Ava didn’t take the news of one of her babies essentially being born dead at all well, especially when the fact was that Sonata had kept it from her for so long had her conflicted between anger or disappointment in Sonata for thinking she wouldn’t want to know about this immediately. Ava was practically catatonic really, letting Sonata gently lead her out of the suite after informing Ichor and Chrysalis that they could stay here as long as they wish.

‘One of my children...born dead? How? Death is the exact opposite of Fertility! The promotion of Life! How could one of MY children...be….’ Ava began quietly crying, Sonata whispering sweet nothings into her ear as she led them to the Fast Travel out front of the HQ, nobody willing to approach the visibly distraught mare and saddened dragoness.

Shortly after the blue digital flash of light, the tunnel of the Fast Travel, and the feeling of sensation returning to her freshly reconstructed body, Ava was led by Sonata out of the secure Fast Travel station that was in Ava’s former cell/forge. Ava had it placed here for some irony.

Sonata then took Ava through the castle, continuing to hold her claw firmly until they reached the ornate doors of the Hall of Stories, a long hall that in itself was separate from the rest of the castle, and within had stained glass windows depicting important events of Equestria’s, and sometime’s, Equus’s history. Ava blinked tears out of her eyes as they passed some of the windows, and noted one that specifically depicted a wrathful white stallion running a green blade through a depiction of Faust. ‘I’m surprised Tia and Lulu could even commemorate a window to such a horrible thing as their mother’s betrayal and murder by their father.’

“It’s in here dear.” Sonata said softly as they approached the Vault. It was perhaps the most ridiculously secure place in the castle. The whole tower the Vault was built atop was solid stone and separate from the castle as a single turret. The Vault itself was actually a paradoxical space within that was magnitudes larger than the actual dimensions of the turret it was built into, a wonder of magic courtesy of Faust with some insights from Star Swirl apparently. “You’ll see why our silent egg is in here when I show it to you.” Sonata said as she began carefully using her magic to input the right sequence to open the solid doors.

“H-hey, babe? W-what about our other eggs? I never got to see them after you had them….” ‘Just how absolutely detached have I been?! Was I so caught up in my work I just drifted away from my beloveds?’ Ava’s question made Sonata blink and sigh as she smacked her forehead.

“Way to go Sonata, forget your mate’s right to see the hatchlings. I’ll take you to them after this dear. I’m sorry for completely forgetting about it...I think that’s the draconic part of my inherent personality programming. Dragons usually love-and-leave, leaving the female with the eggs. I just...didn’t think about it.” Sonata weakly admitted before she returned to the door and finished the sequence.

“Hun, you know I wouldn’t just abandon any of you...right?” Ava asked, worried. ‘What kind of lover am I? I’m never there for them!’

“Of course sweetie, I know. We all know. It’s why we were never too worried about you coming back or not, just annoyed with the times between rendezvous. For that matter, if Tia hadn’t forbid it, I would jump your sexy plot right now. Oh, and what are you doing?” Sonata asked cheekily, getting the teary-eyed mare to blink in confusion. “I thought Tia demanded that you actually try to blend in? Pretend to be normal?”

“O-oh...right….” Ava said remorsefully, having forgotten that since Ichor, and then Sonata, are both her preferred stature, and it slipped her mind entirely. She took a calming breath, and began to shrink. The compression of her mass, and subsequently turning it into pure energy was something she didn’t enjoy compared to just letting her body expand outward, to simply accept her near-limitless potential. ‘It almost hurts, like I’m denying a part of myself.’

“Uh...Ava? That’s...that’s enough.” Sonata said, getting Ava to open her eyes and stop, looking at Sonata and realizing she’d shrunk down to 6 feet, the average height of an earth pony stallion. The reference being that she was now eye-level with the middle of Sonata’s thick motherly armored thighs. “I think that more than constitutes an attempt at blending in...well, aside from being a sort of mutant dragon-alicorn.”

“Yeah, yeah, just...give me a minute.” Ava then opened her wings behind her, whimpering as she felt them start pulling into her body. ‘I could have pegasus, or thestral wings. But I think it will be easier going into the Crystal Empire if I at least try to emulate a Crystal Pony. I’ve never...oh wait. Missy most certainly had so….’ Ava lowered her hood and pulled her red silk shirt up over her basketball boobs to look at the cream and black orbs being supported by the bust-enhancing corset without the modesty-adding layer as her horn also began sinking into her skull. ‘A single tone, Crystal Ponies, at least in Missy’s world, don’t have coat patterns since they’re all made of a single-color crystal with different colored crystalline fibers for manes and tails.’

Ava practically mewled in sadness as her cream patches of fur began turning black, and then she shivered as her body began forming into an almost impossible living form of crystal, her breasts smoothing over as her fur receded and became a solid uniform and even shiny hematite black. To test if she did it right, Ava moved one of her gloved hands to her boobs, groping and poking. ‘Still feel like flesh, but have the slight firmness and stability of a proper Crystal Pony, good.’ Ava then checked her long red curtain of a mane, it having become sparkly with the crystalline fibers catching the light, and she flicked her long red tail out between her coattails to see she had succeeded there as well.

“Impressive Ava. You look just like a proper Crystal Pony.” Sonata praised, actually clapping her claws at having enjoyed the show of Ava displaying a much more subtle and elegant use of her abilities, making the mare blush, which was very apparent with her shiny black cheeks actually changing hue to red.

“Th-thank you...I figured I should go crystal since I’ll be heading up there after this.” ‘Hm, maybe...I’ll test my idea later.’ Ava thought as she gestured for Sonata to keep leading them onward, and soon, they stood before a lone lavender egg covered in deeper purple spots on a red velvet pillow in a cradle under a warm lamp. The shell was metallic and polished to an obscene shine, as if it was a bauble, rather than the coffin of an unborn baby dragon. “Why is it here? Why isn’t it...buried?”

“Because dear. Stillborn dragons are not essentially dead.” Sonata informed, getting Ava to blink in surprise. “I may have misled you. What Stillborns are, are dragons who simply refuse to hatch, for whatever reason. Perhaps he is waiting for something? Someone perhaps? We may never know. Tia has an idea, but in the end, he may never hatch, or he may hatch a thousand years from now.” Sonata shrugged, looking forlornly at a child she may never get to meet.

“So that’s why He?” Sonata nodded at Ava checking if she heard the egg’s gender right. “He, is in here? To be kept safe?”

“Die Leucht is still a major foe to contend with Ava, simply because they are not at our doorstep or rallying a neighboring country to attack us doesn’t mean they aren’t still a credible threat, just less immediate. Within that shell is a currently brain-dead Biotech baby drake. If Die Leucht could somehow examine and utilize any discoveries they could make from our little ones….” Sonata grimly suggested, getting Ava to snort angrily, making her blink her jewel-like green eyes at not seeing smoke like she was so used to.

“So where’s our hatchlings then?” Ava asked as she and Sonata left the vault, the doors sealing behind them.

“...Hmph...this isn’t a Monster...no point in bothering with it….” A voice commented in the shadows, before the click of a nearby cabinet door signaled its departure.

[ $ ]

“I don’t know what’s more precious. That they all instinctively hate my guts, or that they can’t even breathe fire yet.” Ava commented as she left the nursery that Sonata had commandeered from the castle to have her hatchlings. The little rugrats seemed to instinctively despise Ava. It seemed that dragons were love-and-leave for a reason, at least here? Still, once they were a bit older she’d try to connect to them as their sire. “Four drakes and two femmes, those little hellions will be a real handful when they’re bigger.”

“Oh indeed. Infant dragons fear and dislike all but their mothers since we’ve-sorry, not a natural-born one. Since I, and by extension they; are based off of real dragons, it only stands to reason that they’d have a natural predisposition of distrusting potential intruders, even if I did invite you in, they still saw you as an intruder.” Sonata said as she led Ava back up the castle to Celestia’s room, where the Herd gathered more often than not since Zerona shared her bed when they slept, and the bed was thankfully big enough for all of them.

“Well whatever, I guess I’ll just have to introduce myself to them when they get more receptive to others huh?” Ava asked disappointedly as they approached the door, and Sonata opened it to reveal Tia, Zerona, and Luna all sitting around the little lounge that was in the corner of the stately room, enjoying what smelled like some of Zerona’s ‘Zebrican’ tea, which her tribe had planted on Hawaii and then Maui. “Girls~! I wanted to see you all before I went on another potential suicide mission~!”

“Beloved!” Zerona practically shouted in joy as the three gestured them to come closer. “I have splendid news, it would seem that the tea imports from Hawaii are selling well among the populace.” Zerona, ever the alchemist even as encumbered as she was, spent most of her time here spreading the art of alchemy and trying to make some of her homeland’s ingredients and consequently, recipes, available.

“Avarice, or Ava. I hath spoken with Sharp Snap below about the situation, and we will ensure that absolutely no attention shall be drawn to the caves.” Luna stated, getting Ava to breathe out in relief. If Luna was on top of something, she was on top of it. She knew that for damn well.

“That’s good Lulu, I don’t want Sharp, and by extension; my eggs, in any danger. So what’ve you been up to hun?” Ava asked as she climbed up into the seat usually reserved for her, the way it dwarfed her just made her pout and the others to all giggle at the spectacle as Sonata poured herself and Ava a ‘cup’ of tea, which was more a giant mug each considering the group’s usual array of sizes and thus thirsts.

“I have been mostly securing Bullgaria from Griffonian invasion. Now with Bullgaria no longer supporting them, Griffonia has decided to pull back their navies from our naval engagements, and instead begin mustering an air navy across the Cloven Strait as they devote some of their regular navies to the strait as well. I expect the fools will attempt a blitz soon into Bullgarian territory, so I’ve been extensively spreading about our forces to prevent them crossing the strait and making landfall.” Luna informed with a huff. “If we did not have the Loaders, such a thing would have been nigh impossible, and I would have instead pushed for our own invasion, but thanks to us having such valuable defensive measures, I can rally our forces for a better push later rather than a desperate rush now.”

“I’m surprised your scouts can even see anything on the Griffonian shoreline, considering that Die Leucht clearly has sophisticated enough Misdirection Nexuses to completely blind and forestall any attempts to enter their territory.” Celestia commented as she then focused on Ava. “I’m pleased to see you taking my suggestions seriously Avarice.”

“I actually forgot for a little bit to be honest. Oh, great news! The first mare I ever had any form of relationship with and a ton of our children have been rescued.” Ava stated gleefully, getting the others save Sonata to pause and look at her incredulously. “You know? Ichor? The changeling queen Die Leucht kidnapped? Chrysalis’s mum?” Ava asked, getting Zerona, Luna, and Tia to all make an ‘oh’ face in realization.

“We left Chrysalis in her care at the Hyperion HQ, so they’re maybe even safer right now than if we brought them home. Now then, aside from everything, was that all Avarice?” Sonata asked as she downed her hot tea, which Ava quickly sipped and winced at.

“Ow, spicy. Without my dragon mouth I can’t take drinks this hot.” Ava said as she quickly countered her burning tongue with some ice water that was also on the lounge coffee table. “Yeah, I just wanted to touch base with you all before I headed off.” Ava jumped to her hooves, and moved to smooch each of her lovers, instead spanking Sonata’s armored ass and getting a coo out of her as she opened her Echo to check the map for a marker, and envisioning the closes place she’d been to it, vanished into her coat which promptly followed.

[ $ ]

Ava reappeared further north, just about out of immediate sight of Star Swirl’s now abandoned and forlorn tower. She’d been out here when Tia and Lulu had taken her to see the last place they’d seen their adoptive father-figure. It would still be a decent trek to the coordinates on the map north-west of here to reach where the edge of the barrier would be nearest a small village of the Empire by the name of Seam. Of course, considering the Empire’s primary export, it was likely named after it’s mine which was owned by the same-named Crystal Pony by name of Gem Seam.

Sometimes, Ava wondered if any ponies had any creative naming sense to them.

After all, Gem was the daughter of Topaz, who was son of Diamond, who was the daughter of Coal. All same ‘family’ name, and the mine has been going strong four generations. It was a wonder the village was still a village and not a town, but then again, the harsh slush of the tundra the village was on didn’t lend itself well to farming.

Ava grumbled as she sloshed through a shallow freezing-cold bog, glad that at least Vaga had the forethought to tighten the pants skin-tight to her so she wouldn’t get any of the freezing water into her otherwise weather-proof boots. {Sometimes I wonder why we aren’t homebodies, considering we keep tormenting ourselves by being away from our herd.}

‘Because if we didn’t do this, then who would Crescent? Not Vaga, the poor guy’s so weak now he can barely move on his own I hear.’ Ava replied back mentally, looking at her grayed-out attire. ‘Vaga used to be pitch-black, and now he’s faded so much I’m surprised he isn’t drying out and flaking.’

Ava didn’t speak to Vaga lately, not due to any petty reason, but because Vaga simply either didn’t want to, or because he couldn’t and it killed Ava to not know, but it seemed the longer she wore him, the more docile he became. Which she also considered that was possibly part of what he wanted all along.

{Hey, weren’t we here before?} Crescent suddenly asked, and Ava blinked, still slogging through the bog and realizing that, without her paying attention, she’d gotten turned...around….

“That is not good.” ‘This is way too close. What happened to the barrier? Why is it expanding?’ Ava turned back around to where her senses told her was north, since she had at some point found herself heading south when she’d been going northwest before. “Okay, time to see if I can bullshit my Recall ability.” Ava took a deep breath, and strode forward, determinedly focusing on continuing to move forward.

“Holy hell this is frustrating.” Ava commented as she slowly put one hoof in front of the other, feeling any and all sorts of unseen attempts by the nexus to draw her attention away, to turn around, look in another direction. Had she not had Recall, there’d be no way she could’ve forced herself through this. The amount of focus this required was staggering, and migraine-inducing. By the time the compulsion stopped, Ava had only taken ten steps north, and she felt like her eyes were about to burst. “Ow...fucking...ow….”

{Tia is SO going to give us tongue for this.} Crescent hissed, and they both noticed that they couldn’t sense Sharp now. {Fuck, hope she doesn’t panic.}

‘She’s a big girl.’ Ava joked, breathing through her flat pony teeth as she moved her bandana up to her muzzle, now able to see short buildings quite a distance into the tundra. ‘Ugh...kinda wish I was too….’ Ava grumbled, slogging forth once more in shallows that would normally be puddles to her.

[ ? ]

In the darkness, a single mat was laid out, illuminated by a single lantern. There was nobody around, until a gangly and alien humanoid shadow skulked into the edge of the light’s clarity. “I heard you have some good guns.” A synthesized voice stated.

“Well now, I can certainly say that wherever you heard of me, that such a thing is indeed true.” On the other side of the mat, similarly shrouded in darkness, was a much smaller and indistinct humanoid being. “Pardon if it is a bit dark, but even this much light tends to draw unwanted attention.” The voice was lightly accented with a husky undertone, and carried a degree of slyness one could expect from shady merchant.

“I’ve dealt with worse. What ya got?” The brute of the two asked, and soon a long blue and orange scope-free Demir Seeker sniper rifle was moved onto the mat by a dark-toned hand. “Hm, that one of them local guns? Looks like a Jakobs design.”

“A Demir Seeker. Actual wood stock. Cobalt-infused blue-steel construction. Using 12-gauge shotgun caliber rifle rounds. This beauty can down a manticore in one shot. I would know.” The arms-dealer said with a light chuckle. “Go ahead, give her a pull. She’s loaded.” The merchant practically oozed a knowing presence, as if he’d already gotten the sale.

“So that’s why the one light. It’d be impossible to try and shoot you with it screwing over any possible nightvision.” The brute said as he bent into the light, revealing the crested head of RIP as he picked up the heavy high-caliber lever-action revolver rifle. “Mm, haven’t had a good Jakobs rifle in my claws in ages. Let’s see if a Demir matches their quality.”

At the snap of some fingers, a light turned on a bit away from the mat, showing a straw archery target. Shrugging, RIP checked the gun, seeing that it did have a safety, and turned it off, before shouldering, and firing the long rifle with a deafening report. RIP laughed at seeing the single round practically blow out the entire center of the straw target, the rest actually collapsing from the inertia. “Fuck yes….”

“I’ll assume that means you’ll take it?” The arms-dealer asked with a grin in his voice.

“Yes, and all the ammo you can get me for this.” RIP said as he took out a large sack of gold bits, as well as a purple bar of Eridium. “Would you like some Eridium too? This thing is rating incredibly well on my Echo.” RIP asked as he dropped the sack and ingot onto the mat.

“Gladly. Little Grey.” At the call, a shaved monkey in a diaper lumbered into the light, collecting the bag of bits and dragging it into the dealer’s side of the darkness, where a short flash of light occurred. “Oh that is a bit much. Keep the Eridium, I have to portion out what I can’t take, since I only have so much stock.”

“Take your-.” RIP was interrupted by a smaller bag of bits being flung back onto the mat. “Time? Uh, alright then.” RIP then watched the monkey drag a crate that was clearly too big for it to move onto the mat, and RIP opened it with a maw-widening sort-of-grin at all the munitions and a scope inside. “What’s with the scope? It ain’t from here, but it ain’t a Hyperion one either since the local yokels can’t make proper scopes yet.”

“Consider it a freebie. A pleasure doing business with a fellow Green-Collar.” The dealer said with a laugh as he began walking away. “Remember the Drebins whenever you need weapons. And also remember.” A huge heavily-armored vehicle that looked at home in the middle of a battlefield rather than parked in small wooden storage building. On the side in multiple places were the designation Drebin-893, and on the side next to a black-suited and white buzz-cut haired dark-skinned human man were some ominous words. “Eye. Have. You.” Drebin-893 said with a grin and a glint in his eyes behind his shades, before he climbed up into the APC and Little Grey closed the hatch over him, before it drove out into the frozen wastes, somehow seeming to vanish into thin air.

“Humph. Green-Collars. Can’t escape em, can’t live without em in my line of work.” RIP mused, grinning as he flip-cocked the legitimate ‘elephant gun’ despite its awkward size and weight. “Now then...where’s that elephant?”

Author's Notes:

Yes, I did write this. No, I cannot search for a job asap due to me changing sleep schedules, which will take a week at least. Yes, it was hard to write this, delirious and half-asleep.

Yes, I went there. Drebin-893

It seems Avarice isn't the only 'Merchant' in Equestria.