Coldharbor

I was really starting to wish I’d taken a few magic lessons from my mother.

At the time, I hadn’t seen any reason to ask her for training. After all, I was Princess Celestia’s personal pupil. If there was anything to be learned about magic, the princess could probably teach me way more than my parents ever could. Besides, I hadn’t exactly been on good terms with my mother since ... oh, my fifth birthday.

Several runestones clattered around my hooves, pulsing with magic. I had no idea what exactly they would do, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like it. Especially when the caribou who’d just chucked them at me was smiling like a kid in a candy store. Sure enough, a couple seconds later a shimmering field popped up between all the stones, leaving me trapped in the middle.

Since my mother was Equestria’s leading expert on runic magic, she might have been able to teach me a few things that could help in this situation. Then again, since my mother was such an expert on runic magic and had extensive contacts with the caribou, it might not be a coincidence that a caribou runecaster was trying to apprehend me right now.

I wasn’t sure how I would get out of this one. The caribou coming after me looked entirely too competent for my tastes. Caribou are naturally bigger than ponies, and this guy was larger than most. His brown coat was shot through with a couple white strikes that marked old battle scars, and there was a lean, toned look to him. Obviously a physical confrontation was out, and I didn’t like a magic duel where my opponent knew a lot more about how my magic worked than I knew about his.

That left one option: running. I tried to teleport out, but that’s when I found out what those runestones were for—my teleportation spell fizzled when I tried it. Of course; his opening move would be to make sure I couldn’t get away from him.

That left fighting and trying to talk my way out of it. We’d attracted a bit of an audience, but playing to the crowd wasn’t going to be an option—Coldharbor was a caribou city, and the locals would probably side with their own kind. Fighting wasn’t exactly looking like a great option either. “Okay, you have my attention.” I tilted my head up to try and give myself an air of casual confidence despite how bad my situation was. “So who are you, and what do you want?”

The caribou drew himself up to his full height, which was more intimidating than I care to admit. “I am Gothi Sigil Forestson, and you are my prisoner, Sunset Shimmer.”

I put on a confident smirk despite the fear growing in the pit of my stomach. “Don’t you think it’s a bit early to declare me captured? For all you know, I’ve got a clever escape in the works.”

“Feel free to try,” Sigil answered with an uncaring shrug. “Though I would strongly advise not using any pyromancy—you would cook yourself alive in my rune cage, and we can’t have that. Your mother wants you back alive.”

“Well, you’ll excuse me if I don’t take your word for it.” I threw out a couple quick magical probes at the rune cage, but it was every bit as tough as he’d claimed. I wasn’t going to test it with any heavy fire magic for exactly the reason he brought up; being trapped in a small cage with a lot of fire that had nowhere else to go sounded distinctly unhealthy. Thankfully, one doesn’t spend years as Princess Celestia’s personal student without learning a bit of versatility.

I tried out one of the common weak points of any anti-magic barrier, conjuration. If you used magic to make something real and non-magical, then that non-magical object could pass right through the barrier. Seeing as I was up in the frozen north, ice was the obvious choice; there was certainly no shortage of it around. Plus, nobody expects to see a pyromancer using ice magic, despite the fact that Sunbeam’s First Law of Thermodynamics says that ice magic is just fire magic at lower temperatures.

I wasn’t as good with ice as I was with fire, but then I was probably the best mortal pony in the world when it came to the latter. Ice might not be my specialty, but I could still beat a lot of ponies who did specialize at it—being a natural genius who was tutored by the princess gave me a big edge. It only took me about half a second to pull all the heat out of the air around me until it formed a perfect spear of ice.

I hurled the ice spear at Sigil, though I was careful to avoid aiming for anything vital. I didn’t want to kill him, after all. It’s not like he was one of the bad guys; he was probably just paying back a favor he owed my mother. More importantly, outright murdering someone would be going way too far. Before I’d left her, Celestia told me I could always come back to Canterlot and the palace when I was ready. However, I’m pretty sure that invitation was dependent on me staying one of the good guys.

Yeah, I’d left Canterlot, and on less-than-great terms with Celestia, but I didn’t want to burn my bridges completely. The princess had been like a mother to me. A lot more than my birth mother ever had been—though apparently Mother did care enough to call in a few favors to sic a runecaster on me.

My careful aim with the ice spear turned out to be all for naught, though. As soon as it reached the line of runestones boxing me in, the ice lance shattered. Sigil smirked a bit when my attack failed, clearly amused by it.

I suppose I should’ve expected it. Sigil was a gothi after all. The term didn’t have a perfect translation into Equestrian, but it would be fair to call him the equivalent of a unicorn magus in terms of experience and training. And if he’d worked with my mother in the past, he probably had a decent amount of familiarity with unicorn magic. Clearly, that included knowing the standard maneuvers for escaping a magic-containing cage.

The only other element I was really good with for combat evocation was light. I wasn’t terribly optimistic about it doing any better than fire or ice had, but there was no reason not to try it. At the very least, I could probably blind him through the cage. That might not get me out on its own, but it would at least give me a bit more freedom to act.

I concentrated on producing a pretty standard thunderflash spell—essentially an explosion of light and sound intended to disorient anypony who witnessed it. Admittedly, that would suck for any of the innocent caribou passing by, but that wasn’t really my problem. I’d rather disorient some innocent bystanders for a bit than let myself get captured. I gathered my energy and cast the spell with the degree of utter perfection one would expect from Celestia’s personal student.

It fizzled the instant it left my horn.

“Dammit, not again!” I’d been having trouble with my light magic for a while now. It had started up around the time I left Canterlot. I’m not sure what exactly the problem was, but I suspect it had something to do with the way light magic works. The way Celestia explained it, I had to be in a state of personal harmony to use a lot of the spells she’d taught me. I guess it’s no surprise that leaving my life behind had thrown me out of balance. Still, it would’ve been nice if she could’ve taught me some light spells that worked no matter what was going through my head.

Rather than waste more energy trying to smash through the cage, I sat down and thought it out for a bit. I might not have studied with my mother, but I’d seen some of her work and heard her talking about it with my father over the dinner table. That was pretty much the only thing they’d ever talked about, even when I was around. Normally I resented that, but right now I wouldn’t complain about any useful bits of knowledge I could use to get out of my current predicament.

So, rune magic. First things first, it worked a lot differently from unicorn magic. Aside from a few with disabilities, every unicorn was born with some natural ability to spellcast. Even an idiot could figure out basic light and telekinesis spells. Most other races didn’t have that natural talent; they either had no inherent magic or else were like pegasi and earth ponies in that their magic manifested in ways that didn’t allow spellcasting.

Rune magic, however, didn’t care about who used it. As long as you had all the proper runes, infused them with energy, and activated them in the right way, it worked—even if you didn’t have a speck of spellcasting ability.

The downside was that everything had to be done perfectly. Rune magic is not a good field of magic for beginners. If even a single rune was slightly mis-carved or placed out of alignment, the whole spell could fizzle. Or worse, blow up in your face. Any line of work that involves dozens of complicated little details with no margin for error is going to be unkind to beginners, and with how sensitive rune magic could be you might not get the chance to learn from your mistakes.

The other problem with it was its lack of flexibility. A unicorn could pretty much cast any spell they knew any time they wanted to, or even make spells up on the fly so long as they knew all the basic rules and principles of magic. Rune magic, as you might have guessed, doesn’t let you break from fixed spells. On top of that, you had to have all the right runes and have them all charged up. Heavy-duty spellcasting burns out runestones pretty quickly, and a caribou can only make and carry so many. Especially since they had to be carefully stored; a bunch of magically active runestones bouncing around randomly in a loose bag was just asking for trouble.

That’s probably the main reason rune magic never caught on in Equestria. Not many ponies wanted to spend ten years learning enough rune magic to replicate basic unicorn spells. It was a lot less trouble to just get a unicorn to cast whatever spells you needed.

Still, it was useful anywhere that didn’t have unicorns as a widely available resource. Plus there were a few areas where rune magic was arguably more potent that unicorn magic. Divination was a real strength, and it was also pretty good at enchantment. And most importantly to my current situation, it could make nasty barriers and containment spells. Runes were very good at any kind of magic you want to keep anchored in place.

That did give me one big advantage, though. If I could find a way to break out of this rune cage, I could probably handle Sigil without too much trouble. Once it turned into an open battle, unicorn flexibility was way better than static runecasting. I just had to figure out the tiny step of how to break the field locking me in.

I took a quick mental survey of my resources. My magic didn’t seem like it would do much good. I could try light magic, or any of the off-talent spells I’d learned from Celestia, but going down the checklist trying every single spell I could think of until I found a weakness was not the best of plans. Odds were I’d wear myself out before I found an opening. In fact, that might well be what Sigil had in mind for me. A tired, burned-out unicorn is a lot easier to catch.

That left a non-magical solution as my only way out. Pity I didn’t have too many of those close at hoof. The only things I had on me were my heavy wool cloak and a bitpurse that was mostly Equestrian bits, with a smattering of caribou thalers as well. The cloak could be useful for entangling, but it wouldn’t help me escape the rune cage. At least up in the frozen north I could wear a heavy face-concealing cloak without getting any odd looks or sticking out from the crowd; it was cold enough that everyone wanted to cover up. My coins wouldn’t do me any good either, unless I could buy Sigil off for an insultingly cheap price.

So, I was down to finding a way through the anti-magic barrier when the only tool I had was magic. That would be fun.

I could try to enhance my physical abilities and then brute force my way out of the cage, but that was risky. Self-enhancement spells had never been one of my strong suits, and when you’re messing around with changing your own body it can go wrong easily. The last thing I needed to do was magically pump up my muscles only to have them rip apart my still-normal-for-a-pony bones, or something like that.

Come on, think, Sunset. There’s always a way out. No way I was going to let anybody grab me and drag me home like I was a runaway teenager. Besides, it had been more than a decade since my parents gave me to Celestia for training, partially because they’d never been all that good at parenting to begin with. There’s a reason I spent Mother’s Day with Celestia instead of my biological mother.

That’s when an incredibly crazy idea popped into my head.

I mean seriously crazy. As in if it didn’t work I’d probably end up spending a lot of time with a psychologist. Actually, the fact that I was even seriously considering a plan this nuts was probably a sign that I needed to make sure I didn’t have a few screws loose.

Still, as the saying goes, it was just crazy enough to work.

I hammered against the shield with a fireball. Just like Sigil warned me it would, the magical fire bounced right off the barrier, releasing enough wasted heat to turn all the snow around my hooves to messy slush.

“It won’t work, Sunset Shimmer.” The gothi grinned down at me. “Your mother told me you were good, so I made this rune trap special, just for you. You should be honored, really. I had to spend a whole week preparing these stones.”

“Well I’m only going to need a couple minutes to make you drop that shield,” I boasted, hammering it with another fireball. The backdraft from it melted the rest of the snow inside the rune cage. “So I guess you wasted a lot of time.”

“That’s a bold claim.” A smirk crossed Sigil’s face. “And one I see no evidence to support. I’m sure you have a few tricks left, but nothing I haven’t anticipated, and accounted for with the cage. Your mother provided me with a great deal of information about your abilities.” He paused, and his expression and voice softened. “Come now, Sunset, there is no need to fight. Your mother simply wants you home. You’ve gone out into the world and had your adventure, but now it’s time to return. At least long enough to let your parents know you’re alright.”

Ugh. I liked it better when he was just gloating. Gloating I can handle. This caribou I’d never even met before trying to make nice and empathize with me, on the other hoof ... that was more than I wanted to deal with. Instead of answering him, I pounded against the shield with more fire, and then had to discard my cloak—it might be all snow and ice this far up north, but it was getting way too hot inside the cage to wear a thick woolen cloak.

Sigil frowned down at me. “Surely by now you realize you aren’t going to be able to break that barrier with brute force. All you’re going to accomplish is roasting yourself alive.”

I grinned at him, deliberately making my smile just a bit too wide and toothy. “Oh yes, if I keep this up, I’ll probably end up killing myself.” I hurled more fire into the shield. “Of course, there’s not much you can do to stop me, unless you drop the rune cage.”

A unicorn probably could’ve adjusted their spell on the fly to keep me from building up too much heat, but like I said, rune magic wasn’t flexible. He’d set up a barrier to keep my fire in, which meant I could do whatever I wanted with it so long as I kept it inside the cage.

Sigil’s eyes narrowed. “You’re bluffing.”

I bugged out my eyes as wide as I could, just to try and make myself look crazy to go through with this. “Try me.” I hurled some more fire into the cage, turning inside it into something resembling an oven.

I had no intention of killing myself, of course. I wasn’t wild about being dragged back to Equestria against my will, but it wasn’t worth dying over. Sigil almost certainly knew that too. We were basically playing a game of chicken now; either I would lose my nerve and stop upping the temperature, or he would drop the shield to keep me from hurting myself. Like I said, crazy plan, but it was the best one I’d been able to come up with.

With any luck, he would crack first. After all, his job was to bring me back to my mother in one piece. I was willing to bet that showing up with me covered in fresh burn scars would not endear him to my mother. Not that I wanted to take things that far either, but I wouldn’t have to. I just needed to be willing to go further than he would.

Soon sweat was pouring off my body, though it didn’t make it too far before it evaporated. For the record, being locked in a magical hotbox is an incredibly unpleasant experience. The good news was Sigil liked watching it about as much as I liked being in it. “Stop this, Sunset. You could severely injure yourself, and it’s not worth risking your life just to get away from your mother for a bit longer.”

The only answer I gave was to chuck some more fire into the cage, pumping the temperature up even higher. Which I suppose was answer enough.

Sigil pulled out a couple runestones and began idly toying with them. I might know less about rune magic than I should, but I was willing to bet quite a bit that he was preparing some type of fire suppression spell. He almost certainly had the runes for it ready; only an idiot would go hunting for a pyromancer without having any spells that could deal with fire.

Sure, I was baking inside the rune cage, but I was pretty sure I had Sigil close to cracking. Now I just needed a little something to push him over the edge. I had something perfect in mind, too.

The next time I chucked fire at the barrier, I didn’t just let it disperse into a bunch of waste heat. Instead I flared it up, making it look like the flames were going out of control, bouncing off the barrier and hitting me. Naturally I had complete control, though the trick would probably cost me some mane damage and a couple light first degree burns. Those were acceptable losses so long as it ended with me getting loose. I care about my appearance as much as any mare, but I care about not being caged up a lot more.

Just to add a little more realism to the illusion, I let out an ear-piercing shriek. “I can’t control it! Help meee!”

I couldn’t see Sigil with the fire wrapped around me, but I felt it when the rune cage dropped, and all the built up heat rushed away. A second later my flames died out as well, presumably suppressed by whatever runespell Sigil had used.

I teleported clear, just in case he had a spare rune cage ready. Not too far, though; I wanted to send a message. After all, if I just ran for it he could probably find me again. Rune magic is good for divination, and given that he’d tracked me down and set up a perfect ambush once, the odds were pretty good he could do it again. It wasn’t enough to just get away, I had to take him down hard enough that he wouldn’t come after me again.

I teleported back to the other side of the street where he’d ambushed me and dropped a quick veiling spell over myself. Outright invisibility was hard to pull off, especially with my current troubles when it came to using light, but I could at least mask my position a bit. Despite how I’d managed to dupe my way out of the cage, Sigil was no fool. He was already carefully scanning the area, while prepping up a runespell that presumably meant to find me again.

I might be able to get in a quick spell before he pinpointed me, but I would only have one shot. While I would have the advantage if it turned into a straight brawl, if only because he would run out of runestones eventually, it probably wouldn’t be an easy fight—especially since neither one of us really wanted to hurt the other. It’s hard to land a knockout blow when you’re afraid of injuring your opponent.

Thankfully, there was another target for me to hit. I took careful aim, and shot a small fireball straight at his rune pouch. Whatever he’d made the pouch out of, it was flammable.

As I’d hoped, he’d also set some of his stones to react to being hit by magical fire. Probably a couple more castings of the fire suppression spell he’d tried on me earlier, given that my flames winked out a second after they hit his rune pouch.

However, by then the damage had already been done. Like I said before, rune magic tends to be very volatile when things go wrong, and having a ton of unfocused magical energy from all those suppression spells swirling around inside the pouch qualified as something going wrong. A steady stream of multicolored smoke started pouring out of the pouch, and Sigil let out a dismayed groan. Not that I could blame him; I’d probably just ruined months of work carving and charging runestones.

“Go home, Gothi Forestson.” I turned about and started walking away. “Don’t follow me again, or I’ll make you regret it. Nobody puts Sunset Shimmer in a cage.”

Sigil’s eyes narrowed, and he let out an angry snort. “I will not forget this, girl.”

“Good.” I shot him a smirk. “I wouldn’t want you forgetting just how badly you lost when you tried to take me on.”

Despite my brave parting words, I wasted no time heading for the Coldharbor docks. After all, it was likely Sigil had some backup runes stashed back at his base—I would if I were a runecaster. It probably wouldn’t be a set thrown together specifically to counter me, but I would really prefer to avoid a re-match. Once his defeat had a while to sink in he would learn his lesson, but right now he was probably running on wounded pride more than rationality.

Coldharbor’s docks district did at least have the virtue of adding some non-caribou to the streets. Coldharbor might not be a big city by Equestrian standards, but it was the main trading port for the caribou on account of being their only eastern port whose harbor was largely ice-free all year. The caribou needed to import everything you couldn’t get up in the frozen north, such as any crops that don’t like cold weather. They had plenty of timber, stone, and metal to export in return. Crystals as well, given how a lot of caribou territory was on the outskirts of the old Crystal Empire. Equestria rather dominated the gem market, but the caribou at least managed to offer some competition.

Arriving at the docks district also reminded me of another popular caribou export: mead. Well, you could call it an export, but quite a lot of the mead ends up being consumed right in the docks district itself. The whole area stank of a lovely combination of tar, alcohol, and urine. At least the snow had somewhat dulled the stench of the latter two, though not by nearly enough.

As soon as I came across the first set of ponies, I had cause to regret losing my winter cloak. The cold wasn’t a problem—staying warm was trivial for a pyromancer—but being a young, attractive mare in the part of the city stuffed with drunken sailors came with other annoyances. My particular annoyance came in the shape of an earth pony sporting far too much stomach, a couple weeks’ worth of unshaven facial hair, and an odor that probably qualified as a war crime. “Hey there,” he grunted out before taking another swig from a cheap bottle of mead. “Wanna see my boat, baby? It’s long and hard and full of seamen.”

What a charmer.

“Sure,” I answered, struggling to avoid throwing off enough sarcasm to give myself away. “I’ll meet you behind that bar over there in ten minutes.” The drunk promptly shambled off, and I went on my way.

I needed to find a ship heading out of Coldharbor. After all, the only other ways out of the town were walking or the railroad. Walking wasn’t much of an option for me, and the railroad just led back towards Equestria. Given that I was trying to drop off the radar, the safest move seemed to be heading away from Equestria, not back towards it.

So, I needed a ship. Preferably something that would be reasonably comfortable and reputable as well. A fast departure time would be ideal too, given that I was on the run. And preferably something that wasn’t trading in mead, so I wouldn’t have to worry about the crew tapping into the cargo and getting drunk. A pony crew would be nice too. Not that I had any issues with other species, but getting along with sailors would be tricky enough without adding a species barrier as well.

That instantly ruled out a lot of the ships in the harbor. Out of the ones that were left, I checked to see if any of them were from a reputable trading company. A ship that had to answer to a boss would be more reliable than an independent one, at least. After a bit of searching, I found something perfect: a good-sized merchant ship called the Venture, with a nice big plaque over its name proudly proclaiming that it was a registered ship of the Doo Trading Company of Freeport.

Yes, that would work nicely. I stepped onto the ship, giving it a quick cursory inspection. I didn’t know anything about ships beyond a couple tidbits I’d picked up from reading books, but everything seemed fine. All the wood and ropes were in good condition from what I could see, at least.

There were some crewponies working on the deck, and most of them looked like they had at least a passing familiarity with things like bathing and grooming. The crew was mostly ponies, and heavy on pegasi, but I spotted a couple hippogryphs and one zony—though I’d never liked that name for zebra-pony crossbreeds. Though I suppose ‘hippogryph’ was still following the rule of combining the two species names for the offspring and just using some Old Pegasopolan to hide it. Ponies can be so unoriginal.

I looked around for somepony in charge, and between that and being a strange mare who’d just walked onto their ship it didn’t take long before I found them. The pegasus mare who trotted up to greet me had the hard, weathered face of a veteran sailor, a close-cut brown mane, and a charcoal-grey coat. “Captain Weyland Doo of the Venture.” She offered me a hoof, which I duly shook “What brings you aboard my vessel?”

“Two things,” I answered, keeping brisk and businesslike since that seemed to be how she liked things. “First, what’s your destination? Second, do you take passengers?”

She raised an eyebrow. “The plaque on the side of the ship didn’t give our destination away, or are you just making sure?” She grunted and waved a hoof over the ship itself. “We’re taking a load of wood and stone back to Freeport. Just about done loading it up, so we’ll be leaving at high tide.” She gave me a quick once-over, then frowned. “If you want passage, you’ll need to pay. You look too soft and pretty to be an able-bodied seamare, and your mark doesn’t fill me with confidence you know any spells that could help us on the journey.”

I probably did have a few, but nothing I was eager to give away. After all, showing off too much of my magical skill was a sure way to get noticed. “How much is passage, anyway?”

Weyland Doo tapped a hoof on her chin. “Let’s see, ten days to Freeport, maybe longer if the weather causes us trouble. So that’s ten days of food, plus a charge for the inconvenience of giving you a room, and having to put up with a mare who doesn’t know her way around a boat. Let’s call it a good ... five hundred bits.”

“So fifty bits a day?” I repeated skeptically. “If your room and board costs that much, I expect gourmet meals and a huge bed with silk sheets. I’m guessing you don’t offer that.”

“We do keep a spare bunk for passengers that’s nice enough,” Weyland countered. “And I suppose you could dine with the ship’s officers instead of the crew. Four hundred bits.”

Well, that confirmed one thing. Her initial price had been nicely inflated in the hopes I would be dumb enough to take it at face value. I might not be a nautical expect, but I did have a functioning brain. Bargaining wasn’t that hard to pull off if you had any common sense. “I bet I could find a ship that would take me to Freeport for a quarter of that.”

“Sure you could,” Weyland agreed. “If you don’t mind having rats and roaches for bunkmates, eating moldy hardtack, and praying the crew doesn’t decide to just steal the rest of your money and sell you to slavers.” The captain shrugged and turned back to looking over her ship. “You want to travel in quality accommodations with a good crew bearing the name of a reputable company, you have to pay a little extra.”

We went back and forth for a bit longer, and eventually wound up settling on two hundred fifty bits. That would put a pretty big dent in my bitpurse, but that wasn’t the end of the world. Once I got to Freeport, I could do some spellcasting or enchanting to get some money back. I’d just have to be careful not to do anything that would be so noticeable that it would draw Celestia’s attention, or my mother’s.

I hoofed over the bits, then took a quick trip back to the cheap hotel I’d been staying at to pick up my things. My travel bags were pretty heavy, seeing as I’d loaded them down with my spellbook, a couple other tomes, a few outfits, and all the usual travel necessities. Thankfully, I didn’t run into Sigil on the way there. It would probably be a while before he could pick up his spare runes and find me for a rematch, but I saw no reason to tempt fate.

I got back to the ship with half an hour to spare before high tide. I’d even had enough time to stop by a bookstore and pick up the best book I could find on Freeport. Doing a quick refresher course seemed like a smart move if I wanted to try lying low there. I trotted back onto the ship, and Captain Weyland nodded to me, then waved over a filly who was presumably serving as a cabin girl. “Kukri, show her to the guest quarters.”

The filly dutifully lead the way. The ship’s corridors were a bit tight, but that was to be expected. After all, every inch of space that wasn’t being used to store cargo was lost money. It didn’t take long for me to arrive at a door helpfully labeled as the guest quarters by a simple wooden placard. As I opened the door, Kukri turned to go, then paused. “Please tell this one if you need anything important, and don’t bother the crew or the captain while they’re working. Breakfast is at sunup, and dinner’s at sundown.”

“Right, thanks.” I certainly wasn’t going to complain if the trip mostly consisted of the crew staying out of my way, and me staying out of theirs. It’s just a pity I couldn’t pack more reading material. I suppose I could always do some magic practice at least, so long as I avoided messing around with fire. Maybe I could finally hammer out the problem I was having with my light spells. Not to mention Freeport was the perfect place to disappear to for a while and leave all my Equestrian baggage behind.

That plan went out the window when I opened up the door to the guest cabin and found another mare already in there. Given that there were also two beds, I had a feeling this wasn’t some sort of comical misunderstanding.

The mint-green pegasus trotted over and offered me her hoof. “Hi there. I’m Strumming Heartstrings, travelling musician extraordinaire. Nice to meet you.” She offered me a grin with entirely too much bubbly cheer in it. “The captain said there was another passenger when I signed on with her, so I guess we get to be roomies for the trip. I sure hope you don’t snore.” She looked over at the two beds, one of which already had her saddlebags on it. “And that you don’t mind sleeping on the left bed. Oh, and if you get any bright ideas, I’m terrible in bed and hog the covers.”

“Noted.” I hope she wasn’t going to be this cheerfully energetic for the entire trip, or I might need to brush up on my silencing spells. I looked the pegasus over. It was weird, but I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that I’d seen her somewhere before. Eventually I just gave up on placing her and asked, “Have we met before? You seem familiar.”

Strumming looked me over, then shrugged. “I don’t think so. Where are you from?”

“Baltimare.” Saying I was from Canterlot might give me away, and that was the last thing I needed.

“Right, that probably explains it,” Strumming answered with a shrug. “I’ve got a cousin who lives there. Younger than me—still a filly, really, and a unicorn on top of that, but we’ve got almost the same color scheme. Or maybe we ran into each other while I was visiting her or something.”

I certainly couldn’t admit that I wasn’t really from Baltimare at all, so I just rolled with her explanation. “Yeah, that’s probably it. Nice to meet you again, if that’s the case. I’m Sunshine Twinkle.” I would’ve preferred something a bit further away from my real name, but when there was a giant sun stamped on my flank it was hard to have a name that didn’t say something about the sun. Pity I didn’t have have something vaguer for a cutie mark.

“Nice to meet you,” Strumming answered with a grin. I was about to just dismiss that weird feeling when I’d first seen her as ordinary deja vu—I had certainly run across plenty of ponies during my time in Canterlot—when she pulled out a flute. “Also, I hope you like music.” She expertly lifted the flute to her lips with a wing, and played a few notes. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna play while you’re trying to sleep or anything.” She started up a song I also recognized about five notes in.

The flute jogged my memory. “That’s where I saw you! Your mane was brown instead of green, but you were playing that same song on your flute outside my hotel room in Manehatten.” I frowned as I thought back to it. “Actually, you were playing it every single day I was there. You were there whenever I left, and still there when I came back.”

Strumming frowned and shook her head. “No, you must be mistaken. I’ve never even been to Manehatten. I do have another cousin who lives there, though. There’s a lot of Heartstrings around, and most of us are into music of one kind or another.”

“No.” I scowled and shook my head. “This wasn’t a cousin, it was you.”

There was plenty of ambient moisture to be found on a ship, so I had no trouble conjuring up some ice. Before Strumming could try another lie on me, I threw out ice clamps to pin all six of her limbs to the floor. She yelped and dodged a lot faster than one would expect out of a mere travelling performer. Not quite fast enough, though—I still snagged one of her hind legs, and that slowed her down enough for me to get the rest of limbs on my second try.

I stalked over to tower over the pinned-down pegasus, glowering down at her. “Okay, let’s try this again. Who are you?”

Strumming groaned and smacked her face against the deck below her. “Dammit, I told the station chief he shouldn’t have put me this close to you, but nooo, he knows what he’s doing, and an operative with my experience shouldn’t be questioning orders. Urgh.” She groaned, and feebly extended one of her trapped forelegs towards me. “Let’s try this again, ‘kay? Nice to meet you, Sunset Shimmer. I’m Agent Strumming Heartstrings, EIS.”

“EIS?” That shocked me a lot more than her knowing my real name. “Okay, wanna explain to me why there’s an Equestrian Intelligence Service spy in my cabin?”

“To spy on you. Duh.” Strumming groaned and rolled her eyes. “You’d think Princess Celestia’s star pupil could figure out something that obvious. Of course the princess is going to keep tabs on you. Nice trick getting away from that runecaster, by the by.” She vainly flexed her trapped limbs. “So, mind letting me up? I was cold enough before you tied me up with ice, and let’s not even talk about how uncomfortable this position is.”

Great. Celestia had spooks watching me. Strumming was right; in hindsight, I shouldn’t have been surprised to find out about that. Of course she would want to keep an eye on me.

So much for dropping out of sight in Freeport.

Sculptures and Stand-ins

I should’ve known I would never be able to get away from Celestia.

Sure, I’d given that nice big speech about how I needed to go out on my own and figure things out by myself, and she’d agreed to go along with that. In hindsight, it had all been too easy.

So here I was trying to get away from Celestia, only to wind up with one of her spies bunking with me. From what Strumming Heartstrings had said, I had a whole team of spies watching me. That was just super—apparently not even leaving Equestria itself would be enough to get the job done.

Contrary to what I had originally planned, I wound up spending a lot of time outside my cabin on the deck. After all, being in my cabin meant hanging out with the spy, and I had a feeling I’d be seeing too much of her as it was. Dealing with a bunch of sailors who just glared at me because I might get in their way was preferable to being stuck in my room with only a spy for company.

I was mostly just trotting around at random, looking over the ship with idle curiosity. After all, I’d never been on a Freeport-registered bulk cargo hauler before. The novelty of that wore off pretty quickly though—a cargo ship is still just a cargo ship, no matter where it’s from. Even the size didn’t make much of a difference to my non-seamare eyes, beyond the obvious fact that the ship had more sails.

I eventually settled by one of the railings, where I could watch the ocean go by and enjoy the view without getting in anyone’s way. After a couple minutes of enjoying the sea breeze, I heard somepony approaching from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and spotted the cabin filly who had shown me to my quarters earlier. “Is the passenger feeling seasick?” Her short wings buzzed as she briefly took to the air to look me over.

It took me a moment to remember her name. “I’m fine, Kukri. I just wanted to get some fresh air for a bit. I’m not in anypony’s way, and things look pretty calm.” I knew Kukri had been assigned to look after the passengers, which was probably just a polite way of saying that she was supposed to keep me from bothering the crew. I didn’t want to make her job harder than it needed to be, but I was allowed to step outside and get a little fresh air.

The brown-grey filly nodded. “Ah. Good.” She cocked her head to the side, making her short-cut pink mane flop around a bit. “If the passenger does feel ill, she should kindly stay near the railing. The deck requires enough scrubbing as it is.”

“Noted,” I answered dryly. Thankfully I’d been spared from seasickness thus far, not that I was especially prone to motion sickness to begin with. Being on a big cargo hauler instead of a tiny ship probably helped too. I made a quick note of my surroundings to ensure that I wasn’t in anyone’s way, and then went back to looking out at the ocean. It wasn’t long before looking at that endless expanse of blue water got a little dull, so I decided to do some basic magic exercises to pass the time. Obviously fire wasn’t an option unless I wanted to get the entire crew yelling at me for putting the ship in danger, and I didn’t want to fizzle another light spell right where everypony could see it. That left ice. Fortunately, being out on the ocean meant I had no shortage of water to work with. I didn’t really have any specific plan, so I just randomly created a few ice shapes to keep in practice.

My practice quickly drew Kukri’s attention, and she trotted over to the railing to get a better look at it. “Ooh! This one has never seen cryomancy of that skill before. Can the passenger make an ice sculpture? Please?”

Her request took me by surprise, but I saw no reason not to indulge her. She seemed like a nice enough little filly and having somepony on the crew who liked me might come in handy. “Yeah, sure. What kind of sculpture do you want?”

Kukri fell silent, tapping a hoof on her chin. “Um ... this one will need time to consider. A shark? No, not a shark. Maybe a dolphin then? No! This one has it at last! An orca! Can the passenger make it an ice sculpture of an orca? Please please please!” She grabbed one of my forelegs in her hooves and was almost bouncing up and down with excitement. “This one would be most grateful to the passenger if she would make an ice sculpture of an orca!”

Okay, normally I wasn’t the type to crumble in the face of a cute kid asking for a favor, but I’m not made of stone. Even if Kukri did talk a bit weirdly, it was still cute. Maybe the whole ‘this one’ thing was just some sort of accent? A big melting pot like Freeport would have dozens of them. “An orca, huh? Well, I'll see what I can do.”

I closed my eyes and concentrated, carefully gathering up the water I would need for this. I was used to working with fresh water, so it took a bit to adjust to using saltwater. I guess all the minerals in it made things complicated. Nothing a mare of my caliber couldn’t handle, though. Since there was plenty of water at hoof, I arranged the water into something more-or-less orca shaped, except a lot bigger. For just about any type of sculpting you wanted to start with something a lot bigger than the final product; I was going to chip away a lot of it as I worked, after all.

Once I had my block of ice, I got to work on carving it using very small, tightly focused lines of fire. Naturally, I kept my magic set up so that the fire would disperse quickly if I happened to miss the sculpture. Not that I was likely to miss, but there’s no excuse for being sloppy with your spellcasting. The whale began taking shape before long, but it still needed a little something special.

Back when I had been a filly and Celestia was still teaching me the basics, we did a lot of different things to refine my spellcasting. She’d always liked to make my lessons feel more like a game than schoolwork—one of her old favorites was to put a slice of cake behind some sort of elaborate magical defense and then challenge me to retrieve it. If I could get it, I got to eat the cake. If I messed up, she took care of the cake by putting it in her stomach for safekeeping.

The lesson that came to mind here, however was when she’d been teaching me cryomancy. We’d started my lessons off with a snowball fight, but apparently there were still a few aspects of foal-rearing she wasn’t an expert in despite being a princess. Like knowing how much time a young filly could spend playing in the snow without catching a cold. While I’d been recovering from that, she’d fussed over me like ... well, like a mother hen.

One of the things she’d done for me was make a few ice sculptures so I wouldn’t be alone whenever she needed to step out for a bit to run Equestria. It had been ... nice. I missed stuff like that. Even after how bad things had gotten in Canterlot when I left, a part of me still wished I could go back to those simpler times.

“Whoa...” Kukri gasped. I blinked, snapping myself out of my reminiscing. A second later, I saw what had grabbed her attention: apparently while I’d been getting all sentimental, I’d managed to add a nice bit of light magic to the ice sculpture, making it capture and reflect the light almost like a huge prism.

Huh. Nice to have a light spell not fizzle for once, though I hope I wouldn’t have to spend a couple minutes remembering the good times whenever I wanted to use light magic.

Kukri stomped approvingly, a huge smile on her face. “That statue is amazing! This one may keep it, yes?”

“Yeah, sure. I made it for you, after all.” I looked the ice figurine over to make sure there weren’t any mistakes, then pushed a little more magic into and tied the spell off. “It should last for a while, but it’s still made of ice, so it’ll melt eventually. Keep it somewhere cool, and it’ll last longer.”

“Understood.” She looked up at me, her eyes big, innocent, and hopeful. “Can the passenger make another one?”

Kids. I suppose I should’ve expected it. You give a filly one cookie, and she’ll start asking for one every time she sees you. I didn’t want to blow her off completely, but I also didn’t want to spend the rest of my trip making knickknacks for her. “Maybe sometime later, alright? Think about what you'd like next.”

Kukri needed about three seconds to actually come up with something, as opposed to the three days I was hoping for. “This one likes mimic octopi best, but it would be hard to reflect their best qualities in an ice sculpture.” She tapped a hoof on her chin in fillyish ponderance. “Perhaps instead the passenger could create a barracuda? Or a hammerhead! Wait, no—maybe both?”

In hindsight, I probably should’ve kept my mouth shut, but I couldn’t resist that opening for a little bit of harmless snark. “Both as in a barracuda and a hammerhead, or both as in some kind of fusion of the two?”

The cabin filly blinked in surprise at my question. “Um ... yes?” Her eyes lit up as she considered it. “Yes, a fusion would be awesome! It would have the sleekness of a barracuda and the fierceness of the hammerhead! Truly, it would be the mightiest predator in all the seas!” She paused for a moment, then amended. “Except for the mimic octopus. It is still this one’s favorite, for the moment.”

I’ll admit, her enthusiasm was a bit infectious. “I'll think about it.”

Kukri looked around the ship, taking note of the rest of the crew going about their business. “This one has to go back to its chores soon. Just one more?” She grabbed my hoof and squeezed, unleashing an impressive set of sad puppy eyes. “Please. Just one more? Pleeease?”

I groaned and rubbed my face. If you give a filly a cookie... “Oh alright, but this is the last one, okay?”

“This one will never ask the other for another statue,” Kukri immediately reassured me, despite the fact that we both knew that probably wasn’t true. She settled down onto the deck next to me, watching the entire process with a huge smile and clapping her hooves every step along the way.

Soon enough, I had produced a ... hammer-cuda, I suppose. For the record, sticking a shark fin and a big hammerhead on to a barracuda’s body looks weird.

Kukri’s head tilted to the side as she analyzed her newest statue. “That looks less streamlined in practice than it did in this one’s imagination.” She studied her statue for a bit longer, then shrugged. “Oh well.” She hopped up and gave me a quick hug. “That was still really cool! This one thanks the Shimmer mare!”

After a moment of surprise, I halfheartedly returned the hug. I’ve never exactly been a ‘hug the little kids’ type of pony. Hugging them just encourages them, and underneath the cute exterior is an unquenchable greed monster. “You're welcome.”

After a bit Kukri let go, though she was still grinning up at me. “Does the passenger require anything of this one?”

No doubt she was hoping that if she did something nice for me I would repay her with more trinkets. “I've got everything I need. Thanks, though.”

“Oh.” Her ears briefly fell in disappointment, but her fillyish enthusiasm could not be contained for long. “Well, the passenger should come find this one if she changes her mind!” She paused, and offered a tentative smile “And ... maybe she could do more ice sculptures later?”

Never doing anything nice for children ever again. “Got it. See you around, Kukri.”

“Bye!” She waved goodbye, then hastily trotted off to get back to her chores, leaving me in peace. Well, until the next time she wanted an ice figurine.

As much as I wanted to avoid it, eventually I had to go back to my quarters. I still needed a bed to sleep in, not to mention that I’d left all my things there. That in turn meant facing off with Miss EIS Spy. Not that I was afraid of her or anything—it was just a big ugly complication I didn’t want to deal with right now. Or ever, really.

I walked in to find Strumming lounging on her bed, idly flipping through a book. She glanced up at me, managing a rather nice approximation of casual disinterest. “Hey, Sunset.” She pulled out a bag of pretzels out of her suitcase and started casually stuffing her face, probably getting bits of food all over her bed. “S’up?”

Clearly the tales of the classy, sophisticated, charming spies in the EIS were gross exaggerations.

I sighed and headed for my own bed. Our cabin might be pretty nice by cargo ship passenger quarters standards, but that just meant our beds were large enough to stretch out on and had actual sheets. Travelling the world in style and comfort was, sadly, a bit out of my price range.

I was just about to get to work on going over a couple of my spell formulae when Strumming rudely interrupted my thoughts. “Hey, Sunset—been meaning to ask. You’re running a little low on bits. What’s the plan?”

I shrugged and got back to work on my spell. “I’ll just do what I always do for more...” I trailed off as I realized something rather important. “How do you know how many bits I have?”

“I checked your bag.” Strumming shrugged and popped another pretzel into her mouth.

My teeth clenched as I let out a low, angry growl. “You looked in my bag? That’s my bag! As in, none of your business! You can’t just go snooping in somepony else’s private property! That’s why I lock it!”

“Kinda figured.” Strumming waved a hoof at my saddlebags. “Nice locking spell, by the way. Took me a good fifteen minutes to crack it. And at least you packed sensibly. You would not believe how much useless junk some ponies will pack in their travel bags.” Strumming took note of my rather obvious rage and chuckled. “Relax. I put everything back exactly where I found it. You’d never even know I’d been in there. And really, if you’re gonna get that worked up over somepony having a look in your bags, you probably shouldn’t leave them in a room with a spy. Just sayin’—having no respect for other ponies’ privacy is practically a job requirement.”

Much as I hate to admit it, she had a fair point there. Not that I was going to let her off that easily. “Perhaps I expected a member of the EIS to be capable of exercising a little self-control.”

“Eh, your mistake.” Strumming popped another pretzel into her mouth. “So, what is the plan for making bits? You’re gonna need some way to avoid running out of money and starving to death.”

“I’ll figure something out.” The last thing I wanted to do was talk about my finances with a spy.

“Sure hope you do.” She shifted around so she was lying on her back, her wing holding her book held in the air over her face. “‘Cause if you don’t, then...” She paused and considered her words. “Well then, you won’t have any money. And that would suck.”

“Truly, you are a master of the Equestrian language.” I flipped through my journal until I reached the section on enchanting. “I’ll just do what I always do when I need more bits. A couple days of cranking out enchanted items or offering spellcasting services, and my bitpurse will be full again. Easy.”

“Yeah, about that...” Strumming rolled onto her side, then fidgeted around a bit to get her wings in a comfortable position. “I can help you out with customers. So far you’ve been lucky, but Freeport’s gonna have a lot more competition to deal with. Most of your work’s been in smaller towns where a unicorn with your talent almost never shows up, whereas Freeport’s a major trade hub. Not only are there gonna be other unicorns who’ve set up shop, you’ll have to deal with zebra shamans and some gryphon and caribou runecasters too. It’d take time to convince anyone to buy from some newbie fresh off the boat instead of one of the established sellers.”

She had a point. If I had to pick between a unicorn selling trinkets on the street and one set in a nice big shop with a proper storefront, I’d take the latter. Still... “I’ll manage. I don’t need a spook getting me extra business.”

“Actually, you kinda do.” Strumming sighed and flopped onto her belly, then met my eyes. “Look, you probably don’t wanna hear this, but ... let’s just say you’ve been doing a lot of business with the EIS lately. Didn’t you think you had just a bit too easy of a time finding ponies who wanted to pay you way more than the market price for your goods and services?”

I scowled at her, not caring for the implication at all. “Ponies paid me more because I offer higher quality than some ordinary travelling unicorn salespony.”

“Yeah, ‘course you do.” Strumming shifted around and sat in the bed properly. “But then, every single travelling salespony in Equestria says the exact same thing, including the con artists. Most of them are also a lot better at presenting themselves as great mages than you are. You’ve got the ego for it, but not enough pizazz.”

“You don’t need pizazz when you’re better than everypony else on the market,” I countered.

“Yup, definitely got the ego.” Strumming chuckled to herself, then reached into her bag and pulled out a small ruby. “Check it—one of your fire gems. You probably remember that one stallion you sold a bunch to in Fillydelphia. I’m sure you’ll recognize your own work. For the record, I tested one out on an ice troll, and they do work very nicely. If Princess Celestia saw it she’d give you an A-Plus. Ten out of ten, seriously.”

I looked the gem over, and sure enough it was my work. That didn’t prove anything, though. “You could’ve just grabbed one of the gems out of my bags while you were snooping around. And since you already admitted the EIS is watching me, it’s no surprise you know about who’s buying my gems.”

Strumming rolled her eyes at that. “Okay, fine, you caught me. I stole one of your gems, something you could easily verify by checking your bag and doing an inventory count, and then made up a big, elaborate story about how the EIS has been helping you keep financially solvent as part of an evil scheme to do something deceptive and nefarious for no conceivable reason. That’s definitely far more plausible than the EIS slipping you some extra bits because Princess Celestia doesn’t want her former student living in poverty.”

I hate it when other ponies are right and I’m wrong.

“Okay. Fine. So the EIS has been helping me make money.” I idly sketched out a formula for a spell to do some very unpleasant and anatomically impossible things to a certain spy. “It stops now. I left Canterlot so I could make my own way in the world, not to have Celestia running my life secretly and indirectly instead of openly.”

“Fair enough.” Strumming leaned back on her bed and popped a couple more pretzels into her mouth. “So ... what’s your plan for making money, all on your own in the big city?”

“I’ll figure something out.” I just needed to come up with some kind of backup plan, now that I knew the EIS wouldn’t let me earn a living the way I wanted to. Though come to think of it, they could just as easily mess with just about any other job I picked. As long as Celestia was willing to put them to work watching and helping me, there wasn’t much I could do to stop them. Not unless I managed to slip the net entirely, and I wasn’t sure how to manage that. I’d done a bit of studying on how intelligence agencies like the EIS worked as part of my prep for becoming a magus some day, but nothing that gave me any confidence I could get away from the EIS cleanly—and certainly not while I was all on my own, while they had all the resources of Equestria behind them.

“You’ll figure something out, will you?” Strumming repeated, raising an eyebrow skeptically. “Yeah, sure. No offense Sunset, but you don’t know much about how to survive on your own in the real world. You were just a filly when you moved into the palace with the princess, and since then everything you’ve ever needed was taken care of. You never needed to worry about food on your table or a roof over your head, and if you needed spending money, all you had to do was ask for it.” She snorted, then pulled a water bottle out of her bag and used it to wash down the last of the pretzels. “You think you can make it on your own? Please. What do you even know about Freeport?” She waited for a few seconds, clearly expecting a response that I wasn’t about to grace her with. “No, really—pretend I’m Celestia and this is one of your tests. What do you know about surviving in Freeport?”

Normally I would’ve just ignored her, but there was no way I could let that challenge pass. I was not some sort of sheltered little foal who needed mommy to take care of everything for her. I was one of the best spellcasters in the world; if I’d stayed in Equestria I probably could’ve grabbed one of the archmagus seats if I really wanted to. I wasn’t gonna let some spy who wasn’t even good enough to avoid blowing her cover talk down to me.

“Freeport’s an independent city-state that controls the Fillypine archipelago, which contains around seven thousand islands of varying size and importance.” I rattled off the information like I was one of the textbooks I’d gone over a dozen times. “Because of its strategic position in the seas between Equestria, Gryphonia, and Zebrica, it’s a natural center of trade, but it’s far enough from all three of them that it’s been able to hold onto its independence thus far. It helps that they can play all three nations off against one another to keep any of them from gaining too much power.”

Strumming waved for me to continue, so I did. “Freeport’s run by the Council of Thirteen. Nobody knows who their members are since they meet in secret, but it’s generally assumed to be a collection of the most powerful traders in the city. It also has a reputation as a haven for pirates, outlaws, and exiles. The Council doesn’t really care who does business in Freeport so long as it doesn’t have a negative impact on trade. Even black magic is tolerated, as long as it doesn’t reach the point of having zombies or demons running through the streets.”

Strumming offered a few sarcastic clops on the floor. “Congratulations, you’ve read a book.” She shifted around so her head was hanging off the side of the bed, staring at me upside-down. “So, were you planning on staying in a hotel the whole time? Because that’s going to get expensive fast, and you don’t have the bits for it. You obviously can’t afford to buy a house, so you’d have to rent something. What do you know about finding a good landlord? Do you know which neighborhoods in Freeport are reasonably safe and which ones will put you at risk of getting stabbed in the back for your pocket change?”

Before I could even start to come up with an answer for any of those, she kept barreling on. “And even if you do sort out getting a place to live, there’s still making money. Are you going to look for a patron, or just try and set up shop yourself? How will you know who to trust? Do you know how to read the fine print in the contracts you might have to sign to do any of that? How familiar are you with Freeport’s legal code and contract law anyway?” She rolled over and sat on the bed properly. “How are you going to avoid being held hostage and forced to make your wares in a sweatshop? Believe me, it's possible. If it happens, how do you plan on making your escape with limited or no magic? I sure hope Miss Strong and Independent Mare isn’t going to be counting on us to bail her out.”

“I...” I was at a complete loss for words. “I’ll figure it out as I go.”

“Oh. You’ll figure out how to live in a den of ruthless merchants, cutthroats, and pirates as you go, will you?” Strumming rolled her eyes. “You know everything about Freeport except how to live there.” She offered some more sarcastic applause. “I'm sure you'll pick that with up no problems at all.”

“Oh, shut up already!” I snapped at her, slamming a hoof on the wall for emphasis. “You just want to keep me dependent on the EIS to take care of everything. Or you’re trying to undermine my confidence, so I’ll go back to Equestria.”

Strumming rolled her eyes and finished off the rest of her water bottle. “It’s not about what I want, Sunset, it’s about the facts. Like it or not, you are dependent on the EIS to smooth all the usual horseapples of life out for you. That’s just the way things are right now. I’m all for letting you get a bit more independence, but you don’t have the skills for it yet. Right now, you need to work with us, not make our job harder than it’s already going to be.”

“Plenty of other ponies my age manage it just fine,” I countered. “And none of them needed a bunch of EIS nursemaids keeping an eye on them.”

“Sure they did,” Strumming agreed with a shrug. “You pack any snacks? I always get snacky when I travel. Anyway, yeah, survival. The thing is, most ponies figure out how to make it in the real world by listening to their parents, or other ponies who’ve gone through it all and know what they’re talking about. Kinda like I’m trying to do right now.” She frowned, and crossed her forelegs over her chest. “That’s the easy way of doing things, and the smart way.”

Her frown deepened. “Your other option is to figure it out yourself by going to the school of hard knocks. You get conned out of your bits enough times, and you’ll learn to recognize a conpony when you see one. Assuming you live long enough to learn all those lessons, which isn’t guaranteed by any means. And even if you do make it out, you’ll come out of it with a whole lot more scars, trauma, and generally unpleasant life experiences, which is why it’s a lot smarter to learn from other ponies’ mistakes than to make them all yourself.”

“I prefer just never making mistakes in the first place,” I shot back.

Strumming rolled her eyes, then reached into her bag and pulled out a candy bar. “Well, if you’re gonna talk like that, I won’t offer to split this with you.” She opened it up and took a big bite out of it. “Look—I get it, alright? You wanted to go out into the world and prove to everypony what a strong, capable adult you are. It’s a pretty common thing for ponies your age. But Freeport’s the worst possible place to do that. You’ve had your fun, but now a lot of ponies are worried about you, and I think it’s time for you to go home.”

I tensed and kept a wary eye on her. “Are you going to force me to go back to Equestria?”

Strumming shrugged and chomped down on her candy again. “If the EIS wanted to keep you in Equestria, we never would’ve let you get on a ship going to Freeport. It’s what I would’ve preferred, but orders from the top say we’re supposed to keep an eye on you and only bail you out if you get in a tight spot. Other than that, you’re allowed to screw up your own life as much as you want.”

I growled in irritation. “I don’t screw up.” I got up from bed, taking my notebook with me. “Screwing up is for stupid ponies who don’t know any better. I just get things right the first time around.”

“Of course you do.” She finished off her chocolate bar, then flopped back down on the bed. “So tell me something, oh brilliant genius. What’s the plan for making money?”

I clenched my teeth and glared at her, which didn’t bother her nearly as much as it should’ve. “I’ll figure something out.”

Ten days, a dozen ice sculptures and no concrete plan on how to make money later, we made it to Freeport.

Granted, making it to Freeport is a bit of a complicated statement when you’re dealing with a city-state. One must specify whether you’re entering Freeport-controlled territory or the actual city itself. In this case, I was discussing the city. We’d been in Freeport territory for the last day or so, passing by outlying islands that were mostly devoted to farmland. A city the size of Freeport needs a lot of food, and importing everything would’ve been impractical and incredibly expensive. A lot of islands were devoted to raising wheat, figs, olives, citrus fruits, dates, lentils, and a modified strain of breadfruit. There were also a couple plantations for cash crops, mainly sugar and rubber.

That’s not to say agriculture was the only thing going on outside of the city proper. While Freeport was the only major city in the archipelago, there were several smaller villages and outposts. Kukri had been more than happy to tell me about how the Doo Trading Company had more than twenty islands under its control and had recently captured a lucrative olive-growing island from one of their rivals. Apparently, the officials in Freeport didn’t get too fussed about that sort of low-level skirmishing so long as all parties involved paid their taxes and didn’t let the violence spread.

I stepped out onto the deck to get a look at the city as we approached it and was soon joined by Kukri and Strumming. Freeport was different from what I’d expected. From all the stories of how it’s a gathering point and melting pot for most of the species out there, I’d been expecting it to be a wild, uncoordinated mess of a city with dozens of different architectural styles on display. Instead, it all looked very grey, and there wasn’t anywhere near as much variety as I would’ve expected.

When I commented on that, Strumming was quick to explain. “Most of the buildings in Freeport were made to stand up to stormy ocean weather. That’s why it’s all so grey: slate roof tiles and cladding are a cheap and reasonably effective way to waterproof a house. Why else did you think the ship’s cargo hold is full of the stuff?”

I suppose that should’ve been obvious, in hindsight. Architecture tends to be one of those fields that has a lot of ruthless practicality to it. At the end of the day, you can’t beat the laws of physics. Freeport’s buildings were built to deal with the realities of life in Freeport, which included big ocean storms. Thus, buildings were relatively low the ground and waterproof. The only exception was some of the bigger buildings in the center of the city, which were probably built in defiance of the local conditions purely to show off. Massive spires or huge Gryphon-style steep roofs would never be able to stand up to stormy weather without being made out of special materials or magically reinforced. The rich could afford to show off. The poor ponies in the streets got their drab grey slate-tiled homes.

“There is still much color and uniqueness to be found in the streets themselves,” Kukri was quick to reassure me. “If this one’s duties allow it, it would be this one’s pleasure to show the passenger some of the sights in Freeport. We could visit one of the local museums, or perhaps the Grand Market. Perhaps we could even take a trip to the Doo islands, so that this one could introduce the passenger to the others of its clan.”

Strumming blinked, then suddenly shifted to place herself between Kukri and me. “That all sounds very exciting, but I imagine Sunset has a lot to do in the city.”

“Oh.” Kukri’s ears drooped, and she stared out over the harbor, letting out a wistful sigh. “That is often the way of things. This one hopes that the Shimmer mare will at least be able to visit once her other business in the city is concluded. If the Venture has already left port, this one can be contacted through the Doo Trading Company’s offices in Freeport proper.”

Before I could assure her that I would, Strumming cut me off. “I’m sure she’ll keep that in mind. In any case, you’ve probably got work to do, and I actually need to talk to Sunset real quick.” She wrapped a wing over me and wasn’t especially gentle about it. “Just some packing up stuff—I think I might’ve gotten one or two of my things mixed up with hers. Wanna sort that out before we go our separate ways.”

I set my hooves on the deck and resisted Strumming’s efforts to pull me along. I don’t know what her sudden problem was, but I didn’t care for anypony thinking they could just marehandle me whenever they wanted. “I already checked my bags, and I’ve got everything that’s mine and nothing of yours.”

Strumming tugged at me again, and when I still stubbornly refused to cooperate she shifted in closer to me and dropped her voice down to a whisper. “Sunset, I need to talk to you about something. Now.”

I rolled my eyes and didn’t budge. “Yeah, I kinda picked up on that. What you seem to have missed is that I don’t care that you want to talk to me; I don’t want to talk to you. I want to watch the ship dock and hang out with Kurki. Whatever you’ve got to say can wait until after that.”

Strumming let out an irritated growl and shot a quick look at Kukri, who was watching the two of us with a faint frown on her face. She put up a wing to block Kukri’s line of sight before she said anything more to me. “Dammit, Sunset—for once in your life, listen to somepony instead of being a hardheaded idiot who thinks she has all the answers just because she’s smart and has read a lot of books!”

Okay, that was it. I jabbed a hoof against Strumming’s chest hard enough to knock her half a step back, not that I planned on letting her get away that easily. “I’ve had it with you! You think you can boss me around and insult me just because you’re in the EIS, but—”

Strumming clamped a hoof over my mouth, and her voice dropped to a low, angry snarl. “For the love of Celestia, will you think before you start shooting off your damn mouth?!”

I slapped her hoof away and glared right back at her. “I am thinking. A lot more than you are. I haven’t seen you do anything the entire trip but sit in the cabin being lazy, eat junk food, and just generally get on my nerves.”

“Such a charmer.” Strumming stepped back a bit and smirked. “So, do you have a plan for how you’re going to make a living yet?”

Dammit, she just had to bring that point up. “I’ve got it figured out.”

“Oh do you?” Strumming crossed forelegs over chest. “Let’s hear it, then. Tell me exactly how you’re going to make a living wage.”

I let out a low, irritated growl. “It’s pointless to commit to an ironclad plan when I haven’t even set hoof in Freeport yet. You’d think a spy would know that. I need to spend some time in the city first, get a feel for it and find out what my options are. Until that’s done, it would be a waste of time to have anything more than a loose, flexible outline.”

Strumming let out a faintly mocking snort. “Oh, so it’s that kind of plan, is it?” Her smirk grew a bit more. “Well, then let’s hear your outline.”

Dammit, she wasn’t going to let this one go, was she? “Well, it’s still a work in progress. You know, figure out the details as I go along...”

“Is that so?” Her smirk grew a bit more, until I was tempted to slug her in the face just to wipe that grin off of it. “So, you have part of a pre-plan outline? Well, you’re practically set, then. How far along are you?”

“Um ... maybe a quarter of the way,” I reluctantly confessed.

“Oh grand.” Strumming rolled her eyes. “You have twenty-five percent of an outline for a plan ready, after ten days. Don’t worry—we have about fifteen minutes before the ship docks. That should be plenty of time to finish up the rest of it.”

Have I mentioned that I really don’t like Strumming Heartstrings?

Kurki had slipped away at some point during our chat, presumably because she had other duties to attend to with the ship so close to mooring. I wasn’t in any mood to talk with Strumming, and the rest of the crew was also busy bringing the ship into the docks, so that pretty much just left me to sit and silently watch it all play out. It wasn’t the most exciting procedure—just a lot of the ship slowly drifting into position until it was close enough to cast out lines to the ponies on the docks so they could slowly guide the Venture the rest of the way in.

As soon as we were docked, Strumming picked up both our bags and shoved mine against my chest. “Load up, I’d rather not hang out around the docks district any longer than we have to. There are things we need to talk about, but not out in public.”

“What’s the rush?” I took a quick look over the docks, but everything looked fine. Hay, it looked downright squeaky-clean. All the usual accoutrements of a docks district, like taverns and drunken sailors, were conspicuously absent. “Honestly, these are the nicest-looking docks I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s just because Freeport shifts out all the nasty stuff.” Strumming pointed to a bridge off in the distance. “It’s how they do things. Freeport proper is kept nice and squeaky-clean by the condottieri, and stuff like the cheap bars and dirty dealings happen on one of the nearby islands. That way everything stays nice and respectable as long as you don’t look too far below the surface. Lets all the big-name merchants do business in the same port as smugglers, pirates, and slavers while pretending there’s nothing crooked or immoral going on because they don’t have to see any of it.”

“Charming.” I looked over at the distantly visible nearby island, which featured the shabbier, more run-down look I would’ve expected from the docks district of a shady, disreputable port city. “So from the sounds of things, I should be safe as long as I stay in the nice part of the city?”

“Yes and no,” Strumming answered. “Random street crime isn’t an issue, if only because the condottieri come down hard on anyone who might be causing trouble for the respectable merchants. After all, a visiting ship captain getting mugged might be bad for business. However, you don’t have any influence or connections here.”

She stepped off the ship and waved a hoof at a pair of finely dressed and heavily armored pegasi. “The condottieri are very good at their job, but their job isn’t to be nice or make sure there’s any justice in Freeport. Their job is to uphold order, preserve the status quo, and foster a positive environment for trade. Which means that if one of Freeport’s high-and-mighty decides to have his servants kill you because he doesn’t like the way you look at him, they’d probably help him discreetly get rid of the body. Can’t have a scandal that might hurt business, after all.”

“Sounds like you don’t like Freeport very much,” I observed.

Strumming let out a disgusted snort and waved at the clean, slate-covered buildings. “The Council of Thirteen can put up a nice facade to make everything look clean, but scratch the surface and you’ll see they’re just the latest in a long line of thugs and murderers to take over Freeport. The only difference is that they were smart enough to recruit two exiled Pegasopolan clans as their enforcers, and turn all the brutality of Freeport from random and arbitrary to efficient and orderly.” She waved contemptuously towards the center of the city. “Ponies say the Council of Thirteen civilized Freeport. Maybe it’s true, but it’s not any kind of civilization worth living in, and the only reason they did it is because civilization is good for business.”

That made her position pretty clear. “Okay, so it’s a nasty place, even if the rulers try to wallpaper the nastiness over.” It’s not like Freeport was unique in trying to whitewash its history and ignore inconvenient facts about the present. Everypony tells their own side of the story, and that’s usually the side that makes them look good. “So what’s the rush to get off the docks anyway? I doubt anyone would go after a passenger fresh of a merchant ship and still within sight of the docks. That could be bad for business.”

“We need to get off the docks,” Strumming began, glaring at me once more, “because you went and said a lot of things you shouldn’t have while one of the Council’s agents was less than five steps away from us.”

“A Council agent?” I frowned at the other mare. “What are you talking about? The only other pony there when I let that slip was Kukri.” Strumming met me with a level look and said nothing. Once I figured out what she meant, it was all I could do not to burst out laughing. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. You’re not seriously suggesting that the ten-year-old cabin filly is somehow working for the Council, are you?

“I’m not suggesting it,” Strumming agreed, practically pulling me along after her. “I’m telling you it’s true. Fortunately, she’s still young enough to slip up where an experienced operative wouldn’t, especially since she gets excited when she talks to you. Plus, I’m sure you noticed that disappearing act she pulled.”

“She probably just had work to do,” I countered.

“Possible.” Strumming frowned at me. “But then she would’ve at least said goodbye to you before you left.”

I glowered at her. “She probably didn’t say goodbye because some jerk dragged me off the ship the instant we docked.”

Strumming just sighed and kept pulling me along. “I’ll explain later. The important thing is we need to get underground before word gets to the Council about you. I don’t know what the Council of Thirteen would do if they learned Celestia’s rogue student was in their city. Well, actually I know exactly what they would do; try to find a way to turn the situation to their advantage. I don’t want to be part of their profit margin, and neither should you.”

“I don’t plan on being a pawn in anypony’s schemes,” I growled out, trying to tug myself free. “Including yours.”

I was almost tempted to use my magic to get away from her, but even as I considered it, the cold ugly reality of the situation asserted itself. Even if I did get away from Strumming, she was right about my money situation. The only thing worse than letting her pull me along now would be if I managed to get away, only to have to come crawling back a month later because I was out of money. Strumming was right: all my magical skill wouldn’t count for anything if I didn’t know how to translate that skill into a steady flow of money. Sadly, exploiting your magical talents for profit hadn’t been part of Celestia’s curriculum.

So instead I let Strumming lead me onward. Eventually she stopped pulling me along and just let me follow behind her, though she still kept a wary eye on me. At least now we’d slowed down enough that I could actually get a look at the city itself. Freeport’s streets were the first part of the city that actually matched what I’d expected. They were busy and bustling, and packed with just about every single species I’d ever seen, all of them going about their business or stopping at one of the stalls set up wherever somepony could fit one without impeding the flow of traffic. Just in crossing a single block, I came across a zebra alchemist selling potions, a minotaur offering armor forged for any species, and a book dealer. The last one slowed me down enough to earn an annoyed glare from Strumming, but who wouldn’t have been tempted by the sight of a first edition copy of Sunbeam Sparkle’s Maxima Dictionis Regum?

The two of us eventually reached a nice big open plaza, which as one would expect was full of creatures trying to buy or sell something, or else just milling about. It made for quite the nice chaotic jumble, though the condottiere watching over it made sure things didn’t get too chaotic.

We were about two thirds of the way across the square when an earth pony in a rather elaborate and obviously very expensive-looking uniform walked past us, bumping into Strumming as he went by. A second later he slapped a hoof on his saddlebag, then whirled around and levelled an accusing hoof at the spy. “Guards! That mare just stole my wallet!”

The condottiere watching over the square took one look at the obviously well-to-do ship captain, compared it to Strumming’s slightly scruffy nopony important appearance, and then leapt into action. Before she could so much as offer a word in her defense, she was buried beneath a mountain of flesh and steel.

I chuckled at the spy’s plight, but before I could find a popcorn vendor and settle in to enjoy the show, somepony nudged me in the shoulder. I turned around, and found myself face to face with ... myself?

“The building over there with the red door.” My double pointed at one of the closest buildings just a quick trot across the square. “Quickly.”

“What?” I couldn’t make heads or tails of this situation. One minute we were walking along, and now Strumming was getting arrested and there was a second version of me standing right there.

“Quickly!” my doppelganger urged, before dropping her voice to a low whisper. “Unless the Shimmer mare wishes to spend the rest of her life under the EIS’s hoof, she should get her plot moving!”

That finally spurred me to action. I still had no idea what was going on, but if my choices were freedom or dealing with the EIS, I knew which one I preferred. And if somepony was going to all the trouble of springing me, then they probably had something in mind for helping me make my way in the world.

I bolted, galloping for the indicated building as quickly as I could without causing a scene. It didn’t take too long for me to cross the square, and the door was unlocked. I wasted no time opening it, trying to keep things moving at a brisk but casual pace like I entered this particular building all the time. I closed the door and quickly took stock of the situation—apparently this was some sort of home.

Once I confirmed that there was nopony else in the immediate area, I glanced out the window to check whether I’d gotten away cleanly. Strumming still seemed quite preoccupied with the condottiere thoroughly searching her for stolen goods, and my double was standing there, watching the whole scene play out with a smirk. The doppelganger’s eyes briefly turned to the building I was in, and then she looked to the pony who’d accused Strumming and offered a barely perceptible nod.

Moments later, the finely-dressed stallion reached into his saddlebags and pulled out a wallet, staring at it dumbfounded for a moment before offering a sheepish chuckle and calling it to the attention of the guards. The guardponies let Strumming up, and more apologies were exchanged while the spy dusted herself off. Then Strumming and my replacement walked off, the spy seemingly clueless about the switch.

While Strumming and my replacement marched off for parts unknown, the stallion who’d precipitated the incident headed for the house I was hiding in. Given that he was obviously in on the con, I was waiting for him when he walked through the front door. I had no clue who he was or what I’d gotten myself into, but I wanted some answers. If I really didn’t like them, I could always go back to the EIS. Hay, all I’d really need to do is go to the Equestrian Embassy and introduce myself and I’d be fine.

The stallion stepped through the door, then gave me a quick once-over. “So, Sunset Shimmer. Princess Celestia’s runaway student. What an unexpected pleasure.”

“Yeah yeah, nice to meet you.” I crossed my forelegs and hit him with a suspicious glower. “You helped me get away from the EIS, that buys you my time and attention. You want more than that, impress me. Oh, and since you know who I am...”

A momentary grin crossed the stallion’s face, and then he extended his hoof. “Ah, it would seem that the Shimmer mare’s reputation for feistiness is very well-founded. This one is called Puzzle Piece, and it is a considerable pleasure to meet you.”

I tentatively shook his hoof, still keeping a wary eye on him. “Alright, that’s a good start. So, you’ve obviously got friends, and enough resources to whip up a pretty damn good body double for me. No idea how long it’ll fool Strumming for, but obviously it was long enough to get me away cleanly. And you got everything into position on pretty short notice, assuming Strumming’s theory about Kukri being one of yours was accurate.” He certainly seemed to share Kukri’s odd habit of referring to herself as ‘this one,’ though maybe that was just some weird Freeport thing. “Makes a mare wonder who you are and who you’re working for.”

“Naturally.” Puzzle offered me a charming grin. “This one is certain that the other has many questions, but it must ask that those questions be delayed for a time longer. The Council wishes to speak with the Shimmer mare at once.”

“The Council?” It wasn’t hard to guess who he meant, but I asked anyway just to be sure. “As in the Council of Thirteen?”

“The very same,” Puzzle Piece confirmed. “Come. The masters of Freeport await the Shimmer mare. It would not do to keep them waiting.”

Oh. Goodie. The rulers of a nasty, ruthless trade empire wanted to personally meet with me. I was glad about getting away from the EIS, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Fine. Fire was my best element anyway.

Not so Free

The Council was keeping me waiting. I hate waiting.

At least they were letting me wait in style and comfort. The Council’s Palace didn’t have the massive, soaring spires of the one in Canterlot—building something utterly massive would be insanely expensive when Freeport already needed to import timber and stone, and from what little I knew of architecture massive towers were not the best choice for an island that had to deal with rough ocean weather.

The other thing that struck me about the Council’s headquarters was that it wasn’t the largest and fanciest building in the city. Maybe it’s my Canterlot bias talking, but I’m used to the idea that the ruler’s palace should utterly dominate the city. Back in the old days there used to be building codes that stopped anyone from making something half as large or tall as the palace, and nopony was allowed to build something that obstructed the view of the palace.

The Council, by contrast, was in a relatively unassuming four-story brick of a building. However, the shining black stone they’d built it out of still lent it a rather unique appearance. Once I got a bit closer, I realized it wasn’t proper stone, but obsidian. They must’ve clad the entire building in it. There had to have been magic involved somewhere in the construction, because I couldn’t see any seams or joining points, just a single continuous sheet of it. Still an impressive feat, even if it didn’t have the same scale as the palace in Canterlot.

Once we got inside, things moved back to familiar territory for me. The room Puzzle Piece and I were waiting in probably could’ve fit a hundred ponies quite comfortably. Every inch of wall space was devoted to an elaborate mural of some sort, most of which existed to boast the wealth and magnificence of Freeport itself, and just to emphasize that point, all the little details on the murals were ornamented with actual gold and gemstones. If I could get Puzzle to leave me in here unsupervised for a minute, I could probably permanently solve my money problems without doing any noticeable damage to the display.

It came as no surprise that the rulers of a trading nation wanted to let everyone know just how well the trade was flowing. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting out of this meeting with the Council of Thirteen. It’s hard to know much about a secretive ruling council that goes to rather extreme lengths to suppress any information about itself. I’d gotten the sense that Celestia knew a bit more about them than most, but I’d never really pried into it. Beyond the sort of basic education anypony should have, I’d never really cared about Freeport’s internal politics. At least, not until I’d hopped onto a ship heading there, and by then it was a little bit late to get a cram session in.

I really should’ve done a bit more research before leaving Canterlot. In hindsight, maybe Celestia hadn’t been trying to trick me into staying when she’d asked me to at least prepare a bit better before I left. At the time, I’d been sure it was just one of those ‘stay a few more days ... then a couple more, then a bit longer...’ ploys to keep me from ever leaving. Celestia can be sneaky that way. However, I was starting to realize that she’d been right about one thing: I had a lot to learn about surviving. I’d learned a whole lot about how to be a good student. How to survive on the run from the Equestrian authorities had never come up.

Right now, though, I had a bigger problem on my hooves. I had no idea what was going to happen in my meeting with the Council. Mostly because it hadn’t started yet. Apparently, they were so eager to meet me that they would set up a complicated bit of cloak-and-dagger to get me away from the EIS, but they still felt the need to do the whole thing where they made me wait for an hour or two to remind me of the pecking order.

At least I wasn’t alone for this. Puzzle Piece was still sticking with me, presumably to make sure the EIS didn’t grab me again. Or to make sure I didn’t get cold hooves and go running back to them. It would be a lie to say I wasn’t a little tempted by the idea. In the heat of the moment I picked freedom, but an hour of waiting for the Council had given me plenty of time to start having second thoughts. I’m not saying I liked having the EIS micro-manage my life while giving me the illusion of freedom, but they were the devil I knew.

Puzzle Piece had dropped the rich fop disguise while we waited, which, among other things, meant I finally got a look at his cutie mark. To my utter lack of surprise, it was, in fact, a puzzle piece. Some ponies have incredibly uncreative names. Though that just brought up the question of why his cutie mark was so suspiciously apropos for his name. Celestia had told me once that a lot of parents had some kind of sense of their children’s destinies when it came to picking their names. I wasn’t sure if I bought that. After all, it was supposed to be my destiny to stay in Canterlot, and look how that worked out.

Ugh, the longer I was stuck with nothing to do, the more I would start brooding and doubting myself. I needed something else to keep myself occupied, and as long as Puzzle Piece was keeping an eye on me for the Council, I might as well see if I could pump him for any useful information. “So what’s your deal, Puzzle?”

Puzzle had been flipping through one of the local newspapers while we waited on the Council, but upon hearing my question, he set it aside. “This one’s deal? What do you mean?”

I flicked my tail irritably. The question was obvious, and I didn’t buy that he needed me to elaborate on it. Still, it’s not like there was anypony else to talk to. “Like, what do you do? Are you some kind of dirty deeds specialist for the Council?"

Puzzle smirked in response. “You do realize, Miss Shimmer, that most ponies in that line of work wouldn’t advertise it.” He rolled up the newspaper, and a faint grin quirked at his lips. “Though to answer your question, this one would prefer to be called a problem solver. Not everything that this one does is ‘dirty.’ Sometimes this one helps promising young mares get away from Equestria’s doers of dirty deeds instead.”

“Problem solver,” I repeated flatly. I might be just a bit inexperienced with some aspects of the world outside of Canterlot, but I wasn’t totally naïve. “I’ve heard that one before. So if I don’t do whatever it is the Council wants out of me, do I become a problem you have to solve?”

Puzzle answered me with an amused smile. “If you mean will this one kill you, cut you into pieces, and then dump your body quietly into the harbor, then no.”

Whoa. I’m a pretty tough mare, but I admit I was a bit shaken by just how easily he’d discussed killing me. It had just been so ... matter-of-fact. Normally when a pony says something like that, they would sound a bit silly to make it clear they were just messing with me. Puzzle said that the same way a pony would talk about doing laundry or picking something up for a dinner. I had a rather terrible suspicion that he might have actually done something like that at some point. Freeport was a rough place, after all.

Still, there was no way I could let him see I was intimidated. Especially if Puzzle was the sort of pony who could kill another pony and dispose of the body without so much as batting an eyelash. “Right. Well then ... um ... yeah. I suppose you could do that. If you wanted to. But if you tried I would stop you by ... er ... magic.”

Okay, that could’ve worked out a bit better.

Puzzle looked me over, then let out a faint snort. “My, you are new to this type of thing, aren't you?”

For a moment I was tempted to snap at him, but the ugly truth was he was right. Yelling at him for insulting me wouldn’t do any good. It would probably just cost me the only potential ally I had in Freeport who wasn’t working for Celestia. So I swallowed my pride, at least for the moment. “Am I that obvious?”

“Just a bit.” Puzzle kept his voice gentle, which took some of the sting out of his words. Some of it. “If you analyzed the situation, you would realize that it would be ill-advised for the Council to deal with you in a permanent fashion.”

I did exactly that, and once I thought it over, it wasn’t hard to figure out what he was getting at. “If I die or mysteriously disappear while I’m here, the EIS would find out. And then Celestia would find out.”

“Precisely,” Puzzle agreed with a satisfied nod. “This one imagines she would want a very thorough investigation if anything should happen to you. Even if the Council could hide its own direct involvement, that would still be very, very bad for Freeport and the Council. Even if she believed us innocent, she would likely blame the Council for allowing Freeport to be so dangerous that something could happen to you. She might well cut off or restrict trade for a time to express her royal displeasure.” He paused, and let out a slight tremble. “If she discovers the Council’s involvement? Well, this one recalls several warnings about what happens to the kindest of ponies when they are sufficiently provoked, and this one can think of few things that would be a greater provocation than murdering her student in cold blood.”

Is it wrong that I found the idea of Celestia burning Freeport to the ground to avenge me just a little satisfying? Not that I was planning on dying anytime soon, but her going on a massive revenge quest would show how much she cared.

Puzzle continued on, quite oblivious to my brief flight of fancy. “No, if the Council wanted to get rid of you, this one would advise them to shove you into a crate and ship you back to Canterlot to Celestia or your parents.” He tapped a hoof ponderingly on his chin. “Preferably your parents; this one has heard they are offering a significant reward for your safe return. Though being in the good graces of Her Highness has its own advantages, this one will admit. Money is nice, but one cannot put a price on being owed a favor by Princess Celestia.”

“Yeah, I suppose...” I wasn’t too wild about either of those ideas, though Celestia at least understood. My parents ... well, I hadn’t seen them for months before I left, and we hadn’t exactly been all that close. I still didn’t know what to make of them offering a big bounty in exchange for my safe return. It’s not like they’d been all that eager to spend time with me before I’d left; they’d always blown me off because of work or something. It was why I’d been so close to Celestia in the first place. Maybe the bounty was just a matter of keeping up appearances? They had to at least pretend to care I was gone. Whatever the case, it wasn’t something I especially wanted to dwell on. “So, any idea what the Council wants with me?”

Puzzle went quiet at that question, tapping his rolled-up newspaper on the floor next to his cushion while he thought. I suspect it wasn’t so much a matter of him trying to figure out the answer as it was him trying to figure out which answer to give me. Whichever it was, he settled on something pretty quickly. “Likely they want to make use of you. Even in Equestria proper, your level of raw magical talent only shows up a few times a century, not to mention your education was second to none. This one imagines you could be quite an asset to the Council if you were willing to work for them.”

Well, that made sense. They wanted me working for them, rather than running around potentially stirring up trouble, or getting myself in trouble. After all, the fact that Celestia still sent spies after me proved she still cared. Speaking of which, Strumming had been bugging me to get a job...

Puzzle trotted over to one of the cabinets, and pulled out a nice crystal bottle filled with some presumably very expensive liquor, then poured himself a glass. “If there is one thing the Council despises, it is letting a useful resource go untapped. Letting a mare of your talents slum around trying to establish herself in the seedier parts of the city would be a terrible waste. This one thinks that we can agree that there are better and much more mutually profitable arrangements to be made. A mare of your abilities shouldn’t be producing cheap trinkets to scrape out a living wage.”

He was right about that. I might’ve adjusted to having a slightly lower standard of living than I’d been used to while I was at the palace, but that didn’t mean I liked it. And judging by the decor here, the Council could definitely put me up in style. Going back to having silk bedsheets and servants would be nice—it was nothing less than I deserved, really. “I certainly won't complain about working for somepony who can properly appreciate my talents.”

Puzzle smiled, then briefly raised his glass to me before taking a sip. “Oh, this one is quite certain the Council understands how best to use your abilities. As this one said, the Council despises wasting any resources.”

“Nice to know.” From the way Puzzle was setting it up, I would definitely have to work hard to earn my stay in Freeport. Not that I would’ve expected anything different; the days when I could earn my keep just by studying on my own ended when I left Celestia. Knowing their reputation, the Council probably wasn’t going to put me in charge of spreading sunshine and happy feelings; it would be nasty, morally dubious work. Still, when my alternatives were to go crawling back to the EIS, or try to make it on my own and end up working in some sweatshop cranking out cheap magic items for twelve hours a day to make enough bits to afford a one-room rat-infested hovel...

Besides, it’s not like the Council would be doing anything too terrible. After all, it was a government run by businessponies. Corrupt and amoral businessponies, but businessponies nonetheless. Most of the classic evil behavior is pointless at best, and at worst would actually hurt their profit margins. That was why Discord, Nightmare Moon, and Sombra had all lost in the end. Everypony knew they were better off with Celestia in charge. If the Council wanted me to be a problem solver like Puzzle Piece, the problems they would want me to solve probably all would’ve done something to deserve being ... well, problem solved.

That might not even be what the Council wanted out of me, though. They had plenty of other problem solvers, after all. Hay, for all I knew they wanted me to be some kind of trainer to start up their own school. I was by far the smartest, best-educated unicorn in the islands. Give me funding and enough time, and I could start up a proper Freeport Mage Corps on the Equestrian model.

Ugh, no point in speculating. They would tell me what they wanted soon enough. Until then, I might as well pump Puzzle for whatever information I could get out of him about other things. “Hey, got another question for you.”

Puzzle turned to me and lifted a single eyebrow. “Go ahead, then. This one will not promise to answer, but it will at least hear your question.”

His answer rather perfectly reminded me what question I wanted to ask. “What’s the deal with calling yourself ‘this one?’ Kukri did it too, so it can’t just be some random personality quirk. It must mean something.”

The question got a smile out of him. “This one supposes it would seem unusual to a native of Canterlot.” He winked at me when he emphasized the ‘this one.’ “It's a bit of a tradition amongst certain parts of the population in Freeport.”

Well, that was spectacularly uninformative. “Okay, so it’s a tradition. What kind of tradition? Which segments of the population practice it? Why do they do it? Is it some philosophical or religious thing?”

Puzzle shook his head in bemusement at my barrage of questions. “This one sees that Kukri was quite correct when it said that you didn't know much about Freeport.” Puzzle stretched out and took a seat. “To answer your question, there are certainly philosophical elements behind the title, but mainly it applies to those of my species. Or rather, sub-species.”

“Your species?” That didn’t make any sense, Puzzle was just an earth pony.

Or at least, that’s what he looked like. I thought back to how they’d pulled off the switch with me in the marketplace, and all the pieces fell into place. “You’re not a pony, you’re a changeling. One of the Infiltrators who rebelled against Chrysalis.”

“So this one is.” There was a flash of green, and the earth pony I’d been talking to was replaced by a vaguely equine-shaped creature with a chitinous black carapace, diaphanous insect-like wings, and empty blue compound eyes. To my surprise, the voice was the only part of him—it, that didn’t change. “Though this one’s kind prefers the term Free Mind. ‘Infiltrator’ is what the Old Mind called us, before we broke free of her. We are no longer what she made us to be, we have become more.”

“Huh.” I suppose I should’ve been more freaked out by the fact that Puzzle, and by extension Kukri, were love-eating bug-monsters. As it was, the last couple days—no, everything since I’d left the palace, had all been so crazy that I just didn’t have the energy to be shocked and horrified. Instead, I just pulled back to something I could easily handle. “No surprise the Council uses you, then. A shapeshifter would be handy for spy work.”

That got a fang-filled smile out of Puzzle, before it reverted back to pony form, albeit as a pegasus instead of an earth pony. “It takes more than merely being a shapeshifter to be a good spook, but yes, it does give advantages. There have been many times when this one’s ability to alter its appearance with a single thought was the difference between success and failure.” It offered me an amused grin. “And espionage is this one’s special talent.”

That remark caught me by surprise. “Your special talent? Changelings have those?”

Puzzle shrugged and waved a hoof. “In a manner of speaking, yes. While we do not have some talent that comes to light in a moment of revelation, leading to having a symbol permanently emblazoned on our hindquarters, some of us are bred to be better at certain tasks. We have more control over our reproductive abilities than ponies do. It can be arranged to have some of our children to have better physical attributes, possess specific mental aptitudes, or be particularly gifted at a given skill.” Puzzle paused, and flicked his new wings. “Though we use such modification sparingly. We do not want to repeat the Old Mind’s mistake of thinking ourselves so wise that we can create a superior being. Most Free Minds are born naturally. Those bred for a purpose are a small minority of our numbers. It has led our species in a better direction than imitating the Old Mind’s manipulation ever could have.”

“Huh.” Well, that was certainly something. Made me glad I was born a pony instead of a changeling. For all Celestia’s talk about destiny, I’d never really liked the idea that I only accomplished things because of some cosmic force guiding me. I was one of the best spellcasters in the world because I had busted my plot to earn that, not because of some arbitrary destiny thing. Being bred for that would be even worse; knowing that the only reason I was stronger than everypony else was because my parents arranged my DNA that way would remove any sense of accomplishment. There’s no point in being the best if you only pull it off because somepony else gave it to you.

Now wasn’t the time to start bringing up my issues with the Free Minds’ lifestyle, though. “So, I assume Kukri is a Free Mind too? Is she even a real filly, or...?”

“That one is a Free Mind,” Puzzle confirmed. “And her seeming age matches the reality. Free Minds grow and develop at much the same rate as ponies, which includes having a childhood. Many within the Doo Clan are aware of her nature, though most of us prefer to use pony forms in public. Many find our appearance unsettling, so we avoid disturbing them. Especially when visiting lands outside of Freeport.”

Well that put a couple recent events in an interesting new light. Maybe the EIS weren’t the only ones who’d been keeping an eye on me while I was on the run. It was a pretty big coincidence that I’d just happened to get on a ship with a changeling on it, who just happened to have the contacts needed to get me a meeting with the Council. Considering how long the EIS had managed to manipulate me without getting noticed, I bet a bunch of shapeshifters could’ve pulled it off even better. Maybe the whole idea that I had my freedom once I’d run away from Canterlot was just one elaborate lie.

While I’d been having my existential crisis, Puzzle had kept on talking about the Free Minds. “And even though it has been centuries since we rebelled against her, it is wise to hide ourselves from the Old Mind. She has a long memory, and she is not forgiving. Some day, there will be a reckoning between us and her. But not until we are ready to face her.”

So the Free Minds were planning a re-match with Chrysalis? That would be interesting. Not sure if that was something I wanted to be mixed up in or not. On one hoof, Chrysalis was seriously bad news. On the other, taking her down would be a great way to prove to everypony that I deserved to be a princess. She was one of those monsters Celestia had always wanted to deal with, but there were always too many other responsibilities closer to home. One thing she’d always hammered into me during our lessons: a princess’ first duty is to the welfare of her subjects. Running off chasing after every single monster in the world would leave Equestria leaderless and vulnerable.

Maybe running off from Canterlot would be a good thing. I could take care of some of those problems Celestia had never been able to handle on her own. Well, as long as I could survive long enough to do so.

Puzzle was staring at me, a faintly amused smile on its face. “The Shimmer-mare seems much occupied by her own thoughts. May this one ask a question?”

Considering everything Puzzle had shared, I saw no reason not to allow it. “Sure, same conditions as when I asked you.” I didn’t mind making small talk, but some topics were definitely off-limits. I didn’t want any questions about Celestia and me, for example.

“This one could hardly object to those terms.” Puzzle paused for a moment to formulate its question. “This one is curious why the Shimmer-mare chose to come to Freeport. This one is unaware of any contacts she has within the islands, and this one is quite well informed about such things. What were your plans, before your involvement with EIS? Were you simply wandering aimlessly?”

Ugh, Puzzle was starting to sound like Strumming. I guess that shouldn’t have been a surprise; spies probably think the same way regardless of what species they are. I groaned and rubbed my face, then trotted over to the liquor cabinet to check it out. Not that I would actually drink anything out of it when I was meeting up with the Council later. Besides, the first time I’d tried experimenting with alcohol had been ... memorable. At least Celestia had been nice enough to pretend to believe that my hangover was actually a case of the flu. I almost thought I’d fooled her, until somepony slipped a pamphlet about how to drink responsibly into the next set of books I got from the royal library.

Dammit, I was getting all misty-eyed about Celestia again. That was all in the past, and I needed to focus on the future if I wanted to survive. “Yeah, I didn't exactly have a firm game plan. Just kind of going wherever my problems weren’t. Why do you ask?”

“While the Council is interested in you for the magical skills you represent, this one is curious as to the mare herself.” Puzzle looked me over, and I felt myself suddenly reminded of the fact that changelings consider ponies a food source. Not to mention that, as far as I could tell, Puzzle seemed to be male. A faint grin crossed his lips. “This one suspected that you were rather lacking in certain necessary resources. It would prefer if nothing happened to you, and wants to help.”

That caught me by surprise, and instantly set off alarm bells in my head. I might not be an expert on how Freeport worked, but I knew enough to be wary of anypony—or changeling—who was acting just a bit too nice. “Why do you care?”

Puzzle answered my suspicion with an unconcerned smile. “For one, the Council cares about you. This one would know more of you because magic is like any other tool—it’s only as good as the pony wielding it.” It paused for a moment, then continued, “Secondly, because this one is not some monster like the Old Mind's swarm. This one can care about others and want the best for them. You are a young mare in a city where bad things can happen to the unwary. This one would prefer to see you succeed and avoid the major pitfalls that come with a city like Freeport.” Puzzle sighed and ran a hoof over his face. “It is ... difficult to explain to one who is not a Free Mind, but this one believes that basic compassion is of the utmost importance to our kind. It is what makes us better than the Old Mind. This one’s duties often require it to be cold and analytical, so when it can show such compassion for another being...”

“So it’s more about showing you’re not like Chrysalis than me specifically?” It did seem a bit odd to be getting a speech on the importance of compassion from a changeling who’d been talking about how it could kill and dismember me a short while ago. “How does that even work for a changeling? Free Minds do still eat love, right?”

“Our dietary requirements are unchanged,” Puzzle confirmed. “Though we prefer more humane methods of fulfilling them. There are many in Freeport who would gladly allow limited feedings in exchange for appropriate compensation. It is a better arrangement than cocooning a dozen victims to feed upon, or relying on deception and mind control.” Puzzle scowled and shook its head. “Many of the Old Mind’s brood do not even have the decency to tend the wounds their fangs leave on their prey. Leaving such feeding marks is unsanitary and foolishly short-sighted, but the Old Mind cares little for such things. They are like locusts, content to drain their prey into empty husks, then move on. The Free Minds have the capacity to be better than that, and so we should do so.”

I frowned at him. “You make it sound awfully noble, considering you’re still using ponies as a food source. I’m gonna guess a lot of the ponies who ‘voluntarily’ let you feed on them are poor enough that they don’t really have much choice in the matter.” A shudder of revulsion shot down my spine as I realized that I’d been dangerously close to ending up poor in Freeport. If the Council hadn't dropped a high-paying job right into my lap, I might have been on the menu too.

Puzzle answered me with a shrug. “It is as you say. And yet this one must feed. If that need could be satisfied in gentler ways, this one would do so. Despite what the occasional ignorant fool might say, feeding is not so simple as finding somepony willing to give this one a hug, or even share this one’s bed. As it stands, this one does not starve, nor do those it feeds upon.”

I was tempted to snap at him, but for once my good sense got the better of my temper. I really didn’t need to alienate one of the only creatures in Freeport who might be on my side. Well, not exactly on my side, but I think I believed Puzzle when it said it wanted me to do well. Even if it was just because my success would reflect well on him, since he was the one delivering me to the Council, I would take it. From what he and Strumming had both said, there were plenty of beings in Freeport who would take advantage of me without a moment’s hesitation. Compared to that, I’ll take some mutual self-interest.

Still, the conversation had pretty much died after that brief bit of tension over feeding. I wasn’t going to apologize for not liking the idea of being food, and he wasn’t going to apologize for needing to eat. Things stayed awkwardly silent until a messenger wearing a uniform fancy enough to put Celestia’s regalia to shame trotted in. “Miss Shimmer? The Council is ready for you.”

Puzzle rose to his hooves. “We had best hurry. The Council does not like to be kept waiting.”

I let out a snort at that. “Oh they don’t like to be kept waiting? That’s rich. They leave us here for an hour after we show up, but we can't make them wait a couple minutes before we bother to go see them?”

Puzzle offered me a sardonic grin. “Welcome to the halls of power, Miss Shimmer.”

The Council’s chamber was, unsurprisingly, done in much the same style as the room they’d left me and Puzzle waiting in. About the only notable difference was that this time the murals on the walls weren’t showing off Freeport’s wealth and prosperity; they were showing the Taming of Freeport, where the Council took control of the city.

The actual origin of the Council was a bit vague, which wasn’t a surprise for an organization that hid the identities of all its members, past and present. The Council’s history started with the Taming, when they cut a deal with the self-exiled members of the old Pegasopolan clans to take over the city. The clans provided the military muscle, and the Council used their connections to make everypony fall in line.

After the Taming came a couple scenes from Zebrica’s failed attempt to take over the islands. The zebras had succeeded in taking the city, but quickly found holding down all the outlying islands and maintaining a garrison at the end of a long, vulnerable supply chain to be a huge drain on their resources. The occupation ended in two years, with the mighty Zebrican Empire sent running home with their tails tucked between their legs.

Like the mural outside, this one sent a pretty clear message. If the waiting room reminded ponies why having the Council around was a good idea, the art in this room was a reminder of what happened to anypony who stood against them. Classic carrot and stick diplomacy. Hardly subtle, but it worked.

In the center of the room was a huge, crescent-shaped raised table, with thirteen figures seated around it. I call them figures because I couldn’t even be sure what species they were. The bulky black robes and face-concealing silver masks could’ve hidden just about any kind of quadruped. I suppose that did rule out minotaurs, unless they were hunched over on all fours. Given the sheer paranoia and secrecy the Council was famous for, I couldn’t completely rule that out.

Puzzle stopped in the doorway, letting me go up to the Council itself on my own. I stepped into the middle of the crescent where all the councilmembers could get a good look at me. It was hard not to be a little intimidated by having thirteen anonymous figures looming over me, but I held my head high and met their eyes as best I could. There was no way I would let them think all this pageantry impressed me. If I let them set the tone and dominate all the discussion, I would just be swapping the EIS controlling me for the Council. “So, the Council of Thirteen wants to talk to me? Well, here I am. What do you want?”

There was a brief pause, and despite the fact that their blank silver masks hid any facial features from me, I got a definite sense of surprise and amusement out of them. At least I’d made a good first impression. After a couple seconds, one of them spoke. “You are correct, Sunset Shimmer.” The voice had an odd flanged quality to it, which I guessed was probably intended to make it impossible to recognize. I didn’t want to risk spellcasting to confirm it, but I would bet it was a spell worked into the mask itself. Probably one of several; no way the Council would just rely on purely mundane masks and robes when they could have magical ones.

Another one of the council-members spoke. Or at least, I think it was a new one. With the robes, masks, and voice distortion it was just about impossible to tell who was actually speaking at any given time. “It has come to the Council’s attention that you require a patron. Should you prove yourself capable, the Council would be willing to offer you its resources and protection, in exchange for your service.”

“My service, huh?” I frowned at the second one from the left, who was my best guess at who’d been talking to me. “Exactly what kind of service did you have in mind?”

One of the ones behind me spoke. “Whatever service we require of you. Your reputation indicates that you are a mare of many talents. The Council sees no reason to limit the scope of your activities when there are so many possibilities. Rest assured, we will not ask anything unreasonable or beneath your dignity or abilities.”

Well, that was wonderfully open-ended. I might not be an expert on surviving in Freeport, but I hadn’t been born yesterday. “I think I’d rather decide when a job is unreasonable or beneath me, thank you very much. And I’d like to have fixed hours, too. Otherwise you could stick me working sixteen-hour days every day of the week.”

The Council went quiet again, and this time I was sure they were laughing at me behind those masks of theirs. “So you’re not a complete fool then. Good, the Council has no use for fools.”

Another one of them spoke up. “However, we expect you understand that this would hardly be a traditional job with fixed hours and duties. You would serve this Council in a capacity similar to that of your own Equestrian Magi. Monsters, and warlocks are as much a problem for Freeport as any other major city. While the condottieri have proven quite capable of addressing such problems to date, a spellcaster of your ability would be a better choice for some of these threats.”

One of the others cut in. “Of course, the comparison to an Equestrian Magus is an imperfect one. Freeport is not Equestria. We have our own needs. Some of the services we would require of you would not be things Celestia would ask of her own magi.”

“What, like assassinations and dark magic?” I met that one’s eyes as best I could and crossed my forelegs over my chest. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I’m no warlock. And I’m certainly not a murderer for hire. If that’s what you want out of me, I’ll just show myself out and save us all a lot of trouble.”

Before I could even start to carry out my bluff and start dramatically making my way towards the exit, one of the council members stopped me. “The Council has asked no such thing of you, Sunset Shimmer. Dark magic may have its uses, but in the Council’s experience those are few and far between. As for your other objection, we already possess resources for ... problem-solving.”

“And ones far more suited to the purpose,” the one on the far left cut in. “We have heard many things about your magical abilities, Sunset Shimmer. However, words like ‘subtle’ and ‘discreet’ were notable only by their absence. I suspect sending you on those sorts of missions would end with burning buildings and uneconomical levels of property damage.”

I didn’t care for the implication that I had no control over my own magic, but under the circumstances I didn’t see much reason to argue the point. After all, it’s not like I wanted to serve as a glorified mob enforcer for the Council. Sticking to respectable magus work suited me just fine. I’d always figured I would end up being a magus once I hit adulthood. At least, that had been the plan until I realized what Celestia had planned for me.

“So, I’d be effectively serving as the first Magus of Freeport?” None of the Council objected to that, so I continued. “In that case, I would propose that my service to the Council proceed as outlined in the official charter for the Equestrian Royal Magi. Or at least, that we use it as a starting point for negotiations.” I know there were probably a couple things I would like to change in the charter, given the chance. I’m not saying I wanted to throw out all the rules, but some of the stuff about maintaining harmony and always trying to use the minimum necessary force to resolve all conflicts went a bit overboard.

The council-member in the center, who I guessed was probably the closest thing they had to a leader, nodded. “That seems a reasonable place to begin. Though the Council will need time to familiarize itself with the relevant legal codes, and present a modified version which suits the Council’s needs and desires.”

No surprise there. The Council wasn’t going to hire me on the basis of any Equestrian laws they didn’t have memorized. I’m no expert at business, and even I know you don’t sign a contract until you’ve read every single word of it. Considering Equestria’s laws and regulations for the Mage Corps filled up five very thick tomes, it would take them a while to go through all of it. Well, more likely have a bunch of secretaries go through it, then give them a summary.

The third one from the right turned to face me. “That does raise the question of what should be done with Miss Shimmer until then. We could certainly offer her our hospitality while she awaits our response, but it seems to me like we could do something more efficient. We did intend to put her talents to the test before hiring her, now seems as good a time as any.”

“A test?” I frowned at the last member of the Council to speak. “What kind of test?” I was pretty sure this wouldn’t be like one of the ones I got from Celestia. I was pretty sure the Council didn’t care if I could read a book, and then explain all the relevant magical theorems to them. They would want something more practical.

“A demonstration of your skills, Miss Shimmer,” the central Council-member explained. “As well as your willingness to perform in the capacity the Council will require. It will be something well within your capabilities, and we have selected a challenge which you should not find morally offensive. We wish for you to bring the notorious pirate, Metal Mome, to justice.”

A pirate? Well, they were right about me being okay with that. After all, pirates were right up there with warlocks and slavers as hostis equini generis—an Old Unicornian term that meant ‘enemies of ponykind.’ Basically, outlaws in the most literal sense of the term; they were completely outside the protection of the law.

What was surprising was that the Council wanted to go after a pirate. Freeport had a long-standing reputation as a haven for criminals of all sorts. This Metal Mome must have done something beyond the pale if the Council wanted him taken out. Given how Freeport operated, that meant he was hurting the Council’s bottom line. The city might be a haven for pirates, but even they drew the line at sheltering pirates who preyed on their own ships.

“So you want me to go pirate-hunting? Fine.” It shouldn’t be too hard for me to handle a bunch of low-grade thugs. If nothing else, there was always the fact that pirates sailed around on flimsy ships made of flammable wood and cloth. Still, just because I could handle it didn’t mean I would do it for free. “One question. What happens if I complete the test and deal with this pirate who’s giving you trouble, and then we can’t work out a deal where I work for you long-term? I don’t work for free.”

The Council didn’t say anything for a while, but there was a strange buzz in the air. I didn’t want to cast an analysis spell and risk causing an incident, but I was pretty sure they were somehow communicating with each other privately. I could think of a couple ways to pull that off, like having some sort of mental link or they were using communication crystals. It would certainly be useful for them to have any mid-meeting discussions amongst themselves in private, so they could uphold the appearance of unity.

After they’d hashed out their discussion, the leader spoke once more. “The Council is prepared to offer a bounty of twenty thousand Equestrian bits for the pirate captain Metal Mome upon his capture or proof of his demise. Is that acceptable?”

Whoa. Twenty thousand bits would be enough to take care of my money problems for a long time. And if that was what I could get for one job, then working for the Council on a regular basis would let me live in style. I’m not a materialistic mare, but I would like a nice house, a warm bed, and three good meals a day. Not to mention that I’d lost access to the Royal Library after I’d left Canterlot. Getting a decent-sized private library would be nice, especially if I wanted to start making any progress on finding my own path to ascension. I’d been so busy just surviving that I hadn’t made much progress towards finding out how to become an alicorn.

Still, I didn’t want to sound too eager. “Make it thirty thousand, and you have a deal.”

Once more, I picked up a sense of amusement from the Council’s seeming leader. “This is not the marketplace, Miss Shimmer, and we are not ordinary merchants to be bargained with. Your services would be of value, but Freeport has endured for nine hundred years without you, and will last nine hundred more if we turn you away. Twenty-five, and let that be the end of it.”

Despite his/her/its rather firm words, I decided to push my luck just a little bit further. “There was bookseller in the market who had a first edition of Maximum Dissertatium Rexum. Throw that in on top of my pay, and we’ll have a deal.”

“Insolent,” one of the other councilors grumbled.

“But amusing,” the leader countered. “A single book is but a pittance. I see no harm in it. We have a bargain, then.” The leader waved a hoof towards Puzzle Piece, who was still waiting for me in the doorway. “Puzzle will brief you on the relevant details, as well as help you with obtaining any necessary materials. The costs will be deducted from your bounty, should you succeed. In the future, Miss Shimmer, I would advise you to ask for additional pay to cover your expenses, rather than a book you could easily have obtained yourself.”

Dammit. I hate being outmaneuvered. After all, I was supposed to be the smartest mare in the room. Celestia picked me as her personal student because I was the best in all of Equestria, but I hadn’t even thought about expenses. It’s not like the pirates would be hanging out in the city; they’d probably be out on the ocean somewhere. At the very least, I would need my own ship to go and find them. Knowing where the hay I should go looking would help too.

“Good day, esteemed members of the Council of Thirteen.” I tried not to let my irritation show and turned around headed for the door. Puzzle opened it for me, wearing an amused smirk of his own, and fell into step beside me. Once I’d stalked out of the palace itself and out into the city proper, I’d cooled down enough to get to business. “So how much are you going to take out of my pay?”

Puzzle turned to me with an entirely too friendly smile. “Normally for a venture of this sort, this one would demand an equal share of the pay. However, this one will confess a budding companionship with the Shimmer mare, and so is willing to work at a reduced fee. Forty percent of the pay will suffice.”

Forty percent? My twenty-five thousand bits just went down to fifteen. “Ten thousand bits, just for a little information gathering and hiring a ship?”

Puzzle answered me with a casual shrug. “If you find this one’s rates unsatisfactory, you are welcome to attempt the task on your own. This one wishes you luck in managing the feat with no contacts or other resources to call upon.”

Dammit dammit dammit! He was right, I didn’t have a prayer of pulling this off without him. I wouldn’t even know where to start with looking for a pirate, and if I tried to figure it all out on my own I’d be lucky not to end up falling into some kind of trap. Getting paid fifteen thousand was still a lot better than not getting paid at all. “Fine, you’ve got a deal. If that finder’s fee includes getting me somewhere nice to stay while you do all your research, room and board, and there are no extra expenses or hidden fees. Ten thousand flat, no nasty surprises later.”

“This one is shocked and offended at the implication that it is untrustworthy.” A second later Puzzle grinned and gave me a gentle slap on the back with one of its fake pegasus wings. “Though it would congratulate the Shimmer mare on having learned her lesson well. There may be hope for you yet.”

Pirates, Plums, and Parasites

I’ll say one thing for Puzzle Piece: he—no, it—put me up in style, though it probably took way more of my bits than I would’ve liked. As befits a major trade hub, Freeport had some very fancy hotels that catered to anyone with money to burn. The most extravagant of these probably would’ve eaten up most of the ten thousand bits I’d promised to Puzzle, but it had managed to find something that fit into a reasonable price range while still letting me enjoy more luxury than I’d been able to afford in months.

I took a few days for rest and relaxation while Puzzle worked its contacts. I mostly spent time familiarizing myself with Freeport and reading. First up was the book I’d unintentionally paid the Council ten thousand bits for. Granted, I’d read it plenty of times before, and having a first edition instead of one of the reprints I’d borrowed from the Royal Archives was really only useful for bragging rights. I happen to like having bragging rights, though, so it all worked out.

After that, I moved on to some more immediately applicable things. Puzzle had apparently taken it upon itself to correct the few gaps in my knowledge base. Apparently, some enterprising author had realized that there was a market for books about how to survive in Freeport. Most of the information was very generalized and generic, and was mostly stuff I already knew anyway, but having a few reminders never hurt.

Puzzle had also given me some documents that provided a quick rundown of all the major players in Freeport politics. I already knew the basics from my education with Celestia, but we’d never bothered to look at every single internal faction, especially since few of them were actually relevant to Equestria. Most of the Freeport factions were all about internal maneuvering for profit within the islands—the twenty year-feud between the Free Trade Association and the Striker clan over a cluster of kelp farms had no real effect on Freeport/Equestria relations aside from a few fluctuations in kelp prices.

Even that wasn’t likely to matter much, as I was keenly reminded when I nibbled at the kelp sitting on my plate. Kelp was a popular staple in the islands, since it was a crop that didn’t require any of isles’ relatively scarce arable land to cultivate, and grew so quickly and abundantly on top of that. However, it was definitely an acquired taste, and thus far I hadn’t really acquired it, nor had many Equestrian ponies last I’d heard. It’s not that kelp tastes bad, mind you, it was just very heavy on the salt and minerals compared to something like lettuce.

One nice thing about having room service—I didn’t have to put up with kelp if I didn’t want to. Since I was still getting used to Freeport cuisine, I’d ordered more than I needed just in case I didn't like everything. The kelp might have been disappointing, but the breadfruit and dates were much more to my liking.

I was about halfway through the meal when somepony knocked on my door, and Strumming Heartstrings walked in before I could even get up to answer it. Her eyes instantly fell on the platter I’d been working my way through. “Oooh, nice eats. And just when I was feeling snacky, too. You mind?” Before I could even give her an answer, the spy took a seat across from me and stole the kelp off my tray. At least she hadn’t gone for the breadfruit and dates, or else things might’ve gotten nasty.

I swallowed my current mouthful of breadfruit, then fixed her with the best glare I could manage. “The door was locked.”

“I wouldn’t be much of a spy if I couldn’t crack the lock on a hotel room door, now would I?” Strumming stuffed her face with some of my kelp before I could reply. Sure, I hadn’t planned on eating it, but it was still my kelp that I’d paid for. Well, technically Puzzle had paid for it, but I was paying it to set me up, which included paying for the kelp, so...

“Is there some reason you’re here, bothering me?” I threw up a quick warding spell over the rest of my food before she stole more of it. “Or are you just here to get on my nerves?”

By way of answer, Strumming flicked me on the nose with a feather. “Oh, don’t be a grouch, Sunset. I thought we were friends.” She picked up a strand of kelp and dangled it over her face, slowly lowering it into her mouth like she was a foal eating spaghetti. “Seriously though, did you really think I wouldn’t go looking for you after that vanishing act you pulled? You did your switch with the bug when I got dogpiled in the market, right? Obvious, in hindsight.” She gave an irritated wave. “Still, you can imagine my surprise when our surveillance team on the Council’s palace tells me you’re there while I’ve got a changeling wearing your face in the other room. Pity she changed forms and slipped out before her cover was blown—I had all kinds of questions for her.”

She paused, then shot me a grin. “Of course, now that I’ve found you again, we can spend some time catching up. I know it’s only been a couple days, but it feels like forever since the last time we talked. And I have so many questions for you.”

I frowned and stubbornly crossed my forelegs. “Yeah? Well, maybe I’m not in the mood to answer them. Where does that leave you?”

Strumming sighed and made a try for the olives, which sent her hoof bouncing off my ward. “Darn, I was hoping we could keep this friendly. I guess now I’ll have to drag you back to the EIS station house and torture you for information instead. Or we could try drugging you. Wait, brainwave! We’ll drug you, then we’ll torture you! Win-win!”

The mention of torture nearly made me panic and run for the door before I managed to slow down and think. Once I did, it became pretty obvious what Strumming’s game was. “You’re bluffing. The EIS is barred from using torture in its founding charter. And even if you wanted to try and sneak it past, you wouldn’t do it for something this petty, and especially not on a case where Celestia’s watching your every move.”

Strumming buried her muzzle in her hooves and let out a loud snort. “Okay, okay, you got me. Still, the look on your face? Priceless! I thought you were supposed to be smart, bacon-mane. Celestia would have my wings if I so much as put a hoof on you, let alone go all psycho-crazy. Besides, that kinda stuff doesn’t work anyway.” She went back to her kelp plate for a bit, leaving me to stew indignantly. “Seriously though, what happened with the Council? We know you met with them, and now you’re sitting around in a nice hotel room that I know you can’t afford unless you’ve gotten a fresh infusion of cash since the last time we talked. The Council didn’t get where they are by giving away things for free, so how about you tell me what you gave them?”

“Why?” I glared at her suspiciously. “So you can stop me?”

Strumming groaned and facehoofed. “No, you dumbflank. Well, not unless they want you to do something really insane and evil, but I can’t imagine they would. Insane and evil is usually bad for business. Anyway, back on topic—which is that, as you ought to remember, my orders from Princess Celestia are to let you make your own choices as long as you don’t get yourself killed or left starving to death on the streets, or something like that. Which means I can’t stop you from signing on with the Council even though it’s a dumb move.”

“What makes it dumb?” I demanded. “I know the Council has a reputation for being ruthless and amoral, but they also deal fairly with anypony they hire. Nopony would do business with them if they went back on their bargains.”

“Granted,” Strumming conceded. Her attention shifted to my plate, and she poked at the barrier a couple more times. “Are those candied dates? Can I have a couple?”

“No.” I reinforced the barrier, just in case she decided to push me. “If you really want dates, go buy some for yourself instead of stealing mine.”

“Greedy.” Strumming scanned my food again. “How about that breadfruit?”

“No.”

“The figs?”

“No.”

“Not even the oranges?”

Ugh, I could feel a headache coming on. “You’re not gonna shut up until I give you something, are you?”

“I told you I was hungry,” she offered in her own defense. “The kelp only woke my appetite up without giving it enough to settle back down again.”

I reluctantly lowered the barrier long enough to pass over some olives. “There. And for the record, if you ask for anything else, I’m going to see how much the Council would pay for the identity of an Equestrian spy operating in Freeport.”

Strumming just shrugged, then pulled out a bag of chips and used them as improvised scoops to deliver the olives to her mouth. I would’ve commented on the fact that she had chips yet felt the need to steal my food, but I really didn’t care anymore. Once she’d gotten a good start, she took a break from eating to talk. “Go ahead. It’s not like they don’t already know after they had their changelings spring you from my custody. Besides, I’ve had plenty of time to get all my paperwork sorted out since you ran for it. I’ve got diplomatic immunity now, so the worst they can do is just declare me equus non grata and kick me off of the islands. Which would be a shame, since it’d mean we couldn’t talk anymore.”

“Yes, I don’t know how I would survive without an annoying spy who almost instantly blew her cover and lost me five minutes after I got into port, breaking into my hotel room and stealing my lunch.” I briefly entertained myself with an image of Strumming with her mane and tail on fire, but the humor of that quickly faded when I thought back to how my last meeting with Cadenza had gone. That just about killed my mood.

Strumming’s ears perked forward, and she frowned at me. “Something up? You got all quiet and mopey on me. What’s eating you?”

“Nothing.” I certainly didn’t want to have some big emotional talk with Strumming about everything that had happened before I left Canterlot. I knew Strumming wouldn’t just let it drop at that, so I decided to throw her something else to distract her. “If you must know, I’m hunting down a notorious pirate for the Council.”

Thankfully, Strumming took the bait. A second later, it occurred to me that maybe she’d pushed me in the hopes of getting exactly that reaction. “So, Sunset Shimmer the pirate hunter, eh? Piracy’s all fun and games until somepony loses an eye. That’s why so many pirates wear eye patches, right?”

“No, it’s actually so if they have to go below decks, they can uncover their other eye and still have decent vision despite the drop in light conditions,” I rattled off.

Strumming let out a soft little snort at that. “So you’ve done some reading up on pirates. I guess that figures. Any of those books cover how to avoid getting your head cut off by a cutlass?”

My eyes narrowed at the implication. “Celestia trained me extensively in combat magic. I think I can handle a couple thugs with delusions of grandeur.”

“That so?” I caught a hint of a smirk on Strumming’s face and instantly went on guard. I didn’t know what she was up to, but she was definitely up to something, and I had a pretty good guess what it could be. A second later her wing flicked towards me, and something metallic shot out. I was ready for her, emptying out my water glass to create a quick ice shield to block whatever she’d tossed my way. I was a little surprised when I saw it was just an ordinary coin instead of a weapon or something, though a second later it made sense. Considering I’d stopped it about six inches away from my head, she’d obviously planned on thumping me, and a real weapon would’ve done something a lot more severe than that if I’d missed the block.

Strumming took a moment to look over the ice-encased coin, then nodded to herself. “Nice reaction time. Respect. Your magic’s definitely up to snuff, but the fact is you’re jumping into the deep end of the pool when you haven’t even learned to swim yet. You’ve never even been in a real fight, and you want to go chasing after a ship full of pirates? Doesn’t seem like a smart move to me. And let’s not even start on the fact that you’re going up against pirates who must’ve gone so far off the deep end that even the government of a notorious pirate haven thinks they need to go down.”

I rolled my eyes and cut another slice of breadfruit for myself. “You make it sound like these pirates are in league with one of the dark powers or something. If I had to guess, I’d say they probably just broke the Freeport Pirates’ Code.”

“Ah, yes, the Pirates’ Code.” Strumming grinned and scooped some more olives into her mouth. “Because everypony knows pirates are famous for strictly following rules and regulations. That’s why they chose a life of crime in the first place.”

I nibbled on my orange while considering the best way to answer her that didn’t involve profanity or losing my cool. Why did the EIS have to recruit such an annoying smartflank to keep an eye on me? “Freeport’s Pirate Code isn’t about following laws or anything, it’s more a matter of mutual self-interest. Offering mercy to any merchants that give up without a fight encourages surrender, which means the pirates don’t have to fight every ship they try to rob. And limiting how much they take means they’re not driving merchant companies out of business or making the sealanes so dangerous everyone avoids Freeport.” I thought it over for a moment and offered a rather fitting comparison. “It’s like how farmers won’t use up all the nutrients in the soil, and predators try not to wipe out all their prey. They limit themselves in the short term so there’ll still be a long term. Lately, they’ve even started letting ships pass by completely unmolested, so long as they pay a monthly fee that goes into a fund everypony gets a share of.”

“Sounds like a smart arrangement,” Strumming agreed, trying to snatch one of my dates while I wasn’t looking, only to be stymied once more by my defensive spells. “Except that, like I said, pirates aren’t into long-term planning and carefully obeying the rules.”

“Which would be why the code gets broken by some pirates,” I agreed. “A lot of pirates would get greedy and try to take more than their fair share if there wasn’t somepony enforcing the rules.”

“Which is where you come in.” Strumming looked me over and gave a faint snort. “Nice job. You’ve gone from Princess Celestia’s personal student—a pony who was to all appearances being groomed for princesshood—to a low-level enforcer for an organized crime cartel. I’m sure your parents would be so proud.”

My eyes narrowed, and I let out an irritated growl. “I’m not saying I like how the Freeport system works, but it’s taken a whole bunch of violent criminals and turned them into less dangerous ones. One of my books said the number of ponies killed by pirates has fallen more than seventy five percent since the Freeport Code was implemented.”

“That so?” Strumming met my proclamation with a skeptical frown. “According to one of your books, huh? As in, the books your Council-approved contact picked up for you? Gee, I wonder if maybe it picked sources that put the Council in the best possible light? It’s not like convincing you to sign on with them is part of its job or anything.”

I clenched my teeth and took a moment to rein in my temper. “I know how to account for biased source material, Strumming. I’m also not naïve about why the Code exists; it’s all about keeping Freeport’s status as a pirate haven intact without that discouraging trade. It doesn’t change the fact that I’d rather have Freeport’s pirates following a code that prevents them from doing stuff like massacring a ship’s crew or selling them all into slavery. If pirates do that kinda thing, somepony should stop them. If I can get paid for my trouble...” I trailed off, then shrugged. “Well, in that case everypony wins, right?”

“Yeah, sure. Except for all the ponies who are still getting victimized by your new, kinder, gentler pirates.” Strumming gestured grandly with an olive-covered potato chip. “You see, the thing about picking the lesser of two evils is that it’s still, y’know, evil. I’m pretty sure the princess gave you all that magic training so you could use it to actually do something good with it, not so you could moonlight as a crime cartel enforcer. What’s next, busting somepony’s kneecaps if they’re late on paying back their debts? Shaking down merchants for protection money?”

My temper finally went from frayed to completely snapped. “For your information, the pirate hunt is a onetime thing with the Council. What they actually want to do is start setting up a Freeport Mage Corps on the Equestrian model, and they want me to run it.” Strumming’s eyes widened at that, and I felt a thrill of righteous vindication. That’s what she got for calling me a low-level criminal. As if I would stoop to that.

After a couple seconds, Strumming grinned at me. “So the Council wants to start getting a proper magic academy up and running instead of just relying on whatever scraps they can get from everyone else? Well isn’t that interesting?” She quickly finished off the rest of her chips, then got up. “Well, gotta fly. The Equestrian Intelligence Service thanks you for your cooperation. I’ll see you around, okay?”

My jaw dropped as I realized what she’d done. That sneaky little nag! She’d needled me until I let something slip out, and I’d fallen for it. I let out an indignant snarl, and shot an ice bolt at the door, freezing the handle. “Oh no you don’t! You can’t just trick me and walk away! I’ve had it up to here with you!”

Strumming turned back to face me, looking just a bit too calm for a mare who was face-to-face with a pissed off unicorn of my talent. She just stared at me impassively for a bit, then very calmly asked, “What do you think is going to happen now, Sunset? If you just wanna vent at me for getting tricked, then knock yourself out. If you think you can intimidate or threaten me ... sorry, not buying it. Despite everything you’ve gotten yourself into, I don’t think you’ve got it in you to really hurt a pony. Especially not after what happened with Princess Cadance.”

I flinched at that, my mind instantly going back to the confrontation with her. It might’ve been months ago, but I could still remember every detail. How I’d ranted and shouted at her, until her temper was so frayed she snapped right back. Then I’d completely lost it, and next thing I knew I’d burned her bad enough that she had to go to the hospital. I’d never meant to hurt her that badly, it had just ... happened. I’ve had a couple nightmares about it. Nothing serious, just your normal bad dreams.

Strumming met my eyes, then sighed and shook her head. “You know, you might think you’re tough, but deep down you’re still just a kid. You’re not ready to go chasing after pirates. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve got the spells for it, but it’s you I’m worried about. If you’re going up against pirates, they’ll play for keeps. Which is a problem, since I don’t know if you’re psychologically capable to using lethal force against another pony.”

She stepped forward and put a hoof on my shoulder. “There’s a reason military and combat mage training takes so long, and only part of it is about training up your skills. Most ponies aren’t really violent by nature. Sure, we’ll fight if we have to, but we’d rather have peace and harmony. It takes work to get a pony really comfortable with the idea of killing another sapient being.” She fixed me with a piercing gaze. “Do you really think that after what happened with Cadance, you can live with the idea of burning someone to death?”

My shoulders slumped, and all righteous indignation I’d been building up against her burned away. Much as I hate to admit it, she was right. I’d never been in a serious fight before. The closest I’d come with the scuffle with that caribou back in Coldharbor, which wasn’t much of a fight and certainly hadn’t been life-or-death.

Strumming sighed, then stepped forward and draped a wing over me. “Look, Sunset, I don’t know everything that’s going on with you, but I think I know enough to realize that you need a way out. Whatever’s going on, you can still drop by the Equestrian Embassy in Freeport, and we’ll find a way to sort it out. Don’t worry about the Council; whatever plans they have for you, they know not to push things with Equestria.”

Strumming paused, and her expression hardened a bit. “However, I think you need to be careful. You’re heading down a road that could end badly. As in, that offer to help you come home might have to be withdrawn if you take things too far. I’m sure the Council told you that you could do things just like a real Equestrian Magus, but I also know the Council has no real commitment to harmony. What they care about is results, and if they think dark magic will get them...”

My eyes narrowed, and I let out an offended huff. “I’m not going to turn into some psycho warlock slinging around dark magic, okay?”

She just shook her head. “You think most of the ponies who went down that path planned on it? Nopony plans on using so much dark magic they turn into a twisted lunatic—it just happens. Usually because they make a whole lot of bad decisions, until it becomes second nature to them. Back in the old days, ponies used to think dark magic was just outright addictive, like some kind of drug.”

Her tone turned dark, and she scowled. “The truth is a lot nastier. It’s like the old saying about how when you have a hammer, all your problems start looking like nails. The whole reason dark magic is bad is that it’s giving you power over other ponies that nopony ought to have. Let’s take mind reading. A lotta ponies say the EIS should be able to use it to get info we need. The old ticking time bomb scenario.” Strumming let out a snort. “What those people don’t understand is that it’s a slippery slope. First you use some mind reading for an emergency interrogation. Then it becomes standard procedure whenever a suspect’s holding something back. Then whenever we think they might be lying to us. And next thing you know, we’re the thought police.”

I heard her out, then offered my rebuttal. “Nice speech, but I’m not ever planning on using dark magic, so...”

“Good.” Strumming offered a single approving nod. “Stick with that. If you really think working with the Council is the right way to go, then fine. Your choice to make. All I’m saying is, don’t forget who trained you, and what she taught you. Not just the magic, the other stuff too. You remember that, and maybe you’ll prove me wrong and actually do some good here.”

“I don’t need to prove anything to you.” I went back to my tray and listlessly poked at my food. “Weren’t you leaving?”

“I would, but...” She waved a hoof at the iced-over doorknob. “Somepony kinda locked me in. Rather aggressively, too. It’s enough to make a mare fear for her virtue.” She let out a snort. “Though actually, our files say you’re still a virgin, so I probably don’t need to worry on that account.”

That remark sent heat rushing to my cheeks, and I quickly melted the ice covering her exit. “I think you should go now.”

Before Strumming could actually leave though, a zebra stallion I’d never seen before barged through the door. I had a pretty good idea who it was. Sure enough, once he’d shut the door behind him there was a flash of green fire, and Puzzle Piece returned to its natural form. The changeling froze, then gave Strumming a quick once-over. The spymare returned the favor, then smirked at him. “Hey there. I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess you're the bug who's been getting on my nerves something fierce.”

Puzzle answered her with a grin that rather prominently displayed its fangs. “If the spy-mare means making her look the fool, then yes, this one is indeed that bug.”

“My ego is smarting, but my spirit is unbroken,” she answered flippantly. “You know what they say: you can't keep a good mare down. Besides, I bet Sunset never shared her food with you. Not that she could, considering the species gap.”

“This one is capable of consuming food.” Puzzle walked over and grabbed a few olives to demonstrate. “Though it finds little nourishment in such consumption, it can still enjoy the taste of the food itself. In any case, such things are hardly necessary; this one’s relationship with the Shimmer-mare is strictly professional.”

“That so?” Strumming shot a grin back at me. “Well, while you’re being strictly professional, Sunset and I are best buds. So ... yeah. There we are. I win, you lose.”

Puzzle answered with an expression that it took me a bit to recognize; changeling chitin wasn’t quite as expressive as a pony’s face, but I still managed to work out that Puzzle was doing the equivalent of a faintly mocking smirk. “Is that so? If the two of you are truly so close, then this one finds it curious how quick Sunset was to escape from her best friend once given opportunity. With a love-sucking bug, nonetheless. And did not seek you out or make inquiries afterwards.”

Strumming shrugged. “What can I say? I'm an authority figure, and she's a teenager. You know how that goes.”

Puzzle answered her with sarcasm that managed to sting even more than normal thanks to its relatively blank changeling face. “Ah yes, clearly the Shimmer-mare’s actions are merely those of an angry teenager. This one completely understands. Surely she has no legitimate grievances, and her clearly-expressed desires should be dismissed as unimportant.”

The spymare answered with a shrug. “It’s not my place to judge her relationship with her family or the princess, or what she desires out of all this. I just have to keep her from getting into more trouble than she can handle, and make sure she can still go home to everypony who cares about her when the time comes.” She offered Puzzle a friendly smile that showed just a few too many teeth. “I'm sure you wouldn't want to get in the way of that.”

“Of course not,” Puzzle agreed, matching her smile with one of its own that rather prominently displayed its fangs. “This one is simply making sure she is adapting to Freeport and is being given opportunities befitting her talents.”

“Super.” Strumming grinned and slapped it on the back with one of her wings, earning an irritated twitch from Puzzle. “I mean it, that’s very kind of you.” She gave that comment a moment to sink in, then followed it up. “So how much of her pirate-hunting bounty are you taking for all the help you’re giving her?”

“A reasonable amount we both agreed upon,” Puzzle answered levelly.

“How sweet of you,” Strumming murmured. “Helping her out of the goodness of your profit margin. You're practically a paragon of harmony.”

Puzzle gave a cavalier toss of its head. “This one does its best to make its way through life. It has not struck an unfair bargain with the Shimmer-mare.”

“Good for you, then.” Strumming nodded to him, then looked over her shoulder and shot me a final grin before heading for the door. However, she paused in the threshold and glanced back at Puzzle. “You hurt her, try to feed on her, or turn her into a warlock, and I'll feathering kill you. Just, y’know, FYI, thought you ought to know. As long as we’re putting all our cards on the table.”

Puzzle shook off the death threat with a smile. “The Heartstrings mare is welcome to make the attempt, though she may find it difficult to achieve. Regardless, this one thanks her for her honesty. It will act accordingly.”

“Cool.” She waved to me. “So long, Sunset. You need any bug spray, lemme know.” With that final part, she trotted out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Puzzle looked out through the peephole, then moved to a window to make sure Strumming was really leaving the hotel. Once it had confirmed she was gone, one of its ears gave an irritated twitch. “Such a pleasant mare.”

“She's definitely something else,” I agreed.

Puzzle turned to face me, and it let out a resigned sigh. “Whatever irritation she induces, she merely wishes to protect the Shimmer-mare.”

I sighed and slumped down onto my cushion. “Yeah, I get that. The annoying quirks are just a trick she uses to get past my defenses, or just because she enjoys messing with ponies. Doesn't make her any less annoying.”

Puzzle glanced out the window with a contemplative frown. “Would you prefer to no longer see her? This one can arrange it.”

Considering the fact that Puzzle had already told me it had worked as a ‘Problem Solver’ for the Council in the past, I was instantly wary of the offer. “I wouldn't go that far. Yeah, she gets on my nerves, but it’s nothing to get worked up over.”

Puzzle answered that with a long-suffering sigh, rolling its compound eyes as best it could in its natural form. “This one does not solve all its problems with murder, Sunset. It is not, for lack of a better term, a one-trick pony.”

Well, somepony—or was it somechangeling? Someone. Someone was just a little bit offended once it had guessed the reason for my hesitation. “Yeah, I know you do stuff other than solve problems for the Council. I’m just saying, she's annoying, but I think I'd rather not cut ties with Equestria completely.”

“She is hardly the Shimmer-mare’s only means of contacting Equestria,” Puzzle countered. “If she is unpalatable, we could always expel her and have her removed. There is still the Equestrian Embassy, even if the Heartstrings mare herself is no longer present. And the Council would not attempt to cut ties between the Shimmer-mare and Equestria regardless. Still, it is your choice.”

“Yeah, it is.” I thought it over for a bit, then offered a dismissive wave. “You can always equus non grata her later if she crosses a line. Until then, there’s no reason not to keep her around. For all we know, the replacement they send could be worse.”

“This is so,” Puzzle conceded. “The Equestrian Intelligence Service seems to have a certain appeal for the more unusual sorts of personalities, in this one’s experience. Regardless, there is more than one way to deal with the problem the Heartstrings-mare presents.”

“Right, right.” I stretched and grabbed another piece of breadfruit. “Anyway, enough about her. I was tired of Strumming while she was still here, so the last thing I need is to keep talking about her now that she’s gone. So, changing the subject. You got any info on those pirates?”

“Quite a bit, actually.” Puzzle reached into its saddlebags and pulled out a stack of papers. “To begin, Metal Mome is a unicorn zony stallion. Mother was a unicorn, sire was a zebra. His mother was Granite Mome, a research assistant to Magus Quick Fix until she departed rather hastily after she learned she was suspected of doing illegal golemry experiments with stolen research materials. Given the following events, this one believes we can safely assume the accusations were, in fact, correct.”

“Golemry, huh? Sounds messy.” Golemry had always been one of those grey areas of magic. It wasn’t dark magic, but it tended to be rather strictly regulated due to a ton of ethical concerns. Most importantly, the fact that most golems had some degree of intellect, however limited. Making a golem was essentially creating an intelligent life form whose sole purpose was to obey every command a pony issued. In short, golems were basically slaves. It wasn’t a huge deal as long as they were unthinking automatons, but the moment they started to become sentient, or worse, sapient, a whole new can of worms opened up.

On top of that, there were safety issues. One of the most common uses for golems was to serve as guardians and protectors, since they had the natural advantages of never needing breaks to sleep or eat or use the bathroom, and never getting bored or distracted. The problem was, golems kept in operation for a long time tended to get a bit weird. In the case of guardian golems, they became too aggressive about protecting whoever or whatever they’d been assigned to, and would start seeing innocent ponies as potential threats.

Combine a couple nasty incidents with the growing moral objections to creating golems in the first place, and you had a recipe for golemry coming under heavy regulation. It had been more than a thousand years since a full-size golem had been created in Equestria; all we had were smaller ones made strictly for research purposes under carefully controlled conditions. Well, unless you counted any big ones left behind and forgotten about in some old ruin.

“So, I’m gonna take a wild guess that Metal Mome has a couple pet golems?” I was not at all surprised when Puzzle nodded in confirmation. “Super. Well, I should be able to handle them now that I’m forewarned, at least. Especially if we’re fighting at sea. Just knock ‘em off the boat, and they’ll sink straight to the bottom.”

“Actually, this one’s sources indicate he’s accounted for that.” Puzzle sorted through its papers until it found the one it was looking for. “According to several witnesses, his golems are in fact buoyant. Most likely some sort of magical enhancement. Logical, to address such an obvious weak point.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I groaned and rubbed my face. I suppose I should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy. The Council wouldn’t need me at all if this guy didn’t even think about how to cover the most common-sense ways of knocking out his secret weapon. “So, how many of these things am I going to be up against? I really hope you’re not gonna tell me his crew’s all golems.” Though that seemed pretty unlikely. Golems usually weren’t known for being especially dextrous and lacked the initiative and creativity of truly sapient beings.

Puzzle shook its head. “No, most of this one’s reports say he only uses two at any given time. Usually, one focuses on defending him, the other on attacking the enemy. Those reports of him using less than two usually come directly after encounters where one was heavily damaged or lost, suggesting an obvious cause. There was a period where he tried more, but by all indications that degraded their efficiency.”

“So, most likely I’m up against a pair of golems. Well, that’s better than an army of them, at least.” Though it seemed a bit odd that he couldn’t use more than two of them at a time. Golems were supposed to be largely autonomous within the scope of their orders. You give one a task, and it accomplishes that task in the simplest and most direct way it can. It’s why they’d frequently been used for combat to begin with: ‘Go kill that’ is a nice and simple command that doesn’t need to be executed with any finesse or subtlety.

However, a downside to that possibility quickly came to mind. “If he’s only got two golems, he’s probably pumped them full of all kinds of magic, hasn’t he?”

“That would seem to be a safe assumption,” Puzzle agreed. “By all accounts, he’s not only enhanced them with traditional unicorn magic, but has incorporated zebra alchemy into their design as well. Presumably, something he learned from his sire.”

Oh great, zebra alchemy. At least I knew most of the basic rules when it came to runecasting. When it came to zebra alchemy, I was close to clueless. In my defense, just about everypony in Equestria was in the same boat. The zebras guarded their alchemical formulae very carefully, and when it came to enhancing a golem, they probably knew all kinds of useful things. The big downside of zebra alchemy had always been that, like rune magic, it required a lot of downtime preparing a spell, though in this case it was potions instead of runestones. That wasn’t an issue for golems, though. Considering it would take months if not years to build a golem completely from scratch, the week or two it would take to brew up a couple potions to enhance said golems would barely even matter.

“I don’t suppose all your research turned up any obvious weak points, did it?” I rather doubted it—if he had an easily exploited weakness, somebody would’ve exploited it by now. Still, one could always hope. After the way my life had been going for the last couple months, I had to be due for some good luck.

“Alas, nothing of the sort,” Puzzle confirmed. “The closest this one found is that he takes a very active role in managing his golems, and they will only obey his commands. The latter restriction is rather prudent, given that pirates are not known for being especially loyal. Still, it suggests that the greatest weak point of his golems is, in fact, him. If you can neutralize him, the golems might well be rendered inert.”

“Which is probably why he keeps one of his golems defending him.” I concluded. “He might be the weak point, but he’s keeping himself well-protected. The only easy way to get to him would be to use some kind of attack a golem couldn’t block.” Which would have to mean some kind of non-physical attack, and most of those either took a lot experience in a field I had little real talent for, or a willingness to use black magic to launch a psychic assault. Neither option was on the table, but that left me rather short on choices.

“I suppose I could just try outmaneuvering it.” I did know how to teleport, after all. It would take good timing and positioning, but I might be able to lure his bodyguard one way, then quickly teleport behind it and get a shot in on Metal. I’d have to get the timing perfect and not reveal my ability to teleport until I was sure I could land a knockout blow, though. Otherwise, he would keep his guard golem too close for me to pull it off.

Ugh, maybe I was just overthinking all of it. Combat tended to be messy and chaotic, and Puzzle only had very general information on how Metal Mome’s golems worked. There was no point in going into too much detail when all the plans I made would probably go completely out the window as soon as the fight actually started.

Besides, the golems were only part of the problem. “What about his crew? How many of them are on the ship, and how dangerous are they? Anyone I should be on the lookout for?”

Puzzle shuffled through its papers again, and let out a faintly annoyed huff. “This one was unable to find an exact figure for Metal Mome’s crew count. Pirate crews tend to have a very high turnover rate. Casualties in battle, crew who leave the ship once satisfied by the amount of loot they’ve taken, and those who are simply left behind because they are too busy enjoying their ill-gotten gains. This one has long suspected that the best means of profiting from piracy is not to be a pirate, but to be the one who provides intoxicants and rents companionship to freshly returned pirate crews.”

The changeling cleared its throat and shifted around. “While this one cannot provide a certain answer, it can make a reasonable estimate based on his capabilities. Metal Mome’s ship, the Granite Heart, is a mid-sized brig, which would mean—”

I let out a snort at that. “He named his ship after his mother? Wow, there goes all his credibility as a pirate.”

“Thieves and murderers can be every bit as fond of their mothers as any other sentients.” Puzzle paused with a thoughtful frown. “Presuming they do not include said parents in their list of victims,” he amended. “That is not the case here. By all reports, Granite Mome died of old age five years ago, and Metal was quite fond of her. Thus, his ship’s name.”

The changeling cleared its throat and got back to the briefing. “The typical crew complement for a brig is twelve to eighteen individuals, though pirates are known to heavily overcrew their ships to allow for boarding actions. This one would estimate a crew of forty individuals. Most pirates use far more, but Mome’s golems are used for the bulk of heavy combat duties, and the space for holding and maintaining his golems would leave less room for crew. And while pirates prefer to have the benefit of numbers in battle, there is also much to be said for having fewer hooves to split the bounty between.”

Puzzle shuffled through a few more papers. “There is one other member of the crew this one would suggest being wary of. The first mate, Silverhorns. A minotaur of some repute as a warrior, and known to be quite loyal to his captain. It is rumored they are lovers, though this one was unable to confirm whether this was true or mere gossip.” The changeling shrugged. “Regardless, it would be very difficult to kill or capture Metal Mome without also subduing Silverhorns. Even if such a thing were achieved, the first mate would likely hold a vendetta against the Shimmer-mare and go to considerable efforts to gain vengeance. This one would suggest addressing the matter as part of your mission.”

I wasn’t going to argue with him on that point. I had enough troubles in my life without adding a new nemesis to the pile. “Right. If I can handle the crew and the golems, a single minotaur shouldn’t be too hard.” Not that this was a small proposition. I was good with magic, but going up against forty-to-one odds and facing two golems plus a big nasty minotaur was starting to sound a bit lop-sided. Maybe I should’ve asked a few more questions before I’d taken the job. I guess that was another lesson I’d learned the hard way. At the rate I was going, I was starting to get a bit worried about whether I would have the chance to actually have a second round of negotiations with the Council. They certainly weren’t going to make it easy for me.

No, I couldn’t start getting pessimistic. If I started doubting myself, everything would just collapse on me. I had to stay confident. I was Princess Celestia’s personal apprentice, and one of the most gifted magical prodigies she’d ever seen. The most talented natural pyromancer since Sunbeam Sparkle. I wasn’t going to lose to a bunch of scruffy pirates. I could handle this. Somehow.

I got my mind back on task. “Anything else I need to know about Mome and his crew? Obviously it would be hard for you to pinpoint his exact location, but does he have any typical hangouts? It’d probably be a lot easier to deal with him in port than at sea.”

“Like many pirates, Mome and his crew are frequent customers of the more disreputable docks district on the outlying islands of Freeport proper.” Puzzle briefly frowned, then shook its head. “This one would not advise attempting to apprehend him whilst in port, though. The Council takes a dim view of excessive public violence within Freeport proper, even within its seedier suburbs. A mere bar brawl or mugging is easily overlooked, but this one suspects a battle between the Shimmer-mare and Metal Mome would rapidly escalate beyond that. Pyromancy is known to be rather problematic with regards to collateral damage.”

“Of course,” I grumbled. “We couldn’t just grab him in port where his crew and golems aren’t around. That would be too easy.” Though I suppose I couldn’t really blame the Council for not wanting to risk me burning down half the city to make an arrest. Not that I had so little control over my magic that I’d set some random building on fire every time I cast a spell, but I couldn’t deny that something might eventually go wrong if I threw enough fire magic around. Sure, I could try to make the arrest without using any fire, but that would be the equivalent of fighting with one hoof tied behind my back.

“It is likely Mome has established a base of operations on one of the outlying islands in the archipelago,” Puzzle added. “However, attacking his fortified base of operations would be a hazardous proposition, and with several thousand islands in the archipelago, finding it would be rather difficult even for this one.”

“So we need to catch him at sea, then.” I concluded. “I assume the Council has no objections to massive fire damage to Mome’s ship?”

“They do not,” Puzzle readily agreed. “Though this one feels compelled to point out that a relatively intact ship is a valuable resource. If nothing else, the Shimmer-mare could sell it for a considerable profit.” The changeling gave a fang-filled grin. “This one would be more than happy to arrange such a sale in exchange for a reasonable finder’s fee.”

“I bet you would.” I took a moment to fight down my irritation with the changeling’s mercenary nature. Regardless of the fact that it wanted it a cut, it had a fair point that selling Mome’s ship would add more profit to the venture. I certainly wouldn’t complain about having more bits at my disposal. “So, how do we find Mome while he’s at sea?”

“Such would be rather difficult,” Puzzle conceded. “Which is why this one believes it would be far simpler to lure him to you instead. Or rather, a ship you would be covertly stationed on. This one drew up a quick inventory of the last dozen ships targeted by Mome, and extrapolated a list of trade goods likely to draw his attention. From there, we simply commission a ship to carry those goods along a well-known trade route and arrange for that fact to become common knowledge in certain circles.”

“So we lure him into an ambush with the promise of easy prey? Sounds simple enough.” It didn’t take long for the first potential problem to spring to mind. “Except that we have no guarantee he’ll come after the ship, and no way of knowing when he will. I might spend months sailing all over the place without even seeing his ship.”

Puzzle offered me another one of its unsettling smiles. “Have some faith in this one’s intelligence capabilities. It is rather certain it can tempt the pirate into moving sooner rather than later. Until then, this one advises patience and vigilance. If nothing else, this one is confident that the trade vessel it intends to use as bait will make sufficient profits from its journeys to allow us to continue the effort until it bears fruit.”

Well, of course Puzzle had already taken care of its bottom line. It seemed to be pretty consistent about that. “So, if I’m going to be running security on this ship of yours until Mome can bother to show up, can I at least get a cut of the profits?”

The changeling answered me with a frown. “This one is uncertain what the Shimmer-mare will do to earn such payment. You have already been provided for quite generously under the terms of our existing arrangement.”

“I don’t know that I’d call you generous,” I offered him a pleasant smile. “I think we both know that the only reason you’re helping me is because it benefits you as well. Besides, I’m pretty sure my standard of living would take a nosedive if I went from staying in a nice hotel to living on a ship. That kind of inconvenience deserves some compensation, wouldn’t you agree?”

Puzzle let out a long-suffering sigh. “Oh very well. Twenty percent.”

“Twenty? Don’t make me laugh.” I tossed my head. “I’m going to be the one on the ship doing all the hard work while you just sit around fat and comfortable in Freeport. I’ll take half the money, and that’s probably too generous of me.”

“This one feels compelled to point out that the Shimmer-mare’s contribution will have little impact upon the profitability of its venture, until the pirate shows himself.” It waved a hoof over the room. “Still, as the Shimmer-mare has seen, it is not ungenerous. It will allow a quarter share, but no more.”

“You’ll have to do better than that.” I smirked at it. “I don’t have to go along with this specific plan, you know. I’m going to bet you have at least two or three backup plans that you could also use to take out Mome. Maybe we should try one of those instead. It might let me capture the pirate faster.” My grin widened. “Though if I were a betting mare, I’d say the plan that was your first choice was the one that gives you the most profit on the side.”

Puzzle chuckled and conceded with a nod. “That much is true. Very well then, as a gesture of respect, trust, and friendship, this one will offer the Shimmer-mare the same percentage that it requested of her bounty.”

Forty percent? Not bad at all. “Deal.” I shook hooves with the changeling to seal it. “You know, I like our bargaining a lot more when I’m the one getting money instead of the other way around.”

“This one has often noted such to be the case in its own dealings.” Puzzle took a moment to organize the huge stack of papers it had pulled out, then passed them over to me. “The Shimmer-mare’s ship departs at dawn. This one would advise reading the full report it prepared regarding Metal Mome. Though it has provided all the pertinent information, facts which currently seem irrelevant may have greater importance than one would expect.”

I took the intelligence report and added it to my stack of books. I was going to need a few more if I was going back to being ship-bound. I wasn’t looking forward to that, but as long as I got the bounty at the end of it, I could live with a little inconvenience.

Cat and Mouse

I was not a fan of sailing. I might have been spared from seasickness, but being on a ship just isn’t fun. The food is bad, the beds are uncomfortable, and I was stuck with a bunch of sailors who didn’t seem to care for anyone who wasn’t already a member of the crew. At least Puzzle had put me back on the Venture for this trip, and Captain Weyland ran a tight ship. I was a little unsure about having Kukri along for a mission like this, though. Sure, now I knew she was a changeling, but even if she was a disguised bug, she was still a kid. I guess I should technically be calling her ‘it’ instead of ‘she,’ but I was too used to thinking of Kukri as a filly. Regardless of her species and pronoun, I wanted her somewhere safe if things got dangerous.

The trip out had been uneventful. Our cargo had been light on things Mome would be interested in, so we hadn’t been expecting an attack. Our load of fresh sugarcane might have made a tidy profit—there was a lot of money in feeding Equestria’s huge sweet tooth—but sugar wasn’t exactly the sort of cargo that a pirate like Metal Mome would get excited about. What we’d picked up for the return trip, however, would do quite nicely: magically infused gemstones, a selection of alchemical reagents, and several rare metals. The Venture might not be a treasure ship loaded down with gold, but our cargo was plenty valuable, especially to a pony like Metal Mome who would want to get his hooves on golemcrafting materials.

I’d stayed on-ship while we were at port in Baltimare. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I didn’t like the idea of setting hoof on Equestrian soil. Not after my run-ins with the EIS. Besides, there wasn’t much I could really do in the city anyway. I planned on coming back to Equestria someday, but not until I’d settled things. And when I did come back, it would be on my terms, not Celestia’s, and certainly not because the EIS or my parents managed to drag me back.

We were on our fifth day out of Baltimare when I went looking for Captain Weyland. I trotted out of my cabin and took a quick look around. An island just barely over the horizon told me that we’d hit the outskirts of the Fillypene Archipelago. Close enough to prey on ships heading into Freeport, but not close enough that their patrols covered the sealanes reliably. Like Puzzle had said, one of the small outlying islands would be the perfect place to hide a pirate base. Not to mention providing cover for a good ambush.

I found Captain Weyland on the quarterdeck (among the books I’d picked up was a quick primer on nautical terminology). The no-nonsense mare spared me a very brief glance, then turned her attention back to her crew. After a couple seconds, she grunted and nodded, giving me permission to speak. I threw up a quick privacy spell and got straight to business. “We’re five days out of Equestria and in the outlying islands. This is when you and Puzzle both said we'd probably run into Mome if he's coming after us.”

Weyland grunted again, studying the horizon for a few moments before she actually deigned to answer me. “So it is. We're too far out from any port to easily escape to, or from any of the regular patrols from Freeport. All a pirate has to do is park their ship in a nice sheltered bay and send up a couple fliers to keep an eye out for any nice, fat, happy merchant ships loaded down with valuable cargo.”

“And if Puzzle did his job right, he’ll be looking for us in particular. We are carrying a load of cargo that's custom-tailored to be tempting to Mome.” It felt a bit weird to call Puzzle ‘he’ instead of ‘it.’ Well, actually, it felt weird either way. Still, I didn’t know if the captain knew the truth about Puzzle’s identity, and I doubted Puzzle would appreciate me outing it as a changeling. If it wanted everypony knowing it was a bug, it would be running around in its natural form.

“Our cargo would be especially tempting to a golemancer, yes.” The charcoal-grey mare frowned and scratched her chin. “Most of it would take special connections to fence, but Mome almost certainly has those if he’s keeping himself supplied with gear. And our goods have high value for their weight and volume, which pirates always like.” She paused, then softly scoffed. “Actual pirates, not the scraggly gang of custom officials the Council has been turning most of them into using their code. Once you can make a pirate turn around and sail the other way just by showing them that your paperwork’s in order and your port fees are paid up, they’re not pirates anymore.” She mulled over that for a moment, then shrugged. “Which is probably why Mome went rogue. He’s one of those pirates who believes they should actually be pirates.”

“That was my working theory.” I suppose one could almost call Metal Mome an idealist, assuming one was willing to call murder, plunder, and enslavement for profit an ideology. “So are you sure there’s nothing else we need to do to get ready for him?”

Weyland stepped out of the privacy spell’s coverage area for a moment to pass along a few orders to her crew, then came back and gave me her answer. “Keep an eye out for the ship. The last thing we want is to be ambushed, especially if they come after us at night. Night attacks are always risky, but any pirate bold enough to go rogue is going to be up for gambling. Not really much to do other than that, unless we spot them. If we do, we act like every other merchie that sees a pirate ship: we start running.”

I was a little surprised by that. I’m not an expert on history, but I knew the Doo Trading Company traced its roots back to exiles from the old Doo Clan of Pegasopolis. Running away from a fight didn’t match up with warrior clans that were famously proud to a fault.

I suppose she must’ve guessed what was going through my mind, because she snorted and shook her head. “Equestrians. You always think stuff that happened centuries ago still matters. I’m no warrior princess, I’m a merchant captain. My job’s to get my cargo from point A to point B. Fighting pirates, even if we win, doesn’t help me do that. You want a pony who’ll fight just for the hay of it, hire one of my cousins.” Her chest puffed out in pride. “The Doo Companies are still the best mercs in the business. Pity we don’t have any of them here, but a hundred pegasi in full plate would be out of place on an innocent merchant ship. Pirates usually don’t go after ships they think will give them a hard fight; hiring new crew and repairing the ship takes time and money, and there are plenty of soft targets to be had.”

It felt a little weird to think of pirates being extremely worried about their bottom line, but it was pretty obvious the captain was right. Maintaining a ship in sailing condition, keeping the crew fed and equipped, and paying off port officials and fences would all eat into the profits. It was probably why the Freeport Code got its start as a way to encourage merchants to give up without a fight. “So we have to act like easy prey and lure them in. Alright, got it. So when do I spring my trap? I know you said your crew can handle defending the Venture for a while, but...”

“I’d rather not have to,” Weyland finished the thought. “We’re not equipped for a fight, and they’d have us outnumbered three to one.” She paused for a bit to glower at a sailor who apparently wasn’t working as fast as she wanted. “As for your tactics, I suggest striking once the pirates are certain we’re nothing but a weak, defenseless little merchant ship and get overconfident. They'll probably be faster than us, so after a good enough chase we'll pretend to be surrendering. Once they're close enough, you can hit them.”

“Sounds like a simple plan. Just don't let them get so close they can pull up alongside.” I smirked at her. “Fire does have a habit of spreading, after all. I’m not planning on going all out pyromaniac on them unless I’m backed into a corner, but things don’t always go according to plan in the middle of a frantic battle.”

“Quite.” Weyland frowned over at one of the nearby islands, remaining silent for several tense seconds. “A lot depends on how far you can hit them from, and how good you are at making it stick. If your horn can back up the promises your mouth’s been making, you should be able to fry that ship before it gets anywhere near close enough to board us.”

“I could easily burn the ship down to the waterline from long range,” I confidently announced. Wood and cloth are rather notoriously flammable, and the tar used for waterproofing is even worse. Considering ships were out in the middle of so much water, fire was a surprisingly big threat to them. However, there was one rather big wrinkle with the idea of just burning Mome’s ship. “The problem is, I need proof of death for Mome, so destroying them at long range isn’t an option. I could try pounding them at range for a bit just to soften them up, but even then there’s a risk I’d lose my bounty, or that the ship would burn out of control. I'll probably have to board them if I want to be completely certain I get him.”

Weyland grunted. I was getting good enough at reading her grunts to realize that one was not one of her happier ones. “I hope you have a plan for that. Puzzle Piece might be paying me extra to help you on this, but he’s not paying me nearly enough to endanger my ship and crew by pulling alongside a burning ship to rescue you.”

No surprise there. Weyland took the whole ‘captain’ thing very seriously “I wasn’t planning on asking you to put your ship in that kind of danger. You've got smaller boats, right?” I glanced over at one of the rowboats. “I can take one to their ship, and for the trip back. And if something goes wrong, they’ll have rowboats too. Or worst case, ice floats just fine, and I’m pretty good at using it.”

The captain thought that over, then gave a barely perceptible nod. “You cost us a rowboat, you’re liable for replacing it. If you snag that bounty, then replacing a rowboat’s going to be pocket change for you anyway.” She paused, then flicked her wings. “Though you aren't going to have much time to do what you want. If you go in throwing fire all over the place, Mome’s ship will probably go up like a bonfire. Won't be long before it’s a deathtrap, if you do your job right.”

“If I plan on burning that ship until it’s nothing but a floating cinder, it won’t last long.” I shot her a confident smirk. “And as for it being a deathtrap, I don't burn. My control’s good enough that I could jump into an actual bonfire and be just fine.”

“Very impressive.” Weyland raised an eyebrow. “So, how good are you at dealing with smoke? I’m told it does rather unpleasant things when you inhale too much of it. And you might not be bothered by fire, but I think you still wouldn’t enjoy it when the floorboards, ceilings, and masts start collapsing. I’ve heard plenty of stories about ponies being dragged down with the ship because they were tangled in the rigging or trapped beneath the mast.”

Ugh. “Okay, you’ve got a point.” I ran a hoof over my face and groaned. “I was planning on using fire a bit sparingly anyway. If I can take the ship intact, I could probably sell it for almost as much as the bounty on Mome himself.”

Weyland nodded along with that. “A good ship’s worth a lot of money. If you take it and need help getting it back to port, I can offer some crew and repair supplies.”

I could guess at the other side of that offer. “In exchange for a cut of the sale money, right?”

“Of course.” Weyland did something I’d never seen from her before: she smiled. “But better to give me a share than not get the ship back to port at all, right? One third of the ship’s sale price is better than one hundred percent of nothing. Tempting as it would be to make the sale myself and cut it down to two shares, I’d rather not deny Puzzle Piece his portion. Cheating the best fixer in Freeport is never a winning move.”

“Right.” Although from what little I’d seen of Puzzle Piece, it might just congratulate us for beating it in its own game. With all the time and money it had put into getting me set up, I’m not even sure it was making much profit by helping me this mission. I got the impression it was more into playing the game for its own sake than adding another digit to its bank account. In hindsight, I’m pretty sure it had cut me in on the trade profit from this voyage just because my effort at negotiating amused it.

Things went quiet for long enough that I’d assumed the conversation was over and dropped the privacy spell. Needless to say, that was when Weyland decided to start talking again, “There’s also a risk Mome will make a run for it when things turn against him. Like you mentioned, his ship will have rowboats of its own. Most smart pirates know how to swim too, and a good swimmer could make it to one of the islands from here.”

I thought that over, considered my options, and shrugged. “If he runs, I’ll have to chase him. Maybe he’ll get away, maybe he won’t. Nothing about pirate hunting is risk-free. Though if that happens, he'll be leaving his ship and golems behind. It might not get me a bounty, but losing all of that would put him back to square one. Capturing and selling the ship and golems would make me plenty of money, and Mome would have a hard time replacing what he lost. I suspect the Council could live with Metal Mome being alive but lacking the resources to do any pirating.”

“Hard to be a pirate with no ship and no crew,” Weyland agreed. “I think you might be onto something with the Council too. Knowing them, they mostly care about making an example of Mome for not toeing the line. For that, alive and broken works just as well as dead. Maybe even better, in some respects. A dead pirate’s a martyr, but a living one begging on the streets for his next meal is a constant reminder of the price of defiance.”

“You might be right about that one,” I conceded. “I think I’ll still do my best to kill than capture him, regardless. While the Council might agree that they get more out of keeping him alive and free after he’s beaten, they’re only paying me a bounty for bringing him in. Letting him get away after breaking his spirit isn’t in the contract.”

Weyland’s answer was an affirmative grunt. “The Council didn’t get rich by paying out bits when they have an excuse to keep them.” She frowned and rubbed her chin. “Not to mention that it’d be hard to sell if you do so much damage that it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. That would put it into the ‘less-than-pristine condition’ category.”

I’d already reached that same conclusion almost two weeks ago with Puzzle. “That’s another reason I'm going to try and be sparing with the fire if I can. I have other ways of fighting. Besides, if I do need to break out the fire, I have almost perfect control. I'm not some thug pyromancer who just wildly flings fire all over the place.”

Weyland shrugged, clearly not the least bit impressed by any of my magical credentials. “I'm just stating how it is. Fires damage ships, you’re a fire user who wants to try and sell the ship after the fight.”

I couldn’t really argue against her logic. So instead, I just moved on to the next part of the plan. “So, I was thinking that once the pirates catch up with us and you signal your surrender, I'll head over there to carry the message or negotiate or whatever. That's part of the procedure, right?”

“It can be.” Weyland glowered out at the sea, her eyes narrowing at some random bit of water. “There isn't exactly a standard checklist to these type of things. The Council's leashed dogs have their rules, but once a pirate goes rogue, they’re hard to predict. No more code of rules, so it’s all down to what the captain and crew want. Still, sending over an envoy of some sort after a surrender is a pretty standard move. Even if they’re the worst sort of pirates, they wouldn't be against taking a hostage from the crew.”

“But playing the part of envoy will at least get me on their ship.” Granted, being on my own on a ship packed with pirates and a pair of killer golems usually wouldn’t be a good thing. I suppose I led a very unique life.

Weyland frowned at me. “If that's how you want to handle it. You sure you up for it? Lots of things could go wrong with how outnumbered you’d be. Even if you’re as good as you claim, all it takes is one pirate getting lucky. If your plan doesn’t work, then we’re still stuck out here with a ship full of greedy pirates that’s way too close for comfort. Hope you have a plan of some sort to get out of there if things get too hot for you.”

“I’ve got a few escape plans.” Teleporting was definitely an option as long as the Venture stayed close enough for me to make the jump. If that wasn’t an option, I had a couple more exotic tricks I could try. I wasn’t too worried about being chased, at least. “If things go bad for me, the first thing I'll do is throw out the idea of salvaging the ship and just set everything on fire. That should be enough to keep them from chasing after your ship, at the very least.”

“Good to know.” Weyland shook her head and sighed. “If it were up to me, I would have you set fire to the whole ship and then examine the remains. Losing the ship as a prize hurts, but trying to take it intact is a big risk, and I’d rather play it safe when it comes to the lives of my crew. Of course, you might not find Mome then. Or he might not even be recognizable.”

“And that would be enough to cost me my bounty.” I rather doubted the Council would pay out if I claimed Mome was dead but couldn’t produce any proof of it. I tried to come up with any other huge ship-destroying spells I could manage. I could try conjuring up a big enough block of ice to put a hole in the pirate ship, but we were far enough south that cooling off enough water to make even a small iceberg would take a ton of energy. Not to mention sinking Mome’s boat might end up giving me the same problem—a captain was supposed to go down with his ship, after all.

There were a couple other tricks I could try, but most of them ran afoul of the same problem. Whipping up a storm with weather magic would not only sink Mome’s ship, but would probably put the Venture in danger too. Heavy-duty telekinesis wasn’t an option because I lacked any suitable throwing objects. Well, I suppose I could try using some of the metal from the cargo hold, but I doubted that would go over well with the captain.

Weyland sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I suppose the Council wouldn’t be paying out a bounty if one or two spells from long range was all it took to do the job. If it were that easy, they would’ve handled it themselves.”

“Probably, yeah.” It was possible that the Council could’ve spent their own resources and were just killing two birds with one stone by sending me. I suppose it didn’t really matter, in the end. “They're just pirates. Common criminals, really. I'll manage. Worst case, I'll just fry the ship and we can sort through the wreckage later.”

Weyland frowned at me, clearly disapproving of my flippancy. “It's never ‘just’ anything when you're on the high seas, Sunset. Wise up to that, and you might live to a ripe old age. Don’t, and you’ll just be another young hothead who ends up being buried at sea. Seen way too many like you in my time. Think you’re so smart and have all the answers, until you come up against something that’s too much for you.” She scowled at me for a bit, then shook her head. “Still, Puzzle Piece wouldn’t be backing you if he didn’t think you have the chops to pull this off. Just play it smart. You can’t collect a bounty if you don’t survive.”

“I know what I’m doing,” I growled back, more than a little testy after that lecture. I was getting tired of everypony treating me like I was a fresh-faced kid. Sure, I’d never gone up against pirates before, but I knew more about magic than everypony else on this boat added together. As long as I could keep slinging spells, the rest of it would all fall into place.

I wasn’t in the mood to start a fight with the captain, and she had apparently gone back to running the ship instead of trying to lecture me. I was just about to head back to my cabin and read a book to cool off for a bit when I heard a cry from the crow’s nest. “Sail off the port bow!”

Weyland frowned, and her eyes immediately locked onto me. So much for going belowdecks. “Looks like we might be having company soon. Might just be another merchant ship since there are plenty in these waters, but my gut says it’s not. Best make yourself ready.”

“Got it.” Not that there was much I could do. I was as ready as I would ever be. Now it was just a matter of waiting to see what came of it.

I’d read a few swashbuckling stories, back when I read some light fiction for ‘balance.’ Not anything I focused on, but it’s a reasonably popular adventure genre. Whenever there were ship chases in those books, they were full of clever strategy and cunning maneuvers as the two ships jockeyed for position and advantage. Like an intricate game of chess, except with ships, winds, and currents instead of a board and pieces.

Compared to how books handled it, the reality was rather underwhelming. Part of it was just that I didn’t understand the implications of the minor course changes Weyland would order every five minutes or so. Sure, I’d read enough to recognize the nautical terminology and knew basic stuff like tacking into the wind, but Weyland wasn’t stopping to explain why she was making each particular maneuver and how it would affect the overall chase. Real life tends to lack all that helpful narrative exposition a novel can slip in.

On top of that, the fact that we wanted the pirates to catch us killed a lot of the tension that would normally be there. Plus, reading about a chase that took three hours was very different from actually sitting through all three hours of said chase. Whatever the case, nervous anticipation rapidly faded into a sort of impatient boredom. I just wanted them to hurry and catch us already so we could get this all over with.

Still, it could’ve been worse. Some of those chases I’d read about had lasted for days.

It took an hour before we even knew for sure that the ship chasing us was the Granite Heart, Metal Mome’s ship. It was rather hard to spot the nameplate of a ship that was nothing more than a distant barely-visible sail. I’d borrowed a telescope at one point, hoping I could get a good look at the ship and its crew, but all I saw were a bunch of vague specks milling about on the ship itself. I suppose it was too much to hope that Metal Mome would be standing up on the forecastle posing somewhere that would allow me to easily spot him. He was probably too busy actually running the ship to do anything that dramatic.

The ship was still so far away that I could barely tell the difference between the equine and gryphon crewmembers when Weyland tapped me on the shoulder. “They’re close enough, and we’re getting late into the afternoon. I’d rather wrap this up with plenty of time before we lose the light. Whatever you end up doing and however this ends up going, trying to do my part of it gets a lot harder once the sun goes down.” She pointed at one of the rowboats, which a couple crewponies were already lowering into the water, then waved me towards it. “Get on with it then. Best of luck; you’ll need it.”

“I don’t need luck for something like this, but I won’t say no to any edge I can get.” I trotted over and hopped into the rowboat while the crew finished lowering it into the water. I was vaguely annoyed that I would have to row myself to the pirate ship, but I suppose it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Captain Weyland had made it pretty obvious that she had no intention of putting any of her crew in peril to help me snag Mome. Just agreeing to the mission in the first place seemed to have been more of a risk than she cared for. Besides, telekinetically controlling the paddles to row myself over was child’s play.

As I approached the Granite Heart, I naturally contrasted the ship against the Venture. That comparison didn’t do the pirates any favors. Their ship was smaller and leaner than the Venture, with only two masts compared to the Venture’s three. It also didn’t look nearly as polished as the trading ship; several bits of damage in the hull had just been covered over with tar, and the sails looked like they’d been stitched and patched a couple dozen times. Since going rogue, the crew had obviously been denied the use of the proper dock facilities they’d need to make full repairs, so the pirates had to improvise.

Once I got a bit closer, I also noticed how much more crowded the Granite Heart looked. No surprise, given that it was smaller than the Venture, but by Puzzle’s estimate it had three times its normal crew. As soon as I got close enough, the extremely unpleasant smell that accompanied too many beings crammed into close quarters hit my nostrils.

Finally, I got a good look at the crew themselves. One thing my books had gotten right: the pirates were a mixed band of just about every race I’d ever seen or heard of, plus hybrids like mules and hippogryphs. Most of them were also wearing enough jewelry to make some of the nobles back in Canterlot jealous, though I suspect that with pirates all the jewelry was less about making a fashion statement than the fact that on a ship full of thieves, the best way to protect your wealth was to keep on you at all times.

I pulled up alongside the pirate ship, and after a little bit of awkwardness managed to climb up a rope ladder onto the deck. I quickly looked over the crew itself, taking note of weapons and which ones looked especially dangerous. The zebra with several shrunken heads hanging off his saddle and a large gryphon with a pair of cutlasses sheathed along her sides caught my eye. The pirates backed off just enough to give me room to properly board the ship while staying out of range of any surprise attack I might try to pull, but they were still close enough to close in on me in less than a second, if things turned sour.

They weren’t my main concern, though. It was hard to miss the minotaur Puzzle had warned me about. Silverhorns had, unsurprisingly, coated his horns in some sort of silvery metal. Probably not actual silver, since that wouldn’t be very practical for combat. More likely mithril—expensive, but not inconceivable for a veteran pirate. The repeating crossbow strapped to his back looked like it could make my day very unpleasant, as could the large spiked chain he was holding onto. Once the fighting started, I would have to deal with him quickly.

No sign of the captain though. At least, not yet. I tried to muster the right mix of fear and attempted bravery to play the part of a negotiator sent over to a ship full of pirates. After a bit of thought, I decided to channel one of those self-important nobles I’d run into from time to time in Canterlot. That would do nicely for setting the tone. “Which one of you is in charge? Captain Weyland sent me over to find out what your intentions are, and what it will take to make you leave us alone.” I turned to Silverhorns. “You seem to be the biggest and ugliest one of the lot, so I’m guessing you’re the leader here.”

The minotaur chuckled and shook his head. “Captain always has to make an entrance.” He looked up, and I followed his gaze just in time to see somepony come swinging down from the rigging, landing in the open space between myself and the other pirates.

That was when I got my first proper look at Metal Mome. Like any proper pirate captain, he was decked out in more finery than anyone else in his crew. His gaudy, colorful appearance was only enhanced by his bright pink coat, though the grey stripes from his zebra genes offset that color to some degree. His horn stuck out from the middle of his tricorn hat, and the green-and-white dreadlocks of his mane trailed out from the back—his tail had been done up in the same style. He was wearing a bright blue coat, with half a dozen large gems sewn into it. His hat came off his head, glowing orange with his magic, and he offered a mocking half-bow. “Captain Metal Mome of the good ship Granite Heart, at your service.”

“Sunset Shimmer.” I saw no reason to hide my name. If I was going to be living in Freeport for the foreseeable future, building up a bit of a reputation wouldn’t hurt. If word got back to Equestria that I was taking down rogue pirates, then so much the better. I’d rather have Celestia know I was putting her training to good use than have her spies trailing behind me and slipping me extra bits every time my funds started running low.

“Ah, a fine name for a fine lass.” Mome grinned and put his hat back on his head. “I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but I suspect by the end of the day it’ll be much more of a pleasure for me than it will for you. I like a pretty face as much as the next stallion, but business comes first. So, you want to know my intentions, do you? That’s quite simple: I intend to take everything off your ship that’s worth taking. And since your ship’s worth taking too, I’ll have that as well. Don’t make a fuss, and I’ll have my crew drop you off on that island over there. Maybe even spare enough supplies for you to make a raft and get yourselves back to civilization someday.” He pointed to a distant green smudge on the horizon. “Put up a fight, and things get much less pleasant.”

I decided to play the part a bit longer. I hadn’t seen his golems yet, and I would like to get a look at them before this turned messy. “You can’t take all our things and our ship! That’s against the Freeport Code!”

Dark chuckles drifted up from the crew, and Mome’s grin widened to the point where it looked like an expression that belonged on a hungry shark. “My dear lady, what exactly gave you the impression that we give a damn about what laws Freeport passes? Maybe some of my fellows don’t mind wearing a collar and taking orders like good dogs, but me and my boys still remember what it means to be pirates. Isn’t that right, gang?” Mome’s crew gave a loud cheer, brandishing their weapons.

I still didn’t know where his golems were, but I was starting to think that might not be an issue. If I could take out Mome while he was standing right in front of me, they would never even enter the equation. Besides, playing at being weak and scared wasn’t something I felt like dragging out. “I’ve got a counter-proposal for you. You all surrender and take your ship back to Freeport so I can turn you in for the bounty, and I won’t kill every last one of you.”

There was a tense second, until Mome threw his head back and let out a bark of laughter. “Oh, very nice. I like a lass who’s got a little fire in her!”

There was no way I could resist and opening like that. “Oh, if fire’s what you like, then you’re gonna love me.”

Then I hurled a fireball straight into his chest. There was a bright flash of light when the attack hit, and all of the gems on his coat fell off, charred and broken. I guess he must’ve worked some kind of protection spells into them. If he had, they weren’t anywhere near strong enough to handle me, because not only had I broken all of them with one spell, but enough magic still got through to send him sliding across the deck, his coat and hat burning and smoke wafting up from his body. He was still alive, but there didn’t seem to be much fight left in him.

The entire crew stared at their downed captain, then turned back to me. I decided to indulge myself with a bit of dramatics and struck a pose, conjuring up half a dozen more fireballs. “Was that fiery enough for you? ‘Cause I’m just getting warmed up!”

Silverhorns let out an enraged bellow and quickly moved to place himself in my line of fire to the captain. Once he’d ensured that I couldn’t finish Mome off, he took a swing at me with his spiked chain. With all fire I’d conjured up by drawing in ambient heat, the temperature around my body was already close to freezing, so throwing up an ice shield to block the attack was easy.

I threw one of my fireballs at the minotaur and chucked the rest into the crowd of pirates in the hopes of breaking and demoralizing them. Beating all forty of the pirates in a straight fight would be hard even for me, but pirates tend to have a keen sense of self-preservation. They could probably wear me down with sheer numbers if they were suicidally determined fanatics, but they weren’t. Given the choice between taking me out and dying in the process or running away and living, all of them would pick the latter.

It would take a bit more than a sneak attack on the captain to break them, though. The zebra I’d noticed earlier charged towards me, and I quickly iced over the deck underneath his hooves, sending him sliding to the floor. For good measure, I set his tail on fire too.

The gryphon came at me next, using her wings to bypass the iced-over deck. I tried a quick fire blast, but she was an agile enough flier to dodge right past it. I had to throw up another ice shield to block a double overhand chop from her two sabres. I tried to follow that up by expanding the ice a bit to trap the weapons, but she saw what I was up to and quickly repositioned her weapons out of harm’s way. To make things worse, Silverhorns switched to his crossbow. I barely managed to put up an ice barrier in time to avoid catching the bolt with my face.

Things were not looking good for me. Silverhorns still had several more bolts in his crossbow, and I’d barely managed to block his first shot. Not to mention there was an entire ship full of other pirates to deal with. If I focused too much on the minotaur, one of them would probably stick a knife in my back. I might be surviving thus far, but things could go bad very quickly. If one of them managed to land a solid hit on me, I’d probably get dogpiled by the rest before I could recover. They just needed me to make one mistake, give them one opening, and everything would fall apart.

That fact settled into the pit of my stomach like a burning lead weight. This had all been a huge mistake. Strumming was right, I wasn’t ready for this. However, within a moment of that thought popping into my head I remembered one of Celestia’s self-defense lessons. I could practically hear her voice whispering into my ear. Though I hope you never need these lessons, there may come a time when your only choice is to use force to defend yourself. Should that happen, you must remain calm and control your fear. At the time, I’d objected to the idea that I would be afraid, but she laughed that off. Oh, I have no doubt you’re a very brave pony—you’re my wonderful student. However, listen to me anyway. Magic is a weapon of the mind. Whether in battle or anywhere else, the mind has no greater enemy than blind panic.

I spared a brief moment to apply that lesson and re-center myself. I tried to look at the situation the same way I would any other problem, and not think about the fact that if I screwed this particular problem up, it would end with me murdered or worse.

I needed to turn this fight around fast, or I would get swarmed. I’d planned on holding back my teleportation spell for a getaway or a surprise attack on Mome, but that wouldn’t do me any good if I got dogpiled this early in the fight. Besides, Mome seemed to be out of action for the moment. I quickly teleported up into the rigging, far away from the mass of pirates who’d been trying to box me in. That left a bunch of pirates clustered up on the deck beneath, standing around and looking confused. Silverhorns and the gryphon started swinging about blindly, presumably on the assumption that I’d turned invisible. Not a bad guess, considering invisibility was a much more common spell than Perfect Teleportation. As far as I knew, Celestia and I were the only living ponies who knew that spell.

Since I’d bought a few seconds—however long it took until one of the pirates thought of looking up—I put that time to good use. Fire’s usually a better choice for pure wide area destruction, but I didn’t want to burn the whole ship just yet. Especially not when I was still winning the fight. Ice doesn’t have quite as much raw destructive power as fire, but it also doesn’t have a habit of spreading out control.

I closed my eyes, concentrated, and drained all the heat out of the nearby air, creating dozens of apple-sized balls of solid ice. Hopefully not bad enough to kill anypony, but considering the mast was more than thirty meters up I was pretty sure my ice balls would pick up enough momentum to leave behind nasty bruises and a few broken bones. Despite my earlier bravado, I’d rather not kill anypony when there was another way of handling it.

My ice storm hammered down on the crew, earning me a chorus of shouts and groans from the pirates below, since pirates usually didn’t wear much in the way of armor to cushion the blows. Full plate might be great for blocking swords, but falling into the water was a very real danger on board a ship, and then heavy armor went from asset to problem. Though I think if they had a choice right now, they’d take the risk of drowning over all the injuries I was leaving behind.

I decided on one more hit to finish them off. A couple quick, precise bursts of fire severed the lines holding the foresail in place, and a little of precision telekinesis guided it so that it landed on top of the pirates. Hopefully that would keep them all disoriented and entangled while sapping their morale. If they still wanted a fight I could just drop more ice on top of them while they were effectively blind and helpless. Making dozens of hailstones took a lot of power, but I could keep it up longer than they could take it. Hopefully, they would play it smart and give up.

Just to be safe, I gave them another round of falling ice, then magically amplified my voice and laid down my terms. “Okay, geniuses, here’s the deal. You’re all pinned down and wounded, I’ve got the high ground and more than enough magic left in me to finish you all off. Anyone tries anything, and you get another helping of hailstones. You all stay under the sail like good little children, and I’ll let you be. Now find your way to the side of the ship and toss your weapons overboard. You know what’ll happen if you try anything.”

The mass of pirates stirred around beneath their improvised prison, but nopony tried to cut their way out or escape. After a while I saw cutlasses and other weapons start dropping into the water. I had no idea whether that meant they’d actually given up or they were just playing along and waiting for me to let down my guard so they could try something sneaky. Probably the second one. Any pirate worthy of the name would keep a few hidden weapons on them, and I hadn’t exactly taken a full inventory of their equipment before the fight started. Still, I had them cowed for the moment, and that was enough for me.

So, next step. I could collect Mome, teleport back to the Venture to drop him off, and then figure out what to do with the rest of the pirates. I’d probably need to grab Silverhorns too. Take away the top two leaders of the pirates, and the rest might be cowed enough to follow orders back to Freeport. From what little I knew of how Freeport’s justice system operated, the Council would come down on Mome and Silverhorns a lot harder than they would on ordinary crewmembers.

First things first, though. Grab the pirate captain. I teleported back down to the deck and went to where I’d seen him last. There was just one problem: Metal Mome wasn’t there anymore.

A huge thumping sound came from underneath the deck, as if something very large and very heavy was waking up.

The entrance to the cargo hold flew open, and two huge figures jumped out. And I do mean huge. Mome’s war golems were bipeds, as opposed to the traditional quadruped design for Equestrian golems. Maybe the design had been influenced by his minotaur friend, though both of the golems were at least a full meter taller than a minotaur. I was a little surprised to see Mome hadn’t opted for the cold iron plating traditionally used by golems, but I suppose a pirate who worked this far away from Equestria wouldn’t be nearly as worried about protecting his golems from magic. Even without any cold iron to block my spells, I was still up against several tons of solid steel, all very focused on killing me.

The deck groaned underneath the golems as they climbed up to face me. One of them was carrying a sword that looked like it was at least twice as long as I was tall, while the other carried a massive shield in one limb and a long halberd in the other. Presumably, the shield-bearer would be the one which focused on protecting him while the sword-carrier tried to slice me into little pieces. Which, if it could swing that terrifyingly huge sword with any kind of effectiveness, would only take one hit.

Mome hopped up next to his two war golems, his horn glowing bright orange. He grinned at me like a timberwolf who had just spotted an unattended foal. “Nicely done, lass. Nicely done indeed. I might need to see about replacing some of my crew.” The shield golem stepped in front of him, blocking my line of fire, while the sword golem began stalking towards me. “Respect. You’ve earned it. You’ve put up a good fight and got several nice hits in.” The sword golem took a quick practice swing, whipping its blade through the air way too fast for my liking. Mome’s smile shrank, shifting from cheerful to cold and confident. “My turn.”

The Game is Ahoof

It’s possible I might have made a few miscalculations on this mission. In hindsight, I should’ve focused more on Metal Mome instead of letting the rest of the crew distract me. While I will mention that crossbow bolts and cutlasses are very effective distractions, that doesn’t change the fact that putting Mome down for the count would’ve saved me a lot of trouble. About five tons of it, if you want to be specific.

The sword-wielding golem stomped towards me, taking its time on the approach. The one good piece of news was that I was only up against the golems so far; Mome’s crew had already started slipping out of my improvised prison, but for now they seemed content to sit back and watch their captain in action. Maybe it was some sort of pirate pride thing and nopony wanted to interfere in our duel, or maybe they just weren’t all that eager to get between the large golems and the Alpha-level unicorn who’d handed them their plots a minute ago. Either way, I had more immediate problems on my mind.

Problems like that huge golem. The battle nearly came to a very abrupt end as the golem whipped its sword at me. I barely ducked beneath the blade before it took my head off, and I could actually feel the air current against my horn. Though if anything happened to my horn, I was pretty sure my head wouldn’t be far behind.

The golem quickly followed its first horizontal swing with an overhead chop, intent on splitting me down the middle while I was still ducking down on the deck to avoid the first attack. It might have worked, if the only option for moving around was my hooves. Instead, I teleported to the quarterdeck. That put me behind Mome and his pet golems, buying me a few precious seconds to make my next move.

My first instinct was to take a shot at Mome himself, but his guardian golem was doing its job well. From the front Mome had been covered by the golem’s tower shield, while from the back the golem’s own body protected him. I might have a chance at smashing through its defenses with brute force, but that would take a lot of energy to pull off. I wasn’t running on empty or anything, but I’d slung around a fair bit of magic already and I had my limits. Not to mention the other golem would be coming after me before long, so I couldn’t afford to spend several seconds trying to batter down the shielder’s defenses.

Not unless I changed the battlefield first. I pulled all the heat out of the deck between myself and the sword-wielder, and on a ship at sea there was more than enough ambient moisture for that to ice everything over. I hoped that would slow the golem down, maybe even knock it over. If I was lucky, it might slip and fall into the ocean. A several-ton golem might be very effective at smashing ponies to pieces, but I don’t think it could swim very well. Mome’s golems wouldn’t be a threat if they were stuck on the bottom of the ocean.

Unfortunately, all my planning wound up being for nothing. The golem did slow down a bit as it stepped more carefully, but its weight wound up being an asset. The ice I’d layered over the deck was thin, so the golem’s sheer mass broke it up every time one of its massive feet came down. So much for that idea. If I wanted to send the golem sliding around on the deck, I’d need to layer the ice down thick enough that it could actually support the automaton’s weight.

I let out an annoyed growl and shifted to my next strategy: if I couldn’t remove the golem completely, then I could at least cut down on the threat it represented. If I had to guess, Mome’s bipedal design had two obvious advantages over quadrupedal: it cut down on weight and it gave the golem a pair of minotaur-like hands it could exploit to increase its reach. If I could take away the reach advantage, that would at least buy me some more room to maneuver. And there would be a lot more in the way of opportunities to mess with it that way.

I still had plenty of heat energy stored up from icing over the deck, so that was the natural tool of choice for my next strike. I concentrated all the heat into a single beam and fired it at the base of the golem’s sword. The blade was glowing red-hot after the attack, but it didn’t actually melt or look damaged enough to be unusable. Naturally, the golem wasn’t bothered by the temperature at all—it wasn’t like its hands would get burned, and only an idiot or a sadist would program a golem to feel pain.

I would need to do something more than just heat the sword up. I could just pour on more power if I had the magic to spare, but I wanted to do things a bit more efficiently. Besides, if I reduced that sword to molten slag, it would probably start a fire. On a wooden ship. Which would be bad.

Instead, I tried something so bold it was just a little bit crazy. Okay, a lot crazy. I charged straight at the golem. It responded exactly the way I’d hoped it would, bringing its sword up for a huge overhand chop that would split me in two. At the last possible second I dropped down onto the deck, letting my momentum and the slick ice continue carrying me forward, right between the golem’s legs. A second later, the automaton’s sword crashed into the deck with every bit of force its magically empowered strength could manage.

The golem pulled its sword out of the hole it had put in the deck a few seconds later. The blade was now rather noticeably warped, bending almost forty-five degrees at its base. The golem paused for moment, then took a quick experimental swing with the altered blade. Obviously it didn’t care for the result, because the next thing it did was try to hammer the blade back into shape. It was partially successful, but ended up doing almost as much damage as it fixed in the process. After a second more, it gave up the effort and tossed the ruined weapon aside.

Mome let out an annoyed growl from behind his guardian golem’s shield. “I’ll fix it later. But don’t think you’ve won, lass. It doesn't need the sword to ruin your day.” To demonstrate as much, he had the unarmed golem pick up one of the many broken deck planks its attack had created. Its fist tightened, and the wood shattered. I couldn’t quite shake the mental image of what it would be like if my skull were taking the place of the wooden plank.

Not that I was going to let such an obvious intimidation ploy shake me up. “Nice show, but it can’t kill what it can’t catch. And it’s going to have a harder time catching what it can’t reach.” I slipped off the quarterdeck and hopped down to the main deck, the golem hot on my hooves. Next up came a tricky bit of precision timing, as I threw an illusion of myself onto the main deck’s hatch a split second before teleporting up to the crow’s nest. With any luck, the golem would fall for it, especially since Mome was keeping his protector golem’s shield between myself and him at all times. It might keep me from flash-frying him, but it also made it harder for him to keep a close eye on what I was up to.

Instead, I was only up against the golem’s baseline intelligence. I’m not saying golems are necessarily stupid, but they tend to take a very direct view of the world. Its orders were to smash me, so it charged my illusion and did its level best to smash it, despite the fact that the illusion was standing on top of the main deck’s hatch.

Just for added punch, I got to work on another ice spell. It worked on the same principle as the hailstorm spell I’d used on the crew, except that instead of dozens of smaller chunks of ice, I made just one huge one. The golem closed with my illusion and brought its fists down in a double-handed smash that would’ve splattered me across half the ship if I’d actually been there. Instead, the fists just passed right through my illusion, which dispersed upon impact. That left the golem standing right on top of the hatch, exactly where I’d wanted it.

By now, the block of ice I’d conjured was nearly as big as the golem itself. It obviously wouldn’t have anywhere near the same density as the metal golem, but a thirty-meter drop gave it plenty of time to build up momentum. I dropped the ice boulder, and it struck the golem with an audible crunch of protesting metal. As I’d hoped it would, the hatch gave way under the force of the impact, sending the golem crashing down into the bottom of the hold. The entire ship lurched from the impact, making me, Mome, and the crew watching our battle struggle to keep our footing. The shrieking sound of metal grinding on metal drifted up from the hatch as the golem struggled to recover from the blow.

Mome winced as his golem went down, and flinched a couple more times at the continuing sounds of destruction drifting up from the hold. That golem was probably doing all kinds of damage down below. It might even put a hole in the bottom of the ship, which I realized might not be so good for me now that I had a second to think about it. On the one hoof, it would send the golem down into the depths, which was good. On the other, ships aren’t so good at floating when there’s a giant golem-shaped hole in the bottom. If I wanted to capture his ship relatively intact, I might need to tone things down a bit. Besides, that ice spell had taken a lot to pull off.

Regardless, I couldn’t really afford to waste too much time worrying about that. Mome still had one golem left, after all. I needed to take it or him out, and preferably without completely draining myself in the process. I went for something a bit more basic and tossed a simple thunderflash spell down at Mome. To my relief, the luminancy worked for once, hitting the pirate with a bright flash of blinding light combined with a disorienting thunderclap.

The spell sent the golemancer staggering, and I followed it up with a small but intense fireball. Hopefully it wouldn’t burn him too badly, but I wanted him down for the count. Unfortunately, the thunderflash spell didn’t have any effect on the golem guarding him, and it quickly intercepted my attack, catching the fireball on its shield. The blast left the metal glowing and scorched the wood beneath the golem, but the pirate was unharmed.

Just to make things even better, the now-swordless golem climbed back up out of the hatch. I was gratified to see that I’d at least done some damage to it—the top had caved in where my block of ice had hit it, and one of its legs was twisted and limp. The golem was still moving, but at a snail’s pace compared to what it had been doing before, and one of its hands was also missing several fingers. That would cut down on its options, though I’m pretty sure it could just club me to death with its forearm if it came down to that.

I growled in frustration at this turn of events. I’d hit that golem with the best shot I could manage, and all I’d done was slow it down. Things were not going well for me. Golems were good at taking a beating, and the last thing I needed to do was run myself dry fighting them. Even if I managed to take down Mome and his little helpers, I still had the rest of the pirates to deal with. At the very least, I needed to keep enough power held back to make them think I was still too dangerous to mess with.

Thinking of that did at least inspire a shift in tactics. I repeated a trick from earlier in the fight and cut the ropes holding up the mainsail. Once more, I threw in some telekinesis to direct it, this time directing it at Mome and his protector golem.

The pirate figured out my plan—no great accomplishment when I’d already used the trick earlier in the fight. For the first time since I arrived on his ship, Mome tried a direct magical spell, using his own telekinesis to try and counter me.

As soon as he did that, I noticed two very interesting things. First off, both of his golems slowed down and seemed less coordinated the instant he began spellcasting. That confirmed Puzzle’s theory that he had some kind of active magical link to his golems. If I knew more about how that link worked, I might be able to cut it off or even steal control of the golems completely. Unfortunately, I rather doubted he would give me a couple hours to study how the spell worked and test out some formulae for a counterspell.

The other bit of news I got from him was more immediately relevant: now that his magic was going up directly against mine, I had a sense of how strong of a spellcaster he was, and I wasn’t impressed. He was a plain, middle-of-the-road Delta. His golems were plenty dangerous, but I could take him apart without even trying if he wanted to get into a pure contest of raw magical power with me.

I grinned and grabbed onto the sail as well, putting my spell up directly against his. There was no style or sophistication to it, just a pure magical hoof wrestle. He would wear himself out way faster than I would, especially since he probably needed to keep his golems running on top of going up against me. It would explain why he only brought them out when a fight was imminent. Not only would those golems eat up magic, directing them would also distract him from handling his own affairs. I’m pretty good at multitasking, and I would have a hard time handling what was effectively three different bodies at once. The same seemed to hold true for Mome; with him focused on spellcasting, his golems were moving a lot less quickly, and without the precision I’d seen before. I was pretty sure I was safe up in the crow’s nest, where they would have a long, difficult climb to reach me.

Sadly, Mome wasn’t stupid enough to completely burn himself out trying to take me on magically. Once it was clear he was outmatched, he gave up on the contest, ducking behind his guardian golem and counting on it to protect him from whatever my follow-up would be. Too bad for the pirate that sticking close to his golem was exactly what I wanted him to do. Just to make sure he wouldn’t be going anywhere, I took the opportunity to grab some of the ropes I’d severed and use my magic to quickly wrap them up together. Then the rest of the sail dropped down on them, covering them completely.

Mome snarled from underneath the sail. “You're starting to annoy me, lass.” The guardian golem quickly worked its halberd back and forth, cutting a hole in the sail around itself and its master. “But did you really think a bit of sail and rope would make any difference?”

“Nope,” I called down, grinning at him from safely atop the crow’s nest. “It would take a lot more than that to knock you out of the fight.” I got to work on a new spell. Lightning was never an element I’d worked with very much, since it came a bit less naturally to me than fire or ice. I could produce electricity by mixing enough hot and cold air, but I needed a bit to charge the spell up. Especially when I wanted to take the spell a bit slower than usual to save on energy. Thus, a bit of banter to distract him while I got the spell ready. “By the way, I’m curious. How much were you bullied in school for being a pink stallion?”

Mome smirked. “Once. After I finished with the first guy who got that bright idea, nobody else was stupid enough to try it again.” He tried to have his guardian golem work on the ropes holding him, but the angle was awkward and golems generally aren’t good at tasks that require precision. After a couple failed tries, the damaged golem finally made its way to its master’s side and tried to help. It had no more luck, especially with one of its hands broken. The protector golem passed its halberd over, and the other automaton limped away and lined the blade up with the ropes, trying to cut them.

I grinned as I felt the lightning spell reach completion, and unleashed it on the guardian golem. Mome was still tied to the huge metal automaton, so all that electricity would get conducted straight through him when the bolt hit. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t enjoy that.

Unfortunately, Mome spotted the attack just before it hit. His damaged golem abandoned all subtlety and care, making a quick wild swing at the ropes binding him to his protector. The strike put a dent in the other golem’s side and a gash along Mome’s flank, but he dropped free just before my lightning bolt hit. That still left the pirate’s mane standing on end and wisps of smoke drifting up from him, but it would’ve been a lot worse if he’d been half a second slower.

I tried to follow that spell up with another one, but the lightning blast had taken a lot out of me. Not so much that I couldn’t cast, but I needed a second to catch my breath and refocus. If I’d tried following the spell up right away, I probably would’ve done something wild and unfocused, which might’ve killed Mome. I was willing to go that far if it was him or me, but I still preferred to take him alive. I just wasn’t desperate enough to push things to that level, to deliberately kill another pony. Instead, I tried for surrender. “So are you ready to give up, Mome!? Because I can do this aaall day!”

“Oh is that so?” Mome shot me a confident grin. “For your sake, lass, I hope that’s true. The lovely thing about golems is that they don't get tired. Not like ponies do. Tell you what, though. You walk away right now, head back to your ship, and I’ll let the matter drop. Right now it’d be a bit of a bother to run that ship down, especially with two of my sails damaged. You go your way, I go mine, and with any luck we never cross each other’s path again.”

So he wanted to cut a deal with me? Good. He might still be acting tough and confident, but he wouldn’t be offering a deal unless he was scared of losing to me. I risked looking away from the pirate captain for a moment to check on his crew. Most of them had gotten out from under the sail, but they didn’t seem to be in any rush to join the fight. Sure, I’d forced them to disarm, but proper pirates would have hidden backups, and a ship’s full of things that can be used as improvised weapons.

What I couldn’t figure out was why were they hanging back. Because I was dueling Mome? Pirates generally aren’t known for respecting honor, but maybe it wasn’t about honor. It was about dominance. Conventional wisdom says that pirates follow the biggest, strongest, and meanest pirate on the ship. If Mome couldn’t take me by himself, he risked losing his crew’s respect. A captain who didn’t have his crew’s respect wouldn’t be a captain for long.

Mome tossed his head back, and his genial tone shifted to something dark and ugly. “You keep fighting, on the other hoof, and after I take care of you I’ll kill everypony on that ship. I’m normally not one for revenge—there’s no profit in it—but in this case I think I might need to send a message. No way I just had the bad luck of running into a mage of your talents; you’re hunting me. I don’t like being hunted. Might be the Council needs to learn a lesson about what happens when they send an assassin after me.”

Now that I knew what was going on, it was easy to figure out he was posturing for his crew. He didn’t really want a deal with me, he was trying to show them that I was only alive because he was giving me a chance to walk away. It wouldn’t do for all those pirates to start thinking that he was having a hard time beating a girl. Maybe I could find a way to use that to my advantage.

His two golems switched positions, the damaged one strapping the shield to its arm and hovering protectively over Mome. That left me facing a fully functional golem once more, though at least this time it was unarmed. And still down on the deck, while I was up in the crow’s nest. I would love to see that golem try to climb up and get me.

Mome seemed to be thinking much the same, as he frowned up at me. A couple seconds later, the golem hopped down into the hold. I briefly wondered if Mome had done something crazy like build a golem-sized crossbow. Thankfully, when the golem came back up, it was just carrying a heavy metal keg. Probably filled with grog or something.

The golem stomped over the quarterdeck, lifted the keg over its head, lined it up with the crow’s nest, and gave it a few practice swings. I frowned down at it incredulously. The mast was over thirty meters high, no way the golem could actually expect to make that throw—

It chucked the keg, and I very quickly realized that I was wrong. I teleported away just before the heavy metal container slammed into the crow’s nest, smashing the wood to bits and sending the resulting kindling tumbling down the deck. With nowhere else to go, I dropped back down to the quarterdeck, which left me uncomfortably close to the golem itself.

The automaton was ready for me, reaching over to the side of the ship and grabbing a gaff hook. Those were normally fishing tools, but I’m pretty sure all the golem cared about was that it was long and had a sharp metal bit at the end. That would certainly be enough for it to make my day unpleasant.

It took a swing at me with the hook, and I threw up a quick ice barrier to catch the weapon. I couldn’t get it thick enough in time, though, and the attack smashed right through my shield. I quickly jumped to the side, and between that and my shield slowing the strike down, I only got a cut along my barrel instead of being smashed to bits or impaled like a fish on a hook. The injury still left behind a fiery line of pain along my side. I gritted my teeth and quickly used the heat I’d leached away for my ice spell to cauterize the wound.

I’d used that trick before, but only for little stuff like papercuts. When I did that it was usually just a quick hot sting no worse than the papercut itself. Turns out, when you try that on a bigger wound, it hurts a lot more. I probably would’ve cried, but I didn’t want to give Mome the satisfaction of seeing my tears. It helped to know that as bad as it hurt, pain was better than bleeding all over the place.

My eyes were so hazed up from the unshed tears that I almost missed the golem winding up for another swing at me. There wasn’t enough time to dodge, so I quickly teleported to the forecastle. Just that little hop made me stumble, though I’m not sure if it was due to the effort of the spell or my injury. Either way, it was a bad sign.

Worse, Mome had spotted my stumble. His grin widened, and I was distinctly reminded of an old saying about how sharks reacted when they smelled blood in the water. “That hit looked like it hurt, lass. And how many of those teleports do you have left in you? I’m normally not one to criticize a lady’s appearance, but if you don’t mind me saying so, you're looking a bit peaked.”

I took a deep breath and pulled myself back together. I had maybe one big spell left in me; I would have to make it count. No way I could give away how tired I was, though. “Not as bad as you're going to look in a minute.”

Mome smirked, then nodded to his golem. It charged straight for me, cocking the gaff hook back for a swing. I briefly hoped that it might slow down while moving up from the deck to the forecastle, but it just jumped right up onto the forecastle without even breaking stride.

Fine. I wanted it going fast anyway. I turned my mind down to the ocean below and grabbed as much seawater as I could manage. I’m not very good with water—consequence of being a natural pyromancer—but that didn’t mean I couldn’t work with it. All that water gave me more than enough material to freeze into an ice ramp thick enough to support a golem’s weight, which I set right in the golem’s path.

It tried to stop, but several tons of metal moving at a full charge creates a lot of momentum, and I’d also iced over the path leading to the ramp itself, The plan worked just as well as I’d hoped it would, and the golem went vaulting over the side. The splash it produced when it hit the water was enough to soak me and just about everypony else on the ship. Getting salt water on a fresh wound was not fun, but not even that could spoil the moment for me.

There were black dots swimming across my vision from all the effort that spell had taken, but it was worth it. I turned to Metal Mome, grinning triumphantly. “You’re down one golem and the other one’s half-wrecked. What was that you were saying earlier about surrender?”

He quickly glanced over the side of the ship, and then smiled at me. “Lass, do you really think it’d never occurred to me that one of my golems might fall in the drink?”

I glanced over the side as well. Somehow, in defiance of all the laws of physics, the golem was staying afloat. Mome had put some kind of magic on his golems to keep them from sinking if they fell overboard. Dammit, Puzzle had warned me about that, but in the heat of the moment I’d completely forgotten. And now I’d wasted the one spell I had left.

The ship shuddered as the golem climbed back up on the deck, soaking wet but none the worse for wear. I hoped all that salt water would at least make it rust, but that wasn’t likely to happen any time in the next five seconds or so.

Much as I hated to admit it, I was tapped out. I felt like I’d just run a marathon and needed two days in bed and good meal before I could do anything more. I hadn’t been beaten—no way I could ever lose to some pirate—but clearly a tactical withdrawal was called for. Next time I would be ready for him. I could change my strategies and recover a lot faster than he could fix his golems, let alone upgrade them. Hit-and-run tactics were perfectly valid. Prudent, even, when they gave me such a big advantage.

I still had plenty of heat stored up from my last ice spell, though I couldn’t hold onto it for much longer. Better to use it than let it go to waste. I didn’t want to spare the time and focus to do much with it, so I ended up just throwing an unfocused wave of fire at Mome and his crew. Mome’s guardian golem protected him, and the ship didn’t catch fire like I’d hoped it would.

Mome smirked at me as his golem began closing in once more. “Alchemically treated wood, lass. My sire’s recipe. Surely you didn’t think I’d do nothing when everyone knows how dangerous a shipboard fire can be?”

So he’d treated his wood with some kind of anti-fire potion? Dammit. I almost certainly could’ve thrown in enough energy to start a fire anyway; it just needed to be hotter. Pity I was already dangerously close to burned out. As it was, if I tried for a parting shot, I might not have enough energy left for another spell after that.

So I took the only option I had left: I teleported away. I’d planned to make it all the way back to the Venture. It was a ways off, but still within line of sight. Difficult, but normally something I could’ve managed.

Normally.

The problem was, I normally wasn’t near the limits of my endurance. Instead of popping up back on the Venture like I’d planned, I wound up in the water about fifty meters behind it. I had just enough time to yelp before I dropped and hit the water. Just to make things even worse, I belly-flopped instead of managing a proper dive. Not pleasant at all, especially when I also had a wound on my barrel.

As much as it hurt, I couldn’t stop to actually deal with that pain. Survival instinct kicked in, and I forced myself to swim back to the surface. I might be worn down mentally and magically, but my muscles were still in fine working order. I breached the surface and gasped in a lungful of air, and paddled as fast as I could for the ship.

I’d made it about halfway back when I looked back over my shoulder at the Granite Heart. What I saw nearly broke my rhythm. Ten of Mome’s pirates were either pegasi or gryphons, and they’d all taken to the air and were heading straight for me. I guess he didn’t want me getting away from him. I paddled as fast as I could, but I’m not an especially great swimmer. I’d spent most of my life in a mountaintop city a thousand miles away from the ocean. What swimming experience I had came from pools and waterparks, not the middle of the open ocean. I couldn’t outrun a bunch of fliers.

I was still twenty meters away from the Venture when they closed the gap, and I braced for their attack. To my surprise, it never came. They all passed right over me. It took me a second to realize I wasn’t their real target. I just happened to be between them and the Venture. The Heart was half a kilometer away. It would’ve been impossible for Mome or anyone else to spot me among the bobbing surf. They’d probably just assumed I’d made it back to the Venture instead of hitting the water most of the way back.

The pirates stayed high as they came in, and I realized what they were planning once they hit the Venture. Just like when I’d taken down their ship’s sails, they aimed to take out the Venture’s. Fortunately, Weyland and her crew had spotted their approach and were ready. I couldn’t see much of the fight from down in the ocean, but at least I could tell there was one. I groaned as I saw several of the Venture’s sails either fall completely or get knocked askew, but when the pirates withdrew, only five of them went running for it. One of them, a hippogryph, was flying low and weak, blood trailing from his wing. The limb gave out completely a second later, and he plummeted into the water. Because this just wasn’t my day, he landed almost right on top of me.

The hippogryph surfaced, spotted me, and his eyes narrowed in fury. “You!” He swam over and slammed his talons down on my shoulders, forcing my head beneath the surface. I struggled to free myself, but he was stronger and had leverage over me. Desperation took hold, and I fought as hard as I could to free myself, but it was futile.

Just when I’d almost given up, I spotted the trail of blood his wounded wing was leaving behind in the water. I slammed one of my hooves into the wound as hard as I could, and the talons holding me under loosened their grip just enough for me to break free. I rushed for the surface, greedily gasping in a lungfuls of air once I made it.

The hippogryph was already swimming back to hit me again, his beak drawn back in a furious snarl. I didn’t like my odds of winning a water fight with a stronger opponent who was also probably a better swimmer, so I dug down deep inside myself to try and find enough energy for one last spell. Too bad there was nothing left.

He closed in on me again and, despite my best efforts, forced my head under the water. He’d learned his lesson, and this time his wounded wing was out of reach. I still hadn’t even fully recovered from my first attempted drowning. I didn’t have the strength to fight him off again.

I couldn’t believe it. If I had to go out, I could’ve been okay with losing a fight against a notorious pirate. But this? Getting drowned by some lowly crewman when I had almost made it back to safety? This just wasn’t right. It wasn’t supposed to end this way! I was supposed to win the fight, get comfortably established in Freeport, find a way to become an alicorn, and then return to Canterlot in triumph. Instead, some two-bit criminal would drown me, and I wouldn’t even get a proper funeral. I would never see Celestia again.

Celestia ... Mom. I’d only called her that once, right before I left her. I never should’ve left in the first place. It had all been one huge mistake, and now I would never get a chance to make things right. Never get a chance to say all those things I wanted to say to her again. I wouldn’t be able to tell her how much she meant to me, or listen to all the things she wanted to teach me. I would never be able to tell her how much I loved her..

I made one last, desperate effort to cast a spell, and this time I scraped up some tiny little scrap of power I’d missed before. With thoughts of Mom still fresh in my mind, I cut loose with it. I was half-delirious from nearly drowning and didn’t even think about what kind of spell to use.

A blast of hard light shot out of my horn, catching the hippogryph in the face. The blow knocked him senseless, and the talons holding me down went slack. I scrambled to the surface again, coughing and gasping for air. I took a moment to just appreciate the fact that I was still alive. I never would’ve thought about how happy that made me until just then.

I turned to the hippogryph I’d knocked out. He’d tried to kill me. By all rights, I should return the favor. Or barring that, just leave him. He’d probably drown before he woke up, unless all the blood he was leaving in the water attracted a predator first. He was a pirate. He’d broken the law, and probably killed somepony innocent at some point. He deserved to die.

But that’s not how Mom would’ve done things. With an irritated growl, I wrapped a foreleg around the hippogryph’s neck, and dragged him the rest of the way to the Venture. “This is a one-time thing, because I’m feeling sentimental. You try to kill me again, and I will murder you so hard your ancestors will feel it. Got it?” The hippogryph didn’t give me any kind of answer, on account of being knocked out.

With considerable difficulty, I made it back to the Venture. One of the crewmen spotted me and tossed down a rope leader, and I managed to hold onto it and my prisoner back while they hauled me onto the deck. Then I finally got a good look at the state of the ship itself—the rigging and sails were a mess. The pirates had obviously known exactly what to do to cause as much damage as possible. No surprise, really. They had a lot of experience at this kind of thing.

I flopped onto my back and groaned, all the exhaustion I’d been ignoring in my desperate struggle to stay alive coming back full force now that I’d made it to safety. Or at least temporary safety.

I think I might have drifted off for a minute or two, because next thing I knew Captain Weyland was nudging me none-too-gently. Once I’d opened my eyes, I saw her scowling back down at me. “It looks like things didn’t go as planned.”

“Gee, what gave you that idea?” I groaned and climbed back to my hooves, wincing as my barrel decided to remind me that it was injured. “So how bad is it?”

For a minute, I thought Weyland might give me a proper chewing out, but I guess the pragmatic need to stay alive won out over her general pissed-offedness. “It’s not good. They messed up our rigging pretty badly, and I have four crewponies down with injuries with three more working wounded. It looks like you did some damage while you were over there, but they’ve got a lot more crew working on repairs than we do. Especially since I have to keep a watch out for any more raids, so that’s more crew who can’t do repair work.”

That was pretty bad. “So they’re going to make enough repairs to come after us before we can make enough repairs to run away?”

“Looks pretty likely,” she grunted.

“Great.” I groaned and rubbed my face, trying to work the worst of the dried sea salt out of my coat. “How long do we have before they're ready to come after us?”

“Depends.” She frowned over at the other ship. “I’ve got a decent idea of how much damage you did, but a lot depends on how much they have in the way of supplies and training. Hard to make repairs if they don’t have the materials. Looks like they’ve got plenty of experience at patching up, though. If I had to guess, could be as little as two hours, but no more than four unless there’s something I’ve missed.”

Well, at least I’d managed to make an impression in my time on the Granite Heart. “And how long would it take us to get back up and running?”

Weyland glanced up at, watching her crew hard at work. “They got our rigging pretty good. Maybe three hours to get it to point where we can move again. A lot longer to get it back into proper shape.” Weyland nodded to the pirate ship. “Lucky we managed to take down so many of their raiders. Wings make rigging repair go a lot faster, which is the only reason we might have a chance of making it in time. It doesn’t help that they have fewer sails than we do, though at least the fact that we’ll be losing the light right around the time our repairs are done should be to our advantage. If we can get away with any kind of decent lead come nightfall, we have a chance of losing them.”

So it wasn’t completely hopeless. It was all just a question of who could fix their ship the fastest. Pity I had no idea how to fix a ship beyond a couple basic repair spells that any unicorn should know, which I couldn’t actually cast right now anyway. “If I can get a good meal and a quick nap, I might be able to recover enough to manage something in that time.” Two hours for food and a nap didn’t sound like anything close to enough, but it would be better than nothing.

“I’ll take what I can get.” Weyland scratched her chin. “Kukri can see to that. No sense wasting another set of hooves. I’d be halfway tempted to put her on rigging work too, if I wasn’t worried about another raid.” She looked up once more, and shouted a few orders to her crew before returning her attention to me. “If you don't have anything else, I’ve got way too many things to do and not enough time to do them in.”

I shook my head, trying to stretch a little bit of feeling back into my limbs. “Nothing I can think of right now. Anything else you want to cover?”

“Not really.” The captain gave me a quick once-over. “I'll feel better if you don't look like a half-drowned rat on its last leg when it's time for fighting. Most of us had self-defense training at the clanhold, but if it comes down to a fight you’re our best shot at winning.” She threw a baleful look at the pirate ship. “I don't think they're gonna just let us surrender now that their blood’s up. Not unless we have an ace up our sleeves. A unicorn that can set their whole ship on fire is the closest thing we have to that. To hay with the bounty and capturing the ship, better to burn them all to bits and live.”

“Personally, I’d settle for just making them go away.” I didn’t like the idea of running, but right now it looked like discretion was the better part of valor. The odds were just stacked too high against me. I could come after Mome again after recovering in Freeport, and this time I’d be a lot better prepared for the fight. Maybe I could see about having Puzzle arrange for some of the local mercenaries to back me up too; it would certainly make things a bit easier for me.

The captain nodded thoughtfully. “Trying to take them out might be too ambitious. Could try a bluff; pirates don’t like taking on targets that can fight back. Make ‘em think we’re not worth the trouble. Could try dumping the cargo too, see if they slow down to pick it up. Would work better if more of the cargo could float.” Weyland sighed, and added, “And if their blood wasn’t up. It’s still worth a try, but I suspect they’ll decide the cargo will keep until after we’re dead.”

“If we try enough things that have a slim chance of saving us, one of them might work.” I paused as something occurred to me, and I slumped down. “Sorry I dragged you and your ship into this, Captain. I never meant to put you in harm’s way.”

Weyland sighed and waved my apology away. “Puzzle told me what the risks were when I took the job. It was my decision to go with the idea. If there's anypony to blame, it's the captain. My ship, my responsibility.”

I still couldn’t shake the feeling that they wouldn’t be in this mess if not for my bounty hunting trip. No, it wasn’t just the trip, I’d screwed up too. If I’d done things differently, I could have Mome, or at least sunk the Granite Heart. However, I was too worn out to bother with arguing over how much of our current predicament was my fault. “Let's just focus on making it out of this first. Then we can worry about blame.”

Weyland grunted and nodded. “Would do more to keep us from feeding the fishes. Or Mome’s crew. Probably horseapples, but there’s rumors some of them don’t believe in wasting perfectly good meat.”

Well there was a lovely mental image. “And on that note, I think I’ll head to the galley. Sooner I’m fed, the sooner I’ll be back in fighting shape.” The captain didn’t even bother with a verbal response, she just waved for me to get on with it already.

The ship’s galley was a small, crowded room that barely had enough room to fit a simple stove in between two pantries. I found Kukri in there, busy pulling out food for the rest of the crew. The little changeling was still wearing her pegasus disguise—I’d never even seen her in her natural state. For that matter, I didn’t even know if the crew knew what species she really was. Well, I’d be surprised if the captain didn’t know, but the rest of the crew might still be in the dark.

The filly let out a soft gasp when she saw me. “The Shimmer mare is injured!” Kukri paused her food preparation long enough to pull out a first aid kit, though she set it to the side for the moment. One thing at a time, I guess.

I glanced over at the gash in my side. It’s probably telling of how tired I was that I’d almost forgotten about it, mixed in with all the other aches and pains. “It’s nothing serious. And the Shimmer mare is also very hungry.”

“Of course.” Kukri quickly threw several items onto one of the plates, then passed it over to me. “If the Shimmer mare has no objections, this one will tend her injuries while she eats.”

“Got it.” Normally first aid and food don’t go together, but I wasn’t feeling very picky. I looked over what she’d passed me. The chunk of hardtack was no surprise, but the other thing on my plate caught me off guard: a slice of salted fish, alongside some jerky that I think was made out chicken. Kukri must have been in such a hurry that she hadn’t remembered I was a vegetarian like most Equestrians.

I finished off the hardtack, then stared down at the rest of the food on my plate. On the one hoof, I’d never eaten anything like meat before. On the other hoof, I needed nutrients. Pragmatic survivalism won out over cultural taboo, and I closed my eyes and forced myself to eat it. For the record, I don’t like meat. At all. But I liked the idea of dying because I hadn’t gotten enough energy even less.

Once I’d finished the meat and fought back the urge to spit it up, I sat still for a minute longer to let Kukri finish cleaning and bandaging me up. The dressing wasn’t fancy, but it got the job done. With that taken care of, I got up and headed for the door. “Kukri, I need a nap. Right now I’m dead on my hooves and couldn’t cast a cantrip.” I’d even had to eat with my hooves rather than using my magic to pick up my food. “I need as much sleep as I can get, but I also need somepony to wake me up the instant something happens. Can you handle it?”

“Of course.” Kukri turned back to her work in the kitchen, but hesitated for a moment. “This one has a confession to make. It is ... frightened. This one has heard that if the pirates catch us, they will either kill us or sell us into slavery.” The young changeling trembled. “This one does not like the idea that it will never see its family or clanmates again. It especially fears that it might be sold to the Old Mind, which it has heard delights in inventing new torments for Free Minds that it captures.”

Okay, I might still not understand much about changelings, but I definitely understood kids. I went to Kukri’s side and gave her a quick pat on the back. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Kukri stared up at me, trembling at my touch. “The Shimmer mare promises this?”

I gave her the best reassuring smile I could manage. “Yeah, that’s a promise.”

The Winning Move

I’d barely even closed my eyes before a small hoof shook me awake. “This one is sorry, but the Shimmer mare must wake up at once. The pirates are almost here.”

I don’t know how much sleep I actually managed to get, but it wasn’t enough. If anything, I was even more tired than before. That didn’t seem fair at all. I guess I’d gotten enough sleep for my body to settle down, work all the adrenaline out of its system, and start shutting down to rest and recover, but not enough to make any significant progress on said recovery.

Every single part of my body was sore. There were obvious points that were sorer than the rest, like the wound on my side, but all of that faded into a general tired ache. Even my eyes were sore. What was the deal with that? My eyes hadn’t done anything strenuous enough to make them sore, they’d just spent a lot of time looking at stuff. Even my mane and coat felt bad on account of all the dried up salt-water from my little dip into the ocean.

I groaned and rolled out of bed, grumbling a bunch of words that I probably shouldn’t be saying around a young and impressionable child who seemed to look up to me. “Sorry, shouldn’t have said that in front of you.”

Kukri blinked, then shook her head and grinned. “This one appreciates the thought, but it would point out that it lives on a ship full of sailors. It hears far worse on a daily basis.” The smile didn’t last very long, though. “It has heard many such words in the last two hours especially. Captain Weyland has advised this one to abandon ship and swim for shore, but it is not confident that it could make it to safety. It would rather place its faith in the Shimmer mare.”

Oh Celestia. The kid and all the other ponies on the ship were counting on me to pull off a miracle and get them out of this mess. Which was a problem, because I didn’t think I had any miracles left in me. I groaned and stretched out my limbs, then tried a quick little cantrip to get a feel for how my magic was doing. The results were not optimistic. I was feeling a little bit better now that I was up and moving around, but my whole body had this kind of weak, rubbery feel to it. It kind of reminded me of a run-down, barely functional train; everything was in more-or-less working order as long as it didn’t push too hard, but everything would fall apart the instant it had to do more than the bare minimum to function.

That wasn’t going to be enough to deal with all those pirates. Mome’s ship was fire-resistant enough that I couldn’t guarantee I could actually burn it, especially not when he would probably be expecting me to try something like that. I should’ve gone with Weyland’s suggestion and just burned the ship down to the waterline the instant it came within range. Sure, it was fire-resistant, but that just meant I needed a hotter fire. I could manage that without too much trouble under normal circumstances, but I wasn’t wild about my chances when I was so worn down that it hurt just to stand.

Ugh. Hindsight’s always perfect. Thinking about what I should’ve done differently wouldn’t accomplish anything. Unless rethinking my past actions could get me out of my current mess, there was no point in dwelling on them.

Great. Instead of beating myself up for things in the past, I just needed to come up with some way to beat a ship full of pirates and two battle golems, when I would probably pass out if I tried more than one or two major spells. Easy.

Kukri frowned up at me. “The Shimmer mare does not look well. This one wishes she had more time to recover, but the captain wants her on deck as soon as she is able.”

“Right, got it.” I trudged over to the door, wincing every single time one of my hooves hit the deck. That’s the worst thing about being so utterly tapped out: even an ordinary thing like walking to the door hurts. I decided not to use my magic on the door. A bit of telekinesis wasn’t a big drain on my magic, but every little bit counted. I could have one of the sailors carry me on their backs if need be, but I couldn’t get anypony else to cast spells for me.

I shot a look back at the young changeling, who was staring after me with a troubled frown. “The Shimmer mare is strong enough to defeat the pirates.” It sounded like she was trying very hard to convince herself of that fact. “The Shimmer mare will return once the fight is over, and this one will make her more food, then let her rest. Then she might make a new ice sculpture for this one.”

“Yeah, of course.” I wanted to sound reassuring, but I think I was too worn down to actually pull it off. “Just stay below deck until the fight’s over. And if things go bad—”

“That will not happen,” Kukri insisted stubbornly. “The Shimmer mare promised.”

Her belief in me was touching, but it was hard not to look at the ugly facts. “Yeah, I did. But just so I’ll feel better, can you promise that if things turn bad, you’ll jump out a porthole and swim for the nearest friendly island?”

Kukri’s ears drooped, and she stared down at the deck. “This one promises it will do so.”

“Alright. Good.” I gave her a quick pat on the back. “Stay safe, okay? I’ll find you once the fight’s over.”

Kukri worried at her lower lip, slowly and reluctantly turning towards a hallway that led down into the depths of the ship. “The Shimmer mare promises she will return?”

Again with the promises. And another one I couldn’t be sure I would be able to keep, either. There are a couple tricks a pony can use to get extra power when they’re completely tapped out, but none of them are especially nice. I could tap into my life energy and pull off a spell that would smash Metal Mome’s ship into kindling, but ... well, there’s a reason that particular type of spell is called a death curse. Ponies need their life energy to live. Needless to say, that wasn’t my Plan A.

I dragged myself up onto deck, covering my eyes as I stepped into the setting sun. There was probably something symbolic about that, what with my name being Sunset and all. Whatever the symbolism was, I was too tired and had too many issues on my plate to actually worry about it. Maybe it didn’t really mean anything at all.

More importantly, I could see the Granite Heart bearing down on us. The ship’s sails had some holes in them, and even my untrained eye could see they weren’t set up ideally, but they were catching enough wind to send the pirate ship in our general direction. The Venture had managed to get about half of its sails up, but that wasn’t enough to get us moving with any kind of appreciable speed.

“There you are.” Captain Weyland trotted over to me. The slump in her shoulders revealed her exhaustion even more than her foreboding tone, and her mane looked decidedly ragged. She gave me a quick once-over, then summed up her conclusion in three words. “Well, we’re feathered.”

I met that remark with a dry look and drier sarcasm. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Weyland grunted and waved a hoof at me. “I’d say it’s a fair assessment of our chances. You were our last hope of getting out of this, and right now you look like a stiff breeze would knock you over.”

Well that’s what I felt like, so it was fitting that I looked that way too. Still, I had my pride. “Don’t count me out yet. I did get enough sleep to manage something. I just need to come up with a brilliant plan that’ll let me single-hoofedly take out an entire ship full of pirates and two golems, and do it all with only a single spell.” I took a look at the approaching Granite Heart, measured its speed, and did a bit of guesswork. “And I’ve got about ten minutes before they get here, I’d say. Plenty of time.”

Weyland closed her eyes and slowly nodded. “If you come up with something, do it. If you don’t ... might be best if you don’t let them take you alive. The rest of us will probably just be sold into slavery, but you tweaked Mome’s nose—and in front of his own crew, no less. Not to mention being a Council agent. He’ll want to make an example out of you.”

There was a cheery thought. So, I had ten minutes to come up with a way to beat a ship full of pirates that had already beaten me when I was fully rested and had the element of surprise. That didn’t sound very doable.

No, I couldn’t afford to think that way. I needed to calm down and rationally analyze the problem. It’s just like Celestia always told me in our training exercises: there’s always a solution. It could be messy, dangerous, or unpleasant, but there was always a way to solve the problem. I just needed to find it.

So, let’s start with what exactly I was dealing with. The Granite was faster than us and had us outnumbered. Unless I could find a way to slow them down, they would board us. I could try and sling long-range fire into their rigging, but I didn’t like that plan. It was so obvious that Mome would have to be an idiot not to expect it, and I wasn’t sure I could manage enough accuracy and power to hit from really long range. I would have to place my fireballs very precisely, and that meant letting them get way too close.

That would be a last resort, then. The Venture’s crew also knew a bit about how to handle themselves in a fight, so that was something. But the pirates still had a huge numerical advantage. I’d probably thinned their ranks a bit with my attack—I might not have killed any of them, but some of them would be too hurt to go for a second round. Plus they’d lost some in the raid on the Venture’s rigging, but the Venture crew had taken comparable casualties, and the pirates could afford to lose crew a lot more than we could. One of the bad things about being outnumbered three to one: our losses hurt a lot more.

So it had to be me who turned the tide. Well, I had managed to cow the crew at one point. Pirates aren’t fanatics—they know they can’t have their booty, wenches, and grog if they don’t survive the battle. They’d give up if I hit them hard and fast, even if it was just a bluff. That’s the big difference between a ship full of ponies fighting for their lives compared to ponies that were just fighting for money. We didn’t have the option of turning around and living to fight another day, but the pirates did.

Once again, I had to assume Mome would anticipate that. Puzzle’s briefing had already warned me that he used the golems as his shock troops for the initial boarding, and I had no reason to expect he’d do anything different here. I needed a way beat them. With a single spell. When every spell I had to play with hadn’t been enough before.

There had to be some way to pull this off: Celestia taught me that there’s always a solution to your problems. The obvious solution was to go after Metal Mome. He controlled the golems, so without him they would probably go inert. That might be enough to send the pirates packing on its own, since anything that could knock out their two biggest heavy hitters would have to be intimidating. If I could do that and still maintain some appearance of still being able to fight, I just might win it.

The problem was how to get to Metal Mome. He’d learned his lesson from our introduction; no way he would let me get close enough to him while he had a working protector golem. I could try the old fake surrender ploy, but I couldn’t see him falling for it. At best, he would slap a suppression ring on me as soon as I was in range. At worst, he’d take off my horn before bringing me up for the obligatory gloating. Or just have the golem step on my head, then gloat over my corpse.

So I couldn’t pull him out, and I couldn’t get myself to him. Great. That left the golems themselves. They still had the weakness of that connection to Mome, but I had no idea how to exploit it. For that, I would need to understand how the connection worked. I could think of a dozen different ways he could be managing it, most of them requiring different solutions to block. I couldn’t even research it; nobody but Mome knew how it worked, since it was his (and presumably his mother’s) unique spell.

And yet, the more I thought about it, the more certain I was that this link was the key. If I could just figure out how it worked, I could turn this whole fight around. I could just throw some raw force at the link and disrupt it, essentially throwing out so much random noise they couldn’t hear his voice. However, that would just be a temporary solution. It might buy me enough time to get to Mome, though. Assuming I had enough strength left to attack him after I turned off both his golems for a bit.

Ugh. If only I knew more about how this worked! Then to hay with disrupting the connection, I could outright subvert it. That would be a nasty surprise; turning his own golems against him. But there was no way I could do that without knowing how the link worked, and that was something only Mome knew.

It kept coming back to that, didn’t it? The information I needed to turn this whole fight around was locked up inside Metal Mome’s head. I didn’t think he was stupid enough to let it slip if I tried goading him, either. Only an idiot would tell their opponent what their biggest weakness was in the middle of a fight to the death.

Maybe I could try to get him talking for a bit? Distract him for a couple minutes while I took a closer look at how his link worked. It still had the same problem, though: it relied on Metal Mome being too much of an idiot to realize what I was doing. Any plan that’s dependent on your opponent’s stupidity to work is rather fundamentally flawed.

My contemplations were abruptly interrupted by a filly-sized hoof poking me in the shoulder. I turned and frowned down at Kukri. “You’re supposed to be below decks, little one.”

The changeling shook off my rebuke. “This one is aware of the Shimmer mare’s wishes, but it realized something important.” Kukri reached into her saddlebags and pulled out the ice sculptures I’d made for her. “This one realizes the Shimmer mare needs more magic. She can take the magic from these, if it will help her.”

“Oh, Kukri...” To hay with it, I pulled her into a quick hug. “Thanks for the offer, but you can keep your hammercuda and the others. There’s only a little magic in them, and I can’t just absorb it back anyway.” Any techniques for absorbing magic were almost always classed as black magic anyway. No surprise, when one of the ancient evils locked away in Tartarus was some monster who’d become super-powerful by eating everypony’s magic.

I looked down at the little changeling in my forelegs, then over at the rest of the crew. None of them had signed up for a life-or-death battle. Weyland was right that she’d known the risks when she accepted the contract, but this was way more than that now. All these ponies were innocent, and they could all die if I didn’t stop Metal Mome.

That’s when it all clicked into place for me. There’d been a solution sitting in my hooves from the very start of this whole situation, one that I’d quickly identified and just as quickly dismissed. And for good reason; I didn’t like that solution one bit. But weighing it against the lives of Kukri, Weyland, and everyone else on the Venture ... Yeah. There was no contest.

I let go of the changeling and quickly tracked down the captain. “I have a plan. Clear the deck, I don’t want anypony dying. We’ll need to let them approach and board before I can spring the trap.”

Weyland let out a relieved sigh, and a bit of the weary resignation that had been hanging over her faded away. “That so? Sounds good. What kind of trap did you have in mind, and how can I help?”

“Not much you can do, really.” I thought about that for a moment, then shook my head. “Well, maybe a show of force after I spring the trap. It might not be necessary, but it would do a great job of intimidating the survivors and making them back down.

“Got it.” She frowned curiously at me. “So how will we know when you’ve sprung your trap?”

Despite the choice I’d just made, I couldn’t help smirking at the question. “Trust me, you’ll know.”

Five minutes later, the Granite Heart pulled alongside the Venture. By this point, the deck was completely clear, other than me. It made quite the contrast to the pirate ship, which had all hooves on deck, most of them yelling and brandishing their weapons. Weyland had thoughtfully left me her telescope so I could get a good look at them. The pirates themselves still looked pretty battered and bruised from the treatment I’d given them a few hours ago. But they weren’t the ones I was worried about.

The golems were both out on deck, waving their huge weapons around just like they were any other members of the crew. I was pleased to see that the one I’d damaged had been patched together with some hasty field repairs, and its sword had been more-or-less hammered back into straightness. The patch job was probably far weaker than the original material, but it seemed functional. Probably a weak point, though. Not that it would matter to me.

Mome was right there with his two golems, whipping his crew into a frenzy that probably would’ve been pretty scary for your average merchant. He had discarded the outfit I’d charred to bits in favor of something fresh, but his new wardrobe was every bit as gaudy as what he’d had on before. I’m no fashionista, but even I know that a bright orange jacket is not the sort of thing anypony should wear. The sapphires worked into the jacket were of greater interest to me, since I was willing to bet that meant he had a fresh set of protective charms on himself. The previous set had only been enough to protect him from one hit, but that was better than no protection at all. Too bad for him that he didn’t have any charms to protect against my new plan. He’d probably decked out with gems to block fire and ice.

Once the Granite Heart got close enough, the crew hurled over grappling hooks and started pulling the two ships together. Now was the moment of truth; if Mome sent his pirates over first, I would be in trouble. I could definitely make them pay for it, but numbers would tell eventually. If he came over first with the golems, I had this fight in the bag.

The waiting was the worst part of it. Since Mome’s ship was smaller, I lost view of it once they started grappling our ships together. I could’ve moved closer to the railing to get a better look at them, but that would put me just a bit too close to the pirates themselves. The last thing I needed was to poke my head over the rail and have some anonymous crewman put a crossbow bolt between my eyes. That would be a fine way to end this whole fiasco.

So instead I waited. I’ve never been a fan of that, but nothing’s worse than waiting to find out your own fate. That feeling of helplessness to change your own destiny, knowing that whether or not this whole mess would end up killing me was entirely dependent upon somepony else’s choice. Anything I tried to influence Mome’s final decision could easily backfire on me, so that was out. It would be just my luck to try something that should force him to use the golems, and have it end up persuading him that his crew could handle me.

Still, I was cautiously optimistic. It seemed a lot more likely Mome would throw the golems at me first. They’d worked wonders on the first match, while I’d handled his crew pretty easily. He would do the smart thing and use the weapon that had already beaten me once. Or at least, that’s what I told myself. But what if he’d anticipated that I might’ve found a way to beat his toys? Then he might send the crew in, or just try to swarm me with golems and crew both. Or what if he just decided to punch a couple holes in the side of the ship and salvage the cargo from the wreck? The water in most of the archipelago was probably shallow enough for divers to reach the bottom without too much trouble.

The more I thought about it, the more nasty scenarios I came up with. I just had to hope that Mome wouldn’t use any of those tricks. I didn’t think it was likely he would, but I bet he hadn’t been expecting to see Princess Celestia’s personal student coming after him like a common hitmare.

I let out a relieved sigh as the ship lurched, and several tons of metal hauled itself over the railing and onto the Venture. Mome and his guardian golem were a bit behind the first one, which closed in on me menacingly. It didn’t go for the kill yet, though. Mome might be smart and dangerous, but he did suffer from one critical flaw: he just had to do a bit of showboating.

The guardian golem shifted its shield slightly to the side, letting Mome just barely poke his face out from behind the huge shield without exposing himself. He took one look at me, and that predator’s smile was back on his face. “If you don’t mind me saying so, lass, you’re not looking so hot. Feeling a bit under the weather?”

“I guess you could say that.” I bounced on my hooves, rolled my shoulders, and cracked my neck. Might as well let him think I was gearing up for the more of the same with his automatons. “You gave me a pretty good fight, but I’m ready for the rematch. And this time, I’m gonna win it.”

“Oh, you’re going to win it, are you?” He chuckled from behind his implacable bodyguard. “That’s a bold claim for a mare who’s run herself against the reef.”

“I might not be a hundred percent,” I conceded, “but I don’t even need to be ten percent to beat you. After all, you’re just a two-bit criminal whose mother stole a couple magical toys.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” He gave his guardian golem a pat on the leg. “I can’t deny that my mum might’ve given me a head start, but I took her designs and ran with them. These are the most advanced golems on the planet.”

I scoffed at the claim, even though I wouldn’t be shocked if it was true. Gotta have that pre-battle banter and posturing, after all. “If your golems are that great, why aren’t you selling them? You would probably make ten times what you’re pulling in as a pirate.”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll sell them one day.” He shrugged. “Once I’ve finalized the design, and I start getting a bit old for the pirate’s life. I’m sure the free notoriety of using my boys to become the most successful pirate on the high seas won’t hurt sales at all. If you think I could make ten times what I make as a pirate, I say you’re thinking too small. I plan on becoming the richest being in the world. Once Equestria, Zebrica, and Gryphonia get a gander at what my golems can do, they’ll give me the keys to the treasury.” He grinned up proudly at his guardian. “They’ll be putting my name in the history books, lass. ‘Metal Mome, who revolutionized the field of warfare by introducing new war golems that were faster, better, stronger, and free of all those pesky ethical issues and any urge to possibly rebel against their master.’ Maybe your fancy Princess Celestia will give me a set of wings to thank me for revolutionizing magical warfare.”

I snorted at his final declaration. “Out of all the stupid things you’ve said, that one definitely takes the prize. You think you’re some kinda brilliant genius? You’re nothing more than a pathetic momma’s boy. I mean seriously, who names their pirate ship after their mother?”

Mome scowled, looking far more pissed off than I’d ever seen him before. Which probably just proved that he really was a total momma’s boy. “You’ll want to think very carefully before you have a go at my mother. Otherwise, this whole experience could just get downright unpleasant for you.” His sword golem advanced threateningly to emphasize its master’s point.

“Oh, I’m so scared. What’re you gonna do, go tell mommy I was mean to you?” I decided to close the banter out and get down to business. “Though as long as we’re on the subject, tell me something. Did your precious mommy ever tell you anything about the Universal Code of the Magi? I'd imagine she would’ve, seeing as she became a fugitive for breaking it. And there’s one particular section of it that’s especially relevant to our current situation.”

The sword golem advanced to within striking range. Good thing I was already planning on making my move. “If you've got a point, lass, best be getting to it quickly. And for the sake of everyone on this ship, I’d suggest you end your talk with a surrender. Might make me merciful.”

No, it wouldn’t. Still, I cut to the chase. “The part of it that concerns our current situation is section three, paragraph twelve: ‘When faced with an immediate threat, an Equestrian Magus is authorized to preserve the lives of innocents by any justifiable means.’” I licked my lips, and steeled myself for what was coming next. “Any justifiable means,” I repeated, before delivering the most important part. “That’s a pretty open-ended clause. It can include all kinds of things. Even dark magic.”

Mome’s eyes widened, and he quickly ducked back behind his golem again. Not that it would do him any good. Shields are great for blocking against physical attacks, but I wasn’t going after his body. I wanted his mind. Everything he knew about his golems, starting with how his link to them worked, and how I could take it over or disrupt it.

I’d never been trained in using dark magic, of course. Celestia would never teach me anything like that. She was too much of a paragon to ever teach her student how to use magic that was illegal and immoral.

However, what she had taught me was a whole lot about how to defend myself against dark magic. I had been planning on joining the Mage Corps before I’d started down the path to princesshood. For that matter, a princess ends up doing a lot of what the mages do, just on a larger scale. Mages take on the lower and mid-level threats, while a princess deals with the monsters and warlocks that are too big for normal ponies to handle.

In any case, one of the dirty little secrets of the Mage Corps is that mages who hunt down warlocks are, statistically speaking, the most likely demographic in all of Equestria to eventually become a warlock. Even more than criminals. Most of your petty thieves and thugs stay far away from dark magic, since it’s a good way to catch the attention of the warlock-hunters—not to mention the punishment for using it is way more severe than the penalty for just about any crime short of murder.

One of the first rules of any sort of magic fight is that knowledge is power. The more you know about how your opponent’s spells work, the better your odds of winning. The whole reason I was resorting to using dark magic right now was that I didn’t know anywhere near enough about how to beat Mome’s golem-control spell. So when your job description involves fighting ponies who use dark magic, you have to know a fair bit about how dark magic works.

Now, I’m not saying warlock hunters run around flinging dark magic all over the place or are even trained in how to use it. Maybe an example will help explain exactly what I mean: if you’re fighting a necromancer, you need to know all the rules of necromancy, so you know the best way to stop his zombies, skeletons, ghosts, or whatever. Once you know all the steps a bad guy has to go through to create an undead, it’s not too hard to do them yourself.

Or for something a bit more relevant to my immediate situation, let’s talk about mind magic. Celestia never taught me how to invade or attack another pony’s mind, but she did teach me a lot about how to stop somepony else from getting into my head. A lot of that training consisted of telling me every single dirty trick a warlock could use to try and break past somepony’s mental defenses, so I would know how to beat them.

So while she might not have taught me how to cast any mind-attacking spells, she’d given me enough about how they worked that I could fill in the gaps for myself with a little creativity. The end result was a bit clunky and relied mostly on brute force, but it should get the job done.

I imagined my attack as a pure spike of iron will, driving straight into Mome’s mind. Mental combat is all about willpower. What made getting into another pony’s head so difficult and dangerous was that, at the end of the day, we’re all the masters of our own mind. Unless there’s a huge power disparity, it’s just about impossible to simply break into the mind of somepony who has been trained to resist mental manipulation. Thus, most mental combat techniques revolved around either frightening and overwhelming your opponent enough to make them panic or using misdirection and trickery to keep them from realizing you were in their brain. Since being sneaky wasn’t an option, I had to go with the direct approach.

As soon as I broke into his mind, I flooded it with every single emotion I could think of that would throw him off his game—fear, confusion, despair, and resignation. A cocktail which should hopefully convince him that there was no point in trying to fight me, so he might as well give up. That was part of why I’d told him I was gonna use dark magic on him; the more nervous and off-balance he was, the easier it would be to push him further. It was just a pity I didn’t really know enough about him to hit any specific bad memories or anything else that would give the spell a personal touch.

If he’d been trained, he probably would’ve recognized that I was trying to force outside emotions onto him and tried to resist me. Given that we were working inside his brain and I’d never done anything like this before, he probably would’ve succeeded too. Thankfully, he didn’t have the training to keep a cool head and block me. After all, his mother hadn’t been a proper magus, just a research assistant to one. She probably didn’t know how to defend herself either.

I pushed, and he started cracking. Still, a guy doesn’t become a leader of a bloodthirsty band of pirates by being a pushover. He might not have had any training, but Metal Mome was a pretty strong-willed individual. His attempts at resistance were weak and uncoordinated, but I was pretty new to this too, and he had the massive defender’s advantage. I needed something more to push him over the edge into the sort of utter despair that would break him.

I took a chance and hit him with some specific mental images, letting him know exactly how this would go. I would break into his head and steal every single bit of information I could find on his golems. Sure, the link spell was my main goal, but as long as I was there I might as well pick up the rest of it. Then I would turn the golems on him and his crew and kill as many of them as it took to force a surrender, starting with Silverhorns.

Then came the real kicker. I would turn Mome over to the Council, and they would execute him, then dump his body into some isolated stretch of the ocean. He would rot there, completely forgotten by everypony. Even me. He dreamed of changing the face of the world, and I showed him a future where nobody would even know his name. Not just death, oblivion.

It was a big risk. Sure, some ponies crack when you show them that kind of nightmare scenario, but a lot of times it can have the opposite effect. Just think of any adventure novel where the bad guy has the hero down and beaten, then makes the mistake of gloating about all the evil things he’s going to do once the hero is dead, which inspires a nice burst of heroic willpower that turns the tide.

Considering I’d resorted to using dark magic, there was something oddly fitting about realizing that the comparison cast me as the villain of the piece.

Thankfully, Mome wasn’t an adventure hero, and this was no Daring Do novel. He broke, his resistance crumbling and giving way to helpless despair. I had free run of his mind, and true to the dire prophecy I’d just showed him, I proceeded to take everything I wanted: the link spell, how to use the golems in combat, and everything else related to them too. Sure, I might not need to know all the maintenance procedures for a war golem just to use them for one fight against his crew, but I might as well keep them around after the battle. They were pretty useful things, after all.

I was going to have a look around and see if there was anything else in his mind worth taking, but as I shifted away from the information about the golems I found nothing but a chaotic jumble of disorganized memories and a whole lot of random noise. I had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, it could be dangerous. I already had what I needed, and staying in Mome’s mind any longer just to see if he was enough of a cliched pirate to actually have a chest full of buried treasure wasn’t worth the risk. I pulled out.

Once I was out of Metal Mome’s mind and back in my own, I realized what had happened. Mome himself was lying on the deck, convulsing madly. He was frothing at the mouth, and his teeth had clamped down so hard that he’d bitten off the tip of his tongue. No wonder his mind had turned into a complete mess.

That was one of the other reasons mind magic was classed as dark magic. Sure, respecting the sanctity of another’s mind was important, but there was more to it than just that. The thing about going into somepony else’s mind was that the brain is an incredibly complicated and incredibly delicate piece of machinery. What I’d done was pretty much the equivalent of smashing down the door to somepony’s house and tearing the place apart looking for anything worth stealing. I’d caused all kinds of damage in the process of getting the information I wanted.

Metal Mome would survive the battle. When I took him back to Freeport, the Council would stick him in a special facility for mentally damaged ponies. He would spend the rest of his life completely incapable of eating, walking, or managing his own hygiene. He was barely even alive at all, save in the strictest biological sense. Killing him probably would’ve been a mercy, but the Council would probably like him better as he was. A dead pony was just a martyr; a living vegetable was a constant reminder that there were severe consequences for defying the Council’s will.

That was still in the future, though. At that moment, all that mattered to me was that I had the information I needed. I used Mome’s golem spell, quickly establishing a link to the two automatons. It felt very weird, having the sudden awareness of two other entities pouring into my thoughts. The information provided by the spell was fairly crude—just a general rundown of their current position and status, and a link to transmit back simple order to the golems’ virtual intelligence.

From what Mome’s memories told me, the golems didn’t have anywhere close to enough brainpower to actually make any decisions. The VI he’d equipped them with was only enough to understand and execute basic instructions. Mostly so the controller could just tell them to walk instead of sending out a long, complex set of detailed instructions on how exactly to put one foot in front of the other. I have to admit, there was an elegant simplicity to the design.

I didn’t have much time to admire my new golems, though. Silverhorns the minotaur vaulted over the side of the ship with several more pirates in tow. He immediately rushed to Mome’s side, grabbing him and trying to stop the convulsions. It didn’t work, and Mome kicked the minotaur away. He whirled on me and pulled his crossbow. “What did you do to him, you whorse?!”

I smirked at him. “The real question you should be asking yourself is, ‘what am I going to do to you?’”

Silverhorns was still standing by Metal Mome, which put them both right next to the golem that had been guarding Mome. In perfect striking distance. I sent the order through the mental link. Golem, take down Silverhorns.

An instant after I gave the order, I realized my mistake. Metal Mome hadn’t programmed his golems with things like mercy and restraint in mind. He was a pirate, not a pacifist. Before I could countermand the order, the golem brought its halberd up and slammed the blade down right between the minotaur’s horns. One chop was all it needed. Silverhorns fell to the deck, and he would never get back up again.

Sure, I’d talked with Puzzle about how we would probably need to deal with Silverhorns to keep him from coming after me for revenge, but that was just talk. It’s one thing to say I might need to kill him, it was another to see a golem under my direct control smash his skull in.

I didn’t have time to freak about that, though. Not when there was still a whole ship’s worth of pirates to deal with. Considering my only chance of intimidating them into submission was to frighten them with the fact that I controlled Mome’s golems now, the last thing I wanted to do was let slip that I didn’t have perfect control over them after all. I might have Mome’s memories of how to run the golems, but I wasn’t used to mentally directing a pair of huge automatons. I wouldn’t have anywhere near Mome’s skill with them until I had more experience. The magic required to keep the link running was miniscule, but dividing my attention between myself and two golems was going to take a lot of getting used to. That was probably why he only ever actively attacked with one of them, while he kept the other on defense.

So I kept up the bluff. Right now it was better to look guilty than weak. I drew myself up to my full height, which probably wasn’t all that impressive in my current bedraggled state, and glared at the rest of the pirates. I sent my golems two quick instructions, and the guardian walked over to my side while the sword-user bransished its weapon the rest of the pirates. I tried not to flinch when I saw the blood on my protector’s halberd. It would’ve ruined the image I was trying to project.

Right on cue, Weyland and the rest of the Venture’s crew came out of hiding, armed with whatever weapons they could find. I was right, she did know when the right time to make her move was. I took a deep breath and addressed the pirates. “Alright, here’s the deal. Metal Mome’s golems are mine now. Your captain is down. Your first mate is dead. So as far as I can tell, you have two options. You can surrender, and we take you back to Freeport and turn you in. If you cooperate, the Council might even go easy on you. You were just following your captain’s orders, and you were probably scared of being killed by his golems if you refused.”

I let that thought hang in the air and threw a significant look at my golem and its bloody halberd. I had to fight down my gorge for a moment before continuing. “The other option isn’t nearly as nice. You know how nasty Metal Mome’s golems are, and what happened to your first mate. And we all know that if you’d won the fight, you would’ve killed or enslaved everypony on this ship. I don’t think anypony would complain if we showed you the same amount of mercy. Your choice.”

The pirates wavered at my ultimatum, but didn’t quite break. They might be scared, but they weren’t quite to the point of surrendering yet. Maybe they were thinking they could still win the fight, or maybe they were considering their chances of abandoning ship and swimming for one of the nearest islands. Whatever the case, they needed an extra push if I wanted them to surrender. I sent the sword golem at the nearest cluster of them and had it lift its sword up over its head as if it were about to strike.

The pirates threatened by the golem flinched back, and their weapons clattered to the deck. Pretty soon the rest of them followed suit. A couple of the one near the back still ran for it, but I let them go. I didn’t have any way of chasing after them anyway.

Weyland sent her crew over to collect the pirates’ weapons and take them into custody. I wasn’t sure how we would run the two ships with just the crewponies she had on the Venture. In all likelihood, we would have to draft some of the pirates to help run the Granite Heart. A bit dangerous, but so long I had the golems to keep them in line it should be a manageable risk. The pirates wouldn’t try anything as long as they were certain punishment would be swift and lethal.

“You did it!” I blinked as Kukri scrambled out of the cabin, running up and hugging my leg. “The Shimmer mare has kept her promise and saved everypony on the ship! This one was afraid, but it never should have doubted her.”

“Yeah, I did.” I returned the kid’s hug, and for a moment everything felt fine. Then I saw the blood on my golem’s halberd. Metal Mome lying on the deck with a blank, lifeless look in his eyes, his coat soaked by Silverhorns’ blood.

A wing slapped me across the back, and I looked over to see Captain Weyland Doo smiling for the first time since I’d met her. “Nice work. I thought we’d had it for a minute, but you came through for us.”

“Yeah, sure.” I knew I should probably be celebrating with the rest of the crew, but I just didn’t have the heart for it.

The captain must’ve picked up on what was bothering me—the fact that I was still staring at Mome and Silverhorns probably gave it away. Her voice dropped down to a low whisper. “Don’t bother yourself over them. They were thieves, murderers, and worse. They got what was coming to them. I’d call that justice.”

Yeah, I suppose they did. It’s not like I’d done all those things to them for fun. Mome would’ve killed or enslaved everypony on the ship if I hadn’t stopped him, including me. And Silverhorns probably would’ve rallied the rest of the pirates and gone down fighting if my golem hadn’t dealt with him. The traditional penalty for piracy was execution anyway. Using dark magic on Mome wasn’t nice, but it had been a matter of simple survival. Better to use dark magic on one murderer than let him do terrible things to every single innocent pony on the ship. That was written into the magus code itself. Everything I had done was right. I had saved everyone on the ship.

So why did I feel so dirty?

Consequences

The Venture returned to Freeport two days later, towing along the Granite Heart. By the time we docked, there was already a crowd of onlookers and gawkers waiting for us. Everyone wanted to see the captured pirates and get a good look at who had taken them down.

Normally I would’ve been all for putting on a bit of a show for the crowd. I’m not saying I’m some kind of show-off or that I hunger for attention, but everypony likes to be recognized for their accomplishments. Besides, a bit of fame would help if I was going to keep working in Freeport.

I couldn’t really take any pride in beating Metal Mome, though. Not with how I’d done it. I’d been sloppy and overconfident, and it had nearly gotten myself and a bunch of other innocent ponies killed in the process. Even if using dark magic to get out of that mess had been justified, I never would’ve been there in the first place if I hadn’t been so stupid.

So instead of returning to Freeport in triumph, I just stared out at the city feeling empty. Like there was this big hollow place in the middle of my chest where my heart should’ve been. I didn’t know what to do next—the whole idea of a life as a Freeport Magus didn’t really appeal to me anymore. Nothing really sounded all that appealing. I was tempted to just hole myself up in a hotel somewhere with a couple books and projects, and just shut myself away from the rest of the world and its problems for a bit. That’s what I’d done with my tower back in Canterlot, whenever things started getting to me.

It’d be nice if I could really do that. Sadly, it wasn’t an option. It all came down to bits—the money I made off of this job wouldn’t last forever, and hiding in a hotel room would only put me back in the same situation I’d been in before this whole mess started: poor and desperate enough to take a job that put me in danger. Whatever my next move was, it would have to be something that kept me moving forward. Running and hiding wouldn’t accomplish anything except making my situation even worse than it already was. Like it or not, I had to deal with the here and now. I just needed some time to think about what my next move would be.

I was so caught up in brooding over what had happened that I didn’t hear Kukri walk up and take a place at my side. The little changeling cleared its throat to get my attention, then offered a concerned frown. “Are you well, Shimmer-mare?”

I was very much not well, but most of the stuff bothering me wasn’t the kind of thing I could burden a kid with. So instead I forced a smile for her benefit. “Better now, yeah. A good night's sleep helped a lot.” It wasn’t a lie; my spirit might still feel terrible, but my body certainly appreciated the rest.

“Good.” Kukri stepped a bit closer, leaning against one of my legs. “You looked tired after saving our lives. And your battle wounds seem to be healing well.” She looked over the bandage on my side to confirm that. “If the Shimmer-mare does not wish for the services of a doctor, this one would be more than happy to continue helping her tend to her wounds. The captain has granted the crew substantial shore leave, as both reward for our service and because the Venture will require more repairs while in dock.”

While she had been helpful when it came to getting the injury on my side bandaged up, I suspected Kukri was mostly just looking for an excuse to spend more time with me. Not that I minded that in the least. She was a good kid. Plus, having her around reminded me why I’d gone as far as I had taking down Metal Mome. Seeing her free, alive, and happy made me feel a bit less terrible about what I’d done to him. “If you wanna spend your shore leave with me, I’d love to have you around.”

Kukri’s grin practically reached her ears. “That is wonderful! This one will enjoy spending more time with the Shimmer-mare. It has never seen anything like the feats of magic she can perform! You stole the pirate’s golems with a single spell!” She continued on, oblivious to the guilty twinge her words sent through me. “A ship of pirates captured, everybody alive on the Venture—the Shimmer-mare did the impossible!”

“Yeah, I guess.” Kukri noticed my utter lack of enthusiasm for her praise, and her smile slipped a bit. I put my hoof on her shoulder for a moment, so she wouldn’t think she was to blame for my mood. “I'm just glad you're all okay.”

“This one is glad that it is safe as well. But never mind us, are you alright?” The child looked up at me with a concerned frown. “The captain allowed this one to occupy the quarters next to the Shimmer-mare so that it would be available to bring her a meal or extra pillow if she wanted it. This one could tell your rest was uneasy … it did not mean to pry, but the walls on a ship are not very thick.”

Oh. Great. I scrambled to come up with a decent explanation for that. “Thanks for worrying, Kukri, but I'm fine. I just rolled onto my bad side while I was trying to sleep.” It wasn’t exactly a lie—the injury had woken me up a couple times. Nopony ever mentioned problems like that in the adventure stories.

Kukri frowned skeptically, but instead of voicing her doubts, she just leaned against my leg. The two of us stood there silently, watching the crew go about their business. Right now it was all the normal docking procedure of getting the ship into its berth and tying it up. I probably could’ve hopped down to the dock already, but I wasn’t in that much of a hurry to get to dry land. It’s not like I had much that I was looking forward to back in Freeport. I could wait for them to set up a gangplank, so I could walk across instead.

I did feel a bit better once I spotted a familiar face in the crowd. Puzzle Piece was in its pegasus form again—from what it had said, it tended to use that appearance for most of its ordinary day-to-day business. Sure, Puzzle had played a part in getting me into this mess, but it had also done a lot to help me out. It’s not like I could blame it for my own actions or decisions, anyway. I wouldn’t call it a friend, but I think it was at least on my side.

Ugh, I still wasn’t used to thinking of changelings as ‘it.’ Yeah, that was probably the best pronoun to use with a genderless race, but it still felt weird. Not helped by the fact that Puzzle seemed vaguely stallion-y, and Kukri still struck me as more feminine.

I hesitantly waved to the changeling, and it smiled and waved back. Once the gangplank was down, I wasted no time trotting across it, Kukri tagging along behind me. “So what will the Shimmer-mare do now that she has captured the infamous pirate and saved the Venture? This one is sure its clan would be more than happy to offer her hospitality as a reward for all that the Shimmer-mare has done.”

That sounded nice, but I had a feeling the Doos’ hospitality wouldn’t be any more generous than the Council’s. The Doos would be grateful for a bit, but soon they would want me to start earning my keep too. There would be other ships that needed protection, and I’d already heard about the off-and-on skirmishes between all the various players in the outer islands of Freeport. Helping the Doos steal a sugar plantation from a rival merchant group didn’t appeal any more than running down the Council’s bounties, so I gave Kukri a carefully noncommittal answer. “Right now, all I plan to do is get paid for taking care of Mome.”

“Obviously. But after that?”

“I’ll figure out what comes after once I get there.” At the very least, having bits would give me more options than I had when I first arrived in Freeport. I guess I could just play things by ear for a bit. I didn’t want to play the waiting game indefinitely, but I could afford to spend a few days weighing my options once I got paid. I just needed to be careful not to drag that out too long.

Captain Weyland called Kukri away to tend to some of her duties, so I was on my own as I made my way through the cluster of dockworkers and people who’d come to stare at the captured pirate ship, until I finally got to Puzzle Piece. The changeling smiled at me. “Sunset Shimmer, it seems you have succeeded in your mission. Judging by the fact that the Venture is towing in Mome’s ship, I can safely conclude that your performance was quite exemplary. I’m pleased.” Its eyes drifted to the bandage on my side. “I hope you weren’t hurt too badly.”

For a moment I was surprised Puzzle wasn’t doing the whole ‘this one’ thing, but considering we were in the middle of a crowded dock, it wasn’t hard to guess why. There were probably plenty of ponies—and other creatures—who would recognize the rather distinctive changeling speech pattern. Puzzle probably wanted to keep a low profile.

He was still waiting for an answer, so I gave him one. “Yeah, I’m not too hurt. One of the golems just got a lucky shot in.”

Puzzle nodded, but shot a worried look at the bandage. “I’ll arrange a meeting with a doctor anyway, just to be safe.” Its eyes turned to the Granite Heart. “I see Mome’s ship, but what of Mome himself?”

“We've got him and the rest of the pirates on the Venture.” Rope was a necessity on any ship, so we’d had plenty to spare for tying up a bunch of pirates. Though I think the fact that I had my golems sitting in the cargo hold with them was more than enough to stop any of them from getting ideas. “Mome’s still alive. He hasn’t said or done anything since I captured him, though. I think...” I hesitated, but forced myself to finish the report. “I think I might’ve broken him. Permanently.”

Puzzle raised an eyebrow, but didn’t offer any objection. “Is that so? Well, the bounty was for capture or proof of death, so alive but broken should be no problem for the Council. It will make whatever fate they have planned for him that much easier. I think I would like to hear the full story, though. You look like you've gone through quite the rough little adventure.”

Rough. Yeah, that was one word for it. “I broke into his mind. We've got his golems back in the ship. I can control them now.” I probably shouldn’t have said all that where dozens of ponies could overhear us, but I was too burned out and tired to care about the consequences.

Puzzle answered with a simple nod, seeming not the least bit bothered by my confession that I’d used dark magic. It said something about where I’d ended up in life that one of the closest things I had to an ally in Freeport didn’t even blink when I told him I’d gone warlock. It probably would’ve been similarly unmoved if I’d brought back Mome’s severed head.

Urgh. No point dwelling on it now. All the regrets in the world wouldn’t put Metal Mome back together again. “So, I guess that just leaves the Council to be dealt with. Do they want to see me right away, or will I have time to get a shower and some time in a bed that doesn't rock with the waves first?”

Puzzle looked me over again and offered a sympathetic smile. “Your report isn’t especially urgent, and the Council is well aware of the unpleasantness that accompanies an extended trip at sea. Obviously it would be unwise to make them wait too long, but I suspect tomorrow morning will be soon enough for their purposes.”

“They probably don’t want to see me with two weeks’ worth of grime, sea salt, and dirt in my coat anyway.” I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to go before Celestia in my current state. A shower and a good night’s rest would be just the thing to get me back to feeling like a civilized mare instead of a burnt-out husk. “So do you still have that hotel room you were putting me up in, or do we need to figure out something else?”

Puzzle shrugged. “I saw little point in paying for an empty room while you were out at sea, but I can arrange a new one quickly enough. Perhaps with room service as well. I’m sure you’d like some fresh food after living off of hardtack.”

I’m normally not big on fancy eating, but I have to admit that I liked the idea of getting a proper quality meal after weeks ship food. Not to say that the food on the Venture was bad, but there’s only so much one can do to make hardtack and kelp palatable, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that the Venture supplemented its diet with fresh fish. I guess it was no surprise that the remnants of the old clans stuck with the Pegasopolan tradition of omnivorism, but I don’t know how they managed it. Meat was just ... icky.

Kukri trotted over to my side and cleared her throat, grinning up at me. “Is this one still to join the Shimmer-mare? And may it also receive room service alongside her?”

Puzzle snorted and whispered to me, “That one is hoping to get in some luxury at the Shimmer-mare’s expense, it would seem.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh be nice. Besides, she’s earned it.” I rather liked the idea of spoiling Kukri a little. Her energetic enthusiasm was infectious. I was a little surprised she’d be interested in room service, given that changelings didn’t need to eat normal food. Then again, she was probably hoping to get a bunch of sugary snacks that didn’t have much nutritional value to begin with. Not to mention getting to sleep on a big feather bed instead of a hammock. I gave Kukri a quick pat on the head. “Sure, you can get room service too. Just don’t pig out so much you make yourself sick.”

Kukri grinned and attached herself to my side. “This one thanks the Shimmer-mare for her generosity. It will aid her in whatever way she asks as repayment.”

Puzzle stared down at its fellow changeling for a bit, then shrugged. “I suppose compared to everything else, paying for a child’s ice cream is a negligible expense.”

Its meaning became apparent as soon as we entered the hotel it had picked out. Last time, it had chosen something modest and comfortable, but not especially fancy. This time, it brought me to a place that was clearly a bit more upscale. The reclining couches were made from hardwood that had to have come from the mainland, and the bathroom held a huge jacuzzi bathtub that I was just dying to spend a while in to get all the ship-grime off. The rooms here couldn’t have been cheap, but with the bounty for Mome plus however much I’d make from selling off the Granite Heart, I had bits to spare even after Puzzle took its cut.

Kukri’s eyes widened as she took in the sights. A big fancy hotel like this was probably a lot nicer than what she was used to. Well, maybe. I didn’t really know much about Kukri’s family life. Did changelings even have family lives? Puzzle hadn’t mentioned anything about parents when it brought up changeling reproduction, but someone had to be responsible for raising and training the young. And if Kukri was part of the Doo clan, then presumably she had some sort of bloodline connection to them too.

Oh well, there would be time enough to get answers for all that later. For right now I was fine with just watching Kukri stare at all the fancy furniture. The kid galloped over to one of the couches and pounced onto it, stretching out until it occupied the whole thing. Once she was comfortably established, she smiled at me contentedly. “This one thanks the Shimmer-mare for letting it accompany her and her acquaintance.”

“No need to thank me, I’m just glad to have you here.” I probably would’ve joined her on the couch, but I really wanted to try out that fancy bathtub. I’m not normally into that kind of thing, but I’m also not normally covered in a pretty thick layer of ship grime, dried seawater, and everything from the battle with the pirates. I think the only part of me that was reasonably clean was the bandage on my side. Go figure, a nice fancy bath sounds a lot better when you’re feeling really dirty. I wondered if Kukri felt just as messy, or if changelings had an easier time keeping themselves clean. I suppose a carapace wouldn’t hold onto dirt the way a coat does.

Screw playing the good host, I could do that after I had my bath. “Kukri, Puzzle, could one of you get something to eat while I wash up?”

Kukri hopped off the couch, practically standing at attention. “Of course! It would be this one’s pleasure. What would the Shimmer-mare like?”

“Pick whatever you want, as long as it’s not hardtack, fish, or anything else like that.” I could die a happy mare if I never ate shipboard food again. I normally wasn’t all that picky about my food, but ... yeah.

Puzzle Piece grinned and produced a room service menu. “Arranging a meal shouldn’t be all that difficult. If the Shimmer-mare does not wish to order herself, this one is quite aware of her preferences.” It was oddly relieving to hear Puzzle going back to changeling speech, though less relieving to know it had my dietary profile. I suppose when information is your stock and trade, collecting random facts like that was just second nature. One never knows what random little facts could be worth something to somepony.

Puzzle’s eyes shot down to Kukri. “While the hotel obviously does not put changeling food on the menu, this one can tend the other’s needs as well if it requires sustenance.” Puzzle paused, and a faint smirk crossed its face. “Well, perhaps that is not entirely accurate. Hotels which cater to such wealthy clientele have been known to provide discreet services to their guests. Still, this one thinks that simply consuming some thymoplasm would be far less troublesome, and better suited to one of the youngling’s age.”

Kukri’s eyes dropped to the floor, and she mumbled. “Er, yes, this one has not yet fed from ... that is, it has only eaten the thymoplasm for its sustenance.” Her ears perked up hopefully “But it will be old enough to feed itself properly soon.”

I have to say, listening to two changelings discussing their feeding habits was making things just a bit awkward for me. Especially since I still thought of Kukri as a cute little kid, not a love-eating bug. At least she was only eating the concentrated stuff absorbed by changeling cocoons instead of directly chomping on ponies. Although it sounded like she was almost looking forward to getting to that point—maybe it was some kind of changeling rite of passage?

I guess Puzzle must have picked up on my mood, because it quickly jotted down a note and passed Kukri a hooffull of coins. “If the other would make our order and pay appropriately, this one would be most appreciative. The other may obtain whatever it wishes for itself, provided it does not exceed its budget.

Kukri nodded dutifully. “This one will do so.” She turned back to me and trotted over to give my leg a quick hug. I hesitated for a moment before patting her on the back; I was just a little bit unsettled by the reminder that her species saw mine as a food source. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to notice my reaction. “This one will return shortly with food, Shimmer-mare!” With that said, she wasted no time practically galloping out the door. Seeing just how eager she was to win my approval just made me feel worse about how I’d found her eating habits off-putting.

Once Kukri was safely out of earshot, Puzzle turned to me with a faint frown. “Kukri is a changeling, and like all changelings, she must feed in order to survive. It is our very nature; we gain no sustenance from any other form of food. Even thymoplasm is ultimately derived from the cocoons we place our food within in order to draw out its energies more effectively.” It sighed and shook its head. “Some Free Minds have tried to abandon our feeding habits, but they inevitably starved or gave in to base appetites and turned almost feral, mad with hunger.” Puzzle met my eyes. “Kukri clearly idolizes the Shimmer-mare. If she senses that the Shimmer-mare does not wish for her to feed...”

Oh. Dammit. This is why I never wanted to be a role model or deal with kids in the first place. I never meant to try and turn Kukri into some sort of changeling vegetarian or whatever. I was just a bit weirded out by the idea that the cute little kid I had a soft spot for viewed ponies as a food source. I wasn’t trying to change her or anything, I just ... I guess I needed some time to adjust to the idea.

Regardless, it certainly wasn’t something I wanted to discuss right then. I knew I would have to adjust to changeling feeding habits eventually if I wanted to keep working with Puzzle and being friends with Kukri, but right now I had enough on my plate. I could deal with changeling stuff later. “Yeah, no trying to make the kid starve herself. Got it. Anyway, I’m gonna go take a bath. No peeking while I’m in there.”

Puzzle brought a hoof up to its cheek, its face a perfect picture of wounded innocence. “Now why would this one do something like that?”

I couldn’t help smirking at that. “You know, it’s pretty hard to pull of the innocent act when I know you’re an experienced spy and assassin.”

The changeling answered my smirk in kind. “Perhaps so, but this one has always enjoyed providing itself with fresh new challenges.”

I answered him—it—with a playfully suspicious glare. “I think I’m gonna put an alarm spell on the bathroom door, just to be safe.”

“Right, right.” I was halfway to the bathroom when Puzzle tossed out its parting shot. “This one presumes that should it violate the Shimmer-mare’s privacy, it would be lobotomized.”

I nearly tripped over my own hooves when it said that, thinking back to Metal Mome’s blank, uncomprehending eyes after I’d finished with him. “No, I wouldn’t ... no.” The shiver that went down my spine didn’t have anything to do with the room’s temperature. “I—I’ve gotta ... y’know, the bath.” I went to the bathroom as fast as I could without completely jettisoning my dignity, using the door to cut myself off from Puzzle before it said anything else.

I sank into the hot tub and tried to relax and just enjoy being clean and comfortable for the first time in weeks. Which would’ve worked a lot better if I could actually feel clean. I guess all the ship grime had really worked its way into my coat and mane, because even after I’d used up an entire bottle of shampoo (admittedly one of the small-sized hotel room ones), I still felt dirty. I could still smell the wet briney stink of the ocean, feel that rough salty stiffness in my coat. And I could still smell the coppery tang of Silverhorns’ blood, still see Metal Mome’s wide, uncomprehending eyes.

Ugh. I didn’t want to think about that. It was over. They’d gotten what they deserved. End of story, no point dwelling on it.

I also had to be careful while scrubbing off, on account of the injury to my side. The wound seemed to be healing well enough, but the last thing I wanted was to open it back up by washing it too vigorously. I’d have to see about getting a new bandage on it once I was done bathing. Ideally something a bit better than the one from the ship’s first aid kit. As the dirt came off, I also noticed several bruises that had escaped my attention earlier. I guess they hadn’t really registered with everything else I’d been through.

Considering the jacuzzi’s water had taken on a distinct greyish tinge after all my scrubbing, perhaps it was no surprise I wasn’t feeling completely clean yet. I drained the tub and filled it back up with water that didn’t have two weeks of accumulated ship grime in it. That helped a little. I tried using a bit of light magic to make it easier to see what I was scrubbing underwater, but no matter how many times I cast the spell, it wouldn’t stop fizzling. I’m sure if Celestia were here she’d give me another one of her lectures about how I had to be ‘in harmony with myself’ if I wanted to use that kind of magic, which still seemed like a load of horseapples to me. If you cast the spell right, magic happens no matter what mood you’re in.

I stepped out of the tub and used a quick drying spell. Which worked just fine, even though I wasn’t any more ‘in harmony with myself’ than I’d been when I tried the light spell a minute earlier. Maybe the trouble with light spells had to do with local conditions? The fact that I was down at sea level on an island instead of on top of a mountain and a thousand miles inland could be significant. I’m not sure how that would affect light spells, but it certainly made more sense than some stuff about harmony and rainbows.

I stepped out of the bathroom and saw that Kukri was back with the food. I was a bit surprised by how much of it was Equestrian cuisine: hayburgers, hayfries, some cake, and a salad that had none of the usual Freeport ingredients. I guess it was no surprise that a hotel which frequently catered to travelers from Equestria had some Equestrian-style food close at hoof, and I certainly wasn’t going to complain about having a taste of home.

Kukri looked up at me with a hopeful little smile. “This one hopes the food it obtained is satisfactory. It also attempted to procure a wider selection of beverages, but the hotel staff refused to provide some due to its age. Sorry, Shimmer-mare.”

I gave the little changeling a pat on the head and settled down on the couch next to her. “That's fine, Kukri.” My magic was strong enough that back in Equestria I’d been effectively barred from drinking anyway. Alcohol and fire rarely make a good mix. Besides, the one time I’d gotten my hooves on a bottle of brandy from the castle’s wine cellar and tried it out I’d hated the way it tasted, and then I discovered hangovers.

While I poured myself a glass of apple juice, Kukri was grinning down at a platter of kelp-wrapped shrimp, and Puzzle had a filet of some kind of fish. The changeling opened up a jar and started smearing some thick green jelly-like substance on the fish, then passed it to Kukri. I guessed the green stuff must be that thymoplasm it had mentioned earlier. Kukri filled a small bowl with the thymoplasm and used it as gelatinous dipping sauce for her shrimp.

Being buddies with changelings was definitely going to take some time to get used to. Still, I was cautiously optimistic about pulling it off. After all, Kukri was still a nice kid, and Puzzle seemed to be doing a good job of helping me earn money and take care of myself. That seemed like a good foundation to build on.

Puzzle swallowed a bit of its fish, then glanced up at me. “This one hopes the Shimmer-mare enjoyed her bath and feels much better now.” It smirked “In this one’s judgment, she is much more aesthetically pleasing now.”

“It helped.” I might not feel one hundred percent clean, but at least my coat wasn’t sticky with a dozen layers of grime anymore. Maybe a couple days of staying in a nice hotel enjoying all the modern hygienic luxuries would be enough to get me back to feeling like a civilized mare.

Though speaking of baths... “You wanna use the tub now that I’m done, Kukri? I bet you want a bath just as much as I did.”

Kukri took a moment to finish swallowing her shrimp, then answered me. “This one does not require a bath.” She paused, and then hesitantly amended, “Unless the Shimmer-mare finds its odor objectionable, or believes its hygiene lacking.”

“You’re fine, Kukri,” Puzzle quickly reassured her before turning to me. “Changelings don’t need to bathe in the same way that ponies do. Chitin handles dirt differently than fur and skin.”

“Yeah, I figured as much.” I frowned and ran a hoof through Kukri’s mane, prompting the little changeling to lean against my side. “But right now Kukri has a coat and a mane, just like a pony. So how does that fit with how chitin handles dirt?” My frown deepened as more and more of the potential practical problems involved in shifting from skin to chitin sprang to mind. It was a pretty massive biological change, not to mention a changeling often shifted mass, body shape, and could even grow entire new limbs.

Puzzle chuckled. “Perhaps it would be best if this one found some literature on the matter, which the Shimmer-mare could peruse at her leisure. The mechanics of changeling shapeshifting are complicated, and this one is not an expert in such matters.”

“Sounds good.” I had a feeling that was going to be my next big research project. The more time I spent with Puzzle and Kukri, the more I realized how little I really knew about how changelings—not to mention what made the Free Minds different from Chrysalis’s brood. I knew there was more to it than just sentience versus being part of a hive mind. I hate not having all the answers, so the only thing to do was read enough books to cure my ignorance.

“This one will find the books the Shimmer-mare desires, then.” I smiled and thanked Puzzle for that, while making a mental note to pick up a few books that weren’t on the list it recommended. Strumming might be annoying, but she’d had a point about Puzzle; if I let it pick all my reading material, I’d probably only get stuff biased towards whatever it wanted me to believe. One of the first rules of doing good research is to check multiple sources.

Puzzle nibbled at its food a bit longer, then set the plate aside for the moment. “This one believes it has been quite patient, but now its curiosity has begun to overwhelm it. May it have an account of what transpired on your voyage?”

A forkful of salad paused halfway to my mouth. “Can we just eat instead? I don’t really wanna talk about that.”

“This one can tell the story of the Shimmer-mare’s heroics, if the Shimmer-mare is still too hungry to talk,” Kukri helpfully volunteered.

Puzzle shot the little changeling an indulgent smile, but its eyes never left me. “While this one would enjoy hearing the other’s account, it would prefer to hear the story from the Shimmer-mare first.”

“And the Shimmer-mare doesn’t wanna talk about it!” I snapped. Kukri flinched back at my tone, while Puzzle just stared at me calmly. I moderated my tone and gave Kukri an apologetic pat on the back. “Look, it’s been a long couple days, and right now the last thing I wanna do is talk about is everything I’ve been through. The job's done. That's all that matters, right?”

“This one can tell the story as well as the Shimmer-mare,” Kukri offered once more, no doubt hoping to defuse the tension.

Puzzle regarded me levelly, then slowly shook its head. “Very well, so long as there is nothing this one is unaware of that is likely to lead to complications for the next few days, this one can wait until the Shimmer-mare is ready to discuss the matter.” The changeling’s gaze turned piercing. “Though this one suspects the Shimmer-mare would benefit from discussing the matter. It is clear that the event is weighing on her mind.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to compose myself, sit up straight, and just generally project an air of confident nonchalance. “Yeah, some stuff happened out there.” My eyes rested on Kukri, still sitting at my side. “I'll learn to live with it.”

A confused frown appeared on Kukri’s face, and the little changeling scooted over to lean against me. “But why does the Shimmer-mare feel bad about what happened? She beat the pirates and saved all of us. She is a hero and should be proud of herself.”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, Kukri.” I was a bit torn on how to explain the problem, given that my audience was a rather mixed pair of an assassin and a kid. “I had to attack Mome’s mind to steal the golems from him.”

Judging by the way her frown deepened, Kukri didn’t understand the full implications of that. Puzzle stepped in to explain things before I had to. “Attacking a pony’s mind is considered a form of dark magic. Some ponies might call Sunset a warlock now, and try to hunt her down.”

Kukri’s frown turned into an outright scowl. “But that makes no sense! How can the Shimmer-mare saving us from an evil pirate be a bad thing? She is a hero who deserves to be honored, not a criminal. She stopped the criminal.”

It was a relief to hear Kukri say that, even though it was no surprise. That was part of why I liked the idea of having her around in the first place: to remember why I’d used dark magic. “It kept Kukri and everypony else on the Venture in one piece. The only other alternative was letting the bad guy win. So yeah, I’ll learn to live with what I did.”

Puzzle regarded me with its unreadably neutral expression. “Perhaps you will. But are you trying to convince this one or yourself?”

Urgh. This was definitely one of those conversations I really didn’t want to continue. Especially not with Kukri right here. “I'll have it handled by the time our next job comes up, okay?”

Puzzle was still staring at me, but it didn’t say anything. Probably because there wasn’t anything to say. Either I would make it through this or I wouldn’t. Puzzle was nice for a changeling, but it wasn’t going to hug me and tell me everything was gonna be okay.

I wish Celestia was here. Though if she was, I’d probably get a big long lecture about how wrong I’d been to use dark magic, and how there’s always a better way to solve your problems. Even that didn’t sound so bad right now, though. I mean, yeah, she’d be really mad at me and disappointed, but ... I dunno. Getting a big lecture didn’t sound that bad, as long as she was the one giving it to me. I just missed her, I guess. Especially now that I didn’t know if I could ever go back to see her again.

It seems weird that I almost wanted a lecture from her. Back when I’d been with her, I’d always been annoyed when Celestia chewed me out for doing something wrong.

All this horseapples was just too much to deal with. I wanted to curl up in bed for a week and hope that it would somehow just go away on its own. Fat chance of that actually happening, but a mare can dream.

Before I could worry about that any more, somepony knocked on the door. “Room service.”

Kukri hopped up from the couch, an eager grin on her face. “That would be the ice cream. This one hopes it meets with the Shimmer-mare’s approval.”

While Kukri went to get the door, Puzzle continued staring at me. It was starting get a bit unnerving. “The Shimmer-mare is certain she is well? This one’s research informed it that she had never been in a battle before, and it would be understandable if she were experiencing ... difficulties.”

Whatever answer I might have given him died on my lips when Kukri opened up the door and Strumming Heartstrings stepped in. “Hey. And before anypony complains about me lying, I did actually bring you guys ice cream.” She showed me a bowl with maybe two spoonfuls of ice cream left in it. “It was really good, by the way. Thanks.”

Great. Dealing with Strumming again was exactly what I needed right now. I groaned and ran a hoof over my face. “What do you want, and what do I have to do to make you go away?”

Strumming crossed her forelegs over her chest and pouted. “Aww, is that any way to say hello to one of your old buddies from Equestria? And after I brought you ice cream and everything...” She grinned, but I noticed that the smile never reached her eyes. “What, should I add whipped cream and sprinkles to it? Or did you want a cherry on top?” Her fake smile disappeared, and she shifted topic fast enough to give me mental whiplash. “So, you used dark magic. That's gonna be a real mess to fix.”

Puzzle groaned and pressed a hoof to its forehead. “Strumming. Good of you to drop in on us. Again.”

“You might not think it’s so good once I’m done.” She trotted up to the table and cut herself a slice of cake. “I'm gonna have to take Sunset into custody. Y’know, for the whole dark magic thing.” She snatched up my fork and waved it in my general direction. “So, you’re under arrest. Right to remain silent, blah blah blah, you know the drill.”

“What?” I’d been ready for Strumming to do something strange and annoying, but this was way more than I’d expected.

Puzzle didn’t seem to have been caught by surprise, at least. “Are you now? Curious, to see an Equestrian spy trying to make an arrest within Freeport’s sovereign territory. Not to mention the fact that the Equestrian Intelligence Service is technically not a law enforcement organization.”

“Well, maybe I’m technically taking her into custody rather than arresting her.” Strumming snorted, then paused to stuff some cake into her mouth. “But really, why quibble about semantics? The bottom line is, she’s coming with me to be punished for her crimes, and I’ll take her in by force if it comes down to that.”

“You will not!” Kukri leapt protectively between myself and Strumming, her teeth bared. Or rather, her fangs. She hadn’t fully reverted to changeling form, but those fangs didn’t belong in a pony’s mouth. “You will not harm the Shimmer-mare! She saved the Venture and her crew!”

“Whoa! Someone calm the little bug down before I have to break out the flyswatter.” Strumming tossed a bag of chips towards Kukri. “Eat those, the adults need to talk.” She turned back to Puzzle. “And don’t try to pretend I’m overstepping. You know Freeport’s a signatory to the Canterlot Accords, just like every other civilized nation. Warlocks are right up there with pirates and slavers as hostis equini generis. Jurisdiction doesn’t apply—anyone who can capture her can prosecute her.”

“Nonetheless, you are still in Freeport’s sovereign territory,” Puzzle countered. “The Accords specify that you can levy charges, after which our condottieri will take her into custody for an extradition hearing. By all means, file the appropriate paperwork with the Council, and they will give Equestria’s request due consideration.” The faint smirk on Puzzle’s lips made it clear how that would end.

“Normally that would be standard procedure,” Strumming shot right back, “but in this case it’s fairly obvious that the Council is harboring Sunset.” She directed a pointed look at Puzzle. “Filing a bunch of paperwork would get us nowhere, so we’re gonna take the more direct route.” She picked up an empty bowl, frowned down at it for a second, then chucked it right at the door, where it broke in a dozen shards of very expensive ceramic.

That must have been some kind of signal, because a moment later the door opened again, and a dozen ponies in armor that marked them as guards from the Equestrian Embassy filed in. “So, if you like legal authority, I got that covered. You want something more, I’ve got a dozen armed and armored ponies backing me up.”

Kukri fully reverted to changeling form and snarled, but I quickly wrapped a hoof around her chest and pulled her back. While I was busy restraining the angry young changeling, Puzzle kept Strumming talking. “So you intend on taking her one way or another, is that it? This one should mention that kidnapping is highly illegal.”

Strumming shrugged nonchalantly. “Yeah, but that’s why I’ve got diplomatic immunity.” She smirked and casually nibbled at her stolen slice of cake. “I don’t want this getting any nastier than it has to, but I've got my orders. I’m sure our ambassador will issue a formal apology and send the Council a fruit basket or something once it’s all done.”

I finally managed to get a good enough grip on Kukri that I could afford to take some of my attention off of her to answer Strumming. “You can’t arrest me, I haven’t broken any laws. Section three paragraph twelve of the Universal Code of the Magi states that—”

“When faced with an immediate threat, an Equestrian Magus is authorized to preserve the lives of innocents by any justifiable means,” Strumming quoted. “You know your rules, but there’s two big problems with using that particular one. First off, it’s the magus code, and you're not a magus.”

“I might as well be!” I snapped. “I trained for years under Celestia. I know more than any magus. I could probably beat half the Archmagi in a magic duel!”

“Maybe, but the Magus Code doesn’t apply to ponies who believe they deserve to be members of the corps, only to ponies who are members.” Strumming let that hang in the air for a bit, then moved on. “And even if we overlooked that issue, it says any justifiable means. As in, someone in authority can call you in and demand that you justify your actions. Kind of like being put on trial for your crimes. In fact, exactly like it.”

“The Heartstrings-mare has no right!” Kukri snarled, straining against my hooves. “She should be honoring the Shimmer-mare as a hero, not treating her as a criminal! This one and its clan will never allow her to be taken!”

Strumming chuckled, but a moment later the laugh died on her lips, and she shot a concerned look at Kukri and Puzzle. “Y’know, the kid might have a point. Warlock or not, the Doos might decide that they owe Sunset a rescue. Not to mention all the trouble the self-proclaimed best fixer in Freeport could cause for us if we left him loose.” She nodded to her guards. “Take ‘em all with us, at least until we’re far enough away from Freeport to be safe.”

“This one is curious to hear the Heartstrings-mare’s justification for such an act,” Puzzle sniped.

“Pragmatism,” Strumming answered with a smile. “But yeah, it is kinda blatantly illegal. Might as well use that diplomatic immunity while I’ve got it, right?”

I wasn’t interested in the legal questions. I quickly shoved Kukri behind me and ignited my horn as preparation for igniting something else—or somepony. “Leave Kukri out of this. If you lay one hoof on her...”

Strumming flicked a wing and something buzzed past my face before embedding itself in the wall behind me. A throwing spike. Strumming grinned and spread one of her wings, revealing several more spikes holstered on it. “Ah ah ah, let’s not start threatening the trained EIS agent who knows just how nasty a pyromancer who isn’t holding back can be.”

A rather important fact clicked into place for me, and I grinned. “You’re scared of me.”

“Darn right I am,” Strumming answered without a moment’s hesitation. “I’m in a flammable building with a high-level pyromancer, I’d have to be an idiot not to be worried. But you shouldn’t be smiling about the fact that I’m nervous. See, when I get nervous, I start thinking that maybe I should remove the thing that’s scaring me before it can hurt me.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I growled. “I’ll bet every bit of my bounty that Celestia’s orders were to bring me back alive and unharmed.”

“Alive, yes,” Strumming conceded. “Unharmed? Well, I figure as long as it all heals up before I drag you back into the throne room, we don’t really need to bother the Princess with every little detail of your capture. Though if you wanna make a fight of it, there’s two things I’d point out.” She sat down and snagged one of the shrimp off Kukri’s plate, sniffing it and trying a small bit, then quickly setting it aside. “First off, if you put up a fight, it adds more charges to the list and makes you look guilty. If you really believe your actions were justified, you’d have no issues with defending them at your trial. Secondly,” her eyes turned to my companions, “my orders are to take you alive and relatively unharmed. The Princess didn’t say one word about any changelings I happened to find tagging along with you. If it comes to a fight, we’ll handle them with a level of force appropriate to the threat.”

“Is that how the EIS operates, then?” Puzzle challenged, drawing itself up to its full height and glowering at the spy. “Threatening a child?”

“Who was threatening?” Strumming looked about the room with wide-eyed innocence. “I didn’t threaten anyone. I’m just stating the facts. Fights are dangerous. So think real hard whether mixing it up right now is worth it.” She turned to me, letting her eyes linger on mine for a long moment, then sighed. “Look, you go quietly and nothing’s gonna happen to your pet bugs except for being held onto for a bit. Minor inconvenience, then we let them go. No harm done. Plus it’d look real good at your trial. Honestly, from what I’ve heard so far I think you’d have a pretty good shot at acquittal if you don’t do anything stupid to feather it up.”

Puzzle leaned over and whispered to me. “If the Shimmer-mare would face trial, then submission seems prudent. If she intends to make a fight of it, the Heartstrings-mare has the advantage on us. Better to offer temporary surrender, then escape custody at a time and place of our choosing. She must sleep eventually, and this one doubts there will be a dozen guards on us at all times.”

As usual, Puzzle was right. Even if I could beat Strumming and her pet guards, where could I go from there? I would’ve added more crimes to my list and made myself look guilty of what I’d already been accused of. And Celestia would probably send some heavy hitters after me, or maybe even come herself. Though a part of me wanted to make her leave Canterlot; drag her halfway across the world, just to deal with me. It’d be nice to see her going to that much effort, instead of sending one of her errand-girls to pick me up.

I guess I’d be facing her soon enough, then. I might as well do so with less blood on my hooves. “Fine. I surrender.”

Confinement

I’m not sure what I’d expected to face when Strumming got me to the Equestrian Embassy. After all, I was technically a prisoner. That left a lot of options open for what kind of prisoner I’d be, though. Would it be something light and comfortable where I had a nice room, some books, good food, and all the usual luxuries—where aside from the fact that I wasn’t allowed to leave the embassy grounds, I was barely even a prisoner? Or would Strumming go for something a bit harsher?

In fairness, a harsh Equestrian prison was still considered fairly pleasant compared to the sort of jails you could find elsewhere, including in Freeport. My cell in the embassy would be nice and clean, I’d have an actual bed instead of a cheap cot, and my jailors would bring me three reasonably healthy meals a day. The worst thing they’d do would be cutting off my magic. Though at least these days there were inhibitor rings and spells instead of having to literally cut off my horn the way they did it back in the dark ages.

I didn’t like my odds of getting a low security lockup. Sure, being Princess Celestia’s ex-student counts for a lot, but with my abilities, they’d effectively be releasing me on the honor system. If I’d had access to my magic, teleporting out of the embassy would be child’s play for me; high security and magical lockdown was the usual procedure for an accused warlock. I’m pretty sure Strumming knew me well enough to warn whoever was in charge that I would make a run for it if I got a chance. Between that, the potential threat I represented, and wanting to avoid any appearance of favoritism, I expected to end up in whatever equivalent the embassy had to a maximum security cell.

Things wound up going a bit differently. Maybe Strumming was nicer in her report than I expected, or maybe Celestia didn’t care if ponies thought she was giving me a little bit of special treatment. Either way, I got a nice little room that was about the equivalent of a small studio apartment. Nothing fancy, but it had all the basic necessities, and there was even a small bookshelf stocked with a decent enough selection to keep me from getting bored while I spent all day locked up in a small room.

The downside of the arrangement was apparent as soon as I entered the room. There were enough anti-magic spells layered around the room to contain a dozen archmagi. Even a basic telekinesis spell was out of my reach, let alone anything I could possibly use to break out of here. The room might be cozy, but not being able to spellcast ensured I wouldn’t forget I was a prisoner. Still, if I had to have a cage, at least it was a gilded cage.

Since there was nothing else to do, I pulled out one of the books and did some reading. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the books at the embassy were about diplomatic relations between Freeport and Equestria. Not the most fascinating of topics, but it was more than sufficient to pass time while I waited.

I was on chapter three of a book about the sugar trade when I heard somepony undoing the locks on my door, and Strumming Heartstrings strode in, a bag of chips tucked under her wing and a hesitant smile on her face. “Hey. Mind if I come in?”

“Do I have a choice?” I groused.

“‘Course you do.” She trotted over to the bed and flopped onto it. “I mean, yeah—I’ll be coming in either way, but it’s still your choice whether or not you mind it.” She shot a look at the bandage on my side. “How you holding up? Doc said you were healing fine, and you didn’t need anything for the pain.”

“I’m fine.” I suppose the one good thing I could say for being imprisoned, the embassy’s doctor had taken a look at my injuries from the pirate fight. Not to mention that I was pretty much stuck on bed rest for as long as I was imprisoned. Boring and unpleasant, but it was good for healing.

Strumming tore open her bag of chips, stared at me for a bit, then offered it to me. “Here, have some crisps. I got sea salt and vinegar ones, since I figured they’d be your favorite.” She paused, then shrugged. “I mean, there were two bags of them in your trash when I raided your hotel room.”

I scowled at that little revelation. “You went through my trash?”

“Well of course,” Strumming answered, as if that were a perfectly normal and reasonable thing for a pony to do. “It’s pretty standard. You can find out all kinds of neat stuff about a pony by looking at what they throw away. Like their favorite kind of crisps.” She offered me the bag once more. “So are you gonna eat ‘em, or will you refuse to touch ‘em as part of some stubborn teenage pride thing?”

I shoved the chips back towards her. “I ate at the hotel, I’m not hungry.”

Strumming sighed and tucked the chips back under her wing. “Stubborn teenage pride it is.” She groaned and shifted about, making herself entirely too comfortable on my bed. “Hope you’re not gonna upgrade it to angry teenage lashing out. I got some stuff to talk to you about, and it’s hard to do that when you’re being all moody and stuff.”

I gave her exactly the sort of response her attitude merited. “Go feather yourself.”

Strumming took that in stride. “And that’s angry teenaged lashing out confirmed. Now all we need is you screaming that I’m not your mother and I can’t control you to have the trifecta.” She paused, tapping a hoof against her chin. “Y’know, I really oughta look into making a game out of this. Rebellious Teenager Bingo. I could make a killing selling that to parents everywhere.” She dumped out several of her chips onto the cover of one of my books, arranging them like bingo chips. “B-27! Trying to change your name to something like Nightfall Darkness. I-34! Doing something just because an authority figure told you not to do it!” She picked up two of her chips and shoved them down her mouth.

I was very tempted to discover what Strumming looked like with her mane on fire. If I ever got out of here, maybe I would get a chance to find out. Pity I had no idea how I was supposed to get out of this cell. I didn’t even know how long they were gonna keep me locked up in the embassy before sending me back to Equestria. Or what they’d done to Puzzle and Kukri.

That left me in the midst of a rather unpleasant dilemma. Strumming could probably give me all the answers I wanted, if I asked. But that would mean being at least somewhat diplomatic with her. She might be pretty easygoing whenever I snapped at her, but I was starting to think that was just another plot of hers. She wanted me to realize I was never going to get a rise out of her, so there was no point in trying to provoke a confrontation. Which just made me wonder even more about what her real deal was. I didn’t really know much about Strumming, and the more time I spent around her, the less confident I was about what I did know. How much of what I’d seen was the real Strumming, and how much was just another one of her ploys?

A strange thought struck me. Puzzle and Kukri might be the changelings, but in her own way Strumming might be even more of a shapeshifter. Changelings might alter what they looked like on the outside, but they always remained the same deep down. Strumming might not ever change her face, but I think a lot of who she really was could shift at a moment’s notice if that’s what she felt the job needed. It was a little scary to think about.

Or maybe she was just a weird, goofy spy.

Either way, I needed information, and she was the only pony likely to give me anything. Since intimidating it out of her was a no-go, that left charm. Pity that had never been my strong suit. Still, nothing ventured... “There any more of those chips left?”

Strumming looked me in the eyes, then slowly lifted up her wing and passed the half-full bag of chips to me. “Sure.”

I took the bag, fumbling a bit since my first instinct had been to use magic rather than my hooves. “Thanks.” I didn’t like saying that to her of all ponies, but when you’re trying to turn on the charm, observing the little courtesies is a must. I got to work on the chips themselves, both to buy time to think of what to say next and because Strumming had been right about them being my favorite flavor. Something about that tasty, flavorful burn the vinegar left behind was just so good. Besides, I didn’t eat junk food all that often, and I’d had a pretty stressful day.

Once I’d gotten through half a dozen chips, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to say next. “So what happens from here? You’ve got me locked up in the embassy, but there’s no way you’re gonna keep me here forever, much less Kukri or Puzzle. You hang onto them for too long and somepony’s gonna start asking questions about what happened to them. Questions that’ll eventually lead them here. Sure, you might have diplomatic immunity to keep from getting prosecuted, but I’m pretty sure an EIS agent getting caught red-hooved in an illegal kidnapping would still cause an international incident. Maybe a bad enough one that your government decides to waive immunity and toss you to the Council as a peace offering.”

Strumming immediately shook her head. “Nah, the EIS never sells its agents off just to score some diplomatic points. I’m not saying we’re all one big happy family, but we stick together whenever danger comes calling.” She opened up the small icebox in my cell and idly poked around in it. “You need better food in here. Anyway, you’re right about wanting to avoid an incident. The whole reason I grabbed them was to make sure they didn’t stir up any trouble on your account. If the Doos and the Council find out about the grab, it’ll cause a whole lot of problems we’ve been trying to avoid. Worse, probably.” She sighed and shook her head. “Of course, we have to let them go eventually. Like you said, we can’t hold onto them forever.”

“But by the time you release them, I’ll be back in Equestria.” Sure, Equestria would have to give the clans and Council something to mollify them, but getting a reduced sugar tariff or whatever was a poor substitute for me. The only way they’d get me back to Equestria was by force, and even if Freeport was crazy enough to start a war over me, they didn’t have anywhere close to enough strength to win it. The Council would just have to give up on their plans for me.

And I would have to give up on the life I’d been thinking of building in Freeport. I’d get to spend years in a jail cell instead of working my way up the city’s social ladder until I was the first Archmagus of Freeport.

“That’s the plan,” Strumming confirmed. “Cut ‘em loose and send a fruit basket once you touch the dock in Baltimare. Of course, you know what everypony says about plans. I know there are plenty of ponies in the EIS that would just love to pick Puzzle’s brain for a bit. Between its private ventures and what it does for the Council, I bet it could give us a ton of juicy intel. Just the small matter of figuring out how to make it spill its guts.” She paused, a faint frown on her face. “Do changelings actually have guts? Or is it just, I dunno, love-sucking bug parts. Guess it doesn’t matter. The important thing is, we’ll figure out how to make it talk eventually.”

I didn’t like what she was implying. At all. A sudden surge of raw fury boiled up out of my stomach. “If you hurt one hair on its...” I trailed off as I realized the problem with the metaphor, and tried to find some way to salvage it. “One ... one...”

Strumming chuckled and gave me a condescending pat on the head. “Relax, I get it. And I already told you, we don’t hurt ponies or anyone else to make ‘em talk. Puzzle’s a mercenary. Getting it to talk is probably just a matter of pulling out our checkbook, putting down a number, and then adding zeroes on the end until it’s satisfied.” She leaned back on my bed, idly fluffing one of the pillows. “That’s the one thing I’ll give mercenaries over most other ponies: their motives are pure and easy to predict. Compare that to somepony like you—aside from teenage stubbornness, you’re a total wild card. Hay, you don’t know what you’re planning, so how can I ever predict it?”

“You’re wrong about Puzzle,” I growled, glaring at the spy. “It’s not just a mercenary. If all it cared about was money, it would’ve turned me in for the bounty my parents have out on me. And it’s not just helping me because there’s money in it, it’s helping me because it’s my friend.”

Strumming stared at me for a long minute, then moved so fast I barely even saw her act. Next thing I knew, she had me pinned to the bed, and one hoof was running around underneath my mane. I tried to throw her off, but she had one of my forelegs pinned behind my back, my hind legs were dangling in the air over the side of the bed, and my one free limb had no leverage. There was nothing I could do but wait until she was done with whatever it was she was doing.

Eventually she stopped prodding my neck, then slowly nodded to herself and let me go. I immediately tried to slug her in the face, but she swatted my attack aside with bored indifference. I didn’t know much about hoof-to-hoof combat; it had never seemed important when I had my magic. If I ever got out of here, I was gonna fix that. I don’t like being defenseless.

The spy slowly shook her head and sighed. “Well, you didn’t let that thing feed on you, at least. You’re just stupid and naive enough to actually believe that bug is your friend.”

“I am not stupid!” I snarled and slammed my hoof down. “Puzzle’s helped me out time after time and hasn’t asked for anything in return.” Well, anything aside from a share of my profits, but that was fair enough. I could never have gotten to Metal Mome without its help. “You and the EIS keep trying to control me, but Puzzle’s the only one helping me do what I want.”

Strumming put her head in her hooves and groaned. “You know, for somepony who’s supposed to have a genius-level IQ, you’re utterly clueless. Kinda figures, though. I read about this one study that said that smart people are twice as likely to fall for con artists as stupid ones. The thing is, smart folks know they’re so much smarter than everyone else, and always think they can find a way to beat the odds and get something for nothing. Meanwhile, your average idiot has the common sense to know that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

She met my eyes, and her gaze hardened. “If you’re so smart, then answer this question for me: do you really think Puzzle Piece became the best fixer in Freeport and one of the Council’s most trusted agents by giving things away for free?” She poked me in the chest hard enough to sting a bit. “When someone who’s ruthless enough to survive and prosper in a cutthroat city like Freeport offers to be your friend and give you all kinds of help without asking for anything in return, you shouldn’t be grateful for your good fortune in meeting such a generous soul. You should be asking yourself ‘What’s the catch?’”

“It’s not like that!” Even to my own ears that protest sounded a bit weak. Much as I hated to admit it, a part of me was afraid Strumming was right. Puzzle had been awfully generous with me, to the point that I was pretty sure it was losing money despite what I was paying it. It probably could have earned more money doing something else. At the time I’d told myself that maybe Puzzle just didn’t care about its profit margins, that it enjoyed helping me out enough to take the loss. Plus, it probably saw the value of establishing a good working relationship with a mare of my talents and abilities. But what if Strumming was right? What if there was more to it than that?

Strumming got up and started pacing back and forth around the room. “Lemme paint a picture for you. Don’t interrupt until I’m done—I’m telling a story, and I don’t want you breaking up my narrative flow. So, a young mare shows up in Freeport. She’s lost, alone, and really needs somepony to give her some guidance. She’s also got a ton of raw magical talent, plus a decade of being tutored by Princess Celestia herself. In other words, she’d be a great asset for the Council.

“Getting in touch with her is simple enough, especially since you lucked out and had an agent on the boat with her. Thanks to this agent, you know that the young mare is running low on cash, so offering her a job shouldn’t be that hard. However, there’s no guarantee she’ll stick around once she’s filled her wallet back up. Especially when the Council knows that a lot of its jobs are going to be morally questionable. Sure, they can always just offer more money, but even the Council only has so much of that. Then there’s the problem of Equestria.

“See, Equestria wants this young mare back too. Once the mare’s got enough cash to be comfortable, maybe she starts getting homesick. Maybe she misses her parents, her friends, or her old teacher. Maybe she decides to go home. And maybe once she goes home, she stays. Or maybe the Council’s worried that if they send her out on a mission that could hurt Equestrian interests, she’ll decide that she loves her old homeland more than Freeport. It’s not enough to just pay this young mare—you’ve gotta cut those ties to her old home, or at least do something to bind her a lot more closely to Freeport. Otherwise, there’ll always be that open question about where her loyalties truly lie.

“So, let’s say we’re the Council. We want to bind this young mare to our cause and sever her ties with her old homeland. What’s the best way to do that? Sure, we could have a changeling feed on her and bind her mind, but that’s way too risky. A mage of her talents might be able to break free of any binding, not to mention mind control ruins all that drive and creativity that makes her such an asset. Even if she doesn’t break the binding on her own, the EIS is watching and might help her out. If you get caught, she won’t just go back to Equestria, she’ll probably turn completely hostile to Freeport out of spite. So you need something subtler. Less risky.

“Start off by making sure she has friends in Freeport. That’ll give her a connection to the city that she’ll be reluctant to leave behind. It’s a good opening move, but it’s not enough. Friendship is nice and all, but a couple changelings this young mare has known for a few weeks can’t really compete with her family. So you’ve got to find some way to cut that tie.

“And that’s when Freeport’s best fixer implements a wonderfully devilish plan: get her to cross some lines, and she won’t be able to go home anymore. Hay, if the EIS’s Freeport station chief is an idiot, he might even order this young mare’s arrest. Turn her into a criminal in her old homeland, and she’d be dependent on the Council to offer her sanctuary in Freeport. It’s a good plan; you just need to find a way to give her that push.

“That’s when the fixer puts all the pieces of this little puzzle together. A little kid who the idealistic young mare would naturally feel compelled to protect. A dangerous, ruthless pirate who would be incredibly difficult to kill with conventional magic, but has a specific vulnerability to the right kind of dark magic. And a powerful young unicorn who’s just arrogant enough to get herself in a situation where she needs an escape clause, and good enough at rationalizing doing bad things that she’ll compromise her principles in the right circumstances. Then just apply heat and pressure, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for her to use dark magic. From there, everything falls perfectly into place.” Strumming gave me a cold, bitter smile. “Checkmate.”

I took a step back and shook my head, my hooves wobbling underneath me. “No. No, that’s wrong. That can’t be right. You’re saying Puzzle set me up? That the entire fight with Metal Mome was just part of some elaborate scheme to trick me into using dark magic?”

“Yeah,” Strumming confirmed, flopping back down on the bed and stretching out. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. You got played like a harp.”

“You’re wrong.” I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t believe it. “That’s insane! There’s no way Puzzle could set up a plan that complicated. There are just too many moving parts to make it all work out so flawlessly. Nobody can make a plan that flawless.There’s no way it could perfectly predict what everypony would do weeks in advance. It’s impossible. Puzzle didn’t set me up!”

Even as I said that, a troubling thought wormed its way into the back of my mind. When Puzzle had briefed me on Metal Mome, it had casually mentioned that attacking his mind would be one of the best ways to take him down. It hadn’t pushed me on the subject or urged me to use dark magic, it had just dropped a little hint that mind control could fix my problem. Planted that seed, and waited to see what would come of it.

No, that was just a coincidence. Strumming couldn’t be right ... could she?

“I want to see Puzzle,” I demanded, glowering at the door. “You put together a nice little hypothetical, but I wanna hear its side of the story. Your whole conspiracy theory is way too complicated, and you’re a liar. I’d have to be a moron to take you at your word.”

Strumming sighed and shook her head. “Sorry, no can do. It’s policy to keep changeling prisoners in isolation. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that bugs with shapeshifting and mind control powers can cause way too much trouble if you let them have visitors. Especially one that’s as sneaky and underhooved as Puzzle Piece. Be a shame to let it escape after all the trouble I went to arresting it in the first place.”

“But I need to see him.” I hated being so ... so helpless and confused. I didn’t even know what to believe any more. No matter how much I tried to tell myself that Strumming’s theory made no sense and couldn’t possibly be true, I couldn’t shake the fear that she might be on to something. Maybe it was weak of me, but I needed to hear Puzzle tell me that none of it was true. Locked up in here, alone with only Strumming to listen to, it was starting to seem almost plausible.

Strumming trotted up next to me and put a wing over my back. “Hey, it’s alright, Sunset. Puzzle Piece is a master manipulator. You’re not the first mare it’s fooled. Probably won’t be the last one, either. That’s how changelings work, whether they’re part of Chrysalis’s hive or not. It’s all secrets and lies with them.” She gave me a comforting squeeze with her wing. “That’s why I told my station chief not to arrest you. You’re not one of the bad ponies—you just got played and wound up in a bad situation. It’s not your fault. With how Puzzle set things up, you were in a no-win scenario. I’ll tell them all that at your trial, and with any luck you’ll be cleared of all charges. I might even recommend that Princess Celestia take you back as her student.”

That offer caught me by surprise. Did I really want to go back to being Celestia’s student again? I’d left her for good reasons. But at the same time, I missed her. The idea of just turning back the clock, and letting everything go back to the way it used to be, before all the trouble had started between us ... I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that. Those years living in my student’s tower and learning alongside Celestia were the best of my life. The idea of getting it all back was pretty damn appealing.

Too appealing. “What was it you just said to me a while ago, Strumming? If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is? Well, going back to Equestria and getting instant forgiveness and reverting everything back to exactly how it was before I left sounds way too good to be true. So what’s the catch?”

“The catch.” Strumming sighed and shook her head. “I liked you better when you were naive and gullible. Probably shouldn’t have put so much effort into opening your eyes.” She took back her bag of chips, which I’d all but forgotten about, and finished off what was left. “You’re right, of course. Things can’t go exactly back to the way they were before. You’ve used dark magic, even if it was justified. There’ll be restrictions on what you can do, which books you can read, who you can talk to, and anything else Princess Celestia thinks might be a bad influence. Plus somepony from EIS keeping an eye on you to make sure you stick to all those rules.” She paused to pour herself a glass of water to wash down the last of the chips. “I guess you could say you’d pretty much be on probation. Do good, and you’d gradually get your freedom back.”

“How long would it take?” I asked.

Strumming shrugged. “That’s up to Celestia. Seems safe to assume those restrictions would last until she doesn’t think they’re necessary anymore.”

I scoffed incredulously. “So what you’re actually offering me isn’t my freedom so much as indefinite imprisonment. Why should I accept being stuck a gilded cage for the rest of my life?”

Strumming’s casual, easy smile disappeared, giving me a glimpse of something rock-hard and uncompromising. “Because your alternatives are a much less pleasant cage or a reform spell. You voluntarily used black magic to destroy the mind of another sentient being. That’s tantamount to murder. The penalty for that is pretty harsh.”

“Murder?” I could scarcely believe my ears. “You have to be kidding! How can it be murder? I was defending myself and everypony else on the Venture from him.”

“You’d have a fair point, if it really was a pure case of self-defense.” Strumming’s eyes narrowed. “But that’s not what happened. You hunted him down, planned out exactly how you’d lure him into a trap, and then sprang the trap. You never would’ve been in danger in the first place if you hadn’t decided to actively go after the guy. You created the situation that lead to your need to defend the Venture.”

“I was hunting a legitimate bounty offered by the government of Freeport,” I countered.

Strumming rolled her eyes. “No offense, but saying you were an assassin-for-hire working for a notoriously unscrupulous foreign power isn’t gonna make your case any better. Just come home quietly, put yourself under Celestia’s supervision, and this’ll all be over.”

I finally figured out exactly what she was driving at. “It wouldn’t be over. You said when you arrested me that I’d have to go on trial for using black magic. The only way to avoid that would be to make some sort of deal. That’s what you want me to do, isn’t it?” All this talk, everything she’d said, was all just to get me to a place where I’d take what she was offering.

“Guilty as charged.” A faintly mocking smirk crossed her face. “Which, incidentally, are words you’re likely to hear if you insist on having a trial. Any prosecutor worth the name is gonna say that muddies the waters enough that you shouldn’t get off free. Might be the jury will agree with them. That’s why we’re offering you this deal now. You get to keep most of your freedom, while we get to make sure you being free isn’t dangerous.”

“And Celestia gets to avoid the public embarrassment of having her student put on trial for using black magic,” I shot right back. The mere idea of it made me sick to my stomach, and I could feel the fury pulsing through my veins. “No. You can take your deal, and you can shove it right up your plot. Everything I did was right, and I’m not gonna say otherwise just so you’ll go easy on me. So bring on the trial. I’m not gonna say I did something wrong just to spare Celestia a little bad press. She’s an immortal princess of Equestria; she’ll get over it.” My eyes narrowed as another thought occurred to me. “Besides, I’m pretty sure spies can’t offer plea bargains in criminal prosecutions.”

“Not officially,” Strumming conceded, “but part of being a spy is doing a lot of things unofficially. Figured you’d know that by now. Nopony can offer an official deal until there are official charges, and at that point it’s a bit too late to avoid all that public attention you were talking about.” She paused and pursed her lips, idly tapping a wing on the bedsheets. “Speaking of which, I should point out that getting a bunch of publicity isn’t exactly gonna do you any favors either. Even if you win your trial, you’ll still be a self-confessed black magic user. That’s not gonna leave you in the best of positions. It’s pretty obvious you wanna make archmagus some day, and warlocks generally don’t get to do that.”

“Whatever.” I really didn’t care about my job prospects or my reputation anyway. Even if some ponies were scared off by my supposed crimes, plenty of others would recognize my superior abilities. Really, all the trial would do is weed out gullible morons who believed everything they heard without thinking for themselves, and I didn’t want anything to do with those types anyway. One of the downsides of being Celestia’s student had always been all those fools who wanted to be around me just because they thought being friends with somepony close to Celestia could get them something. If having a bad reputation made all of them go away, I’d count myself a winner.

I turned my back on Strumming, facing the wall. “I don’t care if it’s an official deal or an unofficial one, I’m not taking it.” I’m sure Strumming would say I was just showing some stubborn teenage pride, but I didn’t care what she thought of me.

Strumming sighed and slowly got up, heading towards the door. “Yeah, you’re gonna go for the whole ‘Fight to prove to the world that you’re right and it’s everypony else who’s wrong’ thing. That’s B-2 on my teenager cliche bingo card, by the way.” She opened up the door, but paused in the doorway. “For what it’s worth, I understand how you feel. Doesn’t make it any less stupid, but I understand it. I’m only four years past being a teenager myself, so I remember what it’s like.” She stepped out and locked the door behind her.

Then I was alone again.

I had a hard time getting to sleep that night. It’s not that I wasn’t tired. Hay, I was exhausted after everything I’d been through. I hadn’t fully recovered from fight with Mome, and tossing in all the stress of getting arrested wore me out even more. But despite how tired I was, I couldn’t actually sleep.

It was all Strumming’s fault. She’d kicked my legs out from under me. I didn’t know what to believe in anymore. Sure, her whole story about how Puzzle had set me up seemed way too elaborate and complicated to be plausible, but I couldn’t prove it wasn’t true. And while I knew it was logically impossible to prove a negative, that didn’t stop me from worrying.

After all, Puzzle did work for the Council. If they ordered it to ensure that I stayed loyal to Freeport by whatever means necessary, then it would do exactly that. It probably said something about the changeling that most of my efforts to disprove Strumming’s theory were focused on how the plan itself would be impossible to execute, rather than claiming that Puzzle was incapable of ruthlessly manipulating me if that served its purposes. I’d accepted from the start that Puzzle was probably trying to advance some Council agenda through me, but there was a big difference between putting a pro-Council spin on events and outright betraying me. If Puzzle had stabbed me in the back, there would be a reckoning between me and it.

Of course, all of that rested on the word of Strumming Heartstrings. A mare who was, in her own way, every bit as deceptive and treacherous as she accused Puzzle Piece of being. What exactly Strumming thought or believed always seemed to be in flux, depending on what gave her the best option for tripping me up and getting under my skin—which was probably the entire point with her. Whenever I talked to Strumming I was always off balance, confused, and trying to figure out what I should say or do. All of which made it that much easier for her to mess with my head. Get me to say things I normally wouldn’t, or listen to her more than I should.

So instead of sleeping, I just kept tossing and turning on the bed, trying to work my way through it all. Even though my body and mind were both exhausted, I couldn’t rest with all those thoughts pouring through my head. Every time I tried to slow my brain down it just sped up instead. There were just too many problems, and I couldn’t find solutions to any of them.

Just when I’d closed my eyes and finally gotten comfortable enough that I might actually have a chance of getting some sleep, I heard a voice. It was distant and filtered, kind of like when you’re listening to a record that’s twenty years old and worn out from being played too many times. Despite all the distortion, there was something familiar about the voice. “Sunset? Sunset, can you hear me?”

My ears perked up as I tried to figure out where that voice was coming from. “What? Who is it?” I opened my eyes to try and find where the voice was coming from, and was utterly shocked by what I saw.

I wasn’t in Freeport anymore. I was back in my old tower in Canterlot, lying in my huge and very comfortable feather bed instead of the simple utilitarian mattress of my jail cell. I climbed out of bed, slowly inspecting the room. Everything was exactly the way I remembered it. “What the...? I'm home?”

One of the most wonderful smells in the world drifted up from downstairs: fresh pancakes. A voice accompanied them. “Sunset, are you up? It’s time for breakfast.”

Some part of me was aware that none of this made any sense, but at the moment I didn’t really care. It was enough to be back here, and hear her voice again. “Celestia? Is that you?”

I galloped down to the kitchen, and there she was. However, I don’t think anypony had ever seen the supreme ruler of Equestria quite like this. Instead of her usual royal regalia, she was wearing a frilly pink cooking apron stained with a few bits of pancake batter, with the words ‘World’s Greatest Mom’ embroidered along the front. When she spotted me coming down the stairs, she looked up from the stove and offered me a warm smile. “Of course it’s me. And I thought you were calling me ‘Mom’ now.”

I would’ve had to be a complete idiot not to have figured out what was going on by this point. “None of this is real. I’m just dreaming.” Though at least that meant I’d finally gotten to sleep.

“Perhaps.” Celestia offered me that cryptic, knowing smile I was all too familiar with. “Or perhaps I am using a spell to manifest within your dreams. Or perhaps that is simply what this particular manifestation of your subconscious would say, because you want this to be real. So long as it comforts you, does it really matter?”

I guess in a way it didn’t. I needed Celestia right now, even if the only Celestia available might just be a figment of my imagination. Instead of worrying about whether she was real, I ran up and hugged her. That was real enough for me.

Celestia returned the hug, wrapping her wings around me in a feathery embrace. There’s nothing better than a huge wing for giving hugs, and Celestia has the biggest wings in the world. She looked down at me with a gentle, maternal smile. “My, you must have had a long day.”

I let my head rest against her chest, shaking as I thought over everything I’d been through since arriving in Freeport. “It's been a lot more than just one bad day. It's been a long ... everything. Ever since I left. It's hard.”

Celestia put a hoof to my lips and gently shushed me. “It’s okay, Sunset. Everything is going to be alright. I promise you.” I felt one of her hooves gently stroking along my mane. “How about you tell me all about it?”

A tremble passed down my spine, and I tightened my hug until I was pressing so closely against her that I was practically melded into her coat. Then the whole story started spilling out. Everything I’d been through since I’d left her in Canterlot. All my hopes and fears, friends and enemies. How’d I saved everypony on the Venture, and the crimes I’d had to commit to pull that off. And finally, my current crisis. “... and I don't know what to do now. I thought I had it all figured out, but now...”

The princess looked down at me, a hint of a worried frown on her face. “After everything you’ve been through, it’s no surprise you’re so unsure of yourself.” She let out a pained sigh and gently squeezed me with one of her wings. “I’m afraid I didn’t train you in everything you needed to know to face the challenges ahead of you. I thought we would have more time—that you wouldn’t need to learn some skills so soon. I erred in that, and so many other things, in training you. I am sorry for that.”

“It’s okay, I wasn’t the best student either.” Now that I was a little older and wiser, and had a bit more perspective on things, I was starting to realize just how good my life with Celestia had been. I’m not saying it was perfect, but it beat fighting murderous pirates just to make enough bits to afford food to eat and a roof over my head.

“We’ve both made mistakes.” She met my eyes, letting me see the depth of her sorrow and regret. “Those mistakes are in the past, though. It is time for us to look to the future. I think it might be time for you to come back home. We can deal with everything else once you’re back.”

“Come home?” I blinked and shook my head, instantly wary after what Strumming had tried to pull on me. Celestia wouldn’t do that, though. Not the way Strumming talked about it, at least. She wouldn’t stick me in a gilded cage; instead, she’d probably sit me down and have a long talk with me about what had happened, and we’d decide of what to do together. There was just one problem with that nice image. “But I left you.”

“And home is the place you come back to after you leave, isn’t it?” she answered smoothly. “A place to rest, be safe, and take stock.”

“But ... but I did terrible things.” I thought back to what it had felt like as Metal Mome’s mind crumbled around me, or Silverhorns lying on the deck as blood poured out of his split skull. “I’ve killed. And what I did to Mome was practically murder. Hay, some ponies would say it's even worse than killing him.”

Celestia sighed and pulled me a bit closer to her. “There is a test we sometimes use in my school for gifted unicorns: the no-win scenario. I know I taught you to always look for a better way to solve your problems, but the unfortunate truth is that sometimes circumstances leave us with no good options. Instead of making the right choice, we have to content ourselves with making the one that is least wrong.” The wings holding me slumped down, and a haunted light entered her eyes. “It is something I have faced in the past, and something you faced when you made that decision. I cannot say that what you did to Metal Mome was right, but you saw no other way to save the lives of the innocent ponies on that ship. A mare much like you once told me that sometimes an action can be morally wrong while still being necessary. But that does not make it any less wrong.”

I let my body rest against hers, too weak and fearful to even hold onto her anymore. Celestia was warm, like the sun on a cloudless spring day. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything.”

Celestia smiled down at me—not judging or condemning me, just understanding. “It's okay, Sunset, I know you are. We all make mistakes. What is important now is how we deal with them. Falling into despair and lamenting what you should have done differently will not help anypony. Least of all yourself. You must move forward. We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it, and let that knowledge guide us in the future.”

I hesitantly nodded, then took a deep breath, steeled myself, and gave a second, much firmer nod. “Yeah. Lying in bed moping about how unfair it all is or blaming myself for all the things that I would’ve done differently with the benefit of hindsight won't accomplish anything. If I want to do anything about my life, I’ve gotta get up and do something with myself.”

“Exactly.” She put a cautioning hoof on my shoulder. “Just make sure that the next thing you do is the right thing. Your actions have consequences. Your heart is already troubled; I do not want to see you hurt yourself again by making another mistake.”

“Yeah. Do the right thing.” I let my cheek rest against her hoof. “That's what I've always tried to do. The tricky part is figuring out what the right thing is. Everypony has their own ideas, and my own judgment isn’t always the best at that kind of thing.”

Celestia let out a soft, rueful chuckle. “Making the right decision is often difficult. I have not always managed it myself, so I can hardly demand perfection from you. But at least you are trying. It means so much to me, just to hear you say that.”

The nicer she was about the whole situation, the worse I felt about what I’d done. If she’d gotten mad or told me I’d been terrible, I could’ve dug my hooves in and insisted that I was right. Instead, she just kept being gentle and understanding. My ears drooped, and I couldn’t bear to look at her anymore. Instead, I started intensely studying the floor. “I guess you must be really mad at me after everything that happened in Freeport. Or disappointed. Both, probably.”

Celestia gently tipped my head up so she could look me in the eye. She held my gaze for a long time; I’m not sure what exactly she was looking for, but I guess she must have found it. “If I gave up on every pony that made a mistake or disappointed me, then I would have given up on all of ponykind a long time ago.” Her voice shifted, her tone falling into a cadence I remembered from every time she lectured me. “We all make mistakes. It is part of living. It is through our mistakes that we learn and grow. What is important is what we take from those mistakes. Do we repeat them? Grow bitter and resentful? Or do we seek to improve ourselves, to absorb these painful lessons and become better ponies in the future?”

I’d already made my decision, but I repeated it anyway, if only to reassure myself of it. “Being a better pony sounds good.” I let out a frustrated grumble and kicked at the floor. “Again though, the tricky part is figuring out how to do that.”

Celestia shifted around a bit, breaking the hug while still keeping one of her wings supportively wrapped over my shoulders. It felt like what I needed right now, in a strange way. I didn’t need some all-encompassing hug anymore, I was strong enough to stand on my own four hooves. But a little bit extra support sounded just right. “You must do what your heart and mind tell you is right,” Celestia told me. “Both for you, and those around you.”

I know she was trying to help, but her answer just got a sad chuckle out of me. “It always sounds so simple when you put it like that. But what if my head and my heart are telling me two different things are right? What if neither of them is sure?” I growled as my frustration at the whole situation came boiling up. “I don't know who to trust, or what to believe. Who’s telling the truth and who’s lying to me. It's hard to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing when I can't even sort out the basic facts.”

Celestia remained at my side, her voice brimming with understanding and empathy. “I know exactly how you feel, Sunset. Believe it or not, I have faced a few dilemmas of my own. Perhaps you need a new perspective? Sometimes it can be hard to see the problem you're dealing with when you're buried up to your neck in it.”

“Yeah, that's exactly what I need!” For the first time since this talk had started, I felt a bit optimistic about my future. At least I had a something solid I could do instead of floundering about trying to find the truth in my heart or something. “I need a second opinion. Somepony I can trust to listen to whole story, and then just tell me what they think.” I paused, and shot a self-conscious look at Celestia. “Well, somepony else. I already told you, but...”

“You need somepony besides me,” she finished the thought with a knowing smile. “I understand completely. I hardly qualify as an objective third party. That was why I wanted you to make friends, Sunset—so that you would have other ponies around you. Ponies you could trust and talk to when I wasn’t available, or when you needed to talk to someone about things you couldn’t discuss with me.”

“Yeah, I know.” Of its own volition, my mind went back to the night I’d left her. I quickly shoved the memory aside. It wasn’t going to do me any good right now. “But now your agents are telling me that the closest thing I have to friends in Freeport have been deceiving me from the moment I met them. If Strumming is right ... well, that’s it for my first try at making friends.”

Celestia closed her eyes and took deep breath, then let out a long sigh. “You shouldn’t let one or two failures persuade you to give up on ever having friends. However, perhaps you haven’t chosen the best place to do it. Freeport has long been a troubled city and nation. The Council does not aspire to harmony or wish for a peaceful nation.” A haunted look crossed her eyes. “The Council was young and idealistic, once. Some of its members still are. However, they have spent too long accepting the lesser evils of Freeport—telling themselves that they had to ignore poverty or inequality because there were other, greater evils to be fought. In so doing, they have taken some measure of that evil into themselves as well.”

She suddenly fixed me with a piercing gaze. “That is the true danger of dark magic, Sunset. Not only does it bear terrible consequences for those it is used upon, it corrupts the soul of the pony who uses it as well. Not by twisting your thoughts or forcing you to do evil, though some artifacts can do precisely that.” Celestia’s gaze dipped down to the floor. “No, what dark magic does is far more insidious. It carries no special taint; merely the same corruption all power offers once it is abused. The warlock who routinely violates minds will tell herself she has a right to possess other’s secrets. The warlock who murders will tell herself she has a right to decide who should live and who should die.” She frowned and solemnly shook her head. “Nopony has the right to do such a thing. While there may be cases where grim necessity requires such choices, that power is never something anyone is entitled to. Not even me.”

Well, that had been a sobering lecture. I stood there, not quite sure what to say in response. It was something a lot more in-depth than the lessons I’d gotten on the subject in the past. Usually, the moral discussion of dark magic basically boiled down to ‘dark magic is bad, and if you use it then you’re bad too.’ What Celestia had given me this time was a bit less of a stock lesson and more of an explanation. I liked her version a lot better.

Before I could come up with a way to put everything I was thinking about into words, Celestia’s ears perked up, and I could hear the pancakes sizzling. “Oh, we’ve been talking so much I forgot all about the food.” She quickly ushered me over to the breakfast table, then got to work on flipping the pancakes.

“Why haven't you ever tried to fix it?” I hadn’t planned on asking the question at all, but somehow it had still come out of my mouth. “Freeport, that is. If you think there’s something really wrong with the Council...”

Celestia took her time answering, flipping over the rest of the pancakes first. “A few reasons. For one, I have not been asked to. At least not officially.”

That didn’t sound right at all. “So you only fix what's wrong with the world if someone officially asks you to?”

Celestia softly chuckled to herself. “Ah, the idealism of youth. Reforming an entire society is a bit more complicated than just deciding it’s the right thing to do. If I were to truly change Freeport, it would have to want to be reformed. Otherwise, I would have little hope of enforcing any of my desires without sending in an army to occupy the islands.” She frowned down at the pancakes. “After forcibly invading the isles, I rather doubt the locals would think well of me or my planned reforms. I would be dealing with a far-off territory constantly rebelling against me in the hopes of regaining its independence and returning to its old ways.”

“Not to mention the gryphons and zebras wouldn't want you taking over the city.” I sighed and ran a hoof down my face. “I guess I should’ve known there was a reason. It's always more complicated than it looks.”

“Such is my experience in life, and if you’ll forgive me for saying so, I have quite a bit more of it than you.” Now that she was done with the pancakes for the moment, she shifted her attention to chopping up peppers. “The unfortunate truth is that usually by the time a problem comes to my attention, all the easy solutions have already been attempted. Intelligent beings are usually quite good at solving easy problems without any outside help.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” I slumped down, resting my chin on the kitchen table. “Still, even if there isn’t an easy solution, Freeport still has problems. When there’s a problem, somepony should do something to fix it.”

“In an ideal world, yes.” Celestia pulled some eggs out of the icebox and started cracking them open. “But it is easy to say somepony else should act. I fear that actually taking up the cause is a long and hard road for anypony, and one none have yet succeeded at.”

I snorted at her answer. “Figures. Everypony would rather just pretend the problem doesn’t exist, ‘cause that’s a lot easier than actually fixing it. Except nopony ever accomplished anything great by doing things the easy way. The whole reason ponies respect heroes and geniuses is because they do things that are too hard or dangerous for anypony else to manage.”

“Perhaps that’s true,” Celestia agreed while transferring the peppers to the pan. “Though I have found that sometimes ordinary ponies can perform extraordinary acts when the occasion calls for it. In any case, power and responsibility are heavy burdens. I do not sit on my throne because I find it enjoyable.”

My eyes went wide as something clicked into place for me. “Yeah. And if somepony ever wanted to earn the right to sit at your side, they couldn't get there by taking the easy way either, could they? They’d have to do something hard. Really hard.”

Celestia frowned while she added the eggs to the peppers, presumably to make my favorite type of omelet. “Yes, I suppose that is true. There are reasons I tried to prepare you for all the challenges I expected you to face in the world. It would seem I failed in some aspects, but once you return to Equestria, I will correct that. By the time we are finished, you will be ready to face any trials that await you.” She flipped the omelet. “Perhaps that was why you needed to leave. So we could both realize how much more you still had to learn.”

No. She was wrong about that. I knew why I’d left her, and it wasn’t so I could come back a few months later after I’d learned my lesson. “I think I've got it figured out now.”

Celestia scooped the finished omelet onto a plate alongside three pancakes, then set the plate down on the table in front of me. A second later she poured raspberry syrup all over the pancakes, just the way I liked it. “Is that so? Do share your answer, then.”

I’ll admit that my mouth was watering a bit as I looked down at that freshly made breakfast, but I didn’t want to pig out just yet. At the very least, I owed Celestia an answer first. “Maybe you can't fix Freeport. Not with everything else you have going on. But I can.”

One of Celestia’s eyebrows quirked up at my declaration. “Well, I see your recent troubles have left your ambition undiminished. Do you think you can do that?”

My answer was somewhat muffled on account of pancake. “Maybe.” I swallowed and stiffened my back. “Yes. I can. And I will.”

Celestia turned her searching gaze on me once more, “This will be a long and hard task. Freeport is a deeply troubled city. The Council rules by maintaining a careful balance of power between many hostile factions while also balancing against the great nations of the world. It is plagued with inequality, suspicion, and hatred—and it is not kind to the gentle-hearted.”

“My heart's not as gentle as it used to be.” Although I wouldn’t have called myself gentle-hearted for a long time, the fight with Mome had definitely hardened my heart a bit more. Life-and-death struggles will do that. “And didn't we just say that a pony doesn't earn a throne by doing something quick and easy?”

Celestia worried at her lower lip, and I could plainly hear the reluctance in her voice. “That is true. But are you sure this what you want? And even if you want this task, you should at least come home for a time. We can discuss strategies, complete your training, and I can help you obtain the resources you need. And ... I miss you. Come home, Sunset.”

I was tempted. I’d have to be insane not to be tempted. But in the end, I knew I couldn’t take the offer. Not because I was afraid Celestia would put me on trial or keep me under guard until she was sure I’d reformed. No, if I went back home I might not ever leave again. I missed Celestia, too. I missed her every day. It had nearly broken me to leave her once. Trying to do that again ... I don’t think I was strong enough to manage it. Not yet.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. When I opened them again, we were in the central market of Freeport instead of back at my old tower in Canterlot. “I am home.”

Alright, maybe that was a touch overdramatic. Freeport didn’t have the same feeling of home that Canterlot did. I’d lived in Canterlot for all but the last few months of my life. I’d been in Freeport for less than two weeks. Hay, I’d spent more time on the Venture than I had in Freeport. But if I was going to make cleaning up this city my mission in life then it was gonna have to be home from now on.

Celestia closed her eyes and lowered her head. “Is that really what you want?”

I licked my lips. “Yeah. It is.”

She was silent for a long time, then reluctantly shook her head. “No, Sunset. I can’t let you do that. Not like this. If you want to return to Freeport some day I would be more than happy to help you, but only after you come back to Equestria and finish your training. You’re not ready to face Freeport. Not yet. But I can help you.” Her voice shifted from iron determination to a quiet, desperate plea. “Just come home.”

“I will come back to Equestria,” I promised her. “I'll come back after I’ve cleaned up Freeport, and I’ll have a nice set of wings to show you.”

Celestia sighed and patiently shook her head. “Sunset, have you forgotten where you are? You’re in the middle of an EIS detention facility. Tomorrow they’re going to carry you to the docks under heavy guard and put you on a ship heading back to Equestria. I want you to come home of your own free will, but make no mistake, you will come home.” She drew herself up to her full height, towering over me. “Do not think that I will spare you from the consequences of your actions just because I understand you faced difficult circumstances. You must face those consequences and learn to avoid such situations in the future. I will help you with that. No matter what you do, no matter how far you fall, I will always help you find your way back to the light. But just like with Freeport, I can’t save you if you don’t want to be saved.”

“You’re not going to change my mind.” I stood up and tried to match Celestia's height as best I could, though it made me feel like a kid standing up on the tips of her hooves. “If the EIS is going to force me back to Equestria, then I just need to escape from them before they load me onto that ship. Then come up with a master plan to reform an institutionally corrupt city. If you really want to help me, then order the EIS to let me go.”

Celestia frowned. “I think you’ve forgotten that this might be nothing but a dream. If I’m a figment of your own subconscious, then I can hardly issue orders. And if I’m the real Celestia, I couldn’t order the release of my beloved student, who so desperately needs my help right now.”

“Oh well.” Even putting aside the question of whether I was speaking to Celestia or a mere dream, I hadn’t really expected that to work. “For your sake, I'll try not to hurt anypony when I escape. They might not give me any choice, though.”

Her frown deepened. “My servants in the Equestrian Intelligence Service are following my orders. They have dedicated their lives to protecting Equestria and everypony who lives there. If you use dark magic against any of them, I will personally return you to Equestria. By force, if you leave me no other choice.”

“Is that so?” I stubbornly set my hooves on the ground. “Well, I'm trying to do the right thing too. For myself, for Freeport, and for everyone else. When I left Canterlot, you said you would let me follow my own path. Make my own decisions. Well, do that. If you don’t want to risk me hurting your servants, don’t put them in my way.”

Celestia’s expression hardened. “This is madness, Sunset. You cannot stand against Equestria and Freeport all by yourself. It’s more than any single mare could do. Even I could not change the world all by myself.”

“And what better way to earn my wings than by doing something you can’t do?” I shot right back. “You’re right, though. I can’t do this on my own. I’ll need to gather allies and supporters.” I paused and twisted the knife just a little bit. “And friends. Kukri and Puzzle are a good place to start. As long as I'm pulling a jailbreak, I might as well go all the way.”

“Didn’t you tell me earlier that you were uncertain of their loyalties?”

“I was,” I confessed. “Maybe I still am, a little bit. But right now they want to keep me out of Equestria and away from the EIS. That’s what I want too. That at least gives us a little bit of common ground to work with. Besides, it’s not like I have enough potential allies that I can afford to be picky. If they did betray me, I’ll deal with them at some point too.”

“Will you violate their minds to find out the truth?” she challenged.

“No,” I immediately answered. The thought of doing that to Kukri sickened me. “I thought you wanted me to have friends. Well, the first step in friendship is trust. I’m sure she’d say I’m being naive, but I don’t trust Strumming Heartstrings. I trust Puzzle and Kukri.”

“And if you made the wrong choice?”

“Then I’ll have to live with it.” I sighed, took a deep breath, and tried to purge myself of any of that lingering anger. “Look—whatever happens, you’re still important to me. Don’t think I stopped caring just because I might have to smack half a dozen of your agents silly to keep from coming home to you. And thanks for the talk, Mom.”

Celestia regarded me levelly for several long seconds, then gave a barely perceptible nod. “Whenever you need help or guidance, you can always turn to me. You will always be precious to me. Whatever comes to pass. And I will never give up on you.”

I hesitated a moment before putting my fears to voice. “Never? Even if you end up having to fly all the way out to Freeport and have a magic duel with me?”

She answered me with a sad smile. “Doesn’t the fact that I’m willing to go that far for you just prove that I haven’t given up?”

I took half a step towards her. “I’m not ... I’m not a bad pony, right?”

“No. You’re not.” She closed the gap and pulled me into one last hug. “Be safe, and please don’t make me come after you.”

I hugged her back, but it wasn’t the same anymore. “I’ll be as safe as anypony can be in Freeport.” That didn’t sound nearly as reassuring as I hoped it would be. I might not have lived in the city for very long, but I had picked up on very important fact.

Nopony was safe in Freeport.

Planning the Next Move

Imprisonment did not agree with me. You’d think I would be alright with being locked up in a room with a bunch of books to read. I’d spent plenty of time exactly that way in my tower, back when I’d been Celestia’s student. The only difference was which side of the door the locks were on. Apparently, that was an important difference. I might not have wanted to go out and talk to random ponies or something, but the fact that I couldn’t ate at me. It cast a dark shadow over everything I did to try and keep busy.

At least I’d made some progress with all the information I’d pulled out of Metal Mome’s head. I had all the information on his golems, but the thoughts had been a bit jumbled. I suppose the one good thing I could say for my confinement was that I had enough time to get all that sorted out. If I ever got a chance, I’d like to take a look at his golems and see what I could do with them. I’d already thought of a couple fun new upgrades I could add to them. Pity I would probably never get a chance to do that. Even if I did manage to break out, the EIS had probably seized Mome’s golems. I could probably build my own from scratch with enough time and resources, but I wasn’t likely to get those.

I’d discovered a rather big problem with my plan for reforming Freeport: even if I did escape from EIS custody, they’d keep chasing me. Strumming hadn’t given up the first time I got away from her, and she wouldn’t if I pulled it off again. Enacting any kind of grand plan to change Freeport would never happen if I was constantly on the run from Equestria’s spy service. Even if I managed to stay one step ahead of them for a while, it was probably only a matter of time before Celestia decided to just take matters into her own hooves. I might have all the skills of an archmagus, but I didn’t have enough to stay hidden from her if she was really looking for me.

I groaned and flopped down on the bed. There was no point thinking too far ahead of myself. First I needed to actually escape from the EIS, then I could start worrying about how I would keep my freedom. Besides, Puzzle would probably know a lot more than I did about how to stay hidden in Freeport, so I might as well hold off on worrying about that until I freed it too.

Before I could move on to a more productive line of thought, somepony pounded on my door. A second later, Strumming loudly called out, “Hey, Bacon-mane! You’re not using the toilet or anything right now, are ya?”

“No!” Just hearing that question made me blush a little. “Why would you even ask something like that?”

The door opened up, and Strumming strode in, grinning at me. “I just didn’t wanna walk in and catch you on the pot. It’d be really weird and awkward for both of us, not to mention kinda gross.” She gave me a quick once-over. “How you holding up?”

I gave the most poisonously sweet smile I could manage. “You’re giving me the best prison food I’ve ever had, and my cell is the nicest one I’ve ever been in.” Technically true, since I’d never been imprisoned before, so any experience defaulted to the best. “Aside from being illegally held against my will, I'm just peachy.”

Strumming rolled her eyes and nudged me in the chest. “Oh don't be like that. You can’t spend all your time living in the past and whining about every bad thing that happens to you. You still have it way better than anypony else would in your horseshoes. Besides, this is just a transitional period. I know things are a bit rough right now, but in couple of weeks you'll be back home in Canterlot, and all of this will seem like a lifetime ago.”

I grunted, since actually saying what I thought about that line of horseapples probably would’ve gotten me in trouble. Considering I was planning on asking Strumming for a favor, I should probably try not to antagonize her too much. Not that she’d ever let my attitude get to her too much, but why take a chance? “I'm bored. There's nothing to do in here but read.”

She scoffed. “I thought you liked reading? Your profile said you had almost no social life because you were always studying. I guess that figures—knowledge is power, and you’re pretty fond of power.” She tapped her chin, then smirked at me. “And hey, they always say power corrupts too, so I guess it’s no surprise that all that studying kicked you down the path to the dark side.”

I took a couple deep breaths and reined in the urge to snap at her. “Yeah, I like reading a lot. You know what else I like? Chocolate cake. That doesn’t mean I want chocolate cake all the time for every meal.”

“Are you kidding? Chocolate cake for every meal would be awesome!” Strumming’s grin quickly faded into a frown. “Damn, now you made me hungry for chocolate cake. Soon as I’m done here I’m gonna go get some. Could get you a piece too, if you want.” Her frown vanished, and she nudged me in the stomach. “Though maybe not. The life of a scholar isn't that great at keeping the pounds off, especially once you get older and lose that teenage metabolism. Imagine what Princess Celestia would say if I brought you back all fattened up.”

“I don’t think one piece of cake is going to turn me fat,” I grumbled. For that matter, I didn’t especially care for her comments on my scholarly lifestyle either. It’s not like I was horribly out of shape or anything. I’d been healthy enough to handle myself in the fight with Mome and his crew, after all.

“Yeah, sure, one piece won’t do it. But then you decide that since a little cake didn’t do any harm, you can have a bit more. Then a bit more, and a bit more, until one day they’re hauling you out of your house with a crane because you’re too fat to stand up on your own.” Strumming pulled a bag of potato chips out of the seemingly endless supply of them in her saddlebags. “That’s why you gotta watch what you eat, maintain a healthy diet and all that. And hey, you said you were bored and wanted something else to do to fill up your time? How about some exercise? Plenty of room here for some situps and pushups and stuff. Besides, you’re a prisoner now, and everypony knows prisoners love exercising. Gotta fulfill those stereotypes.”

I scoffed and dismissed that as more of Strumming being her usual weird self. How such a strange pony wound up as a spy, I would never know. However, once I stopped and thought about her suggestion for a bit... “You know, that's not a terrible idea. Is there any way I could get out of here to run some laps on a track or something?”

Strumming shook her head. “Sorry, this is an embassy, not a gym. There’s a weight room the guards use, but other than that we don’t have much in the way of actual facilities.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like I have to have a perfectly maintained jogging track to get some exercise. Just some room to work with; I can run along the walls or something.”

She answered with a knowing grin. “Running along the outside perimeter of the embassy? Now that sounds like a good way for you to get yourself into trouble. And since it’s my job to keep you out of trouble...”

A bit of irritation slipped into my voice. “Yeah, sure, as soon as you take me outside I’m gonna run for it. 'Cause I can totally get away when you've got a suppression ring on my horn and dozens of guards watching me.”

She smirked and poked me in the ribs. “I said you could get into trouble, I didn't say you would actually manage to escape. Very different things. This whole process will go a lot easier on you if you never try to escape, and that’s a lot easier to manage if you avoid temptation. So yeah, running around on the outer edge of the embassy is out.”

I glared at her, grinding my teeth. Something about that mare just never failed to get me pissed off. “Well there has to be something I can do. I'm going nuts being locked up all day, every day. There's not even a window in this room!”

The spy stuffed a couple potato chips into her face. “Oh, I get it. Going a little stir-crazy are you? In that case, I’ve got some good news for you. We finally managed to find a ship whose captain didn’t mind us converting a chunk of his cargo bay into a nice magically secured holding cell for you. Soon as we finish setting everything up and making the other arrangements you’ll be outta here and on your way back home.”

“Yay, I can trade being locked up in here for being locked up on a ship.” My voice was just bursting with enthusiasm. “So basically, it’s the same as being here, except the food will be worse, and I might get seasick. That’s really something to look forward to.” I scoffed and started pacing around my tiny cell. “This is nuts. You’re treating me worse than a criminal. Even prisoners get to see the sun every once in a while. What do you think Princess Celestia would say if she found out you have me locked up like this?”

“You kinda are a criminal, Sunset. You broke the law.” She grinned and wrapped one of her legs around my neck. “But hey, let’s not focus on the negative stuff. It’s not healthy. Now you weren’t planning on doing anything if I let you out for a bit, were you? ‘Cause you might be right that the Princess would say I overdid it a bit with your security. The thing is, I can live with suffering a bit of royal displeasure from overzealously guarding you.” She shrugged and ate a couple more chips. “It’s not like I’m being nasty just for the sake of being nasty or anything. Worst case, I might get scolded a bit and told not to do it again or whatever. But if I decide to go easy on you, and then you get into more trouble or even manage to escape from me ... well, that would get me into a lot of trouble.”

I groaned and flopped back on my bed. “It’s pointless. Even if I did escape, you'd keep coming after me. Or you’d get fired, and they’d just send somepony else after me instead.” Probably someone a lot worse than Strumming, too. Sure, the spy was incredibly annoying and pretty ruthless, but some of the stories I’d read about warlock-hunters were terrifying. Admittedly, a lot of those stories came from darker times when the magi had to enforce the laws a bit more harshly, but I’d rather not push my luck.

Strumming leaned back against the wall and grinned. “You’re right. If you ran for it I’d chase you. And you have to realize, bacon-mane, there isn't anyplace you can go where we can't find you, grab you, shove you into a crate, and ship you back to Canterlot. The only real difference is how much trouble you cause, both for us and yourself.” She finished off her bag of chips. “I mean, escaping and going on the run would really mess up your whole plan for proving your innocence. Everypony knows only the guilty ones go on the run.”

“Yeah, sure, there’s no point in trying to do anything.” I sighed, staring up at the blank ceiling above me. “So is there any way I can just get a bit of time to see the sun?”

Strumming frowned, tapping a hoof against the ground for a bit. “I suppose we could let you mill about the embassy garden for a while. It’s closed off, so there’s no risk of you trying something that’d make all our lives more complicated.”

“Thanks.” I nearly choked on the word, but showing a little bit of gratitude for her magnanimity was the smart move. “Could Puzzle and Kukri join me?”

The spy shook her head. “Don't push your luck. The changelings have to stay in isolation if we don’t want a lot more trouble with our security. The kid we could handle, but if Puzzle got loose ... well, I’d bet it probably knows how to beat all the usual tricks for identifying a bug.” She chuckled and shot me an easy grin. “Relax, they’re fine. We're keeping the kid nice and spoiled with candy and toys.” Her eyes rolled back in thought. “Or is she a larva instead of kid, since they’re bugs? But she’s still bug-shaped, not in some kind of larval state. So I guess calling it a kid works. Anyway, Puzzle's been through a lot worse than being locked up in solitary for a few days, so you don’t need to worry about that one either.”

I glowered at her, less than amused. “Well can I at least see them? I’m sure you can arrange something with enough security to ensure they don’t break loose and swap with somepony the instant you blink.”

“I probably could arrange something like that if I really wanted to,” Strumming conceded. “Not gonna happen, though. We’re busy setting up a high-value prisoner transfer while also trying to keep the fact that we have you and your changeling buddies under wraps. I’m sure the Council already suspects us, but as long as they can’t prove anything, their options are limited,” she finished with a smug grin. “So ... yeah, I’ve got my agents pretty busy already, and I can’t really spare the time to properly secure a meeting for you and your pet bug, especially when you’re leaving in less than a day. Sorry-ish.”

She didn’t sound very sorry at all. The way she flippantly blew me off was really starting to get under my skin, and now that I wasn’t likely to get any more favors out of her by smiling and pretending to be nice, I decided to put her back in her place. “You know, I might be a princess one day. And I have a very good memory.”

I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that the threat made absolutely zero impression on Strumming. She wasn’t amused or offended, and she certainly wasn’t the least bit frightened. She just shrugged and waved my warning away. “Given the direction your life’s been headed lately, I wouldn’t bet on you picking up a princesshood anytime soon. I’m pretty sure using dark magic is a big no-no for potential princesses. Hay, I don’t know why you ran off, but I’m at least eighty percent sure it’s because you lost your shot at princesshood.”

She was half right. I hadn’t lost my chance, but I’d definitely run into some massive obstacles that would’ve taken a long time to overcome. Not that I was about to admit that to her. “Yeah, I’m sure some low-level spy is an expert on who Princess Celestia is considering granting ascension to.”

“You’d be surprised what a mare in my position can learn.” I was tempted to punch her in the face a couple dozen times to wipe that confident little grin off her face. “And it’s a pretty safe bet that if you ever did become a princess, you’d also be seeing things my way. Princess Sunset is gonna have to be a lot older and wiser than Sunset the Runaway. I figure at some point that will include realizing that I’m right.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t bet anything I cared about on that.” I answered her smug smirk with one of my own. “I hope you like far reaches of the frozen north, 'cause if I have any say in it, that's where you'll spend the rest of your life.” Let her freeze her wings off somewhere so cold the caribou never went there.

To my utter annoyance, Strumming just shrugged that threat off. “Honestly, from what I’ve heard it isn’t all that bad. My parents spent a while in the station there back when I was a kid. Actually worked with your mom once or twice. Trust me, all the snow and ice isn’t a bad thing in the least. It just means that six months out of the year everyone’s too busy staying next to a nice warm fire to actually get up to any funny business.” She chuckled. “Besides, I can go searching for the lost treasures of the Crystal Empire while I’m up there.”

Ugh, that old mare’s tale. Celestia only knows how many ponies had gone searching the lost wealth of the Crystal Empire. None of them had found it in more than a thousand years of looking, which meant it was a pretty safe bet that there wasn’t anything to find. Personally, I would bet that whatever treasures had survived the Empire’s fall had either been snatched up by scavengers long ago, or wound up in the hordes of those two dragons who lived up in the frozen north. Everyone knows dragons love collecting jewels, gold, and anything valuable.

I thought about trying to threaten her with some other horrible assignment, like going undercover as a dung shoveller or staking out one of the gryphon slaughterhouses, but at best Strumming wouldn’t care, and worst she would find some other way of turning my threats against me. So instead I unleashed the nastiest scowl I could manage.

Naturally, it didn’t work. “Now come on, turn that frown upside-down!” Strumming grabbed me by the cheeks and forced my mouth into a smile. “You can't control how the world works, but you can control your attitude towards it. Being grouchy is only going to make you and everypony around you feel worse.”

One of my eyes started twitching. “Let's just go outside before I decide that the best form of exercise I can get is to try and murder you with a dull plastic spoon.”

“Go for the eyes,” Strumming suggested. “Just about anything’ll mess somepony up if you stick it in their eye, no matter how poor of a weapon it is. You might not be able to kill me that way, but you’d definitely ruin my day.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Strumming grinned and slapped me on the back. “I think that’s the first time you actually listened to my advice. See, we’re already making progress! Though I think I’m gonna have to keep an eye on you next time you have a spoon.” She paused, then snorted to herself. “Heh. ‘keep an eye on you.’ I wish I’d planned that.” She stretched her wings, then went to the door and opened it. “So, let’s get that walk in before you make with the spoon-stabbing. If you behave yourself, we can make this a regular thing once you’re back in Canterlot.”

Classic prison management: give me a few minor privileges to encourage good behavior, and give me something to lose if I acted up. The worst part was, it would probably work.

Strumming led the way out of my cell, letting me just tag along behind her. I was a little surprised by the lack of manacles, but I guess there wasn’t really much need for them. There was no way I could outrun Strumming, not to mention all the other guards in the embassy. Much as I didn’t want to admit it, she was right that I wasn’t in the best of shape. I’d relied on my magic to stay mobile in the fight with Mome and his pirates, and as long as I had a suppression ring on my horn, that wasn’t an option.

Stepping out of my cell did at least give me a bit more freedom to actually study the ring. While spellcasting was still out, I could at least do a little bit of passive magical perception now that I was outside of the magical dead zone and test the defenses a bit. No surprise, the ring on my horn was heavy-duty enough that I didn’t have a prayer of just powering through it. I had a pretty strong suspicion that Celestia had made the thing herself. It would have to have been her or one of the archmagi—nopony else would have the talent to contain me.

If I ever wanted out of this cage, I would have to find some way of beating the ring. There was no way I could escape with my magic locked down. The sealing spell would keep me from removing it myself, and as far as I knew, Strumming was the only pony in Freeport who could remove it. I could always cut my horn off below the ring, but that would be excruciatingly painful, and I’d still be stuck without my magic until it grew back, and that could take months. Maybe even years.

Well, nothing for it but to keep thinking and hope an opportunity presented itself. Maybe Strumming would finally make a mistake, and I’d be able to get out of here. Puzzle had gotten me away from her, so she wasn’t infallible. I just needed to beat her.

I put that issue aside for the moment as Strumming led me into a nice little enclosed garden. It was pretty small, but big enough for me to walk around some and I could finally see the open sky and feel the sun on my face. I never realized how much I’d liked the sun until I’d been locked away from it for a bit. I guess that figured, though: it was Celestia’s sun after all. For that matter, I had a sun on my flank as well.

Unsurprisingly, the garden was full of plants native to Equestria. Freeport’s natural vegetation was pretty sparse, especially since just about every usable bit of land was on the islands was either urbanized or devoted to agriculture. The nice big cherry tree in the middle of the garden was an especially nice touch.

Strumming grinned at me. “Pretty nice, isn’t it? I mean, it wouldn't be a proper embassy without a garden for us to do all our plotting and scheming in. Plus, this way we can have nice little garden parties.”

I started slowly circling around the place, taking all the sights in. There was a nice little walking path along the edge of the garden, lined with crushed basalt gravel that really stood out against traditional Equestrian marble architecture of the embassy itself. I guess when it came to lining a garden path, nopony wanted to pay extra to import the stone from Equestria, so they’d just used local stuff instead. “So this is where you plan the child kidnappings from?”

The barb bounced right off Strumming. “Sometimes, but only if I have to.” She directed a faintly concerned frown my way. “And don’t forget that the ‘child’ you’re talking about is a creature with an uncontrollable biological need to suck the love out ponies in order to survive. I’m sure you like it, and it likes you back, but all you’ll be is another meal if it gets hungry enough.”

I scowled at her. “She's still just a kid. Besides, it’s not like Equestria hasn’t managed to be friends with other races that have carnivorous inclinations.”

I might’ve said more, but my hoof came down on a large piece of gravel in exactly the wrong way. The chunk of rock poked up into the frog of my hoof, then wedged underneath my horseshoe, getting nicely jammed in where it could keep poking me every time I took another step. “Ow! Celestia's teats!”

Strumming smirked at me as she trotted over to check on my hoof. “What was that about your mother-figure’s teats?“

I blinked in surprise and felt cheeks warming. “Shut up. I got a rock stuck in my hoof. I can't control what I say on reflex.”

Her smirk widened. “Sounds like you need even more help than I thought.”

“Shut up!” I grumbled and continued walking, just to get away from her.

Strumming frowned and quickly caught up with me, staring down at my wounded hoof. “You alright? If you’re actually admitting it hurts right in front of me it must be pretty bad. Lemme have a look at it.”

I growled and turned my wounded hoof away from her. “I just stepped on a rock the wrong way. It stung a bit, no big deal.” I shot her my best angry, resentful glare. “Why do you care? Planning to spend a while gloating about how if I’d just listened to you I’d be back in my room instead of having a stubbed hoof?”

Strumming let out an annoyed huff. “Believe it or not, I am trying to do what’s best for you. I don’t spend all day up in some ominous evil tower, cackling about my latest plan to make you miserable just so I can say ‘I told you so.’ The truth is, you have a knack for making terrible decisions along with a complete inability to admit to your own mistakes. If somepony doesn’t set you straight every once in a while...”

“And you’re more than happy to nominate yourself for that role, right?” I scoffed and got back to walking, partly just so I could turn my back on her. My hoof was still stinging, but I could deal with a little pain.

“Actually, it was Celestia who gave me the job,” she shot right back. “You know, the pony you call your real mother?”

I wasn’t sure if I bought that. To be honest, I still wasn’t sure where Strumming sat in the EIS hierarchy. When I’d first met her, she made it sound like she was a low-level agent, but if she was just some nobody, I doubt she could whistle up a dozen embassy guards to act as her personal thugs. Or be authorized to risk sparking off a huge diplomatic incident while grabbing me. And if she was being literal about Celestia putting her in charge of me...

Urgh. Conversations are so much easier when you’re not talking to a pathological liar.

The next time I passed by her, Strumming grabbed me by the shoulder. “Stop and listen for a bit, Sunset.” I reluctantly did so, and the spy took a deep breath then deliberately met my eyes. “Do you think I like the idea of you doing things like dabbling in black magic, or ending up dead in a ditch somewhere in Freeport? Come on, give me some credit.”

“Yeah, sure, I totally buy that you’re just looking out for me.” I snorted and pulled away from her. “That’s why you tried to manipulate me into signing a confession.”

“Believe it or not, that was for the best.” Strumming sighed and rubbed her face. “Sometimes it's just easier for all involved if the defendant fesses up and begs for a lighter sentence. Especially in your situation: you don’t need to get tossed in jail or cut loose on your own, you need Celestia to give you some guidance and finish your training.” She landed in front of me. “Sunset, can you honestly tell me that you’ve done a good job with your attempt at living on your own?”

I growled and walked around her. “Yeah, I can. I did what I had to do with Metal Mome, and I saved a lot of ponies’ lives doing it. I should be getting a medal for what I did, not being tossed in jail.”

Strumming stared at me incredulously. “Oh. Wow. I gotta say, Sunset, you are really good at rationalization and rewriting the past to cast yourself in a better light. You’ve already forgotten that the only reason all those civilians were in danger in the first place was that you dragged them along with you. I’m kinda curious to just sit back and see how much more you’ll embellish the truth after a couple years.” She smirked and nudged me in the ribs. “Then again, if you’re that good at lying, maybe I oughta be offering you a job...”

“I am not lying!” I growled and stomped, only to instantly regret it since I came down on my bad hoof. “Agh! Endless night!”

Strumming frowned after me as I started walking again despite the pain throbbing up from my injured hoof. “You sure you're alright? You’ve got a bit of a limp.”

I shook my hoof a few times, but couldn’t dislodge the rock stuck in my shoe. “It's just sore. The rock jabbed me right in the frog...”

Strumming frowned down at my hoof as I struggled to make my gait as normal as possible to disprove her claim that I was limping. “We better have a doc look at it, just to be safe. The last thing I need is you getting an infection and having your hoof fall off or something. I’m pretty sure Celestia’d get mad if I only brought most of you home.”

I grumbled and waved her away. “Yeah, sure. We can do that once I'm done walking.” I started up another lap around the garden, continuing onward in spite of the low, steady throb shooting up my leg.

The spy scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Fine, be stubborn about it. You’re only hurting yourself.”

She was probably right about that, but I certainly wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of hearing me admit it. Instead, I walked five whole laps around the garden just to spite her. And myself, I guess, since I’m the one whose hoof was hurting. Maybe Strumming did have a bit of a point when she said I had self-destructive tendencies.

After the fifth lap, I’d had enough of hurting myself for no other reason than sending Strumming a message. Strumming stood by the door, watching me with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. “Ready to have that hoof looked at now? If you wanna keep being stubborn, I can help you find a couple more sharp things to jab it on. ‘Cause I gotta say, watching you make yourself miserable for no damn reason at all is really putting me in my place.”

I brushed past her on the way back inside. “Fine. If you really care that much, send a doctor down to the prisoner's cell. Can't have the dangerous criminal interacting with the normal ponies at the infirmary, can we?”

“Oh, spare me the pity party.” She cut in front of me, then pointed down a hallway. “We're taking you to the infirmary. Less wasted motion that way.”

I ignored her directions and walked right past her, heading back to my cell. It was probably a longer walk than the one to the infirmary, but I didn’t care.

Strumming flew over and caught up to me again, grabbing me by the shoulder. “No, we're getting you treated. I’ve been pretty tolerant of your stupid stubborn streak, but I have to draw the line when you're hurting yourself out of sheer bullheadedness.”

I growled and did my best to pull free of her, but her grip was too solid. “Let go of me!”

Strumming gave my shoulder a quick shake, her patience finally fraying a bit. “Sunset, stop acting like a child. I know you're unhappy, but this isn't helping. You’re smart enough to have read an anatomy book at some point, so I know that you know bad things can happen if you injure your frog and don’t get it properly treated. Besides, this will let you stay out of your room for a bit longer. Maybe we can even do something else for a bit once you’re bandaged up.”

I planted my injured hoof on the ground for a bit more leverage, gritting my teeth as I pulled away from her. “I'd rather be in a dungeon cell than spend one more minute with you!”

Strumming released me, and for a moment I thought she actually looked a little stung by my barb. She let out a loud, exasperated groan. “Feather it! Fine! I’ll take you back to your cell, okay? Dear Celestia, why you’re being such a pain in the plot about this...” She trailed off, grumbling to herself as she changed course for the dungeons. “You know, you make it pretty hard for somepony to help you.”

“I don't care.”

“You should.” She trotted up to the entrance to my temporary holding cell and opened the door. “You’re gonna have a pretty miserable and lonely life if you keep pushing away everypony who wants to help you or be your friend.”

I trotted back into my cell, heading for the bed so I could get off my sore hoof already. “Whatever.”

Strumming sighed, and I could almost hear her teeth grinding. “Wash your hoof and get a bandage on it, I’ll send a doctor to have a look at it once you’ve had a bit to calm down. You’re probably due for a fresh bandage on your side, too.”

“Yeah yeah...” I got back up and walked to the door, but only so I could shut it in her face.

Despite the door in between us, I could clearly hear Strumming’s next words. “Feathering teenagers. I don’t get paid enough for this horseapples...”

I heard her hooves tromping away and waited another minute or so just to be safe. Then I hopped up onto the bed and turned my hoof around to get a better look at it. The rock I’d stepped on was still wedged between my shoe and the hoof itself. I leaned in, carefully gripped it in my teeth, and removed it. My hoof didn’t stop hurting the instant I got the rock out, but the pain went down to nothing more than a dull ache.

I put the rock down on my pillow and gave it a quick inspection. Pretty big, but flat enough that it hadn’t jabbed my hoof too badly after I stepped on it. The bottom side had a reasonably smooth surface, but alas I’d stepped on the rougher top instead.

“Not perfect, but it’ll have to do.” I quickly stashed the little rock inside my pillowcase. In all likelihood, nopony would even think to ask about what happened to the stone I’d stepped on. Especially after how pissed off I’d left my chief jailor.

Phase one of the escape plan was complete. Now I just needed to finish up the rest of it before they loaded me onto a ship tomorrow.

An Almost Perfect Plan

Although Strumming followed through on sending in a doctor to have a look at my hoof, I didn’t see her again until late into the evening on the next day. That suited me just fine. I wouldn’t have been able to work on my escape plan with her hovering over me. If she’d just barged into my room unannounced, she might’ve caught me in the middle of my preparations, and that would’ve been it. Game over.

If I wanted to get away from Strumming, it would have to be during the trip from the embassy to the docks. Security in the embassy was too tight, and there wouldn’t be anywhere to escape to once I was stuck on a ship.

In theory I could try for a getaway once I was back in Equestria, but I would be a fugitive on the run without any resources or support, and I’d have the entire Equestrian government after me. In Freeport, I only had to get away from a couple dozen EIS ponies, and there was a chance the Council, Kukri’s clan, or some of Puzzle’s contacts might help me.

However, there was a big problem with my escape plan: Strumming wasn’t stupid, and she probably knew a lot more about holding onto a prisoner than I knew about escaping. She had to be aware that my best chance to escape would be while she was taking me to the ship, and she would be watching in case I tried anything.

Not that there was much I could do about that. I just had to try and anticipate her security measures and hope my escape plan was good enough to beat them. And that my plan didn’t blow up in my face. Literally.

I was actually happy to see her for once when Strumming finally strode into my room. Well, not her exactly, but I was pretty happy about the tray of food she’d brought with her. Breakfast had been a bit smaller than I usually liked, and for lunch I’d gotten one of those kelp dishes that I’d never really acquired a taste for. I wasn’t starving or anything, but I was more than ready for a nice big dinner.

The main course was a bunch of roasted breadfruit slices nicely spiced and wrapped in haybacon, with a fruity and rich red sauce drizzled over the top. On the side were a dozen dates stuffed with almonds and bleu cheese that looked absolutely delicious. Just to top things off, there was a huge slice of chocolate cake for dessert. My mouth might have been watering just a little at the sight of all that food.

“Hey, bacon-head.” Strumming grinned and set the tray down in front of me. “Figured you deserved a little something special for your last meal in Freeport. Celestia knows I’m not looking forward to living on ship biscuits for two weeks.”

“For once, I agree with you.” Not that Strumming was going to be suffering too much, judging by her seemingly inexhaustible supply of junk food. I suspect that if I’d opened up her suitcase while we were both on the way to Freeport, it would’ve been filled to the brim with candy bars and bags of potato chips. Either that, or she had an extradimensional pocket—a spectacular marvel of science and magic—and used it for nothing but junk food.

“Forgoing your usual reflexive arguing is a welcome change of pace.” She paused, then sighed and shook her head. “Look, I know we haven’t exactly been getting along. Some of that’s on you, some of that’s on me, some of that’s on my bosses, and a lot of it is just on account of the circumstances. Point is, we’re gonna have a long trip back to Equestria, and I’d like to spend some of that time making peace.” She waved at the tray in front of me. “I don’t like all the orders I get, but one of the sucky things about being part of the EIS is that I still have to follow them. Sure, I can protest or offer alternatives, but eventually my station chief just gives me the whole ‘I don’t want to debate it, it’s not open to discussion, just get it done’ spiel.”

It was a nice little speech, but I didn’t buy it for an instant. Mostly because about the only thing I knew with absolute certainty about Strumming was that she would lie at the drop of a hat. It was a lot easier for her to pretend she wanted to be my friend when she could just blame any of her nastier choices on some mysterious, never-seen bosses who were forcing her hoof. As long as she was trying to drag me back to Equestria, she was my enemy—even if she was ‘just following orders.’

In any case, if I was going to be launching a daring breakout plan later tonight, I needed plenty of energy to pull it off. I stared down at all the delicious food, trying to decide what I wanted to eat first. In the end, I went with trying a little bit of everything. All of it tasted even better than it looked.

By the time I’d torn through about half of my meal, I’d sated the worst of my hunger. I wasn’t planning on letting any of the food go to waste, but now I was slowing down and actually savoring it. Maybe slowing down was what finally allowed me to realize that there was something off about the whole scenario.

Strumming wasn’t stealing any of my food.

Every time I’d eaten in front of her before, she’d snatched something off of my plate. Even if she’d had a bag of chips sitting in front of her, she’d still grab a bit of my food just on principle. But now I had an absolutely amazing meal sitting in front of me and Strumming wasn’t even looking at it. On top of that, she’d delivered the food herself. All my other meals had been handled by embassy staffers.

It didn’t take long to piece together a rather nasty possibility: maybe there was a very good reason she didn’t want to touch my food. Strumming knew that taking me from the embassy to the ship would be the most dangerous part of the entire operation, so any way of keeping me docile was worth looking into. Something like dousing my dinner in sleeping potion so I’d be fast asleep during my best chance to escape.

The more I thought about it, the more certain I was. Strumming had cut down my breakfast and arranged a lunch she knew I wouldn’t like to make sure I’d be extra-hungry for dinner, then prepped up a special high quality meal that would tempt me to eat every single bite and get as much of some kind of sleeping potion into my system as possible.

I slowly pushed the tray away. “I’m full.”

The spy frowned very faintly at that. “You sure you don’t want any more? I hate to see good food go to waste. It’s practically sacrilege.”

I locked eyes with her, searching for any sign that might give away her intentions. “You could always eat the rest of it yourself.”

Strumming held my gaze for a short time, then chuckled and shook her head. “Thanks for the offer, but I just ate. Totally stuffed.”

I didn’t buy that for a second. “Or maybe there’s some other reason you don’t want to eat my food. Like that you slipped some sleeping drugs into it so you’d have an easier time getting me back to Equestria.”

She briefly tried to keep her face flat and unemotional, but she couldn’t stop herself from grinning. “Smart. You know, you’d make a pretty good EIS agent. Sure, you’re criminally naïve right now, but that’s just a matter of experience. Maybe once you get things sorted with Celestia we could give that a whirl. I’ll even take you as my apprentice.”

It was probably purely psychological, but the instant she confirmed that my food had been dosed I started feeling sleepier. I peeled my lips back from my teeth and defiantly snarled at her. “What are you gonna do now? Force-feed me the rest of it?”

“Nah.” She picked up the tray and set aside. “Force-feeding somepony is really hard to do and leaves behind a huge mess. Besides, I’m pretty sure the princess would rip into us if we left any bruises on you that weren’t absolutely necessary. You’ve already gotten a pretty good dose. Think I’ll save the rest of the food. It is too good to waste, and once we’re back on the ship, some tasty food that doubles as a sleep aid will be pretty handy.”

I hastily stifled a yawn. “Get out.”

“Yeah, okay.” She stood, but threw out one last parting shot before heading for the door. “I know you probably don’t see it that way, but it’s nothing personal. I have a job to do. Even if I don’t always like it, I’m not gonna do it half-assed. Get comfy, and I’ll come back for you once you’re snoozing.”

As soon as she shut the door, I ran to the toilet and tried to induce vomiting. It might already be too late; Strumming almost certainly would’ve picked out something my body would absorb pretty rapidly. No sense in dosing me with something I might be able to beat just by throwing up. Not to mention that if I could beat the poison that easily, she wouldn’t have left me alone and unsupervised.

Dammit! I’d spent all day getting ready for my escape, and now I might’ve been foiled before I even got a chance to try.

No, I couldn’t afford to think that way. That’s what she wanted me to do. Just resign myself to being a good little prisoner and take a nice long nap that wouldn’t end until I was back in Equestria. No way in Tartarus would I do that.

I rubbed my bleary eyes and splashed some cold water on my face. I’d only gotten half a dose of the sleeping potion. I could beat it and still get away from her. All I had to do was stay awake.

Stay. Awake.

Staaay ... awaaa...

... ke.

I slowly blinked my eyes open as I realized what had happened. I wasn’t in my cell at the embassy anymore, I was somewhere else. Somewhere with a wooden floor. I could hear the gentle drumming of rain falling on the roof. I could feel the entire place moving around with a slow, steady sway.

Oh horseapples!

A panic-induced jolt of adrenaline pushed back the sleep-induced haze. A quick check of my hoof confirmed that my ace-in-the-hole was still there. With that settled, I tried to get a better idea of my surroundings. I wasn’t in any sort of proper room: the floor was solid, but the roof and sides were made out of canvas. Strumming was sitting on a small bench across from me, and there were a couple of her embassy guards in here as well. And now that I was thinking a bit more clearly, I realized the place was swaying less like a ship on the waves and more like a wagon trotting along the streets.

Okay. I’d made it. I might have fallen asleep, but at least I’d woken up in time.

“She’s awake,” one of the Guards grunted to Strumming. No, not a Guard. He might be wearing armor, but I’d been around enough of the Royal Guards to know the difference between a Guard and a pony wearing armor. Something about how they carried themselves and their general attitude. If I had to guess, I would say that the stallion was one of Strumming’s EIS buddies. “Should’ve given her more of the stuff once she was out.”

Strumming sighed and rolled her eyes. “Sleep potions aren’t perfect knockout drugs that’ll keep someone out for as long as you want.”

The EIS goon grunted. “Should we dose her again?”

Strumming frowned down at me for a bit, then shook her head. “I already gave her a shot with a bit more once she was out. Dosage on sleeping meds can be a bit tricky, especially since if we’re mixing delivery methods. I really don’t wanna risk overdosing her. You wanna be the one to explain to the princess that we accidently put her student down for the long sleep?”

“Point,” the other spy conceded. “We’ve got her chained up and ringed anyway. Not to mention she’s probably still too drowsy to form a coherent sentence.”

I didn’t like the way he was talking about me like I wasn’t even there, so I decided to do my best to prove him wrong. My head felt like it weighed about twice as much as it was supposed to, but I still managed to lift it up and focus a bleary-eyed glare at Strumming. “Buck you, nag.”

Strumming grinned and nudged her co-worker. “I’d say that qualifies as a coherent sentence. We’ve got ‘buck’ for the predicate, ‘you’ for the subject, and even an insult for the vocative.” She leaned down off the bench so she could get a better look at me. “Good morning, sunshine. And it’s after midnight, so yes, it is technically morning now. How you feeling?”

I said the first thing that came to mind. “You drugged me.”

“Only a little.” Strumming gave me a gentle pat on the head. “Relax, it was for your own good. I know you, bacon-mane. You were gonna try something when we did the whole prisoner transport thing. It wouldn’t have worked, but it probably would’ve made things get a little messier and harder on you.” She pursed her lips and tapped her chin. “Not to mention attempting escape is never good when you’re fighting to prove your innocence. It’s stupid, but a lotta folks still believe that only the guilty try to run.”

I groaned and stretched, or at least stretched as much as I could. There was only so far I could reach when my legs were all in chains, and those chains went through another iron loop in the floor. Being chained up wouldn’t make getting away any easier, but the chains wouldn’t be too much of a problem if the rest of my escape plan actually worked.

Speaking of which, I needed to have a better idea of where exactly I was. Right now all I knew was that I was in a covered wagon, and presumably still somewhere in Freeport. I rather doubted Strumming would let me poke my head out for a couple minutes to get my bearings, so I needed to figure out what was going on a bit more subtly.

Strumming had mentioned that it was after midnight, so it was pretty safe to assume that it was at some point in the wee hours of the morning. That figured, if her plan was to get me out of Freeport without any inconvenient witnesses. Plus it was raining outside, which would only further encourage all the locals to stay indoors. Not to mention it would make my pyromancy a bit less effective.

I didn’t think I would find out much more just by passive observation, so it was time to dig a little deeper. I turned to Strumming as best I could while chained up. “You know the Council’s gonna have someone watching the docks, even on a miserable night like this. No, especially on a night like this, ‘cause it’s perfect weather for doing something nefarious.”

“Yeah, probably,” she conceded with a shrug. “But the main docks are the ones with the most watchers on them. We’re leaving out of one of the smuggler docks that cater to all the business that Freeport officially has to ban but unofficially allows. Trust me, the condottieri who watch that area are very good at becoming selectively blind when you slip them a couple coins. That’s why taxes are so low here; government officials are expected to supplement their income with bribes.” She quietly scoffed to herself. “Y’know, it probably says something about Freeport that we’ll have an easier time getting past the guards if we say you’re a slave than if we told them the truth.”

Great. So much for hoping there would be helpful bystanders. If we were in one of the seedier parts of Freeport, nopony would lift a hoof to help a runaway slave. However, I did spot one flaw with her cover. “Everypony knows slavery is illegal in Equestria.”

“It’s officially illegal in Freeport too,” Strumming countered. “Lots of things are illegal. It doesn’t mean ponies stop doing them; just that they try not to get caught.”

Urgh, she always had an answer for everything. I didn’t want to make my move yet, I didn’t have enough information. Whether this was the only wagon in the convoy, or there were a couple more loads of soldiers marching along with us. Which part of Freeport we were in. How far we were from the docks. Whether Kukri and Puzzle were in the convoy with us. Whether they’d grabbed my golems off the Venture and were bringing them along as evidence. Lotta stuff like that. But there was no way Strumming would give me any of that information, and I couldn’t find it out as long as I was stuck underneath a covered wagon. There was nothing for it but to make my move and hope that all the unknowns wouldn’t be stacked up too far against me.

“Hey, Strumming.” The spy directed a politely curious glance my way. “Did you know there’s a really big flaw in all the security you’ve got on me?”

An amused little smirk crossed her lips. “Oh is there? Fascinating. Well, don’t leave me hanging in suspense, bacon-mane. What is it?”

“It’s one of those really simple baseline assumptions nopony would think twice about.” In hindsight, it was probably a bit stupid to let her know exactly how I was going to escape, but after being locked up by her for so long, I wanted to see the look on her face when she realized I’d beaten her. “You see, suppression rings are pretty amazing at suppressing a unicorn’s magic. The problem is, they only suppress unicorn magic.”

“And you’re a unicorn.” She shrugged. “Not seeing where you’re going with this.”

I chuckled, shifting my hooves around. “It’s pretty simple, really. I’m surprised such an oh-so-experienced spy like you didn’t think about it in advance. But fine, I’ll give you a little hint since you’re so clueless. Tell me what you know about my mother.” While she did that, I carefully reached down and retrieved the rock I’d wedged between my hoof and shoe; the same one I’d picked up in the gardens yesterday.

Strumming rolled her eyes, but played along. “Scarlet Runeseeker, Archmagus of the Northern March. Parents were merchants working in the caribou freeholds, and she immigrated back to Equestria once she was accepted into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Met and married Firstlight Shimmer after she entered the magus corps, ultimately resulting in their only child, a certain bacon-headed unicorn.” A teasing tone entered her voice as she continued. “She managed to climb the ranks through the corps pretty quickly, mostly by picking her career over you. It also helps that she’s Equestria’s leading expert in...” Her eyes widened in shock as the truth finally hit her. “...in non-equine magic.”

I grinned triumphantly—maybe it had hurt my chances of getting away, but it was almost worth it just to see the look on Strumming’s face. “Got it.”

I reached down and pulled out the stone I’d wedged between my hoof and shoe; the same one I grabbed from the gardens yesterday. The stone I’d hidden from the doctor sent to check on me, and then spent hours painstakingly carving two intricate runes into. Without any proper tools I’d been forced to use my horn for the job, which made for painfully slow going. Especially since it was really hard to watch what I was doing while I worked, and carving a runestone was incredibly delicate. Still, I was reasonably confident that I’d gotten it right, and if it went horribly wrong and blew up in my face, I could at least take solace in the fact that Strumming would get caught in the blast too.

I activated the runestone. The instant its magic hit the suppression ring, the metal rusted and decayed as if it had spent a century abandoned in the elements. The same thing happened to my chains, and both of the guards sitting closest to me had their armor go from parade ground polished to looking old and battered. Alas, Strumming seemed to be outside the spell’s area of effect.

I smacked the suppression ring as hard as I could without hurting myself in the process; the last thing I needed was to hurt my horn in the process of knocking off the ring. That would put me right back to square one. Thankfully my spell had done exactly what I was hoping it would, and my horn ring crumbled into powder as soon as I hit it. I grinned as I felt my unicorn magic come flooding back to me an instant later.

I couldn’t stay in a small wagon with Strumming and half a dozen guards. It was a pretty safe bet that she or somepony else had a backup ring on them, and if they got that one on me, that would be it for my escape. I didn’t want to risk a close-quarters brawl, so before Strumming or anypony else in the wagon could try to grab me, I teleported out of there. Jumping too far when I didn’t know what was out there could end very badly for me, so I made it a short jump ten feet to the side.

I wound up staggering on the edge of a bridge, with one of my hindlegs dangling out over empty space. I nearly slipped and tumbled over the edge as I tried to get a better grip on the rain-slick stones, but eventually managed to get all four of my hooves firmly planted.

I should’ve guessed at where we might be. Freeport kept all the dirty business off the main island, so Strumming had been taking me to one of the other isles which held the less reputable parts of the city. And just my luck, I’d hopped out of the wagon right when we were halfway across the bridge. There were no buildings I could dive behind for cover, nor any dark alleyways I could slip into in order to shake my pursuers. Just a long, slightly curved stretch of bridge, with more than a mile between me and the nearest dry land.

Damn. I couldn’t have picked a worse place for my breakout.

I could try teleporting to the shore, but I’d never jumped that far before. And late at night with it pouring down rain the shoreline was nothing but a distant blur. Even if I made the teleport, I had no idea where I would end up. I might wind up dropping myself into the hooves of somepony worse than the EIS, or I might end up with one of my legs fused into the pavement.

I looked over the edge of the bridge. The drop down to the water was way too far for my liking—they’d built the bridges high enough to let ships pass underneath them. It might be survivable, especially with the rain breaking up the water’s surface tension, but I wasn’t all that eager to put that theory to the test by jumping for it.

My other options weren’t looking all that great, though. Strumming’s wagon came to an abrupt halt, and now that I was free, I could see another one behind it, and one in front. Great, three wagons full of EIS goons. Twenty-to-one odds didn’t exactly favor me.

Strumming stalked out of the wagon, the rest of her guards following along behind her. They quickly adopted a crescent formation which left me with nowhere to run and my back against the edge of the bridge. Strumming held the center of the group, slowly walking towards me, her voice carefully even. “Easy, Sunset. Nopony’s gonna hurt you unless you leave us no choice in the matter. Nice job on the escape—seriously, I bet Celestia’ll be proud when she hears about it. Upset that you busted out of our custody, sure, but also kinda proud that you got away from us. Guess you really did learn a lot from her.”

“More than you know.” Though rune magic was actually one of the few things I hadn’t picked up from her. That had been my own self-studying, plus a few basics I’d learned from my mother back before I moved into the palace. I’d actually studied it for a while as part of one of those stupid kid things. Like my mother might suddenly stop ignoring me if I showed her that I’d read her book about runecasting. At least I’d gotten something good out of the experience.

“Probably, yeah.” Strumming shrugged. “Our files on what you learned from Celestia aren’t anywhere near as complete as I’d like. Not to mention the sheer volume of it is more than a little intimidating.” She grinned and stretched her wings out. “Then again, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve that you haven’t seen yet, not to mention a bunch of buddies backing me up. So ... I guess it’s just a question of whether your tricks are better than mine.”

I could try teleporting out of the half-circle of guardponies closing in on me, but that would just buy me a couple seconds before they ran me down again. I could just keep teleporting, but I was pretty sure I would run out of magic before all the guards after me would get tired.

Running was out, then. That left fighting. Except this time I wasn’t up against a bunch of poorly equipped and undisciplined pirates who would give up as soon as somepony put up a decent fight. Strumming and her forces keep coming after me as long as they were physically capable of combat. The only way I would knock any of them out of the fight would be by hurting them. Badly. I didn’t think I was capable of doing that. Not to mention that some of them probably had training in dealing with powerful rogue unicorns. Strumming had implied as much when she captured me, and it certainly made sense to bring in some experts.

So we had a standoff, at least until Strumming and her friends decided it was worth the risk of dogpiling me. They would win, but now that I had my magic back I would make them pay for it. And if they really believed I’d gone bad they were probably a bit scared of me; I could definitely kill a couple of them before they subdued me. I wasn’t sure I could bring myself to hurt them like that, but I saw no reason to let them know I was bluffing.

Alright, fine. I could work with this. I just needed to play for time and hope that eventually somepony saw something going on and reported it. Too bad it was in the dead of a cold, wet, miserable night. Anypony out and about at this hour probably wouldn’t be in a rush to report a scuffle to the nearest condottieri. Maybe once the sun was up I’d get some help, but I doubted I could hold them off for that long.

Strumming took another step forward. “You gave it a good shot, Sunset. A damned good one. I’m genuinely impressed. But this is as far as you go. Now come on, let’s get in out of the rain before our manes are ruined. We can have some chips and hot chocolate, talk about stuff. I won’t even chain or ring you again, as long as you promise to cooperate.”

There was no way I could accept that offer—she’d probably just drug my food again. However, I didn’t have a good escape plan. Or any plan at all.

And that’s when a particularly insane idea popped into my head. The spell itself was a raw formula I’d never properly tested, let alone used in combat conditions. And if something went wrong with it, I’d probably end up dead. But if the alternative was voluntarily going back into Strumming’s custody...

Buck it. It’s not like any of my plans before this one had been especially sane.

I giggled, mostly on account of nerves. “You know, when I told Celestia I wanted to get wings one day, this wasn’t what either of us had in mind.”

I jumped off the edge of the bridge.

As I started to fall, I leeched as much heat out of the surrounding air as I could manage. It was pouring down rain, so getting enough water to make ice wasn’t an issue. After that, it was simply a matter of putting into the shape I wanted, and then attaching it to my back.

I finally had my wings.

Sure, I couldn’t flap them and fly away like they were the real things, but it was more than enough to turn my plummet into a nice, gentle glide. It was a bit tricky to figure out the balance, but I’d done a little reading and observed plenty of pegasi in flight. It was a long way from perfect, but I was doing well enough to stay pointed towards dry land and avoid crashing into anything.

I was feeling pretty good about myself, right up until I saw Strumming flying after me and gaining fast.

Oh. Right. Pegasus. She had a lifetime of experience at flying. A couple of the guards also followed behind her.

There was no way I could outmaneuver her when I was barely managing to glide in a straight line, so I had to find some other way to stop her from catching up. Leeching out all the heat I needed to make my ice wings left me with plenty stored up, so I sent it all flying in her direction. I kept it dispersed enough that I wouldn’t burn a hole through her head or something, but a few first and second-degree burns would do wonders for discouraging her pursuit.

What I hadn’t considered was the rain. A wider area for the spell gave all the moisture in the air more to work with, and my fire spell turned into a big cloud of steam before it got halfway to Strumming. It still slowed her down a bit as she banked wide around the boiling hot fog cloud I’d left in my wake, but it had been little more than an inconvenience. It actually caused more problems for the rest of her friends than it did for her.

I did notice one other effect of shooting out fire behind myself: it sped me up a bit. I suppose I should’ve expected it: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That gave me a couple new ideas, though. Just needed to work out the details of how I would use them.

Strumming was closing in on me, waving the rest of her forces back as she did so. I guess she wanted to handle me herself, or perhaps she just didn’t want to wait for the rest of them to catch up—most of them were moving a bit slower due to their armor. I couldn’t help but wonder if Strumming was taking me on alone because of pride, or if she was concerned that her pet soldiers might not be able to force me down without hurting me. Maybe both; she was a complicated mare.

Rather than make my move against her right away, I watched and waited. I’d only get one shot at taking her by surprise, so I needed to make it count. The problem was that Strumming knew I’d be trying to discourage her, so she was being very cautious with her approach. She’d start dodging the instant I threw a spell at her.

Still, she wasn’t going to just hang back and let me go wherever I pleased. She stayed well above me, an even bigger advantage than normal since I could only glide. Whenever she wanted to, she could dive bomb onto me and take me down. She was probably just waiting until we got closer to the shore before she made her move.

There were just two problems with her tactics, and neither of those were blatant mistakes on her part. First, she was assuming that hostile spells were the only way I could threaten her. Not unreasonable, considering I was a highly accomplished spellcaster who didn’t have any hoof-to-hoof combat training. Second, she assumed that I had no way of gaining altitude.

I angled my wings upwards, then hurled a concentrated jet of fire straight downwards. I shot up like a rocket, heading straight for Strumming’s exposed underbelly. Once again, I’d managed to catch her by surprise. She quickly broke off to the side, keeping a close watch on my horn so she could avoid the next spell I tossed her way.

Which is why she got caught completely by surprise when I punched her in the face instead.

That’s the thing about ponies who’ve been trained to fight a magus: all that training tells them to expect the mage to attack with magic.

It wasn’t a very good punch by most standards; it probably hurt my hoof more than her face. It didn’t really accomplish much other than ringing her bells for a second. However, that was more than enough time to use all the cold I’d been building up and put a thin coating of ice on her wings. Not enough to really hurt her, but it did rather ruin her ability to fly for a bit. I almost felt sorry for when she belly-flopped into the ocean. Almost.

I didn’t have much time to savor my victory. The shoreline was coming up pretty quickly, and while I’d started getting the hang of gliding, I didn’t have the slightest idea of how to handle landing. Plus I still had the rest of the flying soldiers after me, minus Strumming and one of the guards who’d gone to pick her up. Thankfully I was already a fair bit ahead of them, and I’d bought a bit more lead time with my fire-boosted flight. Not to mention that after my takedown of Strumming, the rest of the EIS thugs were hanging quite a bit further back. I guess nopony wanted to risk getting so close that they wouldn’t have time to dodge my next spell.

That didn’t mean they were just sitting back and letting me do whatever I wanted. They were staying a safe distance back, but they were also slowly spreading out. At first I just assumed they were making it harder for me to hit more than one of them with a spell, but a few moments later I realized they were moving to flank me. No doubt from there they would start cutting off my escape routes and herding me to wherever they wanted me to go. Probably somewhere with no witnesses.

I threw more fire out behind myself, creating a new fog bank. Hopefully that would buy me a little more time to break contact with them. A quick look over my shoulder confirmed that the fog bank had blocked their line of sight to me. It wouldn’t take them long to go around, over, or through it, but hopefully by the time they did I would be far enough away that they would have a hard time finding me. For good measure, I also tossed a simple veil over myself. The heavy rain would make maintaining a proper invisibility spell impossible, but in the middle of a dark night I didn’t exactly need a perfect spell.

Unfortunately the burst of fire I’d thrown out also added more momentum to my already dangerous speed. I would have used another burst of flames, this time directed straight forward to kill my forward momentum, but I hesitated when I saw the beach. There were houses all along the shoreline, and I didn’t want to risk frying someone’s home just to slow myself down a bit. Especially when the owners were probably sound asleep in bed and might not wake up in time to get out.

Instead, I tried to pull a couple wide, banking turns to bleed off all my momentum. Unfortunately, that’s when the luck that had been keeping me aloft finally ran out. I don’t know if it was an errant gust of wind of if I’d misjudged what angle I was at, but all of a sudden I was going into an out of control spin and plummeting towards the ground. I desperately tried to regain control, or at least make sure I didn’t hit anything that would kill me. Hopefully, the beach’s muddy sand would make for a slightly less painful landing than concrete. When I was near the ground, I quickly wrapped my ice wings around myself and braced for impact.

I quickly regretted that idea. The wings took most of the impact, but I still smacked into them. Hard.

I hadn’t fused the two wings together, so the left wing broke into a few big sheets as the right one came down on it, along with the rest of me. Cracks spiderwebbed all the way up until it buckled under me, and I half-rolled, half-flopped the rest of the way to a halt. At some point the right wing cracked as well and smacked me right in the chin—I was lucky I’d clenched my teeth, or I could have bitten my tongue off.

By the time I finally stopped, my whole body hurt. Ice fragments had cut me in a dozen different places, my shoulders ached from the impact, and worst of all, the half-healed wound along my ribs from the fight with Mome had opened back up. I groaned and tried to pull myself back up to my hooves, but my body didn’t want to do anything. Instead I just lay on the beach, gasping for breath. I knew I needed to push through the pain and keep moving because the EIS troops weren’t that far behind me, but I just couldn’t get up. All I wanted to do was just lie down and rest for a little bit. Not long, just enough time for it to stop hurting so much...

No! That was the sleeping potion getting to me again. I had to get up and keep moving, no matter how much it hurt. I slowly dug my hooves into muddy sand of the beach, hauling my weary body out of the sand. Once I got up and got moving, the pain wasn’t as bad. Or at least that’s what I told myself.

But where was I supposed to go? I was hurting way too much to get far if I tried to run for it, so I had to find somewhere to hide before the pegasus guards had eyes on me again. I guess I could’ve tried pounding on doors and begging somepony to let me in, but I didn’t like my odds of finding a random stranger who was willing to help me. Freeport isn’t exactly known for charity.

I stumbled off the beach, looking for anything that could help me get away. At least my veiling spell had survived the crash, though I could feel it starting to unravel. I wasn’t in any condition to cast it again, so I would have to rely on mundane cover. Except in my current state, I couldn’t move quickly, and I didn’t really know much about sneaking around without using spells, but I had to try.

Once I got into the streets I ducked down a narrow alley. With the rain cutting visibility, I might have a chance to shake my pursuers. Plus it would keep me from leaving behind a blood trail for anypony to follow. Once my brain was feeling a bit less scrambled from the crash, I quickly froze the top layer of blood on the worst of my wounds. Not as good as a bandage, but I didn’t have materials to make any, or the time to properly apply them. I suppose I could have tried cauterizing the injury, but I was feeling shaky enough that I didn’t want to risk overdoing it.

I staggered half a block before I spotted somepony looking out his window, admiring the view of the city on a rainy night. I knew it was probably pointless, but I was desperate. “H-help ... me...”

The stallion took one look at me, then hastily shut his window and turned out the light. Dammit. Nopony in Freeport would risk their own neck to save mine.

So there I was, soaking wet, in a ton of pain, exhausted, and with no hope of escaping from the EIS once they found me. Even with the rain cutting down visibility and hiding any signs of my trail, it wouldn’t take them long to pin me down. Once they did, I had no hope of stopping them from just grabbing me by the tail and dragging me back to Celestia.

And that’s when I saw the graveyard.

Hidden Agendas

I heard voices out in the streets. It was hard to tell exactly who was talking while I was cooped up in one of the mausoleums, especially with the constant dull roar of the rain, but I was pretty sure one of the voices was Strumming’s. Being inside a crypt hid me from easy view, but it wouldn’t take them long to find me if they started searching the graveyard methodically. At least the rain would have washed away any blood trail I might have left behind. That would buy me a little time.

I quickly surveyed my surroundings. The mausoleum was relatively modest: bare stone walls and only four caskets tucked into them, though three of them hadn’t been filled yet. Not exactly ideal for what I had in mind; more than one filled casket would’ve been nice, and older ones generally made for better subjects. Or at least, that was what I vaguely remembered from Celestia's lessons about how to counter necromancy.

In a lot of ways, necromancy wasn’t all that different from golemry. In the simplest of terms, they’re both about creating mindless minions who will do your bidding. In each case, you take a relative equinoid entity and infuse it with energy to allow it to move and act. Golems and basic undead also have a crude sort of intelligence managing their basic functions that enables them to comply with their controller’s demands.

The only difference was where the body and intelligence came from. With a golem, both mind and body were artificially created. With the undead, you used an existing corpse and the lingering essence of the original owner. Not their soul or anything, just a kind of let over spiritual residue. I guess the best way to explain it is that a dead body still has some sort of memory of how to be alive, how it’s supposed to move, and the other kind of things a golem needs to be taught just to have the most basic mobility.

Undead do have one other huge advantage over golems: the materials needed to create them are a lot easier to find, while it takes a lot of work to forge several tons of steel into a functioning vessel for a golem. Dead bodies by contrast are pretty easy to get your hooves on. That was probably why most of your evil warlocks picked zombies: spellcasters who have gone mad with a lust for power probably like easily-made and disposable minions more than ones that can take years of careful craftsmanship to create. Metal Mome had spent his whole life slowly refining his design.

Come to think of it, Metal Mome’s golem control spell had quite a few elements in common with how a necromancer controls their minions. That might be why his mother’s line of research had been shut down. As far as the Magi were concerned, golemry was enough of a grey art before you started mixing in new techniques inspired by necromantic practices.

Like most other forms of dark magic, I already knew a lot of the theory behind it from Celestia’s lessons. Between that and the fact that I had stolen everything Metal Mome knew about golemry, I was reasonably certain I could pull this off. I was just making golems out of dead bodies instead of some other material. No difference, really. It probably wasn’t that much worse than using a normal golem. Right?

I cracked open the sealed casket. I didn’t look at who it belonged to—knowing a name would just make the rest of the process harder. Thankfully the body—corpse—vessel was old enough to have withered and dried out. No recognizable features, just thin papery skin and a few brittle white remnants of a mane. I couldn’t even tell if it had been a pony or a zebra. I guess it really didn’t matter which it was, and honestly, it was probably better if I didn’t know. If I thought of it as an object instead of something that had once been a living, breathing, sentient being, then it was a lot easier to manage.

I closed my eyes and reached for my magic, then plunged into the darkness.

It’s hard to explain, but every type of magic has a kind of feel to it. A lot of them aren’t all that surprising: fire feels hot, ice feels cold, and so on. Light magic felt warm, kinda like the sun on your face. Some of the light spells I learned from Celestia herself felt ... different. I dunno, there was this feeling of ... connectedness, I guess. Maybe that was part of why I’d been having trouble with those spells lately; I didn’t exactly feel connected to Celestia anymore, and other than her I didn’t really have anypony else.

And then there was necromancy. It was cold, but not in the same way as ice magic. When I conjured ice, there was a feeling kind like when you first step outside on a cold winter day and a breeze hits you in the face. Yeah it’s cold, but it’s also bracing. It wakes you up, fills your body with energy. Necromancy on the other hoof was an empty, dark kind of cold, where it feels like you’re burning up from it. It reminded me of the old stories about Nightmare Moon and how she planned to plunge the world into eternal night.

The pain of all my injuries went numb. Not that they didn’t still hurt, but that fact just seemed to fade from relevance for a while. I could feel bits of that cold energy sliding into my body through all my open wounds. For a moment I worried about that, but then I realized it didn’t matter anyway. Death was all around me anyway. What did it matter if there was a little more inside me?

There was an undeniable sweetness to it. Like a compost heap, but with the coppery scent of blood with faint hints of bile and feces all mixed in. Something that almost made me want to vomit, yet at the same time a part of me wondered what it would be like to have more. The smell of rot, decay, and death. Fitting, I suppose.

It should’ve horrified me to throw around that kind of energy. Despite the talk with Celestia in my dreams, now that I was actually face-to-face with necromancy, a part of me couldn’t help feeling like this magic was just wrong. Even if I could come up with some argument about how it was justified under the right conditions, it still wouldn’t change the fundamental wrongness of how it all felt.

And yet I kept on casting the spell. No, it was more than that: the spell came to me without any real effort. Almost like second nature, as if I’d used it dozens of times in the past. The flow of energy returning the vessel to a semblance of life, binding the feeble spirit-memory of the old bones into servitude. It was all so simple. It shouldn’t be this easy.

My eyes flicked down and back, resting on my own cutie mark for a moment. I’d never really thought about it all that much, or about what it represented. It was a sun, so that meant I would be good with magic that tied into the sun. Fire, light, stuff like that. Simple. But now I noticed something else about it.

A curved line down the middle of it, splitting it in half. With only a bit of pale moonlight coming in through the open door, the colors looked different. The moonlight rendered it monochrome; one half white, the other black. What I’d always just seen as a bit of meaningless color variation now reminded me of a symbol I’d seen in one of Celestia’s books. It represented balance, duality, the idea that two seemingly conflicting forces were actually interdependent and in a constant cycle.

I’d always assumed that I’d developed my mastery of fire and ice because the two weren’t opposing forces at all: they were both just about manipulating heat. But maybe that wasn’t the case after all. Maybe I’d done so well with them because they were opposing forces. That was certainly how they always existed in the popular consciousness. And if that was the case, didn’t that mean that I might do well with other opposing forces as well? Celestia had already taught me about light magic, and I’d been talented at that. And the opposite of light is...

Or maybe, like fire and ice, they weren’t opposites at all; just two points on the same continuum. Everypony knows that the brightest light casts the darkest shadow.

I finished the spell, and the vessel rose from its resting place. Just like with Mome’s golems, I could feel a sort of connection to the zombie’s intelligence. But where the golems had a sterile, mechanical sort of intellect, the undead creature had a more ... animalistic spirit, I suppose. Sort of like the mind of a guard dog. That was what I’d wanted, after all. Something to keep me safe from all the ponies pursuing me.

“Watch the door, grab anypony who tries to come through.” I spoke the words, and at the same time tried to mentally project them at the zombie-spirit through our mental connection. It got up and started moving towards the door, so I must have handled it the right way. At least I had it under control so far: more than one aspiring necromancer had been killed by their own creations.

Now that I had someone watching my back, I could take a moment to worry about myself. Channeling that necromantic energy might have dulled my wounds for a while, but everything was starting to hurt again now that I was done with the spell. I might have avoided breaking any bones, but my entire body felt like a single massive bruise, and every time I moved, some cut or scrape screamed in protest. At the very least I needed to bandage myself up; hanging around rotting, undead things while I had a bunch of open wounds was a good way to pick up a nasty disease.

A wild, hysterical laugh bubbled up out of the pit of my stomach. I was a warlock on the run from the EIS, and I was worried about getting dirty. If I could keep myself free long enough to actually have to worry about any infections I might pick up here, I could count myself a very lucky mare.

I took a couple deep breaths and tried to stop myself from laughing. Somepony might hear it. But for some reason I just couldn’t stop it. The whole situation was just so absurd. Maybe I should just roll around in all that corpse stuff for a while, just to make sure I got as dirty as possible. What did it matter anymore? Maybe if I picked up some horrible flesh-rotting disease everypony would feel so sorry for me that they’d forget about chasing me down. Or maybe Celestia would come here to cure me.

Somewhere along the way I started laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes. And then I wasn’t laughing at all, and there were a lot more tears. I could barely even breathe, choking on my own laughter as it slowly transformed into sobbing. How had everything gone so wrong?

I don’t know how long I was like that, but eventually I managed to hear something through all the noise that I was making. The sound of armored hooves on stone.

Damn. One of Strumming’s soldiers must’ve heard me. No surprise; if not for the rain muffling sound, everyone in the cemetery probably would’ve. I froze, trying to decide what I should do.

Before I could come up with anything, the guard stepped through the entrance. Naturally, he was focusing on the dangerous fugitive right in front of him. He had no idea that my zombie was hiding in the shadows in position to ambush whoever entered the mausoleum. Why would he? Who would expect a former student of Celestia’s to conjure up undead?

Another ripple of laughter burst out of me. I don’t think there was anything I could’ve done to stop it.

The guardspony strode towards me, and my zombie slammed its shoulder into his side, knocking him off his hooves and sending him sprawling. The zombie followed him as she slid across the dusty stone floor, rearing up on its hind legs to drive its cadaverous forehooves down on him. The soldier quickly covered his head, but that just left his ribs and belly exposed.

“Stop!” Exerting my will over the zombie was harder than I had expected it to be. My only real experience at this kind of thing had been with Metal Mome’s golems, and while undead might be similar to golems in some ways, it was starting to look like those little differences were a lot more important than I’d initially realized. A golem doesn’t have any real will of its own, but the spirit bound to my zombie did. A very crude, primal sort of thing with only the most basic of drives: it wanted to protect me. It regarded the soldier as a threat, and wanted to end that threat the only way it could.

I wasn’t going to let that happen. “Don’t hurt him. Just ... just tie him up or something.” A quick scan of the mausoleum revealed absolutely nothing that could be used to bind the soldier in place—whoever owned the tomb obviously hadn’t anticipated that I might be using it for a last stand against the EIS. “Keep an eye on him. Don’t let him get away.” I frowned, and amended my instructions to the zombie. “Don’t hurt him or anything. Just ... I dunno ... hold him down without hurting him. Okay?” I glowered down at the guardpony. “And you, just stay right there and don’t do anything.”

The zombie fulfilled my instructions to the best of its abilities, planting itself on top of the soldier and pinning him to the floor. Of course, now that my creation was busy keeping a prisoner under control, it couldn’t watch my back the way I’d intended it to do. I was right back where I started, except now I had a hostage on top of that.

I could always go looking outside the mausoleum for more bodies to animate. I was in the middle of a graveyard, I wasn’t going to run out of raw materials any time soon. I could just keep making zombies until I was completely exhausted or I hit the practical limit of what I could control. Maybe even more; I would need spares, after all. I might have taken one of the guardponies by surprise, but if I animated more and sent them out after the EIS, they’d know what I was up to soon enough.

My eyes flicked down at the guard, and a particularly ugly thought sprang to mind. I could always turn one of my current problems into an asset. Instead of one zombie stuck guarding one prisoner, why not just have two zombies? And it would probably make the EIS back off too, once they realized I was serious about not letting them capture me again. So why not do it? It was smart, pragmatic, efficient...

And wrong.

Robbing graves was one thing, but killing somepony just so I could make another zombie was monstrous. There was no way I could justify that. I wasn’t some lunatic warlock, I was Princess Celestia’s former student. I could find a better way out of this whole mess; I just needed a little time to figure out what I was supposed to do.

Since I really needed some peace and quiet to think things through, that’s when the guardpony decided to start talking to me. “Sunset Shimmer?” He shuffled around on the stone floor, trying to get a bit more comfortable without doing anything to provoke my zombie. “I ... look, my name is Iron Hoof. I have a wife and—”

“Shut up!” I snarled at him. I knew what he was trying to do: he wanted to tell me all about his family so I wouldn’t hurt him. Guilt me with the fact that he had kids back home who would be turned into orphans if he forced me to kill him. It was a pretty standard trick.

Except in my case, going with the standard tricks was a stupid thing to do. First off, I didn’t want to kill him anyway. In fact, the implication that I might be some kind of crazed murderer just pissed me off. Second, he was trying to manipulate me. Worse, he was doing the obvious, clunky sort of manipulation. Not only do I hate it when ponies lie to me, I also hate the implied insult to my intelligence when they use blatantly obvious lies.

Regardless, I didn’t have time to worry about this stupid meathead soldier, I needed to focus on getting out of here. The obvious solution would be to teleport, but I was tired and still in a lot of pain. Theoretically, I shouldn’t be in too much danger of teleporting into the middle of a solid object or leaving half my body behind. Magical energy tends to flow to the point of least resistance, and solid objects are pretty resistant. As for leaving stuff behind, my body was a single relatively unified object that should be treated as such by the spell. Or at least, that’s what the prevailing magical theory said.

I wasn’t exactly eager to risk a horrible death on theory alone. Not to mention there were still plenty of bad things that could happen with a teleportation spell without sticking me halfway through a wall or leaving chunks of my body behind. I could reappear ten meters into the air, or out over the middle of the water, or...

Urgh, no point dwelling on that. So teleporting was out until I had a chance to rest and recover. I wasn’t exhausted the way I’d been after the fight with Mome. If I could get something to cut down on the pain and buy enough time to shake off the lingering effects of the sleep potion Strumming had slipped me, I should be in good enough condition to risk a teleportation. For that matter, if I bought enough time I might be able to get some outside help. A couple dozen Equestrian soldiers running around Freeport would get noticed sooner or later. Once the sun came up and the rain slacked off there would be plenty of creatures walking the streets, and it wouldn’t take long for someone to notice that something weird was going on in the graveyard.

Okay, I had a plan. I just needed to buy some time and I could still get out of this. Of course, Strumming and her crew probably knew that too. I might be able to stall them for a while, but I doubt they would let me keep delaying them until daylight, and that was still more than four hours away.

First things first, I iced over most of the entrance to the mausoleum. It wouldn’t take Strumming and her minions long to notice that one of their ponies was missing, if they hadn’t already. Securing the entrance now would, at worst, give away my location a few minutes early. I could live with that when the alternative was leaving myself wide open to a surprise attack. I didn’t seal it up all the way: I did need a supply of fresh air and a few peepholes so I could see what was going on outside, but I didn’t leave anything close to large enough for a pony to fit though.

After that, it was just a matter of waiting.

Ten minutes later, somepony started tapping on my ice barrier. I risked a quick look out one of my peepholes and saw Strumming Heartstrings standing in the doorway. Her mane was plastered flat against her skull from the rain, and there was a rather nice bruise developing on her jaw which looked suspiciously like my hoof. Despite that, she smiled when she saw me looking out at her. “Heya, bacon-head.”

“Strumming.” I struggled to think of what I should say to her. I knew I shouldn’t just stand there with a stupid look on my face, but my mind was just completely blank.

The pegasus sighed and took a seat right outside my barrier, resting her back against the ice. “Well, we’ve gotten ourselves into a right and proper mess now, haven’t we?”

“Looks like it.” I slumped down against the other side of the ice. “So what’s your next move? At best, you have until sunrise to get me out of here. Once someone sees what’s going on here and reports it to the condottieri, that’s it for you.”

“Depends on who the first responder is,” Strumming countered. “If we get lucky, we might be able to slow them down for a while with some well-placed bribes. Shouldn’t be too hard, as long as news doesn’t reach anyone on the Council or any of their flunkies who know about you.”

“I can’t help but notice there’s a lot of wishful thinking mixed up in that plan.” Judging by my own recent life experience, any plan where good luck was a required component was just about doomed to fail. “So I guess this is the part where you tell me to give up without a fight or else you’ll have your soldiers take me by force?”

“You don’t have to be so negative about it.” She sighed, tipping her head back against the wall between us. “I didn’t want it to go this way, you know. I wanted it all to turn out a lot more amicably, but I have my orders.” She ran a hoof through her soaked mane. “I was supposed to be your friend, help nudge you along the right path if you started straying. Instead I’m leading a team trying to arrest you. Pretty feathered up, isn’t it?” She shifted around, and I heard the all-too-familiar sound of her pulling some junk food out of her saddlebag. “Want a candy bar? I can probably slip it through one of those little holes you left in the door. I’d offer some crisps, but they won’t fit. Rain’d probably ruin them anyway.”

“No thanks.” I shot a poisonously sweet smile through the gap in the wall. “After what happened the last time I accepted food from you, I’m not gonna risk it. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...”

Strumming chuckled softly. “You know, there might be hope for you yet.” I heard a few brief snatches of conversation from outside, but none of the words were clear. I suppose she must have retrieved her unicorns and had one of them put up a privacy spell—pretty sensible, under the circumstances. I couldn’t tell where they were or what they were saying, and anypony outside the graveyard would probably not notice anything but vague blurs and muffled sounds all drowned out by the rain.

After a short consultation with her comrades, Strumming addressed me again. “You’ve got Iron Hoof in there with you, right?”

“Yeah.” No point in lying when they already knew the answer. Not to mention that his presence would probably do a lot to keep Strumming and her minions from launching an all-out attack on my little stronghold. “He’s alive and mostly intact. For now.” I tried to make that sound as threatening as I could, but it came out as just a bit too melodramatic. A hostage wasn’t going to do me any good unless Strumming believed I was capable of hurting him.

I quickly to salvage the situation. “If you try anything I don’t like, that might change. I don’t have anything against him, but if it comes down to him or me...”

“Kinda figured that’s how it was.” Strumming tapped on the ice in a few places; seemingly at random, but I would bet she was trying to get an idea of how hard and thick it was. She didn’t seem the least bit concerned by my threats, though I suppose that was to be expected. “So how are you holding up? It looked like you had a pretty rough landing. Nice job on those ice wings, by the way. Seriously, that was some awesome magic. Bet Celestia would’ve been proud of it.”

“I know what you’re doing,” I growled out at her. “Make small talk, offer a few compliments, get a conversation going, the whole routine. The next stage is where you start establishing common ground with me, right? And after that we get to the main event.” I shifted to a mockery of her High Canterlot accent. “Well, Sunset old chum, helping you out of this little jam would be absolutely capital, but I’m terribly afraid my wanker of a boss will bugger it all up unless you do a little something for me first. Work with me on this, and we’ll be sipping tea and having crumpets back the embassy in no time.”

“Starswirl’s beard, I don’t sound that Canterlot, do I?” She looked to her soldiers, but the privacy spell kept me from hearing any answers she might have gotten. I probably could’ve taken that privacy spell down if I really wanted to, but wasting energy on it seemed pointless. It’s not like they wouldn’t just re-cast the spell a couple seconds later.

After another round of muffled conversation the spell blocked off from me, Strumming addressed me once more. “Alright then, Sunset, you know how this is all going to work, so I’ll play it by the rulebook. How’s everypony doing in there? Do either of you need help? I’ve got a first aid kit out here, and I can send it through if you open up a hole for a little bit.”

A first aid kit? Every single wound I’d picked up in my crash-landing twinged at once, reminding me that I could really use some medical supplies. However, that offer was just a bit too tempting to be true. I tossed one of the pieces of advice Strumming had given me a few weeks ago right back in her face. “What’s the catch?”

I could see her smug little grin through my peephole. “Smart. The catch, Sunset, is that you have to do something for me. You have to let me talk to Iron Hoof. You don’t have to send him out or anything, just let him come up to the door and talk to me for a little bit so I can make sure he’s doing alright. That sound fair to you?”

I scoffed and glared at her through the hole. “I wasn’t born yesterday, nag. There’s all kinds of tactical info you could get out of him.” I considered, then shook my head. “In fact, I don’t need your first aid kit anyway. Knowing you, all the ointment will be replaced with sleeping drugs anyway.”

Strumming groaned and smacked her head against the ice wall. “Yeah, I guess that figures. Kinda hard for us to negotiate when you don’t trust me any further than you could throw me.” She paused, then rubbed the budding bruise on her face. “Granted, if your punches are anything to judge by, maybe you could chuck me a bit further than I expected.” She sighed, then took a deep breath. “Look, I don’t figure there’s anything I can say that’ll make you like me. I think it’s hard to deny that a lot of mistakes were made. Most of that was me following stupid orders from my stupid bosses, but I can’t shove all the blame onto them. I...” Her shoulders slumped down, and she leaned a bit more heavily against the wall. “Hay, I don’t know how to help a scared, confused, troubled young mare. Princess feathering Celestia had trouble with that, so how was I supposed to figure it out? There are lot of things I’d do differently if I had a second chance. I could’ve gone with you on that bounty hunt, helped you get the job done without crossing any lines. Or fought harder to keep you from getting arrested. Or ... I don’t know, a lotta stuff.”

She turned back to face the wall properly. “Let’s try something else. I’ll ask you a question. You answer it, and medkit’s yours. You don’t wanna answer it, then don’t.” When I didn’t refuse her offer out of hoof, she continued. “Alright, so it’s hard not to notice that you’re holed up in the middle of graveyard right now. I need to know, did you use dark magic again?”

The smart thing to do would’ve been to deny everything. I doubt Strumming would’ve believed me, but confessing wouldn’t do me any good either. But when I looked over at my zombie, still keeping that guardpony pinned down in the corner, a twinge of something passed through my stomach. I had to wonder what Celestia would think if she saw me right now. She’d practically raised me, treated me as the daughter she’d never had, and now I was calling up zombies and taking one of her guards hostage. Not exactly the best way to make her proud of me.

So instead of doing the smart thing, I did the honest one. “Yeah, I did.”

I’d been expecting Strumming to have a lot to say about that. Probably a bunch of smartflanked remarks about how I’d used dark magic as part of my plan to fix all the trouble I’d gotten into for using dark magic. But instead she stuck with her quiet, serious mood. “I guess it figures, doesn’t it? Mome put you in a position where your only options were to use dark magic or see bad things happen to good ponies, and now we’re the ones backing you into a corner. No surprise you pick using dark magic over going back into prison.”

There was a brief pause while she spoke to somepony covered by the privacy spell, and when she came back I saw a standard Guard-issue medical kit in her hooves. She tapped it against the ice, and after a moment’s hesitation I opened up a hole just barely large enough to let her slide it through. Once I had the kit, Strumming spoke again. “I’m not gonna blame or judge you for what you did to escape us. That’s a big, complicated issue. But there is one thing I want you to think about: you’ve got a good pony in there who was just following orders trying to put you back in custody. And right now, his life is entirely in your hooves.”

She deliberately met my eyes for several long seconds. “If he gets hurt or dies, it’s not gonna be because we forced you to do that—it’s gonna be because you chose to hurt him. And that’s gonna be something you’ll have to live with for the rest of your life. The things we do ... they define who and what we are for the rest of our lives. I suggest thinking real long and hard about whether you’re the kind of mare who would execute one of Celestia’s loyal guardponies just to make us stop chasing you for a bit.”

Having said her piece, Strumming rose to her hooves and began walking away. While I normally wouldn’t have minded seeing her go, I couldn’t help but be a little curious. “You’re leaving?”

Strumming paused and shook her head. “Not much point in me trying to talk you down. I don’t know a lot about negotiating, but I do know that you’ll never get anywhere with it if the ponies involved don’t trust each other. And I’m pretty sure you don’t trust me.” A hint of a smile flickered across her face. “Which, come to think of it, is probably one of the better decisions you’ve made since coming to Freeport. Sit tight, we’ll send in a new negotiator in a bit.”

I put my spare time to good use. Strumming had traded me a medical kit, after all. I didn’t think it was too likely that she’d tampered with any of the supplies, mainly because I rather doubted Strumming had been carrying a sabotaged medical kit on the off chance that I escaped, was injured, took one of her soldiers hostage, and then decided to trade information for medical supplies. I still checked everything for signs of tampering before I used it, though.

Once I was bandaged up, there wasn’t much to do but wait. I checked on my prisoner every once in a while, but he didn’t seem to be up to much. No surprise when my zombie was standing right over him and under orders to stop him if he tried anything. I tried the occasional peek out the ice wall, but the EIS were keeping their privacy screen up. I thought about trying to take it down again—I was feeling a bit stronger now that all my injuries were properly bandaged up and treated—but it still probably wasn’t worth the risk. I doubt they would react well to me slinging spells at them. Time was on my side, so there was no reason to do something that might make the standoff explode.

The privacy screen would also make teleporting out a lot harder. I was feeling strong enough to try the spell, but I didn’t know Freeport well enough to teleport around blindly. Still, it at least gave me an option for what to do if negotiation failed and they tried to storm in. Take down the privacy screen, then teleport out as fast and far as possible. Risky, but it was better than just meekly letting them chain me up again.

After a while I conjured up some more ice to give myself a resting place—though considering where I was maybe I should call it something else. The mausoleum might have been reasonably clean before, but blasting open one of the coffins and reanimating its occupant had probably ruined any work the caretaker had put into making it sanitary. Considering just how many open wounds I had, even if they were mostly bandaged up now, lying down on the floor didn’t seem like a good idea.

I had just finished getting comfortable when somepony tapped on the barrier covering the mausoleum’s entrance. A second later I heard one of the last voices I could’ve expected. “Shimmer-mare, are you in there?”

I jumped in surprise, and the despite the grim circumstances, I was smiling. “Puzzle? Is that really you?” I was relieved to know that he—it—buck it, he was okay. I didn’t think the EIS would really hurt him, but there was no substitute for visual confirmation. I shifted out of my resting place to get a look through the small opening in my wall.

Puzzle was right there in his preferred pegasus form, smiling at me. “It is this one, yes.” He confirmed his identity by shifting to his insectoid changeling form in a flash of green fire. “And this one has not come alone.”

My gaze shifted as low as I could get it through my limited vision slit, and I saw a second, smaller changeling. “Shimmer-mare!” I heard the relief in her voice, and she pressed up against the ice in a desperate effort to find some way through it.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “Kukri! You okay?” I couldn’t risk opening up a hole big enough for the little changeling to climb in through, nor did I especially want to drag her into the middle of a tense standoff, but I did open up another hole a bit lower down so she could actually see me.

“The Equestrians did not hurt this one, though it was very worried for the Shimmer-mare. This one is most relieved to know that you are alright.” Kukri scrambled over to the hole, her eyes quickly seeking me out. Once she’d confirmed that I was okay, she pressed her hoof against the hole. Green fire flashed again, and her hoof slimmed down enough for her to start slowly wiggling it in through the peephole.

“The Equestrians were kind to us within the limitations of our circumstances.” Puzzle’s eyes flicked back to the privacy screen, where the EIS agents were waiting for us. “This one did not enjoy confinement, but compared to some of the dungeons this one has seen, Equestria’s treatment was more akin to house arrest. Though this one is somewhat curious about how the EIS obtained adequate supplies of thymoplasm to feed us.”

I took Kukri’s hoof and gently squeezed it. “Glad to hear you two are okay.” I tapped the ice wall separating myself from the little changeling. “I'd invite you in, but ... well, you know, tense hostage standoff thing.” My eyes flicked back to the privacy screen, searching for any sign of movement through the vague, shifting barrier. “I'm actually waiting for them to send in a new negotia...”

I trailed off as a couple things clicked into place. At first I’d been so relieved to see the two of them that I hadn’t really questioned their presence—I guess I’d just chalked it up to Strumming trying to win a little good will by letting me see them. Except that didn’t sound like Strumming at all. She would’ve squeezed some kind of concession out of me in exchange for letting me see the changelings again. Hay, she probably could’ve gotten something reasonably valuable from me in exchange for bringing the two of them here. It didn’t make sense...

And then I remembered that Strumming had mentioned getting a new negotiator. Someone I would trust a lot more than her. And Puzzle was a mercenary, after all.

The changeling grinned at me, showing his fangs. “Ah, the Shimmer-mare is starting to learn.”

Kukri stared up at him, her jaw dropping in shock. “The other is working for them?!” Her voice trembled with fury, and she probably would’ve shoved the older changeling if not for the fact that she was still hanging onto my hoof. “They imprisoned us! And the Shimmer-mare!”

“And they are offering this one its freedom if it resolves the situation without bloodshed,” Puzzle answered mildly. “This one has been honest with you both from the start. It is a problem solver for hire. The Equestrians have obtained this one’s services—at considerable expense, this one should add. It required some recompense for its false imprisonment.” He reached over and gave Kukri a calming pat on the back. “It also secured Kukri’s freedom as part of the arrangement.”

My first instinct was to be outraged by the fact that Puzzle was working with the EIS. However, given how much trouble I’d gotten into lately by following my instincts, I took a moment to think things through rationally instead. Puzzle had managed to get the EIS to release him and Kukri both by taking a deal with them, not to mention saving me from having to arrange a jailbreak for them. Plus, as far as potential negotiators went, Puzzle was a pretty good choice for me. I’m not sure if I trusted him after this and Strumming’s theory, but I was certainly more inclined to listen to him than I would be to hear any EIS agents out. The person I trusted the most was a potentially untrustworthy changeling mercenary whose gender I wasn’t even sure about. What went wrong with my life?

I gave him a chance. “It’s not just about you and Kukri, is it? I mean, a peaceful finish to this whole deal is what’s best for me too. Right?”

“This one sincerely believes that to be the case,” Puzzle agreed. “It prefers compromises that leave everyone relatively happy, as those tend to create lasting agreements. If the EIS forces the Shimmer-mare back into custody, she will simply attempt escape again. By the same token, if the EIS is forced to agree to unacceptable terms, they would nullify the agreement and continue pursuing the Shimmer-mare the instant she releases her hostage.”

Kukri growled out several remarks about Strumming that made it very clear that she’d spent far too much time around sailors for a young filly her age. “Don't give in to the Heartstrings-mare, Shimmer-mare. She is an evil nag while you are in the right. All three of us know it, even if the other one is too blinded by self-interest and love of coins to see it. The Shimmer-mare must defeat her, just as she did with the pirates.”

Puzzle sighed patiently and put a restraining hoof on Kukri’s back “Careful about being stubborn, young one. That path leads to hard consequences.”

I frowned and slowly nodded. Punching Strumming might have been immensely satisfying, but it hadn’t really done much to advance my position. “I'm not exactly eager to go down in a blaze of glory fighting against the EIS. They have me outnumbered twenty to one, right?” I searched Puzzle’s face for any reaction to my estimate, but the changeling didn’t give anything away. “I know I can’t win a straight fight, but I'm not letting them lock me up again either.”

Kukri shrugged off Puzzle’s hoof, shooting an annoyed glare at her fellow changeling. “Nor should you. This one would rather go back to being an Equestrian prisoner than see the Shimmer-mare locked away again.”

Puzzle rolled his eyes, grumbling under his breath. “The little one is not helping this one’s efforts...” He cleared his throat, then turned back to me. “In any case, this one can understand the Shimmer-mare’s desire to keep her freedom. Let us work towards that goal. First, can this one confirm that Iron Hoof is still doing well?”

I spared a quick look for the captured soldier, still silently pinned in the corner. He glared back at me. I was pretty sure he was going to bear a grudge over this whole incident. “He's fine. Probably a little sore from being pinned in the corner for so long, and I don’t think he likes me very much, but he isn’t hurt.”

“Good.” Puzzle paused, then amended, “That he is unharmed, not that he is offended, though this one supposes that was inevitable. In any case, so long as he remains alive and unharmed, it will be much easier to negotiate.”

“This one is confident he will recover from his imprisonment.” Kukri groused, withdrawing her hoof so she could properly sit down instead of lying on her belly. Once she was comfortable, she crossed her forelegs over her chest, scowling back at the EIS forces behind the privacy spell. “This one confesses a certain enjoyment in confining one of them after our own captivity.”

Puzzle sighed and rubbed his temples, his patience with Kukri fraying. “Now is not the time to be bitter, little one. It will not help us resolve the current situation. The Equestrians were merely doing what they thought was right.”

Kukri snorted and spat out a couple more words she probably learned on the docks. To be honest, I couldn’t help but agree with the general sentiment. “Yeah, well Strumming and her friends still think it'd be right to lock me up, so you'll have to forgive me if I don't put too much stock in their ideas of right and wrong.”

While it was a bit satisfying to vent about the EIS, it didn’t put me any closer to finding a solution. I took a couple deep breaths and tried to calm down. Anger wasn’t going to get me out of this, I had to be rational. “So ... what's the plan?”

“That depends on a number of things.” Puzzle pulled out a notepad, looking it over. “Iron Hoof is not harmed, which is good. Strumming mentioned that the Shimmer-mare was injured during her escape, but this one thinks it safe to assume the Shimmer-mare is not critically wounded and in need of immediate medical attention, correct?”

Kukri immediately started pressing against the ice wall again, her annoyance with Puzzle forgotten. “The Shimmer-mare is hurt? How badly is she injured? How can this one help?”

“I’m fine, Kukri. Relax.” I gave the young changeling a couple seconds to calm down, then gave a more detailed answer. “I just had a bit of a rough landing during my escape. Nothing serious, just skinned my knee a bit and needed to get a bandage from Strumming.” It wasn’t exactly the truth, but I didn’t want Kukri panicking. Besides, I’d patched myself up, and that was the important part. No need to tell Kukri all the ugly details.

The little changeling sighed in relief, while Puzzle responded with a reserved nod. “Good. So, if this one could ask some questions: this one understands that the Shimmer-mare does not wish to be imprisoned, correct? Is there anything else she would ask for?”

I thought it over for a minute. “I don't want the EIS or anypony else from Equestria coming after me again. No spies, no private citizens, nobody hired by my parents, nothing. There’s not much point in getting them to leave today if they’ll just be back again tomorrow.”

Puzzle slowly nodded. “This one sees. That will likely mean that you will not be able to return to Equestria or any of its protectorates.”

I flinched the instant I heard that. Sure, I might have been fighting to keep the EIS from dragging me back to Equestria in chains, but I’d always planned to go back to Equestria eventually. Just that it was supposed to be on my terms. The plan was for me to return in triumph after I’d Ascended, taking my rightful place on the throne at Celestia’s side. Instead I was looking at permanent exile. I might never see Celestia again...

Puzzle cleared his throat, making his tone as gentle as possible. “Freedom is a bit of an illusion. For every freedom we have, we put on another shackle, even if we do not always see it. Ponies often seek power in the belief that it will give them the freedom to do as they wish, but nothing could be further from the truth.” He shook his head. “Power is the greatest shackle of all. The more power you have, the less freedom you’re left with. You spend all your time working to hold onto the power you have or fulfilling the responsibilities that come with that power.”

I thought back to my time with Celestia and realized he might be right. She was supposed to be the most powerful mare in the world, but she couldn’t even stop me from leaving Canterlot. She couldn’t make me come home. What good was all that power if she couldn’t even make her daughter come home? But if freedom and power were nothing but illusions, then where did that leave me?

Puzzle must have figured out what was going through my head. No surprise, since he was the one who had thrown me for a loop to begin with. “The Shimmer-mare must decide which freedoms are important to her and which can be sacrificed. Does she wish to return to Equestria, or will she choose to seek her own path in Freeport forever?”

I scowled and shook my head. “No, I don’t buy that. There’s no way that the only two options on the table are that I go back to Equestria in chains or never go back at all.”

Puzzle conceded the matter with a nod. “This one will concede that it somewhat simplified the precise terms of the offer. Somewhat less simply put, the EIS can ignore your presence so long as you remain outside Equestria and do not commit vile and infamous crimes.” He coughed a few times, then cleared his throat. “One count of dark magic under ambiguous circumstances where the caster was working at the behest of a foreign government can be swept under the rug. It’s not worth all the diplomatic trouble it would cause. This one suspects the Equestrians would not have pursued the Shimmer-mare at all if not for the fact that she is the White Pony’s former student. You are held to a higher standard than the average rogue mage.”

“Well, aren’t I lucky?” I groaned and rubbed my face. “So the bottom line is that they’ll stop giving me special attention so long as I stay out of their way? I guess it’s a lot easier for Equestria to ignore me when I’m not sitting in their front lawn.”

“Precisely.” Puzzle smiled, quite pleased that I’d followed his logic. “Thus, you either remain free outside of Equestria, or become a prisoner within it. There are ways to change that, but it would require either an act so vile it could not be forgiven, or so righteous that it swept away your previous crimes.” Puzzle paused, and his smile shifted to more of a smirk. “Or returning to Equestria incognito, of course. Though that would be a difficult proposition in the long term. The Shimmer-mare’s spellcasting abilities would make her stand out no matter how well she disguised herself. She could simply not use those abilities, but this one does not believe the Shimmer-mare could go without her magic.”

He was right about that. My magic was a fundamental part of my identity. I was a magus. The idea of just not using my magic, or holding it back enough to blend in as an ordinary pony ... I couldn’t do it. It would be like asking a pegasus to give up flying, a changeling to stay in one form, or an earth pony to ... not do earth pony things.

Kukri sent her hoof through the hole again, doing her best to pull me into a one-legged hug despite the wall in between us. “If the Shimmer-mare misses certain ponies, this one believes she could write to them. They could even come to Freeport, possibly. If they truly care, they will make the journey to see you.”

I leaned as far into the touch as I could. “That’s true.” I wondered if Celestia would really make the journey all the way to Freeport just to see me again. Kukri was right—if she really cared, she would. “Alright. Fine. Make the deal, Puzzle.”

Puzzle dipped his head. “This one will convey the Shimmer-mare’s wishes. The EIS and the Shimmer-mare both seem equally displeased by this outcome, so it thinks the proposal likely to be accepted.” He paused, and a faint frown flickered over his face. “This one cannot guarantee that the EIS will cease any involvement in the Shimmer-mare’s life. I doubt they will try anything so bold as seizing her and forcibly returning her to Equestria, but they will likely try subtler enticements once enough time passes and passions have cooled.” The changeling paused, shifting on its hooves. “This one has accepted contracts with the EIS before, and if the Shimmer-mare wishes to continue working with it...”

I waved his concerns down. “I can deal with them trying to convince me, as long as they stick to just talking instead of locking me or my friends up. Strumming was just mildly annoying until she tried to arrest me.”

Puzzle sighed a bit melodramatically. “We all have burdens to bear. This one will allow that she makes an intriguing opponent. This one still does not fully understand what is true with her and what is a lie. It enjoys a good mystery. It hopes she will not be transferred away before it unravels the truth.”

Something about Puzzle’s tone bugged me. It almost sounded like he admired Strumming. I decided to bring up a highly relevant fact. “Either of you notice that shiner Strumming has?”

“Yes.” Kukri grinned, showing off her fangs. “Nice hit.”

Puzzle’s smile was a bit more subdued, but he chuckled. “This one was able to guess that the Shimmer-mare was responsible for the injury. This one presumed that the Heartstrings-mare attempted to prevent her escape, and the Shimmer-mare objected.”

“Emphatically.” I grinned and gave Kukri’s hoof a quick pat. “I'll tell you all about how I escaped once we get out of this.”

“This one would love to hear it,” Kukri chimed in.

“This one will pay for breakfast once the hostage situation is finished, and the Shimmer-mare can tell it the whole story.” Puzzle shot me a quick grin. “Are there any other complications this one should know about before it speaks with the Heartstring-mare?”

“A couple things come to mind.” I glanced over at the corner of the room, where my zombie held down the guard. “I'll need to deal with the zombie. I shouldn't have any trouble handling it, I just don't want them panicking when I start using my magic.”

Puzzle thought it over for a moment, then nodded. “Warning them ahead of time seems prudent. Everyone is going to be very tense, and all it takes is one person overreacting to turn a peaceful surrender into a bloodbath. This one will warn the Equestrians. Was there anything else?”

“Yeah, actually.” I grinned at him. “Your pay from the EIS for resolving the hostage crisis. I want half of it.” One his eyebrows shot up, and I justified it. “You can't solve this situation peacefully without my help. Ergo, I deserve some of the rewards.”

Puzzle frowned at me, but I caught a hint of amusement flickering in his eyes. “The Shimmer-mare has grown greedy. This one should point out that if not for its role in things, the Shimmer-mare’s stronghold likely would have been stormed by the EIS.”

“Which is why you get to keep half of the pay.” I smirked at him. “Neither one of us could get this job done on our own, it took both of us to pull it off. That’s how partnerships work.” My smirk widened a bit, and I dropped my voice down. “Come on, with as good as your negotiating position was, you probably squeezed them pretty hard before you took the job. You can afford to split your pay.”

Puzzle sniffed, and a haughty note entered his voice. “This one does have its professional pride, you know.”

“Of course you do.” If not for the wall standing between us, I would’ve nudged him in the shoulder. I was pretty sure I had at least some idea of what made Puzzle tick, and it wasn’t love of money. “Come on, we both know you're gonna agree eventually. Why drag it out?”

Puzzles eyes briefly widened, then he gave me a barely perceptible nod. A second later he grinned, a teasing light in his eyes. The change came so fast I wasn’t even one hundred percent sure anything had actually happened. “Ah, now this one understands. The Shimmer-mare is worried that she won't be able to make rent if she doesn't extort some of this one’s hard-earned pay.”

I answered in the same tone. “Well, I am gonna need something a bit bigger than a two-room apartment now that I have Mome’s golems to take care of. Not to mention I’ll need to set up a proper workshop to take them apart, make sure I understand what makes them tick, and then put them back together.”

The changeling grinned. “This one is happy to say it knows several individuals who could help in that endeavour. For the right price, of course.” His smile slipped, turning into something more serious. “You're going to owe this one a favor for its part in this.”

Puzzle’s smile might have disappeared, but mine was still firmly in place. “I got you out of jail and got you a nice high-paying low-effort job. I'd say if anything, you owe me.”

“But it was the Shimmer-mare who got this one into jail to start with. And solitary is very boring, this one will let you know.”

“Sorry.” My ears drooped at the reminder that Puzzle and Kukri’s confinement had been entirely on my account. “Call it even on favors, then?”

Puzzle considered, then shrugged. “Fair enough. As long as you do not tell anyone about the pay arrangements.”

I grinned and winked. “It'll be our secret.”

Puzzle grinned and whispered conspiratorially. “Now the Shimmer-mare is learning. This one will see to it that she is properly compensated once the current matter is settled.” With that done, he cleared his throat and raised his voice. “If there is nothing else we need to discuss, do you mind if I go speak with the EIS for a couple of minutes to see what Strumming and her cohorts think of the matter?”

I waved towards the privacy screen. “Sure, go for it.”

“This one will stay here.” Kukri kept her hoof around mine, seeming quite determined to remain in place until it was all over.

Puzzle’s eyes flicked down to her. “The little one may stay here and talk. But only talk. No clever schemes or the like. This one does not need any more complications to its negotiations. Keep her company, but no foolishness. Is this one understood?”

One of Kukri’s ears flicked, but she reluctantly nodded. That satisfied the problem solver. “This one will return once it has finalized the arrangements with the Heartstrings-mare.” Puzzle turned about and walked off, crossing the privacy screen. I had no idea who was on the other side of it or what they might be saying, so I had no choice but to hope that Puzzle was playing it straight. I trusted him, but I still hadn’t completely shaken those doubts Strumming had planted. The whole reason betrayal hurts so much is that it can only come from someone you trust.

Once Puzzle was safely out of sight, Kukri gave my hoof another squeeze. “The Equestrians have pulled Puzzle's leash, Shimmer-mare. That one is difficult to predict.” She frowned, then shook her head, dismissing the matter for the moment. “The Shimmer-mare is certain that she is as well as she could possibly be? That there is nothing this one can do to help her?”

“Just being here for me helps.” I gave her hoof a quick pat. “Besides, I really don't think we need to worry too much.”

Kukri scowled. “The Heartstrings-mare is alive. Of course the Shimmer-mare should worry. She will never be safe so long as that one dogs her steps.”

I was starting to see why Puzzle was a tad annoyed with her. Kukri was very devoted, but her protective instincts were going a bit too far. I was an adult, and more than capable of taking care of myself without having a cabin filly hovering over me. “Puzzle wouldn't cut a bad deal like that. He has a reputation.”

The young changeling scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Of course Puzzle wouldn't cut a bad deal, it is only a professional assassin. It has standards. The Heartstrings-mare has already shown she cares less about laws or reputations than her own goals.”

I couldn’t blame her for still being angry about Strumming arresting all of us, but she was wrong on that count. “I don't even know what Strumming’s deal is anymore, but it’s not that simple.” I sighed and ran a hoof over my face. “We don’t have to scare her off forever. Once we get to the Council and clear things up, I should be under their protection. That'd make it a lot harder for Strumming to do anything to me.”

Kukri grunted and scowled. “Harder. Not impossible. This one does not want to see anything happen to the Shimmer-mare. The Heartstrings-mare is evil and treacherous, and will violate any pact as soon as she can get away with it.”

I wasn’t in any mood to argue that spy’s merits and flaws. Instead I cut straight to the heart of the matter. “Do you have a better idea?”

After a long silence, she reluctantly admitted, “No.”

“Then we'll just have to go with this one for now. At least it'll get the EIS off our backs for a while.”

Kukri remained discontentedly silent until Puzzle came back. The older changeling was smiling, which was probably a good sign. “This one sees that all is as it left it, so it assumes that the Shimmer-mare and the little one are well.”

“As good as ever.” I glanced over at the privacy screen even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to see anything. They could still see me, after all. “How'd it go?”

“It went as well as could be expected. The Heartstrings-mare has agreed to the Shimmer-mare's terms, as long as Iron Hoof is not harmed.” Puzzle grinned, showing his fangs. “She also agreed to pay this one a bonus for its exemplary service.”

“Great.” I took a deep breath and steeled myself. “So is there a procedure for this or something? I've never done a hostage exchange before.”

“Bringing down your barrier would be a good first step,” Puzzle advised. “After that, the Shimmer-mare should disable her zombie and release the hostage. Once the EIS has confirmed that Iron Hoof is unharmed, they will withdraw back to their embassy. They ask that the Shimmer-mare remain in position until the privacy screen is removed and their departure is complete. Is that procedure acceptable?”

Kukri’s frown made it clear what she thought of that arrangement, and a part of me couldn’t help but agree with her. I would be wide open to attack once I dropped the barrier and disabled my zombie, especially with that privacy screen up. In hindsight, I should’ve insisted on having it taken down as part of the terms. It was probably too late to make any last-minute changes to the procedure, though. Not to mention insisting on that change might come across as insulting.

Instead, I decided to trust one of the closest things I had to a friend in Freeport. “Do you think she's dealing straight with us, Puzzle?”

Puzzle considered the matter, then let out a frustrated sigh. “She is in a difficult situation, perhaps even moreso than you realize. If she storms this place, then she risks forcing you to kill Iron Hoof. Likely the Shimmer-mare will die too, and likely there will be other casualties. Needless to say, that is an unacceptable outcome to her superiors.” There was a weird chitinous sound as Puzzle scratched its chin. “Either that, or you will manage to escape. Strumming is unlikely to win everything if she escalates this conflict any further, and she knows that. Better to negotiate an end to this that will allow everyone to live, and leaves her in a position to continue her efforts in the future.”

He paused, and a smile crossed his lips. “This one is reasonably certain she was telling the truth regarding her orders and her personal disapproval of them. It enjoys facing one who might actually be able to lie to it successfully.” He blinked, then a bit hastily amended. “It is certain she intends no treachery, though. That would require preparations this one could not miss, and regardless of her skill at lying, there would be no logic to it.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “It sounds like most of this mess is gonna get blamed on her boss anyway.” Well, assuming she actually had one, instead of just blaming any decision I wouldn’t like on some vague authority figure I would never encounter so she could keep claiming she was on my side and trying to help. “Hay, if she recommended against his plans as often as she claims she did, this could all really work out for her.”

“If Strumming followed his plan and it did not work for as long as she followed his instructions, then the blame will fall on him.” Puzzle’s eyes flicked out to the privacy screen. “But if she pushes and acts aggressively in this matter and ponies die, then it is her failure.”

I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. It wasn’t exactly the ironclad guarantee I was hoping for, but the only way Strumming would betray me would be if she had some sort of insane, irrational grudge that drove her to ruin her own career just to kill me for no damned reason. That would have to be enough.

I gave Kukri a second to remove her hoof from the wall, then lowered the ice barrier and cut the flow of power to my zombie. The corpse fell over—dead, for lack of a better word. Nopony attacked me the instant my defenses dropped, so that was a good sign.

Puzzle stepped into the mausoleum, then gave me a quick pat on the shoulder. “Thank you, Sunset.” His gaze shifted to the soldier Iron Hoof, who was still lying on the floor in his corner. “Do you require assistance returning to your compatriots?”

After a couple more seconds, presumably to make sure we weren’t setting him up for some kind of trick, the soldier rose to his hooves, groaning and stretching. He shot a nervous look my way, but when I didn’t attack him and Puzzle interposed himself between us, a tiny bit of tension left Iron Hoof’s shoulders. “I've got a nasty cramp and I’m sore all over, but I'll damn well walk out of here.” He wasted no time following through on that.

Once the soldier was clear Kukri rushed to my side, hugging me fiercely enough to make my collection of injuries from my crash-landing scream in protest. I didn’t mind the pain too much, though. I needed that hug. I stroked the little changeling’s head. “It’s okay, Kukri. It’s all over now.”

The New Day Dawns

The Council kept me waiting again. At least the waiting room was so luxurious that Puzzle and I were quite comfortable. They’d even tossed in a nice selection of refreshments, since it was around the time when normal ponies would be eating breakfast. After everything I’d gone through, I attacked the buffet table with only slightly less ferocity than I’d used against Strumming. After a couple days of prison food, getting high-quality Freeport cuisine again was very nice.

Still, while I suppose the delay shouldn’t have been surprising after how things had gone the last time I’d been here, you would think the Council would show a bit more respect for me in light of the changed circumstances. Last time I’d just been another petitioner begging the Council for a favor; now I had crushed Metal Mome, escaped from EIS custody, and managed to talk them into leaving me alone forever. Granted, most of the credit went to Puzzle for that last one.

The point was, I wasn’t the same mare. I’d learned and grown a lot over the last couple weeks. Not the kind of learning and growth Celestia probably wanted from me, but it was still growth. I’d gone into battle and put my life on the line to protect others. I’d stopped a dangerous criminal who had a long string of victims. I’d killed a sapient being, and reduced another one to a vegetative state he would probably never recover from.

I’d used dark magic. Twice. And despite that, I’d managed to keep things together pretty well. I’m not saying everything was fine, but I hadn’t turned into a raving lunatic warlock when I’d used forbidden spells to get myself out of a tough situation. Well, those spells were forbidden back in Equestria. As far as Freeport was concerned, everything I had done was legal—or at least not illegal enough for the Council to press charges. I suppose my outlook on dark magic had changed a bit. It’s not like I was planning to fling out forbidden spells all the time, but it did provide some new tactical options for me. At the very least, it was worth looking into while I was in Freeport. Books on the topic would be a lot easier to find here, after all. If I wanted to use it again, I’d be better at it; If not, the more I knew about warlock tricks, the better I would be at countering them.

All that was a concern for later on, though. For the moment, the Council was a far more pressing concern. Puzzle was waiting for them along with me, but Kukri had gone back to her clanhold. It hadn’t been easy to persuade her to leave my side after everything that had happened. We had to resort to fighting dirty, and brought up how worried her family would be after she’d vanished. While that convinced her to go home, she was plainly unhappy about it. I had a feeling that if she could find a way to arrange it, she’d get reassigned from the Venture to being my apprentice, or something like that. I’m not sure how good I would actually be at training her, but I liked the idea of having her around.

Puzzle watched me pacing back and forth across the room, a faint smile growing on his face. “It seems that the Shimmer-mare is most impatient. This one would have thought she would desire rest after all she had been through.”

“I got plenty of rest while I was locked up,” I growled at him. There wasn’t any real heat to it; I was just agitated and he was the only available target to take it out on. “Not to mention the sleeping potion that nearly screwed up my escape attempt. The whole standoff at the cemetery involved a whole lot of lying down and waiting too. And then the trip by the hospital that you insisted on even though I was perfectly fine. I think I’ve been very patient about all of this, but I have my limits.”

“If the Shimmer-mare’s patience is exhausted after the Council has kept her waiting for a mere fifteen minutes then this one will make a note to avoid enlisting her aid in any stakeout missions it may attempt.” Puzzle smirked at me. “It does not believe that the Shimmer-mare would enjoy spending several days locked up in a small room, looking out a window and waiting for some vital piece of intelligence to reveal itself.”

“Yeah, that does sound pretty awful.” Sure, I’d survived long stretches of study time back in my student days, but there’s a huge difference between reading a good book and staring out at the same scene for hours at a time. It wasn’t so much a matter of impatience as it was that I just couldn’t turn my brain off enough to do something that mindless for an extended stretch of time. A brain as well-developed as mine needs a certain degree of stimulation. It would be like taking a professional athlete and not letting them do any exercises for a month.

Puzzle grinned and nodded. “Thankfully, stakeout duty is something this one is long past, and a waste of the Shimmer-mare’s talents regardless. This one can usually subcontract out such unpleasant tasks to a reasonably competent investigator.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “This one will likely need some time to determine where the Shimmer-mare’s talents would be most useful. Though perhaps that is for the best. The Shimmer-mare will doubtlessly wish to take some time to establish a new home base and familiarize herself with her new golems.”

He was right about that. For the moment, Mome’s old golems were still in storage on his ship, but once Puzzle found a buyer for the Granite Heart, I would need somewhere else to put them and all the tools Mome used to work on them. Plus, I would need to secure a reliable source of magical crafting supplies to keep them in working order. Not to mention that as I assimilated Mome’s memories, I was starting to see a few interesting avenues for future expansion. To be honest, I would probably want to scrap his current golems and build my own from the ground up. Right now it was all pure theory, but with enough time and material, I could—

My train of thought abruptly derailed, and I turned towards Puzzle with a pondering frown. “So you’re already planning out new jobs for us? That’s a little presumptuous of you.” Not that I was all that offended, since I’d planned on working with Puzzle anyway. Still, no harm in bantering with him while we waited—it certainly beat sitting around bored.

“After how well this one’s first partnership with the Shimmer-mare went, it sees no reason not to continue to develop a strong working relationship.” The changeling sighed melodramatically, his head slumping. “Though this one supposes it understands. The Shimmer-mare does not enjoy earning profit or having reliable allies, and would prefer to work for less money with a fixer who will likely betray her at the first opportunity. Such preferences seem strange to this one, but it is certain she has her reasons.”

I chuckled and slowly shook my head. “Okay, I have to ask just what about our first job together made you think I would be a good long-term partner. Was it the part where I screwed up snatching the pirate so badly that I had to use dark magic to get out of it, or the part where I got you arrested by the EIS?” I tapped my cheek, my tone turning a touch mocking. “Oh, and let’s not forget that I wound up taking an Equestrian guardpony hostage to try and get out of jail, and if not for you bailing me out, it probably would’ve ended in a bloodbath. Yeah, I can see why you’re so eager to team up with me.”

“The Shimmer-mare gives herself too little credit,” Puzzle answered diplomatically. There was a brief silence, and he shifted to stand a bit closer to me. “Though if this one might be frank, what interests it is not the troubles the Shimmer-mare encountered. This one has yet to find a way to avoid any unexpected complications on high-risk missions. However, the Shimmer-mare showed an impressive degree of adaptability and determination in achieving her objectives.” He stepped forward and lightly tapped me on the chest. “Where others might have chosen surrender, the Shimmer-mare refused to accept any outcome other than the achievement of her goals. That is a valuable quality in any partner.” A faint smile shot across his lips. “Some might claim that the Shimmer-mare was lucky. It is this one’s experience that luck will often save one, should they possess the strength of will to carry on when all seems lost.”

“So is that what happened?” I turned to Puzzle, searching his face for any sign of what he was thinking. “Funny, I thought I got out of there because you were such a good negotiator. Though that does raise the question of what exactly you told Strumming to make her completely reverse her position on arresting me. Even if she was telling the truth about not wanting me locked up, she still had her orders.”

Puzzle answered with a dry grin. “This one can be very persuasive.”

“Yeah, sure you can.” I kept searching, but Puzzle’s poker face was way too good for me to see through. If I wanted him to give anything away, I had to poke the hornet’s nest a few times and see what came out. “You know, while I was in EIS custody, Strumming shared a pretty interesting theory with me. She said you’d set me up from the beginning—that you just casually mentioned that Mome would be vulnerable to dark magic, then tossed me into a dangerous situation I wasn’t ready for. Because if I crossed that line, then I wouldn’t be able to go back to Equestria.” I frowned at him. “And oh look, you just brokered a deal with the EIS where I get to stay in Freeport working for the Council but can never go back to Equestria.”

Puzzle’s face remained unreadably blank for several seconds, and when he finally answered it was with carefully measured deliberation. “If the Shimmer-mare wishes to believe that this one is capable of such acts, then she may do so. This one is the best fixer in Freeport, after all.” He took a deep breath. “However, this one has never betrayed the Shimmer-mare’s trust. A conspiracy of the sort the Heartstrings-mare suggests would be impossible to arrange. This one would have to perfectly coordinate the actions of hundreds of ponies, many of whom it had no means of contacting, much less controlling. Not to mention that this one finds it curious that the EIS played perfectly into the hooves of this plan if the Heartstrings-mare saw through it so perfectly.”

I scoffed and shook my head. “Yeah, about what I figured.” I took a seat, shifting my eyes away from the changeling for a bit. “I had an idea of my own, actually. You see, Strumming’s theory has a lot of holes in it, but it does make for something interesting to think over. It kept my mind very occupied, and as long as I was thinking about Strumming’s ideas I wouldn’t start coming up with any theories of my own.”

“And what sort of theories would the Shimmer-mare have conjured on her own?” Puzzle asked, a politely curious smile on his face.

I tapped my chin as I pulled my thoughts together. “Perhaps I would have noticed just how smoothly all the negotiations went. Normally high-stakes hostage situations are a lot more tense, but once you were on the scene everything just sorted itself out. Almost like you and Strumming planned the whole thing out before you even talked to me.” My expression hardened. “I’m sure you can see how that would make a mare curious about how long you’ve been talking to her behind my back, and whether you two cut any other dirty deals before this one.”

Puzzle took a deep breath, then shifted into his changeling form. It was still a bit strange to see him like that. You’d think I would be more at ease with Puzzle when he wasn’t wearing a disguise. Maybe it was just something I needed to get used to. Chitin and compound eyes did render his expression all but unreadable to me. Maybe that was part of why he’d shifted, or maybe dropping his disguise was meant to be some kind of signal that he was being completely honest. Or maybe he’d noticed my attempts to see through his poker face, so he put on a better one. I definitely needed to pick up a book on Free Mind psychology and social norms if I was going to be spending more time around him and Kukri.

Finally, he answered me. “The Shimmer-mare’s theory is correct. This one did speak with the Heartstrings-mare regarding a satisfactory resolution to the hostage crisis. It seemed only prudent to do so while it was en-route to her location.” He paused, his insectoid wings flicking. “As for the Shimmer-mare’s other question, this one does have certain additional understandings with the Heartstrings-mare as part of her release.” He quickly held up a hoof to forestall my answer. “These terms are not to the Shimmer-mare’s detriment in any way. If anything, her position will be improved.”

“You’ll forgive me I don’t take your word for it,” I growled. I paused, took a deep breath, and reined in my temper before it could start getting out of hoof. I already knew far too well how much trouble I could get into if I let anger control my actions. “If you want me to trust you, then you need to come clean about this. I want to know all the terms of your deal with Strumming. Now. You hold anything back, no matter how minor, and you can kiss any dreams of us working together goodbye.”

“This one understands the Shimmer-mare’s terms.” Puzzle took a breath. “The Heartstrings-mare believes that further direct contact between the EIS and the Shimmer-mare would not be in the best interests of any of the involved parties. Attempting to return the Shimmer-mare to Equestria by force merely pushed her further down a dark path and increased her hostility towards Equestria and its interests.” A faint smirk crossed his face. “This one can say with some confidence that the Heartstrings-mare is correct in this assessment. However, while direct contact would be inadvisable, some steps must still be taken to ensure that the Shimmer-mare does not become a full-fledged warlock and that Equestria remains reasonably aware of her actions.”

“In other words, the deal was that you spy on me for the EIS.” I suppose I should’ve been shocked by his betrayal and utterly furious, but after everything else I’d been through the news just didn’t have that much of an impact. Besides, having Puzzle send reports to the EIS was still a huge step up from being locked in an EIS prison or under permanent house arrest with Celestia.

“This one did intend to speak with the Shimmer-mare on the matter, once a more appropriate time to do so arose.” He waved one of his hooves across my body, taking in my generally battered, worn-down appearance. “The Shimmer-mare has had a rather difficult day, and this one’s news could have waited until after she had rested. This one’s assignment was only to provide the most general of information regarding the Shimmer-mare and her activities. Enough for the EIS to be certain she was not planning to return to Equestria as a false alicorn at the head of an army of brainwashed minions.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Yeah, there’s no way that would ever happen.” I wasn’t at all sure I believed his story about intending to tell me when a good opportunity arose. It’s easy to say you were planning on coming clean after you’ve been busted. On the other hoof, I didn’t see much to be gained from pushing the issue further than I already had. All things considered, getting my freedom on the condition that Puzzle sent the EIS a report every couple months reassuring them that I hadn’t gone off the deep end was a pretty good deal. Probably a bit too good, really. Which meant that either Puzzle was still holding something back from me, or Strumming was going easy on me.

I stared at Puzzle for a long time, thinking it over. I was inclined to believe that Strumming had cut me a nicer deal than she should’ve. I didn’t think Puzzle would risk lying to me when he knew he was on very thin ice as far as my trust went. Granted, he might pick lying to me over something like confessing that he’d agreed to ‘problem solve’ me if I turned into a madmare bent on world domination.

However, the other angle fit Strumming a lot better. Assuming some of what she’d told me was more-or-less true—an admittedly huge assumption—the order to arrest me had come from higher up. But judging by how quickly she’d shifted gears, it probably hadn’t come all the way from Celestia herself. After all, there had only been a couple hours between my return to Freeport and my arrest by the EIS. While it was certainly possible they had a way to instantly get in touch with Celestia if needed, the arrest felt more like a knee-jerk reaction from somepony in the field. Sending guards to arrest me just didn’t feel like something she would do.

In that case, Strumming was in a pretty good position after she’d resolved all the problems around my escape attempt. Her superior officers probably looked like idiots for trying to arrest me, while she could point out that she’d not only fixed the problems they’d caused, but also talked me down from using more dark magic and brought in a new contact to keep a close eye on me. Celestia would probably like Strumming’s solution a lot more than the whole idea of locking me up. If she played her cards right, Strumming might end up with her boss’s job. I certainly wouldn’t complain about having her running the Freeport EIS; if someone new took over, they might not stick to Strumming’s deal.

She was still annoying, though.

“This one hopes it has satisfied the Shimmer-mare’s curiosity.” Puzzle levelly met my gaze. “It would hate to find a profitable partnership ruined because it made a few arrangements to ensure the Shimmer-mare’s continued freedom. If need be, this one could always revoke its arrangement with the Heartstrings-mare and allow the Shimmer-mare to be a hunted fugitive on the run instead.”

“I’ll learn to live with it.” I grumbled and loaded my plate down with more breadfruit. “At least I won’t have to see any more of Strumming.”

Puzzle grinned at me. “This one is not so certain your paths will never cross again. If only because this one is taking the Heartstrings-mare out to dinner next Saturday.”

I stared at him, trying to make sense of those insane words. “Is that a euphemism for you eating her or something? ‘Cause that’s about the only way that what you just said could even begin to make sense.”

He trotted over to the refreshment table and poured himself a glass of water, then mixed in some thymoplasm. “Now why would the Shimmer-mare say that?”

“Because she's a nag.” Considering just how annoying she had been, I would’ve thought the answer was self-evident. “She tried to ship me back to Equestria and put me in jail. Not to mention locking you and Kukri up. And I don't like her attitude.”

“This one does not believe in holding grudges.” He sipped his drink, then smiled at me. “So tell this one, as a thought exercise, what would the Shimmer-mare have done if she were in the Heartstrings-mare’s horseshoes?” He began slowly pacing around me. “Say, someday, the White Pony were to send a letter to the Shimmer-mare. A pony she cares about deeply has come to Freeport. A young adult, new to the city, been a scholar all her life. The White Pony asks you to watch over and care for this pony. What would you do?”

I frowned as I thought back to what Strumming had discussed with me during the whole standoff. Maybe she’d actually mentioned that conversation to Puzzle at some point, in between him asking her out on a date for Celestia-only-knows what reason “Well, if I had Strumming’s job, I certainly wouldn’t have followed her example of just being annoying and useless. I would’ve actually cared for—er, me. If her job was to help me, then she failed it utterly. I can’t think of a single thing she did that actually helped me in any way.”

“This one will readily concede that Strumming’s approach ultimately failed.” Puzzle cocked his head to the side. “However, this one’s question goes unanswered, save for vague generalities. How would the Shimmer-mare care for her counterpart, were the situations reversed?”

I tried to come up with a good answer, and wound up stumbling a bit. “Well ... y'know, help her and stuff. Give her good advice.”

“This one is certain the White Pony attempted to give the Shimmer-mare advice. As did the Heartstrings-mare,” Puzzle commented with an amused smirk. “Be honest, Shimmer-mare: what if you were ordered to aid a pony who is young, headstrong, and thinks she knows everything about the world? Somepony who says she doesn't need anypony, and wants to strike out all on her own. What is to be done if she will not heed any advice given to her?”

Dammit. I hate it when someone trips me up like that. “Okay, fine, so maybe I did make things a little hard for her. But she was still annoying.” I glowered at him. “And I can't believe you're going on a date with her!”

Puzzle shrugged away my objections. “Why is that so unbelievable? The Heartstings-mare is a smart, attractive, and capable young mare. This one also finds her personality far more enjoyable when she is not amongst this one’s enemies. And dating will allow this one to keep much closer tabs on her than would otherwise be the case. What is not to like?”

“But she’s ... and you’re...” I struggled to find the words for just how monumentally stupid he was being right now. “It’s just ... aaaargh! She doesn’t even like changelings! Why are you being so—can’t you tell she’s—buck it! I don’t even care anymore!”

The changeling sighed and shook his head, one hoof covering its mouth to conceal a chuckle. “The Shimmer-mare really should learn not to take things quite so personally in Freeport. Especially with the occupation you plan on getting into.” He stepped back and gestured at himself. “Look at this one, if it had held a grudge against Strumming, it would likely still be in a holding cell. And at best, the Shimmer-mare would be on the run still. This one feels that there is little point in pursuing such vendettas; nothing positive comes of them.”

“So I shouldn’t take it personally?” I scoffed, getting up to pace around the room. “She tried to put me in jail. That's pretty damn personal to me.”

Puzzle waved my objections away. “It was part of the Heartstrings-mare’s job. Once again, what would the Shimmer-mare have done in her place under similar circumstances? Orders are orders. And under the terms of our current arrangement, she is not going to throw you in jail as long as you do not become a public menace, so why hold onto the past?”

Stupid changelings and their stupid logical arguments. “I still don't like her.”

He shrugged. “This one does not ask the Shimmer-mare to like the Heartstrings-mare, merely to avoid pursuing a pointless and costly vendetta against her. This one has worked with many it has not liked, and to its great profit.” He paused and cleared his throat. “One needs to differentiate between who is merely an opponent due to the circumstances of today, and who one's true enemies are.”

“So you're saying she's not one of my true enemies?” I mulled over that idea for a bit. “I guess I can see that, if she really was just following orders.”

“Indeed she was,” Puzzle reassured me. “Now that her orders are different, she is no longer an opponent. At least not from day to day. She might even become an ally some day.” His face darkened. “It would be quite different from the case of a being like the Old Mind, who this one would never entreat with no matter what sweet words or promises she might give. That one is and forever will be an enemy to the Free Minds.”

I groaned and rubbed my temples. I could feel a headache developing. “Right, I think I see your point. Okay. Fine. You can date her, if you really want to that much.”

He smiled and offered a sarcastic half-bow. “This one is very glad that it now has the Shimmer-mare’s permission to date whomever it pleases. It was unaware that it required such authorization.”

“Oh shut up,” I groused, chucking one of my dates at the changeling. Considering his offense, I thought my choice of projectile quite fitting.

The date plinked off his nose, but he didn’t react to it at all. “It is good to keep perspective on what is important in one’s life. It helps to keep one much happier.”

“Yeah, sure.” I thought about hitting him with another date, but if he didn’t care, there was no point in doing it. “Just ... do changelings even have dates and relationships?”

“We can and do,” Puzzle confirmed. “It depends on the individual, much like with ponies. Some of us prefer to avoid relationships, others will identify as a particular gender and develop preferences. The Free Minds have as much of a drive towards socialization as ponies, perhaps even more so. Our ability to form emotional bonds and connections is what separates us from the drones held by the Old Mind.”

“Huh.” I really needed to find a good book about Free Minds. “Well I hope you're not planning to ask me to be the best mare at your wedding.” I paused uncertainly. “Er, do changelings even get married? I’d assume yes, but...”

“It is somewhat rare, but not unheard of.” Puzzle smirked and nudged me with one of his insectoid wings. “However, this one would point out that this is only a first date—much as this one likes to plan ahead, thinking all the way up to the wedding might be a touch premature.” His smirk widened a bit more. “Besides, this one is not sure if the Heartstrings-mare is even the marrying type. Not to mention the complications it would cause considering our occupations. However, in the event that we move from a possible friendly enemies with benefits relationship to marriage, this one will refrain from making any unreasonable requests of the Shimmer-mare.”

Urgh. Just thinking of Puzzle being involved with Strumming made me want to vomit. So much for all my respect for his intelligence. “Anyway, moving on to things that are less horrifying and gross, do you have any last words of advice before I meet the Council?”

Puzzle nodded firmly. “Know what you want, be confident, and do not show all your cards unless you have to. Remind them why they need you, and of the fact that you don’t need them nearly as much.”

“Got it.” I paused and took a deep breath. “I guess I’m as ready as I'll ever be.”

“Don’t guess,” Puzzle advised. “Know it.”

“Okay.” I closed my eyes and centered myself. “I know.”

The Council hadn’t obtained the services of a better interior decorator or a fashion consultant while I was out. They were still using the same semi-circular table and the heavy black robes combined with face-concealing silver masks that left no clue as to what their identities were. Considering Freeport’s climate was warm, one would think wearing the whole identity-concealing outfit would be unbearable. Maybe that was why their meeting room seemed to be a bit too cold—it wasn’t some elaborate psychological ploy to make anyone meeting with them uncomfortable, it was because otherwise they would be roasting inside their costumes. The whole ‘You know nothing about us’ act would lose a lot of its intimidation power if the Councilors’ robes all had huge sweat stains on them. I wonder how many members the Council had lost to heat stroke over the years. Or maybe their robes were enchanted to keep them cool no matter what the temperature was?

My mind sometimes goes off on weird tangents when I’m nervous.

I wasn’t in the mood to stand in the middle of that half-circle while the Council all talked to me. For that matter, I wasn’t inclined to do much standing at all. Even after a stop by the hospital to get my injuries properly treated, I was sore just about everywhere. Crash landings will do that. Once I pulled off Ascension, I was definitely going to get extensive flying lessons before I even considered letting my hooves leave the ground.

I started to walk into the middle of the crescent-shaped table like I had the last time, my hips twinging. Until all the cuts and bruises healed, I was going to be dealing with lots of random soreness. Not to mention that I’d only gotten a couple hours of potion-induced sleep in the last couple days. I was tired, sore, and in no mood to put up with the Council’s pageantry. Not that I enjoyed putting up with it when I was in good condition.

Once I reached a good spot that gave me a comfortable view of all thirteen members of the Council, I stopped walking and started some spellwork. All the members of the Council tensed when they saw me casting, but no guards came rushing in to tackle me. Not that I could actually see any armed soldiers in the room, but I would be shocked if there weren’t some lurking behind a hidden doorway or in one of the dark corners of the room.

Once I’d conjured myself a nice little throne out of solid ice, I took a seat. After a moment’s consideration, I threw in a footstool as well. Maybe it wasn’t the most dignified way to sit, but I cared more about being comfortable. Besides, it would ruin my image if I got a leg cramp halfway through the meeting. Once I was happy with my new seat, I turned to face them. “Well, here I am. I assume you’re up to date on everything that’s happened?”

There was a long, long silence from all thirteen members of the Council. I’m pretty sure they were annoyed about how I wasn’t playing along with their whole act. Maybe I should’ve done a little more deferential bowing and scraping, but I was just too worn down to give a damn. If they wanted polite, they could give me a week in a penthouse suite to rest and recover. They’d wanted to see me right away, so they could put up with what I was like while injured and sleep-deprived.

The one in the center of the table cleared their throat. “So you have returned to us, Sunset Shimmer.” As before, their voices were all weirdly distorted. From what little I could tell, the one who had the center seat was the chairmare, but I wasn’t even sure if that was the case, and with the robes and voice distortion they could easily just change who was sitting where. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I was sure that they did change up their seating positions. It would be another way to throw everyone off. It might not even be the same thirteen individuals under those cloaks for every meeting. Or it could just be one person and a dozen golems. Or ... any number of possibilities.

I guess that really didn’t matter at the moment. “Yeah, I’m back. I hope you managed to take Metal Mome into custody despite what happened to me.” If I didn’t get paid for all the trouble I’d gone to in capturing the pirate, I would be a very unhappy mare.

“We did.” One of the others confirmed. “The crew of the Venture held them until our condottieri arrived to take them into custody. You have fulfilled the contract as promised, and will be paid for your efforts.”

“That’s great.” I could certainly use the bits. However, Mome’s bounty was only part of that. “I assume the Granite Heart and its contents are mine to do with as I please, in accordance with the usual laws on captured pirate vessels?”

“Indeed so.” The lead Councilor raised a forelimb to indicate he wasn’t done talking. “With the exception of Mome’s golems. We will have to impound those as evidence—not to mention the considerable security risk posed by a pair of active golems with no controller.”

“I can keep them under control,” I answered confidently. “Besides, they’re my prizes of battle.”

“The Council believes that it is in the best interests of Freeport if the golems remain in our custody.” The leader traded looks with a few of its subordinates. “We are aware that this was not part of the original contract, and will compensate you appropriately for the loss of your property. Let it not be said that the Council deals unfairly with its agents. Would another twenty-five thousand bits suffice?”

I scoffed. “You have got to be kidding me. A pair of fully functional golems is worth at least ten times that price. Probably more, considering all Mome’s upgrades and custom work.”

“Very well then,” the leader answered smoothly. “We will meet that price. Five hundred thousand bits. Do we have a bargain?”

That set me back on my hooves. Half a million bits was a lot of money. There was probably a time when I would have jumped at that offer without a moment’s hesitation. A nest egg like that could pay for a very comfortable standard of living for a long, long time. However, my taste of Freeport life had taught me a couple lessons about looking a gift horse in the mouth. Like Strumming said, if a deal sounds too good to be true, there’s probably a hidden catch.

“Why do you want them so much?” I frowned suspiciously, and a couple ideas clicked into place for me. “Wait, I think I get it now. Granite Mome showed up in Freeport a couple decades ago with nothing but a lot of theoretical ideas that Equestria didn’t like. Now her son has a pair of fully functional prototypes. That kind of R&D takes funding.” I smirked knowingly at the entire Council. “And who would be more interested in a revolutionary form of golems than a small nation stuck between three big ones? You guys were funding the Momes.”

The Council remained stonily silent. They might as well have just confessed and saved me the trouble.

“I think I can guess where things went wrong from there,” I continued. “Granite was willing to work for you, but Metal was a bit more ambitious. You found out he was thinking of selling his golems to the highest bidder, and he went rogue when you tried to shut him down. That’s why he turned to piracy to finish up his prototypes—he’d lost his funding from you.” I scowled as the rest of the pieces fell into place. “You didn’t send me after a pirate, this was a cleanup mission. You either wanted him either captured and working for you again, or dead so his tech wouldn’t go to anyone else.”

“An intriguing theory.” Despite the masks hiding their faces, I was pretty sure all the Councilors were scowling down at me. “However, why the Council desires Metal Mome’s creations is none of your affair. All that should concern you is that we are prepared to compensate you handsomely for them.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” I wasn’t exactly the most attentive of students when Celestia tried to teach me about morality and ethics, but that didn’t mean I’d completely ignored her. If I sold the golems to the Council, I would have some responsibility for how the Council used them. And if the Council figured out how to copy Mome’s designs, they could end up fulfilling his dream of mass-produced golem armies. I didn’t like the idea of putting armies of emotionless, absolutely obedient automatons into their hooves.

“Think very carefully, Miss Shimmer,” one of the Councilors rumbled. “Thus far our relationship with you has been quite amicable, but if you think we will allow you to sell your golems to a foreign power...”

I didn’t like the implied threat at the end of the sentence, but I had more important things to worry about than a bit of bluster. “Trust me, I don’t like the idea of giving these golems to Gryphonia or Zebrica any more than I like the idea of letting you have them.”

“You intend to sell them to your old teacher, then?”

I vehemently shook my head. “I don’t think Celestia would want to buy them. Or if she did, she would just drop them down the nearest volcano.” I thought it over and licked my lips. “Which might be the best idea for how to handle them. You saw how much trouble Mome caused with just two golems. Imagine what would happen if somepony like Sombra got their hooves on an entire army of them.”

The Council shared more looks, and I felt that same weird buzz that always accompanied them talking something over while shutting me out of the conversation. Finally, the one in the center spoke. “Do you have an alternative proposal then, Miss Shimmer?”

I thought it over for a bit, then slowly nodded. “Metal Mome’s brain was completely fried by my attack. Whatever he knew about his golems died with him, and I’m gonna guess that he didn’t leave any of his research notes behind after he went rogue. Even if you get Mome’s golems, it could take you decades to reverse-engineer them.” I shifted around on my ice chair, sitting up a bit straighter. “You’d need a real expert in golemry to manage the project, and those are hard to find. Not to mention someone is likely to notice if Freeport starts hiring experts in an obscure but dangerous field of magical study.” I licked my lips and carefully delivered my conclusion. “If you ask me, it sounds like a bad investment.”

“We have already spent a considerable amount funding Mome’s research,” one of the Councilors groused. “Why abandon it now?”

If not for the fact that I probably needed to be on my best behavior, I would’ve rolled my eyes. “Oh come on, that’s so obvious I’m pretty sure you’re only asking to test me. It’s the classic Sunk Cost Fallacy: you make a bad choice, and rather than admit it’s a bad decision, you double down on it an attempt to justify your initial mistake.”

I thought about what I’d just said, then chuckled ruefully. “It’s ... something I’m rather familiar with from personal experience. The point is, once you realize you’ve made a bad investment, the smart thing to do is pull out, not keep tossing money at it in the hopes that one day it will magically turn into a good decision.”

If I’d learned that particular lesson a bit sooner, I might have avoided some of my current problems. It’s not easy for anyone to admit that they’ve made a mistake, especially when it’s a mistake they’ve really invested in. Like me using dark magic. I’m not saying I would never use it again, or even that I shouldn’t have used it against Mome, but pulling it out in the cemetery could’ve gone very badly and was just completely unnecessary. I’m sure there were all kinds of complicated psychological reasons for why I’d fallen back on dark magic again in a moment of stress, but the bottom line was that I’d crossed a line I didn’t need to cross. Hay, I’d nearly killed a mostly innocent pony who was just doing his job. I’m not saying I deserved to get locked in jail or anything, but I’d screwed up a lot. Maybe it was time to take some of Strumming’s advice for once and take a closer look at my own actions instead of assuming that I was right and the rest of the world was wrong.

Okay, so Strumming might have been right about that. She was still annoying, though.

The Council went over my proposal for a while longer, then eventually reached a consensus. “Very well then, Miss Shimmer. We will pay you a sum of twenty-five thousand bits to destroy Mome’s golems and any remaining research materials. If his golemry experiments are too dangerous to use, then we should take no chances that they fall into the hands of someone who might use that knowledge to harm our interests.”

One of the other Councilors cocked their head, studying me curiously. “You are ... not what our reports said you were, Miss Shimmer.”

I smirked and nodded to the robed figure who had spoken. “What can I say? I like defying everyone’s expectations of me.” I turned back to the leader. “Okay, you have a deal.”

We spent a while settling all the details of the payment and whatnot—it wasn’t like the council was just going to shove a huge sack of fifty thousand bits into my hooves right then and there. However, there was one little detail I left out of our arrangement.

I might be destroying all of golems and any materials that could help rebuild them, but I still had his memories. Not that I was planning to create an army of mindless servants to help me take over the world, but you never know when that kind of knowledge can come in handy. And if the Council complained ... well, I had fulfilled our bargain to the letter.

Epilogue: Three Months Later

As soon as I saw the story in the newspaper, I knew it was only a matter of time before she showed up. A part of me wondered if the trade negotiations were just an excuse to make a royal visit to Freeport. Maybe I just liked the idea that she was mainly here to see me.

I’d put all my hard-earned bits to good use making a home for myself. I had a proper mage’s tower built in one of Freeport’s nicer neighborhoods—on top of a tower just being traditional, it meant I needed to buy less land. I’d picked obsidian for my tower, partly because that was the same material the Council used for its headquarters and I wanted to make a statement, and partly just because it looks cool.

The inside of the tower itself was still a work in progress. With all the time it took to find a good plot of land at a reasonable price and get the materials for the tower itself, I’d only just started on furnishing the whole place. I had enough done to make it livable, but there were still a lot of little touches left to do. I’d barely even gotten started on filling out my library, and it would probably take months to get all the specialized equipment I would need for all my magical workshops. At least I still had bits left over from everything involved in hunting down Metal Mome, plus I’d taken a few smaller jobs to maintain a steady cashflow and keep in practice.

The Council was still working out the terms of my magus status in Freeport. There were a lot of details to argue over, especially since I was being rather stubborn about sticking to at least some of my principles. Taking care of monsters was fine, but I wasn’t going to let them use me to advance their political agenda again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...

I was still working on a plan to make Freeport a better place. It wasn’t like I could just march into the Council’s headquarters, throw them out, name myself Princess of Freeport, and then everything would magically fix itself. I was still debating whether or not to ask Puzzle for help with that project. On one hoof, he was very smart and had a lot of experience with Freeport politics. On the other, he seemed pretty happy working for the Council and maintaining the current status quo.

Whether I got his help or not, it would be a huge long-term project. Reforming the entire government would probably take years, maybe decades. For now, I figured my best bet was to just work on securing my position as a magus. That would give me some degree of official authority within the government, including the right to regularly address the Council on magus affairs. It was a starting point for gaining influence and getting my voice heard, at least. Not to mention that dealing with monsters and warlocks would help make Freeport a better place all by itself.

But for the moment, I was mostly busy getting my home taken care of. With how long it would take to get results I wasn’t too worried about delaying for a bit while I sorted out my personal life. Master plans to reshape an entire nation are all well and good, but I also needed to equip my kitchen. Improvising with my fire and ice spells was fine as a temporary measure, but a proper stove and icebox would save me a lot of trouble. So when somepony knocked on my front door, I assumed it was just another round of deliveries.

Instead, I opened the door and found myself face-to-face with Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia, The Unconquerable Sun, Pony of the Three Tribes, Sovereign Monarch of Ponykind, Protector of the Western March, Coryphaeus of Harmony, and a bunch of other grandiose titles she hates hearing. Celestia smiled as soon as I opened the door, but the company of Solar Guard mustered up behind her looked a lot less welcoming. For a moment I was afraid she had decided that Strumming had overstepped in offering me that deal and she was here to drag me back to Equestria by force. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that she could make me leave, if she really wanted to.

But instead of blasting me herself or sending in her guardponies to do the dirty work for her, she very politely asked, “May I come in? There are a number of things I think we should discuss.” She concentrated for a moment, and a nicely wrapped package appeared out of thin air. “Also, I brought you a housewarming gift.”

“Er, thanks.” I took the present from her, setting it aside for the moment. My eyes nervously flicked to the small army of guards sitting outside my door. “I don’t exactly have room for all them, though.”

“That’s fine.” Celestia turned back to her guards. “Remain outside and secure the area, I will not need you for a while.” She turned back to me. “I will be perfectly safe so long as I am with Sunset.”

Even after everything we’d been through, hearing that sent a warm little thrill through my heart. Despite everything that had happened, she still trusted me. However, that warmth vanished a second later when I remembered what had happened the one time I’d blindly lashed out at her in the midst of my rage. Celestia had very calmly and efficiently shut my magic down without any particular effort. It certainly put a new light on her remark that she wasn’t in any danger. I doubted she’d meant it that way, though.

I stepped aside, clearing the doorway and inviting her into my home. She strode in, regally surveying the entire place and making me keenly aware of every single speck of dust or misplaced item. I really should’ve cleaned up—I had been all but certain she was going to visit, but I hadn’t thought of doing anything to make the place look nice for her. It seemed a bit ridiculous, but despite everything that had happened a part of me was still very afraid that she wouldn’t approve of my living situation.

Her lips pursed when she spotted the large block of hollowed out ice I was using to keep my food cold. She frowned and tapped a hoof on my mostly empty bookshelves. All I had done as far as my workshop went was a few dozen cheap glass jars containing various potion ingredients, all haphazardly stacked in a single room. When we reached the top levels, she discovered there was quite a bit of dust left over from all the construction work; I hadn’t gotten around to properly cleaning everything up in the areas I wasn’t using yet.

Finally, she presented her conclusion. “This won’t do.” One of her wings flicked out, spreading gently over my back. “Don’t worry, I put a few bits from my discretionary funds aside just in case you needed help.” She conjured up a piece of paper and a quill, jotting down some notes. “Now then, let’s start with giving you some proper kitchen equipment—the last thing you need is to get sick because your food spoiled or wasn’t properly cooked. Your magic is fine as a stopgap solution, but—”

“I already took care of that,” I cut in before she could build up too much momentum yet. “The rest of my kitchen equipment is supposed to be delivered next Tuesday.”

Celestia frowned and met my eyes. She was probably trying to figure out if I was being honest with her or just lying to save face. The idea that she was even considering that offended me. For that matter, the whole inspection did. It’s not like she had any right to come in here and tell me how I could or couldn’t live my life. It was my life, not hers. “I’m fine,” I growled out, anger lacing my words. “I don’t need your help.”

Celestia pulled back, blinking in surprise. I saw pain in her eyes and instantly felt guilty for snapping at her. She sighed, then took a deep breath. “Yes, I suppose you are. I did not mean to question your ability to take care of yourself, I just...” She paused, struggling to find the right words. “I only wanted to help.”

“I know.” Guilt stabbed me in the stomach, but I tried not to let it show. The last thing this visit needed was for both of us to start down a death spiral of hurt feelings and mutual guilt over our mistakes. We both had plenty of things to regret, but that wasn’t why she’d come here. It wasn’t why I’d wanted to see her either.

There was an awkward silence hanging in the air between us for some time before she spoke again. “I do hope you’ve at least made a few friends.”

I thought about pointing out that, unless I’d completely missed my guess, she’d been keeping up with the EIS reports about me. Puzzle would’ve been letting them know that I hadn’t gone off the deep end, and Strumming was probably still keeping tabs on me too. I suppose I considered Puzzle a friend, or at least a business associate I got along pretty well with. Though the fact that he’d dated Strumming did indicate that his taste in mares was abysmal. While he hadn’t spilled any details about how the date had gone, he seemed disgustingly pleased with the results. Sure, Strumming was a bit more tolerable when she wasn’t trying to lock me up, but I wasn’t going to join her fan club anytime soon.

Thankfully, Kukri was a lot less complicated. “Yeah, I made a few friends.”

That made her smile. “Good. That’s good.” She walked over to the obsidian wall and slowly ran one hoof down it. “It looks like you will have a lovely home once it’s finished. Though to be quite honest, I’ve never liked black. It makes me look too pale. I do hope you’ll at least do something to brighten up the room a little.” A faint smile quirked at her lips. “You need a little light and color in your life.”

I don’t think she was just talking about the room. I’m sure somebody with too much time on their hooves would make a big deal out of the symbolism of me moving from my white marble tower in Canterlot to a black one in Freeport. Celestia was probably thinking about how my life had taken a much darker turn than she’d planned. I was supposed to be back in Canterlot with her, earning the right to rule by her side. Instead I’d used dark magic. Twice. I’d killed. And I’d nearly done a lot worse.

I thought I’d dealt with all of that, but now that I was standing in front of Celestia once more, all the old shame came back. Celestia was supposed to be the paragon of everything that was good and pure and righteous in the world, and I’d pretty much gone against all of those things. It felt like I didn’t deserve to be in the same room as her, let alone everything she wanted to do to help me. The Council wanted me to help hunt down dangerous warlocks, but how could I do that when I was a warlock too?

I looked up at her, trying to find some way to put all the things I was worrying about into words. Part of me just wanted to spill everything out, and maybe even beg her to take me back to Equestria with her. Despite all the trouble I’d gone through to get away from the EIS, a part of me missed my home. I would probably always miss it, even though I knew it was for the best that I’d moved on. I might be making a new place for myself in Freeport, but for most of my life, Canterlot had been home.

No, maybe it was better to say that home was wherever Celestia was. That’s why leaving her had hurt so much.

I couldn’t go back to Equestria anymore, not unless something big changed. But that didn’t mean I had to leave everything behind, and it certainly didn’t mean that the most important parts of home couldn’t have a place in my heart.

I licked my lips and hesitantly stepped towards her. “I’ve got the bits to pay for it all, but ... I wouldn’t mind a little bit of advice about how to decorate it all. If you’ve got time.”

She turned to face me with a gentle, understanding smile. “Yes, I think I’d like that.”

I leaned against her, resting my head on her massive shoulder. “Thanks, Mom.”

She sighed, but the smile never left her lips. “You know, I really should remind you that I’m not your mother.” One of her wings slowly curled around me. “But let’s not spoil our day by bringing up old arguments.”

“Plus you secretly like it when I call you mom,” I gently teased.

“I admit nothing.” She held me a bit closer despite that. “I’m just glad to know you’re alright. I know things have been difficult for you lately. I have had my own share of tribulations. We both made mistakes, and things very nearly went terribly wrong because of that.”

“Yeah.” I shifted to the side a bit so I could hug her properly. “But I think I’m gonna be okay.”

“Yes. I think you will.”

I spent the rest of the day shopping with Mom.

Author's Notes:

And that wraps up Freeport Venture, but it's far from the end for Sunset's adventures. I've already got another one-shot about her time in Freeport in-progress, and I have plans for a sequel.

To drop a few hints for sequel ... expect dragons and snow.

As always, thanks to my awesome editing and pre-reading crew for fixing all the mistakes in the rough draft.