Saving Equus

Chapters

The New World
Plain Sight
After Hours
Hope
The Spaceship, Cirque d'Sang

The New World

THE NEW WORLD

I... I know what I have to do.

The monolith she’d been left in was unfamiliar. She didn’t understand the box-lift, a small room different from the rest, and tried to avoid it.

There was a stallion, his name was Belowitz, who brought her to the monolith in which she now stood. He gave her a choice to stay here and help the ponies of Equestria Central, or to leave. Fluttershy had told him to go, and he went down the box-lift only a while ago.

She looked around for some kind of staircase, but she never found them. The lift was the only way down.

Fluttershy thought of staying on her floor, waiting for Belowitz to come to her, But no, she thought. That wouldn’t do. I’ve waited far too long to fall back into that mindset... Staying idle should be blocked in my mind, and if it isn’t, I’ll make it so.

She had been left atop this massive structure for a time, and while she disliked it, there was no way to discredit the comforts that this room had, nor the view, nor all the things necessary for a privileged life.

It even had a robot-helper, shaped like a butler. Perhaps it could help. She talked out loud to it, feeling awkward doing so. “Uh… Servo?” It turned, jolting her. “Oh, um... right. Could you help me with this lift?”

“Of course, ma’am!” The robot attached to some protruding board inside the box-lift. “Please enter the lift, ma’am.”

She stepped in, and it took seconds before the lift started to descend. As it went down, the lift was a much smoother ride than she had expected. It was as if the laws of nature were being bent for a pleasant journey, and it felt strange to her, thinking that probably wasn’t far from the truth. She looked outside as she stood in the metal box, watching blurs of colours race past the windows. The city outside was larger than she remembered.

She saw the city as she rode in the airship, that got her to the monolith she stood in now. The airship was a pleasant, problem-free journey. Similar to the lift I’m in now. Back in her farm, the wagons were bumpy, and most times you’d have to drive them yourself. This new world is built with steel shields, protecting ponies from any kind of discomfort, she thought.I saw the same with Belowitz… he’s the weakest-looking pony I’ve ever seen, and I'm a head taller than him. Maybe everypony’s like that here. I won’t be.

She recalled the size of the monolith, one of the tallest structures she’d ever seen. The box-lift reached the bottom much faster than expected, without even a jolt as it stopped at the bottom. She turned to the robot. “Are you going to stay?”

The robot had a cheery stallion’s voice. “Whatever you require, ma’am! I was built to serve, and can offer you directions, refreshments, and anything else you require.”

“You will stay on this lift,” she commanded quickly.

The robot lit up, saying, “Excellent choice, ma’am,” and the boxlift doors closed automatically. She was relieved to be rid of the thing so easily.

The boxlift was in the centre of a larger room. As she stepped out, she noticed a host of couches and tables were standing all around her. Many ponies (smaller than her, just as she thought) occupied the couches, doing busywork or drinking with friends. It was a similar room to her own at the top of the monolith, with pale yellow walls and a carpeted purple floor, and the same massive that seemed to be the monolith’s specialty.

Noticing a lot of drinks out, she assumed as much that this was a bar, and a meeting place before using the lift. She arrived on the very top of this building by airship, so the bar was all new to her. The crowd of ponies made her not sure where she was meant to go, and she felt flustered, looking through the crowd for the stallion who had talked to her.

To her relief, she spotted Belowitz alone on a table far to the right. He was reading some kind of newspaper that levitated. Strange, she thought, as Belowitz was an earth pony. Fluttershy made her way towards him, and when he noticed her, the newspaper vanished into thin air. “How did you do that?” she asked.

“It’s a hoofbrace trick,” Belowitz replied. More technology she thought, noticing the block of what looked like metal, attached below his hoof. “Well… you’re back far faster than I thought,” he said, eyebrows raised. “So you've made a decision?”

“I’ve decided,” Fluttershy said, standing opposite him across the table. “I’m going to help you.”

The stunted stallion sprung into life. “That’s great! Miss Fluttershy, you’re not gonna regret it." He raised his hoofbraced hoof up to her. "There’s only one more thing I need you to do around here, and after that, we’ll go straight to the DHQ. D’you want any food? Late lunch, maybe? They serve food here too, and don’t worry; nopony in the monolith’ll give you any trouble. Do you want to sit, too?”

“No, I don’t want to sit,” Fluttershy replied. “Did I hear correctly when we spoke? This city we’re in now, this is what used to be Ponyville?”

Belowitz hesitated. “Uh, yes. Though, it’s been awhile since Equestria Central’s been called that name.”

What other ponies said didn’t matter to her. There was something, though, something she cared about deeply. “Does it still have the Appleshrine?”

It had been two hundred years since Fluttershy left Ponyville to tend to her new farm, in an area far out of Equestria. She used to have meetings with rest of the mane six, but they ended shortly after Applejack passed away. The Appleshrine was made in her honour.

The topic seemed to dampen Belowitz’s mood. He spoke slow, treading carefully. “The Appleshrine? Y-yes. It’s still here, despite the occasional move to say it’s worth-” he noticed her flicker of anger at what he was about to say, and sped up as he changed his wording, “-Not by me, Miss, you can be assured of that! The council’s tried to do it for years, but the shrine’s never been demolished. There’s still enough ponies that’d know a thing or two about their history.”

Thank Celestia for that, wherever she is. “Good. I will go there, alone, if that’s okay. You can explain to me what this Dee Haych Que is when I come back here, and anything else that you know is important.”

Belowitz gave a relieved smile. “No rush, Miss Fluttershy. But, uh, there is one thing y’need to do before you go out. It’s kind of necessary. Have you... ever worn a coat before?”

She shook her head, and gave a quick glance to the other ponies around the room. There were a good few ponies looking back at her, all in some kind of attire, and she turned back to Belowitz to speak casually. “Oh. I suppose I have noticed a lot of ponies wear clothes around here.”

Belowitz nodded. “Yeah… it’s certainly a thing, alright. And you’ll need to wear them too, if you’re going out into the city.”

She gave him a queer look. An alicorn is found after two hundred years, and the most important thing is her appearance. “Is my fur not good enough for the ponies of this new world?”

Belowitz put out a hoof. “No, no! It’s not that, your fur is lovely, but… it’s for, uh… public decency.” He paused, and she could feel the room staring. Let them, she thought, but Belowitz continued.“Add onto that the size difference, though we may just be able to say you're from east country.” That part of Equestria was renowned for it's farms two hundred years ago, and perhaps it hadn't changed. And to think, I never got close to the height of Celestia or Luna. Belowitz continued. “There’s another more important reason too, specifically for you.”

She looked at him disapprovingly. “This one better be good.”

Belowitz ignored the jape, and continued in a hushed voice. “The ponies here, the higher-ups in Equestria Central, they… a lot of them have never seen an alicorn before. In fact, I don’t think anypony has but the ones in this room.

“I can’t give all the details, half of ‘em I don’t know myself, but… you could be very important to some ponies. So important, they could risk a lot to get their hooves on you. Now for starters, I know pretty much everyone in this bar. This monolith is something of a safehouse, but outside? Who knows what they’ll do? And if they report anything to anyone, you might be, well... you might be as good as dead.”

“Dead?” Fluttershy repeated. “Why would they want that? If they wanted me dead, then why didn’t they find me like you did?” Belowitz had been of the ship that brought her here, and it only made sense that anyone else could have done the same.

“You’re not realising how long we’ve searched,” Belowitz whispered. “I know ponies that have been searching for you for… ten, fifteen years? Some of them were on the airship that brought you in. Some live in the monolith. You were on a farm, true, but we’d never expect you to be that far away from Equestria… We, being the ponies that found you, and we certainly had more clues than anyone else to your whereabouts.”

Fluttershy huffed. “So you want me to wear a coat to hide my identity. I’m kind of surprised that there’s no better way to keep me hidden.”

Belowitz struggled with his words. There is, but… well, no, there really isn’t. Any kind of automatic transport’ll make you easier to find. There’s plenty of laws you can’t follow, and licenses you don’t have. Wearing a hoodie specifically, you’ll be way harder to pick out of a crowd. It’ll hide your wings, and tartarus, who ever dreamed of taking the hoodie off an alicorn? You’d smite ‘em before they laid a hoof on you.”

She found herself weirdly amused at the idea of smiting anyone. Her element was always kindness, and the very thought was un-negotiably foreign.

A mare came up to the table. She stayed a good distance from Fluttershy, but was eyeing her all the same. “M-miss Fluttershy, um… Mr. Witz, did you say you needed one of my hoodies?”

Belowitz smiled. “You’ve been listening to the whole conversation, haven’t you? It’s for our alicorn here, yeah. Miss Fluttershy, this is Granger, our resident clothes merchant. You’ll be able to get our guest a skirt too, Miss Granger? I hope they fit.”

The mare seemed more focused on looking up at her face instead of responding to Belowitz. “P-pleased to meet you,” Granger said, blushing.

This mare’s more shy than I used to be. “Thank you for helping me out, Granger. What colour is it?”

“It’s… well, y’can have whatever colour you want it to be! I’ve got t-tons to choose from in the backroom. We could magic the materials in if it doesn't fit.”

“That’s good to know,” Fluttershy said. “I’ll take a green one, and as Belowitz says… a skirt, a blue one.” The mare twirled around like she’d almost fainted, and galloped away on the request. “Should I expect this sort of treatment?”

Belowitz grinned. “Miss Fluttershy, I think you may have forgotten who you are! An alicorn, and a friend and member of the mane six six, to boot. Celestia and Luna were alicorns, and they were treated as goddesses. Twilight and Cadence too, for a while. Don’t think for a moment that you aren’t special.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I guess I am special, now.” It’ll be hard to be ignored on a farm for two hundred years, that's for sure.

Belowitz was siding a glance at her. “You sound… not at all at ease with that, Miss Fluttershy. Is something wrong?”

“Would you want to be responsible for thousands, millions, however many there are now, just like the Princesses were...?” She stopped, realising she was exaggerating. There was still no one depending on her right now, and maybe it would stay that way, if she kept herself secret. She calmed herself down. “I’ll put on my new clothes, and I’ll spend a day outside in this new world. If it's okay, Belowitz... I'd like to go alone. Give me that, so that when I return, we can talk about my purpose here.”

The hoodie was a lot warmer and cosier than she expected. Rarity had given her dresses many years ago, and they were always made with a much thinner fabric than what Granger had supplied her with. Granger’s clothes were better to combat the cold, and that was what she needed to navigate the long, breezy streets across Equestria Central.

There were many ponies walking around, and soon enough, she was in the middle of the bustle. No one greeted each other, and only rarely did anyone speak, usually to account for the green-hoodied unicorn that's head poked out from all the rest. She lowered her head soon after hearing it, trying to mask herself from the rest.

It’s strange, she thought, the meeting at the monolith still in her mind. She knew this Belowitz character was trying to convince her of this need for her, and of this danger that was looming, even giving her a coat to disguise herself. She hoped that this stallion would soon explain his own position, and not without bias: for all Fluttershy knew, this stallion was part of the evil organisation, trying to hide her away in the massive structure she was brought into. They clearly had a lot of money to spend, or whatever ponies spent these days, and they were certainly keeping her a secret.

Looking around, she noticed that all the buildings were different. Fluttershy had a fond memory of the old bright and colourful buildings, now overshadowed by these new steel skyscrapers. The only colour was directed from huge signs up above the streets, with adverts that ranged from toy trains to political messages. One thing, though, seemed be in common with most of them: a picture of mare in varying heroic poses, sometimes animated for a few frames in some adverts.

"WANT TO BE A REAL MARE? GET RAPTOR'S WEEKEND WORKOUT IN 10 EASY STEPS!"

"AFTER A HARD DAY OF SAVING THE COUNTRY, IT'S CERTIFIED THAT RAPTOR'S FAVOURITE MEAL IS A BOWL OF HAYGATCHI'S LEMON CRUNCH: IT'S THE BREAKFAST WITH POWER!"

"EQUESTRIA'S POLICEFORCE: HELPING FIGHT CRIME LIKE RAPTOR SINCE '84."

Above them, what she heard being called hydrocars were buzzing away with some kind of magic. Her muzzle curled at the smells brought on by the breeze carrying exhaust fumes, smells she had never been in contact with before.

The city went on like that for an hour, before she noticed a building that she recognised. Appleshrine was built in stark contrast to the way the buildings were around it. It was much smaller for a start, and shorter, and it was made of orange-coloured stone that got dark as the chipped layers showed the stone underneath.

Upon passing through one of two wooden doors on the front, Fluttershy felt back at home. A solemn, melancholy home, but one nonetheless. Stone floors, statues, plants that grew far past their pots. It looked precisely as it did the two hundred or so years ago, when it was made, and it felt like it too. She was surprised at how there were so little ponies in it, seeing as it was so much more warmer than the outside.

The reason for the Appleshrines creation was clear once you walked in. The sculpture of an old friend, sitting on her haunches and looking towards the sky with her pet dog, Winona. Both of them had smiling faces, as if it were two hundred years prior, and nothing ever happened.

Fluttershy stood closer to the pool of water surrounding the statue. There were two ponies near the waters already, a young mare and a colt dressed in farm clothes, so she gave them some space and sat by herself, with her hood draped over her face as she stared back at the statue.

“Good day, ma’am. I see that this is your first visit. Would you like to know more about the Appleshrine?”

The voice was male, hushed as if they were in a library. Fluttershy turned to face it. “I know plenty about the Appleshrine, thank y- oh.”

It was another robot. This one looked much more lifelike, and looked furred, and dressed like a stallion. Its eyebrows moved, and it even seemed to breathe. The whole thing reeked of uncanny valley.

The owners had no right to put such a thing in the Appleshrine, of all places. Her eyes pierced through it with fury, and she proceeded by uttering her own question. “Where is your owner?”

“Your request… ah, I see now. Would you like to see customer support?”

“Is that your owner?” she asked.

“Customer support is the only available staff in the building at this time, ma’am.”

Good enough. “Show me to them.”

The robot walked like a pony too. She walked with it to a small door to the side, and once the robot was gone, she opened it. It was more of an equipment room than anything else, with an array of shiny tubs full of blue liquid to one side, a desk on the other, and a miniature pony sat in the middle. Fluttershy caught a glimpse of the back of a book, before it vanished in thin air, similar to Belowitz’s newspaper. It shocked her. “What was that?” she asked.

The earth mare sounded like a filly. “Oh, uh, nothin’. What’s your problem?”

Fluttershy didn’t like the sight of her, and she didn’t try to cover it up. “Please tell me, how did you make that thing vanish without magic?”

“Um, what? Well… its the app, y’know? Don’t y’know Foray? It’s a book app, it’ll let you read a ton from a selection, and when you’re done you can make it vanish an’ all.”

Fluttershy had no idea what she was talking about. A hoofbrace trick, remember? She was getting side-tracked.

“Nevermind. I came in here to ask you about that robot.”

“Oh, that thing.” She looked confused. “I’m guessing by the look in your face that it ain’t working right.”

“Working right?” Fluttershy repeated.

The earth pony was very slowly swivelling in her chair. “Yeah. If that is the case, then I can’t help you. I’m not the coder, y’know, so don’t blame me.” The mare was trying to avoid eye-contact. “I’ll call the repairmare shortly.”

“It’s working fine,” Fluttershy said. “That’s the problem. Why is there a robot working here? Applejack would want somepony to work hard, not make a clone do all the work. This is just insulting.”

The mare swivelled further around to face the desk. “Oh, well… I really can’t help you there. That’s up to management, and I ain’t management. D’you want to call management? I’ve got their number.”

Fluttershy looked on at her in spite. “Why can’t you think for yourself? Applejack was the pillar of honesty. You could at least be honest with me, and tell me you’re lazy.”

At that, the mare shot back, and looked in her eyes for the first time. “Look, Miss. I’m not lazy, I’m getting a damn pay cheque. I’ve gotta live life too, y’know?” She looked away and seemed to stop herself, calming down before going any further. “Tell you what. You go do a job like this yourself, experience ten hours of boredom a day, and then come back to me sayin’ you never read a book.”

Fluttershy wasn’t satisfied. “You’re making it boring for yourself, with no good reason but your own incompetence. If you lived on a farm, like Applejack, you’d never be bored.”

The earth pony turned back to her, deadpan. “Farm? You’re sayin’ I should live on a farm, like Applejack? Right…. because that can happen in Equestria Central.”She’s getting annoyingly cocky. Do I care about what Belowitz said? “Sure, Miss. If you’re so intent on me livin’ on a farm, how about you tell me about one I can go hire up in? One far away from you, preferably, so I can go back to readin’ my book.” She said it, clicking something on the device across her foreleg, and the book reappeared.

She thought back on what Belowitz told her.Do I care? Hm, not really.

Fluttershy took off her hood, and unzipped her jacket. Her wings reached both sides of the room too easily, making them bend on the tips. “Tell you about a farm? I could, but I wouldn’t waste it on you.”

The mare ignored her and feigned interest in her book for a few seconds, before taking a quick glance to see if she was still there led into a double-take, astonished by the sight of her. “The… that’s a trick. You can’t be her. She was kind.”

Fluttershy glared at her. The mare she cared so little for sank further in her chair, until she sank so far she fell off, and was now staring from the floor at Fluttershy’s piercing blue eyes.

“Uh, uh, big sis?” The colt tugged on her sister’s trousers. “It’s Fluttershy!”

She exited the equipment room, the distraught earth mare following suit, and the colt and the young mare she saw at the statue were now looking back at her. She noticed that mare, despite probably being half the age of Belowitz or so, was about the same size, and the colt was tall comparatively, too, wearing a shirt with that same blue mare from the adverts. Whoops, Fluttershy thought. I should really put that hoodie back on.

The mare’s eyes were wide open. “By Tia’s glowin’ mane… I-is that really you, Fluttershy?”

She looked at both of them with interest. They were wearing farmer-like attire, and the voice reminded her of someone she knew. “Um, yes. That’s me,” she said, not used to being called out in public. She hadn’t even been near ponies for years until today.

“See? I told y’, sis! Didn’t I say she looked like Fluttershy when she came on in? I told you!”

The mare’s attention went to her brother. “Now, quieten down, Stew! I don’t want you a’hollerin in a place like this.” She looked back up at Fluttershy, flustered. “I don’t know what to say, Princess… I’m, uh, I’m Bloom, and this here’s Stew.”

Princess… she hadn’t been crowned, but she was the only alicorn around as far as she knew. She had met the ponies for less than a minute, and already she could guess who they were. “...You’re both Apples, yes?”

Bloom gave a prideful pose. “Sure am! We’re not as big as we used t’ be, but we’re still goin’ strong. Ain’t that right, Stew?”

Stew gave her a puzzled look. “Is it, sis?”

“O’course it is! You just ain’t seen the farm yet, Stew.”

Fluttershy took the chance to come back into the conversation. “So you don’t live on the farm?”

Bloom moved her head in an arch. “Well, naw, not really. Some o’ us do, but we’re the young’uns, so we stay in the city, back at the family house with granny an’ pa. D’y’wanna come visit?”

The foal beamed. “Ar, that’d be swell! C’mon, Princess, y’have to come ‘round sometime, y’simply have to!”

Fluttershy smiled back, looking past Stew and Bloom to see the statue of Applejack. “I’d like that.” She looked down to the mare and her brother. “I’m free now, actually.” I told Belowitz I’d be gone for a day.

“Hold up just a sec, I gotta do sumthin,” Bloom said. She turned to the statue, scrounging the purse attached to her side. Finding a bit, she held out a hoof. “Here’s t’ all the times we’ve been here, and all the times we wished. Thanks for answerin’, AJ.” She tossed the bit into the pool and it splashed, sinking into the sparkling water.

“Granny! Y’all never guess who we brought home today.”

She took off her hoodie as soon as she came in, leaving the skirt on for what Belowitz had told her was ‘public decency’. An insult to the princesses of old, if anything, but it did seem that everypony was wearing something.

When she came in, Bloom and Stew made quick work of giving Fluttershy the house tour. “There’s twelve of us in total,” Bloom told her. Even in a small place like this, the Apple family could fit a dozen ponies living comfortably without trouble.

Bloom, who she guessed was named after Applebloom, showed her the living room, a quaint thing, the kitchen, the bedrooms upstairs (all combined together, aside from one guest room), and the dining room where everypony was seated. She noticed the family was already at dinner as she walked in, and their Granny, who Bloom called Granny Sweet, swallowed and opened her mouth wide in awe at first sight. “My, oh my!... “

A stallion stood up next to her, Bloom’s father, and chuckled. “As much as the fig’s gettin’ rude in her old age, Ar’m… well, ar’m left with few words to follow up with, miss princess.” He raised a hoof out to her, “Y’can call yourself welcome in our home, that’s for damn sure.”

Fluttershy anxiously raised her hoof to bump his. She glanced across the table at the mostly orangey-red coloured ponies looking straight back at her. A thousand eyes, all watching me… no, that’s silly talk. Don’t mumble your words. “Thank you very much. I… can’t express how happy I am to find your family doing so well.”

“ Well, I’ll… I’ssa sign,” said an old stallion Bloom had called Paps Eefer, who sat on the opposite side of the table. He looked grim compared to the rest, and spoke without hesitation from then after. “A sign we been blessed, and times’ll change.” He eyed Bloom’s father. “Well? Whatchu waitin’ fer, Palsley? Git out’n fetch this poor lady a dish outta the seconds, the finest seconds th’ Apple’s got in store. An’ make it quick, ‘nabbit.”

Palsley grinned at his father, made a quick head bow to Fluttershy, and walked through to the kitchen. A few ponies at the table resumed eating, but most of them stayed staring in wonder at herself, looking at the horn under her green hood. It’s like they’ve never seen one before.

“So, where did you learn about me? I… I guess there’s books made about me, or something.”

Paps Eefer checked out Palsley’s empty seat. “Y’can sit there if y’want, princess. He’ll find himself another chair, don’t you worry.”

She nodded, walked over and sat down, skidding Palsley’s meal over to an empty space. “Thank you.”

Another mare on the table, sat next to Eefer, chimed in. “We never worry ourselves on books, princess. We’re quite a traditional household, like… all the word of you came from mouth. The tamin’ of the manticore, the dragon, an’ the draconequus. They say you’re the kindest mare Equestria bred.”

“I could toast to that,” Eefer said.

“Here here,” said Granny Sweet.

“Here here,” said the rest of them, and they raised their glasses to her.

Fluttershy blushed, though not entirely sure could agree. I made that pony fall to the floor... I've changed. “I, uh... thank you,” she said again. I don't think I've ever done that that before. Sure that mare was in the wrong, but honestly, I feel kind of bad for her now... She didn't want to pursue it in her mind any longer, and so she tried to change the topic on the table. “I’ve never lived in a city… What is it like here?”

“Terrible, princess,” replied a mare on the table-end closest to her. “By the by, m’name’s Corella, and a’m pleased t’meet you.” She extended a hoof, and Fluttershy hoof-bumped it over Bloom’s plate. As she did, she took a look down the table.Conversation and sounds of eating started up. Finally, they’ve stopped staring at me. They all look so similar to the ponies I used to know… look, there’s Big Mac. The sight of his lookalike made her feel weird. She had complained that ponies were small, but this stallion was taller than she was, and pretty muscular to boot. Wow. Not even Bloom looks that alike.

“She’s right,” Granny Sweet said, “but terrible’s only one word fer it. We got a whole farm out of the city, but we ain’t got enough bits from it t’live. It’s damn criminal, is what it is! No Apple were ever made t’work in grey blocks, I’ll tell you.”

Sweet Apple Acres was one of the most successful farms in the country, and it made a tidy stock of bits in feeding most of Ponyville. Now that was gone, and Big Mac with it. He looks so similar… I wonder how old he is?

“But a’n sure that’s enough from an’ old mare’s ramblin’s like mine, darling. What brought y’hear, under the veil a’secrecy? Ah never heard a peep about the princess comin’.”

“Fate, I bet,” said Eefer, nodding. “Fate an’ justice.” Fluttershy looked at the Eefer, acting very interested. And to think, this wrinkled pony is younger than me, but I only look as old as, say, Macintosh.

After a pause, Fluttershy suddenly noticed she was part of the conversation again, and came back to reality smiling. “Uh, perhaps. I.. don’t really know why I was, you know, brought here. Um, a stallion named Belowitz, have you heard of him?” She avoided gazing at the muscular stallion on the far end of the table, and directed the question to Eefer instead. The old stallion shook his head, and Fluttershy racked her mind for any information she could remember. “From what I understand… he’s the spokespony for some group. He called it Dee Haych Que, I think.”

“Hmmph. That’s a new one fer the list,” Eefer muttered.

Bloom leaned over. “There’s been a ton of these new groups sproutin’ all over th’ place, plenty of ‘em in Central. Oh, uh… Central’s the city here, if y’didn’t know. Weren’t there a lot, pa?”

“It’s the truth of the matter, really.” Palsley must have come back recently, and started serving her with a dish of a fine-smelling soup like the rest of them, a few apples chucked in on the side. He did so with his mouth, taking the dish in his teeth from a platform on his back. When the dish was out of his mouth, he started talking again. “We here don’t trust a feather o’ those violent types around here, and t’hell with you if y’ support the iron-hoof government.”

Turning her attention to Palsley talking, Fluttershy felt she had to ask. “Do you... think that Belowitz is one of those violent types?”

“Could be he ain't, that's for sure,” Palsley said. “I don't know the feller. But keep an eye on him, I'd say. Anypony who says they're part of this or that group might be onto somethin' to stir up trouble. There's enough of that without you gettin' involved, princess.

“ ‘Round here, we stay true to the family, and anypony who’d swear the old ways were better. Before violence were anyway acceptable, and before them fumes made us cough up the air we breathe.”

Fluttershy nodded, staring aloofly at the apples. She turned, facing Palsley as he stood behind her. “Thank you... You're the first ponies I feel I can, well, trust.” She led her gaze across the table, eventually finding the Big Mac-lookalike. Everyone was looking back at her again, but she didn't mind it. “I've never met any of you before, but I know you're good ponies.” Realising where her gaze had brought her at a standstill, she swiftly turned back to Palsley. “ So, if it's okay... I’ve not eaten since breakfast, and I’m kinda hungry. I'm sorry, but could I...?”

Palsley chuckled. “Oh! Of course, princess. Dig in whenever you want to.”

“Thank you,” she replied, and looked back at the apples, thinking to herself. I wonder who bucked those?

Once the meal had ended with the rousing talk that succeeded it, the light outside faded away to darkness, and soon enough it was night. The Apples were kind to her, giving Fluttershy the guest room to herself. Having been in their company, she wanted to stay over. She repeated to herself that Belowitz was expecting her the next day, not now.

Sleeping in the new bed was strange. She usually did a great deal of farm work throughout the day, and could sleep easy and relax. This night, she was restless. Thoughts swam through her mind, and they always formed under the same headline. That stallion. He looks like Big Mac, taller than the rest, and with those muscles, too. I never had the chance to be with him, all those years ago…

...No, wait. I did. I was just too scared.

Fluttershy had always been shy, but she changed, and she knew it. Being an alicorn, living forever, it did that. Living as a shy farm mare for a hundred or so years made her slow paced, and repetitive. It made her bored, and it made her regret the days she wasted, back when she was with other ponies. She never lived them out to her dreams, always hiding at the back of the queue.

Now she was an alicorn, and there was no queue to hide in. Whatever in Tartarus was in store for her, she knew she was important. Both Belowitz and the Apple family made that much clear. She would have to lead.Maybe that’s what I’m meant to do.

She thought about it on and off for a few more minutes. And one point, she convinced herself that she was acting silly, that the idea was not of her nature. Then the urge came back, stronger than ever. She dared not look under the sheets. I told myself, months ago, that I would go for opportunities when they came, never leave myself to a farm in the middle of nowhere. That's what got me here. This is my second test.

She heaved her head off the bed, pink hair flying past her eyes, and got out. Placing hoof on the floor, she moved to the door and passed out of her room. The door to the other bedroom, where everyone else was sleeping, was dead opposite in the hallway. There will be a chance I could wake everypony up. The old me would never take a chance.

The door opened without as much as a creak. There were bunkbeds in every corner. She made a light from her horn, and she made it glow faintly as she searched each bunk, making sure to find what she wanted.

“W...who is that?” The stallion’s eyes were still closed as Fluttershy gently nudged him on the shoulder. He reacted quickly, as if he hadn’t quite got to sleep himself. He even sounds like Mac.

She hesitated at first, leaving him without an answer, before finally blurting out, “I need to talk to you,” she whispered. “Meet me in the guest room when you’re ready.”

Fluttershy retreated back to her room. It wasn’t long before the stallion came in wearing a nightgown. “Miss Shy. I, uh, what d’you want to talk about?”

She sat on her bed. Under the better light in her room, she could see he looked worried. “I don’t think we ever met,” she said.

“Th’ name’s Stemworth, your grace.”

“Stemworth?” she repeated, knowing she’d forget it. “What do you do here, Stemworth?”

“I… I work for the crystal light company on the weekdays, and on m’days off I see to th’ farm.” He squirmed out a nervous grin. “In fact, I helped out gettin’ the produce for our food today, your grace. I hope it was good.”

She gleamed back. “I thought so. I remember thinking… what kind of strong, handsome animal could have bucked all those apples? But now I’ve found my answer.”

The stallion’s checks burned burgundy. “That’s kind of you to say, princess. But I s’pose that’s why they call y’ the element of kindness, huh? Heh.”

This stallion isn't too smart. “Maybe,” she muttered, circling her hoof on the bed sheets. “That’s quite an old name now. Being an alicorn's made me immortal, too. Did you know I was made into an alicorn?”

“Nothing concrete. We heard rumours.”

Fluttershy continued. “I’m over two hundred years old. Does it show?”

“O’ course not, princess,” The stallion replied staunchly. “You’re beautiful as ever. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you don’t look a day past twenty.”

“I’d say the same about you.” The words came out of her mouth before she had time to think.

The stallion didn’t seem to know how to respond, and he started blushing again, backing away to the exit. “That’s kind of you, uh, again. Thank y' for the talk, sincerely princess. It’s been a pleasure. If you’d excuse me, ar think I’ll be doin’ some work round the farm tomorrow.”

She frustratedly put her hoof down. “Well, I don’t excuse you.”

The stallion’s eyes went wide, and he halted. “Uh, excu… beg your pardon?”

“I’m the princess, remember? You do what I say.”

It took him a while to calculate what she’d said. The stallion was blushing furiously now. “And what’s that?”

Fluttershy stared back at him. “Do you know where the Apples keep their, uhm... alcohol?”

The stallion seemed to relax after that. Does he think he's excused? “I’d wake them up, princess,” he replied, looking troubled at the very thought. The Apples seemed to have a strong connection to their kin, she noticed.

Regardless, Fluttershy shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh... that's a shame. I’ve heard that it helps to be a bit drunk during roleplay.” The word had been in her mind since she first saw him. Something I heard from Rainbow once. I think that's how it goes.

The stallion was near speechless. “Roleplay?…”

Fluttershy grinned devilishly. “That’s what we’re going to do. It's where we both play roles of characters, fit into their shoes. You’re going to be Mac, and I’m going to be your princess. Sound like fun?”

“That's a, uh, that's certainly a proposition, princess...” stumbling over his words, the stallion raised an eyebrow. “Well, who’s this Mac? You don't mean...”

“Mac is what your princess calls you,” Fluttershy told him. “He is a fine example of a stallion. Mac is strong of heart, and soul.”

“Well, heh… as if I’m not already,” the stallion gleamed. “Sounds like an easy enough task, princess. I don' even have to call you somethin' different. You keep callin' out this word, roleplay, princess... where's the play come into it?”

Fluttershy continued. “He saves his princess from danger many times over, and is well versed in serving her. That’s why the princess, in all her wisdom and grace, orders Mac to turn off the light for her so she can sleep peacefully.”

The stallion took some time to process her words. “You’re the one lightin’ up the room, princess, with your horn.”

Fluttershy smirked. “S’pose you’ll have to come over here and find a way to turn it off, then.”

Plain Sight

PLAIN SIGHT

Fluttershy liked how the monolith sparkled in the morning light. She pranced in, and saw Belowitz eyeing her coldly over a plastic-covered table, an empty plate and glass in front of him. He looked exhausted, but nevertheless retained his cohesion. “Huh. You sure look chipper today.”

Fluttershy returned a playful grin. “The new world clicked with me.”

She had been smiling as soon she woke up, looked under the covers, and realised where she was. After the last night, the Apples must have thought they’d turned her mood around, as her timid and uptight presence the day before had faded to a blur when she came for breakfast.

The Apples weren’t entirely wrong. She had a good night with that stallion, whatever his name was, even if he wouldn’t say a word to anyone else. She directed a nod at him before she left the Apple residence, and he almost looked guilty. Why, she thought, when the very idea of intercourse with an alicorn was so rare, so mysterious. She’d expect it to be a mark of privilege.

Regardless, she left the Apples the same way she found it, but with something more. Palsley had taken after her as a kind father to Bloom, and nice enough to her, too, having given her a whole hoofbrace to wear on her leg, fully equipped with its own pale blue screen. “If y’haven’t seen one before, they’re quite commonplace,” Palsley mentioned. “It’s like a base product, y’see, and y’add things onto it. They’re called Apps. Here, I’ll show you.”

Palsley let her discover a pre-built App on the device, which he called Magitalk. He told her that Magitalk was an App that allowed her to talk to anyone she had the ID of, and he gave her his one afterwards. “That way, if y’ever need help or want t’talk, fire it up and y’all find me. That’s a certainty, princess.”

She joined the new world thinking it was friendless, and empty. She left the Apple’s residence knowing that somewhere, there was always someone to trust. How much she trusted the stallion in front of her now, though, she couldn’t say.

Belowitz tapped on his hoofbrace, and soon, a white interface hovered up in front of him. He checked it briefly, before looking back to her. “Good. It looks like you’ll have to be clicking a bit longer.”

Her grin faded. As little as she knew about him, something must have gone wrong. “What is it?

“We can’t go to the DHQ today, not by any conventional means. I’ve found a report by command that the airship’s been knocked out of action, and it’ll need at least a week to repair.” He swiped across the hovering interface, and started tapping links to different pages. “I only found out a couple hours ago… but we need to replan our way there.” Fluttershy raised her brow, and he continued. “How’s the clothes?”

She didn’t care how her clothes were, and went back to the important question. “How is it out of action? I was only brought here with it yesterday.”

Belowitz sighed, and shrugged. “I really, really have no idea. This report is about as damn vague as what I told you… here, I’ll show you.”

The words sprawled on the white page took up a line, or two at most. He wasn’t lying. “Well, you just told me what we’re going to do, right?” Fluttershy said. “You said that it’ll need a week, so we’ll have to stay here.” The thought of returning to the Apples was a blessing. “I could do that. It’ll be a breeze.”

Belowitz winced as he kept tapping. “Any time we spend here is too long. We need to find somewhere trustworthy to rent an airship, and get you out of here.”

Having seen the massive thing that carried her to the monolith, Fluttershy was sure the Apples didn’t have an airship of their own. She was reminded of something they had said, though. “Really? I would trust you, but... you haven’t even told me what a Dee Haych Que is. You’re being very secretive to the alicorn that’ll save the world, Belowitz.”

He turned to face her, leaving the interface still up. “I'm sorry, Fluttershy... it's been a bad day. The DHQ stands for Doomer’s Headquarters, based and pretty much owning Manehatten by default. Everypony knows it. That’s where my organisation, the Doomers, stay at residence. We’re a resistance front, of sorts, against the ponies who own government here in Central.”

A resistance group called the Doomers, she thought. Perhaps that’s what Palsley meant when he said one of those ‘violent types’. “Why that name?” she enquired.

“It’s the grim prophecy our organisation was built around. The end is coming, and you’re our key to survival. That’s what I heard. I'm honestly not high-ranked enough as a Doomer to know any more detail than that.”

It sounded like a cult to her. “Why did they not send a high-ranking member to find me, then? Surely that would be safer.”

“Surely not,” he said, going back to the interface. As if I would have known. “I must have made myself unclear. I’m pretty up there in the ranks as it is, and the ‘high-ranked’ ponies I mentioned are the organisation founders. They’re eh... old ponies, really old, so they're not great at escorting. They’ll be the ponies you’ll meet with when we go there though, I'm sure of it. My guess is they want to tell you something, or give you an artifact. Maybe something to harness your power as an alicorn? I can't say... my knowledge is sketchy at best, but I know what they're saying is the right thing to do. Trust me.”

She at least had a broad idea of what was going on now. It was from Belowitz’s perspective, and hadn’t convinced her fully, but there was something that would sell her. “What do you plan on doing, if your group succeeds?”

Belowitz hesitated as he was scrolled down a list. “Me? Our organisation’s goal is to prepare for the end. What that is, I can’t say. I was told the elders'll make sure there’s never a looming threat of war and violence again. They showed me that's what they did... Manehatten is one of the safest places to live. That’s what stuck me in. I heard the end stuff later.”

She could taste bile from her throat. A small resistance group couldn’t have the power to end the world… could it? She didn’t know what to make of that. No, surely not.

Belowitz pressed one more button on the interface, before swivelling around on his chair. “I’ve got a location for us to go. We’ve worked with them before, so they should trustworthy. Just in case, though, I’d recommend keeping that hoodie on." Belowitz minimised the interface and got off his chair. "Are you ready?”

“Yes,” she said. “I am an alicorn, remember. If there’s any storybooks about the power of alicorns… turning a draconequus to stone, banishing ponies to the moon, they’re all true. So, if you show the slightest signs of lying to me, you won’t be able to stop me from leaving your group.”

Belowitz nodded. “Understood. ”

Belowitz led her through the city, off the beaten path, and into a more run-down area than she’d soon going to the Appleshrine. The buildings were smaller, and they reached out in all directions, seemingly never ending.

Finally they came to a door, which Belowitz walked up to and knocked on. There was a pause, before a brown mare that looked strong opened the door. The mare glanced up at her, before looking back at Belowitz. “It is good to see you in form, Belowitz. Is this all?”

“Just the two of us. There’s nothing we need to bring, either. A quick trip to DHQ, that’s all I’m asking.”

The brown mare’s face went serious. “Hmm, good. Yes, this will be easy for us. Come in, please, make yourselves at home.” She beckoned him in, and then her. “Does the unicorn have a name?”

“My name is Fluttershy.”

The earth mare looked her over. “Heh, you look the spitting image. I’m Ruska. Welcome to Central’s Sentries, Fluttershy. If you take the door to your right, as Belowitz will show you, then that is where the gathering room is, and where you stay while we get the airship ready.”

She didn’t like the look of Central’s Sentries. It was much darker and plain than the monolith, more modern and makeshift than the Apple’s rustic family house. Aesthetically misplaced chairs dotted the foyer, and the doors were made of iron with many rusted locks, that made the doors look like they had been salvaged from a bunker.

Belowitz opened it for her, and as she walked through he whispered in her ear. “Don’t act too snooty around these guys.”

The gathering room was assembled with two great tables, adorned with many of the little chairs she saw in the other room. They looked disgusting, reminding her of a couple of jail cells she’d seen in Cloudsdale. “When did I ever act snooty?” she whispered back.

What a rude stallion. He led on, sitting with a group of zebras and griffons armed in what looked like leather, smoking some strange pipes that filled that side of the room with a haze. Maybe I made a wrong call here.

She sat herself away from the crowd on the opposite side of the table, and spend her idle time playing with her hoofbrace. Palsley and Bloom had shown her how to use it, but opening it for the second time made it seem ridiculously confusing. After a while, she relearned the basics, and was pondering on whether or not to call the Palsley when the mare they met at the door sat next to her. “It is hard to speak when you don’t know anyone. I know the feeling.”

Fluttershy turned to the mare, forgetting her name. “Sorry, it’s not that. I’m not very sociable when it comes to big groups.” She wasn’t sure if what she said was true, but she wanted an excuse to not speak further.

The mare had a thick Hibernia accent, like a soldier. “We have an engineer like that. Stallion, of course. We always say, he is smart with his tools, not his tongue. What is your talent?”

“Farmer.” The Apples ingrained their job in her mind, and it came out of her mouth almost instantly. “I’m from far away.”

The mare looked curious. “You look strong… I thought as much. Though I admit, a unicorn farmer is not a profession I know. Perhaps your fields are cleaner than ours, eh?” She chuckled. “Would you like to smoke with us, farmer Fluttershy?”

She wanted to be as far from them as possible. “No,” she said, and quickly corrected herself for courtesy, “I’d rather not, thank you.”

The mare thought to herself. “How about a game of cards? You could earn some bits, farmer.”

Looking at the Apple’s current state of affairs, it made sense that she would mention it. That said, Fluttershy was not an Apple. “No thank you. I’d rather sit here, thanks,” she said bluntly.

I’d be having a lot more fun in the Apple residence with ponies I trust, thought Fluttershy. The idea of trying to get any entertainment out of a den full of soldier-types didn’t sound like fun to her. She wanted the airship to be ready, and as she thought it, she called out to the now-leaving mare. “Out of interest, how long will our wait be?”

Ruska had got as far as the end table, but submitted, glancing back. “I can’t tell you a thing about that ship. If you would like to know, you should ask the engineer. You will have to search for him in the alleys, but you will know when you find the ship. Expect him on the deck, alone.” She pointed to an open doorway leading outside. “By the magi, I will never understand introverts… inside here, we will be playing cards and smoking like old friends.”

Fluttershy smiled back at Ruska. “We might be old friends too someday, but that’ll be after I get on this ship. Thanks.” She got up from her chair, and walked past the smokers and through the door out back.

The area outside was a spacious courtyard, concreted and littered with boxes and roadblocks. It took her some time twisting through some other lanes before she found something, that being the ship. It was perched unceremoniously where she found it, right in the middle of what seemed to be a private walkway.

There was room enough to squeeze around it, but by Celestia it’d be distracting. The entire thing looked like a ragtag sailing ship, hobbled together with sheet iron and wires. It was a small thing compared to the airship at the monolith, about a tenth of the size and like to fit no more than thirty passengers.

She could tell the size of ship easier with the scrawny stallion standing on it, working on some box in the mid-section of the ship. He was skinny, blue, and she noticed his horn when he turned sideways, fixing some ugly valve that jutted out from the chassis.

She could comment on the look of the ship all she wanted, but it was the reliability she cared for. “You’re one of the Sentries, are you?” Fluttershy asked, calling out to the stallion, who didn’t reply. “You, the blue unicorn on the ship.” She made sure she was close by, so she didn’t have to shout.

“Are you an op?” he asked, not turning away from his job.

She didn’t know what an op was, but expected it had something to do with legality. Weird, since the ship wasn’t exactly subtle. Buildings surrounded them, and many had windows looking right at the abomination. Fluttershy called back to his question. “No, I am not an op. I was sent here with Belowitz, if you know him. We’re hiring your ship out.”

“Oh!” The stallion turned. She was that he was wearing an oil-stained apron, and after he pressed a button on his hoofbrace, the stallion clutched a pipe, and slid down it off to the ground. He landed on his back hooves, and looked like he was going to fall over before balancing himself on all fours. “Tell the others to come here. The ship is at the best stage of readiness,” he said, puffing his chest and placing a hoof on it. “I make it so.”

The stallion looked sketchy, and she was skeptical about him at best. “Perfect,” she said. “You can ride along with us, then.”

The stallion burst out into squeaky laughter. “Did you expect any less? I am the driver of this beauty, this wonderful ship!” Fluttershy couldn’t help but snigger at that. The stallion eyed her when she did. “What is so funny?”

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t think you… nevermind.” Her hope for safe travel was fading the longer she looked at the thing. Who knows what it’s like on the inside.

“Privilege-ponies. Never seen a proper ship in your life, have you?” The stallion shook his head. “This is the true ship, inside and out. It may not look pretty like your powdered wigs, but it runs like a beast. I know, I made it.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Fluttershy muttered, trying to look happy. “It’s good to see somepony so… content with their line of work. I hope we meet again. My name’s Fluttershy.”

The stallion looked almost curious. “Fluttershy, huh. Like the old tales?”

She perked up. “Yes, like those. I was named after them.”

The stallion shrugged. “Really? What a bummer for you, then. I always thought those old tales were shit.” He paused to punch his hoof out in front of him, and he then pointed it under his chest, groping the outlying fabric of his apron. “Not enough fighting and sex, you know?” He put his hoof back on the floor. Smart with his tools, not his tongue. Well, she’s right so far. “I’m Sweller, like my ship. It’s Sweller than them powdered wigs. See? Much better name.”

She was scowling by the end of it. “Well, you’re certainly something, Sweller. I’ll make sure to remember you.”

He barely seemed to respond to her scowl. “Yeah, high time to get back to my ship. See you.” Sweller turned around, and climbed up the ship to where he was before. Fluttershy took the opportunity to find her way back. I’ll make sure to steer clear of the driver’s room in the future.

When she arrived at the door to Central’s Sentries, she Belowitz was standing outside, and the door was closed. Strange, she thought, as she’d only been gone for quarter of an hour or so, and he looked like he was enjoying his company back then.

“Fluttershy,” he said, walking up to her. “By the magi, am I glad to find you!”

“Magi?” she repeated. “What are they? I think I’ve heard that saying before.”

“I’ll tell you later,” he said, looking down the alleyways into the courtyard. “Where did you go? Nopony knew where you went, and I’ve been searching for you.”

Fluttershy liked the sound of that. “Are we going?”

The door to Central’s Sentries burst open, and Fluttershy’s heart sank. Two mares, no, three came bundling out the door; there were two armoured mares she recognised from seeing in the building, and they were dragging a third dressed in a pale blue outfit, her head limply facing the ground. She recognised the uniform from a passing officer near Appleshrine.

She froze instinctively at seeing a beaten up, potentially dying officer. “What is this? Stop this insanity, and let her go!”

The mares dragging her out didn’t respond, even after she repeated it. In the end, Belowitz spoke up. “I... nopony expected her to be here. This mare’s a Centralite operative, Fluttershy. She was trying to call more operatives. They'll try to arrest or, Tartarus, attack us! We need to find the safehouse, now. Please, follow me.”

Fluttershy stood adamant, staring daggers at him. Vicious groups, they told me. “I thought you were on the good side, Belowitz, what my friends and I fought for! This isn’t the path to harmony... this is beating up lawmares. This is chaos.” The ponies continued to drag the mare out, and descended into an alleyway. “What if she dies? What will you think then?”

Belowitz looked hurried. “This really isn’t the time for this, Fluttershy! The Central's operatives are trained to oppress. We’re the resistance against them, remember? The atrocities they’ve committed are too high to count. Trust me!”

Too high to count? She hadn’t seen a single thing from the government for as long as she had been in Equestria Central. There were no starving ponies on the streets, nor an oppressive power at large. Celestia’s mane, they allowed a resistance group, the Doomers, to own a massive monolith in the middle of the city!

Her mind turned back to the Apples. While they were not as successful as they used to be, they weren’t in direct poverty. In a way, it made sense to her. With all these new buildings, technology, clothes, the market clearer has more things to spend bits on. I bet food is made easier now, and its cost decreased.

More and more of the reality that stood in fact contradicted the rebels in front of her. These are ponies of the underworld, who fight to gain wealth and use wealth to build monoliths, and airships. These are not my friends.

Ruska arrived. She saw the two of them, and hurried over. “What is the issue here? The operative called in, you know. But this is not a problem, as long as we get moving quickly.”

“I'm not going with murderers,” Fluttershy spat.

A voice called out. “Belowitz, get your friend and come the fuck on! We have no time to lose.”

Fluttershy looked around. Now more than ever, she wanted to be back with the Apples. A few more of the armoured ponies were stepping out of the Central’s Sentries. None of them looked like they had been hurt by the Centralite operative, and one of them had a machine mounted on their back, holding a turret like a cannon. The mares were killers, and she made up her mind. “This isn’t the same kind of resistance that my friends and I held. Friendship and Harmony doesn’t kill!”

“Fluttershy, morals or not, we need to get going…”

Fluttershy certainly made up her mind. “I’m leaving. You can have your friends, and kill as many lawmares as you want. I won’t partake in needless slaughter.” She starting walking away.

Ruska's voice boomed. “You are not leaving, Fluttershy! You will be caught.”

Fluttershy huffed at that. “Caught? I’d like to see you try.” She started running.

Fluttershy bolted off in the alleyway closest to her. Shouting and confusion came from behind her, but she kept on galloping. Her own hooves block out most of the sound, but she could hear double. There’s... someone following... me.

She turned a corner and bolted as fast as she could. She may have been a pegasus, but with two hundred years of working on a farm, her legs worked as well as any earth pony. She soon lost her pursuer, and lessened to a slower pace, giving her space to breathe, and think about what she was going to do next. Hopefully the alley turned into the main road, and from there, she might be able to grasp the city’s layout to an extent to find the Appleshrine, and from there, the house she stayed in for the night.

It wouldn’t even be that hard, as she recalled the very thing perched on her shoulder. The hoofbrace had Magitalk, and she could ask where the house was from there.I’ll tell Palsley what happened. Tell him how Belowitz almost betrayed me for a terrorist group.

She slowed to a walk, and soon stopped to check down on her hoofbrace. The interface opened up. It was a bit fuzzy, but still seemed to respond.

The idea that the airship could go ‘out of service’ on the very day she arrived was ridiculous. She arrived at the monolith on the very next day, and the airship was in perfect condition when she was on it. A vague report saying it crashed would not dissuade her.

By the time she got to the Magitalk App, she noticed figures in front of her in the alleyway. She looked up, and they seemed to be wearing similar clothes to the beaten up mare the Sentries had dragged out. More lawmares, she thought. I might be able to tell them what happened, before the criminals escape.

Fluttershy put her hoof down, closing the App. She didn’t know what to call them, so she decided not to. “One of your mares is being beaten down here,” she said. The two at the front of the group of lawmares glanced at each other. The earth mare on the left was short, and had a metal box attached to her hoofbrace, while the unicorn-on-the-right’s hoofbrace was bare. “They’re down the alleyway, turn on your first sharp left, and keep going to the courtyard. There’s another alley behind the house there, I think that’s where they went.”

The mare with the bare hoofbrace spoke back to her colleague. She sounded gruffer than she looked, an everyday lawmare in everything but voice. “D’you think she’s lying?”

Fluttershy didn’t say a word. The mare with the metal box peered at her, then responded. “Hmm, nah. She don’t look like a Sentry to me. You weren’t part of this, were you, unicorn?”

She shook her head. “I watched it, and fled.” It was the truth, even if she withheld some facts.

“Just in case,” the gruff unicorn said, and her horn glowed. Fluttershy could feel a wisp of warmth, a spell, wrap across her own horn. It tightened around her and felt restraining, which she didn’t like one bit. After that, she felt more spells take hold around her legs. Within moments, she couldn’t move an inch.

The gruff mare was sweating by the end of it, her horn’s glow fainting. She growled at her. “Pretty hard to get that spell over you. You’re a strong mare.” She turned back to her comrades. “Pelma, lead the ops forward. Me and Merryhoof’ll join back later.”

Everyone but the gruff unicorn, and the shorter mare with the box moved past her. She couldn’t shy away from them, and it felt strange as they passed by her. “Is this really part of procedure?” Fluttershy asked. Her legs were sending warning signals, tiny pains sprouting across them as she stood.

The mare kept a formal tone. “You may not know, but Sentries are partial to their drug trade. We’ll need to do a full body search of you. Make sure you’re not carrying any contraband, miss. After that, you can go.”

She didn’t like the sound of a full body search. What if they found out who I am? This isn’t some scared mare at her desk… this is law enforcement. The mares approached, and began searching through her pockets. “Hold up. You’re packing something, aren’t you?” The smaller mare, Merryhoof said.

“No,” Fluttershy replied truthfully. “All I’ve got are my clothes.”

“I’m sorry, but… that can’t happen.” She could feel the fabric being pulled, it unraveling quicker than she could think. I’ve got to do something, or else I’ll be exposed. She tried to block it, but her horn was still under pressure by the spell. No… they can’t find out.

Her mind’s thoughts pressed on the horn’s spell. Somehow, through her force of mind, it broke. She could feel the pressure lifted like the end of a painful headache, and she put a glow to her horn. Then she broke one leg’s magical grip, then the other, until she could move everything, while the mares beside her froze.

“Miss, you… she broke the chords. Merry!”

“Show us what’s under the hoodie, miss,” the gruff one said.

“No!” Fluttershy put a glow to her horn, applying what she thinking to reality. The pressure was melting her mind’s fatigue, but the power emerged. A wave of pale pink energy appeared from nothingness, and swept through the air to the lawmares. It was like wind, only stronger; it slid the two on their hooves away from her. The floor was uneven, and Merry tripped, falling down while keeping the box narrowly away from her chest in the collision.

Breathless, she tore off down the courtyard, ignoring the stallion.I’m alone now. I can’t trust him, I can’t trust his friends, I can’t trust his enemies...

She had been galloping for ages, far too long for any normal mare. Pain and fatigue came back to her after the power from the wind-wave and the constant movement. She never slowed, though, sprinting past the battle scene with her raw power.

Fluttershy’s sight was hazy as she stayed focused on the alleyway ahead. She could see the fight in front of her as blue blurry crystals streaked across the courtyard, hitting walls and breaking into a million pieces. Pain was prickling across her, but no-one seemed to notice her but Belowitz, and she had ran far past him.

Another voice called out. “Call reinforcements! We’ve got them, this is it.” It reminded her of Canterlot, when the changelings invaded. No one seemed to have fallen yet, though, and there was no clear winner. All the courtyard was blazed in blue crystals, or magic, and the high whizzes they made when travelling, and the smashes they made when they hit.

Smash, smash, smash… then something hit her hard in the chest, but she kept running. The roar of something seemingly unnatural came from one side of her, but she kept going. I must keep running until it’s all far away, where I’m not a part of it, when I’m safe.

After Hours

AFTER HOURS

“And… turn!”

She knew from the start that she was going to win. She had a whole round of luck. The cards fell to the table, and Sasha spent a moment to look across the cards of her colleagues. They were all doubles and triples, nothing to her hoof. “Think I won, girls. Full Celly Split.” She smirked at her own luck. ”How d’you like that?”

Mallflower huffed, looking at her own dismal display in her hooves. “Whadd’you think? Pah, another lost game.” She tilted her head up to look at Sasha. Mallflower looked like she was about to say something, but her mouth never opened. She chose instead to look around the room.

Sasha followed along with Malf when he said this room was the only one that hadn’t taken damage. It was the old dining room, the one that Captain Raydono only briefly used in her first ship meetings, before she rarely left the control room. Sasha herself had only been in it a few times, and it didn’t give a lasting impression. Long wooden table, no lights, and a multitude of chairs around the corners. Good thing too, because half the ones they tried to sit on broke from woodworm.

Mallflower wasn’t a thin cook, and Sasha thought her considerably ballsy as she leaned back on her chair, apron floating on top of her waist, as she gazed up at the chipped-paint ceiling. “My luck. I lost my damn lamp last night, the glass one. Smashed on the floor before I could stop it.”

“… that was a good lamp, too.” said Silver, one of the kitchen staff. Silver wore a blank-red blouse and a tie, striped, which she wore almost as tradition every time they played poker. “The worst in my room was when a mirror fell down, cracked, but that was about it.”

Sasha put her hooves around the bits in the middle of the table, and hoarded them on her side of the table. Thirteen coppers. Better than nothing, I guess.

Now that they were talking, the other two on the table, Dagra, and her friend she was talking to at the cider stall, Yirell, told their own story. “Don’ even get me started,” Dagra said, raising her hoof high in the air and crashing it down. “My wardrobe last night. Fuckin’ thin’ had crap supports, who woulda knew ‘til a fight broke out? Tartarus, we din’ even know the fight was happening ‘til that whole shit woke us up.”

Sasha remembered the time and time again where Dagra and Yirell didn’t need waking in the middle of the night. “I’m surprised you two didn’t keep each other up,” she muttered.

Dagra angrily turned to face her. “You tryin’? I’m not in the mood to fuck around, girl, that wardrobe cost me three-forty silvers.” You’re in the mood to fuck around every other time, though, Sasha thought.

Silver raised her voice, “Hey, we’re here to play poker, no’ targue. You all up for another bet?”

Dagra bit her coin pouch, and slammed it onto her side of the table. “‘Course I’m ready for another bet,” she sneered. “You can only win so many times, Sash, I’ll be takin’ your money soon enough.” She gave Sasha a coy smirk. “We could always play strip, if you’re scared to lose.”

Mallflower cut in, eyeing Dagra. “Way I see it, you already put your pouch on the table. And I’m not playin’ strip.”

Dagra turned to Malf, her smirk fading, and she put her money on the table. Sasha did the same, and the group played a few focused games, with no one winning much but slim pickings, like Sasha herself had won with that incredible Celly Split. She spoke up again later, “Wha’ d’you,” and was cut off by a knock on the door of the dining room.

The door was already wide open, so the two figures entered before them; a businessmare dressed in suit, and a griffon who looked almost entirely different without her mask. Mahdlay looked considerably shorter without her gear on stage, with white-and-pale red feathers behind a green vest. Sasha had always thought griffons never looked right in clothes. Why are they here? She stayed silent with most of the table. Silver talked first. “Hi there.”

The griffon stood out in front. “Hello,” Mahdlay replied. She had a blunt voice. “I and my manager heard there was poker being played. May we join?”

“Well...of course, Miss Mahdlay!” Silver said. “Come, take a seat.” Silver paused. “Actually… take mine. I’ll get a new one.” Silver stood up, and scurried off to the corner full of half-broken chairs.

Sasha looked over towards Vala. I know her name, but I shouldn’t. She rarely interacts with anypony. “You can take mine,” Sasha said, standing up as well. “My name is Sasha. You are Mahdlay’s friend, miss…?”

“Call me Vala,” the mare said in her weird accent. She put a hoof to her chest, and bowed her head. “I’m her manager. Pleased to meet you.”

The griffon glanced back at her manager before she sat down. “Please, do not call me by more stage name... call me Leera. Are we placing bets?”

Malf nodded, and the griffon started reaching her claws for her belt pouch.

As soon as the mare Vala sat down, she chipped in with a couple of coins using the same kind of magnetic hoof-holder Stannislane had. Sasha noticed Vala giving a glance at the cards already on the table, and smirking quietly to herself. What, you don't like the Raptor-themed deck? Pff, critics.

Having finally won, Mallflower scooped up the cards of the last round as Vala started talking. “We were lookin’ for something to do after the firefight last night. D’you just get used to that crap, or what?”

“Comes with the crew,” Mallflower spoke. “They say that Stannislane guy was the one that started it. Naturally, our Capitan doesn’t care in th’ slightest who we take in.”

Vala chuckled. “I’m sensing some kinda resentment, there. What’s your name?” Sasha didn’t like the sound of that. Don’t follow this route down, Malf, the damn mare’s a friend of Ray.

“Mallflower. I cook here.”

Vala raised her eyebrows, nodding. “You’re not half bad at your job, Mallflower. My compliments to the chef.” By that time, Silver had found her chair, as did Sasha, and Silver was dealing. Vala looked at her cards on the table. “It’s funny, actually. I know the guy. Didn’t take me half a second to tell something like this was gonna happen, too.”

That peaked Sasha’s interest. She peered at the businessmare. “I took the stallion around on the first day. Not once did I thin’ ka frigate-class airship would come huntin’ for such a timid buck. You know Stannislane?”

Vala shrugged. She always seemed to keep consistent friendly eye contact with whoever she talked to, Sasha found. “Not enough t’ get him over on the poker table, unfortunately. He’s a recluse, the old buck, bit of an eccentric too. Magi’s hooves, they all are where he comes from. That’s why they sent the fleet, I bet.”

“Where did he come from?” Leera asked, her red gaze piercing Sasha’s sight. Chances were that Vala learnt the constantly-staring-into-your-eyes method from Leera, Sasha thought.

“Manehatten,” Sasha said, remembering the documents she was sent by the stallion. “But I don’ understand, how does that make them send a frigate?”

They had another round before Vala spoke again. “They’re all a little crazy up there, from my experience. Always wanted to commit, no matter the madness. Proof enough of that, I’d say.”

“We were just talking about that before you came,” Silver said, dealing cards across the table. “Talking about the stuff we lost during the night, from all blasts shaking the ship. I didn’t lose much, now that’s my luck talking. We heard someone lost a wardrobe.”

Silver cut off longer than normal after every sentence, apparently waiting for Dagra or Yirell to jump in. It was an awkwardly long pause each time, as they apparently weren’t listening, nor did they say a peep; in fact, they hadn’t said a word since Leera and Vala had arrived. They sat there, taking their turns, occasionally whispering something under their breath to one another. Sasha always thought they were all bark and no bite. Scurry away to your bedroom and hide, you can always act tough there.

Sasha wasn’t sure if Vala noticed, but she didn’t appear fazed as she continued talking. “That’s the con of being on an outlaw ship like the Cirque, I guess. Surprised it’s lasted so long.” The round ended, and Yirell won with triple fives. “Well, I wasn’t really surprised we survived last night. To be honest, it looked like they gave everything they had… but it weren’t half enough to beat us. Y’know, we took some prisoners, too.”

With Silver now sitting down, attention, as well as everyone else’s, darted from across the sides of the table to gaze at Vala. The information was new to everyone, it seemed, including Sasha, who looked also. “They boarded us?” Silver asked.

Vala nodded. “The lasers and cannon were a distraction. I’ve read about it on the news a couple times… bombard ‘em silly, drawing their attention, so you can capture the target on board. Didn’t work though, huh? Ha! I don’t blame them for not succeeding. I’ve only been here a few times, and the Cirque’s a maze through an’ through.” She turned to Leera, who was frowning. “You okay?”

Leera winced. “Equestria is becoming too violent. I do not care for these fools who shot at us, what did you call them?”

Vala responded. “Doomers, Leera. Some rebel group off in the northwest.” Having said that, the two looked at each other, with Vala giving a queer concern. “You want to quit talking about it?” She asked.

Leera squinted back. “I would like to walk out,” she said, standing up. “Where is my cullamar, Vala?”

Sasha heard the name, and knew what she meant from years ago. Cullamar’s qualities were a slowed heart, a slowed mind, and total bliss when she took it. Expensive bliss, though, and she was fond of remembering that her mother always hated the stuff.

Vala looked for a second like she was tired of hearing the word, but quickly resumed a smile. “Purple bag on the left shelf. I’ll say you later.”

The griffon left the group by the table, departing sternly without a glimpse back. After she did, Vala leaned back into the group, as if nothing had occurred. “I was going to say that if you wanted to know more, well, by the Magi’s mane, you could ask the mares on the balcony in the theatre, or even talk to the prisoners themselves. They’re in the hold. Shame too, since that was literally the last thing I was gonna say on the subject. Despite her Mahdray persona, Leera’s squeamish. She has a spiky mask, but she wouldn’t poke a fly with it.”

Sasha looked at the doorframe. “She’s more… open then I would’ave thought from the performance? I thought she might be tryin’ to act more the celebrity in fron’ tof us.”

Vala shrugged. “She was the one who said her real name. Much as I like you girls, I wouldn’tve said it myself. Keep her a bit secret, y’know? I’ll never change her mind about it. One thing’s for certain, she’s a stubborn bird.”

She chippered up.“Her voice is damn near similar to yours, don’t you think?”

“Mine?” Sasha repeated like a reflex. Having a second to think about it, she didn’t think so herself. “I would disagree. Then again, I don’t think I have heard many voices like yours, Vala.”

The mare smiled back at her. “That’s what I mean. I always thought that the Cirque was a special place from the rest. Different laws, different culture, and you all sound like birds. Another round?”

Mallflower sniffed. “If we sound like birds, then what do you sound like? A zebra? Ha! I call another round. Let’s see if this mare can win back her stripes.”

“Another round,” The others replied, and Sasha too. She thought back to what Vala had said about prisoners on the ship, content on knowing where she was going after. What was a Doomer?

* * *

Two hours later, Sasha walked up to the balcony. It gave a clear view of the shadowed theatre below. There was a large bulk of something under a strapped veil up on the balcony, something Sasha had never seen used in all her years, but present all the same in the middle of the balcony. She expected it was a disused lighting system. The Cirque was an old thing and had been upgraded many times over the years, leaving some of the rotting equipment behind where it stood, like in the meeting room.

Sasha found the mares in the balcony, dressed in casualwear. She asked, and they told her where the prisoners were in the hold. “There’s a locked door to get in, and I have the key. I’ll have to come with you,” the mare with grey fur said, “but you’re allowed to visit. The capitan says all are free to enter, as long as you don’t cause harm to them.”

That was easy. Raydono was always liberal with security. Perhaps the banning of arms onboard helped her care less about it. Out of the group, Sasha specifically faced the grey mare. She recognised the mare from a few months back, as she first came onboard with Mahdray, but couldn’t recall the name. “Fine,” Sasha complied to her pleasantly. “Lead the way.”

When the reached the door, the grey mare turned her head. “Do you know any of the ponies in here?”

Sasha gave her a look. “I don’t think so. I didn’t even know there were prisoners until a few hours ago.”

The grey mare shrugged. “A hunch, my apologies. The capitan told us to ask.” She looked back at the metal door, and went searching for her key. “One moment.” She grabbed the key in her mouth, a small thing, and stuck it in the door. Opening it revealed a descending metal staircase. She spoke up again. “If you see anyone you know, tell me.”

“Okay,” Sasha said, and they stepped down the staircase. At the bottom, the hallway around them was bare and neglected. As the hallway continued, Sasha began to see metal cells on either sides of the hallway. They used to hold the stock of supplies, but the stuff must have been moved away, and rough looking mares and a couple stallions looked back at her. The prisoners were all ponies with plain clothes. If they had any weapons before, they were gone now.

There wasn’t much to look at as she walked down. A stallion at the end had a bandaged leg, but that was about it. He stared at Sasha as she passed. It made her feel uncomfortable, and she turned back to the grey mare, and walked close enough to where she felt the ponies in the cells couldn’t hear. “Why are they called Doomers?” she asked. “With a name like that, I was expectin’ crazy mares, with bloodshot eyes and mohawks, you know?”

The grey mare was sitting on a chair. Sasha glanced back for a second, and saw the mare was concentrating her line of sight down the cells. “I don’t know,” she stated. “They had a big ship though, lotta guns.” Sasha could see she showed a vivid dislike of the prisoners. “Strong, too. I had to pull one down to the ground to stop her stabbing me.” She nodded at one of the mares in the cells. “Bitch couldn’t put her knife down…” her concentration seemed to be divided. “Say, there’s one of them looking at you.”

Sasha looked back at the cells. “Which one?.. .They all are.”

The grey mare nodded again in the direction of the cells, but didn’t look at them. She muttered, “Don’t look over there. It’s the one at the far end, though. He’s been staring at you, different-like. Are you sure you don’t know him?”

“Positive,” Sasha whispered.I’ve never seen that stallion in my life, I’m sure of it.

“Could you… could you go over there, and see if he’ll talk to you? If I leave, maybe he’ll say something.”

Sasha’s first thoughts were vehemently against it, but she felt like she did owe this mare something. After all, she was the one getting almost stabbed. “My name is Sasha. Sorry, I don’t know yours.”

“Jackary.”

“Okay Jackary,” Sasha repeated. “I’ll do this for you. Thanks for saving us.”

Jackary the grey mare stood up, turning to the staircase. “Tell me what he says,” she whispered, and walked away.

Once Sasha heard the door close, echoing briefly through the prison hallway. She turned back to the cells, and began to walk. There was only one pony in each cell, and the prisoners were looking at her, or to each other from across the hallway. She noticed a couple were sitting, legs crossed, eyes closed in a sort of meditative stance. She hadn’t seen anything quite like it.

Sasha got to the cell with the injured stallion. He was standing, his cloth-covered foreleg raised above the ground. “Where has the guard gone, Sasha?”

She double-taked a glance at the stallion as soon as he spoke. “Who are you, to know my name? Why were you lookin’ at me?”

The beige stallion’s bruised face showed a smirk. “You are Sasha Corntail, daughter to Pall, brother to Dornel. I am a friend to your uncle, if you’d believe it. Dornel told me you were a nuisance, and I believed him, even if I only saw you in person twice. The first time was your third birthday, so you wouldn’t remember me. The second is now, but I remember seeing some pictures Dornel showed me that looked exactly like you do. The name’s Seer Watt, and I need to tell you something.”

She’d heard of him. Uncle Dornel mentioned a Watt before, but never in great detail. The idea of finding an actual family member was sort of terrifying, and she was thankful it wasn’t. Now she could get an answer to her question, too. “You must have come a long way, from chatting with Uncle in Manehatten to trying to kill somepony.”

Seer Watt chuckled. He was aging, and his smile-marks showed it. “If you want me to tell you why, then you’d best say how long I have until that mare comes back.”

Jackary never gave her a time, but Sasha didn’t want to spend much longer with this Seer Watt. He boarded this ship for a reason, to kidnap somepony. After a pause Sasha responded, “a bathroom break. Maybe five minutes.”

Watt’s face became grim, and he backed further off into the cell. “I’ll make my point quick, then. The reason we’re here is not as important as what we’re missing. The ship that attacked this one was going on one long route, and that bastard Stannislane just happened to be going the same way. Someone up top must have thought he was another box to tick. Stannislane was a mistake.”

So Stannislane the diplomat is the reason they came here, Sasha thought.

Watt continued.“There’s not enough time to recount that trouble, so I’ll tell you what you need to know. Were you told about an Alicorn, Sasha?”

So the invaders last night heard about the Alicorn too. I thought only Raydono and Vala knew that… She breathed in deeply. “Uh.. yes, I was. She’s comin’ onboard.”

Watt straightened up. “Coming onboard, you say? Well… huh. That’s something. Keep her safe, Sash.”

He sounded about as surprised as she was. Sasha looked curiously at him. “Was that what you had to say?”

Watt nodded. “Yes. What I said has to be done. Keep her safe, Sash, I’ll tell you how. Whenever you can, however you can, travel to Manehatten, and make sure she gets there too. Go to door number thirty-nine in an area there called Palm Rose. Tell the doormare that Seer Watt sent you, and you want find the HQ. The password is Harmony. Got that?”

Will I really ever use this? She had her doubts. “I, uh… yeah. Yeah, I goddit,” Sasha said, hesitant. “Sure.”

“Keep her safe. Thirty-nine Palm Rose,” Watt repeated. “Tell the doormare that Seer Watt sent you. Tell her that you’ll want to find the HQ. If she asks, the password is Harmony.”

Sasha tried to question him about it, but he said the same thing. He kept saying the same thing, and all the other ponies looked at her. Clueless, and scared by the raving stallion, she left the hall.

Sasha came back up, and eventually found Jackary back at the balcony outside of the hold. She was alone, so her friends must have left as they were both in the cells. Sasha relayed what he had said to her, trying to do so in depth, but leaving out parts. She made sure to take out the part about her already knowing the alicorn.

“That is more than I thought we’d get,” Jackary exclaimed, listening to every detail. “It seems that this Watt trusts you.”

“I... suppose,” Sasha said, not sure what to think. “But I don’t know him.”

“But he seems to know you. Perhaps he thinks you’re his only chance,” Jackery said thoughtfully, leaning on the bannister. “Be as that may, we can find out much more information about these attackers. Raydono has never been into killing those who attack the ship… as wrong as she may be, this Watt is useful.” Jackery inclined her head. “Thank you Sasha.”

She smiled back. “And you, for lettin' me see them. See you.” She turned to the staircase off the balcony, and walked down to the theatre.

Thoughts quickly accumulated in her mind. Her encounter with Watt was bizarre. I’ve been told to keep this alicorn safe. This Alicorn, Fluttershy, is being sought after by both mares on the ship and outside. But why?

Maybe I could ask her.

Hope

HOPE

Fluttershy galloped haphazardly out of the fighting. When she was sure nobody was looking, she backed into a dead end alley, taking off her hoodie. With the fabric burden released, she opened her wings to the cool air.

I won’t be safe here… I need to hide somewhere where no one will find me.

She took flight to one of the corrugated roofs above her.

She landed safely on top, and looked for somewhere else to hide. While the roof wasn’t anywhere anypony would look usually, it was quite low down, and someone would spot her soon enough if she didn’t get moving.

The roof wasn’t any easier to navigate than the thin narrow alleys below. Fluttershy found herself catching a hoof almost every step at first, and had to coordinate to stop herself from falling over. When she felt comfortable with her stability on the crooked roof, she looked up to observe her surroundings. She saw the chimneys, and the boxes and barrels that couldn’t be stored anywhere else, essentially making for free storage. There were parts that looked like houses on top of the slums, too, bedrolls laid out with the sky as their ceiling, with desks and cardboard boxes filled with tools.

Fluttershy hid between some of the storage boxes, in a slight made by two pony-size wooden crates that were only just far away from each other for her to sneak in-between. Protected from both sides, and behind by a conveniently placed chimney, she felt a slim hope for safety against the sounds of crystal fire and shouting below.

It was still going, but had quieted down since the first encounter. There was a loud firing sound minutes before, making a very repetitive drone, almost like a drill. After that though, there was very little crystal fire. Most of the sounds became the chatter of voices instead of weapons, sounding like orders. The voice that overtook the rest was blunt and boisterous for a mare. Fluttershy guessed as much that it was from one of the griffons from Central’s Sentries.

I don’t belong here. It gave her a strange hope. There’s… there’s only one place I belong to here.She sat her hindlegs down to bring up the small metallic device strapped across her arm once again. And using this’ll be the only way I can find it.

She turned it on, and it started beeping. The screen on the hoofbrace was usually blue, and it was an off shade of green now. There was a silhouette of a pony on the screen detailed with a question mark, and there was some text down below.

Incoming Magitalk from Username Unidentified.

Respond?

[YES] [NO]

Fluttershy hastened to find a way to turn it off, the chance of alerting either the Sentries or the operatives in the area terrifying to say the least. Assuming is was touch-sensitive like it had been before, she pressed the “No” button, and the hoofbrace interface returned to its default state. Phew.

She stayed still for a while, snuck between the crates and swiping through her hoofbrace. Sounds of shouting and shooting were fading out, leaving an eerie silence. The problem was, as she thought about it, that there was nopony to help her. She didn’t like the look of the group that Belowitz seemed to know; the Sentries, who were armed to the teeth from what she saw in the firefight. The police force across Equestria Central might not be too kind to her either, especially after her escape. Either side could be waiting around the corner.

Her mind was set. I have to contact the Apples. She poked her hoofbrace, and found the Apple’s contact ID.

*Beeeep…*

“Hello? Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy drew a breath of relief; it was Palsley Apple. “I’m here,” she responded quickly. “Thank Celestia… I’m lost, Palsley. There was a shootout.”

There was static on the other side. “Fluttershy? Could y’get a bit closer, please?”

Fluttershy moved her hoofbrace to her mouth. “Hello?”

“That’s perfect. Now did I hear what I thought I heard, or did you say somethin’ about a shootout?”

“Yes. I was there, and ran away. I’m not hurt, but I don’t know where I am... ”

The stallion cut in. “Hold it, Fluttershy. Is there anythin’ you can see like a landmark? The clock tower, maybe, or one of th’ monoliths?”

“Give me a second.” Fluttershy peeked out over the top of the crates to observe her surroundings. The size of the slums was obnoxiously large in comparison to the skyscrapers around it. “I can’t see a clock tower, no. I... think I can see a monolith, though.” She guessed as much from the buildings size, about the same height of the monolith she arrived in. “It has crescents on it, surrounding a big moon in the middle.”

As Fluttershy looked at it more, it reminded her of Luna, the princess she’d last seen about two hundred years in the past. Both the two reigning princesses left at the same time, from what she had heard from Twilight years ago.

The hoofbrace spoke back to her. “Right, I know which one you’re talkin’ about. Uhh..” the hoofbrace stopped talking, and Fluttershy could hear some background noise.

She started worrying. “Palsley? Hello?”

“Hi Fluttershy. Sorry, I was lookin’ for a map. I remember th’ place, but I could get you some directions… give me a minute.”

“Can’t I just start making my way towards it?” No response, aside from what sounded like a few taps on the stallion’s own hoofbrace.I wish he would just respond. What is he doing?

Fluttershy was impatiently waiting and looking around the dark scrap-paper ridden alley. She guessed a conductor must have lived nearby, since her impatience led to learning that a few of the papers were ripped-up music sheets.

She found the silence curtailed by a sudden-starting discussion, though, and turned around to face it. It wasn’t on the hoofbrace, but below her, with the sound of the shuffling of hooves as it came closer. Terror struck her, and Fluttershy ducked back between the crates.

The first voice was male, and sounded familiar. “The beacon’s coming from around here... It’s coming from that piece of crap.”

“Call it a house, that’s what it is.” It sounded like one of the mare griffons was back. “Any idea what it’s contacting?”

“Looks like a standard edition, most likely bought in Central… and it’s calling someone in the residential area a good few blocks away. Maybe two, three miles off.”

Fluttershy froze. Are they talking about me? She glanced at her hoofbrace, only seeing the group photo of the Apples that Palsley used, and along with it, a string of random numbers. Should I turn it off? I need to hear what Palsley has to say...

She heard a crash underneath her, and vibrations shook through the corrugated iron she was sitting on. Quickly, she clicked ‘end call’ on the hoofbrace, and turned it off.

The voices were coming from directly under her now. “No windows, one exit. Where’s that beacon?”

“Off.”

They were so close, she heard the griffon huff impatiently. “Typical.”

There was a long period where Fluttershy sat still, trying not to stir, while the group below was clattering and moving furniture. What if she moved, and they heard her? One of them was a griffon, that much she knew, and could catch her in flight.

An idea came to her mind.Twilight used to use magic to mute herself. If I could only remember how to do that… maybe I could get out of here. She had never asked the alicorn herself, nor attended the lessons of any wizard, but there had to be an instance, just once, where Twilight told her or did it in front of her. Come on Fluttershy, think...

As Fluttershy racked her brain for an answer, someone below her talked again.

“Found it?”

“You think I would’ve found it, and not told you a thing? You know as much as I do that this place is empty.”

“This receptor ain’t shit. The beacon was here, I know it. What i—”

The voice cut off suddenly, as if the stallion caught off-guard. The act distracted Fluttershy for a second. Maybe they’ve found the operatives again?

She heard something else a little while later; the sound of a paw touching the roof she was hiding on.

Fluttershy crouched down. Paws and claws fell onto the roof she was standing on ever so louder, the vibrations coursing through her own hooves.I’m in a cage, where if I move I get caught.

Time slowed and the silence became ever more prevalent until the griffon spoke out: “You sure about that beacon?”

That’s definitely Ruska, Fluttershy thought. She waited a little while longer, and then she saw her. She saw the griffon… but the griffon didn’t notice her. Ruska was talking into her hoofbrace wrapped around her arm, and was facing the other way. Huh, that’s weird… there are burn marks on her clothes.

Ruska spoke back to her hoofbrace. “Hey, hey! I don’t give an alicorn’s tush about fucking pride. Your equipment works fine… long as I don’t break it. Remember that... Yeah, they must be. Must have been an Op, too.”

Ruska walked right past her, facing her arm as she talked. Fluttershy breathed out, finally.

She was still facing out the hole between the crates.If she’s distracted, I might be able to escape. Or stop her.

The Apples were right about these being vicious ponies to work with. Assaulting policemares, starting firefights... and now some pony who she assumed was a leader, at least from how they treated her, had turned her back. Fluttershy had an opportunity to fight back.Maybe the authorities will realise I’m on their side… if I knocked her out with a bit of telekinesis?

The thought sickened her as soon as it came out. One of the, perhaps the last of the Elements of Harmony driven to violence to save herself. That’s not the way I would have acted two hundred years ago. I would have come out, been honest, and love them even if they didn’t love me.

Years of isolation had changed her too much, and she couldn’t take it any longer. She took a deep breath, stood up, and walked out of the space between the two boxes. The griffon was still talking on her hoofbrace.

“Yeah.. yes, yes, okay. Good to know. So this what I’m going to do. I will find whoever made the beacon. You will…” her voice cut off as Fluttershy started walking, rattling the roof with her hooves. The griffon turned her head. She jumped, startled when she saw her. With a few clicks of her talons on the hoofbrace, Ruska swerved it around, revealing a crystal-gun, like the ones in the firefight. The gun glowed turquoise, and Fluttershy let out a scream.

“Eeeek!”

Without as much a second thought, Fluttershy lit her horn, before releasing a burst of power. Waves of force flew cut through the air with the sound of a drum being torn through, and Ruska was thrown back, her paws stumbling. She crashed down on the iron corrugate, and slid flat across the roof.

“Gah, fuck!” Ruska seemed to have her strength sapped away by the magic. “Falstof’s tail-feathers… she’s here.” She tried to shout, but her calls were stunted, the air knocked out of her to speak.

Fluttershy failed to respond. She blinked, startled by what she’d done. This was the second time she had used her magic, and felt so strong… And it’s not me on the floor with a crystal stuck out of me, she thought, turning. She jumped off the building, gliding away.

The new hiding place was still in the slum-area of the city, or what she thought was the slums, from the state of the rusty walls around her. She’d opted for an alleyway on the ground this time. The least obvious place for a pegasus… well, alicorn, to hide. She only wanted to stay for one quick reason, anyway.

Fluttershy hid behind a short, splintered wall of concrete, and opened her hoofbrace. Her plan was to call back to the Apples. I don’t need their help anymore, I think I could find the way to the moon-monolith easy enough and, honestly, the way after that I could work out myself. But I need to tell Palsley I’m okay after that hang-up.

What if Palsley didn’t even realise? He’d been away from the call for a long time. She shuddered.What if something happened on their end?

Before she could call him up, though, the hoofbrace flashed green with the beeping sound again. Same unidentified caller. This wasn’t coincidence, or a wrong call. Somepony had got her contact.

Was it really an unidentified caller, or was it one of the Apples? I haven’t shown this thing to anypony else. The only ponies I know who have touched this thing was Palsley when he gave it to me. With her now being hidden away in the alley, giving her relative comfort, she felt the best idea would be to answer it. If it is somepony else, they won’t be able to find me.

*Beeeep...*

“—el—” the hoofbrace filled with static, and Fluttershy recoiled from her hoof. After a few seconds, though, a voice could be clearly heard. “ ‘ello?” It didn’t sound like anyone she’d heard.

Examining the interface of the hoofbrace, Fluttershy found the end call button. She stopped short of pressing it when the caller spoke again, though. “Fluttershy? Can-y—ear—me?”

More static followed afterwards. Fluttershy looked curiously at the device. “I’m here,” she whispered nervously. “What’s that sound?”

“—gimme me a sec.” There was a pause, where the caller made a couples “tcks”, and the static ceased afterwards. “This is better, right?”

It was, but Fluttershy didn’t think of saying so. She was still tensed by the caller, whoever they were. The only thing she could discern was that the caller was a mare, and her accent wasn’t something she’d heard before. “Who are you?”

“I’m the mare who’ll get you out of there. Call me Flowers.”

Fluttershy hesitated. “Flowers?” The name was familiar to her.

“Yeah. You thin’ my name is strange or something?”

Fluttershy breathed a sigh. “No, I, I didn’t mean to offend... “

The caller chuckled. “I wooden close a call with you ‘cuz you offended me, Princess.”

Fluttershy felt this was getting off topic. “What do you mean, get me out of there? Can you see me?” She looked around instinctively. There was nothing around on the ground… but looking up, there was a big, mysterious sky above her, clouded and darker than she remembered.

“Ahh…. kinda. There was a shootout, yeah? Lots of fire exchanged both sides. I thin’ we saw a sandgun, too... If you’re injured, don’ worry. We’re comin’.”

Fluttershy had no idea what was going on. “What? Sandgun?”

“We jus’ tneed a landing spot. So we can get you outta there. Do you have a flare addon?”

“Excuse me?” she responded, flustered. Landing spot?

“...Now you do.”

Not getting an answer to her confusion, the hoofbrace started beeping again. Fluttershy raised her hoof to look at the lower part of the interface, and saw a flashing icon that looked like an envelope, with a ‘1’ symbol attached.

The caller continued. “D’you know how to use flares? No, I bet. I’ll guide you through...”

RANGE: [5000][M]

DIRECTION: [UP]

MUTE: [FALSE]

COLOUR: [14]

SECONDARY COLOUR: [13]

[NOTE: FLARE DOES NOT PASS THROUGH SOLID OBJECTS. RELOCATE IF NEEDED FOR ESCAPE PURPOSE.]

[WARNING: COLORS CAN DAMAGE EYES/BLIND IF DIRECTLY OBSERVED. DON’T HURT YOURSELF, NOW. PLAY SAFE!]

“And that’s everything?” Fluttershy had been led by the instructions of this caller for the last few minutes, and she was getting impatiently concerned about whatever was going to happen. “And you’re going to… land here? That’s what you’re doing? That sounds mad.”

The voice on the other side chuckled. “Yeah, that’s everythin’. Press save settings on the bottom right, an’ press okay.”

“Uh… okay, then…”

Fluttershy was back on a roof, a different one this time, and pressed the flare button. Almost instantly, the device colour turned a blinding white. Fluttershy squinted, turning the hoofbrace away from her face as she was told, and waited for the magic to happen.

Which didn’t take long. Weird curved, holographic forms pranced about on the hoofbrace surface. They were bright white too, and in a second, the merged together in the center of the screen. Compressing into a ball of light.

Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to look away. She was looking at the corrugate roof she stood on, illuminated by the white light. A high pitch screech, something from a firecracker came from the device. The roof reflected a different light now.

Fluttershy shot a glance back at the hoofbrace.It’s back to normal. She looked up. Oh no. She gazed up at the two lights, one a vibrant pink, the other yellow, as it flew higher and higher up into the sky. She darted her hoofbrace back to her face. “Why is it pink and yellow? I’d say that’s a pretty easy couple of colours to recognise!”

Nothing came back from the device. A deep feeling of dread crept over her. “Hello? Can you hear me!? That thing is...” The thought came back to Fluttershy that there might still be ponies or griffons from Central’s Sentries lurking about, and zipped her mouth. That caller could have been one of those killers. I’m getting a pretty convincing suspicion I should leave…

The sky in Equestria Central was usually unnaturally busy, hovering cars flying by and the occasional bigger, hulking mass of metal, like the one which drove her to the monolith. Hardly coloured but shining in the sunlight, they looked like big metal clouds.

But there was one in the sky at present that didn’t look anything near that. It was flamboyantly coloured, caressed in its curves, almost cartoonish in shape. If there was any one of the ships that were flying out that day, this was the one which looked most like something from the old, vibrant and joyful Equestria, and it was making its way straight towards her, slowing down as it got closer to the ground.

She stepped backwards. I have to fly out of here! Sure, they can see me, but I might be able to hide away again. I might be able to—

Her hoofbrace was beeping. I never turned it off?

In freak desperation she answered the call. Static burst through from device, which Fluttershy could barely hear over the sound of an airship gearing to land. “—Here—or lift, princess.”

“Who are you?” she repeated, shouting at the hoofbrace. Her hair was flying frantically into her eyes, and she looked away from her device. The brightly coloured airship looked like it was landing, and she didn’t want to be anywhere near it. She turned to fly away again, like she did with Ruska… to see a group led by a flying Ruska. The rest were ponies, and galloping towards her position.

She didn’t have long to pick out who the ponies were when she saw that Ruska was not the only one flying. There were two more griffons with her, and they both had braces that chillingly reminded her Ruska’s. Oh no. They were shouting something, but she couldn’t hear it over the now furiously loud wind from the airship.

Fluttershy was beginning to lose vision from her hair. She swept it over, hearing the static as her hoof neared her face. There was another voice over the device, one that didn’t seem to be talking to someone else. “—Clear. Open the door.” More static overtook the voice afterwards.

The griffons landed on the side opposite to the ship, one in the middle, two on the side. They recoiled from the jump onto the roof, and one by one regained posture. They looked ready to pounce at her, their crystal-throwing devices in clear sight. Fluttershy looked at them in disgust and tensed her hooves, crouching slightly. She could hear mechanics whirring from behind her. That must be the door.

“This doesn’t have to end this way, alicorn!” Ruska shouted, pointing her claw to the thing behind Fluttershy, not moving from her spot. “This ship is bad fortune for any pony that grazes its halls. You will not be an exception.”

Fluttershy scowled at them. Ruska was making a threat, and the weapons the griffons had looked deathly easy to draw on her. “Are you going to shoot me?” she shouted back.

“Perhaps,” Ruska exclaimed. “You cannot leave here. Belowitz has convinced me. He says, you are of more importance to any of us here, and you cannot be in the wrong hooves. And now I see your true form, wings and all, and your power!... No. You will stay.”

While Ruska talked, Fluttershy’s attention diverted to the ponies she saw earlier, who were climbing up a ladder that led out from the house below. She felt a weird chill when she saw Belowitz.

He was the second up after a pony she didn’t recognise, and he didn’t look in the least bit contented by the situation. “ ‘In Tartarus did I just hear?” he said, his front hooves heaving himself up on the rooftop. “Ruska, stand down! You can’t aim a gun at the princess!”

“Why?” Ruska asked.

Belowitz had gotten up, and was now pacing towards Ruska. He pushed past the first pony that had got up, as well as a couple griffons, too. “Because she’s the element of kindness, that’s why!” His face was turning red. “And this is the worst entrance of a princess to save the whole world that I think I’ll ever see, hell,has ever been! Just look at her!” Belowitz shoved a hoof in her direction, turning his head afterwards. He looked into her eyes, but then he turned his sight up, above where she was standing.

Belowitz and the rest of them had stopped, it seemed, and it gave her time to think. ...He’s trying to save me.

...And he brought me here in the first place, saying he… wanted me to save the world. He sounded sincere, just like he does now... but I don't trust him. He's two sided. One owned an airship, and a monolith they took me to in the middle of the city, the other sticks with a gang, comprised of vandals and killers.

Do I want to join these ponies on their quest to do.. something, or what else will I do? Go back to the Apples? My farm? I’d like to go back there. That thought stuck thick on her mind. Yeah, why can’t I go back to my farm?

The world was crazy enough as it was. She’d tried helping these ponies out, and none of them seemed trustworthy. The most polite, and kind thing she could do was to leave.

Finally, she looked up at them. They looked a bit strange, their angry faces before turning to a sort of… horror?

She flared her horn in defence, if the griffons suddenly tried to pull something on her. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ll be joining you today.”

There was a short silence, where the the griffons and Belowitz regained their composure. “Yes,” Ruska said. “I think that would be best.”

Belowitz turned to the griffon. “I... No, you can’t.”

“Sentries, take off your weapons, and put them on floor. Now.” They did so.

Fluttershy was utterly relieved by the development, but stayed on alert, just in case. If I flew away, they could still catch me. Griffons have sharp claws. Fluttershy nodded at Ruska, and toned her horn down. “Maybe you're not as violent as I thought. Thank you for that.”

“Damn right they’re not.” The voice made Fluttershy jump, as it came from straight behind her. She turned her head to see the door to the ship fully open, displaying the similarly brightly coloured interior around a wide space inside the airship. Where the visitors and cargo come in from.

The way of entrance into the ship had maybe ten or twenty ponies standing in, or out of it on the corrugate roof. They didn’t have armour, or any sort of uniform like Central’s Sentries, or Equestria Central’s policeforce; they wore clothes that were colourful like their coats, and they all had their own colour of crystal-shooting gun, similar to the vastly outnumbered griffons. In fact, the only thing about them that could be called uniform was that they all had their gun-hoof up, outstretched towards the griffons.

“Yeah,” said the mare who’d made Fluttershy jump, a purple furred mare with a rather smug look on her face, “we call this the point and wave, ‘coz if they try anythin’, we’ll send out a wave on ‘em. Ha!”

Fluttershy didn’t really know what to say.

“These your friends from the firefight?” She pointed her head towards the griffons. “They ain’t a problem anymore. Name’s Flowers. Welcome to the Cirque D’Sang.”

The Spaceship, Cirque d'Sang

-THE SPACESHIP, CIRQUE D'SANG-

One day passes, and another new pony, someone who's too scared to go in alone, Sasha thought, leading a rich-looking stallion into the dark theatre by her side.

She thought he looked ridiculous. The stallion’s hat made him look the tallest pony in the theatre, a big black top hat. He also wore an eyepiece. and lower down, he was fit with a tailcoat suit which ended curtly at the back. Sasha had no such pleasantries. She wore a dirty-red dress. She didn't like it; both the thought and feeling made her uncomfortable. She would have much rather worn her vest and trousers like any normal mare, but she didn't have the choice. Capitan Raydono insisted on greeting new guests with the best her ship had to offer, and the capitan's orders remained law when said on her ship.

Even though she felt uncomfortable, Sasha was the one who spoke first. She knew her voice was hoarse like a mule, so she made sure she raised her voice over the tens, perhaps hundreds of mumbling conversations in the theatre well-packed by ponies. “Your seat's over here, Mr. Stannislane,” Sasha told the stallion. “We will just have to pass by the upper two rows, and you’ll find your seat. You first, please, my own seat is on the side we come in from.”

The dark halted her perception of any detailed facial features, aside from the glimmer from his eyepiece, but she heard him speak with the sound of a very... Equestrian voice. “Ah. Thank you, thank you so much for doing this.” Stannislane overtook her, and quickly found the right way to his seat. “I hope I don’t seem cowardly, nor listless for asking you. It’s... really, it’s something I’ve never done before.”

The mare smiled as they walked down the steps together. Newcomers were often scared, so Sasha and the rest had been told by the captain to reassure them. “Don’ worry about it," she said. “I get bookings askin’ me with ponies all the time." She beamed. "It’s perfectly normal.” Weird, but normal. They walked down the aisle, and took their seats at almost the very same time. As they did, she turned to him. “Big ones, and small stallions like yourself; diplomats, sold'ers, and everythin' betweens come here, an’ even those soldier types aren’ too fond of staying here. You’re braver than a lot of ‘em for even being on this ship, ser.”

Truth wasn't entirely lost on Sasha's words, but she found it plenty queer when the newcomers came aboard. They always acted the same, a herd of rabbits, scarred by the sound of a wolf, that made them hurry to the nearest hole. The thing was, they seemed to be even more frightened of the new environment they had been gifted, rather than of their previous lives which forced them escape to the legendary outlaw ship, the Cirque d'Sang.

Already dim background lighting, the sort of thing that dotted the theatre normally, had shut off completely. Then, suddenly, there were two heavy floodlight beams that shot out from centre stage, revealing shadowed forms that stood there, eerily silent. None stood together, and through the little light she had, Sasha could see why. They were each on a platform different than the other.

The crowd, still immersed in conversation, began to shout in the seats just below Mr. Stannislane, their tongues rolling. “Mah-dlay, Mah-dlay, Mah-dlay…”

The stallion diplomat did not join in. Instead, he turned to Sasha. “Braver..? Heh, I can see why anypony would want you to sit by their side. The world we live in may nary have a drop of your comforting grace.”

Sasha truly wondered what world he came from. After all, he’d barely disclosed them in the booking made with Captain Raydono, which came with a short bio about his current situation. A diplomat hailing from Manehatten, wanting to get asfar away from Manehatten as possible on the fastest, least suspicion-raising airship he could find.

“Don’t worry,” she said in response. “We don’t discriminate on what you did in the past round here. The bad guy’s’ll come some day, but we’ll defend you good and proper on th' Cirque. You've got comfor'tof all kinds up here, and I think you're lucky. I bet this first performance’ll be just the sort of comfort you’re looking for.”

“I am relieved to hear that!” Mr. Stannislane replied, as the shouts grew into a mass of voices across the theatre, repeating the same thing over and over. “Mah-dlay, Mah-Dlay, Mah-dlay, MAH-dlay,” it continued until those shouting began to stand up from their seats, placing their hooves on the seats in front.

Before long, Stannislane, and a few other choice suspects, began to look quite uncomfortable in their seats. He turned to Sasha. "Though I must admit, this isn't exactly what I had in mind for a theatre performance. You, you're all from griffon-country, yes?”

Half the ponies standing up around the theatre were wearing white or black masks, depicting faces contorted in laughter, despair, anger and fright. You should not judge griffon-country from a group of metalheads, Sasha thought, but merely nodded in response to his question.

“Mah-DLAY... Mah-DLAY... Mah-...”

Stannislane shifted to face her. “Uh, before I forget. What, please tell, was your name agai...,” he squeaked. As soon as the drum kit flared, Stannislane hushed, as did the crowd. The quarter-second beat, accompanied by a low bass rhythm, kept itself quiet, muffled, almost too discreet…

...Before bursting onto the scene with a strike of an electric guitar riff, sending shockwaves through the crowd as the performers played on stage, a bassline striking like fire.

The stage lit up, unveiling the shadowy forms on stage. The musicians all stood on pitch-black scaffolding that was curved, and warped like a ram’s horns, jutting out in unearthly patterns. All the while, the bass backtone became many times more pronounced, and the guitar played chords in a rhythm struck like Tartarus.

The drummer on the right, bass on the left, the guitarist in centre… and the singer on top of it all. She was clad like the gothic-spired churches of old: vibrant steel and coal wrought armour protruded spines down her back, shoulders, and wings. At a glance, the griffon under the armour was surely a demon personified, standing atop her fortress of malice.

There she sung.

The voice was female but hard to distinguish in it’s raw, rough,screaming verses that tore through the audience who joined in turn, the floodlights skewing off into all directions, as the chorus of hooves fell together with the beats of the bass and the drums. Shaking their heads like animals, ravaging to and fro.

The diplomat Stannislane, his eyes wide open and pupils dilated, looked positively terrified.

Sasha had seen it all before. I tried it myself once. But no budget to do something like this, she thought.

The high-octane music on stage began to repeat itself, as the singer took her place with the cleanest and cutest sound amidst the dark rhythms, a strong and stunning voice contrasting the heavy and foreboding doom around her.

They say that opposites attract each other; these two rhythmical vibrations were made for each other. The crowd agreed with a fury of passion, bouncing up and down and throwing their hooves in the air. Before long, the guitar solo started. Fumes and smoke poured onto the stage, and soon all could be seen was the flash of reflected greens and purples from the instruments, and a red light that pierced through it from the centre of the stage.

The first song ended as abruptly as it started, and when the smoke cloud was clear, the next song took place. As streaks of fire leapt across the stage, it showed that it was equally as powerful in imagery to the first song, perhaps even stronger, but it would never have that ‘The Tartarus have I stepped into?’ vibe that the first song held so strongly.

The mare checked back in with Mr.Stannislane. He was in a trance; she waved a hoof in front of him before he noticed her again. When he did, he whispered back to her, jowls quivering. “That... that was certainly a show, Miss Doormare.”

She spoke up over the music. “They call me Sasha,” she said, placing a hoof over his shoulder. “Welcome to the Cirque d’Sang.”

Stannislane stared her like the bird between a hydrocar's headlights. "You’re not thinking of going, are you?” he said. “I think I could use the company! I must admit that, as long as I stay in this theatre, I will never feel safe.”

“Then I’ll stay a little while,” she replied, placing her forelegs back on the arms of her chair. As the ship had already taken off, Sasha didn’t have much else of a job to do. If I stay around, I might even get a tip. “For you. I have nopony else to serve jus’ yet.”

“I’ll make sure,” he said. The stallion stuffed his hoof into a strap-bag, and took out a couple of coins. It seemed that Stannislane had invested in a magnetic hoof-holder, a fancy bit of tech, for when he picked them out of his bag, the coins came out and into Sasha’s dress pocket without issue. She looked down, and noticed not a single one had fallen beneath the chair. Impressive.

The hoof-holder was a gilded sign of success, but she presumed the stallion was wealthy a great deal earlier. She was at a loss for a shiny something else, though. “I ain’t seen one of those silver bits before… what are they?”

“Antiques,” he said. “I'd stress that you don’t use them to buy anything floozy," he said direly. "They are worth more than you may think.”

A diplomat, and a collector to boot? Not that she cared, though the silver was a welcome surprise. The coins could have come from anywhere, hopefully someplace rare and forgotten. Her thoughts went wild, as a plan of action to sell these potentially priceless coins formed quickly in her mind, though she tried to maintain her composure. “I’ll do the best I can to stay around,” Sasha promised sincerely.

As soon as she said it, Stannislane sunk everso slightly into his chair, and for once, he seemed calm for that small slice of the evening. The two listened to one more hour, of what Stannislane probably considered as uninterrupted-eardrum-destruction, before he asked her for his peace of mind to show him where the exit was.

Ignoring the blaring music in front them, Sasha led Stannislane out of their row of seats. After a quick registration using Sasha’s virtual sign-in app on her hoofbrace, a less fancy, and overall far more used piece of tech, the stallion left for his first night in the Cirque. Sasha couldn’t help but notice some tinge of regret spread on the poor stallion’s face, as she led him away and said goodbye.

By the time she got back, Sasha found that a new band was on stage. It was more of a background music than the main attraction. The crowd that still gathered drank like sponges and chatted in the theatre room. Sasha took the resignation of her guest to his bedroom and the seemingly little to do as a sign that she could relax, and join in.

She didn’t really have anything to do, her main job that day being to greet ponies at the ship's door. By this time, the ship was far off the ground. Her only real concern was that someone higher than her would bug her about spending so much time with one client. If they ask him, though, he will justify it. Everypony who is too much of a coward to start off their stay on the Cirque by themselves, is usually decent enough to be honest.

Sasha breezed through the crowd, trying to find someone like Mallflower or Silver, her friends. Her browsing was interrupted by the sight of her boss, and some other new pegasus sitting on the E row, presumably chatting. Why is she here? Capitan Raydono’s not a mare to take a single step out of the control room..

She took the opportunity to eavesdrop, taking the row behind them discreetly... and wondering what this new mare come to the Cirque for. Some newcomers were robbers, thieves in the night who were caught at the last second and needed a getaway. Others were political enemies ripe for assassination, and half of those didn’t even manage to get on the ship to begin with.

Sasha leant in to the row to sit. They were talking amicably before she got there, but when Sasha sat down, the fur on her ears stood up to something she really didn’t expect.

“... Alicorn? That’s what you’ve been told? You have to find an Alicorn?”

Alicorn?

Capitan Raydono had her eyebrows peaking higher than any conventional mare’s, and Raydono looked at her friend with utter disbelief.

Her friend, a pegasus dressed like a businessmare, nudged the Capitan. Sasha could barely hear what she said, it was whispered so delicately. “You, uh… y’wanna take this someplace else? There’s a private room we can discuss, right?” The businessmare looked warily to her sides.

“Of course...” Raydono muttered faintly. “Well, right this way, Val.”

The two stood up. Sasha looked onwards, furrowing her brow at the turn of events. The last time the capitan had joined to watch a performance in the theatre was years ago. The last time she heard her speak of an Alicorn was in emphasis put to speech, (Alicorns forbid! Or, By Luna's Light!) but never said seriously.

A madpony perhaps... but why would the Capitan be listening to her? I just have to find out. This little mystery was certainly something worth spending some free time for.

Unfortunately, Sasha sat down at theexact moment they left. The two moved out and quickly scurried towards some side exit hidden by the crowd, a hallway marked “PRIVATE”.

Sasha had been on the ship for too long to not know her directions. She knew the side exit was, and where it would lead. The recording room’ll be the only empty room that way, and it's soundproofed from the corridor, too. Still, the corridor to the recording room is private access only… but there’s always another way.

The corridor was private, but the kitchen area had a door through to the private corridor that could only be unlocked by staff. All Sasha needed was a reason for the kitchen staff, so that they would allow her to get in there. Sasha had to find a disguise to fool somepony, and...

...Is this really worth my time? She had to ask herself the question eventually, but the response was quick in her mind.

Talia's talons, of course it is. I'll have to remember the look on Mallflower's face when she hears this story.

Ponies on the ship did all sorts of odd jobs, whoever they were. Sasha's plan was to act the part of a maid. It would include her finding a serving tray, and some kind of drink and food.

The drink was easy enough. Sasha took a trip to the theatre, looking for the stall. The ship was supplied with cider by some farm out of Equestria, Cleyfeli Farm, and the Canterlot-bred mare who owned it had a daughter on ship who sold the stuff. She found the cider salesmare was still in her mask, and talking to some other masked mare in some deep enthralling argument.

Sasha arrived to hear the other masked mare speak first. “I never liked the dark shit. Puts me off, like, really. You’ve gotta stop it.”

My joy, Sasha thought. I have to listen to these goons natter again.

The Cleyfeli Canterlot mare, Dagra, scoffed in her friend's face. “So what, you’re telling me you’re the ‘great moral compass’ this airship needs? Give me a break. In fact, give me five examples of your shining grace, your majesty.” Dagra persisted with her side of the argument like some kind of fanaticised zealot. “Umero numero, horning’stotally in right now. Deux— and I’ve got to explain myself here— summoned tentacles are the way to go, bae! Did you even hear what the latest magic can do…?”

‘Unicorns are best at…’ meta was exhausting to hear for much longer, and before she snapped to insanity, Sasha finally found a break in the useless conversation in which to speak. “By Celestia’s rotten corpse, don’t you two mongrols have somethin’ to do?”

The two looked back at her. Dagra spoke up. “Well nice to meet an' fuck you too, bitch.” She smiled like she was pleased with herself at the end of it, leaning beside the barrels filled with Cleyfeli cider.

But despite the insult, Sasha couldn’t help but grin, either. She knew these ponies and their fouls mouths as much as they knew hers. "Ugh," Sasha muttered. “You got somethin’ to do right now, or are y’just slackin’?”

“Oh, ugh yourself,” Dagra replied. “And no, not really. No mare’s buying anything right now, bae.”

Sasha took out her purse. “No mare ‘sep me. One cider, friend.”

Dagra smiled, reaching around the back of her stall for the tap. “With pleasure. Hey, and maybe you and us can find a room together, see what a Unicorn can’t do.”

Sasha coughed at that. “I ain’ into that, friend, or your weird-ass fanclub. Here’s five coppers.”

Dagra grabbed at the coppers quickly, and slid the paper cup full of apple-scented booze right back at her. “What can I say? You're missing out. Have a good one, Sash, and maybe we'll have a good one with you later.”

Sasha took her cider cup, and followed the way back to her own room to leave Dagra, and her now-very-confused friend asking the most innocent questions.

“B-but, how can you even have a conversation like that? Why are you so mean to each other?...”

Once Sasha reach her room, she stooped down and swiped an outlying serving dish she forgot to give back to the kitchen. Washing off any crumbs and hairs that the dish had off into the sink, she placed the metalware on her table. With a couple of minutes to prepare, she added onto it a hastily crafted sandwich, and replaced her paper cup of cider with a nice, ornate glass she stole from a bar in Canterlot. She felt ready without the apron, and promptly left her room. She had seen many maids on the ship in her days, and many less wore their aprons at all times during service.

Placing the metallic serving dish in between her teeth (thank the magi it was small), she balanced it and herself past the crowds. As expected, nopony really cared. While about half of them knew her by name, they didn’t know what her current job was meant to be.

She reached the airship kitchen soon enough. There was only one, and it was not a place fit for the ponies it served. The walls were white, but turning all manner of browns and beiges as it got closer to the cooking equipment, and the floor was made of wood boards like most of the ship.

The kitchen was easily the second-most disorganised room, with dirty pans and plates stacked up, and cupboards overflowing with woks, basins, weighing equipment, the list could go on. Sacks of raw ingredients littered the sides of the room which weren’t already loaded with counters and stoves. By chance Sasha's friend, Mallflower, called out to her from the washing sink. One of the older crew, she was allowed to prepare the food, and showed it with her flour-powdered face and mane-net. “Hey, hey, Sasha, what’re you doing here?”

Sasha put her dish down on the nearest counter. Malf was hard of hearing, and mumbling wouldn’t get any message across. “Just a maid passin’ through. I’m taking this to the recording room, if you’re interested.”

She looked at her curiously. “You gotta pass?”

Not a chance. “Uh, no, the guy I'm serving never gave me one. Short notice.”

Mallflower eyed her. “Huh. Well… I trust you normally, Sash. Hope I ain’ gonna regret it.” He walked over to the middle table, snatched a piece of paper, and started scribbling something on it.. “On the by... have you heard the news, Sasha?”

Sasha would have sighed if Mallflower was not her friend. Mallflower had a tendency to speak for prolonged times about far away politics, and Sasha didn't have the time to spare. “Not sure. Heh, it's so hectic, I don’t think anyone knows.” Sasha picked the dish back up, and got as far as the door on the other end of the kitchen. As much as she’d loved to make more conversation, there was a dish in her mouth.

Malf shook her head as she looked up. “Anyone knows? Well, you know me, Sash, and I know what's happening. Come talk to me later, perhaps... Go on, you, let her through.” A stallion opened the door, and she walked on. A couple of ponies nearby muttered something as she left, and Sasha heard a conversation spark when she left.

Sasha found herself in the restricted-access corridor. It was lit up by bulbs on the ceiling, small crystal-like things that emitted a bluish glow.

The recording room was split by two entrances; one going where the singer would stand, and the other being the equipment room, with all the fancy gadgets to make her sound good. The two sections were separated by a magicproof glass wall. Sasha saw the equipment room door left open, so she slowly took to opening the other one.

This part of the room was empty, with cold hard floors made out of some synthetic material. Not wanting to make a sound, she pushed the door with the metalware in her mouth, drawing it to a close, and crawled under the range of glass that would let them see her, placing the dish in her hooves, and then gradually to the floor.

The two seemed to have gotten halfway through their conversation. Sasha turned over to a more comfortable laying position, and tried to make out what they were saying.

“...hellova tidy sum they’ll be fetching for us. Tartarus, I don’t even know why, but that’s what they said.” It was the other mare’s voice. Sasha couldn’t tell from the accent where she came from, but she sounded quite relaxed compared to being in the theatre.

Capitan Raydono spoke afterwards, stressed in comparison to the other mare. “Six hundredthousand bits for an alicorn? And why d’you even want to get in t' this? Mahdray’s been makin’ you a fortune on my ship, you ain’t got no point for getting into this mess.”

Sasha breathed quietly. Perhaps this is what Raydono does, while no one ever sees her? She thought. Secret deals done with unknown ponies. Her knowledge of capitan Raydono was scant but her owning the ship, making the laws, and telling ponies what to do in the safety of her control room. Rumour had it that she piloted the ship herself as a pilot of foreign wars in years past, but now Sasha was not so sure that held any such merit.

Vala continued in the other room. “It’s not that simple, Ray… I’m not doing it for the money. I’m not telling you why I’m doing it either, that’s personal. All you need to know is, I can’t stay around here if I don’t comply. Like I said, I’m not hurting anyone, not this ship, not this alicorn, nobody. I was told she has to be found alive, not dead.”

“You’re putting me in a tight spot here, Vala. I'm giving you safe passage in my ship. The least you can do is give me some time on this...”

Vala paused before speaking coolly. “I can’t give you any more of a head start. It’s seriously not as bad as you think, though. If it was tight, I’d tell you, you know me. Truth is… nopony knows about her but the CEO, her hired goons, and the both of us. She came by an airship not long ago, but they’re keeping her locked up in one of those towers, I bet. And that’s it. Well, it should be. I’m not your boss, but can you please not blurt it out in public again? This is top secret stuff, y’know.”

“Heh. You shouldn’t be worried about that. Most of those ponies have stayed on my ship for years now, and if y’saw, they ain’t much of a conspiratorial group, like.”

“What’s your answer then? Will you do it?” She's pushing an answer out of the capitan, Sasha thought.

She heard Raydono let out a long, audible sigh. “I trusted you for the best part of a year. I don’t see any reason why I can’t anymore. I s’pose, after we’ve dropped Stannis an’ his type off my ship, next stop is Equestria Central. We’ll find your alicorn, Val, even if you won’t give me her name.”

Vala sounded apologetic. “Oh, I didn’t? That’s my bad… the alicorn’s name is, Fluttershy.”

Raydono sounded dead serious, as he delivered his final line. “An’ If you make any problems on the ship, mind, firing a single shot, or harassing my crew… one way or another, you ain’t staying on my ship.”