The guards escorted the four  out of the food cart and towards the back. The last train was a mail cart, and there were few ponies to shoo away to make room for their new prisoners. They pointed to a chair for each while timidly guiding the shadow beast to sit in the corner. One of them looked over the group curiously. "Cadance isn't going to believe a word of this…"

Doing his best to carry Wave, Tom did exactly as the guards said, grimacing a bit at the food staining his clothes. “Well, she’ll just be seeing it for herself, won’t she? Therefore, it’ll be easy for her to believe? By chance, could either of you unicorns do something about the food on me? We sorta landed on a table… really sorry about that, too,” he spoke up, looking over to Wave and Eric a few moments after.

“If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to compensate those whose meals I inadvertently ruined,” Eric added. “At the least, pay for their meals, though I imagine at least double that is called for. If some… pony would at least determine their identities, we can deal with the exchange of bits later. I just wouldn’t want them to go home forgotten, and left with the injustice intact.”

One of the guards scratched behind his head as he looked between the prisoners. Wave fluttered her lashes back at him. "Don't you hear them? They're both trying to say they're sorry."

"Um, yeah." The unicorn's horn glowed the same color as his eyes as the mess vanished, congealed into a floating ball before being tossed right out the nearest window. "You don't have to pay those people, but I will inform Princess Cadance. The train's already refunding all the lost meals."

Relaxing a bit better now that food wasn’t all over his clothes, Tom gratefully smiled at the guard. “Thank you very much. I already look terrible enough I’m sure, no need to also be covered in soiled food,” he thanked them before turning to Wave, carefully running both of his hands through her mane. “Well, finally on the way to a city, did you ever hear of the Crystal Empire before becoming the guardian of the temple?” he quietly asked Wave, smiling as he tried to learn a bit more about her.

Eric nodded to the guard, satisfied. “Excellent. I’m sure it will be a simpler matter to compensate the rail-line when it’s all sorted out then. Or is it government run? I’m afraid I know little of how things are done here. Aside from the obvious, that the trains are normally to be boarded at stations, rather than via amateurish attempts at teleportation.”

Wave considered with a bit of a frown. "I don't think… They called it something else I think. Gem this and gem that. I remember them talking about gems a lot, not so much crystals."

One of the guards tilted his head at Eric's rambling. "You're a refreshingly honest bandit, sir." Eric gave him an amused smile, but decided to stop arguing the point.

Aside from confusion, they were treated well by the guards. Time passed comfortably among the mail, with food and drink provided by the slightly mystified guards. The train gave a soft lurch as it began to slow down. "We're almost there," announced a guard.

Full, and somewhat happy now that they’d had a proper, uninterrupted meal, even if it was in cuffs, Tom smiled at the guards as he woke from the light nap he’d fallen into. “Awesome! So, will we get to meet your princess immediately, or?” he curiously asked, hoping that they could meet Cadance quicker than sooner.

Eric roused from his own nap, blinking off sleep, as he reached out to rest his hands on Poppy’s back. “Hear that Poppy? We should be able to find a veterinarian soon, who can check you over properly. I worry how your leg will be once we’ve gotten you properly purified again.”

Poppy gave an enthusiastic bark before bouncing to his paws despite the collar, much to the concern of the guards. They were powerless to force Poppy to lay down, but he did nothing more harmful than to approach Eric for some licking.

The guard that seemed to be in charge let out a little sigh. "If you'll all come with us? We'll take you to the palace. It's up to the princess when she'll see you."

Getting to his feet, Tom did his best to pick up Wave and the saddlebags, a small grin on his face. “Mmhmm, of course we will. Sorry bout all the trouble we caused you by the way… this is still more comfortable than being in a cave waiting for a blizzard to end though.” Getting more quiet, he looked to Wave. “Comfortable enough for you? Maybe once we sort this mess out, we can look up a bit more about Sirens.”

Eric got to his feet awkwardly as well, keeping Poppy close by his side. “Lead the way, then, good sir. You’ve been most professional in this matter, and for that I thank you.”

Wave clopped her hooves together as best as she could despite the manacle, looking quite excited about finding out more about herself.

The guards escorted the three, and their dog, through the city of crystals. The buildings, road, and everything was forged of different crystals and gems, and shone brilliantly in the sun. It was warmer close to the city, with some force that repelled the winter away and kept it pleasant to be in.

The journey ended at some jails that were dusty with how often they were used. A new guard approached, dressed slightly differently. One of the guards guiding them saluted. "Mister Sentry. Good to see you. Prisoners for you, sir, caused a disturbance on the train, use of shadow magic, um, is a shadow beast. They've been very cooperative, sir."

Flash Sentry looked over the group curiously. "Well… Hello there. What are your names?"

“Tom Sawyer, and this here is Wave Swimmer, Eric,” Tom paused, realizing he didn’t know Eric’s last name at all. Turning to Eric, he shrugged, figuring that Eric could finish introducing himself and his pet.

“Eric Wolfgang, to be complete. And this temporarily augmented canine is Poppy. I suspect that reverting her to her natural state may restore her injuries, so I would prefer to have a veterinarian present before doing so. Whenever that can be arranged, sir,” Eric concluded.

Flash looked a bit perplexed. "Are you saying you used shadow magic on this puppy? It's a puppy?" He sounded doubting of that. "To save it?" He pointed a hoof at Eric's shadow-bleeding eyes. "You do admit you're a shadow wizard then?"

Wave raised her hooves. "So we're free to go, right? We're not shadow wizards."

“I’ve found it quite counterproductive to hide the fact, indeed. And she was quite a bit more shadowy when I first found her. But I’ve managed to save a few ponies from a shadow beast attack, as well as my current party from starvation, and Poppy from dying at the bottom of a chasm with a broken leg. So, at the moment I am not particularly inclined to regret the use of shadow magic thus far. Though I have been advised I should stop while I am ahead,” Eric explained.

Rolling his eyes a bit, Tom sighed. “But then we might not be able to see their princess right away, Wave,” he softly whispered before speaking up in support of Eric. “He’s a good guy, saved my life and Wave’s here once or twice already.”

Flash nodded a little. "Well, you… seem like nice, uh, what are you again?"

Wave raised her hooves. "Siren! Nice to meet you. Wave Swimmer's the full name."

"Right, siren. Nice to meet you." His eyes moved to the humans expectantly.

“Humans, though admittedly not entirely unaltered at this point,” Eric offered. “I expect it’s only a matter of time before Tom becomes some form of pony.”

Sighing, Tom simply shook his head. “Hey, it’s not my fault that I couldn’t see in the dark, and then I started getting frostbite, and then…” he trailed off, weakly chuckling as he looked back to Flash. “Yeah, we’re both humans, or close enough. We’re from a different world, dimension, what have you.”

Flash brightened suddenly. "Ah! The princess mentioned humans." He waved at the guard. "Go ahead and return to duty. I have this under control." After swapping salutes, the other ponies left. Flash looked between the two again. "She wanted to meet a human, but I doubt she expected that to be a shadow wizard and a quasi-pony?"

Wave blushed a little. "I didn't know it would upset a princess…"

“Surprising is not automatically upsetting. Though I imagine the shadow magic thing will prove upsetting. If nothing else, I should distract her scorn from you, Wave, so I’ll add that to my small list of accomplishments,” Eric added with a grin to Wave.

“Pft, you’ll both be fine, I imagine. While it was a bit unexpected at first, I’m not against it, so in the end it’s not like you forced it on me. Technically you asked for permission each time. And you,” Tom remarked, turning to Eric. “I’m sure she’ll sympathize with the why of you using shadow magic once you explain it. So, both of you relax a bit, okay?”

Flash rubbed behind his head. "There aren't a lot of good reasons to use shadows. Dark magic is extremely dangerous, for yourself and everyone around you." He let out a little sigh. "Do you promise not to cause any trouble?"

“I do so promise. Though I would like to ask you a simple question, if I may. Do you hate me?” Eric watched Flash intently as he waited for an answer. The question was simply put, bereft of emotion beyond, perhaps, a hint of scientific curiosity.

Flash chuckled at that, his ears pointed forward at the shadowmancer. "I'm not a crystal pony. The whole dark magic thing is academic to me, so, no, I don't hate you. I don't exactly trust you, but we just met. You haven't given me too much a reason to dislike you so far?"

When Eric was satisfied with the answer he nodded, taking his focus less intently off Flash’s mouth, and smiled. “Good. Perhaps we will become friends in time. At the moment I’m inclined to have friends who don’t entirely trust me; it’ll make them more apt to point out if I do lose my way.”

“A swift kick in the gnads would probably pull your focus elsewhere, I’m certain,” Tom humorously interjected, grinning at Eric. “We both saw the reaction crystal ponies have to shadow stuff, it… wasn’t pretty. They seemed pretty messed up by it. But, uh, any chance we can get moving along, Flash?” Tom politely asked. “I’d really love to get out of these cuffs.”

Flash pulled out a key and approached, undoing Wave's manacles first, then Tom's, but left Eric in his. "The Princess would get angry at me if I didn't keep you close at hoof until she had a look at you. She's out doing a survey right now, so you're going to have to wait a little bit. Oh!" He clopped his hooves together. "You could meet Shining Armor? Her husband."

“I don’t mind, under the circumstances. Though if we could arrange that veterinarian while we wait, I would appreciate it. Aside from the question of whether removing the shadow magic will restore Poppy’s injuries, I can’t help but wonder what other harm the magic itself has done to her. She had quite a lot of it in her previously, for quite some time,” Eric countered. “I’ve been mistaken before, but I doubt the rulers of this land will object to a puppy being treated.”

Tom gently set Wave down, kissing her forehead before reaching up and stretching out his arms, working out the kinks. “Thank you, Flash, this is so much better,” he chimed in, back popping a few times before he leaned down and started rubbing his legs a bit, pulling up his pant legs to do so. “It’d be nice to meet him, although,” sniffing himself, he winced. “It’s been a few days since any of us have gotten a chance to bathe. And we could both probably stand getting some new clothes, we’ve got bits to pay for stuff like that, too.”

Flash gave a smile. Wave's reaction implied it might be charming, if one knew pony physique and expressions. "Oh, sure, we can do that, that is, the bath. The vet, not so much. The only vets in the kingdom are crystal, and you know the deal there. You two, uh… Maybe you should come with." He moved to lead the whole odd group to the baths. At least Cadance had hot and cold running water ready to go.

Next Chapter: 20 - Coming From Darkness Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 54 Minutes