Ten years after the beginning of a fruitless civil war the ponies of Equestria try to rebuild their country, their homes and their lives.
The unveiling of the changelings rocked the foundation of trust of Equestria. The question of what to do with them divided the nation.
The war had no clear winner, but Equestria was devastated and it's people tired. A cease-fire was called and those with homes went back to them to try and make things right. But the questions were never answered. The war, unfortunately, begins again. This time in covert acts and secret labs. Yards McCanter is one such operative, working undercover at Ponyville with a full quest log of objectives. His first duty is to learn how to rekindle the Fires of Friendship.
Rated Teen for violence and suggestive use of a changeling.
Yards felt a familiar weight settle on his back. He concentrated on the dozen or so implements he held over his work table, making sure that none of them dipped. If he showed any sign that she had surprised him it would only encourage her bad behavior. Still, his knees buckled.
Feathered wings folded and the weight shifted as two arms wrapped around his neck. A dark blue horn was the first thing to impede his view. It was followed quickly by a dark, sparkling mane.
His anger rose, but he suppressed it. She could still read his emotions, even if his Martyr's Charm kept her out of his mind. Instead he floated down a tiny chisel and a small hammer from the tool cloud and began etching tiny runes to the bracelet on his work bench.
Large, expressive, aqua eyes stared into his. “Huzzah my good subject! We are most pleased with your diligent works. We now command you to go out and have FUN!” she said, waving her hoof away from the workbench.
He ignored her. The eyes narrowed. “Oh, come now, my most intelligent, and I must say handsome, subject.”
“Now I know you're lying.” He'd never been considered handsome. His broad, plain features were that of a work horse, not a show pony. His dark green main and tail had grown out of their military cut into something shaggy and were beginning to become ragged. Likewise, his pale green coat also needed a good trim. His eyes no longer held the slitted pupils of service to the Princess, but were their normal dark yellow. The light spots on the left side of his face made that eye look misshapen and huge compared to the other. He'd bulked out a little from boot, but he was a thinker, not a fighter, so he lacked the huge size of the bruisers who'd served in the infantry, or air. Instead he was just big for an unicorn. Still, after the Civil War, he was one of the few stallions left, and that lowered the bar significantly.
“Are you hungry?” he asked her.
“...and bored,” she added. There was silence while he continued his work. Finally she asked: “Are you still mad?”
“Do you still look like the Princess?”
A ring of green St. Elmo's fire engulfed the horn and trailed down her body. Her weight significantly lessened and in place of the Princess was a purple earth filly with a yellow and white striped mane. “Wanna play?”
Yards had carelessly left out an old photo once of his elementary school girlfriend. She had of course seen it and memorized the image. It was one she used to try and provoke him when he was ignoring her.
She stood on his shoulders and grabbed him below his jaw with her front hooves. “Omnomnomnom.” She began to playfully chew on his ear, begging for his attention.
“That form is more creepy than endearing. Look, can it wait until I'm done?”
“How much longer are you going to be?”
“How much longer are you going to interrupt me?”
She bit the tip of his ear softly again, but remained silent for several minutes. Finally she had to speak again. “I scared you, didn't I?”
“No.”
“You jumped.”
“You've gotten heavier.”
She squealed angrily and slapped the back of his head. “You jerk!”
He turned his head to look at her. “Got ya,” he said with a grin. She only rolled her eyes. “Why don't you go read a book?”
“I've read all the good ones. Yours just have a bunch of math and no pictures.”
“You're smart enough you can understand the math.”
“But it's so boring!”
“Understanding the fundamental laws of the universe is boring?”
“If it doesn't have pictures.”
“Well how about one of your games?”
“They're more fun if you play with me. There's nothing to do in here.”
“Well at least you're not in the Dungeon anymore.”
“At least there I got to go outside a half hour a week.”
He sighed and floated down the tools to their proper places. “I'll feed ya, hang on.”
She squealed and changed forms again. This time she was a blue and pink unicorn that he had served with in the Lunari. Fear had kept him from asking her out. Fear was an odd thing. He hadn't backed down when standing up against Shining Armor and his loyalists so the Princess could escape Canterlot, even after getting stabbed in the neck by The Martyr's own brother. He'd managed to fight back the hydra that had gotten loose in the lab. Somehow, though, asking a cute mare out terrorized him in ways he couldn't believe. He could flirt, but when it came to risking rejection, he chickened out every time.
Feeding a changeling caused a sense of vertigo as your emotions were drained. After six months of sustaining her, he knew to lay down first. She was still on top of him, rubbing her horn along his. Longingly he remembered the scent of her wash, a tasty combination of petunia and geraniums. How she'd looked at him. He thought about what could have been. Knick-knacking, building a home together, filling it. His heart ached with unrequited longing. She took away the pain. The memories became bittersweet.
Normally a changeling would have their target enthralled, so they didn't notice the feeding. The Martyr's Charms blocked their influence but not their feeding. That way everypony could live together. It was what Twilight had wanted--peaceful coexistence.
She sighed contentedly, nestling on top of him to keep pulling the last few emotions from his heart, digesting her meal. “Thank you.”
“Mmhmm.” He was waiting for the barn to stop spinning.
He'd made a lot of renovations to the barn for her since she'd shown up in a livestock crate on his door. The plumbing had been renovated, insulation had been upgraded, there was a soft pallet for her to sleep on, and his reference books had been moved and replaced with the romance novels she had adored. Of course all his pictures had to be taken down. All his posters of the Elementals and pics of his family were in a box in the basement. The basement was locked with a spell that prevented anypony else from opening the door and getting to his serious projects.
There was a knock at the front door. Two heads looked up as the door slid open and Apple Rhubarb came in. “Hello? Yards? May I come in?”
“Sure, Rhu.” Apple Rhubarb was the current owner of Sweet Apple Acres. The second cousin, once removed, of the Elemental Applejack. Big Macintosh was still MIA, but that wasn't surprising. Five years later and they were still sorting bodies from where Los Pegasus had crashed into the ground and crushed most of Celestia's army. Applebloom and Granny Smith had fled to Appleoosa when the war started. Before it was almost wiped out in the buffalo's attack.
“HELP ME! He's got me tied up in here and is forcing me to be his love slave!”
Rhubarb stopped. Her red and pink mane bobbed with the loaf of bread she had balanced on her head. She had scrubbed herself clean after working the farm so her white coat shone. Her cutie mark of an apple tree looked almost alive from the shine on it's leaves. Her large magenta eyes blinked in confusion.
“It's just Delta,” Yards told her. Rhubarb didn't know what Delta was, and luckily she'd only ever seen her in her feeding form of the blue coated, pink shovel banged unicorn. But she'd known that she was involved in some of his experiments. Yards had considered letting her in on the secret, since she was a Lunar sympathizer and knew he still worked for the Princess undercover, but the less she knew the safer her and her daughter would be. As far as anypony else knew, he was a unicorn she'd hired to work on the machinery and improve efficiency so the farm could be more profitable.
Rhubarb Salad was her daughter. Her father, Rhubarb Delight, had died in the war, likely from a weapon Yards had designed. Maybe that was why he couldn't look at her. In her sad eyes was the reflection of every fatherless child he was indirectly responsible for.
Of course, Apple Rhubarb figured pretty heavily on the other side of that equation. You could bounce a bit off that flank. That wasn't her biggest selling point though. He could smell her apple bread from the door. Oh Sweet Luna, could she cook.
Apple walked over to his workbench setting the loaf of bread down. “Ahh, well...” She didn't look at them.
“Thanks.” He disengaged himself from Delta. She slid off with a thud, unmoving, to glare daggers at her competition.
“I figured you two were hungry...” she turned to walk away.
“Well, we were about to head into town, if you want to come...”
Apple immediately looked up. “Well, sure.”
“Great, give us half an hour to finish up and get ready.”
“Sure.” She seemed to blush slightly, stood there a minute, then turned to the door to head back to the house.
Yards picked up his tools again and went back to work.
“So, what are you going to do in town?”
“We are going shopping and maybe to the Library.”
“Well, could you get me some new books?”
“No.”
She sighed, but Yards didn't look up as he said: “We means me, the Rhubarbs, and you.”
“Huh?” She blinked in confusion. “I can't leave this building. Trixie's charm on the door will cancel out my shapeshift and everyone will see what I am.”
Trixie's Great and Powerful Charm of Revelation was Trixie's answer to the Changeling problem. They were common anywhere loyal to Celestia. Any public building and most privately own shops had them on the door. When a changeling walked in, they were forced into their native form and then attacked by the locals. Many changelings had died in mob violence. There also just happened to be one on the door of the barn. It had come in a crate beside the one she had been shipped in, with specific instructions that it be installed before her crate was opened.
“How?” she asked.
He set his tools down and picked up the bracelet, admiring it close up. He then focused his will into a form, sending it through his horn. The spell hit the bracelet and it glowed as the new thaumaturgical pattern embedded itself into the jewelry. He caught his breath, strained from the effort. Softly he floated it over to Delta. Confused she looked at it and at him. He wrapped it around her front hoof.
“How?” she asked again.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Can you dumb it down for me?”
“Why? You've got to stop beating yourself up like that.”
“Okay, layman terms.”
“Well, I found some of Twilight's notes on Star Swirl's Amniomorphic spell, and it turns out Trixie cribbed her design from his work. I created a spell that will fool that spell into thinking your shapeshift is your native form. If it works then we can use our changeling infiltration agents again.”
“Will it work?”
He pointed at the door. “One way to find out.”
Hesitantly, she walked over to the door. Cautiously she stuck her hoof through. Nothing happened. She pulled it back and stuck it through again. Gingerly she stepped outside for the first time in Luna only knows how long. She looked up at the late afternoon sun and smiled. The smile turned into a laugh. Not an evil, maniacal laugh, but a laugh of desperation relieved, tinged with just a hint of madness.
“See that there, that's the town hall. They've got the clock working again!” Little Rhu was bouncing excitedly, getting to play tour guide to an adult. Delta oooh'd and aaah'd appropriately to edge her on. Rhubarb Salad was still young. She didn't have her cutie mark yet, so her cream coat was still unblemished. Her curly, blonde mane and tail shared her famous kin's color, but not it's style. Shiny pink eyes looked at everything with wonder. “And this here's where the ol' post office used to be. It's a wood store nauw.”
The group was ready for town. Apple Rhu had her grocery list and her saddle bags. They were embossed with a green and white checker motif. Little Rhu had a cheap play set saddlebag with a Cuddle Cutie on it's flank. Delta of course didn't have one. Yards had given her some money so she could buy herself one. Yard's old saddlebags were Lunari military issue, so it wasn't a good idea to wear them in a Solari controlled area. The only other set he owned was the one he was currently wearing. It was old and a little tight, from before his military career. Tails covered his flank and cutie mark. They were held there by heavy chains. The band name Chained to the Plow was stitched in flames on the sides. It was a loud, angry band from a loud, angry time in his life. The singer had overdosed on foxglove and been replaced with some white unicorn. She was cute and could belt out a tune, but he'd generally grown out of lamenting about not having a place in society or a cutie mark, so he hadn't really followed their new stuff.
“Lumber,” corrected her mother. There were a lot of hardware stores now. That sort of thing happened when you were rebuilding towns everywhere. Ponyville hadn't been spared during the Civil War. Well, large portions of it hadn't been.
Out of respect for The Martyr, the library had been unofficially listed as off limits for conflict. Likewise for Sweet Apple Acres. Sugar Cube Corner had been razed during the riots right after Twilight's death. The Carousel Boutique had been heavily damaged, but saved by Elemental Rarity's magic. She had repaired it, but then abandoned it near the end of the war for Canterlot Form and Finish, a finishing school and dorm for girls who'd lost their homes and families in the war.
This left Ponyville much better off than a lot of places. If Apple could get enough hooves she could feed most of the town. That was why she had hired him, to make use of his magic to be able to bring down the amount of labor needed so the survivors wouldn't starve.
“An' this here's da spa.”
Delta's eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
She leaned down conspiratorially, “How about we go get our hooves done?”
Little Rhu breathed in awe. “Momma? Can we, please?”
“I don't know,” said Apple, looking at her bits.
“Oh, don't worry. I can cover it. You two can go do the boring stuff. Together. Alone. But in public.” She gave the two a wink and hustled the filly into the spa.
The two stared at the mare as she disappeared into the building. Then they realized they were alone together and blushed, looking anywhere but at each other.
“That was...odd. Even for her.” Yards broke the quiet.
“Uh, yeah.” Apple agreed.
“Sooo,” he said absently pawing at the ground, “market?”
“Uh, yeah.” Her blush was obvious through her white coat.
They made their way to the Farmer's Market. Sweet Apple Acres wasn't the only farm that was operational. Several smaller, more specialized farms were also rebuilding, trying to produce as much as possible to help the starving all across Equestria.
Apple Rhubarb was well known at the Market. There were a lot of smiles as she stopped to talk with several ponies, buying some of the things the farm didn't produce, making contracts to deliver or pick up things like rye and flour, and looking for fresh canning supplies. While there were many happy and sly winks at her, there were also a few disapproving glares.
“Maybe I shouldn't be here...” mumbled Yards.
“It's okay. I changed my name to honor my husband after his death and the same ponies gave me the same glares. You'd think I was the one that killed him.”
Yards winced slightly at the reminder. “Well, names have a form of power. Haven't you ever noticed?”
“Huh?”
“How much your name influences who you are. You've really never noticed it?”
“That's silly.”
“Your family is all named after apples and runs most of the apple businesses in Equestria. Then there's the other Elementals like Fluttershy and how shy she was, or Rainbow Dash's speed and being named Dash, and her ability to do the Sonic Rainboom. Then there's the mail mare, the Cakes running the bakery, Sweetie...”
“So, Rainbow Dash was a top athlete because she was named Rainbow Dash?”
“With a name like that what else would she do? Dress up in funny hats and drink tea?”
“I'd never thought of it.”
“My dad did. I was supposed to have been an athlete, too.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah. Of course, football fields aren't the only things measured in yards.”
“So it still applies, but not in the way he'd thought it would?”
“Pretty much. Though that's more because my grandfather stepped in and demanded that I have the McCanter surname rather than the shortened Canter that my father had originally named me.”
“So changing your name changed what you'd do?”
“Potentially. What was your old name?”
“Apple Wood,” she mumbled.
Yard choked back a snort of laughter. She hung her head and sighed. Through great effort Yards was able to bring himself back under control. “Growing up must have been tough.”
“They thought I was going to be a colt,” she half whispered.
He couldn't stop himself from laughing.
As they talked, they walked to the Sweet Apple Acres booth. Sweetie Swirl was working there. At one time she had run the ice cream shoppe in Ponyville. It had burned down during the riots and her husband had been killed in the war. She was a shell of herself, with everything she'd loved taken from her. She now used her cold magic to keep their produce fresh while she sold it in their stall.
“Hey, Boss. Hi, Yards, what are you doing out of the barn?”
He grinned and rolled his eyes.
“I'm proving that he won't melt if he goes into the sun.” The girls laughed.
“I go outside, when I need to,” he pouted slightly
They tittered again. “How'd we do?” the Apple asked.
The unicorn mare nodded. “Not bad, we pulled about 5%, sold everything. I did what I could to dissuade hoarding. We fed a lot of ponies today.” Her boss smiled.
“You know it's a really bad idea.” Yards did his best to not lecture his employer.
“Helping ponies is never a bad idea.”
“If you break us now then we can't keep helping ponies. This low a profit margin will only take one bad harvest and we'll be out of business.”
“We're here to help ponies. The Princess will reimburse us.”
Yards shook his head. She'd been in farming all her life, just like he had been during his civilian years. How had she not seen neighbors and family members loose their farms doing this exact thing?
“So,” Sweetie leaned in to derail the conversation, “what's going on with you and that other unicorn in the shed?” Vicariously was the only way she lived now. Gossip was her bread and butter.
“Delta?” The well rehearsed line slipped out easily: “She's my assistant.”
Her eyebrows rose. “So you're not seeing her?”
“Sure I see her every-oh, you mean, oh, no-no we're not dating. It wouldn't be right, she's my employee.”
There was a movement to Yard's left. He turned to see Apple looking down at something. As she rose her head a mask fell across her face.
“Well, it's getting on in time, I better get back to the house and start supper.”
There was slamming to his right. He turned to see Sweetie hurriedly packing up the stand. “I'll help,” she called out to Apple. As she walked by she muttered “jerk” under her breath.
“Thanks. Yards, can you bring Little Rhu in for supper?”
“Sure.” He was still confused. Something had happened and he hadn't caught it.
“Thank you, I know I can always count on such a valuable employee.”
Yards watched the flanks of the women disappear, trying to figure out what had just happened. “Doh!” Then he realized. Well, too late now.
Yards looked around the marketplace. The other vendors were packing up as well. The sun was starting to set and everypony was ready to get home. Hungry eyes peered from the shadows. The destitute and the hopeless were watching. Slowly they began to emerge, begging for the half rotted scraps of what was about to go bad. Most ponies donated them rather than throwing them away, but it was no way to live. Yards would have to find a way to feed these ponies somehow.
Ponies are creatures of habit. Familiar rituals bring comfort, especially in troubled times. The spa was one of those rituals that helped bring normality to a traumatized citizenry. It helped that everpony needed hygiene. Gone were the exotic seaweed wraps and mud baths, replaced by more basic services. It had helped the twins keep their business afloat.
Yards pushed the door open and looked around inside. There was another stallion in a waiting area. They nodded in recognition. It was Piebald. Technically they had been on opposite sides during the war and knew it. However, as far as he knew, Yards was also an inter-office administrator like he had been. The two had shared several laughs over ciders about being secretaries during a war. He was probably waiting for his wife. Yards wracked his brain, trying to remember what her name was.
Piebald was a brown and white spotted pony with a blue mane and tail with a single yellow stripe. He still wore his mane and tail military short.
“Hello, are you waiting for somepony?” asked one of the twins. Yards still couldn't keep them straight.
“Uh, Rhubarb,”
“Oh, just one minute.” She disappeared with a smile into the back before ushering out a little filly. Each hoof was a different color. Little Rhu was grinning and bouncing. “Yards! Look! Aren't they purty?” She waved her little hooves at him. He grunted in the affirmative.
Delta came out soon after. Her hooves sparkled and her mane had been cut into something shorter and poofier. Small bits of glitter had been brushed into her mane and tail. She stopped at the mirrors and admired herself. She cooed and awed happily while the filly ran about bouncing. He'd hoped that Delta would help control the little urchin like she had before, but she was too busy admiring herself. The last time he'd used a command voice on Rhu she'd busted out crying for a good 15 minutes. He knew never to do that again. Softly, he called out to the filly, trying to get her to put down the magazines she was tossing everywhere.
“Weeeellll, aren't you just a cute one.” Rhu jumped and turned around. Piebald was standing over her.
“Hi,” she said. “Did you see mah hooves?”
“They're very pretty,” he smiled. “Yards, you never did learn how to talk to the ladies.”
“Thanks. Girls, we need to be going.”
The girls whined softly but began to fall in line. Delta settled their bill and the two left.
“We headen' home, nauw?” asked Little Rhu.
“Almost, we're going to swing by the library.”
The two girls whined even louder.
“But books arh so borrin'.”
Delta beamed at the little filly while Yards only shook his head. Rhu began to bounce around again, seeing one of her friends from school.
“So, where's Momma Rhu?”
“Home.”
“What did you do?”
He sighed. “Why do you care?”
“Well, you could really use the love,” she said with a grin. “Or, maybe I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me.” Her expression became more solemn. “You disobeyed a direct order to kill me. In a way, you've granted me freedom,” she held up her new bracelet. “It's more than anypony--any changeling--has ever done for me. I'm grateful, really.” Her look was almost bashful.
“I'm not sure how much freedom you can consider yourself to have with your prison necklace on still.”
She bumped against him. “I would be even more grateful if you removed that.” She fluttered her lashes in an exaggerated flirtation.
“Yeah, sorry, they only gave me the detonation command, not the release one.”
She pouted at him then looked away. “Equestria isn't the only land changelings have visited. There's another that we were in before here. They had a philosophy called karma. When you do something good for others, something good happens to you. When you do bad...Well, Chrysalis gave us a lot we have to answer to. So, you know, any good I can do, I owe.” Her head hung lower and lower, burdened by some weight.
“So, why the...” He gestured with his hoof at her, changing the subject.
She returned his action with a confused look. “Why would a mare imprisoned for years go get primped at her first opportunity? Have you ever had somepony else wash your mane?”
“No!” His tone was just a little too defensive.
She laughed at his fear. “Oh, somepony afraid?”
“Anyway, can't you just...” he waved his hoof at his body, desperate to change the subject.
“No. Some can, but I need to see or have seen it to be able to...” she mimicked his motions.
“Oh. So, what about a description?”
She shook her head. “I need an image.”
“So then how are you able to do the Princess?”
“How do you think?” They had reached the Golden Oaks Library.
Sure Exposition is a thankless job, but the hours are good.
The grounds around Golden Oaks Library had been turned into a park area with benches and hedges. Most of the grass and flowers had been eaten by the hungry, leaving it muddy. Trash blew here and there. A pegasus flew about trying to gather up all the litter. She was a familiar pony. Indeed, Yards had spent a great deal of time with her while researching Twilight Sparkle's notes.
Her name was Toffee Chips. She had a tan body with a white and black striped mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a book with a quill writing. Her tail had been pulled into a tight bun and her mane was triple braided. She was the historian in charge of the Library.
“I'm sorry, but we're going to be closing soon-Oh, Yards! It's good to see you again.” Her attitude changed quickly as she fluttered over to them.
“I was hoping that we could get a look at some of those papers Armor dropped off.”
“Well...sure.” She turned and led them back to the library. They walked by the Fountain. It was a beautiful marble work. There were six pillars for the six elements. Three were empty, for the three Elementals still alive, or so everypony was lead to believe.
No pony had seen Fluttershy in the 10 years since the riots that had destroyed Ponyville. She'd disappeared into the Everfree Forest, where no pony could get a confirmed sighting of her existence. There was some debate on if her statue shouldn't be mounted as no pony could survive that long there. Pinky was in the Veteran’s hospital in Canterlot. Diabetes had taken her hind legs but not her smile.
Rhu stopped and looked at the statue of her third cousin. “That's Applejack?”
“Yes, she was the Element of Honesty. Isn't that your family?”
“Yeah.”
“She was a very brave pony. There were several ponies whose lives were saved thanks to her efforts to restore order during the riots.”
“What happened?”
The historian paused, considering her charge. “How old are you?”
“Eight.”
“Ah, so you weren't alive when it started. Well, let me give you the grand tour.” She walked over to a path. Along the path were stations with pictures, statues, and stories. The first station had three wide ply-board signs. The tops were arched and the sides routered to friendly smoothness. The left board was pictures of the royal wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.
"It all started when the changelings attacked. Their queen, Chrysalis, ponynapped Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, imprisoned her in an abandoned mine, and took her place. She used her changeling magic to take the mind of Shining Armor and feed on his power.”
The next board was of Twilight and the Elements fighting off the changelings. “Twilight Sparkle managed to rescue Princess Cadence and with the other Elementals fought against the changeling invasion. They weren't strong enough and were defeated.
The third board showed Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, a huge bubble around Canterlot, and the wedding of the two.
“Princess Cadence and Shining Armor managed to banish the evil monsters using the Power of Love. They were then married and a great celebration was held.
They walked down the path to a small scale city. There were dead ponies and mini fires. The board behind the city told the tale of the Darkness. “Then started a period known as The Darkness. See, the changelings almost took Canterlot, and a lot of people fled from the initial wave. They fled into the rural areas and panic spread out into the land. Tales of shapeshifting monsters that could take over ponies minds and who even beat Celestia herself spread like wildfires. Panic and fear spread, and lots of twins and innocents died in the mass panic.
Celestia had no way of rapidly distributing a message to all of the kingdom so the tales of terror spread faster than the truth. She had to do something to calm everypony so she announced an Inquisition to seek out the changelings that had infiltrated society and banish them far away.”
The next panel on the slowly spiraling path was an Inquisitor holding court. Unfortunately, Inquisitor was going to be a stain on unicorn history. Since it required magic to preform, all the early Inquisitors were unicorns.
“When a pony was charged with being a changeling, they would use powerful magics. Those that weren't changelings were sent home, free of charges. Changelings were then shipped to Canterlot for further testing to make certain before being banished.”
“Hauw did they know?”
Toffee pointed to a horseshoe on the display. “Eventually the Inquisitor Trixie created the charm that forced changelings into their true form, making detection infallible and completely harmless.”
Yards had been watching Delta closely, her face through most of the presentation was a stony mask. The last statement finally provoked a reaction.
She snorted, which she quickly covered with a coughing fit. “Sorry.” She dropped back to walk beside Yards. “Yeah, don't see anything about all the changelings that died in the fires from angry mobs,” she whispered.
“Of course not,” he answered.
They came to the next station. There was a picture of the first battle between the Lunari and the Loyalists. “Then, for the second time in her life, Luna betrayed her sister.”
The filly looked on confused. “Why would she do that?”
Toffee gave a sad shake of her head. “She let her emotions get the better of her. She felt sorry for the monsters. She herself had been banished and knew the pain it caused. She begged for leniency. Eventually her forces took direct action against a transport carrying suspected changelings to be tried and banished. Though the fighting was fierce, few were actually hurt and only one pony died. Private Honey Drizzle was the first casualty of the Civil War.” A blonde and yellow pony was enshrined at the station. Her poofy hair was stuffed under a helmet, a goofy grin looked out into infinity.
The next stop was a photo of Twilight Sparkle. Beside her was Princess Cadence. Conspicuously cropped was Princess Luna, though you could still see her tail behind the other two.
“The Princess surrendered herself and the troops responsible. About this time Twilight Sparkle created the charms we all wear.” She held up her hoof to show her own charm. “With her is Princess Cadence, Alicorn of Love. The two sought a way of keeping everypony safe from the changelings without hurting anypony.” She looked over at the painting, a sad, wistful look on her face. “Then, when it looked like there could have been a peaceful resolution, somepony SHOT Twilight.”
Rhu looked horrified. Yards was envious. Oh, to be young and innocent again.
“Who did it?” asked Little Rhu.
Toffee shook her head. “Nopony knows. Some think it was the changelings for creating a magic that could block theirs. Some think it was the Lunari. When it happened, though, it scared everypony. They panicked and ran. Many ponies were hurt badly. Your relative jumped into the middle of it, trying to get everypony to calm down and to stop hurting each other. Unfortunately, the crowd panicked on her and she was trampled. She did manage to steer the mob away from the school grounds, saving all the little foals.”
Her tiny lip quivered with suppressed tears. There was no way she'd be able to take the rest of the tour, especially in a couple of years when her father would have been conscripted, then later on died. Yards caught Toffee's attention. “It's getting late, I'd hate to keep you any longer than we have.”
Realizing that he was right, Toffee agreed. “It is getting harder to see. Why don't we just skip to the library?”
Rhu Salad nodded, sucking in snot. They cut their way past the rest of the downward spiral of battles of the Civil War and straight to the library itself. The inside was similar to when Twilight had left it. Toffee actually lived in a small building just outside, so all the living space had been converted into a museum.
“You know, as big a fan as you are of Twilight's works, I'm surprised you weren't here when Shining Armor donated her papers.”
Sure, and have her brother recognize him, blow his cover and start another huge fight, destroying everything including the work he'd started. “Well, I was wanting to, but I got to working on a project and lost track of time.”
Toffee seemed to view Delta for the first time. “I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met. I'm Toffee Chips.”
“Hi, they call me Delta.”
“Ah, are you his sister?” The question was clearly loaded.
“No, I work with him.” Delta moved over closer to Yards, almost goading Toffee. The pegasus's face became stony.
“Well, the papers are this way.” She swished her rump as she folded her elegant wings. She did have nice wings, and it seemed she was the only pony with which he could have an intelligent conversation. She didn't have any foals, but she also wasn't really the motherly type. Kids apparently got in the way of her studies. It wasn't a concept that bothered Yards. He wasn't really ready to be a dad, but he also didn't really want to rule it out eventually.
Chips took them to Twilight's former bed chambers. Her actual sleeping area was in a high alcove, the papers were on a desk. It looked like she was in the process of binding them into books.
“Well, here they are,” she gestured with her hoof.
Yards opened up his saddlebags and levitated out supplies. A stack of papers, some ink and a quill.
“Well, I'll leave you here.” Toffee turned to leave.
“Oh this won't take long,” Yards told her. He shot the quill with a simple spell, awakening his enchantment. The quill floated over to the papers and began to copy them. Yards moved papers as the facsimiles were completed.
Delta began to make music. “Baum-ba-baum-bah-bauhbauhbauh-baum-bah-”
“Delta, didn't you want to get some books too?” Yards had to stop her. Why did she always sing that annoying song when he animated something?
She perked up. “Where's the romance section?”
Professionalism kicked in. “It's right over here,” answered Toffee. The three girls walked out of the room.
Ah, the copy quill. It's the spy's best friend. It made quick work of the three volumes worth of papers before he ran out of parchment. Well, that would do for how, or so he hoped. He neatly racked the sheets before putting it all back in his saddlebags.
“Well ladies, Apple should about have dinner ready by the time we get back.”
Little Rhu perked up. “Are we havin' fritters?”
“I don't know. We're going to have to go home to find out.”
The other girls began to put books into bags and walk to the door.
“Thanks, Toffee, I'll see you again soon.”
She perked up. “Sure, hey, we've got a modern agriculture meeting next weekend, maybe you could come talk about some of the things you've done to help Acres?”
“Sure.”
She smiled and waved a little overly enthusiastically as they walked out.
Yards stretched out in his bed. It'd been a rough day. He'd apparently hurt Apple's feelings, but she'd calmed down before dinner had finished, though it was still kind of awkward. He'd read some of the notes. They looked promising, but he hadn't found the key to what he was looking for to complete his project.
There was a hesitant knock at his door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Apple Rhubarb walked in. Quietly she closed the door behind herself.
“Yards,” she said looking down, “I just want to apologize for what happened.”
“No, it's my fault.”
She blushed softly. “It's nice of you to say that. But I shouldn't have projected my expectations on you like that.”
“Well, I...” Performance anxiety took hold of his stomach with a cold, steel fist. Why was he so afraid?
“It's well, it's...since my husband died I've been so alone.” She walked to the foot of the bed. “I...I,” her voice dropped down, she was as scared as he was. Somepony was going to have to overcome their fears. Unable to say anything, he just rolled to the foot of his bed. He felt his skin glow with his embarrassment. Her coat changed to match his shade of red.
“Yards, I...”
“Apple...”
“Yards...” she closed her eyes and moved her head in.
“I...” He closed his eyes and leaned in. He felt his lips tingle with electricity.
“Gotcha.” The voice had a strange reverberation almost like it was spoken by a chorus rather than an individual. Suddenly he was hit with a wave of vertigo. He opened his eyes.
Teal, pupil-less eyes looked back at him. A twisted horn sat high between them. A fanged maw was twisted into a crooked grin and leering at him. A poof halo of glowing turquoise mane decorated her head. A heavy metal chain sat tight against her neck. A blue rune inscribed cameo sat over her jugular vein. Iridescent wings buzzed excitedly. Holy legs dangled above the floor.
Surprise turned to anger as Yards quickly concealed his lower half with a blanket.
“DELTA!”
She laughed then scowled. “That was for telling me I was getting fat.” Then she patted her stomach. “Mmmmm. Wow, Yards. I didn't know you cared so much.” Gently she set herself down, making as little noise as possible. “That was tasty.” She patted her stomach again before a concerned look crossed her face. Rearing up she patted her tummy a third time, looking down. “Huh. I may be putting on a few. Still, I'm in amazing shape, right?” She turned, showing off her physique. “Bread and water diet in a prison can do that.” She slapped her flank, her chitin clacking. “Hmm, though I might could use some more exercise.”
Yards had never seen a changeling this close up before. She was female. Well, at least her form was lither than the bugs he'd seen. There was also a lack of any spikes or horns other than the twisted mockery of a unicorn's on her head.
His anger was slowly cooling, leaving shame in it's place.
“You...”
Her expression changed again. This time she was a mix of longing and promises. “See? I can give you anything she can...” She turned to leave, swaying her flank in his face, blatantly offering. A sparkling halo ringed her body. Instead of the white flank of Apple Rhubarb, a purple coated unicorn with a dark blue mane and tail was in her place. “And so much more.” She reverted to her old feeding form before walking out the door.
Road apple baskets, Yards though before rolling back into bed. Maybe giving her freedom from the charms wasn't the best of ideas. Maybe it was a mistake disobeying orders and letting her live. Maybe they had been right to order her death. Maybe there's something wrong with him. Maybe a strong, take charge woman would make up for his shyness. Maybe he should think about her offer.
No, no, there was one thing she couldn't give him that Apple could. Well, there was a lot. Sure, she could provide emotional and physical support and pleasure. But she'd never have the family or the financial stability Apple would. Rolling over he'd had enough for one day, time for some rest.
It wasn't there. He'd gotten the rest of the papers, read them all three times, to make sure, but the final piece he needed wasn't there. Twilight had done quite a bit of research on the Elements of Harmony and how friendship powered them. Since the Elements themselves had disappeared and the Elementals were dead or scattered, this research was the only way to find out about their magics. The good news was he'd found a passage about Spike being in charge of keeping the Element research notes. Great, now he just needed to find a dragon no pony had seen in ten years.
Delta sat on her pallet reading a book. The library seemed to have distracted her from any further amorous attentions, though she did often stand very close to him and watch him work. At least now, with a steady stream of new romances and celebrity gossip rags, she left him alone most of the day.
There was a knock at the barn door. “Yards...” called Apple. Her voice was shaken. When she walked in the worry was clear on her face. There was a note in her mouth as she walked over to his work bench. Delta picked up on the problem signals and trotted over. Apple pulled the letter from her mouth and held it out to her employee. “This message came for you. It's URGENT.”
Yards picked up the note and unfolded it.
“Agent Fields,
Lord Smooze has awoken. Rapid progress is essential.”
He dropped the note and it immolated. Stunned shock numbed him. How could they have done something so stupid?
He sighed. Well, that meant that he had to head out immediately.
“Girls, I've got to go.” They blinked and looked at each other, then to him. He grabbed his saddlebags and started levitating supplies into it.
“Where are we going?” Delta asked.
“It's too dangerous. I've got to do this alone.”
“Oh no you don't. If you die so will I. I really doubt the next pony they ship me to will be so keen on letting me live.”
“And I'm not going to let a friend go it alone.”
Hmm, could it be? “Alright, then, girls we've got to get ready. I'm not sure how long this trip is going to be or even where we're going.”
“Where to first?” asked Delta.
“Well, we've got to go find Spike, so we'll start at the library.”
“Alright, I'll meet you there after I get a few things packed,” said Apple. She turned and left.
“Delta, are you sure? You could stay here. I'll even unlock the basement. You could hide there.”
She nodded. “As our hostess might say, 'I'm hitching my wagon to yours.' Even if this all ends horribly, I'm through with being locked away.”
“Alright.” He could hardly keep from smiling; the plan was working. Would he be able to get all three?
They packed Delta's new bags and walked into town. With the girls he wouldn't be able to break out his secret tech, so the flight packs were a no-no. Pity, he really did enjoy them, and it'd been a while since he'd last gotten to use them, but he only had one and doubted that Delta would want to break her cover and fly. That, and who would carry Apple?
“Hey, Yards!” He jumped at the squeak behind him. Little Rhu had sneaked behind him.
“Rhu! What are you doing in town?”
“School let ahught and I sawer you two here. Aren't y'all here ta get me?”
“Run,” Delta whispered. “We're on our way to the library.”
Rhu gulped. “Awh.” Obediently she fell in behind the two, prattling on about some boy or another.
Toffee Chip was at the information desk, checking in books. “Done already, Delta?” The two had bonded over some cheesy were-human romance series.
“Not yet. Book five is just so AMAZING!”
The girls squealed. “I know, right? Isn't Bit Chomper just so incredible?” Toffee practically swooned over her make believe lover.
“He's a little too emo. Brilliant Lance can pierce me any day,” the changeling tittered.
“But he's not Heart Sworn's True Love.”
“Fine with me, that way he can be all mine.”
The two girls giggled again. “Well, then what do you need today?”
“Spike,” Yards broke in smoothly.
Toffee looked at him with her head cocked in confusion.
“We need to find something Spike-”
“Hey, Toffee, I finished book three.”
“Hi, Apple.”
“Everypony here?” Yards tried to hide the annoyance in his voice, but from the looks of the mares, had failed.
“Just because I like a take charge stallion doesn't give you the right to be all rude.” Delta glared.
Yards closed his eyes and tried to remind himself they didn't know any better. “Look. What I'm about to tell you is so far above Top Secret I could have you all killed just knowing me. Alright, look.” He sighed, trying to figure out how to say it. Telekenetically he barred the doors and windows. “Well, you've all either chosen to be here,” he looked at the the Rhubarbs and Delta, “or have specialized information desperately needed for this mission,” he looked over at Toffee.
“The government has restarted their research in a Smooze weapon.”
The girls all looked at each other. None of the trio had any idea.
“Ta Lord of ta Underworld?” asked Little Rhu.
Yards looked down at the filly. “Yes, it's named after the mythological Lord of the Underworld.”
Little Rhu beamed with pride. “Ms. Cheerilee just went over that yesterday.”
“Good job paying attention. Anypony know about him?”
The girls started scratching their heads, while Rhu was waving her hoof frantically.
“Sorry, I don't really study mythology,” Toffee apologized.
“Rhu, what do you remember?”
“Well, it was a lake that ate bad ponies.”
“Almost. It absorbed their essence and added it to it's own, growing more powerful with each unkindness. The Smooze bomb was the Solari answer to the siege of Los Pegasus. They'd planned to dump it over the city where it would absorb the moisture in the clouds and convert it into more smooze, thereby denying the Lunari pegasi cover to attack from.” He paused, letting the knowledge sink in.
“So they were going to destroy the entire city that the Lunari ended up crashing anyway?” Even Toffee was having trouble grasping just how incredibly bad this was.
“The problem was that it didn't just absorb water from the clouds, it absorbed water from everything. EVERYTHING.”
Toffee shook her head. “No, no, no. The Princess would never have allowed that. You're talking about a weapon that could chain reaction into killing everything.”
“Yes, I am.”
“The Lunari I could see as being so short sighted, but not the Princess.”
Apple almost interjected something,but Yards broke her off. “Both sides were developing horrible weapons. There were things even those of us in R&D, the R&D of both sides, stopped once we saw the lines we were crossing. We saw the danger that such a weapon would pose and besought our brethren to stop. There were very few times when we listened to one another, but mercifully this was one of them. Though we were fighting, we didn't want to kill all life everywhere.”
A terrible truth was dawning on Toffee's face. “You're a Lunari?”
Yards hung his head. Here he was trying to save the world and she was getting caught up in partisanship. “Yes, I was a Lunari. But that doesn't matter. What matters now is that we stop whoever it is that's trying to destroy the world.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You're a Lunari; how can I trust you? I'd be a traitor, the same as you.”
“Toffee, I, look...gah!” He facehoofed hard. “Toffee,” he looked her in the eye, pleading, “look, I need to know how the Elements were powered, to create an alternate power source that potentially means ponies other than unicorns could create harnessable magical power. Imagine all the good that could come of this! Farms of Earth ponies that could use technology to quickly pick crops without killing themselves from all that physical labor. Hospitals where teams of pegasi and earth ponies can manipulate items with the fine control of a unicorn's psychokinetic scalpel.”
“And how does the Lunari military plan on using this power?”
“In terrible ways.”
“So, this new power source, it will be provided to both sides?”
“No, it will be provided to all ponies. You'll see to that.”
“And Twilight never did this-?”
“Because she was trained in magic, not engineering.”
“Alright, but you better never lie to me again.”
“I never lied in the first place,” he mumbled under his breath. “Does everypony understand now?” They all nodded their heads. “Alright, so we're looking for Twilight's research on the Elements themselves. She entrusted them with Spike. So we should start by looking through his things. Toffee, I don't suppose you've found them?”
“Nooooo.” She looked away.
“Now who's holding out?” asked Apple.
“I promised,” she mumbled.
Apple walked over to the librarian. “Hun, we really need to find this thing. A lot of ponies lives depends on this. I respect you made a promise; so what exactly did you promise?”
“I promised that I wouldn't tell anypony where he was.”
“Spike?”
She nodded.
“Spike's alive?”
She nodded again.
“Why doesn't he want to be found?”
Toffee pawed at the ground.
“If you can't tell anypony can you show us?” asked Delta.
Toffee considered the idea. “It's pretty far away.”
“I'm packed.” Delta pulled out a scarf from her bags.
“Alright,” the pegasi said in a small voice.
Yards sighed. “Thank you, Toffee.”
She began to pack her own bag. “How long will we be gone?” Apple asked.
“We can get there overnight, but as late as we're heading out, probably two days.” The others milled about while the pegasus packed her things.
The Everfree Forest was not the type of place a pony liked being after dark. All manner of dark and mysterious things lived inside. Nature moved on it's own accord. Yards and the mares had managed to make it to a cliff face before a terrible storm had forced them to huddle together in a shallow cave where they waited for the violence outside to stop. Yards pulled a heat stone out of his pack and activated it's enchantment. The stone bathed the inside of the alcove in warmth and light. The Apples and Delta were setting up sleeping areas while Toffee and Yards were looking at the map.
“So how much further?” asked Yards.
“Probably a couple more hours. It's not that far flying, but the path winds around the mountain so it'll take a while to climb up.”
Apple Rhubarb came around, giving out apples for everypony to eat. The two thanked her and went back to their conversation.
“Why did he leave?” he asked her.
She sighed. “He took Twilight's death really hard. She was like a mother to him, and everypony was fighting over her legacy, trying to pull him to either side. There was a cave the Elementals had found in one of their adventures. Spike was turning it into a lair before the war started. He liked that it was close enough that he could help Twilight but sort of 'get away for the weekend'. It gave him a place to explore being a dragon in a place where he couldn't hurt anypony.”
Delta walked up besides Yards and covertly switched apples with him. “So once you get your notes thingie how long will it take to get your all powerful world shattering anti-smooze weapon?” She took the last bite of the apple before throwing it deep into the cave.
He gave her a pointed look. “It depends. I'm not sure how it's going to work. If it works similar enough to something already established I could have an Alpha prototype in a week or so.”
“A week?”
“To an undetermined amount of months if it's sufficiently different.”
“So how long do we have?”
Yards shrugged. “You never know how long it's going to take. One screw up in a lab can shave off months or cost you years. The lucky thing is we're not potentially working with extremely hazardous materials, so we don't have as many safety protocols.”
“Then what do we do now?” asked Toffee.
Delta looked around. “Well, we could have an orgy.”
“Mah, what's an orgy?” asked ears too little to have heard the joke.
“It's a party,” her mother quickly answered.
“YAY, an orgy, let's have an orgy!” The filly bounced around the cave while her mother glared at the changeling. Delta gave a sheepish grin.
“Let's just turn in instead.” offered Yards. The others agreed. Yards changed the enchantment on the stone to turn off the light and leave on the heat as all the mares settled down. Delta was the first to come over.
“Exothermic,” she whispered. “Do you mind?” He sighed and lifted his blanket up as she slid next to him. She felt cold, but then again, women generally did. He wasn't really sure if her species were exothermic, since it'd never occurred to him to measure that. They shared a lot of beetle attributes, but he'd disobeyed the order to dissect her. He felt embarrassed he'd never done a real physical on her. Of course, that would also mean inspecting her anatomy. Given her current attitude, something told him she wouldn't mind that.
Little Rhu was next. She snuggled next to Delta. “Can I sleep wit you?” She sighed before nodding. Apple looked on with a smirk. Cock blocking at it's finest.
Toffee walked up flapping her wings. “The wind from the opening is ruffling my feathers and keeping me awake. Can I use you for a lee?”
His heart was starting to beat faster as she snuggled down wind from him. Were all the girls going to just -?”
“PONY PILE!” Apple jumped on top of him and the other girls laughed. They started to wrestle him, trying to hold him down with their combined weight. With a little bit of levitation here and there he was able to fight off their attacks without it looking like he was using magic. Unfortunately, he could never win this battle. If he held one down the other two were on him. Rhu tried to help them, but did little more than get under hoof and make his footing more unsecured. Finally Delta grew exhausted, the years of confinement robbing her of any real endurance. Toffee quickly lost interest as well. Left alone Apple Rhubarb was little mach for his strength and magic. She was quickly pinned down.
“Oh darn, I lost.” Her eyes said she wasn't the loser. Yards sighed, foam thick on his flanks. He collapsed on top of her, exhausted. The other girls gathered around them as they all fell asleep, tired, warm, and happy.
The next day it was still raining, though not as hard. They decided to brave it anyway. Little Rhu was walking under Toffee's wing while Delta talked to them. Apple was hanging behind with Yards.
“You stopped me from giving away that I'm a Lunari, too,” she whispered.
“I know. Plausible deniability.”
“How's that going to work now?”
“If she doesn't rat me out, she's now an accessory, so she can't tell anypony. If she turns me in, you can say you didn't know either. When they go search the barn, don't be the first to go in.”
“What did you do?” her voice was a hiss of anger.
“Nothing that should do any damage to the farm, other than the stuff in the barn.”
“Yards, what if Sweetie goes in there?”
“She'd have no reason to go in there, unless she's a spy, too.”
“What if something happens to you? How do I disarm it?”
“How much deniability do you want?”
“You can be a real bastard sometimes. You know that?”
“My parents are happily married.” He shot her a smug grin and a wink. She huffed and rolled her eyes.
“You two okay back there?” Toffee asked.
“Well, how much longer?”
“Hang on, let me go up and look.” She took to the air and spun slowly getting her barrings. There was a bolt of lighting behind her and she jumped. The lightning hit a rock and the rock began to slide down the hill. The two days of rain had loosed the local dirt and it began to move.
They were in a “V” chasm as the mud slide started to come down. The other side was a good fifteen to twenty feet away. Yards grabbed Apple and teleported them across to safety. Apple's scream for Rhu was interrupted half way. Delta grabbed the foal and flipped her on her back. She took off running for a narrowing of the chasm to jump but the mud got there first. She lept as close as she could. The two adults watched in slow motion as the two missed the ledge and plummeted from sight. Apple screamed with all the fury a mother could muster. Toffee heard her cries over the tons of dirt and rocks and dived down after them.
She popped up a little ways away with Rhu in her front hooves.
“Where's Delta?” Yards asked as they ran over to where the pair landed. Toffee came out of the chasm, empty hoofed.
“Wha-?” Apple blinked, looking from Toffee to Toffee. Erzat Toffee sat the filly down and bowed her head sheepishly.
“Mah! Did you see that? I flew! It was really scary! I don't think I want to do that again.”
Toffee landed beside her twin glaring at her.
“Rhu!” Apple snatched up her daughter in a fierce hug.
“Give me back my body you monster!”
“Hey, let's not get personal here.” Delta defended herself while shifting back to her feeding form.
“It makes sense now,” mused Apple. Then she gave a nervous laugh. “And all this time I thought you didn't like my cookin'?”
“Oh no, Yards is right. It's amazing. I just, can't eat very much, cause, well...”
“Helping a Lunari is one thing but a Bug? Just you wait until the Inquisition finds out about this!” She turned to fly away.
Yards grabbed her with his telekinesis. It wasn't the fun, delicate touch this time, but a cold, iron, military grab that left no room for wiggle. Still she tried to struggle. “Toffee. Look! You've got to listen to me.”
“Why? You're a liar and a traitor!”
“I have never lied to you.”
“You have a Bug living with you!”
“It didn't bother you last night when you were sleeping right beside her. Why does it matter now?”
“She lied to me about what she is.”
“So you lied to her about how you feel about her?”
"A false feeling created on a secret is not a lie."
“Oh, and you've told her all of your deep secrets?” “I don't have any secrets.” The matter of fact tone told him she was calming down even if he was losing the argument with her.
“Fine, you want the truth? This is Test Subject Delta. She was shipped to me to experiment on.”
“How did she get past my door? Did you do something to my charm?”
“No, your charm is working fine. You understand the observation principle. I can't give you specifics, okay?”
She nodded.
“Will you trust me when I say I'm working for the betterment of ponies everywhere?”
“By using a changeling?”
“Yes. In one of my experiments.”
She chewed her bottom lip.
“She needs to be contained.”
“She is. She's collared. She can't hurt anypony.”
“And you're responsible for her?”
“Haven't I been so far?”
She sighed. “I don't want that Bug around me any more, it's not safe.” She took to the air, hovering just off the ground. Then she began to shoo Little Rhu away from her friend.
Delta was visibly hurt. “No, don't thank me or anything. I only saved her life. No really, it was nothing.” The Apples at least had the decency to glance back, ashamed.
Yards walked over to Delta. “Oh, don't you start,” she cut him off.
“What?”
“She's right, you're just as phony as they are. I'm just a test subject, you said it yourself.” There was pain in her voice.
“Delta, no, well, it's complicated.”
She reverted back to her true form. Her eyes glowed. “Prove you're not as racist as the others. Kiss me.”
“What?”
“Kiss me and prove that you care about me.”
“I, well...I can care without...”
“So, is that the way it is with us?”
“I...”
“No, no having your cake and eating it too. Am I more than just a test subject to you?”
Yards looked up to see the other mares out of earshot.
'Yes.”
“That took a while. So I'm more than a test subject?”
:”Yes,” he said more emphatically.
“But you won't kiss me?”
He looked down.
“That's what I thought.”
“It's the fangs,” he whispered.
“Excuse me?” “The fangs. I-I'm not sure how to kiss around them. I'm not really that experienced with kissing anyway, and well, that level of complexity is beyond me.”
She looked at him, blinking. Then she laughed. “You are so dorkarific. I swear.” She reverted to her feeding form. She leaned in and kissed him. There, that's not so scary, now is it?”
He blushed. “No.”
“I guess we need to get caught up with the others then?”
He nodded and they started back after the other half of the group.
“You really need some more confidence. You've got nothing to be afraid of. After all you seemed more than ready the other day with Ma Apple.”
“It's not like that. I can't risk alienating them. You're all too important.”
She rolled her eyes. “That line only works in romance novels. What's really going on?”
“It was different then. It was before you girls started hanging out together. Now if I choose one of you, somepony is going to get hurt, and I don't want to hurt any of you.”
“You know what? Stick to the 'too important' line.”
“Okay, this is the place.” Toffee was flapping outside an old cave. There were signs of habitation. Old refuse and spore, burned up in an effort to hide it. Tracks of footprints were going in and out. There were stunted trees and brushes growing around the area and up the slope.
“Should we knock?” asked Apple.
Toffee walked into the cave mouth. The others followed hesitantly. The cave narrowed then doubled back on itself, creating a trap that blocked the wind. The cave then opened up again into a grand chamber. There were several small anti-chambers surrounding it. In one was an apron and some cookware, in another were some burned bits of furniture. Another had paintings and pictures of the Elementals and personal shrines to each. In the far corner was a dragon crying.
Spike had grown since the pictures Yard had seen. He was nearly twice the size he had been, which made him roughly pony sized. His spines had been torn and his scales were missing in spots. The ponies all rushed to him.
“Spike, what happened?” asked Toffee.
“This other dragon, he came in and beat me up. Took my stuff, said if I didn't get him more jewels he'd give me worse.”
The Apples set to cleaning him off while Delta started pulling out her scarf and turning it to bandages.
Toffee pulled out a bundle from her saddlebags. “Well, Rarity sent you some more supplies. Have something to eat.”
Spike pulled the string and the bundle opened to reveal an overflow of rubies and opals. He smiled. “She's so good to me.” He took a ruby and popped it in his mouth. He winced as a bad tooth came down on the hard crystal.
“When is he coming back?” asked Yards.
“What day is this?”
“Thursday.”
“Today.”
Yards sighed and began to look around for defensible spots and weapons they could use to fight a dragon.
Toffee walked over. “Do you have anything that could stop a dragon?”
Yards shook his head. “Nothing here.”
“We've got to get him out of here.” Toffee was urgent.
“Yeah.” Yards turned back to Spike. “Do you still have the research note from Twilight's experiments on the Elements of Harmony?”
He nodded, looking over to the shrine. “Their under Twilight's statue.”
Yards walked over and gently picked up the statue. Under it was a niche filled with papers. Yards carefully levitated them into a protected section of his saddlebags.
“Do you think we can move him?” Toffee walked back to Spike and talked to the girls.
There was a large thunk outside. Everypony looked at each other.
“Hey, Shrimpie! You got the rest of my jewels?” came the huge booming voice at the front of the cave.
“Tell me there's a back entrance,” begged Toffee.
“Nope,” whimpered Spike.
“Delta, anything you can do?” Apple asked.
“Okay, one, I've never seen a dragon, so unless he's always wanted to have sex with himself I'm not going to be able to seduce him. Secondly, it'd take a LOT of love for me to be able to shape shift into something that big. Like magnitudes more than I've ever gotten from Yards.”
“What about us?” asked Apple.
“Well, I've never seen a picture of your husband and you and Toffee have your emotions so tied up that I don't think I could get enough from you two.” She looked and saw Spike, her eyebrow raised. With the familiar halo's glow a purple unicorn stood in her place. The larger dragon poked his head inside.
“Spike,” Delta called with a soft voice.
Spike looked up. His eyes glowed green, grew huge and began to well with tears.
'”T-Twilight.”
“Hey there. If it isn't my Number One assistant.”
Spike lept up and hugged her neck. “Twilight, I missed you!”
“I know,” she nuzzled him.
“I didn't even get to say good-bye.”
“It'll be alright. You don't need me anymore. Look how big you've gotten.” She gave his head a light noogie.
“What are you doing?” The dragon looked confused.
Yards went through his list of inventory in his head. What did he have that could stop a dragon? The cloud bombs and dark grenades would blind a dragon but his breath weapon would end up everywhere and probably hurt somepony. Hmm, the crack grenade would hurt it, but probably not kill it. He'd have to time it's use right. Right now he needed a diversion so that also ruled out his incendiary and frag grenades. Crap, he really needed some sort of glue bomb. He pulled out his rope and hit it with his come to life spell. Jaws are usually designed to snap down hard, not open forcefully. Yards chucked the dark grenade into the dragon's face, blinding it. The dragon screamed. The rope began to wrap itself around the dragon's jaws. Excellent. He was tied up for the moment. Now Delta had a few minutes to finish getting ready.
“But I'll always need you.” Spike hugged her harder.
She kissed the top of her head. As she did a green smoke wafted from his head into her mouth. “It was my time to go. I'm sorry it hurt you, but it really wasn't anything personal, it's just the way the world works.”
“I love you, Twilight.” Cleansing tears flowed hard down his cheeks, as the years of pain washed away.
The dragon reached up with a claw and snapped the line. Crap. He was too smart. Time to take it up a notch. He opened up his saddlebag and pulled out the crack grenade. It was designed to take out heavily armored vehicles in an assault. He'd never had to use them in the war, far removed doing escort duty then research. He squared up his courage and charged, the grenade telekinetically held high. The dragon blinked at the pony's death charge.
The scaly beast blasted out a gout of flame. Yards slid under the blaze, continuing under the beast. He slapped the grenade into it's armpit. He took a moment to admire how cool he must look before unceremoniously slamming into the drake's back legs.
“What?” the dragon asked, spinning around to get out of the cave. A great claw came down on Yards. He felt his scapula snap in multiple places and his ribs groan under the pressure. He screamed in pain. The dragon reared outside, looking at the device magically attached to him. “What did you do?” Then the timer went off.
“I'll always love you, Spike. You know that.” Delta held up the last bit of her beautiful new scarf for Spike to blow his nose on. “What I want most from you is for you to be happy. Are you really happy here, alone?”
“No.”
“Then go and be happy. It's all I've ever wanted for you. Can you do that for me?”
Spike nodded then hugged her again. Delta's eyes rolled back into her head and her knees buckled. Spike's hug turned into a support. He shook his head, the green light fading from his eyes.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Oh, yes.” She turned and headed to the cave entrance. “Now where is that dragon?” She saw it's back half spin around and leave the cave. A huge green halo began to circle her body.
The dragon roared. The dragon's scales were hard, but the blast was well placed. The crook took most of the blast and channeled the energy around, ripping the scales from the body. Blood streamed from all the cuts where the once protective scales shredded the flesh. The arm didn't work right as most of the connective tissues were destroyed. He screamed in pain and defiance.
“My arm! You stupid pony I'll-”
The ground trembled with steps behind the dragon. He turned around to look directly into his eye. For a moment he paused, the pain and anger forgotten by the impossibility of the situation. “What are you doin' with my face?”
“This,” answered Delta with a headbutt. The dragon reeled from the attack while Delta made huge, pinwheeling attacks with her new claws. Her eyes were wild with anger and madness. “What? You think you get to just push people around? You think that just because you've got the upper hand on somepony else you can just make them do your bidding? Are ponies really just playthings for you?” Claws found the wounded area and ripped huge chunks of flesh haphazardly. The dragon turned to flee. She grabbed Yards in her claws. He grunted then began to squirm as the pressure built.
“Somepony, pfft. And ponies wonder why nopony else likes them. Why else do we always invade or otherwise make trouble? I”ll give you a hint: It's because you keep saying nopony and somepony and anypony. Not all of us are ponies, yet your words invalidate our existence. You self centered, self serving wretches!” The screaming caught the attention of the other ponies who tentatively stuck their heads out of the cave. Delta continued: “But do you extend your vaunted tenants of love and tolerance to us? Oh no, we're not ponies, we don't matter. If we're not live stock, we're pets or...”she squeezed Yards harder, “test subjects.”
“Delta...”
“That's not my name! What is my name, huh?” She pulled Yards to her face. “All these months and you don't even know my real name, do you?” He looked away. It made it easier for what he had to do to her.
“No I don't. I'm sorry. De-please don't do this.”
“Sure you're sorry, it's easy to be sorry when your karma has come back to you.”
Yards felt his ribs splinter. The bones were working their way into his lungs soon it would be too late.
“No...Sorry for...for this, Zakabaum!” With that he closed his eyes and shot the detonation command into her necklace.
The necklaces were instruments of terror. They were designed to instantly disintegrate a head sized chunk out of any form they may be in. A pony sized chunk out of a dragon sized body, still reached the vein. Blood poured from the missing hunk. Delta's eyes returned to normal as her lips mouthed a silent: “Wha?” Her body quickly reverted back to it's bug form before falling to the ground and not moving.
Yards also fell to the ground. His body was so badly mangled he didn't know what had just been damaged. It was the mares that got to her first. Little Rhu was crying.
“No, it an't fair. Mah, make it stop.”
“I,” her voice broke. “I can't, Dear.”
Yards could feel a stirring of magic, but the love of a little filly wasn't enough. He was going to need the help of all of them for this experiment to work. He dragged his broken body over to her. She looked at him with eyes of resignation. She mouthed a simple “Sorry,” before laying her head on the ground. Yards put a hoof down on the wound, staunching some of the flow.
“Girls, do you want to help?” His chest burned, his voice was breathy and ragged, bloody foam fell from his mouth. “I need your...friendship...We're friends, right?”
The girls nodded.
“She's ahwesome! She plays with me, and listens. She's the bestest friend aever.”
“I...need the...mares, too.”
“She's right.” Surprisingly it was Toffee. “It doesn't matter who's saying the truth. Princess Luna as Nightmare Moon terrorized Equestria twice, yet with an apology and a couple PR stops, enough ponies loved her that they betrayed Princess Celestria, yet no other enemy of Equestria is allowed off that easily. It's not right, she's not done anything wrong to deserve death.”
“She's...a pol...itical prisoner. The...Changelings gave...her to us to...carry out...her death sentence.”
“And what did she do?”
Yards shrugged. It hurt too much to talk.
“I don't know anything of Changeling law or her past, but I've not seen any display that would warrant a death sentence. I, I was hasty to blanket her with the revulsion of being a changeling, especially after the way I found out. If anypony deserves a chance to be my friend, it's her.” Her friendship churned the magic around him.
“She's saved the life of my filly, that alone gains her my friendship. That she's such a good friend to my daughter just hows she's a pony worth befriending, even if she's not always a pony.” Apple placed a hoof next to his, to help with the gaping wound. Magic resonated all around him, begging for a focus for it's release, so he welcomed it into him. He could feel it's blazing heat warming him. He brought it forth and mixed it with his own fire as he brought up his feelings of friendship for Delta.
Pink flames danced along the ground, renewing the life of the plants around them. Delta's body began to tremble as the Fire of Friendship reinvigorated the life in her. She grunted and shook.
Yards found it increasingly difficult to see. The world faded into a bright pink blur. There was pressure on his hooves. Something he couldn't see was pushing it's way up, stronger than he could push down. The fires backwashed along his body, burning the tiny chips in his ribs and legs only to rebuild them into larger segments of the bones.
“Delta!” shouted Toffee.
Yards blinked, trying to contain the fires, but the fires scattered everywhere, spreading warmth all around. The girls shrieked and the connection was lost. Yards collapsed on the ground, tongue lolling out. Delta landed on the ground next to him. The two stared into each other's eyes. Slowly, she grinned at him. Through the pain he grinned back. They started to giggle. The other mares came to stand around their fallen friends. They looked down and joined in the laughter.
Yards bones were still broken, though no longer shattered, so the Apples went off to gather items for a stretcher to pull him home.
“So you brought grenades, but not a first aid kit?” asked Toffee.
“Grenades weigh less. First aid supplies are heavy. Kinda says something there.”
“Yards,” Delta whispered, “I'm sorry.” The Fire of Friendship had apparently saved her life, but she wasn't one hundred percent either.
He nodded. “You should have said something sooner. If you feel like somepony is taking advantage of you, speak up. You have the right to your dignity.”
She nodded.
The others built a stretcher and Yards rolled himself onto it with a scream of pain and no few tears. They hitched the litter to Apple Rhubarb so she could drag him back home.
“Delta, I would like to apologize again for how I treated you.”
The changeling nodded.
“So, what is your real name.”
Delta opened her mouth, but winced, grabbing at her throat. She shook her head.
“Well, may we call you Delta, for now?”
She nodded.
“Would you like to stay in the house? We've got rooms.” Apple asked.
Delta smiled. Yards winced.
“So, Spike,” Toffee turned to the young dragon walking along with them now, “where are you heading now?”
“Canterlot. I'll go say 'hi' to Rarity, then maybe see Twilight's family. Then, I don't know.”
“Well, you're always welcome to come live at the library. It was your home; it can be again.”
He seemed to consider it. “Maybe, I don't know. Somepony helped me realize I can't always live in the past.” He looked over at Delta who just looked away with a blush.
“Hey, Spike,” Yards added. “If you would, don't tell Sun Butt about her.”
Apple Rhubarb set a bowl of vegetable soup on Yard's nightstand. There was a small plate of cornbread on the tray beside it along with a glass of milk. “Is there anything else you need?”
“Well, I need to report in. Can you get me my comm stuff?”
“Sure,” she turned to go get his quills.
While he waited he levitated spoonfuls of the soup over to him on his bead. The doctors had used their magic to set and strengthen his bones, but he was still bedridden for a few days.
Until then it seemed the mares were taking turns trying to out do each other in taking care of him. Toffee brought over a whole bunch of books, Apple was cooking all his favorites, Delta was, well, being Delta. She had taken to feeding off Apple for a while, until he got his strength back. It seemed to help bring a sense of closure she hadn't had before.
He washed down the heart burn with some of the milk as Apple came in carrying his quill set. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” He waited until she left to help protect her. Finally he levitated a scroll and a quill in front of him.
Lt. Colonel Pageturner
Commander Special Projects
I am pleased to announce the successful completion of Phase I of Operation
Obsidian Arrow. The Fires of Friendship has been successfully summoned.
It leaves one temporarily blinded, however, so I suspect it's useless as an
offensive tool for anything other than the Wendigo, which is highly
susceptible. Should the winters continue to grow colder we will be ready.
It was able to save a life, but that used potential Elementals, so I'm uncertain
just how effective it could be in our MASH units. Further study should be
done as a lot of lives could be saved. Also, I am sad to report the loss of test subject
Delta. She was overly fed and was capable of turning into a dragon. The
dragon's rage led to a loss of control and her collar had to be detonated.
Please do not send a replacement subject. We got enough to know that
Project Sheepwool was also a complete success. Technical schemata
are to follow.
End Transmission
He turned to the rest of the set. A dragon incense burner flicked into a blue flame. He rolled up the scroll, sealing it then set it on fire.
He took a second scroll.
Dear Princess Celestia,
As per orders, observation of your sister continues. I am pleased to
report that she still shows no signs of any returns to her dark persona.
Her current plans are for the protection of Equestria from potential existential
threats and we're working on a way to save many lives. Though she disagreed
with you on the changelings her heart still remains compassionate.
Say “Hi,” to the Blue Haired Ninny for me.
Your faithful vassal, Yards McCanter, Observer, Lunari Guard
He looked over at the burner this time turning it's flame to a green before setting fire to the scroll. Snuggling in,, he realized his other report was late. He took a quick power nap while the soup cooled.
The dreamscape was a comforting scene on some farm his subconscious had come up with. It was part his dad's farm, part Sweet Apple with a bear selling sandwiches in a road side stand.
The Princess flew down from the night sky. Always a vision of feminine grace and beauty. Her mane flew in it's perpetual breeze. Her slender legs landed on the ground. He knelt before her beauty.
“I am sorry to hear of your loss.”
“Thank you, Princess. I am pleased to report that I may have found at least one potential Elemental. Once we learn where the Elements of Harmony are, we will be able to test further.”
She smiled. “How are your friends?”
He sighed, “Well, I really used them. I'm not sure I could call them friends.”
“You falsified paperwork to protect one, you risked your life to protect them all. They are your friends. You need to forgive yourself, Yards. You're using your clinical skills to build shells to protect your wounds. Until you can start empathizing with them, you're going to continue to use those that want to help you. You can do so much more.” She put her hoof under his chin. He felt himself swoon.
“Princess?”
“Yes?”
“Delta, what was her real name?”
She turned to look over he shoulder. “I'm needed elsewhere. Trust in yourself, Yards. You are worthy of their love.” She took to the sky, disappearing into the moon's face. Yards looked on, deciding that a nap would be all the adventure he'd be interested in today.