Chapter 15

“Guardian Angels”

    “Ugh… where... where am I?”

    Zilch visibly jumped at the question, which came from a most unexpected source, the small gryphoness who had been sleeping ever since the team had returned with her. She was covered in bandages, barely hidden beneath the crisp white sheets, and her head rested on a thick down pillow. But the femme’s inquisitive green eyes were watching Zilch, surprisingly clear given the bumps and bruises she endured. Her voice, though slightly raspy, had a childish clarity to it that the mare instantly found appealing.

    The pair watched each other for several moments before Zilch gathered her courage to approach closer. It had been easier when the cub was out cold, and Zilch harbored many a fantasy about how she might be able to interact with her, how they might be friends, and what games they would play. But now that she was awake…

    The gryphoness broke eye contact first to study the simple room she found herself in. The cave was about the size of a modest bedroom, and only contained the bed she found herself in and a nightstand with a single lamp upon it. The gryphoness frowned at the carved walls about her, and a fear rushed down her spine and settled like a lump of coal in her gut. “Caves. Oh Goddess, I’m back in the aerie,” she said weakly and shuddered. Zilch moved closer and placed a hoof on the girl’s shoulder, trying to comfort the cub. All it did was draw the little gryphon’s attention back to her.

    “You’re… interesting,” she said after studying her for a moment. “Are you alright? I mean, all wrapped up like that, they must’ve hurt you pretty badly.”

    Zilch blinked in surprise, then shook her head quickly.

    “You’re not hurt?” Zilch shook her head. “Are you alright then?” The suited mare nodded. “Can you tell me your name?” Another shake of the head. “Why?”

    Zilch paused to consider this question, then leaned her head back, tapped her neck, and drew a small “X” over it with her hoof. The gryphoness frowned, her beak creasing in thought before one could almost see the light go off in her eyes.

    “You can’t talk?” A nod. “Mute?” Zilch nodded again. “Did they do that to you?” Zilch blinked, surprised by the question, and quickly shook her head. “Well, I dunno who you are then, but it’s nice to meet you… I hope. I’m Verdigris.”

    “Zo ve have been told,” a voice came from the doorway, and an orange coated unicorn strode through, shoulder to shoulder with a dark red unicorn mare with a silver streaked mane and a cross for a cutie-mark. The stallion spoke while this new mare quietly began examining the gryphon’s bandages, “Vun of our teammatez iz familiar with you.”

    “And who are --ow! Hey, that hurt!” Verdigris started, before the unicorn prodded a sore spot on her leg.

    “I’m Profezzor Bunzen Burner, and zis here iz Zilch,” he answered, stepping back as the medical mare pulled the sheet back and prodded Verdigris’ leg with a hoof again, making the gryphon flinch. “Ze doctor here haz azked to remain anonymouz, zo zhe will remain unnamed.”

    The red mare grunted as she shook her head, “You’ll be fine kid, but you’re lucky they found you when you did. You were in the early stages of severe dehydration. Another day and you’d have been dead.”

    “That’s what he was trying to do,” Verdigris answered darkly. Zilch all but rushed forward to hug and comfort the gryphoness, while Burner raised an eyebrow.

    “Don’t want to know,” the medical mare stated flatly. “Stay off your hooves, or whatever you call them as gryphons, for a few days. You have a sprain at the hip of your back left. The bruises will heal, and I’ve cleaned all the scrapes and cuts, but I’ll leave some antibiotics to help keep them from getting infected. Your voice will probably rasp a bit from now on; you suffered some throat damage from whoever tried to choke you out. It’s not too bad, but it injured your vocal chords slightly. If it gets too sore, give me a call, there might be an infection. Doctor’s orders: stay off your hooves, er… you know what I mean, drink lots of fluids, eat plenty of soft foods until your throat feels better, and stay out of the desert.” With that, the medical mare turned on a hoof and stalked away, muttering to herself as she exited the room.

    “Her bedside manner leaves something to be desired,” Verdigris rasped flatly, which made Burner choke down a laugh.

    “I could not have zaid zat better,” he chuckled. “I vill fetch Kaoz, he wizhed to know how you ended up in ze dezert, ezpecially in zuch a terrible ztate.” The burnt orange stallion then followed the mare and left the small room. Verdigris watched, her eyes slightly narrowed for a moment, a niggling concern worming its way into her mind. How did they know who she was? Who was this “teammate” who knew her?

    Zilch, the suited mare, patted Verdigris’ head and distracted her from her suspicions, grinning under the strange mask as she held up a hoof. Then, just like that, she vanished, seemingly falling right through the floor! The gryphoness blinked, trying to process what she just saw, when Zilch reappeared through a glowing portal. She literally stepped through it, carrying a tray that she set on the table by Verdigris’ side. The cub blinked and looked to the tray curiously. Her stomach immediately woke with a massive roar that refused to be ignored as she eyed the steaming bowl of oatmeal and large pitcher of cool water it carried.

    “Is this for… me?” Verdigris asked carefully, and the mare nodded enthusiastically, already pouring water into a glass. That was all Verdigris needed, and she grabbed the bowl in her claws and wolfed down the oatmeal hungrily. It was plain, bland even, but to the young gryphoness it was the best thing she’d tasted in months… well, short of an apple and whatever that not-apple was. Idly she imagined the oatmeal would only taste better with slices of fruit in it. Regardless, it was far better than near rancid raw meat.

    Verdigris managed to get most of the way through the large bowl before her pace slowed. She paused to take a long draw of the water, the mare happily refilling the glass the moment she set it down. It made the little gryphon feel a bit self conscious, being waited on like this.

    “I see you’re awake, and managed to get something to eat. Good job, Zilch,” the zebra said as he strode in, moving to sit beside the bed and idly straightening his tie. “I am sure this must all seem quite strange to you, but I assure you that you are in no danger here.”

    “Well…” the gryphoness hedged, “I don’t know about no danger, but it’s a fair bit better than what I’ve been through to date.”

    “Yes, there is that, Miss Verdigris,” the zebra answered with a smile, only to be met by the cub’s suspicious gaze.

    “And then there’s how you all know my name.”

    The zebra couldn’t help but chuckle, “You are well within your right to be concerned, but that is something that will be revealed in time, when he is ready to make his presence known. Suffice it to say that you are safe from the clans here in this old abandoned aerie. We have… repurposed it for our needs”

    “And who are ‘we’?” Verdigris asked pointedly.

    “We are a group of specials whom have gathered in secret for a cause,” the zebra stallion said simply. “No, I do not plan to tell you what that cause is, at least not yet. No offense, Miss Verdigris, but we do not yet know how far you can be trusted. However, I see that as no reason to be rude to a guest. I am known as Kaos, the leader of our little band. You have already met Zilch and Professor Bunsen Burner. You have Zilch to thank for finding you in the wreckage.”

    The gryphon’s eyes moved to the suited mare, and her expression softened, “I suppose I am being a bit of a bad guest. Thank you for rescuing me.”

    Zilch almost seemed to beam with happiness and barely restrained herself from rushing forward to hug the gryphon, even as Kaos chuckled. “Given what you’ve been through, I’d say your suspicion is warranted. I hired the medical mare you saw earlier to see to your wounds. She discovered and number of injuries that could not have occurred when the wall collapsed upon you, injuries I was hoping you might shed some light upon. Such as burns to your coat, the bruising along your back and flank, the carefully cut feathers in your wings, and, the elephant in the room, the bruising about your neck.”

    Verdigris looked down at her claws for a moment. “The clans clipped my wings when they… when they threw us in shackles. They enslaved my entire family to use as leverage against Filigree.”

    “Your sister, am I correct?”

    Verdigris nodded and took a ragged breath before continuing, “She came to rescue us, and… and I got to know her. She got captured because of me, because she protected me, and she kept me safe with her until her friends rescued us. She… she left me with my folks in a gryphon town just outside of the Everfree and… My father was an idiot! He dragged us all into the forest, completely unprepared. We ran out of food, got us lost, and couldn’t even get a fire going.”

    “That must have been quite the ordeal...” Kaos said sympathetically.

    The gryphoness snorted, “That’s just the start! Some gryphon, who totally isn’t a gryphon, calling himself ‘Eclipse’ came across us and… and he did some weird swirly thing with his eyes. I couldn’t… think clearly after that. He had us working in some cave for what felt like weeks, raising these dragon eggs he found. I kept… I kept waking up from the swirly eye thing, which apparently pissed him off. I know at least once he grabbed me with his claws about the neck and forced me to look into his eyes. I… I don’t know how many times he made me do… do that. I lost track, but somehow I kept waking up. I’d keep realizing something was wrong, wondering why we were doing all this work and… and then he brought clan soldiers in to take the eggs away.”

    Kaos froze for a moment, his comforting smile turning to a rictus grin as horror trickled down his spine. “The gryphon clans have dragon eggs?” he forced himself to ask.

    “And Eclipse, but he’s not a gryphon. He’s some sort of pony, with a horn an’ wings and all sorts of magic!” Verdigris blurted, her body trembling as if on the verge of tears. “He was using his magic to forcibly raise the eggs to full adults, but they’re stupid, like animals.”

    “And he turned those over to the Clans?” the zebra asked carefully.

    “I think so. My… my family went with them happily. They think they’re going to be in a high caste, raising dragons for the gryphons so they can… do something. I only know King Goldtalon wants to destroy the ponylands and the Princesses, beyond that…” she noted with a shrug, heedless of the zebra’s worried expression. “He told my sister that much while we were standing right there, and again later when it was just my sister and I… when he tried to forcibly promise my sister to that white gryphon.”

    “Interesting,” the zebra said softly, then shook himself. “I apologize, but you’ve told me a great deal, much of which I believe to be of great importance. I will stop by later to see how you’re recovering. Zilch? Stay with her, please, and make sure she’s comfortable.” The suited mare nodded and dashed off to fetch something, leaving the zebra and gryphon to look at each other for a moment. “I think she likes you,” Kaos confided.

    “Not sure why… she nice, but a little weird,” Verdigris said softly.

    “You’ll find that everypony is a little weird,” the zebra grinned. Verdigris smiled back less certainly.

    “I wondered how long it would take you, Kaos.”

    The zebra paced in the small light shed from the doorway, his hooves clopping on the stone in an erratic rhythm, concern etched across his features. “This is big, my Prince, huge! This is far larger than we could have anticipated!”

    “Stop being such a worry-wart,” the Prince chided, “our new friend has given us the last pieces we needed to solve the puzzle. Now we simply have to finish assembling them.”

    “But… my Prince!”

    “Kaos,” the Prince’s voice admonished, “fretting about it will achieve nothing. You really need to relax. Some of what your new guest has said is a surprise, granted, but none of it was outside of the realm of possibility. I had hoped some of it was a worst case scenario or my imagination running away with me. I will admit that the dragon eggs are an unexpected wrinkle on top of everything else, but they neatly fill in a spot of the puzzle I had not been able to before. Then there is that ‘Eclipse’ fellow, who by little Verdigris’ description is an alicorn, which makes me suspect that he may be the Nightmare reborn, or at least an inheritor of her power. If so, then that completes yet another portion of the puzzle I’d been unable to sort out. In short, my dear Kaos, we now have a very good idea what is going on.”

    “But… we’re not ready! I know the plan is to take down the Princesses’ element bearers, but I question the team’s ability to stand against an onslaught of dragons,” Kaos stated poignantly.

    “Kaos…”

    “And then there’s gryphons guiding dragons like attack animals!” Kaos continued, his pacing getting a touch more frantic.

    “Kaos!”

    “This is an all out war! With what happened in the town, I’m beginning to doubt I can--”

    “KAOS!”

    “Yes, my Prince?” the Zebra asked in a small, startled voice

    “Sit down. Your pacing is getting on my nerves, and you’re only agitating yourself further.”

    The zebra blinked, and found a place in the center of the lighted section from the door to sit his flank down upon. He habitually straightened his suit and tie, trying hard not to let his annoyance and worry show.

    “Much better,” the Prince sighed. “Now then, you are correct that the team is not prepared yet. But you missed one fact. The gryphons took a lot of eggs, and those will take some time to grow. I suspect that we shall see any plans for invasion delayed until such time that they were able to raise enough dragons to reinforce the front line of an invasion. Furthermore, if they plan to keep the Princesses in the dark about it, they will need to be subtle and train these dragons deep within the Gryphon territories and away from prying eyes and spells. I suspect it’ll be roughly a month before they attempt to launch any sort of surprise attack, maybe slightly less, depending on how impatient the King is.”

    “Which means I have less than a month to whip this team into shape,” Kaos groaned, trying hard to remain calm.

    The Prince chuckled softly, “You knew the job was tough when you took it. Do you have any lingering concerns about them?”

    “Too many to count, my Prince,” Kaos sighed and scuffed a hoof on the stone floor as he organized his thoughts. “Most of them stem from the fact they are still learning to interact with each other. Crosswind is like a colt, pestering everypony for attention and dead set on trying to convince them he is better than they are. Burner is focused, very much the opposite of Crosswind, but plagued with an explosive temper and a tenuous grasp on his own sanity. Alto just had his worst fears show up at our doorstep in the shape of Filigree’s younger sister. Junkyard is slowly finding his own hooves… sorry, feet to stand on. Crosswind and he are still connected at the hip, but he’s starting to make his own decisions and no longer following his partner blindly in all things. Zilch is… an unknown. She prefers to keep to herself. I will note that she is very eager to make the gryphon cub happy.”

    “Probably hopes she’ll have a new playmate,” the Prince joked, “they aren’t too dissimilar in age.”

    “I think Verdigris is a few years the elder, actually,” he noted softly. “I did notice that she didn’t even flinch when Zilch used her powers. She was surprisingly accepting of it…”

    “Why would she have cause to reject her own kind?”

    “My Prince?” Kaos asked, carefully rising to his hooves.

    “Her gift is subtle, but I could feel it when you brought her here,” the voice answered. “I am unable to tell you what her abilities are, not without her flexing them more, but it seems to be always active, for lack of a better term. However, I wouldn’t suggest pushing her on the point, at least not yet. As we know from Alto, gryphons can be a bit defensive about being ‘cursed’. With that said, I would encourage Miss Zilch to stay by her.”

    The zebra frowned for a moment, tapping a hoof errantly on the stone floor, “You think Zilch will be able to mimic whatever gift she has?”

    “I would hope so, yes. You yourself said that the rest of the powers this group possesses would do her little good,” the Prince noted. “Crosswind’s power only works if airborne, which without wings limits her severely. Junkyard would be reasonable, but without his experience she would find his powers extremely difficult to control. She has no voice, so Alto’s ability is right out. Burner has no gift to begin with, and you are unique in how your abilities were acquired, thus she would be incapable of mimicking you. Allowing her to learn the power the gryphon has would give us a potentially powerful latent ability she could use to aid us. At the least, Zilch will be able to make us aware what this unknown power is.”

    “Until Verdigris figures out we’re standing against her big sister,” Kaos noted sourly. “Once she meets Alto again, that cat will be out of the bag.”

    “One crisis at a time, Kaos,” the Prince chuckled, “for now, she needs time to heal, and the team needs time to train. Politely instruct Alto to keep his distance from Verdigris, something I doubt he’ll need much convincing to do, and return to training. It’s not like Verdigris can escape us, though I would loathe imprisoning her here. If your report from the doctor is accurate, she has seen enough hardship these past months. I would only wish to help her, honestly, and remaining here would be the safest option for her.”

    “Maybe…” Kaos considered, frowning for a moment as an idea percolated past his mind, “…maybe she should meet you as I have, My Prince. If she is to be an asset, then perhaps she needs to know the truth.”

    “A fascinating proposition, Kaos, I will take it under advisement,” the Prince noted in a bemused tone. “For now, prepare to step things up. Tell the team that if they plan to get to the mares first, and potentially save the Ponylands from itself, then they need to train harder than ever. In one month we make our move...”

    “…whether they are ready or not.”

    The sun was an unwelcome intruder.

    Unfortunately, it also told him he needed to get himself out of bed, and slowly he forced his way to consciousness. He cracked an eye at the annoying tendency for the sunlight to seep through the shades, then yawned widely and crawled out of the warm nest of comforters and bedding to stretch wings and legs alike.

    The room was a cozy, if slightly cramped, guest room in a house just outside of town on the east side. Aside from the bedding, there were a few wooden dressers (store bought, he noticed, recognizing the brand name) and a dim lamp that barely lit the room adequately at night. The entire thing was done in soothing earth tones, tans and browns that he found oddly relaxing. The gryphon paused to straighten out the bed, unfolding the comforter from how he had it curled up in, before he slipped into the small connected washroom to clean up. He could only muse groggily about how much he loved indoor plumbing as he took a quick shower, luxuriating in the hot water and using it to loosen sore and stiff flight muscles before shaking himself out and using a towel to dry off his feathers.

    He was thankful Cloudfeather’s parents had insisted on putting him up in their guest bedroom. Sure, he objected when they offered, but he didn’t exactly put up too much of a fight, and was thankful for their kindness. Especially after the news he had to send back to Filigree.

    “You up, Chase?” someone asked at his door, followed by a light creak as the old wooden door pushed open. Windchaser, Cloudchaser’s twin brother, poked his head in. Like his sister, he had a white crest and blue-gray fur, but unlike his sister he had a lean and muscular body, toned from many hours of flight. Turned out he was assistant lead for the local weather team, and head of the morning shift, so he was used to flying a lot. Chase smiled as the leaner and shorter gryphon entered the room. “Guess so.”

    “I don’t know how you do this ‘crack of dawn’ thing regularly, Windy,” Chase joked with a yawn. “I feel almost as tired as when I went to bed last night.”

    “Yeah, well, you get used to it,” Winchaser chuckled. “Breakfast is on the stove. Cloudy is stirring herself, and Blackfeather should be over in about an hour. We should be ready to go once we have the morning clouds cleared away.”

    Chase nodded and yawned again, shaking his head. “Is that how you two got together?” Chase asked, curiously.

    The other gryphon nodded, looking away self-consciously as he answered, “Yeah. Blackfeather just swapped into my team from the evening shift. Initially we just fought and feuded like we did as kids, constantly trying to one up each other. It didn’t help that Cloudy kept egging us on. Then one day…”

    Chase chuckled softly, “Someone told you two to get a nest?”

    Windchaser blushed brightly, but nodded. “We were going round and round about something, I don’t even remember anymore. We damned near came to blows… and… well. I don’t know, something gave and I… I kissed her. It’s silly, I know, like something out of a stupid romance novel, but I guess it worked. After that…”

    The larger gryphon clapped his claw on his friend’s shoulder, “Well, congratulations on the impending wedding, none the less. I only hope I’m as lucky with Filigree as you are with her. Goddess knows I pined after Blackfeather when I was younger, she’s a looker…”

    The other gryphon poked his friend with a claw-tip and grinned. “She’s my looker now.”

    The pair laughed good naturedly, and Windchaser led Chase down the old staircase and into the main room of the house. It was well lived in and cluttered, with stained wood paneling around the perimeter. Chase had to admit it was a nice home, if slightly smaller than the one his parents had… a thought he intentionally cut off. He didn’t have time to get depressed about the loss of his family home, or his brother’s betrayal. He had to stay focused.

    Windchaser skirted the heavy kitchen table as they entered and took hold of the skillet an older gryphoness was watching over, kissing his mother on the cheek as he did. “Thanks, ma,” he said, taking over the cooking duties.

    The elder gryphoness patted off her claws and ambled away, slightly heavy in her advancing age as she brushed away the loose feathers of her blue-gray crest. “I’m too old to get up this early,” she complained good naturedly. “I’m going back to bed after I check on the little ones. Will you be nearby to wake me in a few hours, or are you kids still looking for that collection of fools?”

    Chase frowned at the comment from the elder gryphon, but her son was faster than he with a reply, “Sorry. Even if I wasn’t working with Chase to coordinate the claw-full of volunteers we have to search for them, I have to set up the northern fields for a light shower today. Some of the farmers are hoping for an early start for the grain season.”

    She snorted, “They hope that every year.” The family matron ambled off, leaving Chase to frown at her vanishing flank. Only a new voice entering the kitchen prevented him from expressing a less than positive response about the family matron…

    “Whatever you’re about to say, Chase, don’t,” Cloudchaser counseled as she wandered into the kitchen, “you’ll just get yourself kicked out of that nice cushy room upstairs.” The gryphoness yawned widely and brushed by the larger gryphon to settle at the table… and slump down with her head resting on the table, starting to doze off.

    “She’s even worse about mornings than I am,” Chase joked.

    “You try having Mister ‘bright and early’ morning gryphon as a twin brother, see how long you last,” she shot back as Chase found himself a seat, Windchaser still working with the cast iron stove even as he set out more pancakes for the pair to eat.

    “Oh spare me, featherbrain,” Windchaser teased his sister, “you’re the one who insists on staying out late at night.”

    “I haff an excuse thiss time,” she slurred, curling a foreleg under her head. Her brother answered by waving the plate of pancakes he just finished making under her beak until she cracked an eye and snatched it from his claw. He laughed as she grudgingly sat up and began pouring syrup over it.

    “I really do appreciate you two helping me search,” Chase said earnestly, taking a bite of his own breakfast as Windchaser paused his cooking to hand them each a glass of orange-juice. “I mean, after being away so long, I… I just really appreciate it. I was worried how I was going to handle this…”

    Cloudchaser waved it off, her beak stuffed with food. He brother smiled, “You’re an old friend, Chase. Just because it’s been a few years doesn’t mean we’re just going to up and forget you. Sure, we’ve grown distant, and we still have a lot of catching up to do, but this is a legit concern too. I know Dad didn’t like these guys, but that’s no reason for letting them starve out there in the Everfree.”

        “Besides,” his sister cut in, “you’d have gone out and searched for ‘em all by yourself. You never were big on thinking ahead, and the Everfree ain’t safe, even for a big lug like you. An’ while I wanna look at this girl of yours, see if she’s really worth all this trouble, it wouldn’t be right to leave her family out there, possibly in trouble.”

    “Speaking of which,” Windchaser noted as he shut the stove off, bringing a plate to the table for himself, “did you send word back?”

    “Two days ago,” Chase answered. “We should hear something back in the near--“

    A sudden explosion of green erupted about a foot over the table, fire spiraling around as it formed a ball roughly a foot in diameter. Windchaser immediately reeled back, reflexively checking the stove he was just using to make sure he’d shut off the gas. His sister, Cloudchaser, yelped and was on her claws in a flash, her wings flared uncertainly. Chase was so startled by it he tipped over backwards, to land hard on the floor, dazedly staring up at the ceiling and the weird shadows the fireball caused there.

    The spiral of flame seemed to uncurl from itself, almost snakelike as it slowly dissipated, revealing a curled parchment within the orb of flame. When the green flame finally vanished, the scroll fell onto the center of the table.

    “What. The. Buck?” Cloudchaser demanded, and her brother shook his head, as confused as his twin sister. Chase finally managed to sit up, getting one claw on the edge of the table and rubbing his head with the other, when he saw the scroll… and the seal upon it. He quickly reached for it.

    “Wait!” Windchaser yelped, and his sister caught Chase’s leg before he could reach it. “You don’t know what that is!”

    “That’s the royal seal,” Chase said reasonably, still in shock over its sudden appearance, but not willing to panic like his friends had, “which means it’s probably to me, or it’s to someone important via me. I am, technically, a courier of the Princesses thanks to that letter I delivered to town hall.” With that said, he peeled the gryphoness’ claws from his foreleg. With care he plucked up the letter with his clawtips, worried it might be hot. It wasn’t, he found, and in fact it was pleasantly cool to the touch. Heedless of the worried expressions of his friends, he flicked open the ribbon about it and began to read.

    “Chase, son of Ferris and Bracket,

    “We apologize for sending this missive via ancient dragonflame magic, but it was imperative this information reach you with all due haste. Filigree received your previous letter yesterday, and has been beside herself with worry. I fear she is berating herself quite heavily for leaving her sister behind as she did, and your news is most dire indeed. She is presently making plans to join you, and should be leaving within the hour. She will be bringing Rainbow Star with her, so I recommend you seek out lodging that can accommodate the pair of them prior to their arrival. Bill any costs of this back to us here in Canterlot.

    “Unfortunately they cannot stay there for more than a week. With tensions between the Ponylands and the Gryphon Clans escalating, we need them here in Canterlot. However, if the family cannot be located before that time, I will extend to you all necessary resources so that you may continue the hunt in her stead. You will be provided with a hoof-full of scrolls that can communicate with myself instantly, should you find anything of import. I do ask you use normal post whenever possible, but we do wish to be appraised of your progress, or lack there-of.

    “This is a concern of national security as well, for if King Goldtalon has reclaimed these gryphons, especially Verdigris, then he would have the ability to hold sway over Filigree at a most inopportune time. We thank you for carrying this deed out in the stead of an official liaison or security force, and you will be given full sanction to act in our interest once Filigree and Rainbow Star have left. They will be carrying the appropriate seals and letters for you.

    “Thank you again,

    “Princess Celestia, Solar Regent. Princess Luna, Lunar Regent.”

    Chase paused to catch his breath, his eyes scanning the letter once more to make sure he read that correctly. It wasn’t until Cloudchaser chuckled that he realized he’d read that letter aloud.

    “Looks like our boy here is official,” she teased, slapping his shoulder. Chase smiled weakly to her, carefully setting down the suddenly heavy feeling scroll.

    “Let’s finish breakfast first,” he said softly, “it will be a little while before they arrive.”

    “Worried she won’t think you’re doing enough to find them?” Windchaser asked softly.

    Chase went to answer, but couldn’t find his voice, and just nodded instead.

    It was exactly two hours and twelve minutes later when they arrived.

    The mare with the rainbow mane lead the way, creating a slipstream that her steel winged friend could follow, lowering the air resistance and allowing her to fly at near rainboom levels, far faster than she could have achieved on her own. The duo arrowed towards the town hall, the pegasus pulling up and back as the heavier gryphon landed dead in the town square with enough force to stagger the gryphons nearby. Her expression was fierce, blue eyes blazing, as she stalked towards city hall. The mare lightly settled down beside her in a far less dramatic manner, and trotted to keep up with the gryphoness. Neither said a word, or even acknowledged the crowd around them, ignoring the combination of awe and fear on their faces.

    Gryphons carefully shuffled back from the entrance of the hall as the duo approached. One squawked as he came through door and found himself face to face with the imposing form of Filigree staring intensely back at him. He meekly shuffled to the side to allow the pair entrance wordlessly.

    The interior of city hall was a well organized mess. A trio of gryphons, one male and two femmes, were struggling with files, ancient computers, and their own workload. They acted both as public liaisons as well as keeping the filing system for the local government, everything from licenses to permits to disagreements with the local constabulary. If it needed to be done, it was done here. Unfortunately the interior of the building hardly denoted such importance, with three desks lined up with little space between them, a small standing army of filing cabinets behind them, and any semblance of order seemingly long since escaped out the partly open windows.

    “Can I help ya?” one of the gryphonesses asked, eyes fixed on the paperwork she was filling out. She only looked up when the Official Seal of the Sister Princesses was thunked down on her desk by the steel winged gryphoness, a heavy octagon with the ancient imprint of the Princesses upon it. The gryphoness at the desk paused to look up over her pink horn rimmed glasses at Filigree, who glowered down at the much smaller femme.

    Nothing was said between them… nothing needed to be said. The gryphoness secretary keyed a small box on her desk and spoke nervously into it. “Uh… Mayor, you have some… visitors.”

    “Tell them I’m busy,” the individual at the other end answered huffily.

    “They’ve got the seal of the Princesses…”

    “Another one?! What, are they giving them out to any blasted pony now?” the other gryphon demanded, then heaved a weary sigh. “Fine… send them in.”

    “H-he’ll see you… now…” she told them, but Filigree had already moved past her, her claws clicking along the marble flooring as the place fell silent, the local gryphons staring at the powerful stranger as she walked up to the double doors of the mayor’s office, and with a thrust of her foreleg, sent them slamming open.

    “Hey now!” the mayor retorted, spinning about on his lush office chair. He’d had his entire “busy mayor” schtick down pat to send these fools away, but that was ruined the moment the gryphoness flung the doors wide. It scattered the papers on his desk to the four winds, leaving only the richly shined mahogany exposed. Filigree strode across the slightly faded carpet with purpose, saying nothing until she reached the desk. With more force than necessary she slammed a parchment down in the center of it, a crack forming in the wood under her claw as she stared into the eyes of the mayor.

    “Wh-what’s this all about young lady?” the mayor demanded, trying to take control of the situation before he could look weak with everyone watching. But the heavy-set and slowly graying gryphon couldn’t stack up to the powerful and muscular femme standing across from him.

    “I want to know,” she hissed in a voice that seemed to carry to every corner without her ever raising it, “why you refused to answer a missive directly from the Princesses about a group of gryphons sent here under your care.”

    “I don’t know what you’re talking about young lady --” he started, only to be interrupted as the gryphoness pushed harder on the desk, causing the crack to explode violently, crashing the desk down into two halves on the floor.

    “What my teammate is trying to say,” Rainbow Star interjected before the gryphoness could move to trying to break the mayor, “is that we know you received the letter. The band was magically coded so that it would only respond to your claw, and the Princesses were made aware the moment it was opened. You were charged with caring for and protection of one family of gryphons by the names of Slate, Patina, Pyrite, Fracture, and Verdigris.”

    “Yesterday, I received a letter that informed me you not only failed to protect them, but failed to report their disappearance,” Filigree hissed dangerously.

    “Young mare, I have no idea of whom you --”

    “Um…M-mayor?” one of the secretaries spoke up, a pretty thing with an ebon crest and a slightly pinkish tint to her fur.

    “Not now, Rose, I’m a bit busy,” the mayor noted, even as the mare turned to face her.

    “I-I think those were the gryphons who… who managed to offend everyone,” she said meekly, “and then vanished.”

    “Surely they cannot be… related… to… this…?” the mayor faded out uncertainly.

    “Where is my family?” Filigree hissed as she closed on the mayor. “They were placed here to protect them, especially the youngest among them. Where. Are. They?”

    “Now... now young lady…” he squeaked, backed against the wall by the approaching gryphoness.

    “I’d recommend answering her truthfully,” Rainbow Star slipped in, “she’s in a very bad mood right now.”

    “Who the hell are you, either of you, to demand anything of my time?!” the mayor demanded, finding his claws, only to find himself face to face with the seal.

    “My name is Filigree, code named Steelwing. I am part of Project Moonbeam, and answer directly to the Princesses,” she answered darkly.

    “Rainbow Star, code named Spectrum,” the mare said pointedly. “We are members of the team that stopped the Nightmare from taking over Canterlot. We have the ear of the Princesses, and they are less than happy with this development. So yes, even once we’re done with you, the scroll there is a sternly worded letter from Princess Celestia directly to you, and which will require an immediate response. We’re here to find out what happened, and move on. Princess Celestia will handle the ‘why’ of it. However, I wouldn’t expect to win re-election next term, if I were you.”

    “M-ma’ams?” the secretary they first encountered spoke up, “before ya, ah… break my boss… I tried to register them inta the town register after they arrived. They refused.”

    Rainbow Star flicked her wings and flew over to the gryphoness. “What happened?” she asked, trying hard not to sound accusatory or angry.

    The secretary sighed, “They went out of their way to antagonize everyone. The doctor tried to check ‘em out, and the noisy one told him off in so many ways it’d make even a hardened politician blush. And that little gryphon they had with ‘em. You could see she wanted ta slip away, but they was keepin’ her on a tight leash, wouldn’ let her wander off or nothin’.”

    “Do you know where they went?” Rainbow Star tried hopefully.

    “They don’t, but we have some leads,” a new voice inserted from a sleekly built gryphoness as she entered the offices. Her blue-black fur and feathers shone under the light as she paused to catch her breath. “Chase asked me to come see you ladies to the campsite we discovered just an hour ago. We think it might be where they camped.”

    “Where?” Filigree demanded.

    “The Everfree Forest.”

    “Anything Cloudy?”

    Cloudchaser frowned at the other gryphon, then went back to inspecting the ground. “Not since you asked five minutes ago,” she grumbled in response. Her beak was only a few inches off the ground, and to most others she just looked silly, but Chase knew better. She was an expert hunter, and always had been. She hunts meat, sells it to the store, and then later gets a cut of the trimmed and seasoned final product, as well as a decent fee. Tracking prey was something she was always quite talented in, and the fact she could scour the ground without setting claw on it helped. She hovered in place and sighed, “Okay, all told I’ve got five gryphons, and… a something.”

    Chase frowned and pushed off the tree he’d taken to leaning on, and an errant pear fell and bounced off his head. He rubbed his head and looked up at the tall tree for a moment, more in annoyance then any actual pain. The clearing had been well hidden, thanks to the claw-full of wild pear trees that sheltered it, blocking it nicely from the morning sun. Only by chance had Windy spotted it on a fly-over and investigated. Aside from an old and burned out fire, over a week cold by Cloudfeather’s “expert” opinion, they’d found a number of tracks. Once the gryphoness had been able to identify gryphon tracks, the foursome pulled together and Blackfeather, the fastest flyer of the group, was sent into town to fetch Filigree and Rainbow Star when they arrived. The rest of them were doing their best to get whatever they could from it. “A ‘something’? That’s not very descriptive of you, Cloudy.”

    The gryphoness snorted, “I know, but the tracks are conflicting. Some of them are hooves, like a large pony, and some of them are claws, like a gryphon.”

    “Could it be a hippogryph?” her brother asked, flying overhead to keep an eye out for his future mate’s return.

    “A what?” Chase asked.

    “Hippogryph, they’re a lot like us gryphons. According to this one book I read, they’re supposed to be part bird of prey and part horse. Everfree is full of weird critters never seen elsewhere… and maybe…” he faded off, looking less certain as his sister shook her head.

    “Even if your little fantasy critters existed, they couldn’t make tracks like this,” she stated certainly, “the tracks are too perfectly aligned. Your back claws and front claws rarely land in exactly the same place, because our hips are wider than our shoulders. So unless your hippogryph could put a hoof in the dead center of every claw step, it would be impossible.”

    “So what do you think it is?” Chase asked, if only to spare Windchaser more embarrassment.

    “Dunno,” she shrugged, “I’m guessing some sort of magic, maybe an illusion spell, but it would have to be insanely powerful to make an illusion physical enough to leave tracks. We’d need someone who actually knows and understands magic to figure it out.”

    Chase snorted, “Too bad Filigree didn’t bring the team’s resident mage.”

    “Blackfeather is returning,” Windchaser called down, “looks like she has a pegasus and another gryphon with her. Damn, that gryphon looks big! Almost as big as you, Chase!”

    “I’m taller, but only by a few inches,” Chase chuckled and looked up himself. For some reason his eye was drawn to the pear tree he’d been sitting under. He frowned at it, wondering why, when he spotted a low branch with some of the bark scraped off. “Cloudy… have you checked the trees?”

    “Why?” the gryphoness asked. “I thought you said they had their wings clipped?”

    Chase pointed at the tree and branch, “Just because they couldn’t fly doesn’t mean they couldn’t climb.”

    Cloudhchaser frowned as she followed the line of Chase’s claw, only to blink when she saw the worn area. A flick of her wings carried her to the branch, her head lowering. “AH! The little gryphon climbed up here, I think. The claws are spaced a lot closer together and…” she paused and looked up, “…it looks like she picked some fruit.”

    “That sounds like her,” a new voice answered as the trio, two gryphons and a pegasus, landed off to the side of the clearing. “She really liked the fruit that Flourish picked and handed off to her.”

    “Hello again, Rainbow Star,” Chase noted, and looked at Filigree, whose eyes were locked on the tree. He sighed and clapped his claws together, “Okay, introductions, quick style. The black gryphoness, she’s the fastest among us, that’s Blackfeather. The pair of gryphons with white crests and blue-grey fur are the twins, Windchaser and Cloudchaser. Guys, the pony here is Rainbow Star, a friend of my family, and the gryphoness with her, with the shiny metal wings, is Filigree.”

    “Oooh, so we get to finally meet your mysterious girlfriend,” Cloudchaser cooed.

    “What do we know about my family?” Filigree asked simply.

    “Not a lot, I’m afraid,” Chase sighed and stepped closer to Filigree. “We’ve been searching for a few days now, and this is the first thing we’ve been able to find. The trail is over a week old, according to Cloudchaser, but the animals and weather have been kind and she’s found some tracks. We believe they camped here, you can see the remains of the campfire there, and we were able to count all five, as well as an unknown. We’re not sure if they are a pony, gryphon, or something else. Cloudy is getting some conflicting information. We haven’t started tracking from there…” He trailed off and placed a claw on Filigree’s shoulder. Her head snapped up, expression fierce for a moment, but Chase could see it. She may have been stronger than he, but he easily pulled her close, hugging her tightly. It took a moment for the gryphoness to clutch at him back, burying her face in his shoulder.

    “It’s okay, you couldn’t have known,” he told her in a softer voice.

    “I should have…” she whispered, clutching at him tighter, momentarily driving the air from him. “I shouldn’t have left her with them. I shouldn’t have left them here. I shouldn’t have…” she choked.

    “Shhh, it’s alright. You didn’t know. You can’t know everything,” he tried to soothe, petting a claw over her head gently. “Your little sister is smart, if what you told me is true. She might have found a way to slip away from them. And even if you can’t find her, we’ll keep looking, even if we have to scour all of Everfree Forest to do it.”

    The gryphoness took a ragged breath and nodded slightly, squeezing Chase again, causing him to wheeze for a moment. “You’re right,” she sighed, “and me sitting here like this is getting us nowhere. Let’s get going…”

    “Right, Cloudy? You’re the tracker, what’ve you got?”

    “A welcome for Filigree,” she grinned, “I still have to grill her later, though.”

    “Cloudy, this is serious…” Blackfeather chimed in.

    “So is this,” Cloudchaser countered with a cheeky grin, “I have to know how she managed to wrap Chase around her claw like that.”

    There was something soothing about the night.

    It didn’t matter that she couldn’t feel it while nestled snugly in her climate controlled armour, the cool blues and blacks were soothing to her jumbled mind. It allowed her to let the thoughts that hammered at her skull like so many digging Diamond Dogs to still and fade into the background. Clockwork could only imagine that it would have been even more soothing if she’d been able to still control the Dragonfly armour without the helm. Something about letting the wind whip through her mane just sounded right to her.

    Her jets left a neon blue trail behind her, the quartet of wings creating a rather unique sight against the darkened sky. Still, she went unnoticed save for a few of the night-shift weather pegasi who paused to stare. This left Clockwork alone with her thoughts, and the rare sense of stillness in thought and body. Sure, the Dragonfly armour was hardly up to full, this was the first test flight since she started the repairs. Most of the weapon systems weren’t even connected as of yet, leaving her only the basic hoof ejectors. She’d also deactivated the high speed flight mode for the time being, until she got the chance to really knuckle down and give the jet a good working over.

    But right now, those concerns felt far away. Just the serenity of flight as the air currents carried her away.

    From above, Clockwork could look down at the Jewel of Equestria, the center of the Ponylands, the City of Canterlot. The lights glittered in the city, focused around the palace itself as it clung to the Cliffside with a seemingly precarious grip. Spotlights cast the white marble in shades of pink and blue, highlighting the regal towers for all ponies to see for many miles away. Clockwork heard you could see it all the way from Cloudsdale and even as far as the abandoned town of Ponyville.

    If she looked closely, she could see the ring of the old city, where the wall had once protected it in ages past. A small ceremonial guard still walked those walls that extended all the way from the palace itself. It was a prestigious position, from what Clockwork had heard, but it just struck her as a waste of pony-power. Inside the walls the city was mostly residential, and while some manors tried to emulate the majesty of the palace, they just came off looking like gaudy imitations. Beyond the wall, however, the feel of the city changed completely, going from old and stately to new and energetic. The buildings become boxy, focused more on practicality and what might be inside it rather than trying to emulate the ancient majesty of the older construction. Shops lined the streets closest to the wall, creating a large square that she herself visited only weeks ago. Beyond that, the city turned to other aspects, noisy clubs lining the streets, as well as less savory businesses. No pony bothered to look up at her, too lost in their own worlds to notice her, the glow of her wings drowned out by the neon lights along the lane.

    “Hard to believe all this is within miles of the Palace,” Clockwork muttered softly, and selected an out of the way roof to land on. Her hooves flared with energy before setting down, leaving the mare to ponder a few readouts. The power routing seemed alright, but there was an unexplained power loss along the left leg, the one she repaired. Mentally she went over the connections in her head, trying to see if she could remember noticing any corrosion or broken connections that might explain it…

    The glare of a nearby sign burrowed its way into her eyes, the ugly pink and blue flashing neon advertising its “Sexxxy Dancing Mares”. Clockwork snorted, “The Plowed Field… right down the street from a bar named ‘Whiskey Trough’. You chose one hell of a neighborhood to touch down in, Clockwork.” She turned her head away from the sign, returning her attention to the readouts and power signals.

    So focused was she that she almost didn’t hear the scream. Almost.

    Clockwork immediately launched herself into the air, the Dragonfly’s wings flaring brightly against the night sky. Her sensors came online, limited severely now that the chariot was so much scrap metal, but she used the sound enhancer on her audio sensors and scanned around as quickly as she dared…

    “…up you little….” “P-please don’t…” “I’ll cut you if you don’t…”

    That was the sort of noise she was looking for, and set about tracking its source. All the buildings made for some odd echoes, but with a little bit of height she was able to get above most of the noise. Her sensors flared, desperate to find the source of the sound now. They had to be close, but…

    “Where’s the rest of it?” “T-that’s all I have!” “Bullshit! Now give me the rest before I cut you! I’ll do it!” “Please! No… please… I-I’ll give you anything I have!”

    Clockwork growled and tried to mentally wish her sensors to lock on more quickly. It would be over before she even had a bearing! Finally her systems gave a soft ping as they locked onto the source, and she hit her engines. She almost triggered her jet, despite how close it was, but remembered at the last second that it was offline…

    Her visual sensors saw them before they saw her. It was an open area in a back alley about a block down from the “Plowed Field”. Despite the fact that Clockwork couldn’t remember there being any rain today, the ground seemed slick and wet, glistening in the partial light of those few security lights that actually worked. The stallion stood imperiously over his victim, a mare that was pressed tightly against the side of a large utilitarian looking dumpster, not that whoever was using it always managed to get the trash into it.

    The stallion had his back to her, and had a scruffy brown coat with a blonde mane streaked with lavender so dirty it looked almost black. A dirty brown glow encompassed his horn, and the knife he held against the mare’s throat. She looked cleaner than he did, but only in the sense of filth. The golden colored filly had clothing on, but that hardly seemed to cover anything. If anything it seemed designed to flatter her form and be flashy and gaudy. Her face was heavily painted, exaggerating her already wide blue eyes, and making her lips seem almost comically large. However, there was little doubt how she was feeling right that moment, fear was etched across her face for all to see.

    The filly saw the descending mare first, her eyes widening even further (somehow) to stare at the descending form, who looked all the world like a neon angel. The stallion said something that was lost in the moment, most likely a demand, before shooting a look over his shoulder. He didn’t seem to notice the descending figure at first, and he turned back to his victim, only to suddenly turn and look dead at Clockwork as her armour slammed all four hooves into the ground.

    “Let’s even the odds here,” Clockwork growled through the helm, the mechanized timbre of the helm making her voice sound almost demonic to the stallion.

    “This ain’t none of your business!” the stallion shouted at her.

    “Help…” the mare managed to squeak, before the knife pushed more tightly against her throat, drawing a small bead of blood along the rusty edge.

    “Just turn around and leave, you freak.”

    Clockwork was caught up short for a moment, then asked, “Freak?”

    “Yes, freak!” he spat at her. “The Princess can call you ‘special’ all she wants, but them gryphons got the right idea, you’re all touched in the head. You ain’t nothin’ but a bunch of freaks!”

    Clockwork blinked in confusion at that response, but pushed it aside. “I’m not the one holding a knife to a girl’s throat.”

    The stallion growled, “You don’t know a damned thing.”

    “I think I know one thing,” Clockwork answered, and the eyes of the helm glowed slightly, “I know what you’re doing is wrong.”

    “Screw you!” he shouted at her. “You don’t know a damned thing. Stallion’s gotta eat!”

    “I-I have a little girl to feed…” the mare whimpered.

    “Shut up!” the stallion screamed at her, the knife pulling back as he hit her across the face with his hoof. He went to put the knife back up to her neck… only to find a few loose scraps of metal held in his magic, the rest of the knife incinerated.

    Clockwork lowered her hoof, still smoking from the shot, and approached the stallion. She moved until the tip of her helm’s “beak” touched his nose, her glowing eyes locking onto his dirty brown ones.

    “Run.”

    Clockwork had never seen a stallion piss himself before, but this one did as he scrambled away from her, and she followed him with her sensors until he was out of the ally and running down the block like his tail was on fire.

    “T-thank you,” the mare said in a trembling little voice.

    “You’re lucky,” Clockwork answered through the helm, “I’m not usually in this area of Canterlot.”

    “I guess so…” the scantily dressed mare sniffled.

    “What are you doing out here, anyway?”

    “I gotta to work… I gotta feed my little girl,” the mare restated, and Clockwork turned to face her more fully.

    “Are you sure that’s the way to do it?” she asked simply, motioning with a hoof to her attire.

    “I make more in one night than I did with an entire two week paycheck working as a waitress,” she answered with a shrug, and straightened one slightly torn stocking.

    “Assuming you don’t get your neck slit,” Clockwork answered softly.

    “I’d run that risk regardless in this neighborhood,” she sighed and pulled a cigarette out from somewhere in that skimpy outfit and telekinetically popped it into her mouth. Clockwork had to look closer, the girl’s horn well hidden amongst waves of shocking pink mane. Her magic wavered heavily, shaking the lighter as she tried to light the cigarette, before it fell to the ground. The mare cursed and scooped it up with her hoof. “Sorry, still a little…”

    “It’s alright, “Clockwork answered softly. “Give the adrenaline a few minutes to wear off, and you’ll be fine.”

    She chuckled, “I suppose so. Though a smoke usually helps calm me… what are you doing?”

    Clockwork smacked the side of the helmet again with her hoof, making a ringing sound like a bell. “Dammit, I thought I fixed this!” she swore, and worked at her neck slightly. The helmet made a hissing sound, and with a pull from her hooves, the helm popped off and revealed the khaki mare beneath. She turned the helm around and frowned, the “eye” that burned out from the explosion was flickering again. “Damn, it must be in worse shape than I thought,” she grumbled.

    “Holy Celestia, you’re just a filly!” the other mare said in astonishment, the cigarette hanging loose on her lips.

    “I’m just short,” Clockwork grumbled and looked away. She looked at the helm in her hooves and sighed, “I need to fix this before I can head back…”

    “Can’t you just… I dunno, fly away?”

    “I can’t,” Clockwork sighed, “the helm is integral to the core systems. I can’t even lift off without it in place.”

    “I live just a few blocks from here, so long as you don’t mind the strange looks,” the mare offered. “You’ll want to stay to the alleys though, they really don’t care for your kind down here.”

    “My kind?” Clockwork asked carefully.

    “Specials,” the mare said and motioned with her hoof for Clockwork to follow. To her surprise, the scantily dressed mare was easily able to lead her through a handful of alleys, each one seemingly dirtier than the last. Clockwork managed to only knock over a few trashcans, much to her escort’s chagrin. Worse, Clockwork never truly anticipated the eternally slick and slimy alleyways when she designed the hooves of her suit, and they lacked the proper traction, which made a few sharp turns at any appreciable speed a practical impossibility. Fortunately they didn’t run the whole way, even if they took a slightly longer route when the other mare spotted someone she knew would be bad news.

    Finally they reached a squat gray building that seemed all of three stories and barely large enough to house a family. Of course, that meant that it was split into apartments once inside. Clockwork was careful not to crack any more of the tiles beneath her hooves, the grunge and age showing in both the cracked flooring and the yellowing paint along the walls. Once on the third floor the mare pulled a key from somewhere in the folds of her nearly non-existent clothing to unlock one of the doors.

    “It ain’t much, but its home,” she said, and let Clockwork in before locking the door behind them. The armoured mare clamped down on her tongue, lest she insult the mare who led her here. The apartment was small, tiny even, far smaller than even her first lab, and that was just the family garage! It seemed to be roughly two rooms, the larger of the two was barely a half dozen lengths across, and shorter lengthwise, thanks to the small kitchen area and the cheap plastic table that served as the main table for the apartment. The back room was dark, so Clockwork couldn’t get a feel for it, even as the cheap overhead light threw the main room into stark relief. The golden blonde mare immediately stuck her nose into the back room, gave a wistful smile, and tugged the door partially shut before returning and pulling another cigarette off the table and lighting it just fine this time.

    “So long as you don’t wake little Indigo, you should be fine,” the mare stated. “Oh, I’m Honey by the way… What? Don’t give me that look, that’s my real name. My folks were bee-keepers before they moved to Canterlot when I was still a filly. The Imps chased us out, so I ain’t sorry to see ‘em gone.”

    “Sorry to hear that,” Clockwork stated, feeling uncertain exactly how to proceed.

    “Sorry don’t pay the bills,” the mare groused and looked over at her. “You can shuck that tin can if you want.”

    Clockwork blushed slightly. “It requires a lot of special tools to do that,” she admitted, “I designed it to be as simple as possible in order to minimize what could go wrong with it. Unfortunately that doesn’t exactly include getting in and out of it easily.”

    “Really? What do you do when you gotta take a leak, miss… er…?”

    “Clockwork Key,” she answered with a shrug, “I have a filtration and collection system in case of an emergency but… I’ll admit it’s not something I’ve had to use before. If you have a window you can open, however, I can summon something that will let me strip it off.”

    The mare raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. She reached over with a hoof and flicked open one of the windows. “I needed to open it anyway. Doc keeps telling me I need to reduce the amount of second hand smoke Indigo gets --”

    A roar of an engine cut off the rest of her sentence as Honey nearly dropped her cigarette in shock. A large metal slab carefully lined itself up to the window, hovering just outside it, before maneuvering itself through and settling on the floor. Clockwork only smiled as she moved to the sled and…

    “Keep it down up there!!” somepony shouted from below them, followed by a pounding from below.

    “Keep it down yourself, you old coot!” Honey replied, banging her hoof on the aged carpet to pound back. Clockwork could imagine this going on for a while, and opted to let the sled strip the armour off her and fold it away for now. She tried hard to ignore the increasing profanity from the neighbors as she checked to make sure she still had the specialized tools within the sled so she could get to work on the helm.

    “Momma, are you home?” a small voice asked, and instantly the golden mare went from cursing at her neighbor to sweeping forward to scoop up the dark purple filly in her forelegs, nuzzling her lovingly.

    “Yes, yes, Momma is home early tonight,” she cooed warmly.

    “You have someone else here,” the little girl noted sagely, nodding to Clockwork, “but you didn’t seem to be wrestling, so I thought it was safe…” Honey just nuzzled the little filly again as Clockwork blushed, paying attention to anything but the pair. She imagined it was rare, but it was possible she conducted… business here.

    “No, no wrestling tonight,” Honey chuckled at the euphemism. “And this filly helped me out of a tight spot earlier, so I’m returning the favor.”

    “Hi Miss…” the filly offered with a shy wave of her hoof.

    She couldn’t help but smile and return the little hoof wave before she answered, “Clockwork Key. And just who might you be?”

    “Indigo!” the little filly chirped proudly.

    “Well it’s nice to meet you, Indigo,” Clockwork answered with a smile. “I just need to do some repairs to my machine here, and then I’ll be out of your momma’s mane.”

    “I hope not like Mister Hawk does,” the filly answered, oblivious to the rather dark look from her mother. Clockwork put that name aside to ask about later.

    “Well, I don’t know who that is, so probably not,” she noted and lifted the helmet, the flickering eye held towards the filly. “See that? That’s what I need to fix…”

    The filly giggled, “It looks like it’s winkin’ at me!”

    Clockwork craned her head a little to look. “Huh, it does, doesn’t it?”

    “You’re good with foals.”

    Clockwork looked up at the other mare, the golden mare offering her a cup of… something. Clockwork stopped caring after the first bitter drink. Ostensibly it was coffee in a cheap stained mug, but it was more like a bitter, gritty drink that only bore a barely passable resemblance to the beverage it supposedly was. Still, Clockwork hardly felt the desire to complain about the hospitality, and the filly leaning against her and snoring cutely kept her mostly still. She didn’t want to wake Indigo.

    “Thanks,” Clockwork answered softly, setting down the helmet and switching it off to save what little power it had left.

    “You have any yourself?” Honey asked as she curled up on a pillow across from her. To Clockwork, she looked far better without the heavy make-up and “sexy” attire. She had a lovely golden coat, almost literally the color of Honey. Her pink mane and tail were obviously dyed that horrid neon pink, and she could see some of the dark brown roots showing. She could also see her cutie-mark, a single honeycomb with honey dripping from it,

    The khaki mare shook her head and sighed, “Someday… maybe, but things have been far too busy to even think about it right now.”

    “I’m sure some handsome stallion will find you, you’re too cute to stay single for long,” Honey teased before taking another sip of her coffee, “but there’s something sad about you that I can’t put my hoof on. Don’t worry, I ain’t gonna ask you to tell me. It’s none of my business what you special types get up to, but it would drive away a lot of clients in my line of work.”

    “Why is that?” the other mare asked, curiously.

    “Clients don’t want somepony with more problems than they have,” Honey answered, staring at her coffee as she swirled it about the cup. “They want a pony to take their mind off their own problems, not one with baggage of her own.”

    Clockwork chuckled softly, “Guess it’s a good thing I never plan to get into that line of work.”

    “Ain’t none of us ‘plan’ to,” the golden mare answered in a far-away voice, “it just happens when there are no other choices. That’s where you’re lucky; you can always fall back on the Agency… Well, unless you turn into some evil bitch and try to take out the Princesses, anyway.”

    “What about you?” Clockwork asked softly. “I know there are public assistance programs but… don’t you have someone to take care of you… both of you?”

    “You mean, like, her father?” Honey asked, her face unreadable.

    “Well…”

    “Her father was a drunk who liked to beat mares,” Honey said flatly. “I made the mistake of not standing up to him sooner, and when I did, I was already pregnant with her. That bastard almost cost me Indigo, and she’s a frail little thing thanks to what he did.”

    “And this ‘Mister Hawk’?” Clockwork pressed gently.

    “He runs the girls under him… and occasionally likes to partake himself,” she answered softly.

    Clockwork blinked. “You mean… a pimp?”

    Honey nodded with a frown. “Yeah, that’s the common word for them, though he never liked it. He likes to see himself as being above the petty crap, but all that means is he’s meaner when he thinks he’s getting ripped off.”

    “I take it you two aren’t on the best of terms.”

    “You could say that,” the golden mare answered as she took a sip of her coffee, “the mugger got my money before you got there, so he technically got away with what he wanted. He got the bits.”

    Clockwork blinked, and then face-hoofed. “Dammit, I thought I was quick enough to stop him! I didn’t even think to --“

    Honey shut the shorter mare up with a hoof on her mouth, reducing her speech into a cute string of little muffled sounds. The golden mare answered simply when the other mare finally stopped, “You stepped in at all. Honestly, around here, that’s more than anypony else would have done. He’d have killed me if you hadn’t, and I can’t bear to think what would happen to little Indigo if I never came home.”

    Clockwork took a slow breath and waited until the other girl removed her hoof before asking the next logical question, “So what about Hawk? Won’t he want the bits?”

    “I’ll have to work a bit harder tomorrow…” and she paused to look out the window at the sunrise, “…excuse me, tonight, to make up the difference. I’m more worried what he might do to Indigo if he gets impatient.”

    “If I’m around, I won’t let anything happen to her…”

    “Nice thought, but you have your own life to get back to,” Honey pointed out gently, “and your own friends waiting for you.” Clockwork didn’t answer, but the other mare’s face fell as she watched. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that was a sensitive issue. I promised I wouldn’t pry.”

    “Thank you,” Clockwork answered softly, “but I think some distance from my ‘friends’ might be exactly what I need.”

    “No, I’m sure that’s the one thing you don’t need,” the other mare answered, smirking at confused look the statement earned her. “If anything, I’d say you need them more than ever.”

    “You can’t --”

    “In my job, you have to be able to read people very well,” Honey interrupted. “That’s how I could see you were sad about something. But there’s more than that, you were hurt by something, by someone. You’ve been hurt badly, broken and shattered like a mirror after an all night bender.”

    “That’s… graphic,” Clockwork slipped in, making a face.

    “But accurate,” the golden mare noted, and tipped her head back to finish her drink. “Now I don’t know what happened, or why, and it’s none of my business. But I’ll tell you like I tell every other girl I’ve seen with that same haunted look in her eyes. Find something or somepony to love, and cling to them with every ounce of strength you have. Once you find that one thing, make sure that not even Celestia herself can pull you away from it.”

    Clockwork looked down at her own hooves for a moment before turning her head, eyeing the sleeping foal resting against her side. She’d been so curious about the helmet, and Clockwork even let the filly try it on with enough juice to see some of the internal readouts. The realization crossed her mind then, and she voiced it softly, “Indigo is that special thing to you, isn’t she?”

    “You’re cute when you’re perceptive,” the mare giggled and climbed to her hooves. Clockwork watched the filly, not even noticing the other mare collect her mug until she felt her kiss the top of her head. The khaki mare’s ears splayed as she blushed, much to the other mare’s amusement as she wandered towards the back bedroom.

    “I need some sleep,” Honey called, “feel free to let yourself out!”