Chapter 18

“Meeting of the Minds”

    “You may rise.”

    Celestia smiled radiantly down at the pair as they stood up from their kneeling. The zebra rose first, squaring his stocky shoulders as he looked up to the Solar Regent. The sandy unicorn that was his constant companion and closest friend rose a moment later, his eyes looking up at the Princess as well. Even at his age, the curiosity of youth and the fire of discovery shone clearly in his eyes, and warmed the Princess’ soul.

    “Welcome back, Princess,” the unicorn said with a slightly nervous smile, “to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”

    Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle, “The airs and formality of the court do not suit you, Professor Relic. That said, I have, just outside your door, the pony whom I asked you to consider interviewing and continuing your research with.”

    “Ah, we thought perhaps you had forgotten about that,” the zebra noted, looking to his partner.

    “It did take longer than I anticipated to secure his cooperation,” Celestia answered smoothly, “but I would have notified you both, Quagga, had there been a change in plan. As it were, I had to make a few minor concessions to get him to agree to speak with you.”

    “Concessions?” Relic asked incredulously. “What concessions could the Princess of the Sun possibly be forced to make?”

    Celestia smiled patiently down at the unicorn. “There are a number of special considerations that needed to be taken into account for your guest, including an additional visitor to assist him from time to time. Furthermore, I believe her occasional presence may be helpful in your research, since she herself is a former member of my guard.”

    “Former member?” Quagga asked, glowering darkly. “One does not generally leave the guard unless they are old enough to retire, or committed an unspeakable act…”

    “In this case, neither,” Celestia stated simply, “her powers came to light and she was classified a special. This gave her a sideways promotion from my guard to my sister’s organization.”

    “It didn’t feel very sideways when it happened,” a new voice put in from the door, where a gray coated unicorn leaned against the inside of the closed and locked door, her pink and lavender mane falling in loose curls about her face.

    Celestia looked back with a pained expression, which she quickly hid behind her usually pleasant smile. “There were extenuating circumstances in your case, Lady Thistle, and ones I empathize with. However, you have successfully turned what would have destroyed another pony into the engine and motivation of your success. I could not be prouder that you once served in my guard.”

    The mare laughed and pushed herself off the doorway, “So these two are your ‘above top secret’ project that needs his help?” She moved forward and stood abreast the Princess, looking over both zebra and unicorn with a jaundiced eye.

    “They are,” Celestia responded, “Lady Thistle, meet Professor Relic and Quagga.”

    The mare leaned closer to the duo, her eyes narrowing for a moment before it vanished in a bright smile, “Nice to meetchya. Just, none of that ‘lady’ stuff with me. I’m just Flourish.”

    “Flourish…?” the Professor asked, his eyes widening.

    “Yup, that’s me!” she chirped, then looked distractedly about the room for a moment.

    “As in, the Element of Laughter… that Flourish?”

    The gray unicorn looked slyly at the professor before answering, “Do you know of any others? Oh, hey, are these the Elements you told me about, Princess?” Flourish trotted over to the display table where the four crystal orbs were resting on a quartet of crimson velvet pillows flanking one vacant pillow. “That’s right, you did say you were short one, didn’t you?” she asked as she poked a hoof at the empty pillow.

    “That’s correct,” Celestia answered, stepping towards the smaller mare.

    “Did our elements really look like this at one time? I mean, they’re so… dull,” she said, making a face.

    “Dull?” Relic chipped in, his voice falling instinctively into lecture mode. “Young Lady, they are far from dull! They represent some of the most powerful magic in Equestria, if not the world!”

    “They’re a plain crystal ball with a symbol etched on it,” Flourish responded dryly.

    “Uh, Proffessor?” Quagga tried to interrupt.

    “A plain crystal ball that represents some of the most powerful magic known!” Relic countered, his attention fully on the mare. “Plus, it’s well known that they adopt a form related to their holder. What does your element look like?”

    “Professor…”

    “Hrm, I suppose that’s a fair point,” Flourish answered distractedly, tapping her hoof on the shelf. “However, our elements were the cutie marks of the bearers before us, so why would these revert to a boring old crystal?”

    “Professor!”Quagga finally shouted, and leapt forward to catch the first of the elements as it toppled off the shelf. The others had literally come off their pillows and were rolling away from the gray unicorn while she had been focused on the Professor. Celestia was quick to respond and catch one of the elements herself, while Relic was able to catch the remaining two in his magic.

    “What in the world?” Flourish asked, and trotted towards Quagga for a closer look… only to witness the Zebra physically being pushed away from her, the orb shoving him with enough force to make his hooves skid across the floor.

    “Well, this is interesting,” Celestia said softly, echoing the Professor’s thoughts as he took one of the elements and pushed it closer to the filly. There was resistance, certainly, but he was able to touch it to her coat with little difficulty. Same for the other orb he levitated. Sensing what the Professor was up to, Celestia attempted with her own orb.

    “Same result, there is some resistance, probably just enough to get them rolling, but nothing like what Quagga just experienced,” Celestia noted thoughtfully.

    “Did you feel anything, Miss Flourish?” Relic asked.

    “Just ‘Flourish’, and no, not a thing,” Flourish answered with a frown, and reached out to touch the orb in Celestia’s magic, watching it try to shift away from her. Only then did she turn and try to approach Quagga again, who found the orb shoving him back once more. An impish grin crossed her lips, and she vanished in a cloud of pink… only for Quagga to yelp and lose hold of the orb as it rocketed from his hooves and across the room. Were it not for Celestia’s magic, it would have shattered itself on the spiral staircase at the far side of the room.

    “Well, that’s interesting,” Flourish said from right behind Quagga, who looked back at her crossly.

    “It seems there’s a reaction from the elements to the current Element of Harmony bearers,” Relic noted softly, putting the elements he had gently back on the pillows. Celestia did much the same with hers, even as Flourish kept her distance from the shelving. “But why would they repel each other like that? Like magic usually attracts like magic…”

    “Maybe it’s like a magnet?” Flourish asked with a shrug.

    Relic frowned, but Quagga turned to the Princess, “Do you know?”

    “I am afraid not,” Celestia answered with a sigh, “I was not around to do any real tests with the Elements of Justice. I did not anticipate this reaction.”

    “Princess, Quagga, which element was it that had the greatest reaction?” Relic asked, trotting up to the elements to look them over for any signs of damage.

    “I am, unsure…” Quagga began.

    “Wit,” Celestia answered certainly, “which, of course, is the analog of Laughter.”

    “So either its acting like a magnet, and like is repelling like,” Relic considered, tapping his chin as he watched room through the distortion of the crystal orbs, “or the male and female aspects are repelling each other…”

    “Does it have to be just one?” Quagga asked plainly. “It could be that both of those theories could play a role.”

    “Good point,” Relic sighed, “which only proves we have so much more to learn yet…”

    “Speaking of which,” Flourish spoke up, “we’ve left him standing in the hall for quite a while now.”

    Celestia frowned and nodded. “You are correct, Lady Thistle. I allowed myself to be distracted by my curiosity.”

    Flourish laughed as she ported herself over to the door, “Happens to the best of us, Princess.” She pulled open the door, only to be regaled by a wave of laughter. All the ponies looked curiously to the door as the pair of normally stoic guard ponies were all but falling over in laughter.

    “Is not the best part!” one voice managed to say, a rich booming bass that knew no volume control, coming from a large steel gray stallion facing the pair. He was stout and heavily muscled, with a broad jaw and eyes that twinkled with delight as he wove his story. “In next moment, she stand there staring at me, eyes blazing. Her dress, she is in tatters, her coat and mane scorched by fire, and she stand in middle of smoldering ring of debris. I cannot help but think Princess is going to banish poor stallion to moon. Then, she close her eyes, take a deep breath, and say, ‘If that is what you do for appetizer, I simply cannot wait for main course’!” The stallion grinned broadly to his audience of two howled in laughter.

    Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle; her guards rarely broke from their professional demeanor to so much as flinch or smile. To see them in near hysterics, wiping tears of laughter from their eyes, gave her hope that her ponies have, and will, survive these trials with their spirits intact. “Are you still telling that old story, Lord Skillet?” Celestia asked with a teasing smile. Her guards did their best to snap to attention, their lips quirking as they fought with the laughter bubbling just beneath the surface.

    “Of course!” the large stallion called as he climbed slowly to his hooves. Flourish was there in an instant, the smaller mare having little trouble bracing and helping him stand and haltingly, almost painfully, walk forward and into the room. Despite his light and downright pleasant demeanor, there was an air of dignity and confidence that seemed pour from him. “Is first, and last, time you allow me to use royal kitchen. Am thankful I did not end up in dungeon after.”

    “And yet, despite blowing up a good portion of the royal kitchens, and me, you still made one fine meal. While I know most of the royalty turned up their noses at it, it was a fine traditional goulash. I know my sister and I enjoyed it a great deal… once we had found a place to sit away from the still smoking kitchen,” the Princess teased gently, the smile on her face never wavering. She magically lifted a cushion from a nearby couch and set it on the floor by the stallion as he came abreast of her. He smiled thankfully and plopped his flank down on it a little heavier than he likely intended, before she turned to look at the pair of stallions before her. “Professor Relic, Quagga, allow me to introduce Lord Skillet the Resolute.”

    “Well met, comrades!” Skillet called, waving a broad forehoof to the pair. “Just drop whole ‘sir’ and ‘lord’ thing, ya? ‘Skillet’ is just fine.”

    “Well met… er… nice to meet you… ah… Skillet,” Relic stammered for a moment. “As the Princess said, I’m Professor Relic, and this is my longtime friend, Quagga.”

    “Princess just introduce you both, ya?” Skillet teased, making the older unicorn flush slightly.

    “You have a heavy accent,” the zebra noted, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “Stalliongrad, is it not?”

    “Ya! I hail from Stalliongrad, before I join Agency,” Skillet confirmed, shifting a bit on the pillow.

    “Agency…? You’re a special?” Relic asked, then recoiled at the harsh glare from Flourish.

    “Was, comrade… was,” Skillet answered in a melancholy voice, but he quickly shook it off and grinned at the pair. “But that is story another time. You have been to Stalliongrad, maybe?”

    Quagga quickly answered for the pair, “We had a dig up there some years ago, when one of the Imp attacks knocked loose some stones in the St. Fillysberg Cathedral and revealed a previously unknown set of catacombs beneath.”

    “Oh yes, it was such a fantastic discovery!” Relic chimed in almost breathlessly. “The craftponyship was exquisite, especially to have lasted all those millennia. And those ancient engravings, every one perfectly preserved! I made the copies currently on display at the Canterlot Museum of History. Accounts that predated what we thought were the first known sightings of Princess Celestia.” The Solar Regent blushed slightly and turned her head away as the unicorn continued, “Of course we know now that most of their conjectures of the pony queen they named ‘Aurora Borealis’, for how her only glimpsed mane reminded them of that effect, and their idolization of her as the ‘Queen of the Snow and Frost’ were completely inaccurate. Still, how ponies viewed the world in the past fascinates me to no end. Makes me wonder what ponies of the future will be saying about their discoveries of our time!”

    “Of course, there was also a plethora of more mundane knowledge to be had, including burial practices and entire noble lines that could be traced back to those catacombs,” Quagga interjected, tapping his hoof for emphasis. “I do believe it was the Snowberry family that had their claim of royalty affirmed by the discovery of some long missing family members within that tomb.”

    “Ah, that happen almost year after I join Agency,” Skillet offered with a broad smile.

    “As you both perhaps noticed,” Celestia interrupted, steering the topic back to the reason for the grey stallion’s inclusion, “Lord Skillet is quite injured. For reasons that would be best left to him to tell, he suffered a spinal injury that left his rear legs with reduced functionality. It is only by his courage and determination that he can still walk at all. Thus is the reason for the special arrangements with Lady Thistle. Her teleportation will allow her to bring him for your interviews, as well as assist should any medical difficulties pop up. I have made sure the guard posted outside your door knows exactly who and how to contact the proper individuals should a medical emergency rear its ugly head.”

    Skillet snorted and stomped a hoof in annoyance, “Am not wanting to be treated like invalid!”

    Flourish answered simply by kissing her buckfriend’s brow with a grin, “Yes dear.” Skillet playfully growled at her, and she ducked out of range before he could tickle her.

    “That said,” Celestia continued, ignoring the pair, “I am expecting you both to take good care of him. Even as injured as he is, he was instrumental in the defense of Canterlot Memorial Hospital during the imp invasion, and he acts as coordinator for the still active team of current Element bearers.”

    “Impressive resume,” Relic whistled softly.

    “Bah,” Skillet snorted and waved it off. “Ol’ Skillet just works phones and cooks dinner for team, and Princesses when they can escape their duties. I do nothing special. Any other pony would do much the same, ya?”

    “Wrong,” Flourish stated firmly. “I’ve met far too many ponies who would have curled up in a corner and cowered rather than coordinate a bunch of civilians, a majority of them injured, into a respectable defense against the Imps. I know I couldn’t have pulled it off.” Skillet went to wave it off, but was interrupted by his marefriend hugging him, who then pointed a hoof at Relic and Quagga, “That means, should something happen to my beau here, it won’t be Princess Celestia you have to answer to. She’ll get whatever scraps are left of you when I’m finished, got it?” The gaze from the mare turned harsh and cold, making even the stalwart Quagga shiver slightly, and both Relic and the zebra nodded quickly in response. The mare’s expression immediately softened as she was satisfied and she kissed her buckfriend lightly. “Good. I’ll be back for you when you’re done, my shmoopy-doopy sweetie-weetie pony pie,” she giggled before vanishing in a pink explosion.

    “I hate it when she calls me that,” Skillet grumped good-naturedly, prompting a laugh from Celestia.

    “Lady Thistle has the correct idea, however,” the alicorn said with a smile, “it is time I depart as well. I will leave you three to talk and grow more comfortable with each other. I suspect this interview will take far longer than the norm for you, Professor.”

    “I can understand some concern, due to his infirmity,” Relic said curiously, “but why would that slow down the interview process?”

    “Because Lord Skillet is fond of telling stories,” she answered with a smile, ignoring the overdramatic eye-roll from said stallion, “and you may find yourself side tracked easily by his enthusiasm. Have a good afternoon, gentle-stallions” With that, she turned and slipped from the room herself, leaving the trio of stallions to watch as the door was closed behind her, the heavy locks clanking into place in her wake.

    A moment of awkward silence reigned as the three stallions eyed each other with a mixture of wariness and curiosity, only to be broken by Skillet’s deep voice.

    “So… what are you in for?”

    She paused to look herself over and make sure everything was perfect.

    For most mares, that might have involved some contortions, or at least a good mirror or two. But for the psychically inclined Galaxi, she needed no such conveniences. Her mystic sight allowed her to view everything around her, despite the angle or light, perfectly. In fact, its primary drawback seemed to be the inability to see reflections, instead seeing what was beyond the reflective surface, even if it was just another flat surface.

    A light tug here and there made sure the sea-green satin gown hugged her form perfectly. It rested snugly over her flank, the color matching her tail perfectly, before reaching her knees and flaring out in a fall of white and gold lace that brushed the floor as she walked, even in her towering heeled shoes. The saddle was tight, very tight; it had taken an hour of work to get the corset tight enough to fit. The snug bodice and long sleeves ended just over her hooves with another flare of white and gold lace, and offset the puffed shoulders nicely, accenting her form nicely to draw the eyes to all the right places. She had forgone all but the most basic of cosmetics and only wore some light mascara and dark glistening lip-gloss. Her mane was bundled up in a nice coquettish bun with a little strand of pearls wound into it, and a few curls fell teasingly over her left shoulder. Satisfied with the image she presented, she strolled as casually as she could, given the torturous hoofware she chose, down the hall of the palace.

    It was early evening, an hour or so from dinner, so she was hardly an unusual sight from the standard nobles who arrived to show their respects to (or, as Luna often joked, to kiss the hooves and flanks of) the Princesses, but seeing her in such finery was a rarity. She usually would forgo such things…

    But tonight, she had a mission.

    “Hey, Galaxi,” Clockwork said as she trotted past, startling the psychic mare. She had been so focused on her “plan” that she completely missed her intended target strolling up on her!

    “Oh! Er… hello there, Miss Key,” Galaxi recovered, doing her best purring voice, and struck a pose that probably looked far better in her head then in reality. Clockwork only glanced once with a raised eyebrow, then shrugged it off.

    “Princess wrangled you into one of her formal dinners, eh?” the short mare asked, slowing down slightly as Galaxi fell in step with her as best she could, especially given how hard she was trying to sway her hips like she’d seen some ladies do...

    “Well, yes,” Galaxi lied, “but I’m sure I could slip off if you wanted some company...” She tried her best to flutter her lashes, but only managed to look like she had something stuck in her eye. Not that Clockwork noticed…

    “Nah, that’s okay,” Clockwork answered with a sigh, “you’d just ruin your dress tagging along. I’m just doing a few stress tests on the frame of the new chariot before getting into the hard parts, like rigging up the engines. Thankfully Princess Luna authorized use that old factory again, but this is turning into a bigger project than I anticipated, and my armour isn’t as big a help as I’d hoped in some cases. After that, I was thinking of doing a patrol. Get out and stretch my legs a little bit.”

    “Another one?” Galaxi asked worriedly. “You keep going into that cesspool…”

    “Some of those ponies haven’t got any other place to go,” Clockwork answered softly. “Honey showed me there are good ponies living down there, praying to Celestia for somepony they can rely on. I know I’m not that hero, but I’ll be damned if I’m just going to sit around doing nothing! So long as that Mare-Do-Well character I’ve heard about doesn’t complain about some punk foal on her turf, I’ll be fine.”

    “I’m just…  I’m worried about you, that’s all,” Galaxi said softly, resting a hoof on the shorter mare’s shoulder.

    Clockwork smiled. “I appreciate it, Galaxi, but I need to do this. I can’t just… sit around the palace all day going stir crazy. I can’t sit on my flank and just wait for somepony else to help them. If I can help, I will.”

    “And what about… ‘it’?” Galaxi asked softly.

    “This is actually helping a bit, giving me something tangible to focus on,” Clockwork answered, but the psychic mare couldn’t help but feel there was more than was being said. Unfortunately, they reached the newly installed elevator before she could ask, and the brass inlaid doors creaked open. “Catch ya later, Galaxi,” Clockwork said, and stepped in. The blind mare could do naught but to watch the other vanish behind the closing doors.

    Galaxi then said something very unladylike much louder than she intended, startling a nearby guard.

    “My my, what a tongue you have,” a voice teased from a short distance away.

    “Not now, Flourish,” the psychic mare growled, and all but threw off the shoes so she could stop wobbling about like a drunken pony. She lifted the quartet of heels in her telekinesis and glared at them as if they were somehow at fault.

    Undeterred, the other mare hip bumped Galaxi as she came abreast of her, “So what’re you all dressed up for? Trying to impress some stallion? No, that’s not your style…”

    “Flourish…” Galaxi said warningly.

    “I bet you were trying to impress a mare,” and the gray unicorn looped a foreleg over Galaxi’s shoulder, “maybe the one who just got on that elevator, hrm?”

    Galaxi pushed the other mare away and stomped off, only to trip on the long skirt getting underhoof without the heels. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she grumbled, her ears splaying and head lowering with the temporary defeat as she picked herself up and more carefully moved away.

    The teleporting mare wasn’t so easily dissuaded, and trotted up to keep pace with the dejected Galaxi, “You’re thinking about trying another gown, aren’t you?”

    “Well…”

    “Before you go do something crazy, like break out a skimpy maid uniform, let me just point out that it won’t work. You’d attract every stallion, and a number of mares, long before you turned that mare’s head,” Flourish pointed out, making Galaxi flush for a moment. She had indeed considered that exact thing, at least for a moment. Only in the wake of her embarrassment did the rest of what Flourish said register.

    “Wait, what do you mean? Why wouldn’t this turn her head?” she asked more sharply than she intended to. Flourish just gave her a knowing smile that somehow made her blush more.

    “That’s easy,” the gray mare said, hopping slightly as the pair turned the corner and headed towards the bedrooms, “after all, Clockwork was the pony who ranted for almost twenty minutes about how she’d never be caught dead in an outfit like you’re wearing.”

    “She was wearing one just the other day…” Galaxi noted defensively, blushing as she remembered helping her walk back to the palace.

    “Yes, I recall. And I also recall how flushed you were about it, and she was with wearing it,” Flourish noted. “I would say that, despite her objections, the wearing got to Clockwork a bit, but I would hardly doubt seeing you wearing it would mean much to her. If she was arguing against it that much, then it was not something she finds attractive to see. The wearing and the viewing are different matters entirely, so says the voice of experience.”

    Galaxi opened her mouth to argue, only to shut it again as she looked down at the floor for a moment. That made far too much sense for her to dismiss out of hoof. She was only interrupted by a tug on her tail.

    “Quick, in here…” Flourish whispered hurriedly, and ducked into one of the empty guest bedrooms, dragging Galaxi in behind her. Flourish quickly locked it as the psychic mare rubbed her backside.

    “What was that for!” she demanded, only to be shushed by Flourish.

    “Hold your voice down…!” Flourish hissed and pressed her ear to the door. After a few moments of silence, she relaxed, “Okay, I think he’s moved on. I recognized the Stallion prowling around down the hall,” she answered. “That was Hooktail, a pretty infamous naval officer from Baltimare and renowned marechaser. Given your current attire, he’d have never let you be, G.”

    Galaxi flushed and lowered her head further. “Great, just great….” she grumped and sat down disconsolately on the plush carpeting.

    A foreleg looped over the psychic mare’s shoulders and chuckled, “Relax, Auntie Flourish is here to help!”

    “I’m a year older than you,” Galaxi noted crossly.

    “Details details,” the unicorn sniffed and gave her a winning smile, “and the details you’re missing is that getting all fancied up like a lady won’t draw Clockwork’s eye at all. Miss Key is a bit more practical than that. A gown or fancy clothes don’t really serve a purpose in her world, do they? How much of being a “lady” has she really taken into her personal life? Aside from a royal stipend that would make some ponies blush, she’s about the least ladylike of all of us, save maybe Filigree, and that is arguably more due to a difference in Pony and Gryphon culture than anything else. Clockwork instead buries herself in her work. She’s in her lab almost all the time, and just how well do you think one of those gowns would stand up to getting smeared in grease, or oil spilling on it, or getting caught between some gears? Could you grip a wrench or other tool in your hoof wearing those heels? Heck, you could barely balance in them, how do you think you’d manage doing delicate adjustments in them?”

    “You’ve made your point,” Galaxi muttered, then looked at the unicorn archly, “so what would you suggest?”

    “Simple, appeal to her mind,” Flourish noted, tapping the other mare’s head lightly. “Spend time with her, and find out what she does like.”

    “Last time I tried to do that, she asked me to leave…” Galaxi whimpered, lowering her gaze to the floor.

    “Did you ‘tell’ her things, or did you listen?” the unicorn asked, then smiled at the confused reaction it garnered. “Did you tell her you were worried about her, talk about what was happening elsewhere in the palace, and the like? That would work if she were more extroverted, but she’s not. Like you, she’s a little introvert, which means she’s not going to go out of her way for interaction, she’ll wait until it comes to her. More, she’s not going to have the patience for interaction that isn’t somehow relevant to her. You need to listen, not tell. Listen to her talk, ask questions, and show an interest in what SHE is on about. I know you used to do this. Whenever we wanted to find you, we’d just look in her lab. But now, ever since she started having ‘that’ problem, you haven’t been doing it. That’s where your disconnect is, and what you need to remedy. You two were like peas in a pod, the closest of friends, and close enough a few of us speculated that you both might already in a relationship of some sort.”

    “W-what?!” Galaxi sputtered, even as Flourish laughed.

    “Oh come on, you two were practically connected at the hip! Trixie hung out with you both a lot too, but she began spending more and more time with Celestia as her student, which meant you two were alone and unchaperoned,” Flourish teased with a suggestive waggle of her eyebrows.

    “B-but it wasn’t --!”

    “It wasn’t like that, I know,” Flourish interrupted with a smile, “and I think we all knew that. But it didn’t stop us from speculating either. It didn’t stop the rumors from some of the maids who saw how often you two were staying in each other’s chambers at night. Hell, Trixie became part of, as some maids gossiped, a kinky ménage a trios.”

    Galaxi flushed a deep crimson and covered her face in a lace frilled hoof, “Oh Goddess, I’ll never be able to show my face….”

    “Oh knock it off, G,” Flourish chuckled and wandered over to the well made princess style bed and the generic white and gold comforter upon it and hopped up to relax. “You’re simply not enough of a drama queen to pull that off. Plus, you’re missing the point.”

    “What is the point?” Galaxi demanded, barely preventing herself from yelling, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “Or is humiliating me it?”

    Flourish blinked and hopped off the bed. “G, I’m not trying to humiliate you,” she sighed and leaned close, placing a hoof on the psychic mare’s shoulder, “I’m just trying to prove my point. You had it right before, when you were just being her friend. You were there for her constantly, you took an interest in her work, you were her companion, her sounding board, an ear to bend when she needed to vent, and a shoulder to cry on when the world got too much for her. That was the best thing you could do for her. Right now, you’re acting like a filly with a crush, and you’re going totally the wrong direction. Trixie may have been trying to hook you both up with various eligible stallions, but her success rate is pretty damned low. That’s because you two already found each other, you just hadn’t realized it yet. You now realize you want it, I assume from what happened the other day, and you’re trying to push your tastes onto her. That cannot and will not work. You have to find her tastes. Once that veil is pierced… well, that’s a whole new can of worms.”

    Galaxi glared at the other mare for a moment, then wiped a hoof across her face, staining the sleeve of her dress, before taking a steadying breath. “That’s it?” she asked softly after a moment.

    “Yeah, that’s it,” the unicorn said softly. “Look, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to embarrass you, I didn’t think it’d hit you so badly. I was just trying to use examples to make my point. Everypony already thought you were together, just from the way you hung out. Clockwork is a different sort of mare than a dress like this would attract. It would attract you, which is why you wore it. Because when she wore something like this, it spun your head around, right?” Flourish poked a hoof at the other mare teasingly and got a slight chuckle from her. “Right?”

    “Yeah,” she answered, lightly batting the hoof away and managing a weak smile.

    “But that means Clockwork will have to figure out that it works to turn your head later. But, right now, you need to figure out what draws her eye… if you can draw her eye. You might find success elsewhere,” Flourish considered and gently nudged the mare towards the bed.

    “I don’t understand…?” she asked as she moved to settle on the bed carefully, the skirts making it a slow process.

    “It’s not her eye you want in the end, but her heart,” Flourish said with a smile. “Catching the eye is the usual first step to get there, but it’s definitely not the only way. I’ve known mares who used food to attract a stallion’s attention, a stallion who used poetry to snag his dream mare, another couple who got started with similar tastes in music… the list is infinite. In the end, there’s only one thing that matters, though, and that’s you get past it and to their mind and their heart. You and Clockwork have a decent start on that, you knew each other better than nearly anypony I’ve known, even married couples!”

    “Well, I am psychic…”

    “But now, you have to do it the hard way, assuming I remember your comments on her ‘music’ correctly?” Flourish confirmed.

    “You… you actually paid attention to that?” the psychic mare asked, shocked.

    Flourish giggled and rolled over onto her back, “Just because I look like I’m sleeping, or eating, or bored out of my skull, doesn’t mean I am not paying attention. Hazards of being a former guard; you learn to pay attention to everything around you, and not focus on anything specific at all. Too narrow a focus can miss as much as no focus at all, as my old DI used to say.”

    “Dee eye?”

    “Drill Instructor,” she answered, “the stallion who taught us to be guardponies. A real leg-breaker he was, who swore that his raindrop cutie-mark was born from the tears of those recruits who he’d drummed out. Craziest son-of-a-mare I ever knew. Too bad he died in the Imp assault last year while trying to defend the palace, or I’d have bought him a pint…”

    Galaxi put a hoof on the other mare’s shoulder at the brief moment of melancholy in her voice, which she shook off quickly and smiled broadly. “I learned a lot from that bastard, a lot I didn’t even realize I’d picked up until years later. Anyway, we’re getting off topic...”

    “That’s alright, I think I’ve got the gist of it,” Galaxi answered with a tepid smile. “It’s going to be tough to face those maids again, though…”

    “Eh, all maids will gossip,” Flourish shrugged and hopped off the bed and wandered towards the big wooden door. She placed her ear to the door and listened for several moments before nodding to the other mare. “Hell, last week they were gossiping about how Luna takes her baths with a few dozen rubber duckies…”

    “Seriously?” Galaxi asked with a raised eyebrow, getting to her hooves and picking up the heels she didn’t remember dropping in her telekinesis. “I mean, she has one or two, but…”

    “Maids are maids,” Flourish chuckled and waved it off, “and maids and palace staff will always and forever gossip. It happens, and the best we can do is to take it with a grain of salt and move on.” The unicorn waited until Galaxi was abreast of her before tugging open the door… and was startled to find herself face to face with a well groomed stallion almost a head taller than herself. He had a deep ocean blue coat with a pale blonde mane, and was dressed in a crisp white naval officer’s uniform.

    “Ah, I thought I heard a lady in some distress around here --” he started in a rich baritone, only to be confronted with a wall of pink smoke as one of the mares panicked, grabbed the well dressed mare beside her, and quite literally vanished.

    “My word!” was all he could manage as he tried to wave away the cloying pink smoke.

    “Mister Burner?”

    She received no answer, only the soft and subtle hum of power, a majority of it emanating from the centerpiece of the room, the M.A.N.T.I.Core armour. Multiple lights and cables lead to this singular aspect of the chamber, as if every item within was there for the sole purpose of making the massive armour function. Everything circled that singular point, from large computers to work stations to just tool boxes; they all seemed justified only by the armor at the core. In a way, it reminded Verdigris of ripples in a pond.

    Still, the longer she looked, the more she could see the interruptions in the pattern. A toolbox, where it lay askew and at right angles from the established pattern. A workbench nearly at one wall that held a few small items that was in no way related. Then there was an alcove near the back, completely removed from the magnetism of the project, which constituted the unicorn’s living areas when not hard at work. Breaks in the pattern where small things had broken free of the irrevocable pull of the monster at its core, the black hole at the center of the Professor’s world.

    “Mister Burner, are you in here?” she tried a second time.

    Verdigris carefully stepped forward, her leg flaring with pain, and did her best to avoid the cords lying across the floor. They wound around and over each other, orange and blacks almost like a braid of hair… or a tangle of snakes. Almost the instant she cleared the threshold, she had the feeling of being watched, like the entire room suddenly became aware of her presence. It made the feathers on the back of her neck stand up and sent a shiver back down her spine. Yet, unlike the gaze of those she endured before from Eclipse and King Goldtalon, it was not hostile. It was not angry.

    It was expectant.

    She frowned, her green eyes scanning the room slowly to find the proper owner, or perhaps where she was being watched from, but neither was apparent. The only eyes she could see were the ones on the armor itself, dimly glowing amber orbs that seemed at once asleep and aware.

    A beep from her side caused Verdigris to jump, clutching a claw to her chest as she eyed the machine’s readout with a frown. A simple waveform, but it wasn’t as smooth as it should be. It was arching up, then suddenly falling off to zero, then only to repeat it again. She slowly approached the machine, feeling like some foolish cub from a scary story told about the campfire, and tapped the readout with a single claw.

    Her nervousness skyrocketed when the waveform disappeared, flattening out seemingly in response to her touch. She grit her beak a little and looked around again, and let out a squawk when another chirp sounded from another unit.

    “Okay, this isn’t funny…” she stated in a wavering voice, and slowly stalked towards the location of the chirp. This one, at least, seemed to have a reason for going off. A simple “test completed” shown on the monitor, followed by a long string of complex looking figures and programming speech. She frowned at it, not knowing what to make of the listing, and began to walk past… when something about them caught her eye.

    Verdigris looked closer at the figures and frowned, her eyes flicking back and forth between several lines. Something didn’t add up there… like a wrong answer on a test, it just didn’t ‘look’ right to her eye. She lifted a claw to lightly push aside a piece of paper taped on the edge of the monitor when she realized the back of it was covered in a series of figures as well, many of them matching what she was seeing on the screen. But the ones she identified as being “off” were different than the ones on the paper. The paper had what looked like correct numbers to her…

    “Correct? Incorrect?” the gryphoness suddenly asked herself, shaking her head violently. “How the heck would I know the difference?” she demanded of the empty room. Instead of answering, a buzzer went off nearby, about making the poor gryphon all but jump out of her feathers. She hissed and spun around, searching for it before stumbling from her still injured leg. Still, despite her startle, there was nothing there, save a large workbench covered in sheet after sheet of paper. The gryphoness, her wings still flared, stormed towards the table, and the buzzer, as fast as her injured leg would allow her.

    An irritated slap of her claw shut off the buzzer handily. With that off, she spent a moment smoothing down her feathers before looking at what was actually on the table. Her eyes widened as she almost immediately realized what she was looking at, and she snatched one of the pages up with her claw. Her eyes raced over the figures and sketches, then up at the “centerpiece” of the room, then back to the sheet. With a trembling claw, she held it up so that the paper overlapped half of the Manticore armour… a perfect reflection of what was drawn.

    Verdigris dropped the sheet from her suddenly numb claw, her eyes wide as she stared at the armour. Maybe it was her imagination, but it suddenly felt as though it were staring back at her, watching her like a silent judge.

    With her heart wildly beating in her chest, the gryphoness picked up the paper she had dropped, trying hard to look anywhere but the glowing amber glare of the armour. Her eyes instead roamed the sheet of paper in her trembling claw.

    That was when she noticed it.

    She wasn’t sure exactly what ‘it’ was at first, but she saw it. An inconsistency. A something she couldn’t put her talon on that bothered her. Without even thinking about it, she snatched up another sheet from the table, her eyes racing over the numbers and drawings. Then a third… and a fourth… Within minutes she had dragged a stool over to stand on, spreading the forms out on the table, a pencil grasped awkwardly in her clawtips as she scribbled notes in the margins…

    She quickly lost track of time, her mind a whirl of figures and numbers. She didn’t understand the names assigned to the parts, but she could grasp their reasons and functions. The purpose of the armor may have not been told to her, but she could recognize it was designed to fight. Lasers and ablative armour, even scrapped plans for a flamethrower. But there was a problem, and the more she crunched the numbers, the more apparent it became. There wasn’t enough power. To get any reasonable performance from the massive armour required a massive generator nestled into the armour, far larger than would be feasible. A smaller power supply was in place, but it was insufficient, thus making the armour slow and sluggish. Remove some of the weaponry, and it might work, but then it would take a hit one what seemed to be its primary function.

    Inspiration hit, and her pencil went back to work, scribbling hastily the numbers that came pouring from her mind. She could barely comprehend where they came from, but she understood every one, and where it was leading her to. It was circuitous, it was clever, it was crazy… it was genius.

    “Vat are you doing?!” a cry came from behind her, and the gryphoness squawked in surprise, the pencil flying from her grasp to land halfway across the large chamber.

    “Um… uh…” Verdigris managed intelligently, her mind still a haze of numbers and designs.

    “Thiz iz not zome playground!” the orange unicorn shouted, making the gryphon squeeze back away from him, finding herself trapped against the desk. “Theze are my planz for ze Manticore armour! And you have… have…” the fury faded almost as fast as it appeared, the unicorn’s eyes widening as he scanned the figures she wrote in the margins. “Thiz… thiz iz…”

    “You need to change the frequency you’re using and increase the pulse rate,” Verdigris noted in a trembling voice.

    “Zat would increaze ze routing dependencies, though,” he countered, flipping one of the pages over, “not to mention overheating problemz...”

    Verdigris hesitantly circled the sheet to stand beside him and pointed at a sketch with her claw. “N-not if you synch the power core to it as well. You’d lose some power to your lasers, here and here, but you would increase the firing speed by almost four-hundred percent, and eliminate the overheating almost entirely.”

    “Wait, wait, zat iz impozzible! Unlezz…” Burner considered.

    “…unless you route the heat away from the core…” Verdigris continued…

    “…which vould feed power into ze armaments…”

    “…which would add a thermal charge to a component already using heat…”

    “…which, in turn, vould lesson the power requirements…”

    “…and decrease the load on the power supply and eliminate much of the cooling requirements…”

    “…which would increase overall rezponze time!” Burner finished, his eyes wide as he was almost dancing on his hoof tips. “Verdigris! Thiz iz ingeniouz!!!” he cried, literally hugging the gryphon tight enough to make her wings flare, before dashing off for his tools. The gryphon simply stood there in shock, her eyes wide and wings still spread.

    Burner literally didn’t notice for several long minutes as he gathered up his equipment, throwing them into a pile on the workbench by the power armor. It wasn’t until he turned to the gryphoness did he realize that she was all but frozen in place, her eyes wide and locked on nothing.

    “Verdigris?” Burner asked, a note of concern touching his voice as he stepped around a table towards the gryphon. “Verdigris, are you alright?”

    “It… it’s true…” she barely whispered.

    “Vhat’z true?”

    “I… I came here to see if you could help… help test me,” she snuffled.

    Bunsen Burner frowned and barely managed to tamp down the excitement of finally sorting out the last issue his armour had (so far) in order to sit down by the gryphoness and ask, “Tezt you for what?”

    “I… to see if I’m cursed…” she hissed softly, scrubbing a foreleg across her face, “sorry, a special. Zilch swats me when I call myself cursed….”

    “Would it be a bad zing if you were?” the unicorn asked in a gentle voice that surprised even him. Part of his mind screamed at him to get to work, but for some reason, he ignored it.

    “It means… it means I can never go home,” Verdigris hiccupped. “I… I thought it would be easier to take. I… I didn’t cry when I realized it with Zilch but… but there was a chance I was wrong. Maybe I was just talented at fixing toys? But… but this…”

    “Thiz was my mozt advanced work,” Burner said, the pieces clicking into place, “zis iz one of ze mozt advanzed works of roboticz in all of Equeztria… and you zolved one of itz mozt vexing problemz in only hourz...”

    Verdigris nodded weakly and lowered her eyes, clenching them shut. Burner felt awkward and all hooves, but he finally settled for what felt like the lame gesture of putting a leg about her shoulder. He was outright flabbergasted when the gryphoness leaned into him and sobbed. The unicorn grimaced, unsure what to do now, other than to lightly pat her shoulder and say “there there?” from time to time. At least, until an idea struck him…

    “Verdigris?” he asked loud enough that she would hear.

    “Huh?” she asked, snuffling wetly.

    With a slightly nervous clearing of his throat, he asked, “Vould you like to help me install your fix?”

    “I…  I never actually tried…”

    “Zat vaz not what I azked…” he said with what he hoped was a comforting smile.

    “I… I think I would,” the young gryphoness answered tentatively. “Might as well prove it all the way, eh?” she chuckled weakly.

    “Zat iz ze zpirit,” he answered, and helped her to her claws. “If you are indeed zkilled in zis regard, you might be a great azzet to uz.”

    “I still don’t know who you all are,” Vedigris noted pointedly.

    “Perhapz Kaoz will tell you more if you help uz?”

    She paused for a moment, then closed her beak on the argument she had considered. Maybe he would? Maybe she shouldn’t know? What would it matter at this point? They had been willing to accept her for who and what she is, without question. That’s more than her parents would have done, more than almost her entire race would do… With a sigh, she picked herself up and moved to the tools the stallion had collected. “We need to rip out and recalibrate the power supply first?”

    “Nein, not yet,” he answered, and started to open one of the panels. “We need to ztart by disconnecting ze remote power conduits and begin recalibrating them first. Onze zat iz done, we can adjust ze toleranze levelz in ze unit…”

    “Then we set up the heat venting to your weapon systems!” the gryphoness chirped, understanding it now.

    “Exactly,” Burner answered with a smile. “Let’z get to work, azzizztant!” Verdigris couldn’t help but giggle at the title as they got to work.

    A striped figure in a crisply tailored suit smiled as he watched from the entrance to the cave.

    She dashed around the corner and pressed herself flat against the wall.

    Old bricks bit against her back, the slight dampness from Goddess knows what soaking into her midnight blue coat. To her side, hanging in the muted glow of her magic, was the unicorn’s prize, a small bag that jingled when moved as she pushed it against the wall a little harder. Her ears strained under the close fitting hood, trying to hear any pursuit. She managed to lose the idiot who carried her purse just a little too loosely, and was far too out of shape to keep up with her. Well, that mare’s loss was her gain.

    She took a moment to survey the alley she’d chosen to hide in. It was mostly draped in thick shadows thanks to poor lighting from the nearby shops and homes. A sickly sheen along the ground and some surfaces reflected what little light it could catch, forming strange and twisted silhouettes in the darkness. The alleyway was narrow, barely wide enough for two ponies side by side, and littered along both walls with piles of garbage just waiting for their weekly removal… if the ponies bothered to show up. The “L” shape of the alley turned the routine sounds of the city into a strange and twisted echo of itself, giving a sense of removal from the rest of the city. An odd sense of privacy that was comforting…

    Her breathing finally reached some semblance of normal as she grew more confidant that no-pony had given chase. She reached up with a hoof and yanked off the hood, shaking out her pale pink mane with white streaks and grinned wickedly back in the direction she came from. Coming away from the wall and back to all four hooves, she opened the bag to peer inside.

    “Let’s see… five… ten… Are you kiddin’ me?! Oh for crying out loud,” she groaned, “this wasn’ even worth the risk.” With a dejected sigh, the unicorn stuffed the bits into her own bag and tossed the one she stole onto the ground. She tucked her own bag back into her tail and turned…

    …and found herself face to face with a pair of glowing eyes.

    With a squeak, she backpedaled, her eyes wide as the dim light hid the form she was facing. The large and bulky form stepped forward, its hoof falling with a heavy clank as the light revealed the sharp features of the draconic helmet that carried those glowing blue eyes.

    “I don’t think those bits belong to you,” the mechanized beast growled, sounding all the world like it just clawed its way out from the depths of Tartarus.

    “Who the heck are you s-supposed ta be?” the mare demanded, sounding more confident than she felt.

    The mechanized beast stepped further forward, light glinting off the angled metal. “Doesn’t matter who I am,” the mechanized voice answered, one of its hooves scraping along the ground in a shower of sparks, “what matters is what I’m going to do to you if you don’t turn yourself in for theft.”

    The unicorn smiled uneasily. “Theft? What theft?”

    Rather than answer, the monstrosity used a hoof to scoop up the bit-bag that had been just discarded. With a flick, the bag landed across the mare’s snout, which she shook her head violently to toss off.

    “Unless you got some proof, back the hell off… whatever the eff you’re supposed to be,” the unicorn growled, her eyes flicking down the alley as she tried to determine the odds of fleeing. “You ain’t got nothin’ on me!”

    For as bulky as the monstrosity looked, it moved with a speed she never expected as it caught her in the chest, slamming her back into the brick wall of the alley, one foreleg across her chest, almost on her throat. The thing hissed, as if stifling the urge to turn her into a bloody smear before it spoke again. “Why don’t we find her and ask?” it asked accusingly.

    “She won’t snitch!” the unicorn choked out. She desperately cast about for anything to use against this terror before her eyes lit on something… and an idea hit her.

    “Then maybe --“ the metallic thing started, but the mare ignored her, her magic flaring as she did the only thing she could think of… and rolled the nearby dumpster away from the wall with as much force as she could muster to ram the demonic figure. With an odd “crump” sound, the demonic metal thing was driven back and away from her by the dumpster, which came to a stop only a few feet away, catching on some crack in the cement. The bin teetered for a moment, then toppled over onto the unknown thing with a crash, spilling its contents out along the sidewalk.

    “Heh,” the unicorn managed, catching her breath and calming her shaky nerves, “guess they don’t make demons the same these days.” With trembling hooves, she slowly turned to walk away from the toppled dumpster. She’d made far too much noise, it might attract some nosy foal out to ruin her fun. Besides, if she wanted her cash, she had to earn it! Well, steal it.

    She’d only taken two steps when the sound reached her ears; the screeching sound of metal being torn. Slowly, with wide eyes, the midnight coated mare looked back over her shoulder, her pupils reduced to pinpricks as, with a final burst, the dumpster ripped in two. The demonic pony stood at the center on her hind hooves, one hoof on each side of the now twisted and nigh unrecognizable trash bin, the eyes glowing fiercely with baleful energy.

    The mare couldn’t help herself; she screamed and ran as fast as her hooves could carry her, down the alley and around the corner, stumbling on trash that gave way under her hooves. She scrambled down the alley and surged ahead, careening around another corner and into the lane. She was oblivious to other ponies, careening broadside into one, and crashing into another in her panic. She ignored the shouts after her as she dived around another corner and into an alley she knew.

    The dark familiarity wrapped about the mare as she watched the street with wide, paranoid eyes. But as the minutes ticked on, her adrenaline began to ebb, her heart stopped thudding in her chest, and a sense of relief washed over her.

    “I lost it…” she breathed and wiped a foreleg across her brow. With a sigh she turned to walk further into the alley…

    …and bumped right into the metallic form watching her from behind.

    The metallic form didn’t even give her a chance to recoil this time, and scooped a hoof around to catch the back of her neck, pulling her sharply forward before curling her other foreleg to push, slamming her back into the nearby wall with enough force to make the breath whoosh from her lungs. The metallic monster leaned close, its draconic face looming over her. She struggled reflexively, the pressure growing across her chest as she struggled to breathe. She swore she heard her ribs creaking from the pressure, even as the creature’s other forehoof grew close, the bottom of it glowing like a bright blue lamp hovering inches from her face. She cringed, ducking her head and flattening her ears.

    “So, you gonna just kill her?”

    The monstrosity didn’t blink, seemingly unsurprised by the appearance of another in the proceedings. The mare, however, managed to twist her head just enough to look past the glowing hoof to see the other speaker. If her eyes could have bulged any more, they would have, seeing the unassuming mare leaning against the alley entrance casually. She was clad head to hoof in a purple bodysuit with a wide flaring collar and a matching purple hat. To conceal her identity, a midnight blue hood was pulled over her face and mane, reducing her eyes to a pair of pale moons. A matching blue cape lay over her back and flanks, further securing the image in her mind, and the knowledge of who she was.

    “I was considering it,” the mechanical monstrosity intoned.

    “Over thirteen bits?”

    “It’s the principal of the matter…”

    “Could you hurry it up then?” the suited mare asked flippantly. “I want to know which one of you I’m supposed to deliver to the guard.” The monster of a pony kept the unicorn pinned tightly in place, her hoof still hovering in place as seconds stretched out. The trapped mare shuddered visibly, wondering why the metallic monster was waiting…

    “She’s not an imp,” the masked mare said softly, which caused the mechanical monster-pony to turn its head in surprise, looking at her for a long moment. Them with a creaking slowness, the hoof on the unicorn’s chest pulled back and away from her, allowing breath to sweep into her lungs and leaving her collapsed on the ground as she struggled to reclaim her breath and to keep from pissing all over her leg.

    “Thankyouthankyouthankyou…” she managed to gasp.

    “Don’t thank me yet,” the other mare chuckled, and swept off her hat, revealing a horn of her own, which glowed brightly for a moment. At her command, electrical cords snaked their way out from the garbage and proceeded to bind the hooves of the thief. Only when bound did the mare settle her hat back in place and trot over, using a hoof to relieve the complaining mare of her bit-bag. “After all, I plan to return these to their rightful owners… all of them.”

    “What about the guard?” the mechanical pony asked.

    “What about them?” the mare asked cheekily. “They won’t do anything, there’s insufficient proof. I just do what I can and return these to their rightful owners. It’s all about doing the right thing, isn’t that true, Dragonfly?”

    The mechanized pony didn’t respond for several moments, “I suppose I should be flattered you know who I am, but I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage.”

    “Me?” the mare asked, and stood up on her hind legs and swept her hat off in a massive flourish. “I am the incredible, the amazing, Mare-Do Well!”

    “Incredible?” Clockwork asked incredulously. “Amazing?”

    “What an ego that size--” the captured mare started, before Dragonfly interrupted with a nudge of her hoof. She shut up quickly and went back to sulking.

    The suited mare swept the hat back on and grinned broadly under the hood, “Well, one must pad their own reputation a little bit around here. I keep hoping for a comic book deal.”

    “Keep dreaming,” the armoured mare snorted, “they haven’t been offering any to existing specials since the debacle with Ultrapony.”

    “I suppose that makes sense,” Mare-Do Well considered, then shrugged and turned away. “Regardless, I will bid you adieu, I have some deliveries to make!”

    “Wait!” Clockwork called, before she even realized she had.

    Mare-Do Well paused, not turning around to look. “Yes?”

    “Look I… I’d like to help, if it’s alright with you.” Clockwork felt oddly childish in the request, like some cheesy comic character suggesting they “team up” for the greater good. She almost face-hoofed at the thought. “Uh… never --”

    “Sure,” Mare-Do Well interrupted with a smile, then flicked her cape back with a pair of lavender wings, “if you can keep up with me.”

    Clockwork’s eyes widened under the helm as the mare leapt into the air and took off into the dark. Even for a pegasus, she was quick, and the suited mare had to quickly fire her engines and lift off at maximum speed just to try and catch up.

    The unicorn was then left alone, her eyes wide as the blue glow of the armoured monstrosity’s engines faded from view. She rolled her head back and lifted her hooves, and proceeded to start to bite at the cords binding her legs. With that pair gone there was nothing to keep other ponies from finding her…

    She planned to be long gone before they ever showed up.

    “That should be the last one.”

    “I hope so,” the armoured mare noted, setting the Dragonfly down next to her current companion, the Mare-Do Well she’d heard about in some circles of the seedier side of Canterlot. “I swear that you must have a photographic memory or something. To remember all those ponies…”

    “Not really,” the mare admitted, tipping back her hat, “that last one was a charity service. I just donated the last of it to them in hopes that it would help somepony out.”

    Clockwork nodded with a chuckle, “I suspected as much, but I wasn’t sure that filly didn’t rip them off too. I only got a good look at her last victim, and even then I only was alerted to the area come her… fourth victim I think it was.”

    Mare-Do Well snorted, “You’re still a newbie at this whole ‘stop the criminals’ thing.”

    “Well yes… I am,” she admittedly sheepishly.

    “Good for you,” the suited mare said as she sat her flank down. Her eyes closed partway, shielding them against the distant glare of the lights many stories below them. Up there, on a pony-made cliff of glass and steel and mortar, one could almost imagine they were alone in the world, with just the gibbous moon staring down at them. Aside from the cool stiff wind, there was no pony, and barely even a bird or two, to overhear them. “There’s not enough of you former agents who realize that there are still ponies suffering. Crime is still a problem, and it always will be.”

    Clockwork turned her head away, embarrassed. “It took an accidental meeting to teach me that.”

    “At least you learned it,” Mare-Do Well said simply. Several moments passed, each of them left to their own thoughts, before she spoke again, “So why did you come with me?”

    “I’m sorry?” Clockwork asked, jumping slightly as she was jolted from her own thoughts.

    The suited mare chuckled and folded her forelegs, lying on the rooftop comfortably before repeating herself, “Why did you come with me? You really don’t have a reason, you barely know who I am, you’ve only just barely heard of me, and you only saw me for the first time when I all but threatened to turn you into the guard…”

    “Because I noticed something impossible about you, and I was curious…” Clockwork said, but the other mare continued to look at her. Even with her relaxed posture expression, her eyes shown with an almost knowing glint. Not judging, but knowing. The armoured mare let out the breath she was holding and continued, “…and you said exactly the right thing to snap me out of my own head. I was wondering how you knew.”

    “So I’m ‘impossible’ now?” she considered, seemingly amused by the title. “I like the sound of that. I might have to add that to my litany. But what about me is impossible?”

    “Unless you’re one of the Princesses slumming as a hero,” she noted flatly, “there’s no way you could have both wings and a horn, and yet you used both tonight.”

    “What wings?” the other mare asked teasingly, and flipped up the cape, where, indeed, no wings could be seen. With a swipe of her hoof, she tugged off her hat and scratched the back of her head, “No horn, either. Are you sure you’re not seeing things?”

    “I… uh…  But you… and then you…” Clockwork stammered, only to see the other mare start to giggle.

    “I’m a special, like yourself,” she pointed out, still laughing. “I was gifted with the ability to change my shape at will. There are limits, of course, but I can be any of the three types of pony. The downside is that my original appearance was lost in all of this. I remember each form by feel, but the color of my mane and coat seems randomized. With effort I can force a specific set of colors, and yes I could turn into a stallion if I so chose, but that takes a good bit of effort too. It’s easier just to simply decide I want to be a unicorn or a pegasus and go. The cape and hat are so no one can see the parts grow in, and then I can use them as if I’d been a pony of that type all my life.”

    “Wow, that’s pretty impressive,” Clockwork whistled. “But, I’ve never heard of an agent like you before.”

    “I’m not an agent, and never was,” Mare-Do Well noted softly. “My power surfaced in the invasion of Canterlot, the invasion you helped stop, if I remember correctly. Thanks for that, by the way.” Clockwork flushed under the helmet, ducking her head a bit as the other mare continued, “But when they attacked, something inside me ‘changed’. I don’t know how else to explain it. I was angry they were hurting other ponies. I wanted to help them, to drive back those bullies and… and then it happened. I turned into a unicorn and blasted a hoof-full with magic. Then I turned into a pegasus and flew circles around a few. I was as astounded as anypony; what I was doing was impossible, right? I turned back into an earth pony, but when I looked at myself, I wasn’t me. I wasn’t anypony I’d ever seen before. I then proceeded to buck a few dozen more Imps before reinforcements arrived.”

    “Reinforcements? You mean the guard?” she asked, frowning.

    “The Guard? Down here?!” Mare-Do Well scoffed, “as if they’d dirty their pristine and polished armor to help us.” She snorted and shook her head. “No, the reinforcements were from, of all things, the local criminal organizations and gangs. They brought weapons, they brought fighters, and they brought anypony who was willing to stand against the Imps. It turned into a bloody street war, but we held our own until the end. We were losing, by the way. We lost many ponies then, but I was lucky. I was still alive in the end.”

    Clockwork placed a metal hoof on the other mare’s shoulder, who gave a thin smile under the mask. “I’m sorry we weren’t faster…”

    “Don’t give me that!” the suited mare growled, causing her companion to recoil in surprise. “You did what you needed to do, and you did it as quickly as possible. Don’t you dare apologize for doing things the right way, just because it wasn’t fast enough for some idiot or another! You are your team did it, you defeated the Nightmare. You lifted a curse on these lands that not even the great Twilight Sparkle and her friends, the Infamous ‘Six’, could do. If anything, I should be thanking you for getting it finished in time to keep me alive.”

    “But…”

    “But ponies died, a lot of them,” she sighed softly, her anger dissipating, “and yes, I grieve for them. But I have to believe that, regardless of what they did before that point, their deaths were worth something. They were heroes, even if they aren’t on that fancy wall you have for the agents who passed. They were heroes, and regardless of if they were some two bit mugger, hobo, prostitute, or even crime lord, we all stood shoulder to shoulder against the threat. We held the line, and we did our job so that you could do yours. Don’t apologize to me; you have nothing to apologize for. In a manner of speaking, we were all part of the same large team, and we did the job. In the end, we won, and that’s what matters. It also proves that we can do it again, if needs be. Not just some hero agent. Not the element bearers. But every pony in Canterlot, and perhaps the Ponylands and Equestria… hell, why not the world over? But every pony can stand together against a threat larger than we are. We are stronger united than we are separate.”

    Clockwork smiled weakly under her helm, “You’re starting to sound like a Hearthwarming Day card…”

    “Yeah, I suppose I am,” the other mare chuckled and sat upright, feeling the wind blow over her masked face, “but it’s the truth. Maybe that was the lesson we all failed to learn. Or maybe I’m just waxing stupid with all this time to think.”

    “I dunno, it made sense to me,” the armored mare offered.

    Mare-do Well tugged her hat down slightly. “That’s how I knew what to say to you. We both went through the hell of that invasion. I know there are times that I swear that every damned criminal is another Imp in disguise, if only I could root them out!” She shrugged embarrassingly at her momentary outburst, and continued, “But I think maybe I was brain damaged in all the fighting. It doesn’t happen often, but every now and again I go a little crazy and somepony has to reign me in.”

    Clockwork’s jaw worked for a moment. Another pony suffering as she did? Another who knew what it was, what was happening?! Was that… even possible?

    “We need to get our minds off this maudlin crap,” the masked mare announced suddenly, completely derailing Clockwork’s train of thought, “let’s go find some action.” The Dragonfly’s wings sprung back into existence, flaring to signify her readiness.

    With only a broad grin, Mare-Do Well leapt off the building…

    For the first time, she noticed how empty it felt.

    The small gryphon wound carefully down the hall of the empty aerie. She knew where the team was, Professor Burner had told her yesterday that they would have an all day training session starting at sun-up. She had woken up when Zilch groggily uncurled from where they now shared her hidden bed, and she managed to slip out through her portal before the suited mare could teleport off. She didn’t feel like being stuck in the little hiding spot, not today. She had an entire day, and she was determined to do one thing…

    She was determined to find some answers.

    Her step was slow, thanks to her still injured leg, but certain. She started her trip by swinging by Burner’s lab, seeing if he’d had any brainstorms over the night. He promised that he would tack them up on the board so she could look them over.

    His room felt empty when she got there, like a room missing its purpose. Of course, the reason for that was apparent. The large orange and gold Manticore armour was missing, and thus the room was quiet, waiting on its sole reason for existence to return. Verdigris made her way into this room, through the layers of collected equipment all waiting, as she headed for the board he indicated the night before. She felt oddly like a ghost, an invader, amongst a group of sleepers waiting for their king’s return. The gryphoness shook her head to try and dislodge the sense of invasion, but couldn’t quite slip free of it.

    True to his word, the Professor had indeed left a large sketch tacked to the board. A weapon, if Verdigris’ guess was correct. His scribbled notes seemed to indicate it was for the tail, a single high-pulse laser. It would serve as a primary output for the gathering heat, which she supposed turned it technically into something other than a laser, but didn’t feel the need to quibble the point. Instead, a different concern egged at her. With only one barrel for the discharge, it might overheat… She scribbled a note in the margin, a simple question that might encourage some thought on this later. “What is the melting point of the metal you’re using?” With that, she turned her back and hobbled back out of the chamber as quickly as possible, trying to leave that creepy sense of invasion behind her.

    She headed next for their kitchen, intent on getting herself something to eat. She made a face upon entering from the hall; the kitchen was a complete wreck from the whirlwind of activity and scramble for what breakfast the team could choke down before heading out for practice. There was even some evidence that someone had tried to cook, and another had set up a basket of food for lunch over the duration. She knew Zilch wasn’t up in time to do either of that, so she couldn’t help but wonder who would care enough to even try to pack a lunch for them. She admittedly didn’t know the entire group, but none of them struck her as much of the “pack a lunch” type.

    Still, she managed to find a bowl of seed and some leftover lettuce from someone’s sandwich, which served as a decent enough meal, especially when combined with a bit of milk to wash it down. However, Verdigris was less focused on the meal than she was on the room she ate it in. Very rarely was she able to access the “central chamber” of the aerie, and this was too big an opportunity to pass up.

    She had to admit, she didn’t know what to expect when she went there. The room had a strange vibe to it, one she couldn’t quite bit a talon on. All those monitors surrounding a table far too large for the gathering of individuals who sat at it… all accompanied by the creepy sensation of being watched. She found it easy to gulp her breakfast down and hurry away from the chamber, and away from the shadows she swore she kept glimpsing on the monitors.

    With the central chamber behind her, Verdigris found herself without a specific direction in mind. She’d hoped to get some sort of clue from the main room, but that sense of being watched all but drove her from the chamber with her tail between her legs. It was oddly oppressive, and made her wonder what sort of group she’d fallen in with.

    Finally she simply decided at random, and began to walk. Her pace was slow, but she had little difficulty from the smoothed floors she traversed, other than the habit they had of looping back on themselves. Still, she managed to find a small den that could only belong to Junkyard, and another nearby that belonged to a pegasus she’d only glimpsed but seemed to want no part of her. At least she suspected as much, when she came across a firmly locked door with “Scram!” on a sign hastily hammered in place.

    What surprised her more was how many chambers were completely empty. There were enough rooms in the aerie for a small army, and yet she only knew of seven of them. Six of which made up the team, five she’d met however briefly, and the unknown entity that was “The Prince”. She wasn’t sure she was supposed to even know who he was, but she’d overheard his name mentioned a few times as the coordinator of the team, the driving force that drew these individuals about him, and eager to smooth out their differences into a smooth and cohesive unit before the month’s end. They seemed as in the dark about his motivations as she was… which was saying a lot, considering how little she knew.

    Slowly she directed herself upwards in the aerie, thinking that perhaps this “Prince” might have taken the chambers usually reserved for the gryphon in charge, whatever Baron might have started this before meeting an untimely fate. Her method seemed to bear fruit early on when she was joined by a twisted pair of cables that looped about and over each other in a way that made her think of a pair of playful otters or ferrets. Unfortunately, the cables abandoned her quest shortly there-after, heading into a crack in the wall that went almost straight down. She couldn’t help but wonder where they lead, but there was no way she could possibly follow, and thus continued on her path alone.

    A solid rock wall defeated her mission. There simply was no door. The upper tier of the aerie must have never been hollowed out. With a sigh, she turned her back on it and started to hobble her way back. Her leg was beginning to ache from all the walking, and she wasn’t any closer to discovering what was going on than when she started. So dejected was she that she almost missed the second passage, one that curved away at a truly strange, impossible angle. It curved outward, into what should be through the very side-wall of the peak by her estimation. With a frown, she stepped carefully into the passage.

    The passage that shouldn’t exist curled around and upwards, and the rock slowly gave way to a reflective stone not unlike glass. The closer she looked the more certain she was that there was a thin line of pink amongst the steel blue color, but she couldn’t trust her eyes in the dim light of the passage she walked. Finally, she seemed to reach a pinnacle, which terminated at a door. A large door. An impossibly large door, that couldn’t possibly exist in an aerie like this.

    And it was ajar.

    “This is a stupid idea,” Verdigris told herself, but it didn’t stop her. One claw in front of the other, she pressed her way into the opening of the door, and into the chamber beyond. The chamber, for once, wasn’t shrouded in darkness, and the eyes of the small gryphoness grew wide. She’d heard of this place, even once read about it, this wonderfully impossible place…

    “Wha…?! B-but this is --!”

    “Hello, Verdigris,” a reedy voice interrupted, and the small gryphon spun around. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

    The small gryphon swallowed thickly, moving a single step forward. “Are you…‘The Prince’?”

    “Am I? Yes, I suppose I am,” the voice answered. “I suppose you have questions for me, just as I have answers for you. But first, a word of warning, little gryphon, you will not like all that you discover here. There are hard facts you must understand, and some of them are very bitter pills to swallow. I’ll understand if you turn back around and return to your illusion of where you might have been. You will forget all of this if you do; I cannot afford this information getting out… not yet.”

    “I want answers,” the gryphon said firmly, and sat her flank in place. “I can handle your truths.”

    “I thought you might say that,” he answered, the smile apparent in his voice. “Come then, and join me; there’s no sense being uncomfortable. This will take a while, but I promise to explain everything.”

    The door closed silently behind Verdigris.