battles. Now, he wasn't even winded. Quote had grown so strong compared to the time he first woke up, when he was barely even able to defend himself. Quote gritted his teeth and turned toward the spire that loomed in front of him.
"This ends now," he said as he stormed into the Throne Room.
Curly Brace let out a sigh of relief when she stepped out onto the Balcony. The girl ran her fingers through her long blonde hair, which was now a tangled mess. Where her ears would be were two green disk-shaped radio transmitters and receivers. Each one had an antenna coming out the top. She wore a red sleeveless top that showed her midriff, red pants and brown shoes. On her back, she donned a jet-pack called the Booster v0.8. Her skin was pale white and she had bright blue eyes. Curly had just fought her way through a massive cave littered with monsters, and she was exhausted. It had been just as dangerous as the time Quote and she fought their way through the Labyrinth. Doing it solo, she found out, was incredibly taxing. Curly had been injured not half an hour ago. Yet, here she was now, up and fighting. Curly couldn't see how Quote had done it for so long.
"I really thought we weren't going to make it that time." Professor Booster's remark was met with unamused stares from the rest of the group. Curly hadn't just fought through the grinder; she had done it while escorting three people. The professor was an older, short man, and rather pudgy. He wore a lab coat and a very strange pair of glasses: they were bright red shades and seemed to serve no purpose other than shield his eyes. They surely didn't improve his sight, and they could be very dangerous if they ever broke.
"Well, we did make it, so quit your whining," said Momorin. "I swear, you've been a pessimist as long as I've known you." Momorin Sakamoto was a woman of average height and had dark green hair. Curly wasn't sure if that was her actual hair color, or if it was dyed. She wore a lab coat as well, as she was part of the team of scientists that had come to this island not too long ago. She was also the mother of Kazuma and Sue. Sue was currently being held by the Doctor because the witch Misery had turned her into a Mimiga. Kazuma, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found.
"Oh, it hardly matters now," said Itoh. "Look. The helicopter's still there. Let's start on it right away." Itoh was another one of the scientists who came to the island. Normally, he would be about as tall as Momorin, but his situation was unique: he was a Mimiga. Like Sue, he had been transformed into one by Misery. This had actually proved to be of little consequence, as Itoh was still perfectly capable of building fantastic machines, even in his state.
"All right," said Curly, cocking her Machine Gun. "You three get the helicopter running. I'm going to help Quote beat the Doctor."
"Not a chance," Momorin interjected. "You may be different from us, but even I can tell you're at your limit. If you try to fight the Doctor now, you'll just be killed."
Curly turned toward Momorin. "That doesn't matter to me. Quote's fighting for his life, and everyone on the island. I need to help him in any way I can." Curly paused, glancing at the ground. "Even if it means sacrificing myself."
"Absolutely not. You can't die now. You need to stay alive. Not just for us, but for him as well." Curly looked up, surprised. Momorin smiled and placed her hand on Curly's shoulder. "You gave him the Iron Bond, remember? You promised each other that you would be together again. I can tell how much he means to you. And I'm sure you mean as much to him." Curly's body began to shake. Her eyes squeezed shut as she cried quietly, although no tears fell. Momorin was right. She couldn't die now. Still, she couldn't bear the thought of Quote fighting the Doctor alone.
When at last she regained her composure, Curly asked, "Okay. What should I do?"
Momorin nodded. "The men and I can take care of the helicopter. Still, we may need you to protect us in case someone attacks. We'll give you a shout if we need you. In the meantime, why don't you go get some rest in the house over there?" Momorin indicated a makeshift shelter a little ways beyond the helicopter. It was evidently a temporary shelter, as it looked less like a small house and more like a large shed.
Curly nodded. "Good luck," she said and turned toward the house. She could already hear the scientists discussing what would surely need to be repaired and how long it would take. Curly smiled as she walked. Finally, everyone was going to get off this godforsaken island. During the time she had spent on the island, she never felt safe. There was always something hostile, some danger around the corner, something that wanted her dead. The island was not a friendly place. It amazed her sometimes that she'd managed to hold out for so long. Taking care of the Colons, four orphaned Mimiga children, had been both the happiest and most terrifying episode of her life. Curly had been overjoyed at being a mother to the children. At the same time, that's what scared her so much. She would never forgive herself if she had failed to protect them. If Quote manages to defeat the Doctor, everyone could all return home safe. Curly realized that Quote and she didn't have a home to which they could return. Oh, what was she thinking? Momorin would be more than happy to take them in.
Curly looked up and realized that she was already at the building. She opened the door, thinking only of how great a nap would feel. The room was modest: a bed and a bookcase were all the furniture she found. Curly was about to get in the bed when she felt a chill.
This was no ordinary chill. She had felt this chill once before: the one time she met the Doctor. That time in the island's Core room, she had been repeatedly submerged in water during the fight of her life. Despite that, she knew the chill she felt was not from the water; it was from being in the presence of that madman, the Doctor. There was an aura about this man that radiated evil. It was terrifying.
Certain she was about to be killed, Curly pulled out both her Machine Gun and the Nemesis, her trusty weapons that had saved her life too many times to count. She pointed them to where she felt the presence. To her surprise, she found herself looking at a tile on the floor in a corner. The Doctor was nowhere to be seen.
Curious, Curly walked to the unnatural spot. Upon closer inspection, the tile looked cracked. And was it her imagination, or was there the ever-so-slight sensation of a draft? Curly prodded the tile with her Machine Gun. The tile crumbled under the sudden weight, falling into... a pit.
Curly stared down into the pit that had suddenly opened up. There was a bit of an orange glow coming from within.
And there was a presence. An evil presence. A presence so evil, so ancient, an abomination so terrifying that it shouldn't even exist.
Curly ran out of the house, her whole body shaking. She had to get away. Away. Far away. Anywhere. Anywhere was better than here. Once she felt the chill leave her body, the presence gone, Curly sat, taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Whatever that... thing was, it was unnatural. And the most terrifying thing Curly had ever encountered. She finally managed to regulate her breathing. When she looked up, her eyes went wide from shock. Out of thin air, in a matter of seconds, the sky had been completely filled with thick, menacing, black storm clouds.
Misery fell to the ground, exhausted and beaten. Quote had entered the Throne Room when he saw Misery, waiting for him. It had been a fierce battle, but Misery just couldn't keep up with Quote's tenacity. Misery had thrown everything she had at him: lightning, magic blasts, creatures, massive boulders, anything. She hurt him at first, but within minutes, Quote had learned how to dodge all of her attacks. The soldier had become much stronger than when she first met him. What had once been a weakling had now bested her in combat. Misery hadn't foreseen this. Perhaps the boy before her... No. Wishful thinking. Besides, Misery knew where her loyalties lay.
Quote was turning to ascend into the next level of the tower when he heard chuckling. He turned back toward his defeated foe.
"You don't understand, do you?" Misery said.
"What do you mean by that?" Quote asked, finger back on the trigger.
"It doesn't matter if you kill me. It's too late for you now. My Lord's plan is too far along now for you to stop."
"You're wrong," said Quote, a look of fiery determination in his eyes. "I made a promise to Sue, Momorin, Itoh, Kazuma, and the professor. I'm going to defeat the Doctor and restore peace to this world." To his surprise, Misery just started laughing harder.
"No, you really don't understand. You've already lost! Everything has gone exactly according to the Doctor's plan! Just look!" Misery cried, extending her arm sideways.
Quote turned to where Misery was indicating and gasped. One of the sides of the Throne Room contained no wall, apparently by design. He had a perfect view of the skyline. What Quote saw scared him. Thick, black clouds completely obstructed his view. They had not been there a minute ago. But there was more to them: they felt malicious, evil.
"What are they?" Quote whispered, his voice shaking. Misery said nothing.
Quote turned toward her. "WHAT ARE THEY?! WHAT IS THE DOCTOR DOING?!"
Suddenly, there was a flash of light. Pain immediately coursed through Quote's body. A shuddering gasp escaped Quote's lips before he collapsed to the ground.
Misery's staff was drawn. She had managed to gather enough magic to summon a lightning bolt while Quote was distracted. Misery let out a sigh. She had won. With nothing left to do, Misery returned to her seat atop the throne and closed her eyes. All that remained was to wait for the Doctor to finish casting the spell.
Misery did not have to wait long. She had been feeling the magic in the air rise steadily for the past several minutes. The magic suddenly spiked, and the whole island began shaking. Misery opened her eyes and looked up.
A dark stallion wearing gold armor threw open the doors or the royal throne. "Princess!" he cried.
Princess Celestia nodded toward the guard, fully expecting his sudden entrance. "What have you found out?" she asked.
"Nothing much, I'm afraid," the guard said. "The weather ponies seem to have no control over these clouds. As a matter of fact, they seem to be getting stronger!"
Princess Celestia cursed under her breath. "Thank you. Please try to find out anything you can about those storm clouds. Dismissed." The guard left abruptly.
Princess Luna turned to her sister. "I've rarely seen you this worried over something. Do you have any idea what's happening?" Celestia looked out the window at the pitch-black storm clouds that had gathered only twenty minutes ago. Eyewitnesses had stated that the clouds appeared to manifest from thin air. The pegasi couldn't do anything about it: they would pass through the clouds like any other pony. Celestia almost immediately issued a state of emergency and sent all of her guards to inspect the freak storm. The front had grown enormously: it was now covering nearly half of Equestria.
"Sister!" Luna hissed. "Do you know what's going on?"
Celestia glanced back to her little sister. What Luna saw in her older sister's eyes sent a shiver down her spine. The look was almost unrecognizable. Celestia seemed distant, lost in memories. Her eyes were full of fear and sorrow.
"You know what's happening, don't you?" she whispered.
Celestia stared at the floor. "I pray that I'm wrong, Luna. I really do."
"Haven't you found anything, Spike?!" a purple alicorn called from the balcony of Ponyville's library. She was leafing through a large pile of books on Equestrian history. Nothing she found said anything about what she was seeing.
"Nothing!" the young dragon yelled back. "I have no idea what that thing is!"
Twilight looked up and saw a cyan pegasus flying toward her. "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called. "Any idea what it is?"
Rainbow looked worried. "Nope. No clue. None of the weather ponies have ever dealt with clouds like these. We can't even touch them." Twilight cursed. She was hoping to learn something useful from her friend.
"Spike, try to find a weather book on intangible storm clouds," Twilight said.
"On it," said Spike. At this point, Twilight was just desperately grasping at straws. Being the new princess of the nation (though not in charge, as that was still Princess Celestia's duty), she felt the responsibility for informing and protecting the citizens of Equestria. Not knowing something unnerved her greatly. The only one who might know something was the princess.
"It's getting bad, Twilight," Rainbow said. "Ponies are starting to panic. Not even I can calm them down." Twilight sighed. She doubted that she could ask everypony to remain calm when she was on the verge of a panic attack herself. She hated feeling so helpless, only able to wait and see what happened.
"Twilight?" Rainbow murmured. "I'm scared."
Twilight looked up at her friend. No. She could not let her friend down now. As afraid as she was, Twilight knew that what she needed to do right now was remain confident. "Don't worry, Rainbow. I don't know what's happening myself, but I'm sure the princess does. We just need to get in contact with her. She'll know what to do. Spike?" Twilight called into the library.
"Yes?" Spike appeared, holding a book. It was one that Twilight had already looked through.
"Take a letter, please."
Spike was about to grab a quill when something happened, causing everyone to stand and just stare at what they were witnessing. Far in the distance, a little outside Canterlot, a massive red bolt of lightning broke through the center of the storm, presumably striking the ground. Almost immediately after the strike, thousands upon thousands of tiny red bolts began spider-webbing from the eye of the storm to the edges, striking within the clouds. A glowing red aura appeared in the storm's eye, then suddenly flashed dangerously bright. The three shielded their eyes, blinded. When at last their vision returned to normal, they looked again and gasped. The storm was gone; it had completely vanished without a trace. But there was something else, something new, where the eye of the storm had once been. Everyone stared, dumbfounded. No one, not even Twilight with all her years of research, could explain the phenomenon that they saw with their own eyes.
"Did you know that the witch-woman Jenka once had a brother?
His name was Ballos.
Like his sister, he wielded powers far beyond those of mortals..."
Quote slowly opened his eyes and stared at the crystalline ceiling that greeted him. It took him a moment to realize that he had never seen it before. Quote began to panic, thinking that he was suffering from amnesia yet again. He whipped his head around, taking in the room. He was lying in a bed in a room made entirely of crystal. There was no way he could forget entering a place like this. He shut his eyes and tried to remember the names of the people he cared about.
Momorin.
Itoh.
Professor Booster.
Kazuma.
Sue.
King.
Toroko.
Curly Brace.
Quote breathed a sigh of relief and allowed his body to relax. His memory was intact. He hadn't forgotten anything. Since he didn't know where he was, he must not have been awake when he was brought here. Having calmed himself down, Quote decided that the best thing to do would be to get up and take a look around. However, as he tried to sit up, a shooting pain in his abdomen put an abrupt end to those plans and he collapsed back in bed. So he was recovering. He must have taken some pretty serious damage to be in that much pain. Quote sighed. He probably wouldn't be moving for a little bit. He knew from experience how quickly his body recovered, so it couldn't be very long. Wherever he was, Quote took comfort in the fact that at least he probably wasn't in danger. Resting in bed in an unfamiliar place? Whoever had found him could have killed him if they wished, that much he knew, but they seemed to be taking care of him instead.
Quote closed his eyes and prepared himself for what he was about to do next. With a start, he put all of his effort into seating himself upright. Quote ignored the pain that shot through his torso as he raised himself until he was sitting up and leaning forward, then placed his hands on the mattress to support himself. From this new position, he slowly slid himself backward until he was propped against the head of the bed frame.
From this new position, Quote could see that he was in a bedroom of some kind. For the most part, it was rather standard. There was a writing desk next to the bed with and a quill with parchment on top. Oddly enough, both the bed frame and the desk were made of crystal, just like the room. Across the room, there was a window, through which Quote could see the setting of the evening sun. To his right, he saw a closet, though he couldn't see inside.
Quote didn't have time to look at anything further as he saw someone approaching through the archway at the end of the room to his left.
"Well, hello there," she said. "I see that you're awake and can even move a bit. That's a relief. How are you feeling?"
Quote just stared at her. "Woman" was not the right word to describe her. Actually, "human" wasn't even the right word. Not even close. It was definitely female; he could tell by the voice, its mannerisms, and it's general appearance. But that's where the familiarity ended. For as long as he could remember (which, admittedly, was rather limited), Quote had never seen anything quite like her. He gazed upon the figure of a horse, a bit smaller than average, that looked back at him with curiosity and a little bit of concern. Her coat, rather than the typical brown or gray, was a bright pink. Her mane and tail matched, both containing a mix of yellow, magenta, and violet. Atop her mane, she wore a small golden tiara with a diamond-shaped gem embedded in the front and a round gem resting atop the center point. She wore a golden necklace and, strangely enough, even seemed to be wearing shoes. They looked nothing like typical iron horseshoes, as they appeared to be decorative golden jewelry that covered the entire hoof and traveled up her legs a tiny bit.
Most distracting of all, however, was the long pink horn poking through the top of her mane and the set of wings folded neatly against the mare's back. The wings had a slight violet hue on their tips. Those two features were completely out of place on a small horse. It wasn't the strangest thing Quote had ever seen, but it was pretty close.
The mare's face turned into an uncomfortable frown as Quote continued to stare at her intensely. "Is something the matter?" she asked. "Are you okay?" Her expression turned to that of realization when a thought crossed her mind. "Oh. You don't know what I'm saying, do you?"
Quote snapped out of his trance and chuckled slightly. "No, no, I understand you just fine," he reassured her. "I'm just trying to make sense of all of this."
The mare visibly relaxed when she realized that he could communicate with her. "Oh, that's a relief," she stated with a smile. "If you're confused about anything, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. But first, please, tell me, how are you feeling? That was quite a fall you took."
Quote's expression became quizzical. "Fall? I fell?"
The mare nodded. "You seemed to just fall out thin air and crashed through the roof of somepony's house. Thankfully, nopony was hurt, though we're not sure how you appeared there to begin with..." the mare's voice trailed off. "Anyway, if you don't mind me asking, how in Equestria did you survive? Anypony falling from that height would have at least been severely injured, yet you seem to be doing all right."
Quote didn't respond to this. He had returned to inspecting the room from his position in the bed, trying to take it all in. So he had fallen out of thin air into a strange place? How did that happen?
Several questions began forming in his mind at once. Finally, he asked, "Where am I, exactly?"
The mare looked slightly agitated that her question had been ignored, but answered him anyway. "This is the guest bedroom, but we're using it as an infirmary for you while you're recovering."
Quote shook his head. "No, I already got that. I mean this place," he said while gesturing to the area around him. "What is this? Where am I?"
The mare's eyes widened slightly with understanding. "This is the Crystal Palace. You're in the Crystal Empire."
A young white unicorn stallion in gold armor raced to the carriage holding the beige pegasus stallion in silver armor. "Sir, Lieutenant Rivet, sir," he gasped. "Squad C has already made contact with the creature and Squad D has been dispatched as a precautionary measure, sir."
Lieutenant Rivet nodded. "Good work. Let's hope it comes quietly. Dismissed."
The guard nodded and left in a hurry. The beige pegasus sighed as he leaned back in his seat. Things had gone from peaceful to chaotic in just half an hour. Though he could only speculate for other cities, he hoped they were faring better than Canterlot was at that moment. The ponies were frantic when the black clouds had appeared, but the panic then was nothing compared to when the floating Island had arrived. In a matter of minutes, the Royal Guard had received numerous messages begging, demanding, and even a few threatening them to go up to the Island and take care of it.
Not that the Royal Guard knew what to do. When the suggestion that they go investigate the island was brought before the princesses, Princess Celestia immediately vetoed the decision. Rivet was then given instructions to "protect Canterlot from further harm, foreign or domestic." The princess sure had a strange way of instructing him to keep the citizens in line.
Almost the moment after that exchange had ended, a whole new issue came up: there was a report that something was seen falling from the sky and had crashed into a store. Sure enough, when Rivet stood on the balcony of the castle, he could see a pillar of dust and debris rising from a shop in Sector C of Canterlot. If the Guard didn't take care of the matter immediately and more ponies got wind of things falling from the sky, then not even the princesses themselves would be able to stop the full-blown riot that would surely follow.
Rivet sighed again. Of all times for Captain Shining Armor to take a leave of absence, it had to be during one of the biggest large-scale panics in recent history. As a result, Rivet found himself as the Royal Guard's commanding officer for the time being. Rivet wasn't certain that even his Captain would know what to do in this situation, but at least Shining Armor would handle it with more confidence than he was doing right now. Hell, the Captain could probably even calm the citizens down while he was at it.
Rivet was snapped out of his musings when he saw a group of six ponies come into view. He stepped out of the carriage to address the approaching group of Royal Guards directly. Rivet could immediately tell that this group consisted of two squads. A squad was composed of three ponies: one earth, one pegasus, and one unicorn. One of those three was a Sergeant who was assigned Squad Leader. The Sergeants' armor was similar to that of the Guards', being gold with a plume crest on the helmet which hid the guard's mane. However, rather than the standard colors of white or blue, a Sergeant's plume was red.
The group consisted of two Sergeants and four Guards. Rivet recognized the crimson earth pony as the leader of Squad C and identified the brown pegasus as the leader of Squad D.
The most eye-catching thing about the group, however, was not the guards; it was the body of the alien creature that levitated above them. Shrouded in the glow of unicorn magic by two Guards, it hovered about two meters in the air until the two unicorns unceremoniously tossed it to the ground at Rivet's hooves.
The crimson pony stepped forward. "Sir, Lieutenant, sir," he spoke. "Squads C and D have apprehended the creature, sir."
Rivet waved a hoof dismissively. "At ease, Sergeant Dex, just tell me what happened."
Dex visibly relaxed, but remained attentive. "Well, Lieutenant, my squad reached the damaged building first, and after forcibly removing Suri Polomare from her store, we found her in the middle of the wreckage." he said, pointing to the creature before them.
"Her?" Rivet asked.
"Affirmative sir. It appears to be female."
Rivet took a closer look at the mysterious creature. It certainly was strange-looking. Instead of fur, it seemed to have pure white skin. It had no tail, but it did have a long, beautiful, golden mane. Instead of ears, it had strange green disks on the sides of its head. Although it had four limbs, the two front legs had claws instead of hooves. Even the claws were strange: although it had digits like a griffon's talons or a dragon's claws, they didn't appear sharp at all.
Interestingly, it appeared to be wearing clothing, albeit very dirty and torn. The red pants were in tatters, and the small top wasn't much better. The shoes it wore were strange, as they appeared to be made of cloth and rubber, rather than iron or any other type of metal. Its eyes were closed and it lay there, motionless.
Despite having never seen anything like it before, Rivet could recognize its distinctly feminine figure. "Seems that way," he muttered, nodding. He looked back at the ponies who had apprehended her and noticed that nopony appeared to be exhausted or injured. "So then, there was no struggle? She came quietly? Then why is she unconscious?"
Sergeant Dex shook his head. "Negative, sir. She was unconscious upon arrival and hasn't woken up since."
Rivet was taken aback. "Upon arrival? That's... strange."
Dex raised an eyebrow. "Is it? Falling from the sky and crashing into a building would certainly cause injury. Why is that strange?"
Rivet was silent for a moment before finally responding. "Never mind," he dismissed. "Was she armed?"
Dex paused. "I... I believe so."
Rivet's head tilted in confusion. "What do you mean you believe so? Explain yourself."
Dex gestured to the pegasus from his squad and the earth pony from the other. They both came forward, opening their saddlebags. The pegasus pulled a long, slender, metal instrument from one bag. The entire thing was painted bright red. There were extensions on one end that appeared to be a handle of some sort. A device with three glowing triangles was attached on one side. It appeared to be made for the instrument, but as an additional part. On the opposite end of the shaft, there was a circular opening. From the other bag, a much shorter, but similarly-shaped, metal instrument was produced, this one a metallic blue color. He placed both on the ground before him.
The earth pony's saddlebag was slumped on one side, evidently from an uneven distribution of weight. He removed a strange green contraption from the bag and placed it next to the red and blue instruments. It was also made of metal, but it appeared to be two rectangular tubes connected to each other along their length, but with a short gap between them, giving it a boxy appearance. The tubes had circular openings in the bottom. On the sides were small metal flaps that appeared to be tiny wings, though Rivet couldn't see how they would move. And on the back, the box was completely flat, as the tubes were flush against the surface. There were three straps - two crossing each other, making an "X" shape, and one going horizontally below them - that were loose and undone.
"This is all of the equipment she was carrying," Dex stated. "Although we're not sure what these two are, we believe them to be weapons." He pointed to the red and blue devices. "As for the box, it was found strapped to her back. We have no idea what it does."
Rivet stared at the bizarre devices in contemplative fascination. They had to be tools of some kind, but their design was so unusual, they couldn't have possibly come from Equestria. Besides, the creature that was with them now certainly wasn't.
Rivet picked up the red device. After inspecting it closely, he noticed that the shaft seemed to have a hollow groove on the inside that appeared to travel the entire length, almost to the handle. The only thing he could think of that was even remotely designed that way was a cannon. Rivet tried to hold the device by the handle and saw that, when positioned a certain way, the notches on the top at the front and back lined up, aligning the shaft along with them.
Was it a method of aiming? He could see how it certainly might be. If something were to come out of the shaft, it would travel in a straight line to the point indicated by the notches. What if he was right when he compared the design to a cannon? What if this thing could propel a projectile in the same way that a cannon could? With its size and ability to easily aim...
"Lieutenant?"
The voice snapped Rivet out of his thoughts. "Yes, Sergeant?"
"What do you propose we do?" Dex asked tentatively. "Should we report this to the princesses?"
Rivet placed the mini cannon on the ground, shaking his head. "No. Well, correction: yes, but we can't." He was met with confused stares by all of the guards. "After Princess Celestia put me in charge of the city, she made it clear that she will not be hearing from anyone for the rest of the day." Rivet glanced around to make sure nopony else was around. "Listen to me," he addressed the guards, lowering his voice. "This is for your ears only: the princess sent a summons to the six users of the Elements of Harmony. Whatever's going on with that island," he said, pointing to the ominous floating landmass several kilometers outside Canterlot, "has her spooked. Seeing as she's calling the Elements into use, she's definitely planning something. Since this is top-secret, she won't permit being distracted by anything else until after she meets with them."
The group was silent as they let the new information sink in. For the time being, they were cut off from the princess. Whatever the Island was, it had captured the full attention of the ruler of the nation. That had to be a bad sign.
Voicing the concerns of everypony there, Dex spoke up. "Then, what does that mean for us?"
Rivet sighed, a troubled look splayed across his face. "It means we're on our own. And we have a decision to make."
Dex gave a slow nod in understanding. He then stood at full attention as he addressed his commanding officer. "Sir, Lieutenant, sir. How do you wish to proceed with the creature, sir?"
Rivet thought for a moment before replying. "Before that, Dex, there is something I would like to ask you."
"Sir, anything, sir."
Rivet rolled his eyes at the unnecessary display of formality, but said nothing. "Sergeant Dex. What do you make of our visitor's arrival?" he asked, pointing to the creature.
"Sir..." Dex paused, trying to find the words to say. "Sir, the Sergeant is deeply bothered by the timing of the creature's arrival, sir."
"In what way?" Rivet asked. "Speak your mind."
"Sir, the Sergeant has never believed in coincidences, and believes that all things happen for a reason, sir."
"And? Where are you going with this?"
"Sir, the Sergeant does not believe that it is a coincidence that the creature appeared minutes after the arrival of the Island, and feels that the two are directly related, sir."
Rivet grinned, impressed. "Excellent. It seems we are on the same page." Rivet removed his helmet, freeing his brown mane from its confines, and placed it on the ground next to him. "The creature is of unknown origin and must be treated with caution. Dex, I want you to lock her in one of the dungeon's cells. Provide food and water; she may need sustenance when she wakes up. Furthermore, I want you and one other guard stationed at her cell at all times. When she wakes up, send a messenger to report to me immediately. You are not to interact with her in any way. The only exception will be if she attempts to escape, in which case, use of force is authorized."
"Sir, yes, sir," Dex saluted.
"One of you will go with him," Rivet said, addressing the other five guards that comprised the rest of the two squads. "The rest of you, return to your respective Sectors. Continue scouting the city and keep the civilians in check. Get to it."
"Sir, yes, sir," they responded in unison. The unicorn from Squad D lifted the creature with his magic and followed Dex to the dungeons. The four remaining guards turned and walked back toward the city. Rivet found himself alone with the three mysterious contraptions laying on the ground.
Rivet kept his composure as he excitedly picked up the devices and placed them on his back. "Now, let's see - oof! - how these things work."
As I'm sure you are well aware by now, Equestria has been graced by the presence of a floating island. I regret to inform you that this is a very serious matter that requires immediate attention.
Please try to keep this under wraps from everypony except your friends, as their presence will be required here in Canterlot, as well as yours. In addition, I will require the Elements of Harmony. Please bring them with you.
I have arranged for three pegasus carriages to pick up you and your friends. I will explain what is happening in further detail when you arrive.
~ Princess Celestia
Twilight scanned the letter for the fifth time, as though doing so would make the cryptic message make more sense. All Twilight could tell was that the kingdom was dealing with something big, and the princess needed her help. Whatever was happening, it was definitely urgent.
Twilight gazed at the two carriages that flew next to her. Rainbow and Applejack were in one, and Pinkie and Fluttershy were in the other. Rarity sat right next to her. Spike wanted to come too, but Twilight wouldn't allow it. She told him to wait for their return and take care of the library until then. Spike was reluctant, but finally caved in. Though she wouldn't admit it, Twilight had a bad feeling about what was to come.
Despite the roaring of the wind in their ears as they flew towards Canterlot in the pegasus-drawn carriages that the Princess provided, Pinkie's chipper voice could be heard by all. "Ohmygosh so who do you think is on the island do you think it's a bunch of cute little bunny people because I know Fluttershy would get along with them and what was with those funny clouds earlier they were huge and dark and why wasn't it raining everyone knows that dark clouds mean rain and did you see the red lightning it was so cool it was all like BWOOSH and then all of a sudden BOOM the island was right there and *GASP* I've never thrown a party on a floating island before and if I haven't thrown a party on one before that means no one's ever thrown a party on one before so after I throw a surprise party on the island for the little bunny people that may or may not be there..."
Twilight smiled as her pink friend continued her incessant rambling. She certainly knew how to lighten the mood, regardless of the situation.
"Twilight, dearie," Rarity cooed. "There's no point in getting so worked up over whatever this is. Princess Celestia asked for us to come here before you even wrote to her, so I'm sure she knows what's happening."
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash spoke up. "Don't be such a worrywart on top of being an egghead."
Says the one who confided in me not twenty minutes ago, Twilight thought, but kept silent. "But that's what concerns me," she said. "I think she does know what that island is. It'd be one thing if she wanted to speak to me about it privately, but she summoned all six of us and the Elements of Harmony. When have we ever used the Elements outside of defending Equestria from its greatest threats?"
Twilight was met with silence. Pinkie had stopped mid-ramble at the unsettling thought. Twilight had even gotten the attention of the chariot drivers whose focus immediately returned to Canterlot in the distance when she saw their backward glances.
Applejack broke the persistent silence by clearing her throat. "Well, regardless, Rarity was right; there ain't no sense in worrying 'bout it, 'specially since there's nothing we can do 'bout it right now. Let's just let the princess fill us in when we get there, 'kay?"
Quote massaged his forehead as he tried to wrap his mind around what he had just been told. "So let's see if I understand this right: I'm in the Crystal Empire, a land just north of Equestria, and this whole world is made up of talking ponies, griffons, and other creatures," he summarized. "On the flip side, you've never heard of the Surface or humans."
"And is that what you are? A human?"
Quote regarded the pink pony with fascination, but also a tiny bit of apprehension. She had been kind to him so far and had not given him any reason to fear her, but he wasn't sure he was ready to trust her just yet. Still, the more he though about it, there wasn't really any way she could use this information against him. There wasn't any harm in letting her know the truth.
"No. I'm an armed scout robot."
The pony could not hide her surprise. "A robot?"
Quote chuckled. "Deja vu."
"Actually," the pony murmured. "That would make sense. You were too heavy for the medics to carry, so they had to rely on unicorns to levitate you. And once they actually got you to the hospital, they didn't know how to treat you, so they brought you here. They said your body was rigid and metallic. I didn't quite believe them at first." A blush suddenly made its way to her cheeks. "Um, may I...?"
Quote looked at her, puzzled, until he noticed that she was staring at his arm. One of her hooves was raised as though she was about to reach out. His eyes widened with understanding and he held out his arm. "Yeah, go ahead," he said.
The pony reached for Quote's arm slowly until she made contact near his elbow. She then gently brushed her hoof along his arm to the wrist and then back again. She lightly tapped his forearm, making a faint ting. "Incredible," she whispered in awe. "It's like your whole body is made out of armor."
A thought suddenly occurred to him. "The name's Quote, by the way," he said.
That made the mare extremely flustered. "Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness, where are my manners?" Her face was bright red and she stomped around erratically, trying to regain her composure. Once she did, she took a deep breath. "I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Please feel free to call me Cadence. I am the princess of the Crystal Empire."
Quote nodded. "I figured as much."
"R-really?"
"Well, you walked in dressed like royalty. When you said this was an empire, I figured you must be the empress, or whoever is in charge." Something got Quote's attention and he glanced down at himself. "Oh, it looks like I've recovered."
"What?" Cadence asked. "Already?"
"Yeah, I heal quickly." Quote swiveled his body so that he was sitting on the side of the bed with his feet on the floor and threw his covers off. The moment the air hit his body, he realized something felt wrong.
"P-princess Cadence?" Quote asked, embarrassment creeping into his voice.
"Yes, Quote?"
"Where are my clothes?"
The princess regarded him calmly without a trace of embarrassment. "Oh, they're being washed right now. The medics removed them so that they could operate on you, although in the end, they couldn't do anything. They were terribly dirty and torn, so we're going to clean and patch them up for you."
"Well, thank you," Quote replied, covering himself once again with the blanket. "I really do appreciate it. But do you have something else I could wear in the meantime?"
"Oh?" Cadence asked, curious. "Is it customary to wear clothing where you're from?"
Quote grinned sheepishly. "All the time."
"Interesting," Cadence mused. "Mistletoe," she called out. A mare, shorter than the princess, appeared in the doorway. Much like the castle around them, she appeared to be made entirely of crystals. Quote wasn't sure how that was possible, but she definitely seemed to be alive. She was partially translucent, and light seemed to gleam off of her at every angle. She was dark green and had a beautiful red mane and tail.
"Yes, your highness?" Mistletoe asked meekly.
Cadence smiled warmly to the mare. "I've already told you, there's no need for the formalities. Would you be a dear and fetch a robe for our guest?"
Mistletoe nodded. "Certainly. Right away, your highness." The mare turned and exited the room as she set about her task.
Cadence shook her head, smiling. "That mare. Always polite to a fault." She returned her gaze to Quote. "If you already feel well enough to move, then once Mistletoe returns, would you like a tour of the castle?"
Curly Brace's eyes slowly opened as they tried to adjust to the poor lighting. Wherever she was, it was murky and dark, and the fact that her whole body was sore didn't help the matter. She groaned as she forced herself to sit up, using the wall as support.
"She's awake!"
"What?"
"The creature's awake!"
Curly snapped to attention when she heard the voices. Looking around, she saw that she was in a stone room of some kind. The far wall, however, was a heavy metal gate with a large padlock. A soft glow was coming from beyond the gate, presumably from torches. Immediately behind the gate, she saw the figures of two ponies wearing gold armor. They each held a spear in their hooves and were looking directly at her.
"Wh-where...?" Curly stuttered.
"She can talk?!" the first guard uttered in shock.
"Focus!" the second guard snapped. "You know your orders. Express!" he called. "Go get the Lieutenant."
The sound of a door slamming in the distance echoed through the stone corridors. Curly looked over her room again. All she saw was two bowls, one with water and the other with fruit, and a plate of bread placed near the gate door. None of her equipment was anywhere to be found.
"Please," Curly managed to say. "Can you tell me where I am?"
The guards said nothing and turned their backs to her. They wouldn't even take a passive glance behind themselves to look at her. Curly sighed. She didn't feel well enough to move, so even if her weapons were here, she wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. Curly decided to use this time to close her eyes and rest.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight called. "Oh! And Princess Luna!"
Twilight and her friends had entered the Royal Throne Room. The door had been guarded by an unusually large number of guards, yet there were none to be found in the room itself. Only the two princesses of the kingdom awaited them at their thrones.
"Twilight! I'm glad you and your friends made it safely. We have much to discuss." Princess Celestia looked at each pony that had entered. "I take it you've brought the Elements with you?"
"Of course, Princess." Each of the six of them proceeded to show their respective Element of Harmony.
Princess Celestia breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. From now on, we cannot leave them unattended at any point."
"Sister, if I may," Princess Luna interjected, "I believe that I speak for everypony in this room when I ask if you could finally please tell us what this is all about."
Twilight nodded. "Yes, please, princess. What was with those clouds? What is that floating island doing here? Is the kingdom in danger?"
Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her thoughts. Finally, she let out a sigh. There was great sadness in her voice as she spoke.
"And this is the throne room," Cadence said, gesturing around the grand room with a hoof. "I usually use it only for ceremonial purposes," she explained. "I'm a pony too, not just a princess. I'd much rather speak on the same level with my subjects as a friend."
Quote nodded, only half paying attention to the princess' words. He walked alongside her, receiving a full tour of the Crystal Palace. Mistletoe, the green crystal pony from earlier, followed closely behind them. Quote wasn't sure why she was following them; she seemed particularly timid, and she shifted uneasily whenever he glanced at her. She almost seemed afraid that he'd hurt her if she looked at him the wrong way. Of course, her concerns were completely off-base, but he had to admit that it was understandable. He certainly didn't fit in with the crowd.
What distracted Quote from the princess' tour, however, was not the company he was with. It was actually the shadows of those nearby, watching, but staying out of sight. Out of the corners of his eyes, Quote could see the flashes of movement from the room's entrance. As quickly as they came, they would disappear. They had been following him this whole time. Princess Cadence was either extremely good at faking her casual, inviting tone, or she herself was unaware of the pursuers.
In all likelihood, they were the castle guards. Quote had thought it was odd that there were four guards posted outside his bedroom door when the three of them had exited. A guard or two at an entrance was understandable, but having four at once seemed like overkill.
"Is something wrong, Quote? You seem distracted."
Quote looked up at the face of Princess Cadence, her eyes showing concern. "Well," Quote began. "I was just wondering about something. Are you afraid of me?"
The silence that followed was deafening. It was like the room itself was holding its breath, waiting for the sudden tension in the room to release.
"I'm sorry, but what brought this on?" Cadence asked slowly.
"I don't mean to be rude, but I'm bothered by the guards watching me from the shadows," Quote answered bluntly.
A look of shock crossed the mare's face. It slowly turned to one of anger as she peered at the room's exit. Suddenly, Cadence took a deep breath and shouted in a voice that seemed to come from the depths of her very being. It was powerful enough to shake the very air in the room.
"Guards! Come out this instant!"
Quote was caught completely off guard by the sudden volume and tried desperately to cover his audio receptors. Standing next to the princess with such a powerful voice had left his head ringing.
Almost immediately, a large group of crystal ponies wearing crystal armor appeared in the entrance to the throne room. Quote noticed that many of them had horns on their head like Cadence did, but lacked any wings, while others had wings, but no horn. There were only a handful that looked like Mistletoe, having no horn or wings at all. There were about fifteen of them in total, and they all held spears in their hooves. Strangely, they started putting them away and were beginning to turn white with fear. One look at Cadence's face, and Quote could see why.
"What is the meaning of this?" Cadence shouted. Her voice may not have been shaking the fabric of existence anymore, but her harsh tone indicated that she was still seething. "What are you doing, tailing our guest like he's an intruder? You are all supposed to be at your stations. In fact," Cadence's voice rose a little in both volume and pitch. "Half of you aren't even on duty today! Tell me what is going on now!"
An earth pony guard stepped forward and removed his helmet. His hooves were trembling, and so was his voice. "Y-your- your highness," he stuttered. "We were merely doing what we felt was in your best interest. It is our duty to protect-"
"You are by no means to fulfill your duty in this despicable manner," Cadence spat. "You will all be-"
"Your highness," a pegasus guard interjected. "What my colleague means to say is that we are under orders by Prince Shining Armor to covertly watch the creature and immediately restrain him if we determine that he is hostile."
Quote felt a slight pang of hurt run through his body at the guard's words. Princess Cadence's expression softened to one of irritation, rather than anger. "Your orders are hereby redacted," Cadence commanded. "All of you are dismissed for the day."
There was a murmuring that arose as the guards shuffled out of the room with mixed emotions. Some felt guilty about carrying out an underhanded order and consequently being chewed out by their princess. Others were just relieved that she didn't blast them to smithereens, though they knew she would never do anything of the sort.
When they had all cleared out, Cadence's head drooped as she let out a sigh. "I'm terribly sorry about that, Quote," Cadence apologized. "I knew nothing of what they were doing. And I'm sorry you had to see me go off like that. That almost never happens."
Quote waved his hands in understanding. "It's okay, I get it. It was Shining Armor who ordered them. I'm not upset with you. Though I would appreciate some warning next time before you use that booming voice of yours," he joked.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that. The Royal Canterlot Voice is mostly outdated. It's useful for giving out orders and commands, but even that's not necessary these days," Cadence explained. "I don't expect that I'll be needing it again anytime soon."
"Still," Quote muttered. "As much as I hate to admit it, it was probably smart of him to send some guards to watch me. I'm not exactly... the safest to be around."
"Enough of that," Cadence said. "I can see for myself that you are a sweet, gentle soul. The fact that you're a robot is completely irrelevant to me. I truly believe you wish no harm on us. You are a guest here, so I intend to treat you like one and for you to feel like one. What my husband did was inexcusable, and I'm going to have a talk with him very soon."
"Well, thanks," Quote said. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to cause any trouble for you."
"It's no trouble at all Quote. It's a pleasure to have such a polite robot as yourself here. Mistletoe?"
"Yes, your highness?" Mistletoe asked. Quote nearly jumped out of his robe, having completely forgotten she was there.
"I'm going to be busy for a little bit. In the meantime, would you please keep our guest busy until I return?"
Mistletoe looked uncomfortable with the idea, but muttered, "Y-yes your majesty."
Cadence smiled. "Thank you. Why don't you take him to your living quarters? I'm sure he'll be more comfortable there."
Mistletoe looked to be on the verge of a panic attack. "Y-yes, your majesty. R-right-right away, y-your majesty."
With that, Cadence exited the room, but not before Quote and Mistletoe caught a glimpse of the Princess' face turning into a scowl.
Quote and Mistletoe looked at each other, the silence becoming increasingly uncomfortable, until Quote finally spoke up. "Um, so. Would you mind leading the way?"
Mistletoe hurriedly nodded her head. "Y-yes. Of course, Mister Quote. Right this way, please." Quote followed the green crystal pony out of the throne room and into the hallway. They were alone, as the guards from before were now long gone. As Mistletoe turned a corner, leading the way, Quote hoped he could use this time to talk to her and maybe even dispel any fears she had about him.
"So," Quote began. "The living quarters? You live here in the palace?"
Mistletoe nodded. "I used to live at my house in the empire like most ponies," she explained. "Then I got the job of serving pony to her majesty Princess Cadence two months ago, and I've been living here ever since."
"Well, congratulations," Quote remarked. "That must be a great honor to serve the princess."
Mistletoe nodded, but said nothing. She still looked uneasy. Quote sighed. He wasn't sure that this was a good idea, but he didn't know what else to do.
"Say, Mistletoe? May I ask you something?"
Mistletoe turned to look at him. "O-of course, Mister Quote."
Quote scratched the back of his head. "I apologize for my directness, but... why are you afraid of me?"
Mistletoe let out an eep! sound and became flustered. She couldn't bring herself to look directly at him, as she was clearly terrified of how he'd react.
Quote realized he may have made a mistake. "It-it's all right," he reassured her. "I won't be offended, and I promise I won't do anything to hurt you. I just... wanted to know is all. I don't want you to be afraid of me."
"It... it's your stature, Mister Quote," Mistletoe confessed. "And your build. The way you move. You're pretty intimidating, even with that bathrobe on."
Quote chuckled nervously. "Well, I'm sorry there's nothing I can do about that. I hope you can look past it, though. I really don't want to hurt anyone. I'd actually like to be friends, if you'll let me."
"R-really?" Mistletoe asked, a slight blush forming on her cheeks.
"Of course. You know, I actually met someone like you once," Quote mused. "She was afraid of me at first, but once we cleared up a misunderstanding, she was one of the first to welcome me." Quote's face suddenly fell. "I miss her," he whispered.
"Well, we're here," said Mistletoe. She pushed open the door and stepped inside, and Quote followed her. The room was fairly large, with a queen size bed in one corner and a small personal kitchen in the other. A doorway on one wall indicated that there was another room attached, and a single window was placed opposite the doorway.
Quote didn't have time to take in the scenery any longer, as he was cut off by the shrieks and giggles of children. Looking down, he saw two little crystal pony foals gathered around Mistletoe. One was a silver unicorn with an evergreen color mane. Quote could tell that it was a filly, as she had many of the same features as Mistletoe. The other was a blue earth pony colt with a pearl-white mane.
"Mommy! Who's that?" the silver filly asked. Her eyes were full of wonder, and there was no fear in her voice.
"He looks funny!" the blue colt laughed.
"Cobalt!" Mistletoe cried, panicking. "Apologize to Mister Quote right now!"
Cobalt's head hung with a guilty look on his face. "I-I'm sorry, Mister Quote."
Quote laughed kindheartedly. "Don't worry, it's okay. I do look pretty strange among you, don't I?" Quote kneeled down so that he was almost eye level with the colt. "So you're Cobalt?"
The colt puffed himself up proudly. "Yep! Cobalt Skies, future Captain of the Crystal Guard!"
"Yeah, right! Only unicorns are good enough to be Captains," the silver filly retorted. "You'd be lucky to make it in the Guard at all!"
"Shut up, Tinsel!" Cobalt whined. "I'm gonna be the best guard ever!"
"Enough, both of you!" Mistletoe commanded. Both of the foals clammed up immediately. "Tinsel, you know it's wrong to say that about your brother's dream. And Cobalt, you know better than to use that language. Now, both of you, apologize to each other right now."
As the foals recited their apologies, Quote found himself chuckling.
"W-what's so funny, Mister Quote?" Mistletoe asked. She had returned to the timid, soft-spoken mare he had first met.
Quote smiled. "Oh, you just reminded me of another good friend of mine. She took care of some troublesome kids herself."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. That was when I first met her. She'd assumed I'd come to hurt them, but after a bit of a scuffle, I made it clear that I wasn't. We became fast friends and have been watching each other's back since."
Mistletoe had relaxed a bit and now had a curious look on her face. "Where are they now?"
Quote's face fell as he let out a sigh. "I don't know. I really hope they're okay."
"Mommy!" Cobalt said. "Can we play with Quote?"
Mistletoe's expression became serious. "Absolutely..."
"...fine by me," Quote finished, grinning.
"Yay!" Tinsel and Cobalt cheered. They then jumped on their visitor, trying to tackle him to the ground.
"Thank you, Express," Rivet said. "I'll take it from here."
The dark gray pegasus colt with a dirty blonde mane saluted and walked away. Ten minutes ago, Rivet had received the message that the creature in captivity had awoken. He now stood before the heavy door leading to the castle's dungeon. Rivet steeled his nerves and, wishing he was back in his office and tinkering with the new disassembled gadget, opened the door with a creak. After stepping through and wandering through the corridors for a minute or two, he found Sergeant Dex and the other guard standing at attention in front of a cell.
"Sir, Lieutenant, sir!" they recited.
"At ease, stallions. What's she done so far?"
"Nothing much, sir," Dex stated. "She awoke and asked us a question, but we followed orders and did not engage in conversation with her. She fell back asleep when we didn't respond."
Rivet nodded. "So she can talk. Very good. I have much I wish to discuss with her." He turned to look at the figure of the creature in the cell, leaned up against the wall. Her eyes were closed and she was not moving. "You two are dismissed. Please return to the city until the nighttime shift, then you're done for the day."
"Sir?" Dex asked. "Are you suggesting that you intend to speak with her alone?"
"That is correct, Dex. I did what I felt was necessary to ensure everypony's safety, but it couldn't have given her a good impression of us. It's bad enough she's in a cell right now; I don't want to intimidate her any further. She might even be more receptive to a gentler approach."
Dex shifted uncomfortably, an action that did not escape Rivet's attention. "If it bothers you that much, then why don't you lend me your spear, just in case I need it? I suspect it will never come to that, though."
Dex paused a moment, contemplating. He finally placed his spear on the ground before his commanding officer.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Dex cautioned. "Be careful, Lieutenant."
"Thank you, Dex," Rivet replied. "I will be. Now get going."
Dex saluted Rivet and walked away. Rivet turned to the white unicorn guard who was still standing in the same spot.
"And you too," Rivet added. "Go."
The unicorn saluted and left. Rivet was now alone with the sleeping creature with only a cell door separating the two. Rivet placed his spear against the wall to the side, out of sight of the prisoner. He then picked up a few loose pebbles from the ground.
"Hey, wake up," he said to the creature. When she did not stir, he tossed a pebble through the bars and nicked her arm. Oddly enough, it made a clinking noise as though the pebble had impacted a plate of armor rather than flesh. The creature stirred slightly, but remained asleep. Rivet tossed another pebble, this time hitting her in the cheek. This caused her to shake her head and open her eyes.
They were a deep blue.
"Excuse me?" Rivet said. "You can understand me, right? I'd like to talk to you."
The creature slowly stood on its two hind legs and began to walk gingerly toward Rivet. Her expression was blank and unreadable. When she reached the door, she just stood there, staring back at Rivet. The prevailing silence between them was rather unsettling.
Rivet forced a slight smile. "Hello. Do you have a name? What should I call you?"
The creature looked at the ground, lost in thought. There seemed to be a deep sadness in her eyes. "Curly Brace," she finally said. "My name is Curly Brace."
Rivet nodded. "A pleasure to meet you, Curly Brace. A lovely name, if I may add. Unusual, yet, strangely fitting." Rivet adjusted his posture. "My name is Rivet."
Curly's head tilted to the side. "Are you the Lieutenant?"
Rivet's smile and posture noticeably faltered. "W-where did you hear that?"
Curly shrugged. "I heard the guards from before tell Express to get the Lieutenant," she answered simply.
Rivet sighed, chuckling slightly. "Well, yes, that is correct. Lieutenant Rivet, my dear. Why don't you have a seat?" he suggested. "We have much to discuss."
Curly did so, sitting cross-legged, while Rivet tucked his legs underneath himself and sat on the floor. He glanced at the paltry dishes of food laid out for her in her cell.
"You haven't touched your food," Rivet remarked. "Aren't you hungry?"
Curly shook her head. "I don't eat food."
Rivet raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "You don't... what do you mean?"
"I don't eat food," she repeated. "I'm a robot."
Rivet did a double-take. "Wh-what?! A robot?"
Curly nodded.
Rivet's mind spun. It was impossible. Robots were just made-up fantasy creatures from fillies' fairy tales. Stories of stone statues or heaps of junk coming to life in the shape of ponies weren't real. There was no possible way for something nonliving to animate itself and have a mind of its own, at least without magic. Even with magic, only the best of unicorn or alicorn wizards, such as the legendary Starswirl the Bearded or the new Princess Twilight Sparkle, were capable of performing such feats. Even then, it still didn't give them a mind of their own, and the spell wears off over time. There was no way in Equestria that the creature before him could be a robot.
But then Rivet thought a little more. If his suspicions were correct, this creature was not from Equestria. Something Rivet thought was strange was the fact that he only saw the unicorn guards carry the girl by levitating her. He'd wondered why Dex hadn't carried her on his back since he was very strong, even by earth pony standards. And those pebbles he had thrown a minute ago? The noise they made sounded like rock on metal. If she were made of metal like a robot, then she would be extraordinarily heavy. It would take either several ponies to move her, or a simple levitation spell.
If Curly Brace was speaking the truth, then Rivet was staring at a miracle of either science or magic.
Rivet struggled to suppress his childlike excitement at finding something new and fascinating. He needed to keep his cool. Friendly or not, she was a prisoner, so he had to tread lightly. Rivet calmed himself after taking a breath.
"Okay. So, if you're a robot, I suppose that would explain how you survived that crash-landing," Rivet said. "But I've still been meaning to ask you something about that."
Curly looked at him, confused. "Crash-landing?"
Rivet nodded. "Yes. To begin with, it's a very strange way to arrive. But what's stranger is that you were unconscious when my guards found you." Rivet tilted his head. "Why would you enter in a way that ends up rendering you unconscious? That seems like a flawed plan."
Curly shook her head, staring at him with a confused look on her face. "I don't understand. I crashed into something? When?"
Rivet was dumbfounded. "Y-you don't remember? You appeared out of thin air and fell through the roof of a clothing store."
Curly shook her head. "No. The last thing I remember was seeing the entire sky obscured by black clouds. Then the Doctor appeared. I think he attacked me. And then... nothing else."
Rivet's jaw went slack as he stared daggers at Curly. He stood up and slammed his front hooves against the bars of the cell door, causing it to rattle. The sudden movement made Curly jolt back in surprise.
"What was that just now? What did you say?"
Curly looked away for a moment, then looked back to the pony. "W-what do you mean? Which part?"
"Something about black clouds," Rivet insisted. "What did you say?"
"Th-there were black clouds," Curly spoke slowly. "They seemed to cover the entire sky."
Rivet's hooves returned to the floor and he looked away in thought. Whoever this girl was, she had to know something about the Island. What he'd discovered about her so far was certainly interesting, but not particularly helpful. Rivet had only one idea left, and he hoped it wasn't a dead end.
"All right, look," Rivet began. "I'm sorry we're not off to the best of first impressions. I'm sorry for startling you just now, and I'm sorry that you have to be locked up like this. We're in a bit of a... situation right now, and we're a little bit wary. Curly Brace, was it? You don't seem like you want to hurt us, and you do seem friendly enough, but hopefully you can understand our caution."
To Rivet's surprise, Curly let out a small chuckle. "What's funny?" he asked.
"Oh, I was just reminded of the time I met Quote," Curly sighed. "I'd assumed he'd come to kill the children I was protecting, so the first thing I did was try to kill him." Curly grinned sheepishly. "He turned out to be my best friend."
Rivet chuckled. "So you're no stranger to bad first impressions?"
Curly laughed. "Oh, compared to what I did to him back then, you're welcoming me with open arms! Or, hooves, in your case," she corrected.
Rivet grinned, but then got back to business. "All right then. So, I was wondering. Do you think you could start from the beginning? Tell me everything that you went through, leading up to how you got here right now."
Curly shook her head. "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."
"After what I've seen today, I don't think anything will surprise me."
Curly paused for a moment before answering. "If I do, will you let me out?"
Rivet sighed. "I'm afraid that's going to depend on your answer. If I feel that I can trust you, then yes, I will let you out."
Curly nodded. "Okay. But you might want to sit down. It's a bit of a long story." She pushed the dishes of food through the bars of the door, offering them to Rivet. He accepted the food and sat back down on the floor.
Curly looked off to the side, her eyes staring off into the distance. "It all began ten years ago, when the countries of the world came together for the purpose of obtaining the Demon Crown..."
"Eight hundred years ago, that very same floating island appeared over Equestria," Princess Celestia began. "As I imagine you might have guessed, it is not from this world."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second," Rainbow Dash interjected. "Not from this world? If that's the case, then where is it from?"
"Unfortunately, what I know about the other world is rather limited," Princess Celestia replied. "It's usually referred to as the Surface. It's very different from our world; the ones who live there look nothing like us, and they live differently too. Actually," Celestia began to trail off. "his descriptions of the beings that lived there were strikingly similar to the ones you said lived in the Mirror world, Twilight."
"Really?" Twilight asked.
"Albeit with far less variety of skin color, yes, they were practically the same. But the Surface world is far more primitive."
"But wasn't that eight hundred years ago?" Twilight asked. "Couldn't they have made advancements as a society since then?"
"Hmm... yes, I suppose you might be right," Celestia admitted. "But before I get more into that, let me explain what happened back then.
"Just like today, black clouds blanketed the sky, casting the land in shadow. Then, a bolt of red lightning struck, dissipating the clouds and leaving behind a floating island. I suspected that the island hadn't appeared of its own accord, that there were ponies who had brought it here. So, after reassuring everypony not to be afraid, I flew to the floating island to confront whoever had brought it here. That is where I met Halda and Misery."
"So who are they?" asked Twilight.
"Yeah! And what do they look like?" Pinkie interjected. "Ooh, I'll bet Halda's really tall. Halda's kind of a tall-sounding name, don't you think? And poor Misery. Who would name their child such a sad-sounding name? I know! I should throw a party for her! Maybe that'll cheer-"
"Sugarcube," Applejack cut in. "Princess Celestia's in the middle of tellin' us somethin' important. Now ain't the time fer yer yammerin'."
Celestia gave an appreciative nod to Applejack while Pinkie's mane drooped and she began baking an apology cake for interrupting. Then Celestia continued.
"Halda was actually quite different from the people of his world. Pinkie was right when she said he was tall. Halda stood on two legs and matched my height. He actually resembled a dragon in a few ways, as he had a tail and claws. He also had piercing golden eyes, pointed ears, and a breastplate like armor. And atop his head was a blue crown.
"As for Misery, she more closely resembled the beings from their world. Her hair was blue, and she looked very pale. Interestingly, she only ever referred to Halda as 'Master.'
"Halda, it turned out, was the one who brought the island here to Equestria. Like us, he wielded powerful magic, which he used to open a gateway to our world."
"So there is magic in other worlds," Twilight marveled.
Celestia shook her head. "Though that would appear to be the case, it's not as plentiful as it is here. There are actually very few magic-users in the Surface world."
"But how could you possibly know all of this?" Rarity asked. "Unless you went back to his world after you fought him, how would you know anything about his world?"
Celestia's eyes became deeply saddened. "I... didn't fight him. Not at first."
"Halda claimed to have come in peace," Celestia continued. "He said that he wanted to build a bridge, so to speak, between our worlds. He was fascinated by our world and wanted to learn more about us. He said that he felt we could learn from each other and thrive through co-existence. He then offered his friendship to me as a token gesture." Celestia's eyes grew dim as she glanced down. "I never should have trusted him."
"What happened?" Luna asked, her tone more akin to that of a command.
Celestia shied away, almost perfectly mimicking Fluttershy's mannerisms. "I accepted his offer. The next few days were spent discussing things from politics to typical cultural practices. I gave him a map of Equestria and explained everything he asked about. His fascination with our species seemed genuine. I didn't realize he was taking notes on us for a far more sinister purpose.
"The day finally came when I showed him the Elements of Harmony. I explained their purpose and significance in our society. And finally, I explained their individual traits. When I explained that the Element of Magic was the strongest and the source of all the others' powers... he saw his chance. Halda stole the Element of Magic while I slept.
"Twilight," Celestia said, turning to her pupil. "Would you please recount what happened in your report of Sunset Shimmer's actions in the Mirror world when she obtained the Sixth Element?"
Twilight nodded and her eyes darkened. "When Sunset Shimmer wore the Element, it reacted to her magic, turning her into a demon of some kind and increasing her power tenfold."
Celestia nodded gravely. "Something like that happened with Halda. It seems that the Element of Magic resonates strongly with magic on both ends of the spectrum. It can be a powerful beacon of hope when used in conjunction with the Elements. However, it also resonates strongly with malevolence, corrupting the wearer and gifting them with dark magic. Though, I admit, I was surprised when you informed me that Sunset Shimmer's entire form changed, because this did not happen with Halda.
"Either way, when Halda wore the Element, it gave him strength as it corrupted him and his dark magic. His strength didn't grow exponentially the way it apparently did with Sunset Shimmer, mind you, but he still became much more powerful. He began to use his newfound power to rampage across the land. When I received word of what he was doing, I cast aside all thoughts of his betrayal of our friendship and went to confront him only as an enemy. It was a fierce battle, but my five Elements of Harmony were strengthened in the Sixth Element's presence. Because of that, they weakened him enough for me to defeat him in battle.
"When I reacquired the Sixth Element, I used its power to turn him to stone, and he became a statue on that same island he arrived on. I then forced Misery, who was also a magic-user, to return the island and everything on it to their world. Misery complied, and the island was no more.
"That was eight hundred years ago. Now, it seems that Halda has broken out of his stone prison, and has come back for revenge. Princess Twilight Sparkle," Celestia suddenly said with a regal presence. "With the Elements of Harmony, will you and your friends assist me in defeating him once again?"
Luna stepped forward, facing her sister directly. "Now, wait, sister. How can you be sure that-"
"We will," Twilight declared. "Of course we'll help. It's our task to defend Equestria from evil and chaos. Right girls?"
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash cheered. "We can handle anything that's thrown at us!"
"It would be an honor to defend Equestria, especially at your request, Princess Celestia," Rarity said. "You needn't even ask."
"Darn tootin'," said Applejack. "No way we're lettin' some varmint get away like that."
"He sounds like a real meanie-pants!" Pinkie pouted, finishing the word 'sorry' on the cake with a bag of icing.
"O-of course," Fluttershy agreed. "We can't have him hurting any pony or little critter ever again."
Celestia smiled warmly. "Thank you, my little ponies. You don't know how grateful I am." Celestia then turned to face her sister. "Luna. Will you be joining us as well?"
Princess Luna stood still for an uncomfortably long time. Finally, she gave a small, slight nod, then turned and left the throne room without a word.
Princess Celestia glanced in the direction of her sister's wake. "Hmm... I will have to ask what's troubling her," she muttered. Her attention returned to the six ponies before her. "Now then, I will be setting the sun soon. All of you can retire to your rooms for the night. We leave at the crack of dawn, tomorrow."
"Yes, Princess Celestia," the six ponies said in unison, then broke off to find the rooms in the castle reserved for them for special occasions. Only Twilight remained, now alone with the princess.
"What is it, Twilight?" Celestia asked.
"I was just concerned about something," Twilight answered. "If the Sixth Element can give Halda power, then wouldn't it be risky to take it with us into battle? What if he manages to take it from me?"
Celestia smiled, proud of her finest student. "You have a brilliant mind, Twilight Sparkle. This is why I took you under my wing. I suspected you would have that concern. There is nothing to worry about, because I have already practiced a spell to lock the Element in place. Removing it will prove to be impossible unless I disable the spell."
"Oh," Twilight muttered. "That makes sense."
"I have something else to tell you, Twilight."
Twilight looked up at her mentor. "Yes?"
"Before you and your friends arrived, I sent a message to the Crystal Empire. Cadence will be coming with us."
"Cadence?!" Twilight cried. "But why? Isn't she busy with the Empire?"
"I called for her because I don't want to take any chances," Celestia explained. "Halda needs to be stopped, and I would like all of the help I can get. You of all ponies should know just how powerful an alicorn can truly be. Do not underestimate your foal-sitter."
Twilight nodded in understanding. "Okay, then. What about my brother?"
"I have tasked Shining Armor with guarding the Mirror. As we discussed earlier, there seems to be something special about the Mirror world that makes the Element react more strongly. If, despite our precautions, Halda were to somehow acquire the Element of Magic, I don't want him to find his way to the Mirror world and fully transform into a demon like Sunset Shimmer."
"But the Mirror still won't open for another twenty-five moons," Twilight argued.
"Even so, I don't wish to leave any possibility to chance. I don't expect anything like that to happen, but I'm not taking any risks."
"Then why aren't we attacking now?"
"We're all tired," Celestia answered calmly. "Do you really feel ready to fight for your life right now?"
Twilight realized that the princess was right. The day was nearly over, and she was about ready to collapse. All of the worrying she did in the past hour wore her out worse than she thought.
"You're right, princess," Twilight said as her eyelids began to droop. "I promise I'll be ready in the morning."
Celestia smiled warmly. "Would you like to stay with me as I set the sun?" she asked.
Twilight smiled weakly and gave a lazy nod in response. Celestia smiled as she pulled the young princess next to her under her wing. Her long horn glowed a familiar golden color, and in the distance, the sky transformed from the fiery colors of purple and orange and gold into the deep colors of blue and indigo as the sun dipped below the horizon.
"I don't care if he is friendly," Shining Armor snapped. "It was extremely irresponsible of you to leave him alone with Mistletoe and her children. What if he hurts them?"
"I keep telling you that will never happen!" Cadence retorted. "You know I'm an excellent judge of character. I got to see Quote for who he was, and I promise you he's a gentle soul!"
Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were trotting through the palace, on their way to Mistletoe's lodging. Wrapped in the cerulean glow of the princess' magic was some freshly folded laundry levitating alongside the pair.
"He had a sword, Cadence," Shining Armor argued. "And who knows what those other things with him were. We don't know what he's capable of doing! I made the right call putting those guards on him, and you know it!"
"You're wrong, Shiny. You'll see for yourself that Quote is nothing to be afraid of. Besides, isn't Celestia's letter a more pressing issue right now?"
"No, it's not! Mistletoe's and her children's safety is my main concern right now! We'll discuss your summons later." The two reached the door to Mistletoe's room. "Mistletoe!" Shining Armor yelled, banging his hoof on the door. "Are you all right?" He swung the door open and was taken completely back by what he saw.
Near the bed were two laughing, giggling foals. Mistletoe's daughter, Tinsel, was perched on the shoulders of a tall, white-skinned bipedal creature in a blue bathrobe and clung onto his dark black hair. Her son, Cobalt, was wrapped around one of the creature's spindly legs. The creature paid him no mind as he ran and jumped around the room, eliciting shrieks of delight from both of the foals.
Strangest of all, however, was Mistletoe herself. She stood off to the side, nearly doubled over on the ground in a fit of laughter.
"Oh! Prince Shining and Princess Cadence," Mistletoe remarked when she saw the two standing in the doorway. "Hey, settle down you two," she yelled to the two who at this point were still attacking their visitor. Mistletoe returned her attention to the royal pair before her and bowed respectfully. "Your highness. You were right about Mister Quote. He's been nothing but a delight this whole time, and he's so great with the foals."
Cadence smirked at her husband, who stood speechless. Then she redirected her attention. "Oh, Quote?" she said.
Quote stopped his playful roughhousing and placed Tinsel on the floor, who let out a whine. Cobalt did the same as he let go of Quote's leg. After they tapped their hooves against his fist when he held it out, Quote stood and faced the princess.
"Yes, Princess Cadence?"
Cadence levitated the folded clothes to Quote, who caught the laundry in his arms. "Your clothes have been washed and sewn back together."
Quote's face lit up. "Oh, great! Thank you." He turned to Mistletoe. "Um, may I change in there?" He pointed to the door of the side room.
Mistletoe nodded, and Quote scurried into the room, shutting the door behind him.
Cadence turned to her husband. "You see? Isn't he sweet?"
Shining Armor shook his head, snapping himself out of the trance he was in. "Whatever. I still don't think it's safe to just let him be."
"Now, I expect you to treat him with respect while I'm away," Cadence said.
"What if he's the one I have to protect the Mirror from?" Shining Armor muttered under his breath.
Cadence shook her head. "I'm certain he isn't," she muttered back.
"Your highness?" Mistletoe asked. "You'll be going somewhere?"
Cadence relaxed and turned to face the mare. "That's right, Mistletoe. Auntie Celestia summoned me to Canterlot, requesting my presence before sunrise tomorrow."
"Why, your highness?"
"Apparently, Canterlot's in a bit of an uproar right now. It's been reported that a floating island has appeared just outside of the city. Save for Celestia, nopony knows what it is. While I'm away, Shining Armor will be-"
The sound of a slamming door stopped Cadence mid-sentence. The five ponies in the room all looked at Quote, who was standing in the doorway with one hand on the door. He was only wearing his red pants and belt. His eyes were wide, and on his face was a look of sheer horror.
"What did you just say?"
Cadence stuttered for a moment as her mind caught up. "I-I... um... I-I'll be leaving tonight."
Quote shook his head and stepped toward her. "No, no. I got that. After that. What was it that appeared?"
"A... a floating island."
Quote paused, looking at the faces of each pony. Except for the white unicorn, the one Quote understood to be Shining Armor, they all looked back at him with concern. Quote let out a breath, then turned back into the room where he had been changing. Nobody said anything, even when he came back out again, this time wearing his black tank top, green scarf, and red hat.
"All right," he said with an air of finality. "I'm going with you."
The room became lively again with that comment.
"You're going-?"
"Can't you stay-?"
"You're not going near her-"
"Why are you insisting that-?"
"Everyone, please!" Quote shouted. The room fell silent again. Quote tugged at the visor of his cap. "Princess, please. I have to go. Please let me go with you."
Cadence paused before replying. "Why do you need to go?" she asked.
Quote looked her right in the eye. "Because I know what that floating island is. I came here on it." Quote removed his cap and ran his fingers through his hair as he started pacing around the room. "Look," he explained. "I don't remember how I got here. But the last thing I remember was being knocked out, I think by a bolt of lightning. I was on the island at the time. Then I woke up here. I didn't know how I'd gotten here, but now I'm sure that I came through with the island. And if I came through with it, I'm certain that everyone else did as well." Quote stopped his pacing and stared directly at the princess. "Celestia, was it? Your aunt? You said that she summoned you to Canterlot, where the island is?"
Cadence slowly nodded. "Yes, that's correct."
"Does that happen much?"
Cadence scrunched her face, deep in thought. "Actually, this only happens if there's a formal celebration, or if the kingdom is in danger." Cadence looked up and met Quote's blue eyes. "Wait. Are you saying-"
Quote nodded gravely. "She's right. There's a man on that island who is unimaginably powerful and evil. If nobody stops him, then the whole world is in danger."
Cadence looked contemplative for a moment. Finally, she looked up and met his gaze. "Can you help us?"
Quote nodded. "I can tell you anything you need to know." He let out a sigh. "And if I had my weapons, I could help you fight him, too."
Shining Armor stepped forward. "Not a chance," he said, glaring. "There's no way you're-"
Shining Armor was cut off by an icy stare from his wife that stopped him dead in his tracks. Cadence turned back to Quote and nodded. "We'll return everything we found when you crashed back to you."
Quote's face lit up. "You have my things? Oh, thank you, princess! You have no idea what some of them mean to me."
"In return, all I ask is for your help and cooperation on this task," Cadence stated. "Will you help us?"
"...And that city in the mountains over there is Canterlot," said Misery, pointing with her staff. "It's the capital of Equestria." Even from the distance, one could see the splendor of the capital city. Great buildings made of white stone and golden roofs sprawled across the area, making it almost shine, even in the dark. It was the very image of purity and cleanliness. Most majestic of all, however, was the tall spires of Canterlot Castle that towered over everything else. It was the image of majesty and leadership, yet without a sense of oppression. One could easily tell that the resident of such a place was loved and revered by her subjects, and that she was one who loved them back.
The Doctor nodded. "Excellent. It's even more magnificent that you told me." A small grin appeared on his face as his glasses glinted. "Which will make its fall all the more satisfying." A moment passed as they continued to take in the sight of the heavenly city. Suddenly, the Doctor spoke up again. "I trust that you've taken care of the rats?"
Misery nodded. "Yes, Doctor. All three of the scientists were frisked and are now locked up in separate cages, just as you requested."
The Doctor chuckled. "Trying to escape the island. And me. How naughty of them." The Doctor then turned to face Misery directly. "And the robots. You dismantled the boy. I take it you've done the same to the girl I took care of?"
"Y-yes, master," Misery said.
The Doctor grinned. "Excellent. Everything is going according to plan. All that stands in my way now are the ponies of this world."
Misery made no comment. "Great Doctor, if I may," she worded carefully, "what are we to do now? What is the next phase of your plan?"
The Doctor chuckled. "Misery. How long ago did the sun set?"
"Doctor?" Misery looked to the west. The sun was already below the horizon, the late evening sky a magnificent display of purple and indigo. "The sun set approximately... five minutes ago."
"And is there still no sign of Balrog?"
Misery shook her head. "None, sir. I still do not know of his whereabouts."
The red eye of the Doctor's Demon Crown glowed red briefly, then then dimmed. Moments later, Misery sensed something above her.
"HUZZAH!!!"
There was a crash just two meters next to Misery. Where there had been nothing but stone floor was now a cloud of dust, which was dissipating to reveal a crater. In the center was a box-like creature. He was two meters tall by three meters wide and a meter and a half thick. On the sides of his body were light brown flippers. He stood on boxy feet that appeared far too small to support his size. His whole body was a light gray.
His face, like his body, was unique. He had two massive eyes like dinner plates with black pupils. From the top of his face to the bottom, and passing over each eye, were two vertical light brown stripes. A large, expressive mouth rested at the bottom of his face, spanning the distance between his eyes.
He certainly was the odd one out of the three.
"You called for me, Doctor?" the behemoth asked.
"Yes, Balrog. I have an important task for the two of you," the Doctor replied.
"What do you require of us, master?" asked Misery.
The Doctor looked at both of his servants. "I'm leaving tonight. I will be asleep until an hour after sunset. In the meantime, I would like you, Misery, to select a mimiga for me to take along. I don't care who, just make sure it's someone expendable who won't contribute anything to my army. If your estimates are correct, then I should be back by five tomorrow morning. While I'm away, you two are tasked with guarding the island with your lives."
The two nodded. "Understood, Doctor," said Misery. "So, where is it you intend to travel? Will you be meeting with someone?"
The Doctor grinned, then turned his back to his servants. "That is correct. I have a very special meeting with a certain monarch. Now then, I will be resting. Balrog, wake me in fifty minutes. Misery, get to work. It's going to be a long night."
"After escorting the three of them to the island's surface, I left them alone to work on the helicopter," said Curly. "Then, before I knew it, the whole skyline was covered in black clouds that seemed to radiate magic. There was a bright red flash, then the clouds were gone. When I looked out at the world below, I didn't recognize what I saw. It looked nothing like the Surface. Then, out of nowhere, the Doctor showed up and attacked me. I was caught off guard and couldn't defend myself." Curly paused and stared at the ground. "That's the last thing I remember before waking up in here."
Rivet stared at the robot girl, speechless. He had listened to the whole story, beginning with the robots of the surface slaughtering countless mimigas to obtain the Demon Crown. Quote and Curly had battled Miakid, who had gotten hold of the Crown, to a draw. He listened to her when she talked about raising the Colons, four orphaned mimiga children, and destroying the island's Core in the Labyrinth. He listened as she fondly recalled her friend Quote saving her life and restoring her memory, then accepting her Iron Bond as a promise that they would be together again.
Rivet had stopped her occasionally to ask her about things he did not understand. He took a particular interest in the fascinating technology that the Surface world possessed, like the guns and boosters and the helicopter.
But now, here he was, having heard the whole story and sitting opposite the otherworldly visitor with a cell door between them. The morsels of food he'd had with him were eaten long ago.
"How much of it do you believe?" Curly asked.
Rivet was silent for a moment. He'd had time to formulate his opinion while she'd talked, but now he had a final decision to make. Rivet thought about all of the details of the retelling, the situations, and the circumstances.
And Rivet made his decision.
"All of it," he said.
Curly Brace recoiled in shock. "You- really?"
Rivet nodded. "Yes. This whole situation is too bizarre to simply make up, but not so much so that it's entirely impossible." Rivet cleared his throat. "But more importantly, your account of the black clouds and the island's apparent change in location matches up with what we witnessed. Basically," Rivet concluded, "I have reason to believe that at least a good part of your story is truthful. Now then, do you think you could answer a question for me?"
"Of course," Curly replied.
"This Doctor person. The one you've spoken of with much disgust. He is an evil man, yes?"
Curly nodded.
"Are you saying that he's now in our world?"
"It would seem that way, yes."
Rivet let out a sigh. He didn't want to speak his mind at the moment, but he knew he had no choice. Reluctantly, his mouth formed the words, "Do you believe we're in danger?"
Curly nodded. "The Doctor is the type of man who always has an agenda. I don't think it's possible that we arrived here by accident. I'm sure the Doctor wanted to come here, though I don't know why. If that's the case, there's one thing I can guarantee: he's not here with good intentions."
Rivet began pacing the floor, nearly frantic with pent-up energy. This was huge. This was critical to the security of the kingdom. Princess Celestia needed to know.
And yet, that was not an option. By her own decree, the guards were cut off from Princess Celestia. Rivet cursed his ruler's lapse in judgement. She probably didn't want any trivial reports about citizens' grievances while she tackled the bigger picture. Though Rivet couldn't fault her intentions, she was now cut off from potentially valuable information.
"Can you..." Rivet gulped, praying that he would not come to regret his words. "Can you help us?"
Curly glanced to the side. "Honestly, I don't know. The Doctor is powerful as he is. I don't know if I can stop him myself." Curly raised her head and met Rivet's gaze. "But here's what I do know: if you give me the chance, I will do everything in my power to do anything I can to help stop him."
Rivet stared back at the robot girl. There was fear in her eyes. But beyond the fear and pain was something more: courage, strength, dedication. And most of all, the fiery determination to keep a promise to a friend.
Curly brushed back a strand of hair. "Will you let me out now?"
Quote stood on the platform of the train station. Next to him stood Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Mistletoe, and two Crystal Guards. The sun had already set some time ago, so the station was fairly dark. When the train arrived, Cadence made a gesture to her husband, and he stepped forward to face Quote.
"So, here are your things that we found," Shining Armor said, not looking Quote in the eye. "Everything in the bag is as we found it. And these things were in the holsters." He handed Quote his four guns: the Fireball, the Bubbler, the Rocket Launcher, and, to Quote's great relief, the Spur. "And," Shining Armor reluctantly continued with a sigh, "here's your sword."
Quote reached out and grabbed hold of the scabbard levitating in the magenta glow of Shining Armor's magic. Shining Armor did not let go. Shining leaned toward Quote and whispered, "you know what will happen if I find out you tried to hurt Cadence, don't you?"
Quote gave a slight nod in response. "I promise you that I will never hurt her," Quote whispered back. "And I won't allow any harm to come to her, either."
"Good," Shining Armor replied. "For whatever reason, my wife seems to trust you. If you keep your word, you might just earn mine, too."
Quote nodded. "Thank you," he replied, returning his voice to normal volume. Shining Armor released the sword, and Quote pushed it through the belt loop of his pants. He then turned to the princess.
"Are you all set, Quote?" Cadence asked.
"I am, Princess Cadence," he replied. "I think I'll go through my bag later on the train."
"In that case, we're off." She turned to her husband. "Shining, please don't worry about me. I'll be perfectly fine."
Shining Armor shook his head. "I can't help it," he admitted.
Cadence gave a sad smile. "I should be back within a week. I'll see you all then." Cadence then embraced her husband, which he gratefully returned.
Quote was about to board the train when he heard a voice.
"M-mister Quote?"
Quote turned back and saw Mistletoe standing before him with a look of concern on her face.
"Yes, Mistletoe?"
"I... I just... I just wanted to say," she stuttered. She then took a deep breath and continued. "Please be safe. I'd like you to come back. Cobalt and Tinsel, too. They want you to visit again."
Quote smiled and gave an appreciative nod. "I will," he promised. "Take care."
Mistletoe then surprised him. She ran up to him and gave him a hug. After taking a moment to process what was happening, Quote returned the hug.
"Mistletoe?"
"Yes, Mister Quote?"
"We're friends, right?"
"..."
"..."
"Yes. We're friends."
"Then could you do me a favor?"
"Yes?"
"Don't call me 'mister,' anymore. Just Quote."
"... All right, Quote. Be safe."
"I will be. Thank you, Mistletoe."
With that, Quote and Cadence both boarded the train, on which they were the only passengers. The conductor yelled "all aboard," the doors shut, and they were on their way. The two could see the small group they left behind wave to them as they departed.
"Well then, Quote, I think we should get some rest. It's been a busy day today, and tomorrow morning..." Cadence paused. "... is going to be even busier," she finished, her voice becoming grim.
"You're right," Quote agreed. "We need to make sure we're in peak condition for what's to come." Quote turned to find a booth to sleep in. "Good night, Princess Cadence."
"Good night, Quote," the princess replied. With that, the two made their ways to their respective booths to settle down for the night. Quote laid down and thought about what the morning held for him. He would surely have to fight the Doctor. Quote hadn't been in this strange new world for a very long time, but he already felt a desire to protect it and the ponies that lived here. The princess had taken a liking to him immediately and had welcomed him. Mistletoe took a little warming up, but now she was his friend. Even Shining Armor, despite being abrasive and untrusting, had his heart in the right place. Quote couldn't fault him for that. Now more determined than ever, Quote let his eyes close and shut down for the night.
"He used his magical powers to help and guide people,
Canterlot was bustling with activity. Though it was fairly normal for the city at that time of the night, this time it was much livelier than usual. Ponies roamed the streets, jabbering in concerned tones amongst friends, neighbors, relatives, even complete strangers. Gone was the usual uptight, snobbish attitudes of even the most elite of Canterlot's citizens, replaced by compassion as each tried to comfort one another in this time of fear.
It was certainly true that the city had been in a state of near-panic just a couple of hours ago. There were a few scary moments where the possibility of a riot had been very real. Luckily, save for a few minor incidents, it was well-contained. Many guards were patrolling the city, breaking up any worrisome quarrels that arose. Yet their intervention was rarely necessary; their very presence in the streets of Canterlot had an oddly calming effect on the masses. Whatever the reason, an inspection by the Royal Guard and an occasional exchange of ideas between a guard and some unruly individual did a remarkable job at keeping everyone calm and safe.
The island’s ominous presence continued to cast a shadow of terror and gloom over Canterlot, but while the fear of the unknown entity was still very much present, the initial scare had long since passed. Now that the citizens were convinced that their princess was doing something to address the island - or potentially deal with it - they could refocus their energies into turning to one another for support. Ponies, even the most delicate of unicorn fillies, were remarkably resilient.
The activity that now caused the city to be bustling was the sudden desire to watch the island out of morbid curiosity. Telescopes were set up in the windows of numerous apartments and the yards of the private homes on the outskirts of the city. Stargazing was not a common activity in Canterlot, for the lights of the city blotted out most of the dazzling lights of the Night Princess' beautiful sky. Still, there were enough stars bright enough to be seen even in the most well-lit places such as Manehattan.
This was critical for the ponies of Canterlot who were watching the island, an activity which had been jokingly referred to as 'islandgazing.' There were no lights coming from the floating landmass. It was an enigmatic blob that was essentially invisible against the indigo night sky. However, the sky was decorated with twinkling lights, so where the island rested, no stars could be seen, like a black hole in the night.
This made 'islandgazing' difficult, but possible. The finer details of the island were still impossible to distinguish in the dark, but that fact did not stop the ponies of Canterlot from training their eyes on the otherworldly landmass.
It is for this reason that, when a tiny, almost invisible shape broke off from the main body of the island, it did not go unnoticed. One of the stars surrounding the island seemed to blink out briefly, only to light up again. Then another blinked out, this one a little bit further from the island. Then two more. Then four more.
Whatever this shape was, it was moving toward Canterlot.
Very quickly, more ponies began to notice it. Eventually, it was close enough to the city so that some of its finer details could almost be made out. However, rather than approaching the city even more, it continued to fly past, avoiding it altogether. Every eye in Canterlot followed this mysterious flying shape as it passed them by.
So when another shape, this one even smaller than the first, broke off from the island, not a soul noticed it. Instead of flying through the sky as the first one had, this one dropped straight down, as if by gravity.
This completely escaped the attention of every single pony in the city, as they were all transfixed by the flying shape so close to home, their attention unwavering, until at last, it disappeared behind the mountain on which the city resided.
A great stirring arose once again in the city. What was that flying thing? Why had it come toward them? And why did it go behind the mountain?
Unbeknownst to all, as the ponies of Canterlot debated their ideas and theories to explain the mysterious phenomenon, a single, shadowy figure skated low in the sky across the plains of Equestria, hidden within the inky blackness of night.
"The jealous king had Ballos apprehended and thrown into prison, where his punishment was brutal and cruel. Humans can be terrible creatures indeed..."
"Quote, wake up." Quote felt his body being shaken and slowly opened his eyes. Princess Cadence was standing over him, nudging him with a hoof. "Something's happened."
Quote immediately sat upright and looked her in the face with concern. "What is it? What’s going on?" he inquired.
It was only then that Quote noticed how dark it was on the train. He looked out the window and saw that it was in the dead of night. He could make out grassy plains and a cluster of trees in the distance through the darkness.
"We're nowhere near a city," Quote observed.
"That's right," Cadence responded. "We're only about a third of the way to Canterlot. The train broke down."
Quote turned and looked at her with concern. "So what's that mean for us?"
"Hopefully, it will mean we'll be just a little bit delayed," Cadence answered. "The conductor told me that he should be able to fix the problem and have us running again in twenty minutes."
"That's good," Quote said. Then he looked at Cadence inquisitively. "So what do we do now?"
"We wait," she answered. "The conductor knows how to fix and maintain a train, so we should let him be. In the meantime, why don't you tell me a little bit more about yourself?"
"W-well, I..." Quote stumbled. Suddenly, he had an idea. "Actually, I wanted to go through my bag, anyway. How about I tell you about some of the things and how I acquired them as I sort through them? Plus, it'll give me a chance to get rid of the things I don't need anymore."
Cadence nodded. "That's a good idea," she said, using her magic to create a blue light at the tip of her horn. It was a dull but comfortingly warm glow, just bright enough to allow the two to see each other clearly.
Quote zipped open his bag and and pulled out several items: a large green boxlike thing, a silvery cylindrical device, and a small glass jar. The jar was full of a strange black liquid and had the image of a heart on the side. Once those three items were removed from the bag and set in a small pile off to the side, Quote dumped the rest of the contents out on the floor. There was a multitude of items in the resulting pile, including an assortment of keys, an envelope, a rope, a small sheet of metal with a heart design, and an electronic device with a screen. Then Cadence noticed two things in the pile that stood out among the rest. Without dropping the illumination spell, she lifted the two items in her magic for Quote to see. She saw his eyes go wide with panic.
"So, what's the story with the lipstick and panties?" she asked, smirking.
Curly shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I didn't build the Machine Gun, so I have no idea how it works. I only know how to use it."
Rivet was standing in his office along with Curly Brace. On his desk was what had once been, as Curly had described it, a Machine Gun. Now, it was a disassembled mess of parts and metal platings. Notes were scribbled and strewn all over the room in writing that Curly could barely decipher, but was like a native language to Rivet.
Rivet sighed in abject disappointment. Prior to Curly's awakening, Rivet had been busy taking apart her weapon and placing parts in specific locations on the desk whenever they were disconnected. Everything - moving parts, wires, screws - they had all been removed from the device, but were still in perfect condition.
"Why did you do it?" Curly demanded. "Why did you take it apart? You have no idea how important it is to me!"
To Curly's surprise, Rivet began to strip himself of his armor. His golden helmet and chest piece fell to the floor with a clatter. Finally, he removed his flank piece, completely exposing himself. He turned his body to the side and pointed to the image on his flank with a hoof.
"Do you know what this is?" Rivet asked gently.
Curly stared at the image. It looked like a tattoo of some kind, something that wouldn't normally be on a pony's body.
"It's a gear. With wings."
Rivet nodded. "That is correct. But do you know what the image is called? And I don't mean winged gear image specifically, I mean the image itself. Do you know what we call it?" Curly shook her head.
"It's called a 'cutie mark,'" Rivet explained. "These cutie marks are a sign of maturity. We're not born with them; they come later in our lives. But more importantly, they don't just represent maturity; they represent our special talent, an affinity of some kind, and we get it when we discover whatever that may be.
"I'm a tinkerer by nature. I've always been fascinated by machines and taking them apart and discovering understanding their inner workings. I can take apart just about anything and put it back together like brand new. The greatest moment of my life was when I completely disassembled a train engine, studied its mechanics, and rebuilt it. Then I built an identical engine from scratch entirely by memory."
Rivet gulped, getting slightly choked up. "Can you imagine my joy when it started running? I'd just built the most complicated machine I'd ever come across from the ground up with my own hooves and it worked perfectly!" Rivet paused again. "I didn't even care at first when I got my cutie mark moments later. All that mattered was what I had done.
"Curly, I pride myself on my ability to tinker and work with tools and machines. It's what I live for." Rivet returned his attention to the dismantled Machine Gun on his desk. "I have never seen anything like this before in my life. I have only the vaguest of ideas of how it works. I can't figure it out. Do you know what that’s like?"
Rivet stopped himself and realized that tears were rolling down his face. He sniffled and wiped his face with his hoof. "I-I'm sorry," he choked. "That was foolish of me."
"I'm sorry," Curly said. Her voice was gentle and soothing. She moved forward and knelt down, wrapping her arms around Rivet's neck and pulling him into a gentle hug. Rivet was surprised that such a gesture of affection existed in Curly's world. "I had no idea how important this was to you. I'd tell you if I could," she offered.
Rivet gave a sad smile. "Thanks," he mumbled.
"Still," Curly stated. "The Machine Gun's pretty important to me too. Are you sure you can rebuild it?"
Rivet tilted his head slightly and have her a cocksure smirk. "Who do you think I am?" Rivet challenged.
The two laughed for a moment, and Curly released him from the hug. Then Rivet nodded and said, "Yes, I can rebuild it. I took it apart myself, and took notes while I was at it. I just have to take the steps in reverse. It should only take half an hour."
Curly grinned. "Good. Thanks."
Just then, the door to Rivet's office slammed open. "Lieutenant!" a guard cried, bolting in. "There's been-." The guard froze when he saw Curly standing next to Rivet in the room. "Wh-wh-th-th-the creature!" he cried, fumbling to retrieve his spear.
“Stand down,” Rivet ordered the guard.
“B-but sir-!”
“Stand down!” Rivet shouted. Despite every fiber of his being telling him to do otherwise, the guard stopped reaching for his spear and stood at attention with his hoof on his forehead in a salute. Rivet walked up to the guard, looked him right in the eye, and spoke in a low, threatening voice. "Her name is Curly Brace. She is a friend, not our enemy. You will treat her with respect, or you will be punished. Is that understood?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" the guard replied, tense as a board.
"Now," Rivet said, calmed down. "What is it you have to report?"
"Sir, there has been a multitude of confirmed and unconfirmed sources of something leaving the island, sir!"
Rivet's blood ran cold. Curly stood wide-eyed. "Give me the full report," Rivet ordered.
"Sir, at 2203 hours, an object was seen leaving the island. Over the course of several minutes, the object began to approach Canterlot, but never came close enough to observe it in detail. At 2211 hours, visual was lost when it disappeared behind Canterlot Mountain, sir."
"Do you have an inkling of what it might be?" Rivet asked, desperately trying to keep his composure.
"Sir, a few unconfirmed reports have stated that the shape appeared to have wings. If such reports prove to be accurate, a winged beast of that size could only be a young dragon, sir."
"Celestia damn it!" Rivet cursed through clenched teeth. He paced the room briefly before stopping and rubbing his forehead with a hoof. "What awful timing," he sighed.
"Sir, Lieutenant, sir," the guard stated, voice softer and with an edge of concern. "What do you propose?"
Rivet paused a moment before answering. "Keep the night guards where they're posted," he said with a sigh. "Recall the day guards. We're forming a Dragon Hunting platoon."
"Sir, yes, sir." The guard left the office in a flash.
Rivet saw Curly looking at him questioningly. Rivet slumped into a chair. "Dragon Hunting platoon," he explained. "Eight earth ponies, six unicorns, and six pegasi. Twenty nets, twelve chains, and eight spears. Each guard outfitted with fireproof armor. It's how we deal with dragon attacks, although they're very rare."
Rivet leaned back in his chair. "A single young dragon isn't normally this worrisome, but we're in the midst of a crisis. If there exists a possibility that a dragon landed on the east side of the mountain, I'm not taking any chances."
"Well, I certainly hope it turns out to be nothing to worry about," Curly offered.
"I hope so," Rivet mused. "That'd be a nice change of pace." Suddenly, something clicked in Rivet's mind, and he stood up from his seat, a look of clarity on his face. "Say, Curly?"
"Yes, Lieutenant Rivet?"
Rivet paused for a moment. "You said earlier that you'd do everything you can to help, right?"
"Yes, I did," Curly nodded. “And I intend to keep that promise.”
“Here's your chance to prove yourself," Rivet stated with determination. "I already trust you, but the rest of the guards likely won't. So will you join us?” he asked. “I'm sure that if you prove to be helpful here, they might be more willing to give you a chance.”
Curly Brace stared at the ground, contemplating. She looked up and met his eyes. "Will it be dangerous?"
Rivet's face fell and he let out a small sigh. "Probably."
"Then I'll be right at home. Count me in."
Rivet looked at her, stunned. "R-really?"
Curly nodded. "Absolutely. Just one question."
"Yes?" Rivet asked.
"Do you know where my Nemesis and Booster are?"
Rivet tilted his head. "Nemesis and Booster? Would they be those blue and green devices?" Curly nodded her head. "Oh, they're in the corner over there," he said, pointing to a space on the floor next to the desk. "Don't worry, I haven't touched them," he added, half laughing. Curly walked over to them and picked them up. After manipulating and refamiliarizing herself with the blue handheld device, she placed it in a holster on her leg. With the green box, she lifted it with one arm with ease and slipped her other arm through the straps. After she slipped both arms in, she secured the device to her back with a strap that hugged her waist. Curly turned back to Rivet and nodded.
"I'm ready," she said.
Rivet smiled and nodded. "Welcome aboard." The two then left the office, ready to meet with the line of guards awaiting their Lieutenant's orders.
"... Toroko gave me this Silver Locket when I first met her," Quote explained. "But then she got captured by the Doctor's minions. And now she's..." Quote started choking up.
"It's okay," Cadence reassured him. "You don't need to finish."
"It's my fault she's dead," Quote confessed guiltily. "I couldn't get to her in time. I had to... put her out of her misery." Quote covered his face and his frame shook with what would have been sobs. Cadence leaned over and wrapped him up in a loving hug as she gently nuzzled him.
After a moment, Quote's breathing returned to normal. "I have to hang on to this. I need to keep it safe until this is all over." Quote's face suddenly darkened. "I'm going to kill the Doctor."
This little remark elicited a jolt of surprise from the princess, startled by the shockingly dark nature of the comment. Though slightly alarmed, she decided not to say anything about the matter.
Quote placed the locket in the pile to his right. Among the pile was the map system for the island, a Life Pot, a Tow Rope, Arthur's key, the Iron Bond which he received from Curly Brace, and even Curly's underwear. Quote figured he should probably return those. Next to the pile was what Quote called a Booster v2.0 and Curly's air tank.
It the pile to his left was a bunch of junk that he didn't need anymore. There was an assortment of keys, an ID card, a couple of useless badges, an envelope with a letter inside, and the lipstick he had obtained from a frisky mimiga girl.
As Quote began placing the items in the pile on his right back into his bag, the door opened and the conductor entered the room. His face was grim, like he had to do something he didn't want to do.
"Your majesty," he said while bowing respectfully.
"Yes, Transit?" Cadence asked. "Will we be moving soon?"
Transit's face looked pained. "O-on the contrary," he stuttered. "It seems..." He took a breath. "It seems that a vital part of the engine has broken off, and there are no replacements. We can't move without it, and we can't get a replacement until 7:00 A.M."
Cadence's face paled just a little. "Are you saying we're stuck here until then?"
Transit slowly nodded. "Th-that's correct, your majesty."
Cadence rubbed her forehead with a hoof. "Ooooohhh... this is not good..." she murmured.
"I am terribly sorry, your majesty," Transit apologized profusely.
Cadence shook her head. "It's not your fault," she insisted, still rubbing her head. She let out a sigh. "Let's see... we're still about six hours away from Canterlot. If we don't leave until seven, then..."
"Princess?" Quote asked.
Cadence paid him no mind. "But if we leave now," she muttered. "That should be... ten. But with him, eleven. Twelve if you add an hour. That would mean..."
"Princess Cadence?" Quote asked, louder this time. "What are you thinking?"
Cadence broke out of her train of thought and faced Quote directly. "I just did the math," she answered. "It would be faster to fly to Canterlot if we leave right now."
"Fly?" Quote and Transit shouted in unison.
"Princess, you can't possibly be serious!" Transit cried.
"I am," Cadence replied with a look of determination in her eyes. "This is a matter of national security, and every moment that we spend here is a moment we could be getting to Canterlot right now. Either way, we'll be far behind schedule, so I choose the method that will get us there faster."
"All right, but let's say you do," Quote said, stepping forward. "How am I supposed to keep up with you?"
Cadence gave him a warm smile. "That's easy. I can carry you on my back."
Quote glanced to the side in confusion. "No. No you can't. You said it yourself, I'm way too heavy.”
Without a word, Cadence closed her eyes and her horn glowed with magic in addition to her illumination spell. Quote suddenly felt a tingle all across his body and realized that he was covered in the same glowing aura. After a moment, the glowing faded and Quote's body felt several times lighter, like gravity had no hold on him anymore.
"Featherweight spell," Cadence explained with a grin. "Now I can carry you and your things with ease."
Quote reached down to pick up his bag and found that it too felt nearly weightless. He checked the bag to make sure his valuables were still inside, and sure enough, they were. Quote placed a hand on his chin, deep in thought. Finally, he looked at her and said, "Are you sure you can make the whole trip?"
Cadence nodded. "I will need to rest for an hour once we've made it halfway, but yes, I can make the trip."
Quote sighed and secured the bag around his waist. "Okay. Let's go."
"All right. I just need to send some letters before we leave." Cadence grabbed her small supply bag and pulled out two rolls of parchment and a quill with ink on the tip and scribbled a note. She did the same with the second roll of parchment, then individually incinerated the two letters in green flame. The smoky ashes of the letters flew out the window and into the night sky in opposite directions. Cadence turned and opened the door of the train car. "Thank you for bringing us this far, Transit. I informed my husband of the situation here. They'll come to get you when they can."
Transit bowed respectfully. "Thank you, princess. Good luck, and please be safe."
Cadence smiled and nodded slowly. "I will. Thank you, Transit." Then she turned to Quote. "Hop on."
Quote had some difficulty straddling the princess, not being used to his new weight, but eventually seated himself in the crook of her back, between her neck and her wings. Once Quote wrapped his arms around her neck to support himself, Cadence took to the air, wings spread wide as she glided effortlessly through the night. As they left the train behind them, disappearing into the distance, Quote looked forward in anticipation of their long journey.
"Under the extreme cruelty of the torture, Ballos's magical abilities finally ran wild. The king was engulfed in the swirl of magic and destroyed in an instant. In a single night, the kingdom that Ballos so loved was reduced to ashen ruins."
The witch opened her eyes and saw a massive box with a face running toward her. She let out a yawn. “What is it, Balrog?” She then noticed that the island was basked in the glow of the early-morning sun. “Oh, has our master returned?”
Balrog shifted uneasily as his eyes darted around. “No, he hasn’t,” he said, shaking his whole body side to side. “I’m worried.”
A sinking feeling made its way to Misery’s gut as she bit back a curse.
“More important than that, though,” Balrog continued. “I just saw a group of ponies flying our way.”
Misery’s eyes shot open. “How many were there?”
Balrog looked contemplative as he racked his brain. “I believe I saw… eight of them.”
“That many?” Misery asked. Balrog nodded. “That’s surprising. Last time, she was alone.” Misery shook her head, clearing her mind of any distracting thoughts. “Was there a white one among them?”
Balrog thought for a moment. “Actually, I think two of them were white.”
“Two?”
“Yes, but one of them was much bigger than the other. And that one also seemed to be leading the pack.”
“Ah…” Misery sighed, a knowing grin crossing her face. Now it all made sense. She was bringing reinforcements. “How long until they land?” Misery asked.
“Probably another ten minutes,” Balrog answered. “They just left the castle.”
“Just now?” Misery gasped. “You can see that far?” Balrog merely shrugged, making Misery chuckle. “Wow. The brain of a dog, but the eyes of a hawk. Good job, Balrog.”
Balrog gave her a playful smirk before getting serious once again. “So… is it…?”
“Yes,” Misery nodded. She then began levitating as she usually did. “We have plenty of time to prepare for their arrival. In the meantime, the Doctor should be returning soon. There’s nothing to worry about.” Misery let out a reluctant sigh. “Get into position, Balrog. We’re going to have a reunion with an old acquaintance of mine.”
Twilight Sparkle looked over to Princess Celestia, who was leading the group. Her mentor had been oddly quiet for the past hour. Once everyone had been awakened, the sun princess gave a curt speech. Princess Cadance had experienced trouble with the train on the way and would not be able to arrive on time. However, Celestia was insistent on launching the attack this morning, arguing that striking when they weren’t expecting it was more critical than their numbers, so they would just have to take their chances without her.
Twilight glanced at her friends. Since Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack couldn’t fly, Celestia had ordered two carriages that she and her sister would pull themselves. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash flew immediately behind them.
As they approached the island, Twilight couldn’t repress the growing feeling that something wasn’t right. As intimidating as the island and the stories that Celestia had shared may have been, it wasn’t just fear that was bothering Twilight. Celestia seemed unusually tense, despite having faced threats before. As such, she had been eager to strike quickly. But was that really the wisest decision? She hadn’t even thought to do some reconnaissance to gather any information. Celestia was clinging to an 800-year-old memory. Who’s to say that everything is the same now as it was then? A glance at her friends’ faces confirmed that they too were uneasy about the whole situation.
As the island came close enough into view to make out the details on the surface, the group slowed as they descended. Celestia was the first to touch down onto the island. The rest followed shortly behind her, the royal princesses unhitching themselves from the carriages and Twilight’s friends jumping out.
Stray clouds passed over the island’s surface, creating a light fog. Stone tiles formed pathways across the island, all leading to the spire. Bits of grass grew between the tiles as though the place hadn’t been maintained in many years. In the distance was a large, bulky, bizarre contraption resting on a clear, level surface. It was made of grey metal and had two sets of horizontal blades on top and doors on the sides. On the far end of the island was a series of platforms supported by stone pillars that surrounded a mound, presumably a cave entrance.
Silence fell across the island. Aside from the gentle breeze and an occasional pebble breaking loose from the spire, there was no noise or movement.
“Where is he?” Celestia hissed. “He should be here.”
“Princess?” Twilight asked meekly.
“I would have expected him to have sensed us coming. Maybe he can't? That would make sense. But there's nobody watching the island? I'd think there'd be at least a single guard who'd alert him of our presence. Why wouldn’t he come to face us? Could he not be here? That seems hard to believe. I know what I’d be happy to do to him, that arrogant bast-”
“Princess Celestia!”
The regal figure jolted in Twilight’s direction. Behind the young princess stood all of the Elements of Harmony, as well as Celestia's own sister. Every one of them was staring at Celestia in awe—and slight fear.
“Sister,” Luna spoke. “We have never seen you act this… frantically before. This Halda person has you terribly wound up. Are you quite sure you are alright?”
Celestia looked around at the group, each one with concern written on their faces. Celestia let out a slow sigh, lowering her head. “No, I suppose I’m not alright. When Halda tricked me all those years ago, I was heartbroken. I had hoped we could benefit from each other, and he had gained my trust. I suppose being betrayed like that was more crushing to me emotionally than anything else.” She then lifted her head to look at each of them in the eye. “I think that’s why I’m so desperate to stop him again. Part of it is personal vengeance. I don’t want to be reminded of the time I was toyed with so callously.”
An uncomfortable silence fell across the group once again. Then Luna spoke up.
“Sister, anger and vengeance are the paths to darkness. We know that better than anyone. If this has you that worked up, then maybe it would be best if you sit this one out.” Luna stepped forward and embraced her sister. “You know how capable Twilight and her friends are. If it’s too painful for you, then we can always take care of this for you.”
“Princess Luna’s right, yer highness,” Applejack interjected. “We’ve handled Equestria’s worst. We can do this again.”
“Besides,” Rarity said. “We always have you looking out for us. Because of it, even though dear Twilight was raised as your student, I believe I can speak for all of us when I say that we’ve always viewed you as a sort of mentor of ours, too.”
The rest of the girls nodded in agreement.
“So while you’ve supported all of us all this time,” Twilight finished. “We’d like to return the favor. It’s not just me. All six of us want to help you out and assure you that you can rely on us.” Twilight gave her childhood mentor a warm smile. “Why don’t you let us take care of Halda? We might need your help since you’re the only one who’s met him, but you can count on us!”
Princess Celestia looked around to all of the warm, smiling faces staring back at her. She could feel herself begin to tear up at the sight.
“Oh, girls-”
“YAWN. This is getting too sappy for my taste. I thought you were better than this, Tia.”
The whole group of ponies looked frantically around for the source of the voice. At last, Fluttershy noticed a small figure flying several meters above their heads.
"U-u-u-up there," she whispered in fear. The group turned in the direction she was pointing. Any calm, rational thinking that Twilight’s friends and Luna had managed to work into Celestia immediately vanished. The princess’ eyes burned with hatred.
“Misery,” she spat.
“Hee-hee-hee. Aww, you remembered me. I’m touched.”
“This… is Misery?” Twilight inquired. “She’s so strange-looking.”
“Celestia’s reaction was more or less the same,” the witch remarked with a chuckle. She then turned her attention back to Celestia. “I see you’ve told them all about me. Pray, what have you mentioned? I do hope you spoke of all the good times we had together.”
“There was nothing of the sort,” Celestia retorted. “They know of your trickery, as well as Halda's. Speaking of whom, I want to speak to him.”
“That old fart?” Misery laughed. “Sorry to disappoint you, but he’s dead. Been gone for quite a while. Good riddance, too. How long has it been since he was around? About… oh… eight hundred years?”
Celestia couldn’t mask her shock. Neither could the rest of the ponies there.
“He’s dead?”
“Of course he is! That’s what happens when you kill someone. And you did a spectacular job at that, if I may add. He’s on display in the Statue Chamber if you ever want to see him.”
Celestia stared at the ground, dumbfounded. “But… he… I… how can that be?”
Misery rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, but what part of being turned to stone don’t you seem to understand? That would kill anyone.”
Celestia furiously shook her head. “But that’s impossible!” she shouted at the witch. “Petrification has never killed anyone before! There’s no reason it would kill him.”
Misery gave an uninterested shrug. “What can I say? Possible or not, that’s what happened.”
“Unless…” Celestia’s eyes went wide with realization. “Unless he’s not immortal.”
Misery broke out into laughter. “That bastard? Immortal? Wherever did you get that ridiculous notion? No amount of magic can make my master undying.” This was too much for the princess to process. She brought her hoof to her forehead while her eyes glazed over with a thousand-yard stare.
Twilight, noticing her mentor’s obvious distress, stepped forward. “W-well then… Misery… if Halda is no longer here, then what are you doing here? ”
Misery gave the young princess a pitiful look. “My reasons for being here are of no concern to you, girlie. Leave the talking to the adults, why don't you? Frankly, I should be asking what you’re all doing here at my home.”
Twilight’s eye twitched and her lip curled in anger at the witch’s condescending tone. Before she could give a snarky response, however, Celestia held out a hoof to stop Twilight from lashing out. The sun princess had managed to calm herself down, as evidenced by her flat, expressionless face.
Misery rolled her eyes. “Right, right. To ‘talk.’ We all know what that means.” Misery repositioned herself midair so that it was like she was lying on her belly, her head resting on the staff. “But I have a better idea. How about this: for your sake, as well as those you brought with you, you all withdraw, and there won’t have to be any bloodshed.”
Celestia scoffed. “My sister and the Elements are more than capable of holding their own. And I know that you’re not here with peaceful intentions. So here’s my offer: surrender and return this island and yourself to your world immediately, or we will have to force you to comply.”
Misery looked at her distastefully. “Hmph. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything else from you. Well, I’m sorry to say, but that simply won’t do.”
“Do you intend to stop me?” Celestia warned. “Because if you do, I won’t hesitate to-”
“Sister!”
Twilight watched in horror as Luna tackled Celestia out of the way of a falling mass. For an instant, it seemed as though the danger had been successfully averted. But before the dust from the heavy impact of the falling object had settled, an ear-piercing shriek sounded across the entire island.
“Luna!”
Once the dust settled down, Twilight was paralyzed by what she saw. Where Princess Celestia had been standing moments ago was now a sizable crater in the stone ground. At its center was the most bizarre creature Twilight had ever seen. It was tall, as tall as Princess Celestia, in fact, but it looked entirely like a box with vertical brown stripes on its face. It’s eyes were the size of dinner plates. And beneath its foot…
...Princess Luna’s hind legs were pinned underneath its massive, bulky body. A red pool was starting to seep out from under the creature’s foot.
Before Twilight or any of her friends could scream in horror at what they’d just witnessed, two plates opened up on the sides of the creature’s body. Within the panels, rows of cylinders with pointed tops jutted out, pointing directly at them. In an instant, they were streaking through the air.
“R-run!”
The ground at Twilight’s hooves exploded. The sudden acceleration sent her airborne, and she became wildly disoriented. With a grunt, she hit the ground on her left side, fighting back the pain of the bruises. Twilight quickly got to her hooves and scanned the area.
“Rarity! Fluttershy! Applejack!” Her friends were strewn about the field, lying in uncomfortable positions. She could tell they were still alive, as they had few physical injuries and their barrels were rising and falling as they breathed, but they weren’t moving at all. They were just knocked out by the blast.
“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash cried. She was flying close to the ground. A lock of her trademark hair was singed, but she was otherwise okay. “What was that thing?! Are Rares, Fluttershy and AJ okay?”
Twilight turned back toward the crater. Celestia was locked in combat with the creature, the two trading magic blasts. Despite its lumbering size, the boxy creature moved with shocking agility and grace. Whenever the princess would fire a golden ray at the creature, it would counter with a volley of smaller white magic orbs launched from its mouth. Celestia was clever enough to be luring the behemoth away from Luna’s broken body, which wasn’t moving.
Twilight turned back to Rainbow. “Is Pinkie okay?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Good. I need you two to get our friends to a safe spot away from the fighting,” she ordered. “The elements are useless without all of us, and those three are in no shape to help. Just get them to safety for now. I’m going to help Luna.”
“You got it.” Rainbow turned toward the pink pony a short distance away, her colors noticeably dimmer and her mane straight and slightly singed. “Pinkie! Help me move these three to that cave over there!” she cried, pointing to the stone pillars and rocky mound in the distance.
Twilight turned her attention back to the incapacitated princess. Teleporting by her side, Twilight took a quick look at her hind legs.
It wasn’t pretty. The limbs were crushed and slightly embedded in the stone. Whatever that box creature was, it must weigh at least a ton. There were several deep cuts along the legs, like the skin burst from the pressure, all of which were bleeding badly. The bones were fractured, and one was poking through her skin on her left leg.
It was all Twilight could do not to retch. “Just hold still, Princess. This is going to hurt, but we need to get you out of there.” The princess did not respond. She had already passed out.
Twilight enveloped Luna’s legs in the magenta aura and pried them out of the stone, careful to avoid bending the legs any more than they already were. Despite the immense pain the princess should have surely been feeling, she did not stir. Twilight lay Luna on the nearby grass and applied a very light healing spell, just enough to stop the bleeding. If there were any hope to save her legs, they would need to be set in place before they could be allowed to heal fully.
Knowing that they were still in danger, Twilight took a defensive stance as she glared around at her surroundings. Celestia was weaving across the island’s surface while the monster pursued her by leaping several stories into the air and coming down with tons of force. The crashes and booms of craters being formed echoed across the island. However, as Twilight scanned the battlefield, Misery was nowhere to be seen.
“AIIEEE!”
The sound of Pinkie screaming in the distance suddenly alerted Twilight. To her horror, the witch Misery was floating right next to her friends. The witch raised her staff, which glowed briefly in a dull white light.
“NO!” Twilight cried, teleporting between the witch and her friends. But she was a moment too late. When she looked at her friends, all five of them were encased in strange bubbles. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie started pounding on the bubbles to try and break them, but to no avail. The other three simply rested within the bubbles, still unconscious.
“Girls!” Twilight dived toward her friends to try and grab them, but before she could get close enough, the bubbles sank into the ground—taking her friends with them.
Twilight stood there stunned. In one fell swoop, her best friends had been taken from her. And she was powerless to help them.
Tears stinging her eyes, she glared at Misery, who was staring back at her with a sad expression. Her horn growing hot from charging, Twilight unleashed a massive beam of magic at the witch. However, when it was inches from reaching her, Misery teleported away, completely unharmed.
Twilight followed. The witch hadn't moved too far away, bringing the fight to where Celestia was dodging another of the monster’s attacks. Misery raised her staff, which momentarily glowed black. Celestia noticed this out of the corner of her eye and immediately erected a golden shield around herself. Twilight took that as a cue to do the same, forming a magenta shield. The moment she did, the tip of Misery’s staff exploded with lightning, which struck at the two princesses, but was harmlessly deflected by the shields.
Celestia decided that she’d had enough of the toaster creature chasing her, so she encased it in her golden aura and threw him across the island, surely uninjured, but with plenty of space between the two. Now with breathing room, Celestia’s horn sparked with power. The very ground around her cracked until massive boulders the size of houses were excavated from the island. Behind her, she was levitating enough rocks to completely destroy a small village with one volley.
“Not a good idea,” Misery warned her. Celestia’s eyes flashed pure gold and the barrage shot toward the witch at blinding speeds.
“Hmph.” Misery raised her staff and teleported away, avoiding several of the chunks of earth. When she reappeared behind the two princesses, eight black rings the size of beach balls were orbiting her body. Twilight shot a volley of magical beams at Misery, but when the beams connected with the rings, they immediately dissipated.
Celestia turned and fired her remaining stock of boulders at Misery. With a smirk, Misery raised her staff and prepared to teleport once again.
But she couldn’t. In a split second, Misery’s expression changed from one of no emotion to sheer panic. Twilight could make out a very faint blue outline on Misery’s body. With a start, she turned toward Princess Luna. The fallen princess’ horn was glowing, and she had a smirk of triumph on her face, giving Misery the most hate-filled glare that Twilight had ever seen.
“No…!” Misery gasped, her voice shaking with fear. Try as she might, she could not break free of Luna’s hold on her.
That’s when the boulder hit. The black rings protecting Misery succeeded in shattering the boulder into much smaller ones, but they could not stop the massive rocks’ momentum. Hundreds of rocks slammed into Misery, and the entire front of her body erupted in pain.
As she flew back from the collision, she caught a flash of violet in the corner of her eye. However, before Misery could even begin to get her bearings, Twilight flew in to deliver a heavy kick into her back.
Misery flew at an angle now, barely conscious, and gasping in pain. But just a second before she could crash into the ground, she felt herself get caught in another magical hold. The aura around her this time was magenta. She strained to raise her head to look into the eyes of her captor. The moment the saw those purple eyes, her blood ran cold.
Twilight Sparkle brought Misery high into the sky—so high that she was actually above the spire, the tallest point on the island. Then, with everything she had, Twilight threw the witch down as hard as she could. The air seemed to whistle as Misery hurtled toward the island’s surface. The sudden acceleration was so intense, Misery blacked out.
“Misery!”
Twilight turned in shock to see that the box creature from before had returned. However, to her surprise, it was not aiming to attack her. Instead, it was running toward Misery, who at this point was totally helpless. Just a few meters above the ground, the creature leaped and intercepted Misery, catching her in midair and allowing himself to absorb the brunt of the impact. When he came back down, the massive creature tumbled along the ground, his graceful movement from before all but absent. The creature laid Misery gently on the ground, then turned to Twilight and Celestia with a glare in his eyes.
“Don’t you touch her!”
It then leaped into the air, opened it’s huge maw, and shot a barrage of magic spheres at the two. Twilight and Celestia evaded the magic blasts until the monster was nearly on top of them, then teleported away. Once he landed, the creature turned and located the two a few meters away, then proceeded to unleash a bombardment of both magic blasts and missiles toward the two.
Instead of evading, Celestia erected a golden domed shield, protecting both herself and her student. Missiles and magic blasts collided with the shield, exploding harmlessly, the shield unwavering. A look of terror crossed the creature’s face. Desperately, he launched another round of missiles at the two. Not one of them connected. All six missiles were caught in a magenta glow and hovered in place briefly. Then, Twilight rotated them until they were pointing back at the one who launched them. When she released her magical hold on the projectiles, they shot toward the monster in a flash.
He was unable to evade most of his own rockets. He felt his body get peppered with explosions, the force lifting him into the air and falling back down with a heavy thud. He groaned as he struggled to lean up and face his attackers.
Twilight and Celestia simultaneously rocketed into the sky, their whole bodies glowing with their respective magic energies. Their eyes had become solid purple and gold. Then they charged straight down toward the injured monster, their horns almost blindingly bright. Balrog closed his eyes as he accepted his death.
But that never came to be. Not a moment too soon, an arc of red magic shot through the sky and cut the two alicorns off from their path. They landed, unscathed, and looked in the direction from which the magic had come. Twilight was at a loss for words when the saw the figure standing there. And when she looked at her mentor, she realized that she too was stunned.
Standing at the edge of the island was a tall, thin creature. It wore a strange white coat and glasses. And atop its head was a blue and red crown of sorts that radiated malice. It looked at the princesses. Then it looked at Balrog. Its gaze then shifted to Misery. Then, his voice calm and unwavering, the Doctor looked at Twilight and Celestia and said, “Would you mind explaining to me what’s going on here?”
