Chapter 13 – Plots, Secrecies and More

Gilda picked at a patch of floor that was chipped, wondering if she should follow the three to her homeland. It had been a long time since she was there, having run

away directly after flight school. Her father had searched the kingdom for her, and even searched Equestria, but to no avail. Eventually, or so she heard, he had fallen

into a depression. It pained Gilda to do this to the only parental figure she had, but she couldn't bear to be a griffin princess for one more second, let alone the rest of

her life. There were plenty of distant cousins who would be more than happy to take over the nation for her. Well, maybe not. She stretched out her wings, left a note

for Trixie, and sped off for Horseshoe Bay.

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Josh had traded their makeshift boat in exchange for a more suitable vessel, and now he was anxiously watching as they headed east, checking the map every now

and then. His portal device was by his side, orange light pulsating gently from the barrel and indicator. Twilight was cooking sweets (the one thing they could all agree

on to eat) and desperately trying to remember the recipes Pinkie had taught her. Shane was relaxing belowdeck, reading one of the books Twilight had lent him about

magic. In return, he had managed to find a modern (for Black Mesa) textbook about physics, and the two were taking turns discussing it. Josh had been steering for a

while when Shane called up "How's it going up there, cappie?" Josh jolted awake, and then snorted. "Cappie?" he called back. "Anyway, right on course." Twilight

seemed to be struggling to remember something. "There was something I was supposed to watch out for," she said, then gasped involuntarily as a drop of ice cold

water hit her.

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"What in science's name-" Josh started, but stopped as he looked up. A massive storm was right in front of them. "Teleporting storms?!" Josh said to Twilight. "Part of

the sea magic in this area. It usually scares away any unwanted intruders." Twilight nervously answered, looking around. "Well, this is my boat, and I will intrude,

storm or not!" Josh defiantly answered. He swept out the sails, and the boat immediately lurched forward. Twilight stumbled around as she tried to find a footing, and

nearly fell off the boat into the stormy depths had it not been for Shane. Using the hatch as a handhold, he pulled Twilight back onto the ship and belowdecks.

"Careful, Josh!" Shane bellowed over the storm. Josh was too busy concentrating on his position to notice or care, and he focused his entire mind on keeping the ship

in the right direction and upright.

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A few hours later, they had just cleared the storm. Josh was soaked and shivering, and Shane took over, even though he hated boats. Twilight treated the horrific cold

Josh had got in the meantime. "I am bad at steering boats," Shane thought out loud as he got sprayed by a stray wave. Finally, he checked his position to find that

they were nearly there. "Josh, you feeling alright down there?" he shouted. Josh came outside, face somewhat red from the blistering conditions he had endured.

"Good enough, I found a medkit in the boat. Seems this happens a lot," Josh said, pointing to his windblasted face. Shane smiled and continued steering, while Twilight

and Josh ate dinner (muffins). "Oh what, I don't get any?" Shane said, looking back for a second. "Tell you what, we'll stop off at a supply shop once we land, and you

can enjoy Fre- Griffin cuisine." Shane noticed the Freudian slip. "Alright, what have you noticed?" he said. "This griffin nation is exactly like France, but sans their

extremely bloody history." Twilight looked at him. "Five revolutions, more than a few dictators, you know. They make excellent croissants, though." Josh answered.

Twilight laughed.

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Finally, they caught sight of land. "All right!" Shane exclaimed when he saw how civilized it was. "Man, you must really hate boats," Josh remarked.

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Soon, they were eating in a small catery not unlike Sugarcube Corner. They thanked the owner and paid, who only looked at them as though curious, and continued on

their merry way. "So, where's the capital?" Shane asked Josh. "Right about there." He pointed to a spot on the map not far from where they were. "Couldn't we have

taken this way, here?" Shane said, pointing out a spot closer still on the shore of the nation. "No, that's uninhabited. Keep in mind this is still Renaissance times for

them, population expansion practically hasn't even happened yet." Josh answered. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but look at this," Twilight said. She

pointed to an extremely old missing poster glued to a window. "Missing: have you seen this Griffin?" Josh read, then looked at the picture.

It was Gilda.

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"What. The. Hell." Shane muttered so quietly that only Josh could hear it. "Looks like she's got a reason to be in Equestria," Josh said. "Look at the father." Shane

looked, and read the title. "The IX King of our fine nation," he said. Then he looked at Josh, evidently shocked. "I guess we did commit a capital crime, in their eyes,"

Josh said.

"We kidnapped a princess."

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Chrysalis was by now in the 17th chamber, but felt like she was in the 17th level of hell. She stared as the elevator opened to a simple, non-portalable corridor. Odd,

she thought to herself. Before this, most surfaces had been able to accept portals in any given chamber. This one was almost entirely black metal. She walked forward

grandly, still maintaining that air of grace and poise. "Deploying surprise in five… four… three… two… one." Sara blandly said. Chrysalis immediately hid behind a wall,

but didn't hear anything ominous except for… music? She peeked out, and was disappointed to find that it was only a cube. But this one was different. It had pink

hearts on it and a pink ring on the faces instead of the typical Aperture logo and a blue ring. She poked it, and immediately felt… Warm. Happy. Loved.

"Congratulations." Sara spoke up. "This was a prototype cube that is only used rarely, and actually emits love in the form of aerosolic hormones. After a few seconds of

research, I have determined that this is not only your primary source of food, love also keeps you alive. Please take care of it." Chrysalis felt another new sensation,

this time on her hooves. The holes that she had been told were going to eat her alive were disappearing, until they vanished entirely. Chrysalis was stunned. She had

only seen this happen once before, and never thought it would happen to her. She ran down the chamber, not noticing the bouncing energy balls that the cube

blocked, nor the portal device strapped to her hoof. She also felt stronger, more secure, less nervous. "Ahh… I had forgotten how delicious love is," the changeling

queen sighed. Wait. A brilliant thought had just occurred to her. If poking this thing restored her to her former powers, what would happen if she gave it some of her

own love? It couldn't hurt, she would just get it back a second later. She gave the cube a tentative hug, and immediately passed out as a flood of love assaulted her

senses.

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"Yeah," Sara said. "That looks about right." She consulted her own plans for the changeling. They were different than Josh's, but hopefully everything would work out

for the best.