"Do you know why the sun rises and sets, Arry?" She looked up into her father's eyes, curious. "Far across the ocean, in the land called Equestria, there is a pony princess named Celestia. She is an alicorn: the strongest of ponies. She is responsible for moving the sun and bringing forth day and night. She does this for the entire world."
"Wow..." She felt her eyes go wide. A single pony could do all that? She furrowed her brow in thought and rubbed the stumps on her head. She wished her antlers would grow faster, and had a habit of messing with them while thinking. "But... why help everyone? Can't other people help where they live too?"
Her father chuckled. "Yes, maybe they could help. But there is only one sun, and in the end I think it is easier this way. Celestia has taken it upon herself to govern the heavens. I think she does it because she wants to be helpful to everyone, not just to her own ponies."
"She sounds nice. I want to be like her when I grow up!" She beamed at her father, hoping to be praised for her ambition. He laughed and took her to get some ice cream.
"But I don't like this music." She gave a halfhearted kick at one of the drums sitting in front of her, producing a small 'thwump'. "These drums are boring. Can't you just tell me more stories about adventures?"
"No, dear." Her mother patted her on the head. She growled and tried to move away. "A young fawn needs variety in their life. Percussion is one of the most traditional of Deeryneian musical styles. It's good for you to practice your rhythm and coordination."
"But why do I need that stuff? I don't like it."
"Please, dear, stop complaining so much. It isn't proper for a peryton of your standing. Anyway, appreciation for music is worthwhile in its own right, but what you practice here can even help with the martial or arcane arts as well. Mastery of the many facets of life requires a holistic approach."
"Can't I practice changeling music instead? That minstrel that was visiting last week had interesting-"
"Absolutely not, and I'm surprised you even heard that. It was not suitable for a fawn of your age. Now, practice these sheets, I'll be back to check on you tonight. Please don't bother your watchers too much this time."
She grumbled and crossed her forelegs. "I'm not a baby..."
"Miss Arradalis, why are you sitting in that treetop?" She glanced down to see one of her teachers staring back at her. She quickly rubbed her eyes and sniffed a few times, trying to hide the evidence of her crying.
"N-nothing. You're just jealous of my wings, aren't you." It was less a question and more an accusation.
Her teacher raised her eyebrow. "Would you like to come down and tell me what happened?"
She hesitated for a minute, looking down at her teacher, up at the sky, and back a few times, before slowly nodding. "Uh-huh."
She flew to the ground and walked up to her teacher, who she allowed to put a hoof across her shoulders. "Now, what is wrong."
She sniffed again. "There were some other fawns playing with a jump-rope. I told them to let me have a turn so I could show them I was better at it, but they didn't listen. I tried to order them again but one of them called me mean and snooty."
"Why were you ordering them instead of asking nicely?"
She gaped at her teacher. "Because I'm a peryton! My family is the leaders of the whole forest! I'm in charge of those commoner brats!"
"Arradalis! That is no way to speak of your peers!"
She felt her face heating up. "But they aren't my peers, are they?"
Her teacher sighed heavily. "Your family has power, yes, but leadership is a responsibility. The other deer listen to your family and give it's members power because they trust them to lead effectively. If you abuse that trust, for example by demanding that the others grant you special favors, they might decide not to listen to you and take away the very power you are trying to use. It is better to treat others nicely and with respect."
"That's not fair!" What, being a leader was suddenly a popularity contest? What if the people didn't like the leader for doing something that was important but mean? What good was being powerful if power can't be used?
"It actually is. I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with the other fawns, but you were not behaving appropriately. Now, we should get going: you're almost late for your history lessons."
"Why are these made of foam?" She shook from side-to-side, watching her "spear" wobble violently in its harness.
"Your father has said that you are too young to train with real weapons. He even forbade wooden ones until you were older and more experienced." Her martial instructor fitted his own foam spear to its harness and began testing its weight and speed.
"What is a foam 'spear' even good for?" She scowled and hit a nearby tree with the side of her weapon, watching it fold in a very non-threatening manner.
"Now now, you don't always have to be so pessimistic, Arry. We can practice form and accuracy with these. Once you graduate to more dangerous weapons, you'll be much less likely to get hurt if you have some basic knowledge and muscle memory to work off of."
She pouted as she stepped up to her side of the jousting field. "This is ridiculous."
"Sometimes life is ridiculous. Now, I think we'll start with the Lapisite style favored in the old Crystal Empire. The goal here is actually to avoid breaking your own crystal lance more than anything, so accuracy and positioning are very important. We'll do a quick test run to get you started, then I'll go over the weak-points you would find on the standard uniform."
She was sitting at the foot of her bed, sulking. She was busy chipping into the wood of the bed frame with her hoof when she heard a knock on her door. A moment later, her father entered the room. "Hello Arry."
She grumbled and glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Hi Father." She whispered.
"Do you know why I'm here?" She shrank down and averted her eyes. "You're teachers tell me that you are still not paying attention during lessons. You keep getting distracted, or running off, or starting arguments."
"It's not my fault if they won't teach me the things I want to learn. If they want my attention they shouldn't abuse it." That was how things worked, after all. If people didn't like you, they wouldn't give you power over them.
Her father just sighed. "I don't enjoy interrupting my day to reprimand you. I'm expecting you to put more effort into your studies. If I continue to hear that you are neglecting them, I may have to do something more than just scold you."
She shrugged. "Yeah, okay."
He just watched her for several seconds until she started fidgeting under his gaze. "I might have to ban you from your workshop if this keeps up."
She gasped. Her workshop was one of the few places where she could do what she wanted. "What? But... but that's-"
He held up a hoof. "If you can't control yourself, then we'll just have to do it for you. Put more effort into your studies and we won't have to talk about this again." He left, closing the door behind him.
She groaned and planted her face into her pillow. "Yeah, it isn't like you control me enough already..."
She grinned at her reflection, admiring the jewelry her mother had adorned her antlers with. She was proud of the branching pattern they had grown into, and the rings and chains of precious metals now hooked between them made her feel important.
She was less enthused with the dress her mother was currently fussing over, directing servants to tighten this, loosen that, and readjust everything else. She didn't care for how restricting it felt; at least armor or a cloak had the benefit of protecting or hiding her, but this was entirely ornamental. Still, the dress was pretty. She supposed it could be worse.
Thankfully, she'd only had to endure half an hour more before her mother had been satisfied and let her remove the dress. It had only taken a small amount of pleading to let her keep the jewelry on for the day as well. "Come along dear. You've been patient and cooperative, so now we can go visit the beach."
She almost couldn't believe her ears. She could visit the sea! And see and hear the waves! And smell the salt in the air! "Oh thank you thank you! This is the best!"
Her mother managed to calm her down long enough to have her cast a basic protection spell on her jewelry so it wouldn't fall off or get tarnished, and then they were off.
It was nice to be able to relax for a day. She played in the waves, and tried shaping sand into various sculptures. She managed to make some nice looking mountains, but her attempts at a tree and at antlers, unfortunately, were doomed from the start. Later, her mother brought a cloud out over the water, and they sat together and rested, enjoying the sound of the waves.
She always loved the sea.
History was one of her least favorite subjects. When it wasn't boring and useless, it was depressing and tended to make her angry. Unfortunately, today was not a day for her to be bored.
"Per what little survived the cataclysm of Everdark, we know that perytons originally had their own kingdom, an island nation know as Antlentis. Masters of the sky and sea, the Antlentians were regarded as one of the most noble and respected of the ancient Deeryneian kingdoms."
The lesson went on for some time. She was glad to be learning more about her heritage, but she wasn't stupid. She knew Antlentis was no more, so she knew there was probably not going to be a happy ending for this lesson. Sure enough, her teacher eventually started lecturing on the nation's downfall.
"Exact details are sparse, as Everdark and the times leading up to it were filled with strife and chaos. What we have managed to determine, however, is that Antlentis was called upon by their friends in the Deeryneian Alliance to provide aid during one of the many wars with ancient Ordinat. They prepared to mobilize their forces, but the Alikeros somehow divined their intentions, launching a preemptive strike upon the island."
"They attacked before they even started fighting? Why?!" Ordinat sounded like a nation of blackguards.
"It seems that Antlentis was in possession of particularly powerful weapons. Ordinat had suffered from these weapons before, and did not want to give Antlentis the chance to deploy them. However, Ordinat had destructive power of its own: whether by some powerful magic or by sheer physical effort, the island was somehow destroyed utterly. Only a relatively small percentage of perytons managed to escape."
She gritted her teeth and glared at her notebook. She glanced up at her teacher, who seemed to have noticed her unhappiness. "What happened to the Alikeros?"
Her teacher grimaced and cast her eyes downward for a moment. "I am sorry, Arry. I did not intend to upset you with the lesson. If-"
"It's fine." She lied. "Just answer the question."
Her teacher sighed and shuffled her wings. "No one knows for certain. It seems the Alikeros abandoned Ordinat at the start of the Everdark, but there are records of sightings up to the very end. Afterwards, however, there is nothing. It seems they vanished with the cataclysm. The closest thing we have now is the alicorns; Celestia and her kind are said to be descendents of Alikeros magic, but we don't know enough to do more than speculate."
She tilted her head. "Why not? Does she keep her origins a secret?"
"Well, she isn't very forthcoming from what I've heard, but it's more likely that she just doesn't know very much. Most of this history is from our own archives, and, well... we don't really share much with the infernal bloodlines. I wouldn't be surprised if Celestia didn't even know much of any pre-Equestrian history. Anyway, we should move on. We can cover pre-Everdark dragons next; it will be fun!"
She stood in a corner of the hotel lobby, sipping her punch sullenly. A changeling envoy had appropriated the room for a Hearth's Warming Eve party while visiting. She had complained to her father about having to go to a party for a silly pony holiday, but he had told her that many of its messages and themes could apply to everyone, not just ponies. It would also be an insult to their guests if they didn't accept the invitation.
Personally, she'd much rather be trying new spells or drafting blueprints.
She noticed her father speaking to a changeling councilor a few feet away. She scooted a bit closer to listen in; it couldn't be more boring than the insipid music being played.
"I just had to get away from the hive for a while. I love Everlight, but when the vana are unhappy, everyling is unhappy. Labyrinth doesn't have it much better, but then they never do, do they? Ha ha!"
"It's that bad then? Do you regret your support for her ascent?"
"Oh it's not just Chrysalis. The Equestrians aren't making things easy either. Celestia has already taken almost all of the equine lands, even if this or that county is not official yet. Everlight -- and I assume this goes for the other hives as well -- is reluctant to set up operations in nearby lands because they are now taking those as well. There have already been several conflicts with diamond dogs and minotaurs over territory claims. I've even heard of them getting bold with dragons, of all creatures!"
"Ah, you don't want to waste efforts on someplace that might be changing hooves within a month."
"Precisely. Celestia's ponies just keep expanding to any land that doesn't have walls or spears keeping them back. It's almost like a vacuum. I've heard there are plans to expand even further south, too. They'll be building on top of our hives eventually, if they even realize it."
"Well, the only thing I can think of would be to set up some diplomatic channels, but I know your leaders are pushing for secrecy more than ever. I can only wish your people the best of luck."
The changeling laughed. "Oh, don't worry. I know what you're afraid of, and I think Dwimorholt has enough history of taking in refugees for now."
"W-well I-"
"Calm down, friend, 'twas only jest. Hey, we have some desserts from Zebrica; you should try some."
She stared at the ceiling of her room. She felt... wrong, but the ceiling provided her no answers. She was unhappy with her life. She was unhappy with a lot of things, really. Her parents seemed so restrictive with her. They said they wanted the best for her, but it didn't seem to matter what she wanted. She was rarely able to spend much time with them, but these days it was a blessing more than a curse: she didn't have to worry about being scolded, or judged, or "encouraged" if they weren't around.
They didn't take her seriously, not really. No one else did either. She was "just a fawn". Don't let her out of sight. Keep her away from anything even remotely risky. Make sure she follows her schedules. Make sure her shoulders are always straight and her tongue is always held.
And for what? So she could sit in some fancy house, posing for pictures and "hosting" parties? Get married off to some important deer or another and have some more peryton children to annoy her so that the elders would feel a bit safer about the future of the family? Sit idle and grow old while mourning the lost glory of her people?
No one was doing anything to fix it. All the other deer seemed content to just fade further into irrelevance, hiding in their trees. And she couldn't do anything either: anything she proposed would undoubtedly be overruled by the cowards in charge, and she would just get reprimanded again.
It didn't seem like a life worth living to her. She tried to think it through from different angles, but after wasting a couple more hours of the night, she could only come back to a single point: The path she was on would only leave her unhappy.
The only option, then, was to find a new path.
Year 997 LE
******
Far to the west of Equestria, across a vast ocean, there lay a forest known as Dwimorholt. It is here that the secretive remnants of the once-great Cervine nations reside, ruled since the end of the Everdark by a family of nobles calling themselves 'The Eclipsed'.
Many thousands of years ago, in ages past, the Deeryneian Alliance had been one of four world powers, rivaled only by Ordinat, the Kingdom of Griffona, and the Draconic Republic. The Alliance had managed to maintain peace with the dragons, but the peoples of Ordinat and Griffona proved more difficult.
The deer were creatures born of fey blood, while the equines and griffons were of infernal descent; the two bloodlines had little love for one another. The opposing nations would often clash over concerns of territory, resources, and ideology. Preemptive strikes and acts of vengeance became commonplace, and war became the background against which life carried on.
In the end, though it was one of the most devastating disasters of all time, the destruction of the Sun and the ensuing darkness may have actually saved some of the fae races from utter extinction; though loathe to admit it, most cervid scholars agree that just before the cataclysm, the Alliance seemed destined to suffer bloody annihilation at the hooves of the Ordinat. With the onset of the Everdark, the Alliance's enemies had more pressing concerns than a petty blood feud.
It was cold comfort at the time.
The world was ending, and it seemed certain that all life and energy would fade from the land. Regardless, the Deeryneians persevered, struggling to survive in what refuges remained. When the Sun was reborn, and the survivors across the planet came forth to pick up the pieces of civilization, deer were part of the privileged few that managed to hold on to a significant number of accurate and complete historical records.
The realm of Dwimorholt became one of the first nations of the new epoch, and -- for good or ill -- one of the few sources of ancient lore and technology remaining in the modern world. It was within this realm that a young peryton hind, Arradalis ex Eclipsed, had lived for thirteen of Celestia's years, and she had vowed that ere the fourteenth completed she would leave it all behind.
"Hey Eclipsed!" It would be much easier if other deer would stop bothering her, of course.
"It's 'ex Eclipsed'. It sounds insulting if you leave the first part of it off, though I'm sure you already knew that." She was making use of one of her precious bouts of free time to stockpile supplies for her upcoming departure. She checked that her coin purse was still firmly tied to her left antler; her allowance wasn't meager by most standards, but she could only afford so much at once. It had taken her weeks just to build up a large enough stockpile of rations that she wouldn't have to worry about starving on the road.
"Oh, please. Of course I didn't mean to insult you. What kind of friend would I be if I did that?" Unfortunately, going to the market alone made her an easy target for a variety of antagonists, such as Bruijir.
"An honest one." Her fellow peryton seemed to delight in annoying her whenever he was around. He was four years her senior, but she had a higher status than him. In her experience it seemed to cancel out, in the end.
"Always so snippy. Maybe if you let me use your given name, I wouldn't have to worry about offending you with incomplete titles, eh?"
"Not happening."
"There you go again. You sure are glum today, Arry." She bristled and shot a glare his way. "Miss ex Eclipsed, I mean. Did something happen? I heard you fell asleep in the middle of your markshartship again. Did your parents chew you out over that yet?"
She gritted her teeth. He always managed to phrase things in a way to maximize her frustration. That "yet" at the end, for instance, really set her off. "No, you showed up. That's why I'm upset, I mean. I mean, that's why I'm 'glum'. Because you're here, instead of not being here. Leave." Real smooth, Arradalis. She resisted the urge to smack herself. This was why she preferred to be "snippy".
"Well, I guess if you can't hit an enemy with bullets or arrows, you can always cut them with your scathing words. Maybe you can get a megaphone to take care of the range, because your usual muttering probably won't reach an enemy before they can skewer you."
She was afraid she was going to get a headache at this rate. "Why do you always have to bother me, Bruijir."
"Because you're fun, of course. It's nice to have someone to test my wit against, even if they aren't much of a challenge." He smirked at her. "If you wanted me to stop, you'd have sicked your family on me long ago. Don't deny it."
"I don't need to go crying to my parents every time some wannabe punk comes crawling out of the gutter."
"See, I knew you could do better than that weak stuff earlier." She sighed and picked up her pace, noticing her destination ahead of her.
Dwimorholt's Grand Market usually had shops for almost anything one could want, so long as that anything didn't require custom machining or a permit to own or sell. It was also a popular destination for various changeling traders looking to offload assorted goods and merchandise; most Deeryneians rarely, if ever, ventured outside the confines of the forest, so these traders were their only source of souvenirs and merchandise from other places.
She stepped up to one of the many colorful stalls decorating the Autumn market. A friendly looking hart popped up and grinned at her. "Welcome, young miss. Looking for something in particular? I have a wide range of curiosities for sale." He gestured at the racks hanging off the side of his stall.
She noticed an aura of magical energy around him, and after a moment recognized it as changeling magic. She narrowed her eyes at the changeling. "Why do you look like that?"
Bruijir smacked his forehead with a hoof. "Wow, tactful."
The sales-changeling just chuckled. "Well, I do offer quite a number of items that are of interest to children, and this-" He gestured at his face. "Is a bit less scary for some of the young ones. It's my firm belief that even one small fawn leaving my shop in tears is two too many! Now, what can I get for you? Perhaps some gems for storing magical energy? Twenty Shells, and it's a steal at that." He pulled back a curtain on the front of his counter to reveal several crystals of various colors, each about the size of his hoof. Below them were some more crystals, but these were twisted into bizarre, alien shapes that wouldn't have formed under natural circumstances.
Bruijir tilted his head and pointed at them. "What are those? Are they supposed to look like that?"
"Not at all, young sir; therein lies the charm! These top crystals are genuine, Labyrinth-certified magic batteries, already pre-charged. The twisty ones you see are the failures. They aren't very useful for storing energy, but aren't they a sight? I'm selling the broken ones super cheap, only three Shells. Good thing to show off to your friends, or gift to that special deerfriend, eh?" He winked before turning to Arradalis. "What about this?" He picked up a stack of papers and set them on the counter. He lifted one up for them to see.
"Really? 'The Wonderbolts'?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, they are pretty popular even outside of Equestria. These are authentic flyers -- no pun intended -- for their airshow last month. Rare collector's items in these parts. Could be worth a lot in the future, you know! You could get it as a gift for a fan, or hang onto it yourself to resell. Only ten Shells."
Bruijir looked his stack of flyers up and down. There was maybe a few hundred in that stack alone, and he suspected that he probably had more. "Yeah... 'rare'... did you really think this one through?"
Arradalis, however, rummage through her coin purse and slapped a quarter-cent shell on the counter. "Twenty of those Shells for a working crystal, green. I'll give you the remaining five Shells for one of those flyers. Frankly, they probably aren't worth one shell, but I'm skipping to the end of the haggling to save us both time."
The deer-changeling smirked and took the coin. "Works for me." He hoofed over the crystal and the flyer. "Any questions on how the crystal works?"
"No." She grabbed her purchase and started walking away, a bemused Bruijir trailing her.
"Seriously? You hate anything to do with Equestria. Why are you wasting five Shells on a stupid flyer for an expired Wonderbolts show?"
"I have a fetish for pegasi in skin-tight outfits."
He stared for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Oh wow, I can't believe you managed that with a straight face! You really are the best sometimes, Arry. This is why I hang out with you."
"I was kinda hoping to disgust you into leaving me alone, to be honest. I don't see how my money is any of your business."
"Get real. It's gonna take more than that to get rid of me." Great.
She had checked several other stalls, looking out for any oddities that might prove useful, but she found nothing else that interested her. Her only other purchase was a sturdy traveling cloak; better suited to her planned adventure than the finery she usually wore. She reluctantly answered Bruijir's probing by stating that it was for one of her inventions. Thankfully he bought it, and she managed to ditch him before reaching her estate. She had taken a quick detour to stash the crystal and the flyer with the rest of her supplies before returning home to a pair of "concerned" parents.
She was only twenty minutes late for dinner, but they wouldn't listen to her attempts to blame Bruijir for her delay, insisting that she shouldn't be wasting so much time with her friends. As a result, she was sent to bed an hour early. It was humiliating, but it wouldn't matter in the long run: she would be leaving tonight.
Everyone else should be asleep by now.
She tossed her sheets aside and climbed from her bed. She was filled with nervous energy, and took a moment to calm down and psyche herself up. Now was the last chance she would have for backing out, and she was not going to let that happen. Sure, she was young and inexperienced. Sure, she was about to run away from her guardians, teachers, mentors, friends and family. Sure, she was about to embark on a dangerous and reckless mission into unknown territories.
She wasn't doing a very good job of calming herself down so far.
What do I have to fear? I've studied and trained under great deer masters. Sorta. I don't need to have been a star student to have learned something, right? I'm prepared. I can do this. She glanced out her bedroom window, noting the position of the moon and gauging it to be around midnight. Taking a deep breath, she began channeling her magic.
She activated the runes that had been inscribed onto her aura. Looking down, she saw they were now visible just above the fur on her legs, and presumably the rest of her body as well. She closed her eyes and planted her hooves firmly, casting her senses onto the entire household.
Her own two-room tower was empty save for herself. She sensed her parents in their own tower, sleeping. Any servants and other guests that also spent the night were also asleep in their own rooms, with the exception of one of her second-cousins; he had apparently passed out in the wine cellar. Regardless, it seemed that she would have no trouble escaping unnoticed, so long as she was quiet.
She let her magic fade, and the glowing runes quickly followed suit. She grabbed her new traveling cloak from her closet and carefully left her room. She slowly climbed down her tower's staircase, grinning as she noticed the doors along her path remained in the ajar positions she had left them in. The less chances for hinges or doorhandles to squeak, the better.
She had carefully examined the household over the past few weeks, and had come to the conclusion that the guest room just below her tower had a window that made the least noise of any within a three doorway path; balancing the distance against the noisiness of the path hadn't been very simple, but she had had plenty of time to think it over. She had chosen tonight because she knew this guest room would be unoccupied.
She made her way across the room and carefully opened the window. She poked her head outside and glanced around, double checking that the coast was clear. Looking down, she suppressed a shiver; she was still on the third story, and she hadn't practiced taking off from a window yet. Still, there was a first time for everything she supposed. The sound of a throat being cleared behind her caused her to jump and bang her antlers, small as they were, against the window frame.
"Agh! Infernal's teats!" She bit back any further curses as she slowly turned, gingerly holding a hoof to her head. In the doorway stood a bespectacled deer that was affixing her with a stern glare. He was her primary watcher and teacher. Damn it all, why did he have to show up. She realized that she hadn't sensed him in the household earlier, which should have tipped her off; he must have noticed her spell. "Lanilor... you're up late."
Her teacher raised an eyebrow. "Miss Arradalis, should you not be in bed yourself? You have many lessons to attend tomorrow. If you actually pay attention this time, I might even show you how to recognize and counter various types of scrying magic."
She growled at him. "That's it? That's all you have to say about this?" She was obviously about to flee and he was simply scolding her about curfew and lessons?
Lanilor sighed. "So you haven't learned anything about diplomacy either. I will confess: I am at my wit's end. You are incorrigible, miss. I was trying to give you a chance to back down without outright accusing you of anything untoward."
"You know, you are really doing a superb job of making me want to stay right now."
He scowled. "Go ahead then. Run away. Abandon your studies, your duty, your family. You very obviously do not wish to learn. I doubt you even care about anyone but yourself. The Eclipsed probably would be better off without you."
Arradalis bristled at the implication that she could be emotionally cajoled like this. Is that all he has left? A stupid attempt to guilt trip her and appeal to her ego? He never really knew me... "I'm not an idiot, dear teacher. I don't need to prove myself to you or to anyone else." She turned back to the window and flexed her wings.
Of course I care about others. Why else would I be doing this for those stupid cowards? She cast a glance back at her teacher and noted his face seemed to be one of sad resignation now. "Thanks for being born without wings, by the way. It has always made ditching you so much easier."
After a quick step backward, she launched herself out the window and snapped her wings open, diving downward to build up momentum. A second later she pulled level and laughed. It felt good to release herself like that. She felt like she had been waiting forever to tear into that taskmaster she called teacher.
She didn't have much time though. Lanilor would certainly notify her parents quickly, and she needed to be gone before the search parties started patrolling. She had a stash of supplies that she needed to grab, and then she would exit the forest post-haste.
After a few minutes and half a mile, she spotted her target: a trio of trees that grew into a single trunk before splitting off again. She had never known if it was natural or the result of some young deer's experiment. If I'm lucky, I'll never have the opportunity to find out.
She landed on top of the joint trunk and grabbed the sack of supplies she had stored there. It shouldn't have changed since her visit a few hours earlier, but she laid it out on the ground to double check everything anyway.
The first item she checked for was an emerald ring she had stolen from her mother's collection. She placed it on one of the branches of her antlers, smiling. While forming her plan, she had decided she would adorn herself as an adventurer, taking something as a symbol of each place she visited. I managed to survive the "dreadful" Dwimorholt. This ring attests to that.
She had also stowed a pair of saddlebags holding two weeks of compact travel rations, as well as a map, a blanket, and a spare cloak -- one of her own, with a more 'noble' look. She donned the pack, then lifted a small pouch holding what extra Shells she could scavenge without drawing attention. It wasn't much by her standards, but it would help her stay fed for some time in foreign lands. She tucked it into her pack as well.
Her Wonderbolts flyer and magic battery were also still present. The flyer might be useful for deflecting suspicion if she was caught. Honest, mister guard, I'm in Equestria to watch the Wonderbolts! They are my favorite flyers! She pretended to retch. Hopefully she'd never need to use it, but five Shells wasn't bad for a bit of insurance. The magic crystal was likewise not intended for a specific purpose, but having an extra boost of magical energy might be useful, if not critical. She'd rather have it just in case than be without at a crucial moment.
There was only one other item left: a hoof dagger that she had stolen from her martial instructor's armory. She took a moment to admire the complexity of the mechanism. The entire thing was held within a gauntlet that was worn above the hoof, concealing the short blade when not in use. It had an ingenious set of mechanisms that allowed for the right pair of hoof flexes to extend or retract the blade.
It was nothing compared to some of the relics of ancient Deeryneian engineering, technologically speaking, but it was a weapon she actually knew how to use, and she felt it was more than suitable for her purposes. She strapped it to her dominant hoof, her left, and toggled the small latch near that top that acted as a safety and locked the blade in place.
Arradalis looked up into the sky, grinning. This was it. She was free. She no longer had to suffer dull and repetitive lessons at the hooves of wingless dotards. She no longer had to pretend respect for her parents and their "friends". She no longer had to worry about mingling with boring commoners and even more boring nobles. She no longer had to worry about adhering to the schedules and deadlines set by her mother, or holding herself to the exact poise and attitude expected by her father. She could finally forge her own destiny.
She felt like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She needed a purpose, however, something to drive her. Becoming a vagrant wandering the wilds was no fate for someone like her; she would set out on a quest to avenge the misfortunes of her people and remind the world of the real power of the perytons.
She laughed. She laughed like she hadn't for years. She imagined herself laughing directly at Celestia. Your ancestors did me and mine a great disservice, oh horned alati, "goddess" of equines. She would do something far greater than simply taking her place in a long line of ineffectual nobles hiding in their trees. She would go down in history as the one who put paid to the lie of "Sol Invictus".
She rubbed her gauntlet, imagining herself descending upon the solar alicorn. She would stare into those ancient eyes, now filled with shock and anger, as her blade helped her create a world with one less tyrant. With a light head, a heavy pack, and a noble quest held in her heart, she once more took to the air and made her way to the western edge of Dwimorholt.
The caves of Mount Canter were a wondrous natural formation. Some might consider it lamentable that so few even knew of them these days. Via, however, only cared about their utility. After all, it was difficult for adversaries to track a secret rendezvous if they didn't know the meeting location even existed.
He could appreciate the various crystal formations in a technical sense, but they never inspired many feelings for him. Perhaps it was just the fact that they were inside a cave; he didn't much care for caves these days. They did make useful mirrors, though, and he took a moment to verify his disguise. "Royal Guard" would be so much easier if I didn't have to steal the armor. They all look practically the same anyway; nopony even pays attention to all the details.
He was in the middle of striking poses when he heard a soft cough behind him. "You're a little short to be a royal guard." He jumped and spun around to see a pink pegasus staring at him. "You are Via, right?" He didn't like to admit it, but he had trouble recognizing specific ponies sometimes. Her red mane -- tied into a ponytail -- and her cutie mark -- a red heart with a sawtooth waveform cutting across it -- did help him narrow it down.
"Ah! Heartbeat! Uh yes, of course, Via. Me. That's right." He could be a master of conversation when needed. Apparently, when talking with his boss, it didn't count as a "need".
She giggled. "I wish you would at least pick one unique disguise to wear, so I don't have to guess whether it is actually you each time we meet."
He shifted on his hooves, looking away. "Well you see I don't really like making use of my disguises but it is still something I need to practice. Variety is a part of that. To be honest I would rather not use them at all but what can one do?" He felt a slight grimace tugging at his mouth. He had a tendency to rattle his words off quickly when he wasn't putting on a persona.
"You could just be yourself then."
"Well Equestria isn't the safest place to go 'natural' in for several reasons" He shrugged and dropped his disguise. Instead of a pegasus royal guard in oversized golden armor, there now stood a small changeling in oversized golden armor. "Everlight would want my head on a pike if I betrayed our kind's existence to others."
Heartbeat blinked. Via looked vaguely like a pony, but for his small size and slender build. His head also seemed a bit more canine than equine, and he seemed to have holes through his hooves and wings. He had told her his appearance was not indicative of changelings as a whole, but she had no other point's of reference. "It still surprises me a little when you transform like that. I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to it."
"I wouldn't worry too much about it you are unlikely to encounter many changelings yourself. That uh would at least be very wishful thinking on my part to be honest I don't know what the hives might end up doing. Ideally their plans though won't involve you ever meeting them. I hope that sounds at least a little bit as assuring as I intended."
"Calm down, it's no big deal. We are here for a reason, so let's get down to it." She flashed him a quick smile before pulling a file out from under her wing. "I got the profile you sent. Deeryneian, peryton. A flying deer, huh? I wasn't even aware there were deer with wings."
"I wouldn't expect you to as there is quite a bit of history tied up into their current... state. This is stuff even before 'Everdark' that we are talking about. Suffice it to say that perytons have had a bit of a population issue for quite some time and on top of that they are very secretive to, uh... outsiders. Non-fey."
"Ah, this is one of those old 'bloodline' things then? I suppose changelings have a bit more knowledge then?"
"Er... probably." Heartbeat raised an eyebrow, causing him to chuckle. "I'll remind you that I'm not a hiver and I have no idea what they might have hidden away in their secret libraries. Though, deer though do have trade relations with several changeling... entities. I did actually get the initial tip and profile information on the target," he nodded at the file, "from a changeling trader that frequents Dwimorholt."
"I see. Tell me more about the target. You recommended recruitment. I want to know why."
Via coughed into his hoof. "Right. Of course. Yes." He nodded, sending the helmet he was wearing over his eyes. He jumped at the sudden loss of vision, prompting another giggle from Heartbeat. One moment and an impromptu game of 'throwing a helmet across the cave' later, Via managed to collect himself again. "Sorry."
Heartbeat hid her smile behind a hoof. "Please, do go on."
"Okay. Target is named Arradalis -- interesting etymology on that one by the way and okay please stop glaring back on track -- she is very headstrong and craves independence. She is part of a line of nobles that basically govern the current Deeryneian home of Dwimorholt. Her parents put her through extensive schooling and training, pretty standard stuff honestly for someone in her position yet apparently she is flunking most of her lessons though due to lack of commitment or attention or something."
Heartbeat smirked. "So, she's some lazy, spoiled kid? I think we get enough of those in Canterlot."
Via shook his head vigorously. "No not at all. It seems to be less an issue of intelligence or drive and more one of resistance to authority. She is said to spend much of her free time on self-directed projects. She's actually developed her own version of several spells independently and has worked on prototypes for things such as artificial wings and concealable hoof-bows though most of her attempts at actual construction fail the ambition is still quite impressive for a child of her young age."
Heartbeat began pacing in front of him, brow furrowed in concentration. "Continue."
"Yes of course I wouldn't expect you to approve recruitment on that alone. She's demonstrated a proclivity for the kind of planning and thought processes that are invaluable for shadow operations and more to the point last week she fled Dwimorholt. Profile suggests she has grievances with Equestria and/or Alicorns out of a concern over honor or something based on historical events. She's likely planning to attack Celestia somehow."
Heartbeat froze. "Really? She's not the least interesting prospect, I'll admit, but you want to recruit some wannabe terrorist? I'm wondering why we shouldn't just report this to Captain Shining Armor and let Equestrian security handle it."
"She's just a kid and from what I know of her getting apprehended by the guard is probably one of the outcomes least likely to have a happy ending. It doesn't matter how nicely they'll handle her she is not going to cooperate with them. I haven't even mentioned all the other problems she might run into without supervision." Via gave her a pleading look. "We don't need to let her get caught up in some criminal network or spend her life caged by authorities."
Heartbeat held a hoof to her chin, making a show of thinking it over. Her grin betrayed her thoughts, however. "Fine, I'll let you give it a shot. So..." She put a wing across his shoulders and pulled him close.
"Er..." He saw a predatory grin forming on her face.
"What's the plan?"
