Freeport Venture: Old Wounds

by Chengar Qordath

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Drama, Changelings, Original Character, Adventure, Sunset Shimmer
Length: 42641

When Sunset Shimmer's father arrives in Freeport hunting a warlock he's obsessed with capturing, Sunset finds herself dragged into the case no matter how much she wants to stay out of it.

When Sunset Shimmer's father shows up in Freeport chasing the infamous warlock Steel Rose, the last thing she wants is to get involved. She's still recovering from the madness in Northmarch and her battle against the dragon Blackfyre, and her father's obsession with capturing Steel Rose drove him to effectively abandon his family.

However, as the magus of Freeport Sunset can't ignore a dangerous warlock running loose in her city's streets just because of personal baggage. Once she finds herself reluctantly dragged into her father's obsession, she discovers there's far more going on than she's been told.

Published 2019-07-20 15:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2019-08-31 17:36:04 UTC

Old Wounds 1

I hadn’t been idle for the month or so after I got back from the North. Being gone for a couple months had left me with plenty of minor messes to clean up, and Puzzle had pretty much dropped off the radar to put his business back in order. Not to mention there was all the work to get started on my school. I would’ve thought that getting my funding squared away would solve all the problems, but all it really did was replace them with a ton of new ones: finding and buying the land for the school, getting an architect to design it, a construction company to do the actual building, sourcing all the materials I would need ... and that was just getting the actual building. Turning that empty building into a school was a whole other mess.

Thankfully, I had a few less stressful side projects to keep my mind occupied. First and foremost, my new leg. Celestia and I had done a very good of getting all the basics hammered out, but there was still plenty of room for fine-tuning. Not to mention that now that I had all the basics down I could experiment a bit.

One of those experiments was currently trundling its way along the floor of my lab: a miniature golem, if you could even call it that. After all, golems were much more sophisticated than what I’d made. All this thing could do was walk forwards and backwards. It wasn’t useful for very much other than testing a whole lot of designs for artificial legs and studying how they moved. A full-size prototype might’ve been a bit more accurate, but a quarter-size one was a lot easier to work with. Once I had a solid proof of concept I could scale it up for more advanced tests.

However, the small size did come with one or two complications I hadn’t anticipated. The door to my lab opened, and my apprentice Kukri Doo stepped in. “Shimmer-mare, this one was wondering if—” Whatever question or errand had brought her here fled from her mind when she spotted my miniature golem. Her ears perked up. “What’s that?”

I suppose I should’ve known it would get her attention. Being curious and asking lots of questions was pretty much a job requirement for apprentices. “Just a test golem to try out a couple different walking models. I’m not sticking anything on my leg before putting it through a lot of prototype testing.”

She zipped over, he eyes wide as studied it. “Look at it’s little legs! It’s so tiny!” She accidentally got in the golem’s way, and it lightly bumped up against her legs like an affectionate cat. “What did you even base this off of?! It’s adorable!”

I snickered as I watched her gush. “I just kind of hammered something together. Not that hard to just take the basic leg design, multiply it by four, and then make a simple chassis to hold them all together.”

Kukri blinked and stared up at me. “Really? No anatomical models or blueprints or anything like that? You just ... made it?”

I shrugged. “It’s just a basic prototype, and I have a bit of experience in the field.” Not to mention a lifetime of experience at golemancy thanks to the time I’d used mind magic to take down a rogue golem-builder turned pirate. I wasn’t all that proud of how I’d gotten the knowledge, but now that I had it I might as well put it to good use.

“That’s true.” Kukri’s eyes flicked down to my artificial leg, then quickly turned away. I knew it was a bit of a sore point for her. Me too, if I’m honest. It’d probably be good for Kukri to get some kind of therapy after everything that happened in the North, but that wasn’t exactly a topic I could broach with her parents. I doubt they would be happy to hear that what was supposed to be a safe and simple field trip wound up traumatizing their daughter badly enough to need therapy. As it was, her parents were upset enough to find out their daughter had wound up in the middle of a warzone.

In any case, even if she was hurting she was a resilient kid and she bounced back fast. She grinned down at my little test golem. “Is it weird that this one wants to hug that thing?”

I snorted and shook my head. “Maybe a little, but by now we’re used to dealing with weird. After all, Strumming is working here.”

Kukri snorted softly. “This one still can’t believe how much junk food she has.” She pulled out a candy bar and started idly munching on it. “Not that it’s complaining. There’s enough that she doesn’t miss a few bars.”

I sighed and shook my head. “Don’t ruin your supper.” How Strumming could eat so many chips and so much candy without gaining any weight remained a mystery to me.

“This one knows how to be responsible,” Kukri mumbled just a touch petulantly. My cute little apprentice was growing up, almost at the point of being a teenager. She was certainly starting to show the warning signs she’d be acting like one soon.

Fortunately, she was still young enough to have her moments of innocent cuteness. She grinned down at the golem. “Can this one learn how to make one of these for itself? It is your apprentice and all.”

Ah. That was a bit of a thorny question. Back when I’d recovered Metal Mome’s golem designs, I’d made a point of keeping them from the Council and destroying all of his blueprints. Even if I was using some of that knowledge now, I wasn’t eager to have it get out into the world for everyone to use. Especially since the Council would figure out I’d held the information back.

On the other hoof ... I wasn’t sharing it with the entire world, just Kukri. She was my apprentice, and I trusted her. Not sharing my knowledge with her wouldn’t look good. Fortunately, I could put that issue off for the moment. “Maybe, but we've got a lot to cover before you need to worry about golemancy. Walk before you can run.”

Kukri snorted softly. “Fitting, considering what this thing does. Still...” She watched my golem walking along with wide, eager eyes. “Please teach this one, Shimmer-mare? Please please pleeeeeeeease? That’s the most amazing thing this one has ever seen, and it really wants to be able to make its own someday. This one will clean your entire tower with a toothbrush if that’s what it has to do to learn how to make one of those!”

I smiled and gave her a quick pat on the head. “You don’t have to do something like that.” Aside from the occasional bit of light discipline, making Kukri do chores or menial labor was a waste of her time and potential. Aside from lab cleanup, but that was as much a lesson as a chore. “Well, even if you’re years away from being able to mess around with your own golems, I suppose there’s no harm is laying a few basic foundations. To start with—”

Because the universe has a twisted sense of humor, someone picked that exact moment to knock at my front door. Kukri let out an exasperated sigh. “The Heartstrings-mare will get it.”

“She’s having lunch with Puzzle.” I gave her a quick pat on the back. “Relax, it’s probably just the mail or someone trying to sell me something.” Big shock, ever since the massive influx of wealth from helping to take down a dragon, I’d been bombarded by investment offers, exiled Zebrican princes who needed help reclaiming their throne, and even a couple of loonies who wanted to try and court me so they could marry into wealth.

“This one still thinks we should add a spray bottle to your front door,” Kukri grumbled. “We could use something relatively harmless like water for the nice one, nasty spoiled milk or rotten eggs for the ones who annoy us, and for really bad ones...”

“No, Kukri.” Not that the idea wasn’t a bit tempting, but there was no point in making enemies when we didn’t have to. Not to mention it would probably just be a matter of time before she accidentally used it on someone important.

“Yeah yeah, this one knows...” She sighed and trudged over to get the door, shifting into her usual disguise as she did so. I’ve always heard that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery, so her current disguise was pretty flattering. It wasn’t exactly a carbon copy of me, but it was close enough that most strangers would assume we were related. Considering her mild case of hero worship, I’m sure Kukri didn’t see that as a problem.

While she did that, I quickly put my little walking golem away. I wanted that project kept quiet for the moment, and while it was probably just another one of the usual annoyances there was always a chance I’d need to talk to whoever this visitor was. Hay, for all I knew, it could be Puzzle or a Council Rep at the front door.

I heard the front door open and Kukri put on her best friendly voice. “Hi! Can this one help you?”

I tensed up as soon as I heard who answered her. It had been years since I’d heard that voice, but there are some voices you never forget. “Yes, hello, I...” He trailed off uncertainly, no doubt staring down at my apprentice and the uncanny resemblance. “You’re her apprentice, right? The one who’s a changeling?”

“This one’s Kukri Doo, apprentice to Magus Sunset Shimmer.” I could hear the touch of wariness in her voice. “Are you here to see her?”

“I, ah yes.” He chuckled softly. “Sorry, it’s just ... well the resemblance is uncanny enough that for a moment I was wondering if I had a second daughter. Or if I’d somehow become a grandfather far too soon.” He cleared his throat. “Right, I should probably introduce myself before you think I’m a crazy pony. I’m—”

I stepped into the room. “Archmagus Solar Shimmer of the Eastern March.”

Solar blinked, then looked over at me with a hopeful smile. “‘Dad’ works just fine too.”

“Mmm.” I was tempted to point out that he’d pretty much defaulted on having any claim to that title after years of absence, but I really wasn’t in the mood to drag up a bunch of old baggage. Granted, unless I missed my guess, that was exactly why he was here. The only question was if he’d stopped by to talk about the fact that he and Scarlett were getting divorced or if the far less charitable but far more likely explanation was true: Steel Rose was in Freeport, and he wanted my help in his crazy obsessive warlock hunt.

Kukri’s eyes flicked back and forth between us. Solar did have a pretty clear family resemblance, with his coat color being just a touch darker than mine. The big differences were a mane that had gone white early, and the seemingly perpetual unshaved scruff on his chin and neck. You’d think he would have at least cleaned up a bit before seeing me for the first time in years. Judging by his heavy travel robes, he’d only just gotten into Freeport. Our winters were far too mild to need any sort of heavy clothing, although that might just be a precaution against the next winter rainstorm considering how quickly those could come in. Even if they weren’t cold, they did drop enough rain that going outside without heavy clothing was a bad idea.

Solar hesitated in the doorway, shuffling in place. After the silence lasted just long enough to make it awkward, he asked. “Ah, may I come in?”

“Right, of course.” Even if I had a feeling this conversation might end with me tossing him out, there was no reason not to be civil until we got to the point. Who knew? Maybe breaking up with Scarlett had been the wakeup call he needed, and now he was here to make amends. I wasn’t going to hold my breath, but I’d be lying if I said part of me wasn’t hoping for it. “Kukri, could you put on some tea?” I glanced back at Solar. “You like Earl Grey, right?”

Solar smiled. “You remembered.” Considering how good my memory was, that didn’t mean as much as he seemed to think it did.

“Sure thing, Shimmer-mare.” She curiously glanced over at Solar. “Was there anything else you wanted? We have ... um ...biscuits, chips, candy...”

“Just a bit of tea for now,” Solar answered. “Though I was hoping I could treat you to a meal out a bit later, Sunset. It’s been a long time since we had a chance to catch up, and it seems like I missed a lot.”

I waited until Kukri left the room before answering. “Yeah, it has been.” It was taking a real effort to keep things nice and at least semi-friendly. I didn’t want to rip into him when he was clearly trying hard to be nice, but I had plenty of experience telling me that it was just a matter of time before this went wrong. “So what brings you to Freeport?”

He took a deep breath. “It’s been years since the last time I saw you.” His eyes flicked down to my legs. “And ... I heard about everything that happened in the North. Princess Celestia and Scarlett both wrote to me about it. I wish I could’ve gotten there in time to help, but I was on the wrong side of Gryphonia. By the sound of things, it was all over by the time I heard anything.”

“Pretty much.” It was still kind of crazy to think so much had happened in so little time. I guess that’s how it always is with those sorts of crazy adventures. My whole life gets turned upside down in the course of a couple weeks, and then I need to sort it all out and get back to normal.

He took a seat in one of my guest chairs, his eyes flicking down to my legs again. “That, um ... I suppose I could congratulate you on doing so well with your prosthetic. If Celestia hadn’t mentioned it in her letter I never would have guessed. Are you ... are you doing alright? Is there anything I can do to help?”

I suppose I should give him some credit for at least trying to act like a father, even if it was about a decade too late. “I’m fine. You?”

He coughed and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Oh, well enough I suppose. Just ... well I’ve been very busy.”

“You always were,” I muttered. “Didn’t think that would ever change.”

Solar winced, and things went quiet for a bit. Kukri came in with tea, but beat a quiet retreat as soon as she picked up on the mood of the room. Solar glanced down at his teacup, then sighed and shook his head. “Sunset, I haven’t seen you in years. I’d really appreciate if we could not have this immediately turn into a fight. Maybe even spend a day or two together like an actual father and daughter.”

That’d be nice, but... “Solar, like you said, it’s been years since the last time I’ve seen you. You might have noticed how I’m not a kid anymore, but a full-grown adult. You can’t just leave for five years, then expect everything to be back to normal when you come back. You and Scarlett are getting divorced because you’re never around, and I never even had the chance to get to know you as well as she did.”

Solar’s gaze dropped to the floor. “Sunset, I...”

The guilty act wasn’t working on me. Well okay, it probably wasn’t an act. But just because he felt really bad about abandoning his family didn’t make up for the fact that he’d done it. Still, maybe it was a start. “So are you here to apologize and try to make amends?”

He took a deep breath and met my eyes. “I would like to make things right. I know I haven’t been there for you or your mother. It wasn’t ... I never meant to abandon my family.”

“But you did.” I was tempted to twist the knife a bit more, but there wasn’t much point to it. He already looked so guilty it’d just be kicking him while he was down. “But fine, you want to try and make up for that. I’m not saying you get instant forgiveness just for realizing you messed up and asking for it, but I’ll give you a chance to earn it.”

He nodded, and a bit of the tension left his shoulders. He picked up his cup of tea and took a sip. “Good. We do have a lot to catch up on. Like you said, you’re a full-grown adult now, one who has her own life in Freeport. I’d like to at least hear a bit about it. The letters from Scarlett and Celestia are a poor substitute for actually spending time with you.”

I took a deep breath, then settled into the chair opposite him. “Fine. If that’s what you really want to do, I’m sure I can make some time for you.” It sounded nice. What vague memories I had of Solar weren’t anywhere near as troubled as Scarlett. Of course, it was probably a lot easier to keep all the memories happy when there were so few of them. Stopping in Canterlot for a couple days, then vanishing for another year to chase after his obsession.

Which brought it all back to the one issue that was going to hang over his visit until I got a straight answer. “So is Steel Rose in Freeport?”

Solar winced and set the teacup down hard enough to make it rattle. Which I suppose answered that question. “Sunset, that’s not...”

I crossed my forelegs over my chest and hit him with an uncompromising glare. “Yes or no answer. Is she here?”

He slumped down into his chair with a weary sigh. “Yes, she’s in Freeport.”

I’d suspected it from the moment he showed up on my doorstep. Steel would be far from the first warlock to settle into Freeport, or at least come passing through. Still, the confirmation stung a lot more than I thought it would. I guess despite knowing it wouldn’t happen, a part of me had still hoped he was on the level. “So this visit isn’t about me at all. Not like you’d ever bother to actually spend time with your family unless Steel Rose happens to be nearby.”

Solar groaned and ran a hoof through his mane. “That’s not fair, Sunset. I owe it to Gingersnap and Golden Aster to stop Steel Rose. I can’t let their killer go free to keep causing more death and destruction. Just because I have duties doesn’t mean I don’t care about you and your mother. I do, and more than anything I wish I could spend more time with both of you.”

“Clearly you don’t want it ‘more than anything,’” I pointed out. “You don’t want it more than you want to take down Steel Rose.” I decided to apply one of those bits of advice Puzzle had shared with me a while back and connected the two things Solar said he wanted to work out what he was up to. “Then let me guess: you know Steel’s somewhere in Freeport but you don’t know where exactly and you don’t have any local contacts like I do, so you come to me to ask for help, because as the local magus I could certainly help you dig up any big nasty warlocks that might be hiding out in my city. Why not combine your obsession with a little bit of father-daughter bonding time? Who knows, maybe this time you’ll catch her with my help? We’ll bond, we’ll make up, and then you’ll finally get time to spend time with your little filly like you always wanted to. Did I miss any details or get anything wrong?”

Solar didn’t say anything, just sitting there staring down at his half-empty teacup. As the silence dragged on, it wasn’t hard to figure out why he wasn’t answering. He wasn’t willing to outright lie to me, but he couldn’t find out any way to tell the truth that wasn’t admitting I was right. I gave him enough time to try to talk himself out of it, but once it was clear that wasn’t happening I let him have it. “I think it’s time for you to leave. You can come back once you’ve finally dealt with Steel Rose, assuming you ever do.”

Solar let out a heavy sigh and slowly rose from his seat. “I’m sorry, Sunset. It was nice to see you again, even if it was just for a bit. Maybe...” He shook his head, then slowly headed for the door. He took his time, almost like he was hoping I would change my mind or relent at the last second. I didn’t.

Bad enough that he’d abandoned his family to chase after that obsession. There was no way I would ever let myself get pulled into it along with him.

After Solar’s visit, I went back to my training room to let off some steam. I’d been doing a lot more practice with my combat magic since getting back from the North. On top of all the changes to my personal magic from whatever happened with Chainbreaker and the spirits of its wielders, I’d gotten several painful lessons about how much room I still had to improve. Not to mention I needed to make sure all my combat reflexes were still sharp now that I had a new leg.

Spellcasting practice was easy enough, even if I’d had to upgrade the safety spells on my room. The old wards wouldn’t have lasted very long now that I was playing with a lot more raw power. However, the real tricky part was getting used to using a sword. Swordsmareship hadn’t been part of Celestia’s curriculum, and even if I was mostly a magus I’d be a fool to ignore just how useful Chainbreaker could be in a fight.

Before the trip up north, I’d been getting a few informal close quarters combat lessons from Kukri’s mother, but things had been a bit awkward with Knives since I got back. Not outright hostile or anything, but I wasn’t quite comfortable asking her for any favors while she was still upset with me for putting her daughter into mortal peril. Even if I had a trainer, there was the issue of Chainbreaker itself. The Council really didn’t want me taking it out of the museum unless it was an emergency, and a practice session hardly qualified. I’d gotten a couple blacksmiths to try and make a passable replica for sparring and practice sessions, but none of them had the same feel as the real sword. Still, they sufficed for getting down the basics.

I was in the middle of working on how to try and combine swordplay and spellwork when Strumming knocked on the door. “It okay if I come in? Don’t wanna get set on fire or have my head lopped off.”

I set the replica sword to the side, and used a quick spell to get rid of the sweat I’d been building up. One of the hidden perks of being a pyromancer, I could do a fair bit to regulate my own body temperature. “Come on in.”

Strumming stepped into the room, weaving around the disfigured and incinerated training targets. “Ah, the good old Bacon venting special. Though I guess I should’ve seen that coming.” She flopped down onto an empty bench next to my discarded robes. “Puzzle got word about halfway through lunch that your dad was in town, and we figured you’d be his first port of call. Bug Boy’s doing some digging to see if he can turn up anything about Steel Rose. Seemed a pretty safe bet that if he’s here...”

“Yeah, she is too,” I confirmed.

Strumming shifted around so she was lying on her back. “Ooof, too much pie at lunch. But yeah, judging by the way you went into full pissed-off training mode after he left, I’m gonna take a wild guess and say dear old dad asked you to help him catch that warlock he abandoned you to go after, and you told him to go feather himself.”

“Pretty much.” I sat down on the bench next to her, using my magic to retrieve a glass of water.

“Figures. Really, he should’ve seen that answer coming a mile away.” Strumming shifted from lying on her back to lying on her side. “Although ... well you know how it’s one of my things to be the friend who tells you stuff you need to know but don’t wanna hear? Well, I think this is one of those times I need to do my thing.”

“Better be sure about that,” I grumbled.

“I am.” She shifted around to sit on the bench properly, putting on a bit more of a professional air instead of her usual lackadaisical eccentricity. She really was taking this seriously. “There’s a warlock in your city—one responsible for the deaths of two magi, and it’s not like she’s been a model citizen since then. A warlock who’s managed to evade capture for a decade and change despite being chased by a very determined-to-the-point-of-unhealthy-obsession archmage. Given that track record, she can’t be up to anything good.”

“Is there a point you’re trying to make?” I growled.

“Yup.” She kept her gaze fixed on me. “Let’s just put all that personal baggage to one side for the moment. You don’t wanna get mixed up in daddy’s obsession, I get that. Can’t blame you for wanting to stay well clear considering what a mess it’s made of his life. But just because he’s got an unhealthy obsession doesn’t mean Steel’s not a warlock who needs to be stopped. What’re you gonna do if she’s planning some dark ritual that’ll kill a dozen kids or something? Just let her get away with it because of your dad issues? Obviously not. Yeah, we don’t know if that’s what she’s up to, but she’s a warlock. It’s a pretty safe bet that whatever she’s up to is some sort of horrible dark magic thing that will get innocent ponies killed if someone doesn’t stop her.”

That ... was probably right. I admittedly hadn’t done a ton of digging into the whole Steel Rose thing, precisely because I didn’t want anything to do with Solar’s obsession. But yeah, she was a warlock who was dangerous enough to take down two Magi who were good enough to be old school friends of Solar, and then stay ahead of him for this long. That sounded like a seriously dangerous warlock.

If a warlock like that came into my city ... yeah, of course I’d try to take them down. Which meant that the only reason I wanted to sit this one out was because of all the issues stemming from Solar’s involvement. On the one hoof, it made total sense to not get mixed up in that. On the other ... yeah, if I sat this one out and innocent ponies died, that was on me. It’s not like I could go to the families of the dead and tell them ‘sorry, but I had some personal baggage with my father so I couldn’t save them.’

Which meant ... “Dammit, I really don’t want to get involved in this.”

“Welcome to the world of being a responsible adult with a conscience and sense of ethics. Means you gotta do the right thing even when you really don’t wanna.” A hint of a humorless grin tugged at her lips. “Sucks, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.” I took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “But doing the wrong thing would be even worse. So I guess I’ll need to talk to Solar again. And do some research on Steel Rose.”

“Pretty much,” Strumming agreed. “Figured it might play out that way, so I took the liberty of getting a few things together.” She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out two files. “Old EIS records on Steel Rose, and the info Puzzle dug up a while back.”

“EIS files?” I took both the folders. “Are you supposed to have those when you don’t work for them anymore?”

Strumming shrugged. “Well, I was allowed to have them back when I did work for them, and nobody asked for them back when I gave them my two weeks’ notice. Not really a lot in there that Bug Boy didn’t already know anyway.”

I frowned down at the papers. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you both had files on the Steel Rose case just sitting around.”

“It’s like we saw this coming,” Strumming agreed. “It’s not that rare for warlocks to show up in Freeport at some point, whether it’s to lie low or if they’re just passing through. And if Steel and your dad are both here, it seemed pretty likely you’d get mixed up in it one way or the other. This was one of the first things we hammered out a contingency plan for years back.”

“Right.” From the instant Solar’d shown up outside my door, I’d been pretty sure it meant that Steel was in Freeport. Much as I’d hoped that wasn’t the case, I would’ve been surprised if it wasn’t. “Well, if I am getting mixed up in this, might as well do it properly.” I opened up the first of the files and started flipping through it. The EIS had been very thorough, and Puzzle’s folder looked just as thick. “I’ll go over these properly in a bit, but think you could give me a quick sum-up of the most important bits?”

“Can do, boss-mare.” Strumming snapped off a cheeky salute. “Like you can guess from the name, Steel’s specialty is metal manipulation. No history on her before the assassination of your dad’s two friends, so we’re assuming the name’s an alias. Pretty common for warlocks, gotta go with a name that inspires fear in the masses. Nobody’s gonna take their new dark overlord of doom seriously with a name like Sunshine Smiles. Credit where it’s due, ‘Steel Rose’ is a lot more grounded than the usual fare like Dreadspike Bloodkiller.

“Anyway, considering she goes around wearing a full steel facemask and has an alias, it’s no surprise we can’t pin down any solid history on her.” Strumming frowned down at a photo of the warlock. “Nothing that looks like a likely prior ID, like some small-timer with a similar MO. Looked at a few other usual suspects, friends and family of baddies Aster and Ginger took down; nothing there either. Doesn’t have any known association with some sort of evil cult either. Our best guess is Steel’s a pacter of some sort.”

“Joy.” I knew enough warlock hunting to be familiar with the basic trends. Warlocks usually came in one of four flavors: magical criminals who slowly built their way up from minor nuisance to serious threat, members of crazy dark magic cults, magi who turned bad, and pacters. Out of all the warlocks, pacters were the trickiest to deal with. Ponies who’d stumbled their way into making a pact with some big nasty being, gotten their hooves on an evil artifact, stuff like that.

The big issue when it came to dealing with pacters was all the unknowns. Criminals with a long slowly escalating rap sheet were easy to figure out, as were fallen magi and cultists. Pacters ... well it was kind of a catch-all category that covered a lot of different things. Since they got their power boost from another being or some magical item, each one operated differently. Not to mention a lot of pacters had a ton of power but little discipline or experience in using it, which tended to end in them doing something really stupid and incredibly destructive.

Even if you did take a pacter down, that just left a new raft of issues to deal with. Starlight’s trial in absentia was still working its way through Freeport’s court system, despite the fact that I’d come back to Freeport with a full signed confession and plea deal. It was hard to tell the difference between an evil pony who’d deliberately sought out dark magic and one who just stumbled across a pretty necklace and put it on, blissfully unaware that it would corrupt them into a cackling lunatic. For all we knew, Steel Rose could just be an innocent kid who was nothing more than a meat-puppet for some artifact or demon.

Then again, that was only an issue if we got the point of needing a trial. While Magus Corps policy was to try and take pacters alive if practical since they might be innocent, sometimes they were dangerous enough that they just had to be stopped. Steel had managed to kill two pretty skilled magi in a straight fight, and had a pretty long and infamous career since then. I wasn’t out for blood, but if I had to get involved in this mess, I wanted to close the book on it.

“Any known associates or leads on what she’s doing in Freeport?” I asked.

“Nothing solid in the files.” Strumming shrugged. “Bug Boy got to work on digging for info in all the usual places, so he might have something to go on in a bit. We kinda figured you’d get involved, and even if you didn’t we could always just forward the info to your dad with a nice little friends-and-family discount. One advantage of the whole robe and mask thing, she does kinda stand out in a crowd.” She trailed off with a frown. “Unless she ditches the getup for day-to-day stuff, which would make a lot of sense to do when we don’t know what she looks like mask-less.”

“It would.” I agreed. My eyes flicked down to the files one more time, and I realized there was one other thing I’d have to do. Something I really wasn’t looking forward to. “If we’re making a target of Steel Rose, it’d make a lot more sense to work with Solar.”

“Yup,” Strumming agreed, sounding about as enthusiastic as I felt. “Our files are good, but I’m sure he knows all kinds of little details that never made it into an official report. You never know when that little stuff might matter.”

“Not to mention there’s no sense splitting our efforts,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, long as everyone’s on the same page.” Strumming leaned in a bit closer. “Which ... kinda brings me to the one other big thing I figure I should give you a heads-up on. Solar’s under internal investigation. The Archmagus of Canterlot put one of her top ponies on it. Naturally it’s supposed to be double-secret, but you know how us spies love finding out things we’re not supposed to know about.”

“Actually, I’d be more surprised if he wasn’t.” I sighed and ran a hoof through my mane. “He’s been neglecting his family to the point of abandonment for years to chase after Steel, I’m gonna bet he hasn’t tended to all of his Archmagus duties either. The investigation is probably meant to build up an official paper trail and gather enough evidence to justify a special conclave to remove him from office. Even if he hasn’t screwed up bad enough to make it completely clear he needs to be removed, I’m sure there are plenty of ponies in the Corps who’d love to have a new Archmagus spot open up.”

“Wouldn’t bet against that being part of it,” Strumming agreed. “Politics is like pudding: there’s always room for it. But that’s not the whole picture. After all, the Corps generally doesn’t object to an Archmage chasing after a dangerous warlock with multiple mage kills. Taking down the really nasty baddies is one of the things they’re supposed to do. Thing is, they’ve started thinking there’s more to it than Solar’s saying.”

I felt something vaguely sickening settling into the pit of my stomach as I started to guess what it might be. “What do you mean?”

“It’s not pretty,” Strumming warned me. “Quick sum-up, once Steel kept herself ahead of Solar for a good while, the other mages started putting pressure on him. Started off real nice, offering him additional resources to help bring her in. He turned them down. They suggested he reassign someone else to the case, and he ignored them. They went from asking and suggesting to telling, with similar results.”

She took a deep breath. “That’s when Scarlett sent one of her top agents to try and take down Steel independent of him. Guess she figured it was her best shot at getting her husband back. The agent came back without Steel a couple months later. She’s been mum about what happened, but she had her first meeting with a divorce attorney a couple days later. Oh, and Scarlett put that magus on a new long-term assignment up north, so with the new mess up there it’ll be years before anyone can push him for info.”

“Which made the others suspect she found something bad,” I finished. “And now they think it might not just be a case of an Archmagus who’s a bit too determined to take down this one warlock he has a personal grudge against.”

“Kinda changes the whole picture,” Strumming agreed. “Sounds crazy to suggest maybe he’s gone bad, but he’s spent years filing really vague reports and refusing to let any outsiders in. Something about it doesn’t smell right, the Corps wants answers, and they’re just about out of patience. If he won’t give them answers, they have to make up their own.” She took a deep breath. “Solar’s not just in danger of losing his Archmagus title, he could be expelled from the Corps entirely or even end up on their rogue list.”

I shook my head. “That can’t be—I mean, he’s completely obsessed with taking down Steel Rose. It wouldn’t make sense for...” I trailed off.

Because that was the problem. It did make sense. A decade, and no closer to catching her than when he stated. Not even any substantive information about her reported back to the Corps. Locking out anyone else from getting involved or helping. Something about it didn’t add up, and with nothing to go on, of course the Corps would fear the worst.

There were too many scenarios that would sound all too plausible to them. Maybe Solar was so obsessed he was willing to obstruct efforts to bring Steel to justice so he could get his personal payback. Maybe he’d started dipping into dark magic after Steel stayed ahead of him for too long. Maybe he was making some dubious deals with other warlocks to try and catch her.

Or ... or maybe it was all a lie. Maybe he’d gone bad long before then, and his two best friends had found out about it. Maybe he’d killed them off to cover it up, made up a warlock to pin the crime on, then used the hunt for Steel as an excuse to head out into the field and do as he pleased with no supervision. It sounded completely insane, but it wouldn’t be the craziest thing that had happened in the Corps’ history.

It couldn’t be true. I sure as hay didn’t want it to be true. Gingersnap and Golden Aster had been his best friends since school. They’d been my bucking godparents! The idea that he ever could’ve betrayed them...

But I couldn’t prove that it wasn’t true. There was something weird and fishy about the entire Steel Rose case, and until I figured out what the hay it was, all I had to fill in the gaps were educated guesses. And a lot of those were terrifying to consider.

It had been bad enough when Solar had just been an absentee father who abandoned his family to avenge his friends. Now ... what if it was a lot worse.

What if my father was a warlock?

Author's Note

As always, thanks to my pre-reading and editing team for all their hard work. Also, I would like to thank all my dedicated Patreon supporters. You guys are awesome.

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Old Wounds 2

One of the perks of being friends with an ex-spy and an information broker, it was a lot easier to find out useful information—like which hotel Solar had booked a room at. I wasn’t looking forward to the meeting, especially after all the new food for thought Strumming had thrown my way. Getting mixed up in Solar’s old obsession had been bad enough, but now I had to worry about whether there was something way dirtier going on. Much as I knew it was my duty to investigate and help bring in a dangerous warlock, I would’ve been a lot happier if this whole mess stayed far away from Freeport.

Solar’s room was at The Golden Galleon, one of Freeport’s high-end hotels. It was the sort of place that had nice rooms, plenty of security, and staff that knew to help their customers without asking too many questions or blabbing to anyone. Which probably meant there was a lot of low-level criminal activity going on, but it also made it the perfect place for an archmage to set up a warlock hunt.

I met up with Puzzle at the hotel lobby, which had a very nice and extremely fancy bar. He’d been there for a bit, judging by the fact that he’d gotten himself a snack. He lazily waved me over to the booth he’d reserved for the both of us. As I took a seat across from him, I felt a privacy ward spring up. Just a low-level suggestion field, not strong enough to keep out someone who was really determined to pry. Still, it was a lot more privacy than most public places offered.

Puzzle smiled when he saw me. “Good to see you, Shimmer-mare. How are you?”

I shrugged and didn’t bother pretending all was well. “Been better. I’m sure you can guess why I’m a bit grumpy.”

Puzzle nodded. “This one can’t fault you for being in a mood considering the circumstances.” He finished off his flatbread, putting the empty plate to the side. “From what the Heartstrings-mare told this one, it presumes your meeting with the Archmagus went poorly?”

“Not like you need to be the best information broken in Freeport to guess that.” I sighed and very briefly considered ordering something from the bar. Normally I never touch alcohol; a drunk pyromancer is just a recipe for trouble. Still, on a day like today I was a bit tempted. “He wants me to help hunt that warlock he’s been obsessing over to the point of abandoning my family. At first I didn’t want anything to do with it, but Steel Rose being in my city is bad news. I might be getting dragged into this kicking and screaming, but I can’t ignore the problem just because it annoys me.” Not to mention the other issues Strumming brought up. If there was something dirty going on, I wanted to get to the bottom of it.

“This one can hardly fault you for not wanting to get involved in a case with this much baggage.” Puzzle frowned, tapping a hoof against the table. “Though if it’s any consolation, this one suspects the case won’t last much longer. It senses we’re moving towards an endgame.”

That got my attention. The idea that the case that had dragged on for over a decade might almost be over was hard to ignore. “What do you mean?”

“Consider the following points.” Puzzle counted them off on the feathertips of his current pegasus disguise. “One, the Shimmer-stallion is under investigation. Assuming there are no shocking revelations, he’s got two to four months before he’s taken off the case and recalled to Canterlot to account for his activities. Secondly, he’s being divorced by his wife, adding to his stress and serving as a stark sign of just how destructive this obsession has been. Third, he’s come to his estranged daughter and asked for her help in his investigation, completely breaking with his pattern of flatly blocking anyone from helping him.”

“He didn’t exactly ask me for help.” Though I knew better than to take that at face value; just because he hadn’t outright asked for help didn’t mean he wasn’t dropping hints and hoping I’d offer to do it on my own. “Still, I see what you’re getting at. Whatever he’s up to needs to get done soon. Once the Corps calls him back, he’ll either have to give up the chase for good or go rogue and lose his entire career.” Not to mention that if he refused to obey a recall order, the Magi would assume the worst when it came to their investigation.

Puzzle nodded. “He has to feel the noose tightening. In all likelihood, this will be his last chance to stop the Rose-mare.” Puzzle’s expression darkened. “Assuming that is his goal.”

“Right.” I grimaced and asked the question I feared I wouldn’t like the answer to. “Have you found any information on the possibility that there’s something fishy?”

“Nothing concrete,” Puzzle assured me. “The evidence for him being anything more than a magus in good standing who’s too obsessed with catching a particular warlock is purely circumstantial. It’s largely down to the fact that he’s never caught her or turned over anything beyond the most cursory evidence in his reports. It’s far from unheard of for a magus to neglect some paperwork while in active pursuit of a suspect, but not for this long. Not to mention how many bridges he’s burned just to keep after Steel Rose.”

Well, at least the evidence was circumstantial. “Anything useful on Steel Rose herself?”

“Far less than this one would like,” Puzzle answered. “So far as this one can tell, she’s a fully independent warlock. Small surprise, no cult or coven wants anything to do with her when she has an Archmagus after her.” A bit of a wry grin tugged at his lips. “In fact, according to this one’s sources, quite a few dark magic practitioners suspect her of being a plant to help draw out warlocks for Solar to destroy.”

“Makes sense. Nobody wants to be friends with someone who has that big of a target on their back.” Warlock covens that could stand up to an Archmage were few and far between, and even the ones with that much power usually didn’t want to risk the fight. Far safer to keep their heads down, at least until they’d come up with some sort of plan to gain enough dark magic power.

“That seems to be the prevailing sentiment,” Puzzle agreed. “That said, while she might not have prominent allies, she still works with the lower end of the dark magic community. Evidently someone has been hiring all the usual suspects. Freeport has no shortage of dumb muscle, and quite a few warlocks and petty magical criminals who are hoping for a chance to graduate into serious dark magic despite the fact that none of them have the intelligence, skill, and talent to ever be more than disposable minions. Rumor has it there’s a new player hiring muscle, and that would certainly fit.”

I grimaced. “Not really a surprise Steel’s looking for some extra numbers, especially since she’s an independent operator. One nice thing about hired goons, they tend to blab a lot more than real followers. Anyone been talking about their new boss and where her base is?”

“Nothing certain yet.” Puzzle shrugged. “The Heartstrings-mare is following up on a few leads and checking some of the usual hiding spots.”

“Right.” Warlocks tended to be drawn to areas with some kind of dark magic taint, and Freeport had several of those thanks to the likes of the Golden Path and the Necrocrats. A lot of the more infamous ones had either been burned to the ground or cleansed and purified, like the ruins of the old Charger clanhold had been. Most of the places left were low-level, like a creepy abandoned warehouse where the petty street warlocks liked to gather for whatever rites they were trying to fumble their way through.

Puzzle frowned and dropped his voice a bit despite the fact that we had a privacy spell covering us. “Though having the Heartstrings-mare on the job does bring up one potential concern. Her ... antipathy towards dark magic users could potentially complicate matters.”

“Hmm, yeah.” I knew Strumming’s past gave her a lot of reasons not to like anyone who played around with dark magic. It was no small part of why the two of us had gotten off on the wrong hoof. I liked to think she’d gotten a lot better about it over the last few years, but putting her in a situation where she had to help out with a warlock hunt was still about as risky as bringing a recovering alcoholic to a bar.

Puzzle seemed to agree. “By all indications, Solar is still working under the current theory that Steel Rose is a pact-warlock and is trying to bring her in alive. Strumming might not be inclined to pursue the same course, especially when there isn’t any reason to believe the Rose-mare isn’t a fully committed warlock beyond a vague theory based purely on an absence of contravening evidence. While powerful warlocks who appear overnight are usually pacters, that is hardly a universal rule, especially when they operate under an assumed name. For all we know, her name could be the latest alias of a career criminal.”

“Good point.” It was a pretty safe bet that Strumming would lean towards the least charitable interpretation of Steel’s actions. “Question though: what makes you so sure that Solar wants to bring Steel in alive? Last I heard, he hadn’t been reporting anything back to the Corps.”

Puzzle shrugged. “It is admittedly speculation, though backed up by some evidence. For one, it is standing policy for the Corps to attempt to capture warlocks alive whenever practical.”

“A policy that’s got a built-in loophole, and isn’t all that strictly enforced for magus-killers,” I countered. “Barring some pretty extreme circumstances or really damning evidence, the Corps wouldn’t go after Solar if Steel Rose wound up getting killed while resisting arrest. Maybe if he straight up executed her while she was in custody or something, but nobody would string him up if he used a fireball during a duel instead of a stunbolt.”

“True,” Puzzle conceded. “However, the other point to consider is that if Solar wanted nothing other than Steel’s blood, this one doubts the chase would have lasted this long. The most likely explanation for how long this has gone on is a stalemate of some sort. Steel is strong enough to evade being taken alive, but not strong enough to kill Solar.”

“Or there are some missing factors we don’t know about,” I pointed out. “Which is a pretty safe bet with how quiet Solar’s kept the whole thing.”

“That may well be so.” Puzzle scowled and shook his head. “Has this one ever mentioned how much it hates not knowing important facts? Because it really does. Especially when they bring up other potential complications, like how those unknowns will interact with other less than predictable factors like the Heartstrings-mare. This one doubts she would hesitate to take a chance to kill such a dangerous warlock should one emerge, and with so many unknowns surrounding Solar and his goals...”

“Right, it could get messy.” I took a deep breath. “I’ll talk to her about it. She said she’d follow my lead next time we needed to deal with a warlock. She did a good job of that when it came to Starlight while we were dealing with that whole mess, and I’m inclined to keep trusting her until she gives me a reason to think she’s not being honest.”

Puzzle nodded. “That is perhaps for the best. Though it dislikes the element of risk in this plan, at some point we need to give her the opportunity to prove herself. Even if that could have unfortunate consequences.”

“Yeah, I think she’s earned a little trust after everything that happened in the North.” And really, as long as there weren’t any big ugly secrets to be revealed, I wasn’t going to shed any tears if Steel wound up dead. She was a warlock who’d killed my godparents and pretty much ruined Solar’s life.

“The Heartstring-mare has at the very least a chance to prove she deserves our trust in this matter,” Puzzle agreed. “Though as long as we’re discussing past incidents and issues that could potentially affect our judgement, that does bring up the issue of yourself.”

I tried not to clench my teeth or sound too pissed off. It was harder than it should’ve been. “I know how to keep it from getting personal.”

Puzzle either missed the warning signs I was getting annoyed with him, or didn’t care. If anything, the fact that I was getting mad at him probably reinforced his opinion. “This one does not doubt your ability, the matter is whether you wish to. You can blame the Rose-mare for a great deal of your family’s problems, after all. Doubtless the Runeseeker-mare would be happy to kill her on the spot given the chance.”

“Maybe she would,” I growled, “but I’m not her. I said I know how to handle it.”

Puzzle held up a hoof in mock surrender. “This one isn’t questioning your competence, it just wants to make sure you’re going to be okay. It’s no secret that your family is a sore topic for you, and the Steel Rose is at the heart of your issues with your father. It’s the sort of situation where you could use a good friend.”

For a moment I was tempted to snap at him, but that would’ve just proved I wasn’t quite on an even keel. Instead I stopped, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. “Right. Thanks. It’s getting to me a bit, but I’m doing my best to deal with it.”

“This one would honestly be more concerned if you weren’t bothered.” A hint of a knowing smile tugged at his lips. “Since that would mean you’re bottling it all up. So, is there anything you want to talk about before we go meet the Archmagus? Better to vent now than have an incident in front of him.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” I took a minute to think it over. “If I somehow wind up getting as crazy and obsessed about taking down Steel Rose or anything else as he is, pull me out.”

“This one can do that.” Puzzle’s smile got a bit wider. “Just try and not to make that too hard for it. You can be a bit temperamental, and you’ve gotten quite a bit scarier since you beat Blackfyre. This one would much prefer not to be on the wrong side of your anger now that it is aware you could drop an entire mountain on top of it if you were mad enough.”

“I’m not planning on doing anything like that again.” Especially since the whole situation where I collapsed a mountain on top of Blackfyre had involved a couple one-time circumstances. That’s not to say I hadn’t gotten way stronger thanks the pseudo-ascension, but I wasn’t likely to get another chance to tap into the residual energy of my own death curse. Or at least, I sure hoped nothing like that ever happened again.

“This one is immensely relieved to hear that.” Puzzle smiled, but it didn’t last very long. “There is one last thing this one would like to suggest. It might be wise if Strumming or this one kept an eye on the Shimmer-stallion if we come to work with him. Someone ought to make sure he’s not doing something suspicious while we’re preoccupied. There are enough oddities with this case that it would be unwise to trust him blindly.”

Much as I hated the idea of needing to treat Solar like a potential enemy... “That would probably be prudent. Do you want to keep an eye on him, or should we put Strumming on it?”

“It would probably be best if this one took charge of it,” Puzzle said with a chuckle. “This task calls for a degree of stealth and subtlety, and the Heartstrings-mare’s idea of that is somewhat...” He paused, searching for the best way to put it. “Well, she once told a story about how she passed her stealth test for the EIS by setting a tool shed on fire as a distraction. This one wasn’t able to confirm if the story was true, but it does sound like something she’d do.”

“Yeah, it does. So she can be my direct support while you watch my back.” I grimaced and shook my head. “Whatever’s going on, it ends here. If I have to get mixed up with the Steel Rose case, I plan to close it out. It’s past time someone did it.”

“It’s dragged on far too long already,” Puzzle agreed. “So, let’s see how exactly your father will want to coordinate with us. Lead the way, Magus.” A hint of a smile tugged at his lips. “Assuming you are still content with that title. This one would not have been shocked to hear you decided to rebrand yourself as Sunset the Magnificent, or Sunset Dragonsbane.”

“I don’t need to brag with my name. Everything I’ve accomplished speaks for itself.” I got up and headed forward. “Though I suppose while we’re on the topic, I’ve been debating whether I should be an Archmagus at this point. I mean, I’d basically be promoting myself up a rank, which just looks pretentious and reeks of ego. I did take down Blackfyre though, so there’s a pretty good case to be made that I’ve earned it.”

“It is certainly quite the illustrious accomplishment,” Puzzle conceded. “And doubtless there have been Archmages who never equaled it. If you’re worried about seeming self-promoting, you could always ask some outside force to convey the rank upon you.”

“Yeah, but that just begs the question of who.” I sighed and shook my head. “Celestia would look like nepotism. Same for the Mage’s Guild really, considering two- fifths of the votes belong to my parents, and that’s not to mention the potential baggage of getting the title from Equestria. But then if I ask the Council for it there’d probably be a lot more messy politics involved, not to mention all the debate about whether it’s a legitimate title coming from them.”

“Very true.” Puzzle paused, rubbing his chin in thought. “A slight modification, then. Instead of asking one of them to promote you, ask all three to acknowledge that you have obtained the rank. In essence, a self-promotion that’s been ratified by three different bodies. It avoids entangling you too much with any of the groups while still benefiting from the legitimacy they convey.”

“That is a pretty good plan.” I smiled as I thought it over. “Especially since getting Celestia to back it will be a nice kick in the rump for the Council to play ball. It’d look awkward if she acknowledged my rank and they didn’t, even if as far as the Equestrians are concerned, it’s a purely honorary courtesy.”

“And much the same here until there are other Freeport magi to command,” Puzzle pointed out. “Though this one supposes that it will be useful the next time we have to work outside Freeport’s borders. You wouldn’t be able to order Equestrian Magi about, but your opinion would hold quite a bit more weight.”

“Exactly,” I agreed. “Not to mention the status of it all. Remember, the Magus Corps started out as the Guild of Mages, and they’ve still got a lot of guild-like trappings like the whole master and apprentice setup. Sure, the modern Corps throws a lot of extra responsibilities around, but at its core, Archmagus is their equivalent to master craftsmare in any other guild.”

“And getting official recognition that you are a master of the magical arts would doubtless be gratifying.” Puzzle smiled knowingly. “Though this one had always been under the impression that there could only be five Archmagi at a time.”

“Five Archmagi holding the Marches and Canterlot,” I corrected. “There’s no hard and fast upper limit on the number of other Archmagi. Even if there was, it’d only apply to Equestrian Magi. In my case, it’s more like a recognition that my skills and accomplishments are on par with those of an Archmagus and I should be regarded as equivalent to one. Plenty of precedent for that with how Equestria regards spellcasters from other nations.”

“You already have something similar to that as regards your magus rank,” Puzzle pointed out. “The Equestrian and Northmarch authorities both treated you as they would a foreign Magus. Even if there’s been no formal declaration, an informal de facto acknowledgement goes a long way. If everyone treats you as a Magus, then you are one.”

“Exactly what I was thinking.” I arrived outside Solar’s room. “Well, let’s hope he treats me a bit more nicely than he has most of the Magi who wanted to coordinate with him.” I knocked on the door, then took a step back. I could feel the defensive wards he’d set up over his room quite clearly, and I didn’t want to risk being on the wrong side of them.

After several seconds, I felt the defensive spells open up, and Solar opened the door. Barely a crack open, and I could see he still had the security latch set until he visually confirmed it was me, then sent out a spell to double-check it. I probably should’ve been offended by all the paranoia, but considering two of my closest friends were shapeshifters I couldn’t exactly fault him for making sure that I wasn’t someone else in disguise. Once all that was done, he closed the door, then opened it up properly. “Sunset? I ... wasn’t expecting to see you again after the way our last conversation went.”

I took a moment to swat down any lingering personal feelings and get into the professional mindset. Keeping it strictly business would make this a lot easier. Or at least save me from all the messy personal baggage. “Archmagus, we need to talk. There are a few things to establish if you’re going to be working in my jurisdiction.”

“Oh.” He took a deep breath. “Right. Of course. Come in, Suns—Magus Shimmer.” He opened the door and waved me in. The hotel room looked fairly nice, though it was hard to tell when the spare bed had been completely taken over by a small mountain of files and photographs. Clearly he’d been hard at work. “I apologize for the mess, and for not taking care of the professional courtesies in our last meeting. I suppose ... personal matters took precedence.”

“I think we both had a role in that,” I conceded. “Anyway, introductions. Archmagus Solar Shimmer, this is Puzzle Piece, an associate of mine.”

Puzzle inclined his head, smiling politely. “A pleasure. Your reputation precedes you, and if you are half the magus your daughter is....”

“Likewise a pleasure.” Solar offered his hoof. “And there’s no need to stand on pretense. Her Majesty’s letters included quite a bit of information about my daughter’s companions. Though I do have to wonder why a race that depends so much on disguises also likes to have their own odd verbal quirks that could compromise that disguise.”

“Because no matter what else this one might be, it will always be a Free Mind,” Puzzle answered as he shifted back to his natural form. “This one can’t say where the custom originated from, but it is a vital part of our identity.” He smirked. “Though of course, I can choose to talk differently if I want to, or need to maintain a disguise.”

“It’s not the strangest culture quirk I’ve run across.” I shrugged, then brought things back to the matter at hoof. “Anyway, I’ve had some time to think, and a few things have changed. Steel Rose is a dangerous warlock and she’s in my city. If I ignore that just because of some personal history, I’m being derelict in my duty to Freeport. I’d like to coordinate with you to ensure her capture or neutralization before she can accomplish whatever she’s up to here.”

Solar blinked and seemed to need a second to figure out how to answer that. “Thank you for the offer, Sunset, but I can handle her. I’ve been hunting her for more than half your life, I know how to keep her from causing problems.”

I tried to think of the most diplomatically professional way to point out the obvious gaping flaw in that argument. “You’ve been chasing her for over a decade and don’t seem to be any closer to finishing the job than when you started. If she’s causing problems in my city, I don’t intend to let her get away and keep it up for another decade.”

Solar sighed and ran a hoof through his mane. It looked a lot thinner than I remembered, probably on account of time and the stress of constantly being on the hunt. “This isn't your problem, Sunset. It’s bad enough that I’m stuck on this never-ending chase, and the last thing I ever wanted is to drag you into it.”

So much for keeping it strictly professional. I crossed my forelegs over my chest. “Trust me, there aren’t many things I hate more than getting dragged into this case. But having a warlock run around in my city hurting innocents is one of them. My personal opinions and baggage aren’t worth the innocent lives that could be lost if I don’t stop whatever Steel’s up to.”

Solar groaned and shook his head. “No Sunset, this isn’t your problem to deal with, it’s mine. Just ... just go back to your tower, live your life, and don’t worry about this.”

Did he really expect that to work? Maybe he did, considering how little he really knew me. “No. I’m sure you’re aware that you’re in my jurisdiction, Archmagus. If you want to investigate in my city then you need my permission.” Normally that kind of coordination wasn’t a big deal, but Solar hadn’t been observing any of the usual courtesies and certainly wasn’t being nice about coordinating with me. If he refused to work with me, I would technically be within my rights to throw him in jail as a vigilante. Or on the far less extreme end of things, just tell all the Freeport officials not to cooperate with him. Not like they would need much encouragement.

Solar took half a step back and stared at me. I guess he hadn’t been expecting me to put my hoof down with him. After all, the last time he’d really tried to be a father to me was back when the worst thing I could imagine was getting sent to bed early without dessert. At least he adapted pretty quick. “Ah, yes. I see. I had hoped this sort of quid-pro-quo wouldn’t be necessary.”

I frowned. “Let me guess, you thought that since I was your daughter you could do without all the usual protocol that comes from operating outside your jurisdiction?” I didn’t give him a chance to try and weasel his way out of admitting it. “Look, I’d really prefer to just work with you instead of turning this whole thing into some sort of jurisdictional horn-measuring contest. We both want to stop Steel Rose, but if you don’t work with me I’ll have to do it on my own. Two separate investigations are way more likely to get in each other’s way.”

“Right.” He took a deep breath, then let out a resigned sigh. “Alright then, the obvious first step would be for us to exchange information. You know Freeport, I know Steel Rose.”

“Yeah, I would think so with how long you’ve been chasing her.” I levitated over the only two chairs that hadn’t been taken over by folders, files, or magus equipment. “You might as well get comfortable, because Puzzle and I have a lot of questions.”

Solar frowned. “I’d rather keep this just between the two of us.”

“Puzzle’s the best information gatherer in Freeport,” I pointed out. “Like you said, the big thing I bring to this partnership is local contacts, and a whole lot of those go through him. If you want to find Steel before she starts causing trouble, he’s our best bet.” I shrugged. “Besides, even if he left the room, I’d just tell him everything once we were done. Why not cut out the middlemare and let him get it straight from you?”

Solar grunted. “I suppose. You trust him that much?”

“Yeah, I do.” I shrugged. “Plus, the more we give him to work with the better the results will be.”

Puzzle chuckled and nodded. “You can never tell which seemingly innocuous little piece of data will turn out to be the key detail to cracking the entire case. This one once caught a notorious murderer who eluded the authorities of Lubeak for weeks because it knew his favorite flavor of ice cream.”

“So tell us everything you know about Steel Rose,” I ordered. “Don’t leave anything out, no matter how insignificant it might seem. We’ll take it from the top: she’s a warlock, so what kind of magic does she use?”

“She’s a ferromancer,” Solar promptly supplied. “Naturally focused on unicorn magic, but she’s supplemented it with zebrican shamanism, a bit of runework, and half a dozen other sources and bits of lore.”

“But all of it still focused on metal manipulation?” I frowned. “That seems a bit limited.”

“I’m sure you recall Vigilant Stand’s saying about how a unicorn who practices ten thousand spells one time isn’t as dangerous as one who practices one spell ten thousand times,” Solar shot back. “She’s very good at what she does. Good enough to take down two magi at once, and that was before she spent the last decade traveling the world and getting her hooves on more little bits of forbidden lore.”

He had a point there. “Every rumor I’ve dug up is working on the theory she’s a pacter. Do we have any idea who or what she’s made a pact with?”

“She's not a pacter,” Solar answered. “That tends to be the default Corps assumption if someone comes out of nowhere, but part of that’s just because it’s the simple answer.” He sighed and shook his head. “Steel Rose is one of those cases where we missed the obvious warning signs. A student of a bunch of forbidden lore who managed to stay under our radar up until Gingersnap and Golden crossed her path. She might have a particular focus, but she has studied a lot within it. The black arts of the Warpsmith Foundries, the bloodsteel forging of the Quetzemarin, and the forbidden zebrican practice of Kare Demir.”

I definitely didn’t like the sound of that. I’d heard a couple things in passing about the Warpsmiths, and Puzzle’d told me enough about the Quetzemarin that I didn’t want any of their work getting used. The dark side of zebrican shamanism wasn’t something I was all that familiar with, but considering the other types of black magic Steel was working with I could probably assume it was bad news.

Puzzle seemed to be on the same page. No surprise considering he’d seen some of that bloodsteel magic first-hoof. “A very unpleasant collection of black arts. However, that begs the question of what she plans to do with all the forbidden knowledge she’s collected. This one can imagine all sorts of horrible things that could be created by a sufficiently twisted mind.”

Solar grimaced and nodded. “Yes, quite a few of the covens she’s started wound up creating things I needed to cleanse with a great deal of fire. Whatever little groups she manages to set up before I catch her usually seem to either be aimed at helping her expand her personal knowledge or attempt to apply that knowledge in the creation of something that goes against the laws of magic and decency.”

“It sounds like she’s focused almost exclusively on research and development,” Puzzle observed. “That’s rather unusual for an independent warlock. What’s the point of R&D if there’s nobody to share it with? Not to mention the question of how she funds her activities. Cults can get away with asking for free labor thanks to the zeal of their members. The sort of temporary minions she relies on expect to be paid well for the risks they undertake.”

Solar shrugged. “I can’t imagine her goal was to become an outlaw. From what I understand, she ran afoul of Golden and Gingersnap while conducting her research. She’s kept the money from running out with a bit of freelance work and selling a few of her creations.”

“That could certainly explain what she’s doing in Freeport.” Puzzle frowned “This one hasn’t heard about any dark magic artifacts being offered up for auction, but such events are usually kept very quiet. Especially since the Shimmer-mare established herself in Freeport, and did things like killing a prominent warlock shortly after he appeared at a public auction. Do you think she came to Freeport for an underground auction then?”

Solar shrugged. “I can’t say for certain, but considering her history and how she usually operates, I could easily see her showing up as a buyer or a seller.” His eyes flicked over to me before quickly cutting away. “And ... there might be other reasons.”

I didn’t like that look. “Such as?”

He sighed and ran a hoof through his thinning mane. “She might be here because of you, Sunset. She wouldn’t be the first warlock to get the bright idea of going after the family of a mage who’s been chasing after her.”

I scoffed. “You can’t be serious. Maybe back when I first moved here that would make sense, but now? The fact that I took down Blackfyre is still the talk of the town. That doesn’t exactly make me look like an easy target. In fact—”

Puzzle put a hoof on my shoulder and interrupted. “So this one takes it this feud between you has become that personal?”

Solar scowled. “I’ve been chasing her and disrupting her operations for over a decade, and she killed two of my best friends. That’s pretty damn personal. At this point, what does she even have to lose by going after my family? It’s not like I could go after her any harder than I already am.”

I could think of a couple answers to that, but there was no reason to butt into the conversation just to point them out. After all, most of that boiled down to posturing about how I could take Steel in a fight, and that wouldn’t get us anywhere. Even if it was true.

Puzzle took the lead while I was making sure my ego and temper were in check. “A fair point, she’s already earned your enmity. Onward to other matters, then. How does she normally set up an organization in a new location? What are her normal methods of operation?”

Solar nodded, evidently happy to change the subject. “She’ll start by securing a base and getting lots of expendable manpower and sentries. She knows it’s only a matter of time before I come for her, and she’ll want to be ready.”

Made sense. A secure base of operations was almost always step one. “What type of place does she normally like to hole up in?”

Solar shrugged. “Usually whatever she can find on short notice that’s nicely defensible and out of the way enough for her to keep a low profile. She also tries to find anything that can give her as much of an advantage against me as possible. Underground bases are usually a favorite to counter light magic, but I doubt she’ll have much luck finding one of those in Freeport. Other than that, she also likes ready access to any sort of metalworking facilities, though she’s more than capable of producing the equipment she needs on her own. Still … why spend the time, bits, and efforts setting up something new if she can find it ready-made?”

“Though even then, there are limits to what she can make on her own,” Puzzle pointed out. “Not to mention the resource requirements for metalworking. Even if she can use magic to bypass the need for things like a blast furnace, she’ll need raw materials and fuel. Not to mention the more exotic and horrifying reagents for dark magic.”

“Ferromancy is much more resource-intensive field than most black magic,” Solar agreed. “But that can be to our advantage. Tracking those resources might help us find her, and makes it far less likely she’ll set up somewhere isolated.”

Puzzle nodded. “Shorter supply lines are always an advantage, and any stealth gained by being in the out-islands would be lost if she has supply ships heading out there. In fact, she would probably stand out even more.”

“Someone opening up a new ironworks in the city wouldn’t be all that strange,” I agreed. Freeport wasn’t a huge manufacturing hub, but there was still plenty of demand and producing locally was cheaper than importing. “Any other ways we can find her?”

“She does have a rather distinctive appearance,” Solar pointed out. “Not many ponies go around with a metal face mask covered head to hoof in armor. Of course, she might be using the costume to pull a Starswirl Gambit.”

Puzzle shot a curious look Solar’s way, so I explained. “Establish something famous about your appearance so you can drop it whenever you need to go around in disguise. Three guesses why it’s named after Starswirl the Bearded. Even his best friends barely recognized him if he shaved.”

Puzzle frowned. “So not even you know what she looks like undisguised? This one would think that after how long you’ve pursued her...”

Solar shrugged. “I’d have to capture her to get the mask off. Considering all the dark magic she’s mixed up in, I can’t even be sure it would come off. I don’t know how familiar you are with the work of the Warpsmiths of the Fallen Gates, but they like to fuse metal and flesh together.”

“Well that sounds disgusting and horrifying.” Considering my recent experience with Blackfyre, I would’ve been perfectly happy to not see any crimes against nature for the next couple years. Guess I should’ve known I wouldn’t be that lucky.

“Whatever you’re imagining, it’s not horrible enough.” Solar sighed and shook his head. “In any case, there is another option we can take if we’re not hunting Steel down. We can always try to bait a trap and make her come to us.”

Puzzle frowned. “This one would have to imagine that a warlock with her extensive experience on the run from an Archmagus would be very cautious. Pulling her into any sort of trap would be a difficult proposition.”

“It will be,” Solar agreed. “If it was easy I would’ve done it already. Still, there’s a big gap between something being very hard and it being impossible.” He smiled at me. “And I know Sunset’s very good at pulling off things that straddle that line. That’s a lesson Blackfyre learned the hard way.”

“Yeah, not that I enjoyed it either.” Losing a leg had been a pretty high price to pay to beat him, not to mention everything else I’d gone through. “So what’s the plan to lure her in?”

Solar shrugged. “She’s careful and a bit paranoid, but there are ways around that. We just need to make sure the bait is tempting enough and hide the trap well enough that she either doesn’t see it or does but thinks she can outwit us.”

“Sounds right.” Turning a trap against the ones who set it was a pretty classic move. “Of course, that begs the question of what bait we could use. With how long she’s been on the run from you, I’d imagine it would take something really good to draw her out.”

“Yes, it would,” Solar agreed. “Unfortunately, I have something perfect in mind.” He sighed and sank down on the bed, staring down at his collection of files. “I hate to suggest it, but one of the working theories for why she came to Freeport is to target you. If we put you somewhere nice, public, and seemingly vulnerable...”

“You want to use me as bait?” I scowled. “Can’t say I’m wild about that plan. Especially since me playing the bait out in public makes collateral damage a lot more likely.” Not to mention it restricted my options a fair bit. Heavy-hitting fire spells were a bad idea in the middle of a very flammable city. Not to mention that when I’d fought Starlight in Coldharbor, I’d had to block a lot of her spells so they wouldn’t hit occupied buildings. Dodging and deflecting an opponent’s spells was almost always easier than a straight block.

Solar shrugged. “I don’t love the idea of using my own daughter as bait either, but we have to do something to stop Steel. We’ll do what we can to minimize the risks, but if we don’t stop her, the amount of damage she causes could be a lot worse can a couple smashed market stalls.”

So far I didn’t like the plan at all, but I should at least let him finish laying the rest of it out. “Tell me what your plan is.”

“I don’t have a solid plan yet, mostly just a concept,” Solar confessed. “You and your ... friend know Freeport better than I do. Where’s a good place to set up an ambush?”

Not the answer I was hoping to hear. “Most of the best places for that are in the poor districts, where we could find an abandoned warehouse or something. There might be some squatters around, but they’re usually very good about sensing incoming trouble and clearing off. But that doesn’t sound like it would work for your plan.”

“It would look a bit too obvious if you were hanging around in a perfect battleground,” Solar agreed. “It’s going to be a lot harder to pull her into a trap that a blind mare could see a mile away.” He shifted his attention to Puzzle. “Do you have any other suggestions?”

Puzzle frowned and rubbed his chin. “Sunset’s tower does make an obvious target for anyone who wishes her harm, though not exactly an easy one to assault considering its magical defenses. It would be far safer to follow her going about her daily business and wait until an opportunity presented itself. No wards to break through, and far easier to isolate her from potential aid.”

Solar grunted. “Well, there you have it, then. You focus on luring her out, and I’ll work on actively hunting for her.”

Puzzle answered him before I could come up with a good way to point out exactly how stupid that plan was and all the problems I had with it. “This one takes it you want us to work in two seperate groups then?”

Solar nodded. “That sounds like the best plan to me. Pursue two different lines of attack at the same time, and we double our odds of success.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Puzzle conceded. “Though it does put us at risk of one team becoming isolated from the other. We should work out a proper line of communication so we can continue pooling data. It might also be wise if we had someone work with you to act as a representative, not to mention a local guide for Freeport. This city can be quite hazardous for those who aren’t used to it, or even those who are.”

Solar grimaced and shook his head. “I’m used to working alone, and most of what I’d be doing works better that way.”

I scowled and crossed my forelegs over my chest. The motion still felt a bit weird when one of those forelegs was a prosthetic, but the limb did everything it needed to. “We’re supposed to be working together on this. You need to give us something. Puzzle knows the city inside and out, and all his sources would be perfect for digging up the information you’re after.”

“I think there’s a bit of a difference between my information gathering and his,” Solar demurred. “It would probably make more sense to have each of us consult our own sources, then pool that information to make sure we’re both getting the same results.”

“So you’re consulting magical sources?” I pressed. “Fine, then another magus can help you. We work together from the magical angle, while Strumming and Puzzle hit the streets.”

Solar shook his head. “We need you out in the field for the plan to lure Steel out into the open.”

A plan I had yet to be convinced wasn’t a load of horseapples.

“What about the Heartstrings-mare?” Puzzle suggested. “She has experience when it comes to working alongside a magus in an active investigation.”

Solar didn’t say anything for several seconds. I suspected he was trying to find a way to say no in a way that didn’t make it obvious he was just outright refusing to cooperate. After all, if he wouldn’t work with me, Puzzle, or Strumming... “Perhaps. Send her to meet with me and I’ll see what we can work out.”

Well, that was an impressive amount of non-commitment. “I’ll make sure to do that. Fair warning, she’s a bit unique.”

Solar shrugged. “I’ve dealt with my share of quirks and eccentricities in the Corps.”

That was one of the first things he’d said in a while that I completely believed. Puzzle seemed to be on the same page. “Anything else to address for the moment, or shall we get to work on our respective investigations?”

“I think that covers it for now.” Solar stood up. “Um, one other thing. I know we’re both going to be very busy, but if you can spare a bit for us to get dinner together, Sunset...” He held up a hoof. “No work talk, strictly father-daughter catching up. It’s ... I’ve missed far too much of your life already, but it would be nice to at least know a bit more about how you’re doing now.”

“We’ll see.” I suppose I should’ve given him a chance to try and make amends, especially considering he was going about it way better than Scarlett had, but when he was giving me the runaround on magus business, I wasn’t inclined to do him any favors. I got to my hooves and headed for the door. “We’ll let Strumming know to get in touch with you. Keep us up to date on any developments, and we’ll let you know if we find anything.” I headed straight for the door, not bothering with any of the usual courtesies.

Puzzle caught up with me a second later, moving at a bit of a trot. “You seem to be in a foul mood, Shimmer-mare.”

“Yeah,” I grunted.

Puzzle sighed. “This one shouldn’t be surprised. It’s not terribly happy about the fact that he’s obviously trying to give us the runaround and distract us, and it has far less personal investment in the matter than you do.”

“Yeah.” I growled and shook my head, doing my best to put the anger out of my mind. Snapping at Puzzle wouldn’t do any good, especially when he wasn’t even the one I was mad at. “Guess I should at least be glad it wasn’t just me seeing things.”

Puzzle snorted and nodded. “He was definitely brushing us off as much as he could without being so blatant about it that we could call him out on not cooperating. Think about this: he’s trying to find a warlock he’s been hunting for a decade, and the city’s best information broker came into his room and offered his service for free. So why didn’t he ask this one any questions, or even show the slightest interest in retaining its services?”

“No kidding.” If I was looking for a fugitive warlock hiding out in Freeport, Puzzle would’ve been the very first person I asked. “Not to mention him basically making up an excuse to get me out of the way. I could buy that if he was still thinking of me as a kid, but Celestia told him all about what happened in Northmarch. After I took out Blackfyre, it’s pretty ridiculous to think that Steel would consider me an easy target.”

Puzzle chuckled softly. “You did make a rather firm statement. In all honesty, this one thinks it would be easier to kill Solar than you, at least in Freeport. On top of your own considerable prowess, you have a secure base of operations and many devoted allies, while Solar is operating on his own far from Equestria.”

“Good point.” When it came to measuring myself against my birth parents, it was hard not to think about how badly my impromptu duel against Scarlett had gone a few months ago. Then again, she’d pretty much ambushed me, and a lot had changed since then. My pride certainly didn’t object to Puzzle’s declaration.

Puzzle continued on. “As for the rest of the plan, the suggestion that you could tempt her into attacking you in public would be far too dangerous for her. If it turns into a public brawl she can’t end very quickly, it would draw in the condottieri or some of your other allies to back you up. This one and the Heartstrings-mare certainly wouldn’t hesitate to get involved, and it expects the Doos would be inclined to aid you as well. For that matter, plenty of other mercenaries might look at the situation and decide to aid you first and negotiate payment afterwards. Far too many risks and unpredictable factors, and a warlock who’s managed to avoid death or capture for over a decade while being actively hunted by an Archmagus probably didn’t last that long by being stupid or taking risks.”

I scowled as I thought it all over. Solar’s plan had seemed pretty ridiculous as soon as he suggested it, and the more I thought about it, the less sense it made. There was really only one possible explanation for it all. “He doesn’t want us involved, and he’s making up every excuse he can find to keep us out.”

“Which begs the question of why?” Puzzle asked. “It could just be parental instinct. This case has consumed his life, and he might want to see you make the same mistakes he has. However...”

“Him locking us out of the loop doesn’t do much to dispel the idea that he’s trying to cover something up,” I agreed. “Not that it really matters which of those he’s doing, it’s not like we’re going to play along either way.”

Puzzle shot me a dry smile. “This one never imagined we would. If he won’t cooperate we’re more than capable of carrying out a warlock hunt on our own.”

“Damn right we are.” I took a deep breath. “I just hope Steel’s the only warlock we need to hunt.”

Author's Note

As always, thanks to my pre-reading and editing team for all their hard work. Also, I would like to thank all my dedicated Patreon supporters. You guys are awesome.

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Old Wounds 3

Two days later, I met up with Strumming and Puzzle in what passed for Freeport’s industrial district. It was the poorer, uglier neighbor to Freeport’s docks, and the docks weren’t all that pretty and prosperous to begin with.

It was quite an eclectic mix of different businesses. Sugar mills and distilleries for the farms that couldn’t process their own crops, some canneries for fish, breadfruit, and any other food that could go into a can. Lumber mills to process what lumber we could get locally as well as anything we imported, though the mills hadn’t been very busy lately. Northmarch had been the biggest timber exporter, and with Coldharbor still being rebuilt they needed all the lumber they could get for themselves.

Most important for us however were the foundries. Much like with the lumber mills, it made sense to import metal ingots and let the foundry turn them into whatever we needed. One of the up and coming foundries had gone out of business a couple weeks ago, priced out by the more established businesses. An abandoned metalworking facility sounded like exactly the sort of place a rogue ferromancer would set up shop.

The three of us took a seat on top of a warehouse to do a bit of observation. Waiting until late at night wasn’t ideal, but trying to take down a warlock while the neighboring foundries were full of workers made it a lot more likely things would get messy. At least waiting until midnight did confirm one thing for us: there was way too much activity inside for an abandoned building. It could just be squatters, but if that was it Puzzle wouldn’t have called us in.

He didn’t waste any time confirming it. “A couple days back there was a shipment of fresh tools and materials into the foundry, and there’s been quite a bit of activity. The local rumor mill says someone’s bought the place and is renovating it to put it back in business, but there’s no record of any purchase from the current owner, and the property’s tied up in bankruptcy proceedings anyway. It might be that the paperwork hasn’t been filed yet, but any reputable business wouldn’t start sending in workers and supplies until all the papers were in order.”

Strumming grinned. “Knew we kept you around for a reason, bug boy. Still, you’d think someone would report a bunch of trespassers taking over the foundry.”

Puzzle shrugged. “If they are trespassing, yes. Given the current owner’s dire financial straits, it’s entirely possible they’re here with his permission. If they offered him a pouch full of ducats to use his property and not ask questions...”

“Yeah, that’d be tempting for anyone going bankrupt,” I agreed. “If his creditors come asking questions, he can always just say he’s doing a bit of maintenance work on the equipment to make sure everything’s still in working order. They’d want the place in good working order, either to run for themselves or just sell it off for a higher price.”

Puzzle nodded. “It’s enough to satisfy idle curiosity. Especially when some of the creditors would probably not object to some illicit fundraising. After all, it means there’s more money to pay them back.”

“So what about Steel herself?” Strumming pressed. “I mean, it sure sounds like there’s something fishy going on here, but what makes you sure its Steel Rose and not just some crime boss or merc group doing a little side venture?”

“We can’t be certain until we see her,” Puzzle conceded. “However, this one did identify several of the disreputable individuals involved in this venture. All petty freelancers with no ties to an established group in Freeport. Not to mention that it would be quite a coincidence.”

“Forging metal usually isn’t of much interest to criminals,” I agreed. “I mean, I guess they could want to make their own weapons or something, but ... yeah, like Puzzle said, it would be a big coincidence for that to happen right now of all times. And even if they are just normal criminals, stopping whatever they’re up to isn’t the worst thing we could do.” I frowned and looked the building over. Most of the windows had been boarded up, but I could see light leaking out from between the boards, and judging by the shadows, people were moving around inside. “Do we know if there’s anyone other than minions in there?”

Puzzle frowned and shrugged. “There are reports of missing people—vagrants and other types who can go missing without anyone making a fuss. That’s consistent with a warlock getting up to something horrible and needing some victims to practice on, though there are a dozen other far less sinister explanations.”

“You say that, but when was the last time the less sinister explanation wound up being right?” Strumming shot back. “Just saying, it’d be nice if just once it turned out to be a false alarm and the missing pony report turned out to just be on account of the guy getting drunk and falling asleep under a bridge or something. Y’know, harmless stuff.” She sighed and ran a hoof through her mane. “Then again, nobody bugs us about boring routine stuff. So yeah, horrifying dark magic requiring hobo sacrifices. Didn’t Solar say that Steel Rose was mixed up in trying to replicate that crazy blood sacrifice steel?”

“Yes, he did.” Puzzle scowled. “That’s something we don’t need to see happening. The fact that someone is actually trying to recreate it almost makes this one wish the Do-mare never published her book about the City of Giants.”

“From what I’ve seen of warlocks, she’d just be chasing after some other equally horrible project if this one hadn’t come up.” I sighed and shook my head. “Not like she was lacking for horrible dark magic projects if she studied with the warpsmiths and the dark side of shamanism.” I took a deep breath. “Alright, so let's hammer out a plan. I don’t think the minions she’s got will be too much of a threat. From what you said, she’s just got low-level thugpower.”

“So far as this one knows,” Puzzle confirmed. “But while this one is very good at finding things out, it is not all-knowing. If this one was on the run from an Archmagus with a vendetta, it would want to have a few nasty surprises. Even if the Rose-mare hasn’t had the chance to prepare anything, she is likely to be a formidable opponent.”

“I’d be surprised if she wasn’t,” I agreed. “But I should be able to handle her. Or at least I’m the best equipped out of any of us.”

“Especially if you have someone who can watch your back,” Strumming agreed. “Like an ex-spy who keeps a couple throwing spikes that were special-made to mess with magical defenses and drop warlocks in their tracks.”

“Might want to be careful with those,” I warned her. “Last I checked they’re great at punching through magical shields, but we’re going up against a ferromancer. Odds are she’s going to be protecting herself with metallic armor that’s some special alloy she’s used magic to make even better. Probably enchanted too, but ferromancy tends to be one of those styles that puts a lot more emphasis on preparation than battle spells.”

“Less blasting with spells and more making a super-awesome set of weapons and armor, then using those to kick butt,” Strumming concluded.

“Pretty much,” I confirmed. “So she’ll probably be using armor for defense, not magic. Ergo, weapons that counter magical defenses won’t do much.”

Strumming sighed. “Oh. Well, I’ll improvise. I’m good at that. Though if we’re dealing with a warlock swinging around a crazy good sword, maybe you oughta snag Chainbreaker. Having your own super magical sword could come in handy if swords are gonna be swinging.”

“The Council really doesn’t like me using it,” I pointed out. “Even if it’s not exactly a secret that I can call the sword, it kinda upsets everyone when a priceless historical artifact suddenly vanishes out of the museum.” Plus from what I’d been able to tell by studying the blade, being in a museum for so long had been part of what made the sword what it was. Being such a potent and venerated symbol had changed the sword. Still... “Not saying I won’t call it, but that’s not going to be Plan A.“

“Guess that’s fair,” Strumming conceded. “Still, better to ruffle a few feathers than let your head get chopped off.”

I certainly wasn’t going to argue with her. When I didn’t say anything else, Puzzle decided to bring up what else was on his mind. “This one is somewhat worried about what might happen should Shimmer-stallion come up behind us, or the Rose-mare or any of her minions if they’re out. The Heartstrings-mare can watch the Shimmer-mare’s back, but who will watch hers?”

Strumming snorted and swatted his chest. “Sounds to me like you’re just looking for an excuse to watch my backside. But yeah, it’d be nice to have someone on lookout duty. Bug boy’s no slouch in a fight, but it’s not the best use of his talents.”

“Makes sense to have someone keeping an eye on the big picture,” I agreed. “If Strumming and I are busy with Steel, we’ll have to be pretty focused on her.” I frowned. “You said Solar’s following up on a lead on the other side of the city right now, but that could always change.”

Strumming nodded. “I’m sure an Archmagus like him has some tricks for getting around quick.” She tossed a look my way, clearly hoping I’d have some insight.

I shrugged helplessly. “He never really got around to sharing his spellbooks with me. I haven’t had more than very brief visits with him since I was younger than Kukri.”

“Then this one will simply have to be ready for anything,” Puzzle concluded. “If his specialty is light magic, that at least gives this one some idea of what to expect. Likely the Rose-mare is also going to have some sort of means of escape from that warehouse. She’s always managed to get away from the Shimmer-stallion in the past, so...”

Strumming nodded along. “If she’s evaded capture this long, it’s a safe bet that getting two or three good escape plans is one of the first things she does whenever she gets a new base. Makes sense to have bug boy keeping an eye out so he can snag her if she does slip past us.”

Puzzle nodded. “This one wouldn’t enjoy fighting what is presumably an Archmagus-level warlock on its own, but then it would be very foolish to face in an open battle. Ambushing her, especially if she’s already worn down from fighting the Shimmer-mare...” He didn’t really need to say anything past that to make his point. “What should this one do if the Shimmer-stallion shows up?”

I grimaced. “He gave us the runaround last time, so return the favor. There’s enough weirdness going on here that I’d feel a lot better not having an unpredictable element mixed up in it all.”

“This one can certainly try, though if he’s determined to go past this one...” Puzzle shrugged helplessly.

I knew how he felt. I certainly wasn’t going to tell him to throw the first punch at Solar, and even if I did, it could end very badly if Puzzle’s first attack didn’t go perfectly. Or even if it did; in Puzzle’s shoes I wouldn’t hold back.

Puzzle nodded, and then with a flash of green fire he adopted a new disguise, making himself look like just another rough-around-the-edges dockworker out for a late night. Strumming passed him a bottle of cheap rum to complete the illusion. Puzzle splashed a bit onto himself, then took a sip and grimaced. With that done, he pulled out four small gems. “If the red one is glowing, enemy reinforcements are coming in. The blue is for the Shimmer-stallion showing up. You can use the green one to ask for this one to assist you, and the purple one is a tracking gem.”

“Handy.” I send a quick pulse of energy into the tracker to make sure I could follow it too. If Steel did end up making a run for it, getting a tracker on her would make our job a lot easier. At least as long as she didn’t think to check herself for those. “Thanks.”

“Coming prepared helps,” Puzzle answered with the barest hint of pride. “No sense having this one outside if it can’t tell you something is up. It could try imitating bird cries or other means of signalling, but those are far less efficient and could easily be drowned out by ambient noise.”

“Darn, I was all geared up to make two tweets of a blue jay followed by a cardinal’s mating cry to let you know we needed backup.” Strumming sighed and shook her head. “Stop ruining my fun, bug boy.” She turned to me. “So what’s the gameplan? Are you gonna just run in head first, or do we sneak around?”

I thought it over. “Bit of both. You’re a lot better at being sneaky than I am. You scout it out, and I’ll take the take the direct approach once I know what we’re getting into. You can watch my back and ambush anyone who needs it.”

“You’ll want to be very careful scouting the place out,” Puzzle warned. “This one can tell there are magical wards, though it didn’t get close enough for details. If she’s half as smart as her record suggests, she’s also got a few mundane tricks. A tripwire connected to a noisemaker is simple to set up and can catch an Archmagus much easier than elaborate magical wards.”

I nodded. “I’ve been looking over the magical defenses since I got here. She kept them subtle on account of the location. The background ward’s no surprise, since it’s gotta deter anyone with a bit of idle curiosity. Otherwise it seems to mostly be alarms. Anything flashier would be at risk of drawing the sort of attention she wants to avoid, especially if there are any false alarms.”

“Everyone would notice if a random passerby suddenly got skewered with a dozen iron spikes,” Strumming agreed.

Puzzle chuckled and grinned. “This one should probably know better than to tell you how to do your job. Doubtless now the Heartstrings-mare will remind it that she is every bit as skilled as this one is at finding tripwires.”

Strumming shrugged. “Nice of you to say it, so I don’t have to.” She leaned over and faux-whispered to me. “I’ve got him so well trained he even scolds himself.”

I rolled my eyes. “Maybe, but we’d be stupid to ignore his advice. Even when it’s not strictly needed, it’s just his way of showing he cares.”

“Yeah, he’s a big old softie that way,” Strumming agreed, pausing to ruffle the mane of Puzzle’s new disguise. “Plus, if we ignore his advice he gets all cranky.”

“This one does not get cranky,” Puzzle grumbled good-naturedly. “It merely expresses its displeasure with the foolishness of its friends. That being said, this one is glad to hear you’re not going to stop listening to it anytime soon.” He cleared his throat, then turned to me. “In any case, are you confident you’ll be able to handle the Rose-mare?”

I shrugged. “I beat Blackfyre, didn’t I?”

I wasn’t expecting Strumming to bap my nose like I was a misbehaving puppy. “Nope. None of that. No getting cocky and thinking you can’t be beat, Bacon. That’s just asking for trouble.”

“Especially considering the personal angle,” Puzzle added. “She did kill your godparents. She might try and throw you off by throwing that and the Shimmer-stallion failures in your face.”

“I’m used to handling personal baggage,” I grumbled. “I lost a limb to Blackfyre. Compared to that, two friends of Solar’s who died when I was nine years old aren’t that big of a deal. I mean, about all I remember about them was that they were nice to me. You know, the usual thing of spoiling your friend’s kid because you don’t have to be responsible. The only reason I even remember what they looked like is all the photos Solar kept around.” I sighed and shook my head. “But yes, I’ll take her seriously.”

Puzzle nodded grimly. “Consider her to be at least as dangerous as the Glimmer-mare. She might not have the same raw power infusion Starlight got from Blackfyre, but after a lifetime of dark magic she’s almost certainly enhanced herself in some way. Not to mention she’ll have a lot more experience and presumably a much cooler head. This one is far from an expert on shamanistic magic, but it was always told that metal as an element requires considerable discipline to master. Or at least vast reserves of stubbornness and determination.”

“Sounds like a perfect fit for Bacon,” Strumming quipped. “But yeah, disciplined and determined enemies are bad ones to go up against. Also, pretty sure you’ve already thought about this, but it does spring to mind that if she’s good at messing with metal she could probably cause trouble for you and your metal leg.”

I sighed and nodded. “I thought about that. It should be pretty well protected against anyone trying to mess with it—it was one of the things Celestia and I accounted for in the original design. It’s certainly more protected than, say, my armor.” I rapped a hoof against my armored chest. “Besides, going into battle with something like a wooden pegleg would probably mess me up just as much, except against everyone instead of just Steel.”

“Not to mention it would stand out quite a bit more than this.” Puzzle tapped the synthetic cover over my prosthetic. “So once you’re done scouting, the plan is to hit them hard and hit them fast. With any luck, all the minions will run or surrender if you seems sufficiently scary and firey.”

“I’m pretty good at doing both of those.” I agreed. “Hopefully they’ll throw in the towel before it gets bloody. After all, I’d bet some of Steel’s thugpower consists of stupid kids who don’t know what they’re getting themselves into.”

Strumming frowned. “Maybe. ‘Course, if they go along with the crazy blood sacrifices just to get a bunch of evil super-metal or whatever Steel’s up to, they kinda lost any ground to say they’re not bad guys.”

“Maybe,” I conceded. “But all else being equal, I’d rather take them all alive and then put them on trial to figure out which ones are bad apples and which ones had no idea they’d be signing on with a warlock who planned on killing dozens. Especially considering Steel’s response to anyone trying to quit would probably be to just add them to the sacrifice pool.”

Strumming rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, relax, I won’t go all murder-happy on the warlocks and accessories to warlockery in the first degree. I’m not making an ironclad promise none of them will die, but I won’t go for a kill unless there’s a situation where lethal force would be justified and there’s not a viable nonlethal takedown.”

“Most of them don’t seem to be the diehard types,” Puzzle pointed out. “This one doubts the Rose-mare expects them to stand up to serious opposition. While it’s possible a warlock like her might have played with their heads to make them fight to the death, so far as this one has been able to learn she normally doesn’t use mind control as part of her operations.”

“So let’s hope she doesn’t decide to break pattern,” Strumming grumbled.

I shrugged. “At this point, there’s only one way to find out.” I started off towards the not quite abandoned foundry. Strumming followed on my heels, while Puzzle took station in his uninteresting disguise, pretending to sip from his bottle of rum from time to time.

Disabling and bypassing Steel’s wards was a lot easier than I’d expected it to be. They were fine alarm wards, but from the looks of things, someone far less skilled had done a bit of tampering already. Probably some lazy minion who didn’t want to bother with all the procedures needed to get through them properly. Once again, the laziness of others worked out in my favor. Getting through the wards would’ve been a lot harder without that low-level internal sabotage.

Once I was past the compromised wards, I thought my next move over for a second. After tossing out a couple more complicated plans, I decided to brute force it. The plan was to go for shock and awe, after all. Ripping that heavy reinforced steel door off its hinges and tossing it aside like a piece of rubbish would be pretty shocking. I lifted a bit of debris off the street and rapped it against the door, waited a moment, then ripped the door out of the frame and flung it aside. It worked, since they looked pretty shocked.

The abandoned foundry Steel had set up shop in looked odd. Her minions were clearly in the process of restoring it to working order for whatever she was planning, so there was the strange contrast of having cobwebs and trash in the corners while a meter away there were pristine new tools being set up. Not to mention the collection of scared hostages tied up in the center of the room, and the dozen or so thugs guarding them who were looking almost as scared after I’d made such a dramatic entrance.

One of the hired goons eventually managed to figure out how to speak again. “Who are you and what’re you doing?!”

I stepped all the way into the room so they could get a good look at me. Judging by the way several of them flinched, they knew who they were dealing with. “You’re all under arrest. I suggest you come quietly.”

A thug who I promptly labeled ‘the stupid one’ spoke up. “Who’re you supposed to be?”

A thug who actually had a working brain smacked him upside the head. “That’s Magus Shimmer, you idiot! Oh, we are so bucked!”

“I heard she took out a dragon!” another hired good moaned before bolting for the side exit.

One of his friends blocked him from getting out. “Get it together, you coward! Don’t you see we have her outnumbered?”

The stupid one perked up a bit, smirking with completely unearned confidence. “Yeah, this is our chance to get rid of her!”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Really? You run into someone who defeated an ancient dragon and the first thing that pops into your alleged mind is ‘Yeah, I can take her!’?”

“Bet that’s just a story you made up to make yourself sound better!” he shot back. “Besides, it’s just you against all of us!”

“Yeah!” one of the others chimed in. “There’s no way she can handle twelve-to-one odds!”

I shrugged and almost rolled my eyes. “Watch me.” I opened up with a stunbolt at the ringleader. He didn’t even think to try blocking or dodging the attack, taking the hit straight in the chest. He dropped like a puppet whose strings had been cut, limply twitching on the floor as the residual energy coursed through him.

I’d hoped that would be enough to convince all the goons that messing with me was a bad idea, but instead it just set them off, charging at me in blind panic-driven fury. I had a good answer to that, quickly calling up a circular shield of solid flames to block their line of attack. Most of them stopped in time, but one got hit from behind and stumbled into the flames. Fortunately he had the sense to immediately fall back, drop to the ground, and start rolling to extinguish himself.

I stunned him as soon as he was done putting out the fire, then tossed one last spell his way just to make sure he wouldn’t burn to death. Then I dropped two more of them with stunbolts while they distracted watching their friend. I glowered down at them, laying on the contempt as thick as I could. “For the record, I’m not sure if I should add resisting arrest to your crimes right now. I mean, usually it needs to be remotely effective to count.”

Most of them goons who were still standing looked like they were trying to decide which of the exits to run for, but then the other one who’d talked them into this stupidity stepped forward. “Yeah, big mare when you can use your magic. How about you fight fair and we’ll see how tough you are?!”

I was tempted to just stun the idiot then and there. Why would I ever go along with whatever this stupid street thug’s idea of a fair fight was? However, I saw a chance to put a bit more fear into them. “Fine.” I dropped my fire shield and punched the ringleader in the face with my prosthetic.

My new foreleg doesn’t have superequine strength. After all, it was still attached to a flesh and blood upper leg and shoulder, and overtuning it would end with torn ligaments and a dislocated shoulder. However, even when there’s only normal equine power behind it, getting punched in the face with a hoof made out of solid adamtine hurts. Especially since while I only had normal strength, it wasn’t like I needed to pull my punches for fear of hurting my own hoof.

The goon dropped to the ground howling about how I’d broken his nose. I stunned him a second later now that I’d made my point.

That was enough to break their already shaky morale. “Screw this!”

“I'm not getting paid enough to fight her!”

The smartest one of the bunch dropped to his knees. “I give up! Honestly, the nag who hired us was weird anyway!”

A few more stunbolts took out all the ones who tried to run for it. I also took down the one who surrendered just to be safe. Didn’t want him getting any ideas about jumping me once I turned my back on him. However, while I was distracted with that, the first of the goons I’d stunned staggered back to his hooves. He was still twitching from the aftereffects of the bolt, but he managed to make it over to the group of hostages and pull a dagger on them. “Stay back! Stay away from me or he dies!”

I glared at him. “You don’t want to do that. Right now a good lawyer could get you a pretty light sentence. You hurt any of them...”

“I got a better idea!” he growled, picking up the bound stallion and holding the knife closer to his throat. “I walk away and don’t go to jail at all. Once I’m gone and sure you’re not following, I’ll let him go. Just play ball, and nobody gets hurt.”

No way I was letting him go after this. However, I still wasn’t sure how I wanted to take him down. A stunbolt was the obvious way, but it might make the knife twitch, or when he and the hostage both fell down the hostage could land on the knife. I could just try disarming him, but if there was any struggle over control of the knife, it had the same risk. Maybe an ice spell to cover the blade with something way less sharp, or a concentrated fire beam to just cut the blade off entirely? Those could work, but neither was guaranteed. Better to keep trying to talk him down “You don’t want to do this.”

His voice got louder and shriller as he tightened his grip on the hostage, his eyes wide with panic. “I’m not bluffing! Believe me, I’ll do it!”

I saw something mint green blur past in the rafters overhead, then drop down behind him. A second later a throwing spike slammed into the back of the thug’s head, and he dropped like a stone. Strumming smirked as she kicked his dagger clear. “Don’t worry, I believe you.”

I quickly checked that the hostage hadn’t been hurt and the rest of them were okay. Once I was done tying up all the goons that were still alive, I whirled on her. “I could’ve talked him down!”

“Yeah, maybe you could’ve,” Strumming agreed. “Or maybe he would’ve gotten dumb and scared enough to cut that guy’s throat. Either way, I saw a shot and I took it. Now the bad guy’s down and the hostage didn’t get hurt. So ... um ... why’re you looking at me like I screwed up?”.

I stomped up to her. “You didn’t have to kill him!”

Strumming blinked and took half a step back. “Uh, yeah I didn’t. S’why I didn’t.”

The goon she’d taken out groaned, one hoof going to the back of his head. I took a closer look, and realized that the spike she’d hit him with had a broad, blunt head instead of a sharp piercing tip.

“Oh.”

Strumming chuckled. “Come on, give me a bit of credit, Bacon.” She gave me a pat on the back. “I’m not going to waste my good stuff on some two-bit thug. Though he does probably have a concussion after that. Then again, does brain damage even count when you do it to someone who has so little brain to work with in the first place?”

I sighed and shook my head. Strumming and I had gone over the whole thing about trying to avoid killing whenever we could, and yet I’d immediately assumed she’d thrown that out the window the instant I saw something that looked a little bit bad. Sure, Strumming had a bit of history when it came to that, but she’d promised to follow my lead, and so far she hadn’t given me a reason to doubt her since then. “Sorry, I kinda jumped to conclusions.”

“S’alright.” Strumming shrugged. “Things get heated in the moment. Motives called into question. Methods reexamined. I mean, wasn’t all that long ago I would’ve dropped him for good. Anyway, all that matters is that it works out in the end, right?”

“Yeah, that’s the most important thing.” I offered her my hoof.

Strumming gave it a quick shake. “Yay, bonding. Guess I should be glad I got to shake the real hoof, the fake one could’ve been some kinda backhanded move. Or not. Anyway, we bonded. Not that I don’t like that, but if it’s all the same we still have Queen Steel to catch. It’s a pretty safe bet she heard all the banging, yelling, pleas for mercy, and so on.”

“Right, so let’s...” I trailed off as I glanced down at the pouch where I’d been holding the gems Puzzle gave us. The blue one was glowing. I couldn’t be sure if it had just started or if it had been going for a while and I hadn’t noticed. The battle might have been one-sided, but it had still occupied most of my attention.

“Uh-oh, daddy’s here.” Strumming tossed her head, flicking a bit of mane out of her eyes. “Well that’s a lot of trouble we were hoping to avoid. I’m sure bug boy’s doing his best to try and slow him down, but if he wants in, he’s getting in. For all we know, he might already be in. I wasn’t watching those gems too close.”

“Me either,” I admitted. “So great, one more problem to deal with. Let’s just hope Solar’s already got Steel taken care of.” I headed through the door that took us deeper into the foundry, with Strumming slipping into the shadows behind me. The next room seemed to be where they’d stuffed all the leftover equipment and inventory, all of it covered under tarps to keep out as much dust and moisture as possible. There was a huge loading door at the far end of the room that would have let in boats back when the place was still running. Now all it did was let in enough light that I wasn’t tripping over anything.

As I wound my way between all the covered boxes, I half-heard Solar’s voice drifting through the air. “...can’t keep this up, the Corps is going to take me off the case soon. Not to mention Scarlett and Sunset have both gotten curious.”

I started to gasp, then quickly bit down on it before I gave myself away. For all the talk about how Solar might have gone bad, I’d never wanted to believe it. But there he was, talking with what had to be Steel Rose.

I felt Strumming’s hoof on my back, and she whispered. “You okay?”

I closed my eyes and took a couple deep breaths. I’d known this was a possibility. Now wasn’t the time to start freaking out about it. I’d just have to deal with it, and if that meant arresting Solar along with Steel, then that’s what I’d have to do. “I’m fine.”

Strumming didn’t say anything, but she did give me one more pat on the back before she slipped back into the shadows. I could guess what she was thinking, mostly because I was on the same page as her. I wasn’t fine. Hard for anyone to be fine with everything I’d just found out. But I would have to keep it together long enough to get the job done.

I stalked forward a bit further and finally got a good look at the two of them. Solar looked a lot more tired compared to how he’d been the last time I’d seen him. Or maybe it was just the contrast to Steel. The descriptions I’d heard of the warlock who killed my godparents didn’t quite capture just how damned unsettling she was. Being clad from head to hoof in black iron armor with a facemask in the shape of a snarling demon just made everything about her seem ... off. The design of the mask and armor made her look like something that wasn’t really equine anymore.

Then again, for all I knew she wasn’t really a pony. From what I’d read up about Warpsmiths and Kare Demir practitioners, they were pretty fond of using dark magic to blur the line between pony and metal. For all I knew, under the armor she was some sort of twisted monstrosity, or else the armor had just fused to her flesh and wouldn’t come off at all.

As I closed in, I felt the tingle of a privacy ward. I guess that explained why they hadn’t heard the fight. Steel spoke, the mask distorting and deepening her voice. “I tire of this discussion, Solar. How many times have we had it in the last decade? It is far past time you learned that—”

“You don’t understand,” Solar cut her off. “Things are changing, and if I don’t—”

It probably would’ve been smarter to sit back, let them talk, and see what they’d reveal about their conspiracy, but after finding out my father was in league with a warlock I wasn’t in the mood to be patient. I could figure the rest of it out once I had them captured, ringed, and in an interrogation room. I teleported right in, a spell on the tip of my horn. “Solar Shimmer and Steel Rose, consider yourselves both under arrest!”

Solar’s eyes snapped wide open when he saw me, and a second later his shoulders slumped. “Oh Celestia, no. Sunset...”

Steel whirled on him, her masked face snapping back and forth between the two of us. “Ah, now I understand. So, that's the way of things, is it Solar? You serve as a distraction while your daughter gets into position. Fine then, I’ll—”

I never found out what she was going to do next. Honestly, I didn’t care. After finding out Solar was colluding with her, I’d been spoiling for a fight, and if Steel wanted one I was more than happy to oblige. I snarled and unleashed a blast of blightfire straight at her. Probably not the smartest spell to use when we were all in a confined space, but I was too pissed off to care about little details like that. Besides, after the trip to Northmarch, I’d learned a lot of new tricks for how to control it.

The one thing I really should’ve seen coming was Solar. “No!” He fired off a beam of light that deflected my fire before it could hit Steel. Or at least, that had been the plan. He didn’t put quite enough power behind the attack, so instead of knocking my fire completely clear it only clipped Steel. The entropic black flames immediately started consuming her mask.

Steel tore off the snarling demon’s visage, casting it aside before the Blightfire could spread to her flesh. Then she turned to face me.

I knew that face. The last time I’d seen it was in old family photos, from over a decade ago. The mare in those pictures didn’t have the vicious scars over the left side of her face or the metallic eye threaded with sickly black veins, not to mention all the other side effects of over a decade of aging and all the dark magic she’d used. Still, there was no mistaking her.

I completely forget about using a followup spell, just staring at her. “Golden Aster?! But—but Steel Rose killed you...”

“Golden Aster is dead,” Steel Rose snarled. “She was weak, pitiful, and pathetic. I destroyed her and became something greater.” One of her armored hooves slammed down on the floor, and several objects tumbled down from the ceiling. I had just enough time to recognize them as thunderflash stones before they went off.

“AUGH!” The world vanished in a blinding white flash, and a concussive wave of sound staggered me. Blind and deaf, I started putting up as many defensive spells as I could. A dome of ice, a thin plane of blightfire, and a traditional force shield. I was tempted to teleport too, but doing that while blind, deaf, and disoriented could end very badly. So instead I just threw up as many layers of defense as I could while I tried to recover.

Eventually I started to see blurry shapes resolving themselves once more, and I could hear Strumming’s voice through the ringing in my ears. Between that and the fact that nobody had tried to bust through all the defensive spells I’d tossed up, I had a pretty good idea what had happened. It took a couple more minutes to get confirmation. By then Puzzle had come in to check on us.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes. “They got away?”

Puzzle’s voice came out in the slow, measured tones of someone who was probably speaking a lot more loudly than the words I could actually hear. “Right after the thunderflash. This one tried to get a tracker on either of them, but...” The Puzzle-shaped blur shifted in a way that looked kind of like a shrug. “Chasing either of them would have been very dangerous, especially when this one wasn’t sure if you were okay.”

“I’m...” I was going to say I was fine, but that was a long way from the truth. I’d need at least a couple more minutes to completely shake off getting thunderflashed. And after everything else that had happened, my eyes and ears not quite working was the least of my worries.

Author's Note

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Old Wounds 4

Steel Rose—Golden Aster—whatever I was supposed to call her now, she’d gone to ground again. Puzzle was looking for leads on where she’d gone, but it would probably take a while for him to get anything. However, her apparent co-conspirator Solar Shimmer didn’t have a secret lair, just a hotel room. One I already knew how to find.

Strumming followed at my heels as I marched up to said room. “Uh, Bacon, not trying to tell you how to be a magus but I’m gonna tell you how to be a magus. Don’t you think you’re running about a million degrees too hot right now? I mean, nobody would blame you for being pissed, but mad ponies don’t make good decisions.”

Like I needed Strumming to tell me I was a barely contained bottle of incandescent rage. “Yeah, well I don’t exactly have a couple days to spare for calming meditation,” I snapped. I stopped, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. “If Solar has a functioning brain he’ll be going to ground soon, so if we don’t check the hotel room soon that’s it. Either he’s still here or he’s abandoned the place because he knows it’s compromised. If he ran out in a hurry or didn’t even risk coming back he might’ve left some evidence behind.”

“Makes sense.” Strumming frowned at me. “Still, I’d feel a lot better if you didn’t look like you were gonna rip his head off if you saw him. Or more importantly, rip mine off if I happen to get in your way. And that’s not even getting into how bad it would be to throw fire around in a hotel full of innocent bystanders.”

“I’m—” I was going to say I was fine or in control, but neither of those was all that accurate. How the buck would I be fine when I just caught Solar collaborating with a warlock? The whole noble hunt avenge his murdered friends and my godparents had been a massive lie, because not only was he working with the warlock he’d supposedly been hunting, but the warlock was my godmother! I’d have to be completely dead inside not to be a mess.

Still, Strumming had a point. Going into a warlock hunt emotionally compromised was a terrible idea. Too bad I didn’t have any other options. I took a deep breath. “I’ll do my best to keep a lid on it, but tell me if I start going too far.”

“Can do.” She gently nudged my side. “Just remember, we have no idea what the full story is right now. Could be Steel got into Dad’s head, or it could be that he’s the real baddie and she’s an innocent mare on the run and out to clear her name, or a dozen other things. Just saying, no fwooshing anyone until we’re sure they deserve to be fwooshed.” She held up a hoof. “Yeah, I know, last pony with room to talk about being too kill-happy when warlocks are involved. I just wanna be sure that whoever we get actually is a bad guy who deserves it.”

“Yeah, I get that.” I scowled and shook my head. “So the current plan is to arrest both of them, then figure this mess out. They want to tell me their side of the story, they can do it from a cell with their horns ringed and however many other wards it takes to lock them down.”

Strumming nodded, and that was the end of that talk. As we approached the entrance to Solar’s rooms, I could feel his wards humming. That level of activity would be odd for an empty room, especially in a public space like a hotel. The last thing he’d want to do is accidentally fry somepony who was just coming in to clean his bedsheets or whatever. Which almost certainly meant... “He’s in the room.”

“Goody gumdrops.” Strumming took a deep breath. “So what’s the game plan? We going to try and play this nice and diplomatic, or—”

I fired a concussive blast at the doorway, shattering it and setting off all his wards.

“—that,” Strumming finished.

Solar stared up at me in shock as I tore through what was left of his wards. Judging by the half-packed bags, he’d been trying to grab everything before relocating. “Sunset, wai—”

I didn’t want to hear it. “Solar Shimmer, you’re under arrest for collusion with a known warlock, obstruction of justice, and suspicion of involvement in the murder of Magus Gingersnap.”

Solar’s jaw dropped. “Sunset, please just let me explain!”

“You want to explain, you can do it during your interrogation,” I snarled. “Now are you going to come quietly, or do I have to subdue you?”

Solar groaned. “Sunset, you don’t understand what’s going on, and I don’t have time to get arrested. By the time we clear this up, her trail will have gone cold, or she’ll be completely out of Freeport. I promise I’ll explain everything later, but for now...”

He tried to step past me. Maybe he figured that for all my rage, I was still his daughter and wouldn’t actually try to stop him. Which I guess just goes to show that he hadn’t read the letters about what had happened in Northmarch very carefully. I sent a stunbolt his way. Not a very strong one, but I wasn’t trying to take him down yet. Just make a point. “I wasn’t asking you to drop by for tea when it’s convenient for you, Solar. What part of ‘You’re under arrest’ didn’t you understand?”

Solar sighed and shook his head. “Sunset, I promise I’ll explain everything once this is over, but for now I need you to trust me and—”

“Trust you?!” I repeated incredulously. “You want me to trust you after you’ve spent the last thirteen years lying to me about why you abandoned your family and what happened to Golden and Ginger?! You must be crazy if you think I’ll go along with that.” I planted my hooves and got another spell ready. “Last chance. We can make this a nice, quiet, dignified arrest, or we can do it the hard way.”

I probably should’ve been a bit more careful about picking a fight with Solar, considering how well my fight against Scarlett had gone a few months ago. Of course, a lot had happened since then. I’d gotten a lot more experience at magical combat, mostly from the school of hard knocks. I’d beaten Blackfyre. And most importantly, I’d gotten a huge boost to my raw magical potential thanks to whatever it was that happened after I’d bonded to Chainbreaker and connected with the spirits of Ushabti and Torch.

Besides, Strumming was using the fact that Solar was completely focused on me to sneak around behind him in case the hopefully hypothetical magical slugout went wrong. While I wouldn’t deny that my ego wanted me to win the fight solo, not to mention letting it would let me vent some anger, I was fine with her dropping him with a sneak attack if it turned into a serious fight.

Solar let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. “Sunset, if I let you lock me up, there’s no telling how much damage Steel could do. I’m sorry, but I can’t let that happen.”

His horn lit up, and I saw golden chains of light spring into the air around me. I had some less than fond memories of that spell. Celestia used it on me in the middle of my breakdown while I was leaving Canterlot. At the time, it had pretty thoroughly disabled me.

But that had been over four years ago, and I’d grown a lot since then. I could’ve tried a counterspell and turned it into a proper magic duel, but I had a much better solution. Not to mention one that was positively poetic.

As the chains started closing in on me I held out a hoof sent out a little pulse of willpower. A second later I felt Chainbreaker’s hilt. I slashed the blade in a wide swing to intercept all the incoming chains of light, and Chainbreaker lived up to its name.

Solar blinked in shock and took half a step back. I guess he hadn’t expected me to pull Chainbreaker out of thin air. I wasn’t going to give him a chance to recover. I channeled anima and blightfire into my horn, then fired a low-level annihilation blast at him. I didn’t want to hurt him or blast a hole in the hotel, after all.

Solar threw up a shield of solid light, but didn’t pour enough power into it. When the two conflicting energies met on his shield and annihilated each other, the explosion tore straight through the shield and sent him flying into the back wall of his room. The blast also shattered most of the windows and wrecked some very expensive furniture.

To his credit, Solar was back on his hooves with a much stronger shield up before I could do anything to exploit the hit. Plus, now that he had his back to a wall, it would be a lot harder for Strumming to pull of whatever sneak attack she’d been planning. However, that’s when he did something I wasn’t expecting.

He dropped the shield and held up his hooves. “Okay Sunset, you win.” He sighed and shook his head. “I surrender. I don’t want to fight my own daughter. Stupid of me to think I could hold you down with a single spell, but I guess that’s what happens when I haven’t been much of a father to you since you were nine.” He groaned and rolled his shoulder, where he’d hit the outer wall of his room. “I suppose I should be proud of how far you’ve come. If that spell was anything to judge by, you’re a fine magus.”

I couldn’t resist just a tiny bit of gloating. “Actually, I was holding back so I wouldn’t hurt you or wreck the hotel.”

Solar’s blinked in shock, then stared at me for a long moment. “Oh.”

Strumming snickered as she slipped a suppression ring onto his horn. “So that’s what it looks like when a dad realizes that his own daughter can kick his plot in a fight.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Solar muttered under his breath. He sighed and looked around the room. “Though I suppose I have bigger things to worry about than wounded pride. Although ... would you believe me if I said it’s actually kind of a relief to finally get caught? At least now I can finally tell you the truth about everything.”

I glowered at him. “After you spent more than half my life lying to me, I’m not sure you know how to tell me the truth about anything. But if you’re in the mood for a confession, we’ll take it down for evidence while we set up the extradition to Equestria.”

“Right.” He sighed and ran a hoof through his mane. “I suppose there’s no point in asking you to free me until we have Steel in custody.”

“For all I know, you’re the bad guy and Golden’s been on the run from you for the last decade.” I started marching him out of the hotel room. “I’m just going to lock you both up, gather evidence and take statements, then ship you both back to Equestria and let them figure it out.”

Marching Solar back to my tower was just a little awkward. Too bad it was also the only real solution. I certainly wasn’t going to toss him into a normal Freeport jail. Sure, he had a horn ring on, but I’d busted one of those back when I was nineteen and made short work of Starlight and Blackfyre’s attempt to put a ring on me. Any archmage worth the name would be able to figure out a way to break one eventually. Fortunately, after my run-ins with the likes of Starlight Glimmer, I’d made my own little holding cell for powerful and extremely dangerous spellcasters. Kind of a necessity for a magus.

Once we got my tower, I found another problem waiting for me. Namely, my apprentice. I was sure I’d let her know I’d have to cancel her lessons once I decided to take on the Steel Rose case, but considering how crazy the last few days had, been it must’ve slipped my mind. “Sorry Kukri, you’ll have to head home. Got one or possibly more warlocks to deal with. I’ll let you know when we can do more lessons.”

“This one isn’t here for a lesson, Shimmer-mare. You already canceled them.” Kukri took a deep breath. “This one knows it’s only an apprentice, but it wants to help. This one isn’t a grub anymore, it’s thirteen years old and—”

I sighed and shook my head. “No, Kukri. Your parents have only just started to forgive me for getting you dragged into that mess in Northmarch, and I promised them I wouldn’t take you into any dangerous situations.” I’d probably come closer than I cared to think about to losing Kukri as an apprentice entirely. Not that I could entirely blame Knives and Codex for being upset when what I’d promised them would be a perfectly safe little field trip turned into me dragging their daughter through a warzone and having several uncomfortably close brushes with death.

Kukri stubbornly planted her hooves. “This one can still help! It knows it can’t go out and start fighting warlocks or anything, but surely there’s something it can do.” She looked up at me with huge, pleading eyes.

I groaned and shook my head. “I said no, Kukri.”

There was a flash of green fire, and now my apprentice was a small, floppy-eared puppy staring up at me with even wider, sadder, and more hopeful eyes.

“Oh for the love of Celestia...” I broke eye contact and did everything I could to resist her. Then she let out a tiny little sad puppy whimper. I knew she was playing me, but still... “Fine! Send the Council a message to let them know I have Chainbreaker before they start getting worried. Once that’s done, go pull my books and look for whatever we have on the Warpsmith Foundry and Kare Demir.” A harmless little research project would at least keep her busy, and if I was going to be going up against someone who used both of those, it made sense to brush up on them.

Kukri shifted back to her normal form of a miniature version of me. “This one doesn’t want to send messages or pull out a bunch of dusty book! It wants to do something to really help you stop the warlock you’re going after.”

“You are helping,” I assured her. “You’re supporting me and taking care of things so I don’t have to worry about them. That’s what apprentices do.”

“That’s what little kid apprentices do,” Kukri shot back. “This one isn’t a grub anymore, it’s thirteen! It can do more than just kid stuff!”

Oh joy. I could feel a bit of a headache growing. “I said no, Kukri. Just get everything I asked you to do taken care of, and then maybe I’ll see about finding something else for you.” Something far safer than what she wanted, because despite what she thought, she was far too young for any of the danger I threw myself into.

“Ugh, fiiine!” Kukri stomped off in a huff, heading back into my library.

“Hoo boy.” Strumming chuckled and shook her head. “Yup, Facon’s turning into a teenager. Hope you’re ready for this, Bacon. At least it shouldn’t be quite as bad for the hero/role model/surrogate big sister as it’s gonna be for her parents.”

Solar chuckled as he watched my apprentice go. “I have a few stories I could tell about teenage apprentices. Although...” He trailed off, shooting an awkward, guilty look my way. Probably thinking about the fact that he’d pretty much completely missed my teenage years. Judging by the change of subject, he preferred not to dwell on that. “You know, I’m pretty sure you’re the first magus to take a changeling on as an apprentice.” He paused for a moment, then amended, “Well, the first to knowingly and openly do so. I’d imagine we’ve had a few changelings who snuck their way in during the Corps’ history.”

“Recent teenagerhood aside, she’s been a good apprentice.” I smiled fondly at her retreating form. Once she was out of earshot, I turned on him. “But don’t think praising her is going to get you in my good books and make me forget about everything you’ve done.”

Solar flinched. “I wasn’t trying to—” He sighed, shaking his head as his shoulders slumped in defeat. “Oh, never mind. It’s not like you’d believe anything I’d say at this point.” He scoffed and let out a bitter snort. “Not like I’d believe me in your position.”

“Funny how a decade-plus of lies will destroy trust,” Strumming chimed in. “I mean, I’m a bit of a pathological liar with severe issues, and even I think that’s cold.” She turned to me. “Doesn’t look like bug boy’s back from digging up info on Golden Steel, or whatever we’re supposed to call her. Wanna wait for him, or should we do the interrogation right now? Not like he can’t ask any questions of his own later.”

“You can’t afford any delays in dealing with Steel Rose,” Solar cut in. “The sooner you know the truth, the sooner you can—”

Strumming put a hoof over his mouth. “Preeetty sure the prisoner doesn’t have any say in when he gets interrogated.”

“He doesn’t,” I agreed. “But I’m fine with getting answers out of him sooner than later, even if I won’t trust anything he says.”

Solar flinched and got Strumming’s hoof off his mouth. “Sunset, I know I made some mistakes, but that doesn’t mean—”

“No,” I cut him off. “What you did is a long way past a mistake. Putting whites and reds together in the laundry is a mistake. Not returning a library book on time is a mistake. This kind of long-running deception is an outright betrayal.”

“Okay.” Solar trudged over to one of the sofas I kept for clients while they waited for me, then flopped down on it. “You’re right. I betrayed you and your mother, and I let both of your down along with the entire Magus Corps. I’m a prisoner, and I’m ready to confess my crimes. Is that enough for you?”

“No.” I took a seat across from him. “But it’s a starting point.” I summoned up a couple quills and a lot of parchment, passing one to Strumming keeping the other for myself. Two full transcripts of the interrogation should be pretty thorough. Getting a professional to write it up would’ve been better, but I didn’t know where to get one of those on short notice, especially for material this sensitive. “So ... to get the official business out of the way: I am Freeport Magus Sunset Shimmer, taking dictation alongside Strumming Heartstrings, Special Assistant to the Freeport Magus Corps. This is the first interrogation of Equestrian Archmagus of the Eastern March Solar Shimmer regarding the Steel Rose/Golden Aster case.” Writing it all down as I talked was a bit tricky, but I was managing. Certainly better than Strumming would, since she didn’t have any magic.

Solar sighed and cleared his throat. “Alright, where did you want me to start?”

“The beginning’s usually a good place,” Strumming mumbled around the quill in her mouth.

“Right, establishing all the facts for the record.” Solar scoffed and shook his head. “I knew that. Just—well I’m used to conducting these from the other side. Suppose I ought to be asking for a lawyer before I say another word, but...” His eyes cut to me. “It’s not like it would do me much good anyway.”

He took a deep breath, then launched into the story. “So, Golden Aster and Gingersnap were my two best friends from college. We trained together, studied together, and once we graduated, we joined the Magus Corps together. Not only were we all best friends, but we made a good team, too. Top of our year in school, and still just as good working together in the field. I was the best combat mage, Golden was a brilliant researcher, and Ginger was great with support and utility spells.” He leaned back against the couch, a wistful smile tugging at his lips. “Those were ... the best years of my life.”

He sat back for several more seconds, lost in his memories. “I suppose nothing perfect can last forever, but we had a pretty good run. Fifteen years. I’d met your mother, had you, and gotten so many accolades and decorations that I was a shoo-in for the next Archmagus slot. I suppose everyone always gave me a little more credit than Ginger and Golden, or assumed I was the leader since I was the one who did the most fighting, not to mention I had the best family name. I just needed one last achievement to seal the deal.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sure you know what happened next.”

“Talonrend,” I filled in. “Your duel with him was one of the ones Celestia made me cover when we were going over dueling theory. Apparently it’s a great case study for how to battle against someone who uses a wildly contrasting style.”

“Yes, my battle with the infamous feral warlock of the deep woods.” Solar slumped back into the couch, staring down at the table between us. “With the benefits of hindsight and knowing all the consequences of that battle, there are times I wish we’d left well enough alone. Talonrend was mad and dangerous, but he hadn’t bothered any ponies for over a decade. Just vanished into the deep forest, living like a wild animal. All the locals knew to give his woods a wide berth. Then some idiot noble who’s getting on in years and wants one last big adventure and thought he could make a name for himself taking Talonrend down, and...”

Strumming scoffed and shook her head. “A pony’s who has gone as looney as Talonrend did kinda need to get stopped. I mean, the guy ripped another pony to shreds and ate him. When you have to make excuses for the guy like ‘Well that duke should’ve known that he’d get killed for walking in Talonrend’s forest’ it’s just accepting something we shouldn’t accept. Just saying, if it hadn’t been him, it would’ve been some kids playing in the spooky woods, or a farmer looking for some lost sheep, or...”

“Yes, yes, he needed to be stopped,” Solar agreed. There was a sort of weariness in his voice, and it wasn’t hard to guess why. He’d probably had the same conversation with himself dozens of times. “And we did stop him, but it came at a heavy price. Talonrend was as vicious as a cornered beast, and he’d twisted several of the forest’s animals into service. All of us left that fight in pretty bad shape, but Golden got the worst of it.”

I had a few vague memories of that. Considering I’d been eight at the time, it was all pretty blurry and mostly focused on my own thoughts and feelings. I remembered Solar coming back really bandaged up, and a visit to the hospital to check on how Golden was doing. Her face had been really bandaged up, including...

Something clicked into place. “That metal eye she had when I took out her mask ... she lost the original one in that fight, didn’t she?”

Solar grimaced and nodded. “Yeah, she did. I was supposed to keep Talonrend locked down, but he managed to slip my chains and got to her.” A tremble shot down his spine. “It’s ... the crazy bastard was fast, but that’s no excuse for letting him get away from me.” He slowly ran a hoof through his mane, and his eyes flicked down to my leg. “It’s ... well you probably know better than me how hard it is to deal with a crippling injury like that.”

“Yeah,” I grunted out, self-consciously flexing my prosthetic. Most of the time, it was as good as having a real limb. I could even make a case for it being better than my old leg when it came to stuff like smacking street thugs in the face. Maybe if I kept telling myself that, I would eventually stop missing my old leg. As it was, every time I took it off before going to bed or when I woke up in the morning minus a leg was a reminder of the fact that I wasn’t a normal pony anymore. It ... hadn’t been easy. Still wasn’t, really. Just ... well after a couple months of being crippled, I was kind of getting used to it.

Considering I’d had a relatively easy path to getting one of the highest-quality prosthetics ever, I also knew I was probably one of the best-off amputees around. Certainly a big step up from what Golden would’ve had to put up with. I hadn’t heard of any artificial eyes that worked almost as good as the real thing. Sure, she could get a glass eye, and there were plenty of spells to compensate or even enhance the senses, but that wasn’t the same thing.

Solar was staring at me, and I realized I probably looked as quiet and troubled as I felt. “You’re holding up, right Sunset? Is there anything I can—”

“I’m fine.” And even if I wasn’t, Solar was pretty much the last pony I’d turn to for help. Kukri, Puzzle, Strumming, Celestia ... I had a lot of better options. “Let’s get back on topic.”

“Right.” Solar sighed and shook his head. “I guess it all worked out for me, at least. After we beat Talonrend, the next conclave confirmed me as an Archmagus. Golden went on long-term leave to recover. I tried to check in on her as much as I could, but Archmagi don’t have a lot of free time. Not to mention there were other things I needed to do when I wasn’t at work.”

“Scarlett and I didn’t see much of you,” I agreed.

“Yeah.” He bit his lip, his eyes drifting down to the floor. “What wound up causing the next problem. Scarlett ... basically told me I had to spend less time with Golden and more with the two of you.” A bitter, humorless chuckle left his lips. “Scarlett never really cared for Golden. I suppose that shouldn’t be a shock. The other mare in my life, and the one I’d known for longer than my own wife. Not that I ever ... Golden and I were strictly platonic friends. Still, there was always a bit of underlying tension between Scarlett and Golden, and once Scarlett started feeling like I was neglecting my family to spend time with her...”

“So wifey laid down the law,” Strumming concluded. “And I’m guessing that meant less time and support for the other mare?”

“Exactly,” Solar confirmed. “Ginger promised he’d still check in on her, but he was almost as busy as I was since he was my right-hoof stallion. Plus ... well, it wasn’t the same sort of friendship. Golden I were practically siblings, while Ginger and her had always been ... they were good friends, but the sort of good friends who argued a lot but always made up the next day. I spent a lot of time balancing the two of them out, but now I wasn’t there. So ... that’s when things started going wrong.

“Golden had been doing research into solutions for her eye ever since she got hurt. At first it seemed like a good way to keep her mind occupied while she was on leave, and honestly she was so brilliant I wasn’t going to rule out her finding a way to restore it. Then...” Solar’s shoulders slumped and a guilty twinge shot through his face. “When she didn’t find the answers she wanted in any of the books on conventional magic, she started looking elsewhere. I didn’t even think about checking when she asked for access to restricted materials. I was just glad she had something to fill her time, and I trusted her completely. If I’d paid more attention instead of just signing off on whatever she wanted with no questions asked...”

He scrubbed at his eyes, with his leg coming away damp. “Ginger tried to warn me about what was going on with her, but I didn’t take it seriously enough. Like I said, he and Golden were always butting heads. It wasn’t the first time he’d complained about her doing too much research or getting into something a bit weird. When he told me he planned on having an intervention with her, I expected I’d just have to be there to play peacemaker between the two of them.

“Instead, when I get there the house is on fire, and Ginger’s dead. Golden ... I caught her at the scene. She said Ginger was insisting she commit herself before she sank any deeper into dark magic. They argued, then it turned into a fight, and then...” He let out a loud sniff and wiped at his eyes again. “She didn’t mean to kill him. It’s just ... well when two high-level magi are throwing spells at each other, sometimes things go wrong.”

“Okay, with you so far,” Strumming commented. “So how come you didn’t have her locked up for an investigation and trial? ‘Cause that seems like the logical next move to make.”

“Because I’m an idiot.” Solar buried his face in his hooves. “She promised to come back in two hours to turn herself in, she just wanted to hire a lawyer and settle one or two things first. I ... sweet Celestia, she had Ginger’s blood on her hooves and I still trusted her to do the right thing. I guess I was probably still in shock from it all. It’s not every day you go to visit your two best friends only to find out one of them killed the other.”

It wasn’t hard to guess what happened from there. “Instead of turning herself in, she just got a two-hour head start on you?”

Solar nodded mutely. It took him a while to continue. “Closer to four, actually. I didn’t want to believe she’d run out on me. Once I finally stopped waiting for her to come back, I went to her place to check up on her. I get there, find it completely ransacked and showing all the signs of someone who quickly packed up before fleeing the city. At that point, I had to stop lying to myself, at least for a bit.”

“And then you chased her,” I concluded.

“Yes, I did.” Solar slumped down even further. He looked ... old. Worn down. That probably shouldn’t be a surprise, considering all the messy history he was digging into. Telling the whole thing was clearly taking a toll on him. He’d probably never confessed it all to anyone before. “At first I thought she’d just panicked once the shock wore off. You’d think she would know better than to do that, but accidentally killing your best friend can make anyone irrational. It took me a month and a half to find her, and by then ... well she’d fallen pretty far. She’d taken to using the mask because she’d thought I would report her and get the whole corps hunting her.”

“But you didn’t report her,” I pointed out.

“Which she didn’t know.” Solar slowly rubbed at his forehead, like he was fighting off a headache. “I should’ve. Giving her an hour to hire a good lawyer before turning herself in was the sort of mistake the Corps could’ve forgiven. Not reporting her after she ran...” He groaned. “I thought she’d just gotten scared and done something stupid—that I could find her, talk to her, and convince her to turn herself in. If I’d reported her as a fugitive who murdered a fellow magus, the Corps would’ve been out for blood.”

“And at that point you still believed what she did to Gingersnap was nothing but a tragic accident,” Strumming filled in.

“I had to,” Solar confessed. “The alternative was to accept that one of my best friends had killed the other and turned into a full-blown warlock. It wasn’t until I tracked her down in Manehatten that I finally faced the truth. She was running around in full costume by that point, albeit not as fancy as the one she has now, and associating the sort of scum we would’ve been arresting back when we worked together. They turned on her once I outed her identity, and it turned into a fight. Naturally I teamed up with her, and ... well let’s just say seeing her in battle made me realize she wasn’t just a scared magus; she was a warlock.”

“Hold up a second...” Strumming counted off on her wingtips. “If I got the timeline right, was that the Manehattan Warlock Massacre?”

“That’s what they wound up calling it.” Solar sighed and shook his head. “I was doing my best to disable them for capture, but Golden just finished them off after I dropped them. She didn’t want anyone who’d seen her face alive.”

“Huh.” Strumming went really quiet, her face unreadably blank. It took me a couple seconds to connect the dots. The warlock who’d attacked her father had been one of the ones killed in that massacre. That was ... probably a complication.

Since Strumming was being unusually silent, I filled in the empty space. “Okay, so after she was involved in a massacre, how come you didn’t arrest her, or at least report the whole thing?”

“For the first question, I couldn’t.” Solar rubbed his side. “I was fighting to disable, and not wearing nearly as much armor as she was. Archmagus or no, we were outnumbered pretty badly, and I took some hits. The aftermath of it all is pretty fuzzy, but from what I’ve been able to piece together, she patched me up and got me to a hospital before she vanished. The fact that she took such a big chance to help me ... well, I suppose it gave me some doubts about whether or not she really had gone bad. Besides, I owed her one.”

I scowled and crossed my forelegs over my chest as I figured it out. “Oh Celestia, you haven’t been trying to catch her at all. You’re trying to save her!”

“She’s my friend.” Solar closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I know she’s gotten mixed up in some bad things and made some horrible decisions, but deep down she’s still the same mare who fought alongside me for years, the one who was always there for me, whether it was a life and death battle or just a homework assignment I was having trouble with. I’m not giving up on her. Ever.”

“So you kept lying to the Corps because if they knew the truth they’d pull you off the case in a heartbeat.” I sighed and buried my face in my hooves. “You know, because they have rules about not taking cases you’re too close to. Letting you go after Gingersnap’s killer is already bending the rules a lot, but if they found out it was Golden who did the deed, there’s no way you could pull enough strings to stay on the case. Archmagi have a lot of leeway, but not that much.”

“And whoever they replaced me with would treat Golden as just another warlock,” Solar answered. “They’d lock her up and throw away the key, assuming she isn’t just killed while resisting arrest. I can’t let that happen. She’s my friend, I owe it to her to try everything I can to bring her back.”

“‘Bring her back,’” I repeated incredulously. “What, do you really think you could waltz back into Canterlot after a decade and tell everyone ‘Oh yeah, it turns out my friend Golden was alive the whole time?!’ That everything could just go back to normal like none of this ever happened? It wouldn’t take long for someone to figure out what you did.”

“Probably not,” Solar agreed. “But after everything Golden’s done for me and how badly I let her down, having to resign in disgrace isn’t ... well saving her matters more to me than my career. She never would have fallen in the first place if I’d stopped Talonrend in time ... or been there for her when she needed me. I could’ve paid more attention to the books she was borrowing and nipped the problem in the bud, or taken Ginger more seriously when he tried to warn me that she was slipping. Or ... Celestia, there were so many things I should’ve done differently.”

“So you blame yourself for it,” I concluded. “Wow. How full of yourself can you get?”

That got Solar’s attention. His head snapped up and her glared at me. “Sunset!”

I didn’t back down. “Oh, please. Did it ever occur to you that maybe Golden’s responsible for her own decisions? Maybe, just maybe, her fall wasn’t all about you?”

Solar tried to cut in. “But if I’d—”

“If you’d what?” I snapped. “If you’d completely neglected your family and job to spend every waking hour with her, maybe she wouldn’t have turned? Maybe. Or maybe she would’ve gone bad just as fast, and killed you along with Ginger.” I tapped my prosthetic. “I’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple months playing the ‘What if?’ game. What if I’d kept my head down and let Blackfyre gloat instead of stabbing him with Chainbreaker? What if I’d used a less flashy spell so he didn’t find me? What if I’d gone along with Scarlett’s plan to ship me back to Equestria for years of recovery and therapy instead of just losing the leg? Maybe it could’ve been better, or maybe it would’ve been a lot worse. All I know is, there’s no point beating yourself up over what if’s, especially when you’re doing that instead of focusing on making things better in the here and now.”

Solar clenched his teeth, but after several seconds let out a breath and slowly nodded. “Alright then. Fine. You’re right, dwelling on the past doesn’t change anything. But that’s why I’m trying to fix things now.”

“You’ve been trying to do that for over a decade,” I countered. “I know I’m the last person to tell anyone they should know when to quit, but I think you’ve done just about everything you can. You’ve had more than enough time to try everything you can to make her change her mind and drop the whole the warlock thing, and despite all that, she’s still going strong. She even had her own creepy little cult that was planning on using blood sacrifices. I can’t imagine you’ve got anything new to say to her she hasn’t already heard a dozen times.”

Strumming inserted herself into the conversation again. “Do you know what the definition of insanity is? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result every time. Which ... well I guess that means you’ve gone pretty crazy since you started chasing Golden.”

“Is it insane to want to save a friend?” Solar shot back. He looked like had a bit more to say on the subject, but a knock at the front door of my tower cut him off.

I was about to go get the door when Kukri scampered past us to answer it. I guess she’d been listening in on the talk after she’d wrapped up the chores I’d asked her to do. Or instead of them. Hopefully she at least got a message off to the Council before she decided to spy on us. I had to wonder why she’d given herself away, but I suppose she was just so used to answering my door that it was instinct for her at this point.

She came back with Puzzle. He took one look at Solar, slightly disheveled and with a horn ring on, and raised an eyebrow. “It seems this one missed quite a few interesting events while it was out.” His eyes flicked down at the transcripts Strumming and I had been taking. “Thought at least you’ve taken good notes for this one to get back up to speed. In any case, this one has good news. It’s found where the Aster-mare has gone to ground. Nothing terribly impressive, just a modest tavern near the docks. It suspects she’s trying to arrange passage out of Freeport. Small surprise, given how events have played out. Doubtless she’d prefer to relocate to somewhere she won’t be actively hunted.”

Solar immediately stood up. “Then we have to hurry and catch her before she’s gone. Speaking from experience, once she’s on a ship, it’s far too easy to lose her trail. The last time she gave me the slip at the docks and I didn’t know which ship she took, it was almost a year before I could find her again.”

My eyes narrowed. “We aren’t going to be doing anything. My team and I will go have a word with Golden and then bring her into custody to sort all this out. You are going to be staying right here, in a specially prepared holding cell.”

Solar flinched. “But ... but I told you the truth, Sunset.”

I scoffed. “Considering how long you’ve been lying to me, your word doesn’t carry much weight.”

Strumming shot a curious look my way. “So does that mean we aren’t going to pick a fight with Golden Steel, or whatever we’re supposed to call her now?”

I shrugged. “We’ll see what happens. We certainly want to be ready for a fight, but right now the whole situation is weird enough that I’m not assuming anything. I at least want to give her a chance to tell her side of the story.”

Strumming didn’t like that answer. “We found her in a foundry with a bunch of hired goon minions who were getting ready to do a blood sacrifice. That’s usually not the mark of an innocent victim.”

“Usually,” I agreed. “But nothing about this whole situation has been usual. For all we know, since Solar was there too he could’ve been the one who hired them to set Golden up. I’m not saying she’s innocent—just that so far everything we’ve heard from Solar and everything he’s reported to Equestria has been a lie. Maybe the new story’s the truth, but I’m not assuming that. If Golden wants to sit down and have a peaceful, diplomatic talk where she tells her story in a calm, collected manner, I’ll hear her out.”

“Guess that’s fair,” Strumming grunted.

“Whether it’s a fight or a talk, this one suggests we hurry,” Puzzle cut in. “It hardly matters what we want to do if she gets passage off Freeport before we catch up to her. This one managed to stop the ship she booked passage on, but once she finds out about that, she’ll doubtless start looking for another.”

“Right.” I took a moment to pull my cloak back on and make sure Chainbreaker was securely sheathed. “Let’s not waste any time, then.”

Author's Note

As always, thanks to my pre-reading and editing team for all their hard work. Also, I would like to thank all my dedicated Patreon supporters. You guys are awesome.

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Old Wounds 5

It was raining when we went out to confront Golden. Not that it should’ve been a surprise; the city usually averaged somewhere around three thousand millimeters of rain a year. We all threw on our raincloaks, and I reluctantly left my armor and Chainbreaker behind. Wearing a bunch of metal around my body when I was going to see a ferromancer just seemed like a bad idea, and carrying the sword might set a bit too hostile of a tone. I wanted to at least try to keep things diplomatic. Plus, if I needed Chainbreaker I could call it up in half a second anyway.

My leg was another issue. There wasn’t much I could do for it other than layer a bunch of extra wards on it and hope for the best. Worst case, I could always hit the quick release on it and just make a quick-and-ditry ice prosthetic to replace it. I’d put a fair bit of practice into that just in case.

Puzzle led us to a pretty dingy-looking dockside tavern, probably the sort of place where nobody asked questions. Sure enough, Golden was sitting at one of the outside tables, underneath a rather tattered-looking awning. At a guess, she was outside so she had an excuse to keep on that heavy rain cloak that did a pretty good job of hiding her features, even if the eyepatch gave her away. Though I suppose that metal eye with the nasty dark magic veins would’ve done the same thing, and looked a lot weirder to boot. From the way she was tapping her hoof on the table and looking around, she was probably waiting on someone.

If that was the case, I would just have to interrupt her. I plopped myself into the seat across from her, and only barely resisted the urge to smirk when she twitched in shock. “This seat taken?”

Golden slowly untensed after several seconds. “Considering you’re sitting down at a table instead of ambushing me, I guess you want to talk?”

“Yeah, I do.” I suppose it shouldn’t have been a shock she was going around maskless. I’d already suggested she might do that to fly under the radar, and it’s not like there was anyone in Freeport who would recognize her. At least now I could get a good look at her: her coat was still the same golden yellow I vaguely remembered, though her one remaining grey eye looked a lot duller than I recalled. She’d also cut her black mane pretty short, aside from a long fringe down the side of her face that partially concealed the scars around her eye. Even with hair and the eyepatch covering the worst of it, I could tell it had been a nasty, ragged wound.

Though maybe part of that was from everything else she’d been through since then. From the dark circles under her remaining eyes (both remaining and fake) and the slightly disheveled state of her mane, I wouldn’t be shocked if she told me she hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in years. Not really a surprise, considering all the stress and dark magic.

I decided to get straight to the point. “Solar told me what happened, or at least his version of it. Considering he’s been telling me you were dead for over a decade ... well, I figured I should give you a chance to tell your side of the story.”

Puzzle set himself down in one of the seats to the side of us. “Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of time to cover all the details. The ship you've booked passage with has been unavoidably delayed. Customs selected them at random for a thorough inspection. They’re certain to miss the tide, which will probably delay their departure until tomorrow morning.”

Puzzle was a really useful friend to have.

Golden drew her cloak up tighter around herself, tugging the hood down to cover as much of the damaged side of her face as possible. “Sunset, I ... I don't know what Solar might have told you, but I don’t want this to turn into a fight. You’re my goddaughter. When you were a little filly you used to call me Aunt Goldy. If circumstances had been different...” She grimaced and looked to the side, unable to meet my eyes.

“But they’re not.” I sighed and shook my head. “So I know from my own memories and a little common sense that most of the early stuff he told me was probably true. You lost the eye taking on Talonrend, you took it really hard, and you started looking for any way you could find to get it back. Guess you eventually succeeded.”

One of her hooves went up to the eyepatch. “You need to understand, I just wanted to fix this. That’s all I ever wanted to do. After Talonrend I just … I wasn’t the same. Nothing felt the same. I only wanted my eye back, to fix the damage so things could finally go back to normal. You don’t know what it’s like to lose a part of yourself that way, to have part of my own body ripped away and know I’ll never get it back.”

A pang of empathy shot through me. “I probably understand more than you realize.” I set my foreleg on the table, then carefully peeled back the covering I kept over it—just enough so Golden could clearly see it, then covered it back up. Judging by the frown Puzzle shot my way, he thought that was a dumb move. I would end up regretting it if this got violent, but if I could get through to her...

Golden flinched back, one hoof flying up to cover her mouth. “Oh Sunset ... I’m so sorry that happened to you. I suppose you know exactly what it’s like then, don’t you? Trying to keep going despite losing something so important. Thinking you can move on, only to wake up every morning and realize there’s a part of yourself missing you can never get back.”

“Yeah, I know.” I took a deep breath. “I was lucky, I had the skills and resources to make a good replacement. Eyes are ... a lot harder than legs.”

“They’re just so complicated,” Golden groaned. “Some of the best minds in Equestria have tried to create replacement eyes, but no one’s ever come up with something that actually works. I just wanted something like what I have, to be whole again. That’s why I was doing my research—to find a solution, to fix myself.”

I was with her so far. “So how did you go from doing research to ... this?”

“Ginger just didn’t understand what I was doing.” Her remaining eye dropped down to the table, and her shoulders slumped as she weakly shook her head. “You need to understand, I didn’t want to fight him. I just needed to do my research. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. But he was going to stop me, end my research for no damned reason. I couldn’t let him do that when I was so close to a breakthrough...”

“‘For no reason’?” I pressed. “So you weren't looking into dark and forbidden magic?”

Golden slammed a hoof down on the table, making me and Puzzle jump. “There’s nothing wrong with merely looking! There might have been a solution in the Sealed Repository that somepony had overlooked, it’s happened before! Ponies have researched forbidden materials, but found legitimate ways to use it, or found knowledge they could use to help ponies. I wanted to do the same for my eye. I asked Solar for permission every time I needed something, and every single time he signed off on it. I’m a research magus—I’m allowed to have access to material like that!”

She snarled and shook her head. “But that wasn’t good enough for Ginger. He just had to keep pressing me, like he knew more about what I needed to recover than I did. He was always that way, even back in school—telling me I should get out more, not spend all my time in books ... but then he always came back to me when he needed help on the big test.”

I was tempted to change the subject considering how worked up she was getting, but maybe she needed to vent. And in any case, she was telling me what I wanted to hear. “So how did it go from a disagreement to a fight?”

“It was Ginger’s fault!” she snapped, half-standing up and planting her forelegs on the table. “I didn’t want to fight, I just wanted him to leave me alone to do my work. He’s the one who wouldn’t back off when I told him to. He wanted—no, he demanded to know what I was researching. So I showed him, and then he blew up on me! Said I’d gone too far, and he was going to take all my research away and have me committed. Like … like I was some criminal who’d done something wrong!”

“And from there it escalated?” I asked.

“Yes.” Golden scoffed. “He grabbed me, Sunset. Tried to force a ring onto my horn like I was a common warlock. I’m a magus, and he was was assaulting me, at best. Who knows what he would have done if I was at his mercy?” She sat back down, throwing her hooves up in the air. “He was already convinced I was a warlock. Next thing he was bound to do was kill me for 'resisting arrest', or some other horseapples.”

“So you fought back,” I concluded. “And he died.”

“I never wanted to kill him!” she screamed, loud enough to make everyone on the street stop and stare. After a long awkward moment, they all got back to whatever they were doing before, most of them picking up the pace to get further away. Golden didn’t seem to notice, just drawing her hooves back to cover her chest, practically hugging herself for comfort. “It … what I did was textbook self-defense, I swear. I only tried to disable him, but then he started whipping out the nasty stuff to stop me, and then it was fight or die.” She started shivering. “Even if he could be insufferable sometimes, he was my friend! You have to know that I never wanted to hurt him. Please, you have to believe me!”

“Okay, okay. I believe you,” I didn’t, but considering how worked up she was getting, I figured any other answer would make things worse. “So why did you run?”

Golden let out a loud sniff, pulling her cloak tighter around herself. “Why do you think? You’ve been on the run as a suspected warlock before, right? You know what it’s like, how ponies will just make assumptions when things look bad. The Magus Corps would send ponies to investigate the matter, and they would see all the books I’d checked out from the Sealed Repository, a burned-down house, and whatever was left of Ginger and...” She let out a low whimper, rocking back and forth in her seat. “You’re a magus. If you see that set of facts in front of you, what would you assume?”

She had a point, but there were a couple big things she was overlooking. “Solar would've backed you up. He could’ve told everyone you were allowed to have those books—hay, he even gave you a head start to find a good lawyer and turn yourself in.”

Golden let out a harsh, joyless laugh. “And who would have believed him? Every magus and their mother would have demanded he recuse himself from the matter, and let someone else more ‘neutral’ take over. If he tried to help me, it just would have made it worse for both of us. You can bet there were those in the Magus Corps who would’ve loved to drag Solar's reputation through the mud over this. If he tried to help me then faster than you can say the word ‘suspicious,’ and you can bet your cutie mark there would have been calls for him to retire as archmagus. After all, if he had such terrible judgement to have a warlock as a friend who murdered his other friend, then obviously he has bad judgment and isn’t fit for his office.”

Something dark and ugly flickered across her face. “And that’s assuming your mother would’ve let him try helping me. I’m sure you know she didn’t like me.” She scoffed and shook her head. “Did she think that I was going to steal Solar away from her? Please. I knew him when he was a hormonal college colt. If I’d wanted him, all I would’ve had to do is ask. He already abandoned me once because of her, and I guarantee you that a careerist like Scarlett would tell him to drop me like I had the plague and put as much distance between us as possible to save his post.”

I didn’t like it, but she probably had a point. If there was one thing the cavalcade of bad decisions Solar made had proved, it was that he was too close to the case. As for Scarlett ... yeah, I could certainly buy she’d try to push Solar away from helping Golden. However, that didn’t mean running was the logical move. “You had to know that running would just make you look guilty.”

Golden let out an exasperated sigh. “What’s the right thing to do in a situation like that?! What’s the point of worrying about making myself look more guilty when if I’d stayed I would’ve been convicted anyway?! My only choices were to spend the rest of my life in jail for murdering a fellow magus and using black magic or to run and spend the rest of my life as a renegade! I was injured! All I wanted to do was fix my eye! Nothing more! It wasn’t fair to put me on trial when it was an accident that never would’ve happened if Ginger hadn’t been so ... so...” She trailed off, her voice clogging up with emotion.

I took a deep breath, then tried to keep my voice as level and calm as I could. It was really starting to look like Golden was a hair-trigger mess when it came to discussing her past. “Yeah, I understand how crazy it all is. Still, now it’s even worse.”

“You think I don’t know that?!” Golden snapped. “Do you have any idea what my life has been like since I ran? I’m always on the run, always scraping by with what’s in my bitpurse, only being able to keep what I can carry on my back. It’s not like I can hold property or keep a bank account open when I’ve been legally dead for years. I don’t have any friends or a job or a home. My parents died, and I couldn’t even go to their funerals! Sometimes...” Her ears wilted and sniffled, wiping at her eye. “Sometimes I just wanted to end it, Sunset. I’m ashamed of it, but sometimes I’ve wondered what’s the point of ... it’s not like I have anything to live for.”

I saw an opening. “Maybe you should you turn yourself in? At least then you’ll have a roof over your head, hot meals every day, and security.”

She didn’t answer me for a while, gasping for breath as she tried to regain her composure. When she finally spoke again, her voice was still shaking. “I’ve ... please, hear me out, but... During this last decade I’ve learned so much.” She took my flesh-and-blood foreleg, giving it a gentle squeeze. “There are so many things...” She let out a high-pitched giggle. “Now that I’m getting to explain it, I’m having trouble finding the words. I think I’m on the verge of a breakthrough. Several breakthroughs. If I could just have a bit more time to do more work and gather up some more resources ... I think this could be revolutionary.”

I frowned at her. “Like your efforts at making Bloodsteel?”

Golden hissed, and her grip on my hoof tightened. “It’s not what it looks like. There’s just so much potential in bloodsteel. Just—just if it’s used right. I don’t know if the Quinametzin didn't see the potential, or something got lost over time, but there are properties to it...” She flipped up the eyepatch, letting me see her metal eye. “I can’t see much more than shapes and colors out of this. It’s better than nothing, but it’s not enough. If I made a new eye out of bloodsteel it might be as good as the one I lost. Maybe even better.”

Puzzle scowled at her. “And how many were you willing to kill just to get a new eye?”

Golden shook her head, squeezing my hoof so hard it was starting to hurt. “I wasn’t going to kill anyone. I just needed a little bit of blood from several individuals, like a blood drive. I even paid them to volunteer. I just needed to get a donation, and then I’d let them go when I was done.

I tried to pull my hoof free, but her grip was too tight for me to get loose without using far too much force to maintain a pretense of civility. Not that we would be keeping up the diplomatic efforts if she kept going down this road. “They didn’t look like paid volunteers to me, and your goons were perfectly willing to use them as hostages.”

A distant look clouded her eyes. “I couldn’t just let them go wandering around. What if they talked? Solar’s always chasing after me, and if any of them talked and it got back to you, you would’ve investigated. I only needed to buy enough time to let me learn what I wanted and then go. The others were...” She shook her head. “I couldn’t just go and hire mercenaries from the more reputable companies, you know that. I can’t afford them, and if they learned who I was they would have tried to capture me and turn me in for the bounty for my head.”

She was getting more and more out of it. “There isn’t a bounty on your head, Golden.”

That got an immediate reaction out of her, with her one eye snapping back into focus and fixing itself on me. “Don’t call me that!” She finally let go of my hoof, only so she could slam both her hooves down on the table. “My name is Steel. Rose! Golden is dead!”

I quickly scrambled back to buy a little breathing room, readying my spells in case she turned violent. “What does that even mean?”

She turned to me with a snarl. “Golden was weak, pathetic! I hate her! She was always standing back, doing all the work and research for Solar, only for him to take all the credit! And Golden was always smiling in the background—happy to help, never speaking up or taking the credit that was hers, because she wanted to be a team player and to do what was right for Equestria!” Her horn lit up with a nasty, oily glow, and every last piece of metal on the patio started trembling. “And look what happened to her! She was mutilated and humiliated! Cast off by her friends when she was no longer useful to them!”

I decided to indulge her, if only to try and calm things down. “Okay, sorry. Steel Rose, you’re making everyone nervous. Could you please calm down?”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” She flung the smashed table to the side, nearly hitting Puzzle in the process. “You’re just like your stupid father, always trying to tell me what to do! Well let me tell you what I tell him: buck off and leave me alone! You both think you’re so much better than me, trying to ‘save’ those stupid warlocks in Manehattan! When we’re outnumbered ten to one, we can’t afford to let them get back up when a stunbolt wears off or gets countered. And you...” Her one eye narrowed in a hateful glare. “It’s your fault I need Bloodsteel anyway! If Blackfyre were still alive he would’ve fixed my eye! I could’ve traded what I learned from the Warpsmith Foundries to him! Solar never would have abandoned me if he didn’t have a daughter! If it wasn’t for you, none of this would have happened! Why would you do that to me?!”

Okay, if she was talking about how she wished she could have teamed up with Blackfyre and blaming me for things that happened when I was eight years old, we were officially past the point of reasonable discussion. I tripped all my protective spells over to active, and put forth the mental effort to call up Chainbreaker. “Steel! Stop this right now!”

“Go away!” I felt a pulse of nasty dark magic that shot straight at Chainbreaker. Much to my relief, the spell bounced off it with no effect. I’d been pretty sure the sword wouldn’t let her do as she pleased with it, but getting a little confirmation was nice. It certainly got her attention. “What is that sword?! Give it to me!”

I was seriously tempted to give it to her blade-first, but I wanted to give her one last chance to stop this from turning into a fight. “I’m going to have to take you into custody for a full investigation. Please don’t make this worse than it needs to be.”

The black veins running through her steel eye pulsed, and she snarled at me like a half-mad beast. “You have no idea how much worse it can get. I can do so much with all those rare metals in that stupid leg of yours, let alone that sword!”

A second later she struck out at my prosthetic, trying to seize control of it. The protective spells I put on it were holding for now, but I wasn’t optimistic about how long they’d hold if I let her just pound away at them.

There was nothing for it now: I had to fight her. “I dealt with Blackfyre. I know levels of bad you couldn’t imagine in your worst nightmares.” I fired off a stunbolt at her, mostly aiming to force her onto the defensive.

I’d been expecting her to use a shield spell, but instead several metal spheres shot out from beneath her rain cloak. One flattened itself into a wide flat plane that easily blocked my bolt while another narrowed itself deadly point before shooting straight at my throat. I tried a force shield to block it, only for the spike to tear straight through. I barely managed to teleport clear before it would’ve buried itself in my throat. “Cold iron?! But that’s—”

“Anathema to unicorn magic,” Steel agreed. “But I’ve long since moved past such a limited view of the magical arts.”

While Steel was busy gloating, Strumming made her move, hurling her special-made throwing spike at the warlock’s back. One of the metal orbs intercepted it, despite Steel never seeing it coming. The orb then immediately shot at Strumming, moving fast enough that it triggered her charm necklace that had been designed to protect against firearms.

“Careful, Strumming!” That amulet Puzzle had gotten her would need a while to recharge, and I wasn’t eager to put it to the test. I needed to keep Steel’s attention on me. Puzzle and Strumming could certainly help in the fight, but they didn’t have all the magical defenses I could conjure up. I hurled a column of solid fire straight at the mad warlock, which did do a pretty good job of keeping her attention squarely on me.

Steel metal orbs swung around and flattened out into shields to deflect and disperse the fire blast. “Go away!” she shrieked, snapping a hoof out and snapping the balls towards me as they narrowed into thin, needle-like points.

I blocked them, this time using chunks of solid ice instead of relying on a purely magical shield. Ice wasn’t as tough as metal, but with the rain I had plenty of moisture to work with. All I needed to do was make the ice thick enough that her attack couldn’t penetrate. I quickly sealed up the holes her attacks punched into my ice wall, aiming to trap her metal spheres so she wouldn’t be able to use them anymore. Ferromancers were a lot easier to handle when they didn’t have any metal to work with.

I took a quick moment to scan the area to make sure we didn’t need to worry about collateral damage. Fortunately, it had already been a rainy day, so the streets weren’t as busy as they normally were. Most of the locals had cleared out as soon as the fight started, and the few whose curiosity overrode their common sense had at least retreated to a safe distance behind cover. I threw a quick ice wall over the tavern, just to make sure everything there stayed in cover and kept their heads down.

That seemed to really set Steel off. “Oh, please! Acting like I’m some kind of monster who’d go around slaughtering bystanders if I don’t protect them.” My ice block shattered, and the metallic spears came hurtling towards me again. This time she spread them out so I wouldn’t be able to catch all of them with a single shield, let alone dodge them. “You’re just like your stupid father!”

“I’m really not.” I teleported clear as the attack came crashing in. Instead of falling back for distance and maneuvering room, I closed in on her and brought Chainbreaker to bear. If I could get in a good hit on her horn I could end this now.

Before I could land the hit, some sort of liquid metal seemed to flow over her, quickly forming itself into the armor and helmet she’d been in the last time I saw her. Chainbreaker left a deep cut into the armor around her horn, but it didn’t go through. “Why won’t you just leave me alone?!” Her orbs came back and formed themselves into four razor-thin blades, and she promptly sent four of them straight at me.

I probably wouldn’t have lasted five seconds in the blade fight that followed if not for using lots of magic and having Chainbreaker. Ice shields blocked any attack that slipped past my defenses, and every time I landed a good parry, Chainbreaker broke or heavily damaged the blade it hit. Steel reformed them in a matter of seconds, but that still bought me a little breathing room. “I’m just trying to get you the help you need!

“I didn’t need Ginger’s help and I didn’t need Solar’s!” She picked up the pace, and I had to block one of the incoming blades with my prosthetic. The adamantium and mithril held up just fine, but it cut clean through the covering. “And I certainly don’t need your help!”

I faked a stagger, pretending that my prosthetic had been damaged by the hit and wasn’t working properly. Steel’s one eye lit up with mad glee, and she sent all four of her blades in to stab me while I was vulnerable. Exactly what I’d been hoping she’d do: now that they were all together, I managed to snag them in an ice block again. This time I promptly teleported it as far away as I could, about a quarter mile out into the harbor.

Steel clenched her teeth. “Clever. But not clever enough.” She punched out at me, the armor around her hoof reshaping itself into a series of brutal spikes. I could’ve intercepted with Chainbreaker, but that might have taken off her hoof in the process. Instead I took the hit on my prosthetic again, leaving several obvious tears in the covering and sending a jolt up my stump.

I growled in pain and countered, hurling a fireball at her from point-blank range. Her armor should keep it from frying her, at least as long as I didn’t keep the heat on her for too long.

Despite being pretty damp, her rain cloak still caught on fire. Steel let out a panicked screech and dropped to the ground, rolling out from underneath the awning and into the rain so she could use that to help put out the fire as well.

For a moment I was tempted to press the attack, but I didn’t want to pound her to a pulp. From the way she’d been acting, she needed a secure mental ward and a daily dose of antipsychotics, not a beating. “Please—just let it stop here. I don’t want to hurt you, but you’re making it very hard to avoid that.”

Her one visible eye narrowed, and she let out a snarl of pure hate. “Don’t lie to me. You think I’m stupid?! I’m not stupid, you’re stupid, just like Solar! You don't want to help me! You just want to throw me in jail, or hang me!” She tossed her head back and let out an especially loud and high-pitched laugh. “Oh yes, I know exactly what your game is! You just want to take down the big bad warlock, the one your father's failed to capture for a decade. That way you can get all the glory for yourself! You looking to become a archmagus too?!”

That was so bafflingly paranoid I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to it. “For the love of—I beat Blackfyre, I don't need to beat you up to prove anything when it comes to being worthy of an Archmagus seat.”

“Then leave me alone!” Steel roared. I heard a loud metallic screech, and a second later, something punched a hole through the ice wall I’d put up over the tavern. From the looks of it, she’d grabbed every single piece of cutlery and anything else that wasn’t nailed down. Also, there were quite a few nails in the mix too. “This is your last warning. Get out of here before I do something we both regret!”

I wasn’t budging. I crossed my forelegs over my chest. “If you’d regret doing it, then don’t do it. I never wanted this fight. All you have to do is just stop, and it’ll be over.”

“No it won’t!” Steel snapped. “They’d lock me up! They wouldn’t let me finish fixing my eye! No—worse, they’d take away the eye I already have! I won’t let you do that to me!” She hurled the mass of sharp, point bits of scrap metal at me. Even if none of them were as razor-sharp as the metal she’d spent more time working, there was a lot of it.

I teleported clear rather than try to block it all. I saw a flash of movement from her, and quickly teleported again before whatever she was trying could hit me. It turned out to be a very smart move, because she’d just tossed the throwing spike Strumming had tried to use on her earlier in the fight. Considering how hard that had dropped Starlight when it hit her, I was very happy not to be on the receiving end of it.

I didn’t have very long to enjoy that near miss, because a second later I saw several metallic blurs zipping in from the harbor. Apparently half a kilometer hadn’t been far enough away. I threw up an ice wall just in time to intercept them, but each impact left massive craters in the ice, and I wasn’t confident I’d be able to hold them off in time.

Diplomacy was almost certainly a lost cause, but it felt wrong to break out my hard-hitting spells without giving her one last chance. “Steel, if you don’t stop this right now I’m going to have to hurt you to make you stop!”

“Stop acting like Solar!” she roared. “Stop it, stop it, stop it! Don’t talk down to me like I’m an unruly foal. I’m your godmother!” She hurled her collection of metal junk at the back side of my ice wall, doing more damage to it. The wall wouldn’t hold much longer against all that pressure from two sides.

Nothing for it then. “Fine! If that’s how it has to be, then that’s how it is!” I teleported to a clear space, started channeling some anima and mixing it with Blightfire for another annihilation blast. This one wasn’t going to be a gentle tap like the one I’d thrown at Solar; I was planning to hit her hard enough to put her down for the count.

A stronger attack would take a bit longer to prepare, which might have been a problem if Steel tried to stop me. However, right now her attention was completely focused on me, which made it the perfect time for Strumming to make a move. Several throwing spikes smacked into her back, and when Steel whirled around to face her one of them bounced off the noseguard right next to her eye hole. That got an enraged and terrified shriek out of her. “How did you do that?!”

Strumming smirked and held up one of her spikes. “Wood-tipped with obsidian. Didn’t see that coming, didja?”

“You threw that at my eye!” Steel screamed. “YOU THREW THAT AT MY EYE!”

“And that’s my cue to run for it.” Strumming bolted a second before a hundred kilos or so of metal slammed into her position. She took to the skies, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and Steel’s four metal orbs, which were all hot on her tail. She pulled a tight dive to buy a little space, but only barely managed to avoid getting a wing clipped in the process. She risked a glance my way. “Little help here Bacon?!”

“I got her!” I fired off the blast, the rippling dark energy of blightfire and pure gold light of anima spiraling around each other as they headed straight for Steel Rose. The warlock spotted the attack coming at the last second and quickly redirected everything away from chasing Strumming to form as much of a barrier between the two of us as she could.

That was fine by me. A direct hit from this had more of a chance of killing her than I was comfortable with. The two conflicting energies slammed into her metal barrier, the impact breaking the careful balance between them and forcing them to mingle. Anima and Blightfire immediately annihilated one another, and the resulting explosion tore her shield to pieces. Most of it was simply gone, and the rest turned into a rain of shrapnel that would’ve been deadly for anyone in the blast radius. Or at least, anyone who wasn’t wearing full body armor. As it was, she still got smacked around and battered pretty badly, and one of the tavern’s forks found a gap in her armor and buried itself into her.

“Way to take the phrase ‘Stick a fork in her’ literally, Bacon,” Strumming commented from her vantage point.

Steel certainly seemed to be struggling to recover from the spell. Her first try at getting back up ended with a pained groan once she realized there was a fork in her legpit. If I’d been out for blood, I could’ve killed her pretty easily.

Instead, I went with a spell I’d seen in action and had been on the receiving end of enough times to know how to use it. I conjured up several chains of pure golden light and sent them in to lock Steel down and finish it.

In hindsight, that was probably not the best spell to use. Steel’s eye snapped back into focus, and she pulled the fork out herself. Evidently her own blood played some part in making those metal orbs of her because she quickly shaped the fork into a new orb and used it to smash the chains to bits far too easily. “Exactly like Solar, you even use his spells!” She reached into her robes and threw out three small objects I recognized all too well after the way my last encounter with her ended: thunderflash stones.

I threw three quick ice domes over the stones before they could go off. Between that and the fact that she was using them outdoors, the blasts were bright and loud instead of blinding and deafening. “No. I’m a lot of things, but I’m definitely not like Solar. I never lied to those I care about, and I’m not half as hung up on you as he is.”

I could hear the snarl in Steel’s voice. “Maybe you’re right. You’re just a ladder climber like your selfish nag of a mother!”

I scoffed. “You don’t even know me, you lunatic!” After all, Scarlett had never been much of a mother to me. Though I suppose she didn’t have the best frame of reference to compare me to Celestia. I hadn’t even started learning under her when Golden snapped, and in any case I was pretty sure Celestia couldn’t use the spell I was planning to break out next. Not that I’d ever used it before, outside of training. I never would’ve tried something like this before Northmarch. Getting an infusion of external magic had opened a few new avenues to explore.

As Steel finally staggered back onto her hooves, I saw a flash of green fire out of the corner of my eye. A second later something impossible happened. Gingersnap rushed past me, looking exactly like he did in the fifteen year old photos. “Golden! Stop!”

Every last piece of metal Steel had been working with hit the ground, and even her helmet and armor faded away as she stared at him in shock. “G—Ginger?! W—wh—what? I—but I...” She stared at him in mute shock, struggling to make any sense of the sight before her.

Ginger—or rather, Puzzle—came to a stop in front of her. “This isn’t you! You’re better than this, you always were! I know what happened was an accident, and you never meant to hurt me. But what you’re doing now ... it’s your choice to do this.”

Steel frantically shook her head. “No, no I—they’re forcing me to do this! I don’t want to hurt anyone, but they aren’t giving me any choice!”

“There’s always a choice,” Puzzle insisted.

Maybe Puzzle could’ve gotten through to her, but I wasn’t going to take that chance. Sooner or later she’d get over the shock of seeing Gingersnap alive again and remember that one of my best friends and my apprentice were both changelings. And even if she didn’t, she wasn’t all that stable to begin with.

I made my move, and shadowy purple bands of energy shot out towards her. One wrapped around each of her limbs and pinned her down, while the last tendril went after her horn. Steel let out a feral screech and started desperately thrashed around like a caged beast, trying to free herself from her bonds.

She tried to pull together a spell, but Puzzle rushed in with a horn ring, slamming it onto her before she could finish whatever spell she was trying. That set her off even harder, one of her flailing limbs smacking Puzzle aside. “No!” she howled. “Nononono! Not again! Not again! Getoffgetoffgetoff!”

“Get clear, bug boy!” Strumming shouted. A second later her other enchanted spike sank into Steel’s now-unarmored flank, sending pulsating crackles of electricity into her. Steel’s screams took on a higher pained pitch, her struggles replaced with the wild convulsions.

While she was completely disabled, I sent the tendrils in to completely lock her down, then sent an extra pulse of power into them so they’d start siphoning off her magic and a very small and carefully measured bit of life energy. I didn’t want to hurt her; just keep her too drained to do anything to fight back.

By the time the charge in Strumming’s throwing spike had spent itself, all the fight had gone out of Steel. She just lay there on the ground, whimpering and trembling. After a couple seconds I realized she was slowly rocking back and forth, tears leaking out of her one eye. “Just let me go. Just let me go, please just let me go...”

“Sorry, but I can’t do that. I'm not Solar.” Normally I would’ve felt some sort of triumph over beating a dangerous warlock, but this just made me feel ... dirty. Steel had done some horrible things, but she wasn’t a monster. Just a sad, broken mare who belonged in a psych ward, getting the treatment she clearly needed to cope with everything she’d been through. Beating a pony like that made me feel more like a bully than a hero, no matter how much I told myself it was the right thing to do. Which it obviously was. Steel—Golden was plainly a danger to both herself and everyone else around her. Still....

Golden continued rocking back and forth along the ground, crying to herself. “Please ... I didn’t mean it Ginger, I didn’t mean it...”

Puzzle dropped the disguise, shifting back to his natural form. “Heartstrings-mare, Shimmer-mare, are you two okay?

“Had a couple close calls, but she never got a solid hit on me,” Strumming answered as she came in for a landing, collecting her weapons.

I nodded. “A little shaken up, but I’m okay.”

“Nice spell to lock her down.” Strumming gave me a quick pat on the back. “That’s a new one.”

“Yeah, I learned it...” I frowned, trailing off. “Can’t remember where I learned it off the top of my head.”

“For the last couple months you’ve had your nose in a book pretty much anytime you weren’t tinkering with the leg.” Strumming shrugged. “Probably in one of them.”

Puzzle ignored our chatter, looking down at the broken shell of a mare we’d just defeated. “Almost hard to believe she’s caused so much trouble for over a decade.”

“Yeah...” I tugged at the bonds, trying to get her back on her hooves. “She’s ... I think Ginger had the right idea. She belongs in a secure psych ward, and on medication. Who knows? Maybe a few years of therapy and a lot of antipsychotics can get her back to her old self. It’ll certainly do a lot more good for her than getting chased around by Solar.”

“This one is inclined to agree.” Puzzle grimaced. “Something is very wrong with her. This one isn’t a doctor, but if it had to guess we're dealing with some form of post-traumatic stress disorder, possibly with some bipolar disorder as well.” He shrugged. “But that’s for a professional to decide. This one’s knowledge of psychology is limited to what it’s gleaned from reading psych profiles its sources have obtained.”

I probably shouldn’t have been surprised Puzzle had gone through a few psych profiles. The only question was if he stole them from a doctor’s office, or had someone he hired to make them. Probably both. And he almost certainly had one on me.

I finally managed to get Golden standing up, even if she was barely more than a puppet dangling from her bonds. “At least now we can get her the help she needs.”

“At least that.” Puzzle sighed, then nodded off to the side. A quick glance confirmed that some of the dock guards had come to investigate now that all the noise had stopped. A few years ago, I probably would’ve been annoyed at them for sitting the fight out, but honestly that was the smart thing to do under the circumstances. “This one will talk with the condottieri to explain to them what happened.” Puzzle offered. “Can you get her back to the tower without this one?”

“Yeah, it should be fine for the moment, though I do I need to get her back to my tower for a more permanent lockdown.” The spell I had on her was a pretty good one, but once she pulled herself together enough to start thinking ... well she’d been one of the top researchers of her generation of magi, and was good enough to keep away from an Archmage. I wouldn’t count on any spell holding her indefinitely, and she could swing from docile to fighting with no warning.

“Might be a good idea to hire some guards for her and dear old dad,” Strumming suggested. “Not saying your spells aren’t good, but Solar’s an Archmagus, and I’m pretty sure she’s at about that level when all the neurons fire the right way. I’d want someone keeping an eye on them all day, every day until the Equestrian magi come pick them up.”

“Probably a good idea,” I agreed. Capturing her once had been hard enough, even if the mare in front of me now was a far cry from the one who’d been fighting like a demon a few minutes ago. I gently started guiding her towards my tower. “It’s over now, Golden.”

She tried to rub away some of her tears onto her shoulder since she couldn’t use her limbs while they were all bound. Her eyes flicked down to my prosthetic; quite a bit of the metal was showing after all the damage it had taken during the fight. I quickly tugged my cloak around to hide it from any casual passers-by. “How do you live with it, Sunset?” she asked, her voice a quiet, broken thing. “How do you ... You're as hurt as I am. How do you keep going?”

I thought about my answer. “It wasn’t easy. I definitely made some bad decisions.” That sounded like a gross understatement, considering I’d assigned myself a mission that was pretty much a suicide attempt dressed up as heroic martyrdom. “I guess ... I suppose I had good friends to help get me back on track whenever I lost my way.”

“Oh.” Golden’s ears wilted. “That ... I had a friend who tried to help me once. I killed him.”

“There’s still Solar.” I let out a soft snort. “He spent over a decade of his life on this, abandoned his family, destroyed his career, and is probably going to end up going to jail all because he wanted to do whatever it took to help you. I can’t say much for his judgment or sense of priorities, but that sounds like a very good friend to me.”

Golden didn’t say anything else for the rest of the walk back to my tower. I’d like to think that I’d given her something to hold onto, maybe even the first step in a very long road to recovery. Maybe that was just wishful thinking, but I wanted to believe it was true.

Author's Note

As always, thanks to my pre-reading and editing team for all their hard work. Also, I would like to thank all my dedicated Patreon supporters. You guys are awesome.

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Old Wounds Epilogue

To my immense relief, Golden stayed docile for the rest of the trip back to my tower. The spell I’d put on her probably would’ve kept her from trying anything, but not having it put to the test was a definite relief.

Once I’d gotten Golden secured, Strumming ran off to get the mercs I needed for guard duty while Puzzle took Chainbreaker back to the museum. I really needed to come up with some way to make swapping between it and the replica a bit less chaotic. I was halfway tempted to just keep it permanently and leave the fake there, but that ... wouldn’t be right. Chainbreaker might belong to me, but it also belonged to the rest of Freeport. Denying them such an important part of their history and cultural legacy just so I could have a new tool to use wasn’t right. Besides, for all I knew, Chainbreaker needed to be on public display to make itself more than a really sharp piece of metal.

Once I had all that settled, I pulled out the enchanted journal Celestia had sent my way a while back. A direct line of communication with her was exactly what I needed right now. I told her everything about what had happened with Solar and Golden, as well as a couple other things I’d had on my mind. I also did a quick check on where I’d learned the spell I used on Golden. The answer was ... a bit creepy. It had been one of Torch Charger’s old spells.

I needed something to distract me from all the messy potential implications of that, so I headed over to Solar’s cell to give him the news. “We’ve captured Golden.”

Solar scrambled up from his cot and came up to the barred doorway. I was still standing a few feet back from the door, partly because that was common sense prisoner management, and partly because I didn’t want to enter the wards I’d set up all around the cell. Defenses heavy enough to lock down an Archmagus weren’t exactly fun. There was an edge of desperation in Solar’s voice when he finally spoke. “Is she okay? She’s not hurt is she?”

“Yes, your daughter’s completely fine after facing a dangerous killer warlock, thanks for asking,” I grumbled just loud enough for him to hear. The flinch that got out of Solar made me feel just a bit of vindictive pleasure I probably shouldn’t have. I was supposed to be better than that. I answered the question he’d actually asked. “Physically, Golden doesnt have anything worse than minor cuts and bruises. Mentally? … I’m not an expert, but she clearly needs a lot of help.”

Solar’s ears had wilted down to the point of being flat against his skull. “What happened?”

I didn’t see any reason to mince words. “I tried to talk her down, but she had a psychotic break or something. There was a fight, but I subdued her.” I scowled and crossed my forelegs over my chest. “She belongs in a mental hospital.”

“I’ve spent over ten years of my life chasing her,” Solar pointed out. “I know she needs help, and I did whatever I could for her. It’s just ... there was only so much I could do for her without the Corps finding out.”

I scoffed. “And it never occurred to you that maybe they needed to know about this? Leaving aside all your duty to report this kind of thing as an archmagus, the sooner she was secured and getting treatment, the sooner she could start recovering. A decade on the run as a warlock can’t have done her mental health any favors.”

Solar sighed and shook his head. “I’m an archmagus, not a doctor. I was doing my best to try and get her somewhere she could get help. The Corps would have treated her like a criminal.”

“She is a criminal,” I pointed out. “I’ll let the courts and doctors figure out if the insanity defense applies, but she’s broken a lot of laws. I’m less than convinced your methods were sound. Right now, your idea of helping her looks a lot like obstruction of justice, if not aiding and abetting.”

Solar groaned and slumped down into the cot in his cell. “Sunset, can we not do this? Please?”

“Right. I’m not really interested in debating it.” Honestly there wasn’t much to debate, so it was more like me chewing him out over all the bad decisions he’d made. It was kind of hard to keep at that forever. I pulled up a chair, and sank down onto it with a tired sigh. “I’ve informed Celestia of the situation. There’s a team of magi on their way to Freeport to take you and Golden into custody and figure all this out.”

Solar hunched down, staring at the floor of his cell. “I suppose I should have known it was going to come to something like this sooner or later.”

I took a deep breath, then gave him the really bad news. “She said you’d be stripped of your Archmagus title, and probably be going to jail for a while.”

“Oh.” Solar shrank down even further into himself. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I never meant to break the law or betray my oaths as a magus, I was just ... I was trying to do the right thing.”

“I know.” I sighed and shook my head. “But you still committed a boatload of crimes in the process of doing the right thing. Equestria tries to be forgiving about that kind of thing, but you went too far and kept it up for too long. There have to be consequences for that.”

Solar grimaced and nodded, very slowly and reluctantly. “Yes, I know that. Still ... what would you do for a friend, Sunset?”

“A lot.” I frowned and thought it over. “Maybe even as much as you did. But I’d try to be a lot smarter about it.”

“It’s a lot easier to be objective about it when it isn’t your friends in trouble and you have the benefit of hindsight.” Solar sat there in silence for a long, awkward moment. “I hope you never get into any kind of situation like this.”

“Me too.” I thought back to some of the messes I’d gotten pulled into over the years. “I’ve had some similar ones, but nothing that compares to what happened with Steel and Ginger.”

“At least that,” he looked off to the side, not quite able to meet my eyes. “I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with so much.” His eyes lingered on my prosthetic. I still hadn’t replaced the covering on it, so the metal beneath was clearly visible. “I ... I should know more about what happened. Been in your life more. Feels wrong that the first time I’ve seen you in years is when you’re arresting me for all the laws I broke. Especially the last time I was in Canterlot we just went out to lunch, and to be honest, my mind was on Golden the whole time, and I left the next day. I haven’t really been much of a father to you, have I?”

“Not for a long time,” I agreed. “You could’ve picked a better time to realize that than right before you go to jail and I won’t see you again for years.”

“There are a lot of things I should’ve realized sooner.” He slowly ran a hoof through his mane. “Is it too late to say I’m sorry?”

“It’s never too late to say it,” I answered. “As far as me accepting the apology...” I hesitated, not quite sure what answer to give him. He’d screwed up a lot worse than Scarlett had, but he also seemed at least a bit more willing to own up to it. “Look, once you’re out of jail ... well, you know where to find me.”

“Yeah, I suppose I do.” He grimaced down at the floor. “I’m probably going to need to restart my life once all this is over. I’ll be out of a job, and a dishonorable discharge from the Corps means I’ll lose my pension and benefits. Not to mention the black mark on my résumé will make getting any remotely respectable job a lot harder. The few friends I have left in the Corps probably won’t be friends anymore once all this comes out.” He went silent for a moment in thought. “If I’m making a fresh start anyway, maybe Freeport wouldn’t be the worst place to do that.”

Huh. That wasn’t something I’d expected to hear from him. The idea of having my absentee father around in Freeport was something I’d never really considered before. I mean, I had a lot of very justified anger and resentment towards him, but it seemed like he was at least trying to make amends. I suppose it probably helped his case that I didn’t really have an alternate father figure, compared to how Celestia had pretty much taken over as my mother when Scarlett dropped the ball.

So the idea of having him in Freeport was... “Yeah, maybe you could move here.”

Solar let out a breath. “Maybe. I’ll write to you while ... while everything gets sorted out back in Equestria. Once I’m free again, we can see what options we have. I suppose it’ll depend on how Golden’s doing, too. If they need me around to help with her recovery.”

“Right.” I suppose I should’ve been more annoyed he valued Golden’s mental health over spending time with me, but I really couldn’t bring myself to care. Golden needed all the help she could get, and I’d gotten through life with absentee father just fine for years. Still, he had a lot of other responsibilities. “And ... I dunno, maybe see if you can sort things out with Scarlett while you’re there.”

He grimaced and very reluctantly nodded. “We’ll see. I’m not going to promise we’ll reconcile. In fact, if I was a betting stallion, I’d put bits against it. She seemed quite sure about being done with me once she found out about Golden, considering that was what finally made her file for divorce. She said she would give me a bit of time to confess before turning me in, but then everything went mad in Northmarch. I can’t imagine she’ll be happy with me dragging you into this either. Still ... I’ll try talking to her.”

“All you can do.” I wasn’t exactly optimistic about his chances either. Abandoning his wife for over a decade to chase after another mare was pretty marriage-destroying. Not to mention him going to jail and being a pariah in Canterlot society, especially amongst the magi. Scarlett wasn’t as much of a heartless ladder-climber as Golden claimed, but ... yeah, if the marriage would make her look bad, she’d be even less inclined to call off the divorce.

Solar probably knew that better than I did. He let out a harsh, humorless chuckle. “At least I’m going to spend the next couple years in Canterlot, even if it’ll be inside a jail. If she wants to see me, we’ll both have plenty of time.”

“And Golden will finally get help,” I pointed out. “It’s ... I’d like that part of this huge mess to at least have a happy ending.”

Solar nodded. “It would be nice to get her back eventually.” He sighed and ran a hoof through his mane. “I won’t say having her recover will justify all my horrible decisions, but it would at least let me feel like the last decade plus of my life wasn’t a complete waste.”

“I just want her to get better out of basic equine decency.” I grimaced and shook my head. “It’s ... I’ve never felt more pity for somepony I was in the middle of a life-or-death fight with. It seemed like there was a good mare in her head, trapped underneath all the damage.”

“One of the best I’ve ever known,” Solar agreed. “With any luck, we’ll get to see her again. I owe it to her after how badly I let her down. But then ... I suppose while I was busy trying to make things right with her, I let down a lot of other ponies.” He sank down onto the cot again. “I suppose we’ll see what happens after the Magus Corps shows up to take custody.”

“Yeah, we will.”

I started to get up and head for the door, but Solar called out after me. “Sunset! I'm ... sorry. Again.”

“I know.” I sighed and shook my head. “Maybe someday I can forgive you for ... all of this. It wasn’t malicious, just a case of really poor judgement while trying to do the right thing. Just don’t forget I’m not the only one you need to apologize to.”

Solar slumped back down on his cot. “No, but you were one of the most important ones. I never should have let you down, or asked you to clean up my mess.”

He wasn’t wrong, but there wasn’t a point in rubbing it in any further than I had already. Instead I just walked away, leaving him to think about everything a bit more.

I had a lot to do before Strumming and Puzzle got back from their errands. First and foremost, getting a fresh cover for my prosthetic. It was probably only a matter of time before the truth about that came out, but that was no reason to give it away when I didn’t have to. After all, I was going to have some mercs running around the tower guarding my prisoners, and no matter how good and reliable they were, trusting secrets to a mercenary was just asking for trouble.

Strumming returned about half an hour later. I was a bit surprised to see she hadn’t gone to the Doos like we normally did for merc backup, though perhaps that shouldn’t have been such a surprise. The Doos had a good working relationship with me, but they probably weren’t the best pick for containing a pair of magi. Not to mention their main base and most of their numbers were out in the islands. They only had a business office in Freeport proper.

Strumming grinned at me. “Good news Bacon, got the guards. I worked out the fees, and they’re working out the guarding so that you can sleep at night in your own tower without worrying about a prison break or a crazy pony stalking around your tower.”

“Good work.” I turned to who I assumed was the leader of the squad, since he had the biggest hat with the most fancy feathers in it. “Anything you need to know, or did Strumming cover it all?”

Either I’d guessed right about who the leader was, or they were flexible enough to roll with it. Fancy Hat stepped forward. “She covered everything. I presume you can modify your wards so there won’t be any issues with shift changes and breaks? Asking you or someone else to let us through every time would be a lot of extra trouble for all involved.”

“I can make temporary wardstones for you.” Naturally they’d burn out as soon as the job was done. Even if I could trust these mercs, the more keys to my wards were floating around out there, the less secure my tower was. “Just keep me apprised of anything I need to know about the prisoner or your movements.”

Fancy Hat nodded. “That shouldn't be a problem. Miss Heartstrings already mentioned that you’d want to be kept in the loop while negotiating the contract with Colonel Regal, and General Peacock told us to offer you any and all reasonable accomodations.”

Strumming grinned and wrapped her wings around two of the guards. “They got this. They’re all nice and professional-like, but without that stuffy stoicism you get with a lot of soldiers. And giant fancy hats. Everyone knows giant fancy hats make everything better. Never trust a merc who doesn’t have a giant fancy hat. Well, I mean, you should probably be careful about trusting mercenaries regardless, but double don’t trust them if they’re devoid of hats.”

I ignored Strumming’s usual habit of going off on weird tangents to focus on what was in front of me. “General Peacock ... you’re from the Free Companions, right?” Fancy Hat nodded. “Huh. I would’ve thought guard duty was a bit mundane for a company with a reputation for being a bigger, more organized adventuring party.”

“Not every job can be a thrilling tale of death-defying adventure. And in any case, an archmagus gone bad and an infamous warlock aren’t exactly normal prisoners,” Fancy Hat pointed out. He leaned in a bit closer to whisper. “And even if this job is a touch more mundane than the sort of thrilling adventure we usually get dragged into ... well, after what the last wielder of Chainbreaker led us to, why not build up a good relationship with the next one?”

Oh. I suppose I should’ve known some folks would start taking an interest in me for that reason. I’d already gotten swarmed by tons of people trying to get a piece of my share of the dragon treasure I’d gotten from beating Blackfyre. Most of them backed off once it was clear I wasn’t going to fall for any scams or invest in any crazy pie-in-the-sky ideas. The political legacy of me having Chainbreaker hadn’t been as much of a factor yet, but that was probably just because political influence was a harder commodity to measure than money. Or maybe the political crazies got filtered out before I even found out about them.

Well, whatever agenda the Free Companions had, I would probably figure it out sooner or later. For now, I had some very good guards on a very dangerous prisoner. “Just be careful. You’re going to be guarding an archmage, and a warlock who's probably about on the same level. It won’t take much of an opening for them to try something. The warlock’s very unstable. She’s docile for now, but I’d rather not have her get set off again.”

“Whenever we do guard duty, we generally avoid any form of contact with the prisoners as much as possible,” Fancy Hat assured me. “It just makes complications. Mind if we have a look around for potential security risks before we get started?”

“That’s fine, as long as you don’t go more than one floor above and below the prisoners.” I kept all my private labs well away from the holding cells, naturally. “Feel free to use the kitchen and any other common areas, as long as you follow all the common sense rules.”

“Don’t make a mess, clean up after ourselves if we do make a mess, and only eat our own food instead of yours,” Fancy Hat filled in.

Strumming shot him a deadly serious glare. “I know exactly how many bags of crisps I have left in the pantry. If the numbers don’t match up once your contract is done, we’ll be having words about that.”

“I’ll bear that in mind,” Fancy Hat answered with a remarkably straight face. “If there’s nothing else, we’ll get started on that security assessment.” I didn’t have anything else that couldn’t wait until after they finished, so I waved them on. I could go through introductions once they made sure I wouldn’t have an insane ferromancer breaking out halfway through the small talk.

Once the mercenaries had headed out of earshot, Strumming turned her attention to me. “So I’m doing pretty good right now. Of course, I’m not the one who just arrested their own dad and godmother. If I was, I might not be doing all that hot.” She let that hang in the air for a second. “That’s my weird, long-winded way of asking how you’re holding up.”

“Been better.” I flopped down onto one of the couches in my foyer with a tired groan. “Celestia and the Corps know about Solar. There’s still the whole trial to deal with, or more likely whatever plea bargain his lawyer manages to work out, but it looks like he’s going to be going to jail for a while. Because of what I discovered and reported.”

Strumming flopped down onto the sofa across from me. “Yeah, even if you two had been on the outs, that’s gotta sting. I mean, seems like your big issue with him is that he wasn’t around more than that he was a bad parent. Like ... if he’d been around instead of chasing after Golden ever since you were nine, you two’d have a reasonably healthy relationship. Probably. Or at least, that’s how you feel about it.” She shifted around into one the bizarrely contorted positions she seemed to find comfortable. Just when she’d finally settled herself, someone knocked at the front door. Strumming let out an especially loud and exasperated groan. “Don’t you just hate it when that happens right after you just got comfortable?”

“Yes. Immensely.” Especially when I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with visitors or anything else right now. Once the Free Company had everything settled, I was probably going to sequester myself in my private quarters and just not deal with the outside world for a couple days. Nonstop training, work, and lessons with Kukri were exactly what I needed to vent.

“Isn’t this the sort of thing Facon’s supposed to take care of?” Strumming whined. “You know, do all the scampering around for the adults so we can be lazy?”

“I sent her home.” Leaving her alone in my tower with Solar had just too many ways it could go wrong. There was no way Kukri would be able to resist the urge to start asking my father all kinds of questions, and that could’ve easily lead to something like him talking her into letting him go so he could help me with Golden. Not to mention that at the time I still hadn’t been sure that Solar wasn’t a bad guy.

Strumming groaned and feebly twitched from her awkward perch on the couch. “Can’t you just magic the door open like the big impressive magus you are? What’s the point of being able to kill dragons and beat an archmagus in a fight if you can’t even magic open a door?”

I rolled my eyes and opened the door with some basic telekinesis. Having Kukri answer the door was mostly just a matter of having a personal touch, plus she could do some basic gatekeeping. If my front door magically opened itself for anyone who knocked, my tower would be flooded with all sorts of weirdos.

Fortunately, this time it was Puzzle instead of some random lunatic. He trotted over to us, carrying a couple takeout boxes. “This one hopes it didn’t come at a bad time.”

Strumming stared up at him from her weird upside down position. “If you came with more work for us, then it’s a bad time. Otherwise have a seat. If that food is for us, we might upgrade you to having good timing depending on what it is. If it’s gaghracht, I’m gonna spank you. Now if it’s one of my very favorite variants on crisps...”

Puzzle chuckled and passed the takeout boxes to each of us. “After the day you’ve had, this one thought you’d both appreciate getting something tasty to eat. Even if it needed quite a bit of time and a couple extra ducats to convince the chef to make the Hearstrings-mare’s dish.”

I opened up my box, and grinned. Puzzle knew me well indeed. One of my favorite creamy pasta dishes from back when I’d been in Equestria, but with a bit of a Freeport twist. Some mild green peppers that added a bit of spice and a lot of flavor, a bit of seaweed, and some shrimp and scallops because they were pretty much the only seafood I consistently liked.

It was a good thing Puzzle got me something so tasty, because otherwise seeing what Strumming got would’ve killed my appetite. The nacho chips weren’t a surprise, given this was Strumming. The fact that the nachos were covered in melted chocolate and toasted marshmallows with chopped up haybacon on top...

I was sorely tempted to see if we could get Strumming put in the asylum while we were getting Golden committed.

Strumming grinned and rubbed her hooves as she gazed upon her culinary abomination. “Yeah, bug boy comes through again. You really know how to help a girl to be lazy.” She must’ve seen how I was looking at her alleged food, because she stuck her nose up in the air like a true Canterlot snob. “Bah, don’t knock it ‘til you try it. Not saying I’d want this stuff every day, but it’s a real treat after a doozy of a day like today.”

Puzzle chuckled and took a seat next to her. “This one finds it far less trouble to accommodate the Heartstrings-mare’s whims than fight them.” He opened up his own box, staring down thoughtfully at his heavily spiced rice dish. “Though this one does think it owes the Shimmer-mare a bit of an apology.”

I took a moment to finish chewing and swallowing before I risked speaking. “What for?”

Puzzle sighed softly. “In light of recent events, this one realizes it’s been neglecting a friend more than it should have.”

I waved his apology off. “You’ve had a lot going on lately. We all have. It’s not like I expect you to be around every day.”

“This one has been rather busy lately,” Puzzle agreed. “Its reasons for not being there for the Shimmer-mare all sound perfectly good. But then, that’s how it starts, doesn’t it? This one left Canterlot well before you did, because it had urgent business in Freeport and it told itself you were okay with the White Pony and the Heartstrings-mare. Even when you got back to Freeport, this one hasn’t been spending much time with you.” He grimaced and shook his head. “You might be handling the loss of your leg better than Golden did the loss of her eye, but this one knows you well enough to realize you’d also hide your pain from us as much as possible. You’ve lost a great deal, and just because you seem fine on the surface does not mean all is well.”

He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t want to admit that. Which I suppose just went to show he was even more right. I was hurting, but I would never admit it to him, Strumming, or especially Kukri. I just ... had to keep moving. “It’s been a lot, yeah. But I managed. Thanks for caring, though.” I took another bite of food so I wouldn’t have to say anything else.

We all ate in silence, until I finally spoke up to change the subject. “Long as we’re on the topic of the future, remember that Archmagus plan we discussed? Well I pitched it to Celestia while I was updating her on everything else, and she’ll endorse it. Officially the Magus Corps gets the final say on whether they recognize me promoting myself to Archmagus of Freeport, but if Celestia’s openly in favor of it they’ll have a hard time saying no.”

“Especially since all your accomplishments make you pretty objectively qualified,” Strumming agreed in between bites of her crime against cuisine. “Even if taking down Blackfyre wasn’t a solo job, you did a lot of heavy lifting on it. Not to mention this.”

I wasn’t going to disagree with that. “So as long as the Council signs off on my promotion as well, everything should be fine. I don’t think they'd want to risk not going along with it. Costs them nothing, makes me happy, and since I’m doing it anyway, they don’t want to risk getting left out of the loop.”

“This one thinks you’re right.” Puzzle paused, then amended. “At least as long as they don’t want to be stubborn about it or it gets mixed up in petty politics...” He snorted and shook his head. “Well, we’ll cross that bridge if it comes to it.”

“Yeah, one problem at a time.” I stretched out on the couch, teleporting a bit more food into my mouth to save the trouble of just eating it normally. I was an archmagus now, I was allowed to waste magic just to show off. “Just glad I got this problem sorted out.”

“Seems like you’re holding up well enough,” Strumming agreed. “Unless you’re hiding all that pain and planning to handle it by doing something really stupid.”

I shook my head. “Today’s been a rough day, but I’ve made it through worse.” I glanced down at my prosthetic, checking its range of motion to make sure it hadn’t been damaged in the fight with Golden. She had tried to mess with it, after all.

Next thing I knew, I felt Puzzle and Strumming settling onto the couch, one on each side of me. “Yeah, you’ve been through some tough times, and probably more to come. Good thing you’ve got us to help you through it, isn’t it?”

I looked up at my friends, smiled, and wrapped one foreleg around each of them. “Yeah, I guess I’m just lucky that way.”

Author's Note

As always, thanks to my pre-reading and editing team for all their hard work. Also, I would like to thank all my dedicated Patreon supporters. You guys are awesome.

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