“I think I’ll call you Mister Shiny, since you’re the shiniest,” giggled Spinner, staring dreamily at the diamond she was balancing on one hoof.

“And I’ll call you Mister Sparkly, since you’re the sparkliest,” she added, looking to the diamond that was held aloft on her other hoof, before turning her gaze to the remaining gems scattered on the floor in front of her. “Now, I don’t want to hear any complaints from the rest of you. Mama Spinner’s gonna give you all cute names too, yes she is!”

Off to the side, Woodheart made a face. “You sound like that she-demon when she was talking to her daughters.”

“Yeah, well, better to dote on these little cuties than to treat them like chew toys,” snorted the bard, canting her head at where Littleknight was gnawing on one of Woodheart’s diamonds.

The jab made the druid frown, cheeks puffing out. “Littleknight needs to grind his teeth down, and these are perfect for that! It’s not like it’s hurting them!”

“She’s got that right,” grunted Valor, forelegs trembling as she squeezed one of her own diamonds between them. “I haven’t been able to so much as crack one of these things yet!”

The sight made Spinner scowl, gathering up her own share of the diamonds in a protective hug. “Don’t worry, babies. Mama Spinner won’t let the bad mare try to break you.”

“Hey, ‘Mama Spinner,’” interjected Shadow Star, not looking up from where she was peering at one of her own diamonds through a monocular loupe, her other eye tightly shut. “When you talk to the diamonds, do they ever talk back?”

Spinner shrugged. “Almost never.”

“Almost?” echoed Woodheart, blinking as she picked up one of her gemstones and peering at it. “Do you think they have spirits in them?”

The question was enough to make Spinner roll her eyes, despite the corners of her lips turning upwards. “It was a joke, Woodsy.”

“Don’t call me Woodsy. And how is it a joke to pretend that these rocks can talk?”

“Because unlike ponies, diamonds are always perfectly clear,” snickered the bard, waggling her eyebrows before glancing at her companions with an expectant expression.

Silence glanced up, removing her loupe as she looked between Valor and Woodheart. “You know, if we kill her we can split her share.”

“Too messy,” snickered Valor, before sticking a diamond in each ear. “It’s easier to just do this.”

“I still don’t understand what the joke is,” frowned Woodheart, scratching her head in confusion.

Spinner looked up. “Whatever sin I’ve committed to make The Author send me companions with no sense of humor, I swear upon my lute that I shall atone.”

“Maybe you should start by making a generous donation to her temple back in Viljatown,” snorted Shadow, putting her loupe away. “You’ll definitely be able to afford it now.”

That got the bard’s immediate attention, her eyes widening as she looked at the masked mare. “You’ve got a figure?!”

Shadow nodded, waiting for Valor to take the diamonds out of her ears before replying. “Based on their size, cut, opacity, and complete lack of coloration...”

She trailed off, letting the moment build, with Valor cocking her head, Woodheart raising an eyebrow, and Spinner looking like she was about to have a heart attack.

Finally, just when the bard looked like she was about to explode, Shadow finished.

“I’d say that each diamond is worth roughly a thousand gold pieces.”

Spinner’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. “A th-, thou-, a thoussssss....”

She couldn’t finish, her eyes rolling back in her head as she collapsed, one leg twitching.

Woodheart blinked. “So, is that a lot?”

Instantly, Spinner was upright again. “Is that a lot?!” she echoed, incredulous. “IS THAT A LOT?! Woodsy, each of these is worth a THOUSAND GOLD PIECES!!! And we have SIXTY of them!!! WE’RE RICH!!!”

“We finally did it!” laughed Valor. “After all this time, we’ve hit the jackpan!”

“Jackpot,” corrected Shadow. “And yeah, taking Mysty’s share into account, that’s twelve grand for each of us. And no, Woodsy, your familiar does not get a cut.”

Huffing, Woodheart picked up Littleknight and gave him some conciliatory cuddles. “Don’t call me Woodsy.”

“With twelve thousand gee-pees, you can PAY someone to follow you around and correct her every time she calls you Woodsy!” cackled Spinner, picking up her diamonds and juggling them. “Do you guys realize how huge this is?! Your average pony earns one gold piece a day, and pays back a third of it in taxes! If we’re smart with how we spend this, we can all be set for life!”

“Or you could buy some of those magic items you’re always drooling over,” pointed out Valor. “Wasn’t there a harp you wanted the last time we went to Viljatown’s magic shop?”

“Ooh, I remember that!” Her eyes lighting up, Spinner gave an excited squeal. “The shopkeeper said that when you play it properly, it can neutralize poisons and diseases!”

Woodheart furrowed her brow at that. “How does that work?”

“I don’t know, but I could buy it and find out now!” whooped the bard. “Whaddaya say, Shadow? Shopping trip when we get back? Just think of all the magical masks you could-, er...”

Catching the diamonds she’d been juggling as her brain caught up to her mouth, Spinner gave Woodheart an apologetic look. “Sorry. Too soon?”

Smiling at the consideration, Woodheart shook her head. “It’s okay. I’m not upset about it, although it was nice that Lex apologized.”

Shadow raised a brow. “He apologized? When?”

“Well, he didn’t apologize apologize,” admitted Woodheart. “But I think he was trying to, with how considerate he was being about...you know...the fey and everything.”

“Yeah, are we going to talk about that at all?” broke in Valor. “I mean, not the fey part – I don’t want to poke my nose into anyone else’s sacred mysteries – but about Lex being a god now?”

“He said he was a titan,” corrected Shadow, “and don’t tell me you believed that crap? He’s clearly blowing smoke, probably so he can keep his little cult of wives and concubines going.”

Spinner grimaced. “He seemed pretty titan-esque to me. I mean, I’m not too sure what a titan even is, but the way he looked just now...”

“Do you think he really killed some gods?” murmured Woodheart. “I thought gods weren’t able to die. That’s how Mysty made it sound, at least.”

“Of course he didn’t, he’s completely full of it,” insisted Shadow. “He’s clearly gone through some tough fights since we last saw him – that prosthetic leg he’s got now is proof enough of that – but I’m sure if Mysty was here she’d be able to say that he’s just using some sort of, I don’t know...fear aura spell on himself.”

“If that’s a spell, it’s a pretty good one.” A shiver ran down Valor’s spine then. “I haven’t felt that frightened since before I got Makwa’s totem, when that wyvern attacked my kid brother and me while we were out hunting. Except this was worse.”

“I’m a little worried that Solvei isn’t here, either,” sighed Woodheart. “After how she died saving us before, I really wanted to see her again.”

“Yeah, that kind of bothered me too,” admitted Spinner. “No one ever says that someone is ‘indisposed’ unless something’s happened and they don’t want you asking questions.”

Shadow glanced at the door to the luxurious room Nisha had taken them to. “Maybe that’s what happened.”

Spinner grimaced. “Can we leave the leading statements to me, please? As a bard, I’m trained in capturing people’s attention.”

“At least until Woodheart here takes off her robe,” snickered Valor.

“Oh please, anyone can make a spectacle of themselves if they strip naked in public,” snorted Spinner.

“Which reminds me,” murmured Woodheart, shimmying out of her only article of clothing.

“Getting people to hang off your every word is an art form,” continued the bard. “Case in point, we’re talking about my technique right now, instead of Shadow’s oh-so-mysterious ‘maybe that’s what happened.’”

“I think Solvei might be dead.”

Shadow’s blunt statement brought all conversation to a halt, the other three looking at her with wide eyes.

“...what?” asked Valor at last, looking horrified by the suggestion.

“Think about it,” urged Shadow. “Lex was never stable to begin with, we all know that, and he went completely to pieces when Solvei died before. If she was killed again – probably by whatever chopped his leg off – maybe that was more than he could handle, and it’s why he thinks he’s a god or a titan or whatever he’s saying he is now.”

Another round of looks were exchanged, this time with growing concern.

Woodheart bit her lip. “That would explain why he’s here in Akna’s village. I mean, he needed her to resurrect Solvei last time, right? Maybe he’s looking for another adlet to take back to the Shrine of the Starless Sky so he can reincarnate her in them.”

“And why he’s suddenly got wives and concubines and that sexy she-demon now,” added Valor. “Even if he’s not a sun cat, he’s still a guy, and my aunt always said that sex is how they deal with grief.”

“Is that why he gave us all of these diamonds?” Spinner held up the perfectly-cut gemstones, looking at them in a new light. “Because he’s trying to pay us to shut up and go away?”

“What other explanation is there?” Standing up, Shadow began to pace the room, one hoof to her chin. “We know Lex can’t get her resurrected the normal way. Remember what Mysty said the night we first met him? About how the Night Mare only gives ‘greater blessings’ – like Lex’s master over magical beasts – to one pony, and the one with that particular blessing is the head of her temple in Viljatown?”

“I swear I know that guy’s name.” Spinner furrowed her brow, trying to remember. “I heard it a while back when we were church-hopping to see if any of them were celebrating a holy day that involved discount healing potions. Grand Darklord. Gloom Deadlight. Something like that.”

“Whatever his name is, there’s no way he’s going to help Lex out, not when he’s a religious schism waiting to happen,” concluded Shadow.

Valor raised a brow. “Is that how that works?”

Shadow gave her a pointed look. “Remember what you told me before? About how a lot of the sun cats reacted when they found out that Makwa had given you a totem, even though you’re a pony? It’d be like that, except worse.”

“But couldn’t he just get someone at a different temple to cast a resurrection spell if that guy in the Night Mare’s won’t do it?” asked Woodheart.

Already shaking her head, Shadow went back to pacing. “No, there’s no way someone who’s that devoted to the Night Mare would ask the cleric of another god to resurrect Solvei for him. That’d be like admitting that his faith in his goddess isn’t enough to get the job done. He’d probably be excommunicated or defrocked or whatever.”

“Not to mention that you need a bigger diamond than any of these to cast a resurrection spell,” added Spinner. “And there’s no way any temple anywhere, if they even have a cleric who’s able to cast it, would use any of their own diamonds.”

“So Lex, never the sanest of ponies, has lost Solvei,” murmured Shadow, more to herself than any of her friends. “Probably fighting Sissel, or maybe whoever her ‘Mother’ was. It drives him completely around the bend, but not so much that he doesn’t make a plan, coming here to get another adlet to try and resurrect her with.”

“So where do all the other girls fit into this?” chimed in Valor. “He said he’s got four wives now, right? Plus that fey lady in the raven armor as a concubine?”

“Maybe Sissel and Grisela had some more siblings,” offered Spinner. “We didn’t know about Vidrig and Paska until they ambushed us. Maybe Lex killed Sissel and their mother and made the prettiest girls from among the survivors marry him in exchange for sparing their lives!”

“It does make sense,” agreed Woodheart. “In the forest, there are a lot of animals who’ll kill a rival and then mate with their females. And we did see a bunch of other cute girls when we arrived here, remember?”

Shadow nodded. “And he’d have an even easier time controlling them if some of them are magical beasts that he can command with his blessing. The question now is what do we do about it?”

Valor scoffed. “What do you mean what do we do about it? If Lex is going to try and trick – or worse, force – one of the adlet girls here into becoming some sort of vessel for Solvei, then we have to help her!”

“And if he has made some of Sissel’s sisters into his wives, that’s kinda skeevy, you know what I mean?” added Spinner. “I mean, I get that their family was trying to kill us, but that doesn’t give him the right to, you know...take liberties with them like that...”

“Which is all true” – Shadow sat back down then, giving the others a level look – “but this is the guy that we couldn’t beat when he was just a normal stallion. Now we’re down a member, he’s become some sort of clawed monster thanks to what happened in the Shrine, and he’s got who knows how many girls in thrall. As much as I hate to admit it, we can’t win a fight against him the way he is now.”

“Meep! Meep meep!”

Looking up from where he was gnawing on a diamond, Littleknight’s ears rose as he suddenly looked toward the door, nose twitching.

“Littleknight says he hears something outside,” translated Woodheart. “And there’s a scent of fox also.”

“Must be that girl he said was his third wife,” murmured Shadow as she eased over to the door. “Stay quiet.”

Everyone held their breath as she opened it a crack, glancing out for a moment before quietly closing it. “Okay, that was unexpected...”

“For the record,” whispered Spinner. “A line like that is one of the best ways to make people hang off of your every word.”

Valor gave the bard a wry look before looking back at Shadow. “Well?”

“It wasn’t her,” answered the masked mare. “Instead, it was a couple other fox girls, all with different numbers of tails...and all carrying diamonds like ours.”

Woodheart frowned. “Why? Where are they going?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Shadow. “But I think we should go find out.”

“I’m always up for rescuing innocent diamonds from danger,” chuckled Spinner, making sure to tuck Mister Shiny and Mister Sparkly and all of their compatriots into her extradimensional bag, the others getting their things together.

In less than a minute, Fail Forward was ready for action.

Exchanging one last round of nods, they opened the door and quietly crept after the fox girls.

Author's Note

Coming to the wrong idea about what’s going on with Solvei, Fail Forward tails Yuyan as she goes to address the adlets!

Will the earth mares manage to correct their mistaken impressions before anything goes wrong? Or is this another disaster in the making?