Turns

Chapters

Arrival
Accident
Chase
Resolution
Greetings

Arrival

The ocean's breeze pushed the ship towards the coast, a steady stream blowing from behind them that curved the sails and gave birth to the waves they travelled on top of. Sassy was more concerned with the way it messed her mane up or threw salt water on her clothes.

Fluttershy didn't appear to share her worries. She just stared at the promontory they were heading towards, rocking from side to side along with the movements of the boat itself. Of course, wearing no clothes and paying no particular amount of time to care for her mane did mean she was unlikely to be concerned by either.

Twilight, on the other hoof, looked nervous, even more so than Sassy. But hers was a different kind of nervousness, clearly. Excitement for the shortly approaching future, and worry for what it might bring. But not too much, not too visible. A far cry from the outbursts of her past the unicorn had been told about. Equestria's only princess was moderately, appropriately nervous.

She was also looking towards Sassy. That kind of looking that tried to make it seem like she wasn't, and as a result made it obvious she was. And she was swaying from side to side, while her lips twisted up and down. One could almost see the words trying to claw their way out of her mouth.

"What is it, Princess?" Sassy asked, turning towards the alicorn.

The smile on Twilight's face was almost guilty. "Well... You know how that is the capital, right?" She pointed a hoof to the red ring of walls barely visible on top of the headland.

Sassy nodded. "Our destination, yes. I haven't forgotten about the briefing yet." It would have been quite a bothering assumption on Twilight's part, after she'd had to endure that without falling asleep. Rarity had conveniently avoided mentions of Twilight's lengthy explanations when telling tales of their adventuring.

"Right, right, of course!" Twilight ran a hoof down her mane and gave a small laugh that could have been a cough. "But, as you can probably guess, that's not where we'll be landing. We're landing right there!" She pointed, again, this time straight in front of them, at the shore the ship was heading towards.

Sassy blinked. "I had no expectations of the ship growing wings, if that's what you are trying to imply."

Another cough that could have been a laugh. "Of course not. But how do you think we'll get from there all the way up to the city?"

Twilight had on her face the wide-eyed look of a filly who's just learned a secret, but hasn't learned to keep one yet. But the unicorn had no guess as to what she was about to reveal, and so after a pause she simply tried, "By walking?"

She then shook her head. "No, obviously not. It would take too long and be terribly taxing. Ponies don't walk up to Canterlot. Is it by train?"

Twilight's face lit up even brighter. "But the climb is too steep. In Equestria we use gravity-bending spells to let trains climb up mountains, but they don't have magic here." There was tremor in her body, like some clockwork contraption on the verge of breaking apart.

Sassy was at a loss. The alicorn clearly expected something, some kind of revelation, but she had no clue what. "So..."

"So, they invented cog trains!" The tension inside Twilight's body was released, and she almost jumped as she said that.

"Oh." To Sassy, it was exactly as interesting as knowing how regular trains worked. All that mattered was them taking her from point A to point B in a short enough time. The inner mechanisms were irrelevant. She wasn't even actually sure how the regular ones worked. Still, she reasoned she should probably try to be polite. "Interesting," she forced out with an unintentional dryness that not even the ocean around them could solve.

Twilight nodded with increasing awkwardness. "You don't care about that nearly as much as I do, right?"

Sassy gave a little reassuring smile in response. She succeeded only halfway.

Twilight stepped back, still nervously almost-twitching, and went back to the front of the ship. There she began to repeat the same series of events with Fluttershy, starting with the faux non-staring.

"Nervous, isn't she?"

Sassy didn't turn. They'd all learnt trying to look at each other while talking led to nothing more than sore necks, so it wasn't worth doing most of the time. "I'm sure she will calm down when the time comes. From what I've been told, this isn't even that bad."

Fluttershy followed Twilight's hoof and stared at the approaching coastline in front of them, and the minotaur at Sassy's side stepped forward as Twilight asked how they'd get from there to the city. "We'll arrive in a couple minutes," he said. Then he called to another member of the crew, "Bronze, stop slacking there!"

His shout had covered Fluttershy's guess, but he walked away just in time for Sassy to hear Twilight explain how Equestrian trains used magic, meaning the pegasus had thought of those too. It made sense, Canterlot was the closest thing they knew to the city they were about to visit.

Truth be told, Sassy was nervous about the future as well. The wind and seawater were distractions, lesser things it was easier to focus on. Like the very short jump Twilight gave in front of her, blurting out about cog trains to a confused Fluttershy. This could be a pivotal moment in Equestria's history, and Sassy'd never taken part in anything similar.

The sound of a horn being blown took her mind out of her train of thoughts. They had approached the coast faster than she had realised, or maybe she'd gotten too distracted to notice. Another horn responded from the shore, where she could already spot a few other minotaurs waiting for them.

Taking a deep breath, the unicorn joined her companions up ahead. They were all silent now staring ahead. Finally, the ship entered the promontory's shadow and came to a stop as it touched the shore. And the three walked up to its side and stepped down behind the captain, setting hoof on the minotaur lands for the first time in their lives.

Accident

"And here is the library," King Golden Horn said as he opened a door.

Twilight's jaw did not drop to the floor only because it was attached to the rest of her. It was the first time she'd really let her reactions slip during the trip, and Sassy couldn't blame her too harshly. Had there been as many dresses behind a door as there were books in that room, her own reaction would not have been much different. And these were all books Twilight had never even heard of.

The king looked at the alicorn, an amused smile on his face. "I take it you're quite the enthusiast yourself. It is nice to know the rulers of other countries too share the same passions as you," he said while stepping inside. The clicks of his walking cane as it touched the ground echoed across the rows of shelves. "Makes you feel like maybe the world out there is not too different from your own, you know?"

Sassy took her eyes away from the long slim piece of metal in his hand, still not used to the sight, and gazed around the room. It was quite impressive indeed. Not as big as the one in Canterlot, but still rather bigger than what smaller towns like Ponyville would have had. And given it was only a private library, that was rather noteworthy. All the shelves were metal, as she had come to expect.

"Would you like to see my personal study?" the king asked with a smirk. Noticing the alicorn's rather jerky nods, he walked up to another door inside the room and unlocked it. "I keep the oldest books here, so they remain safe."

Twilight practically darted into the smaller room behind the door. A moment later she poked her head out, mildly blushing. "May I..."

"Be my guest." The king gave a sweeping gesture with his free hand, then turned to the other creatures in the room. "It's not a problem if I join her, right?"

"Of course not," Sassy replied, while the other two simply nodded.

"Very well." The black minotaur smiled, then walked in and locked the door behind himself.

Silver sighed. "We won't be seeing them for a while," he said, walking up to the nearest table and pulling back a chair. "We may as well not wait for them, they might not be out before tomorrow. Wouldn't be the first time dad spent the whole night in his study reading, and your princess doesn't seem much different." He sat down, drumming his fingers on the metal surface of the table. "Guess I'll have to walk you back to your rooms myself."

"Well, we could always just call them," Fluttershy said, floating near the top shelves as she scanned their contents.

Silver chuckled. "Good luck with that. Did you see how thick the door is? You couldn't hear cannons being fired from inside there if the palace was under attack."

Sassy threw him a perplexed look.

"Oh, I'm not kidding. It used to be a room for military planning before King Mythril Heart converted it to a study two hundred years ago. Councillor Silver Tongue, during the third century, was in there with Princess Copper Eyes when the miners' uprising reached the palace, and they didn't know until the door was blown off its hinges."

Sassy's mouth opened and closed silently for a moment. "Huh."

Fluttershy's voice came in and broke the silence that was beginning to form. "What's this?"

Silver got up to get a better look. "Oh, that? We got it from a trader from Klugetown, one of the trinkets dad likes to keep here or around. We never figured what it is exactly, but he enjoys keeping it exposed." He sat back down, and counted his own fingers.

"Fascinating." Fluttershy turned the vaguely bat-shaped piece of metal and gems in her hooves. "It feels like..." she spoke out in a breathy whisper, before trailing off.

A metallic ring echoed in the room.

"Fluttershy?" Sassy turned. "Are you alr- Fluttershy?" Sassy scanned the room around, looking for the pegasus.

Silver looked up. And then something caught his eye, and he looked a little further up. "Is that normal?"

Sassy followed his gaze. "Oh." The unicorn blinked. "No. It's not."

The bat-like creature Fluttershy had turned into answered back by means of a hiss, then flew out the door.

"Oh," repeated the unicorn, as she failed to recall the Prench expressions she'd heard Rarity use on occasion. Then with calm and measured steps, mostly born out of how her brain refused to catch up with the situation, she walked up to the door and looked out, while a confused Silver Hooves stood up behind her.

Fluttershy's silhouette slid smooth as a shadow along the top of the corridor, and around a corner, disappearing from view.

The weight of the events finally crashed into Sassy, and like a hammer blow sent her running after the other pony. She turned the same corner, and spotted a pink tail disappear behind another. Huffing, she rushed ahead, trying to outpace the flier. Not an easy task at all, but the limited confines of the Palace's interior did seem to be limiting Fluttershy's speed.

The unicorn entered another corridor, and kept panting for breath as she raced behind her mutated friend. The bat-pegasus seemed to be losing some ground, or perhaps air, slowed down by the chandeliers hanging from the hallway's ceiling she had to continuously dodge and fly around. Sassy pushed as hard as she could on her legs, thanking her height for making things easier. She just needed to be close enough to snatch the mare in her magic, and she was almost there.

That was, at least, before they came to a corridor coasting the perimeter of the palace. Sassy realised with horror how near impossible it would be for her to catch up with Fluttershy if she could fly out in the open. And while the windows were thankfully closed, the hallway ended in a door to a small balcony. Desperately she tried to finally get close enough to the other pony. She could make it, just a few seconds and-

A door suddenly opened in front of her, and she almost smashed face-first into it. Stopping herself just in time, hooves skidding to a halt on the floor, the unicorn was dreadfully aware of how she'd lost her target, with no chance of catching up again. She jerkily began to walk around the door, just in time to see the end of a pink tail disappear behind the confines of the metallic railing.

"Oh, excuse me," said the minotaur lady who'd just stepped out of the room. "I hope you are enjoying your stay." She turned and walked away, whistling a tune to herself.

Sassy stood there for a moment, watching the other disappear behind a corner. Something like a vulture's imitation of a laugh came from her throat, more of a reflexive screech than a conscious sound. Then her hooves began to run again, and the rest of her body was dragged along a couple of seconds later.

Ignoring the heavy clattering of hooves coming down the corridor behind her, distantly aware of how it belonged to Silver and of how he was yelling for an explanation, she did what any creature who'd spent enough time around Twilight and her friends would find most logical in that situation.

She got to the balcony, and threw herself out of it as well.

Chase

Sassy landed on a roof, not too far below from where she'd jumped, and scanned the sky in search of her friend, or what had become of her.

Then something else fell to her side. Someone else, but not somepony else. The minotaur seemed dazed for a moment, then began to look for the bat-pony while Sassy seemed to study him instead.

"You jumped," the unicorn said, some surprise in her tone.

"So did you." The minotaur only barely looked down at her, focusing on the sky instead.

"I am a unicorn," stated Sassy. "I could have caught myself with magic. What's your excuse for jumping out of a building?"

"I have jumped out of higher windows." He tried to ignore her stares, but ultimately couldn't. "My parents didn't like me adventuring around as a kid. I had to get creative to get out." When Sassy's expression grew only more baffled, Silver Hooves finally looked straight at her. "Minotaurs are made of sturdy stuff. Throwing rocks at each other is a friendly game for our young."

The mare was trying to decide how she should process the prince's words, when movement caught her eyes behind him. "There!" she said, pointing a hoof at the pink and yellow blur in the sky.

Silver turned, and in a moment he'd jumped onto the nearest roof, running towards Fluttershy. Sassy had to admit, he was rather fast for having only half the legs. She teleported at his side, initiating her own run.

"What's gotten into that friend of yours, anyway?" The prince jumped again, landing on another flat rooftop.

Sassy followed close behind. "I don't know. It might have been that thing she picked up."

"And you're sure this is not a normal thing for ponies, right?"

"You think?"

"Well I have never met one before."

Sassy almost chuckled at the brief note of excitement seeping through the other's tone. "It isn't, no. Though I have been told it's not the first time this has happened to her specifically."

"Well, whatever it is we need to stop her before-" The minotaur cut off as something streaked the sky, missing Fluttershy by only a couple wingspans. "That," he flatly added.

Sassy was starting to feel the exhaustion in her legs, and talking didn't help make running easier. Still, she had to ask, "What was that?"

"That's the guard shooting at your friend," Silver explained.

"What?"

A couple more projectiles flew towards the bat-pegasus from different corners of the city, each closer to the mark than the last one.

"We don't typically get flying creatures in here, and she doesn't look like either of the flying ponies that walked in today. This is standard procedure. You'd do it too if you ever had to deal with stray crabhawks."

Sassy decided it wasn't the time to inquire about that last part. "Well get them to sto-"

She didn't have time to finish her sentence. Fluttershy was hit, the rope-like projectile wrapping around her wings, and she fell to the ground, landing atop a large but not particularly tall building with a vast circular opening in its roof. Then she got up, a little dazed.

"What is that?" Sassy asked, stopping for a moment as she searched for which roof to jump on next. But as she turned briefly towards the minotaur, she saw his mouth working wordlessly, his expression one of surprise at what he'd seen. "Ponies are made of sturdy stuff too," she said with a half-smirk.

Silver shook his head. "Right, okay." He jumped to a nearby house, once again leading the run. "That's the Labyrinth," he explained.

Sassy was quickly at his side, having recovered a bit of breath through the pause. "Why do you have a labyrinth?"

"Do you not have one in your capital?"

The unicorn opened her mouth, then closed it after a moment of silence.

It was Silver's turn to half-smirk. "So how do we stop her? How do we fix her?"

"No idea."

The minotaur almost tripped as he turned to stare at Sassy.

She gave a stifled sort-of-laugh in response. "We'll figure something out. Probably. Or at worst hold her long enough for Twilight to get out."

The two were just about to reach the top of the Labyrinth, when Fluttershy jumped into the hole. And then the hole started closing.

"Oh, that's not good." Silver tried to rush towards the sliding metal plates that were sealing up the entrance, but couldn't get there in time. He stopped, standing on top of them, panting for breath. "That is not good."

Sassy reached him after a moment. "What happened?"

"She closed it."

"I can see that. What did she do?"

"She pulled the lever. Now we gotta get in the other way." Without waiting for her, the prince began to walk towards a set of stairs leading down from the Labyrinth's roof.

Sassy's next sentence died in her throat, replaced by a huff, and instead she teleported to his side. "Will you tell me what this place is about?"

"It's a test." Silver reached the bottom of the stairs, and began to walk around the building. "It's part of the ceremony to enter the Council. I went through it too. There's a room in the centre in case you get lost, with a lever that opens and closes the roof, so if you fail you can go there and get pulled out. We leave it open when it's not being used, just in case someone accidentally gets in, but your friend just sealed herself shut in there."

Sassy stopped as he did, right in front of the entrance. It was another metallic double gate, a different set of scenes sculpted onto it, showing monsters and other odd creatures. Two holes were on the front, where doorknobs should have been. "So we have to go in here then?"

Silver nodded. "If you want to recover your friend, that is."

The mare gulped. "Is it dangerous?"

"Not for a minotaur. But your friend might be injured. And when a minotaur takes the test, they receive instructions and supplies," the prince explained. "There's nothing in there that can really harm her, but she might remain stuck, and you can only go so long without food and water. Not to mention any possible injuries."

"Well, it's a good thing you've explored it already, no?" Sassy nervously shifted from side to side, looking towards the ground.

"Hardly." Silver Hooves took a step forward, kneeled, pushed his horns into the holes and turned his head. A section of the doors shifted, then a click sounded from inside them and the heavy slabs of metal seamlessly slid open. "It shifts. There's a mechanism below it that moves the sections around, so you can't map it out. I have no idea what it's like right now."

"Oh." Sassy looked ahead into the pitch black interiors of the building, stairs leading immediately down from the entrance. "So... We're going in there, uh?"

"What else?" Silver stepped into the building. "I can go by myself if you want, but only one minotaur at a time can enter. The corridors are narrow either way, and it would take a while to get more guards here. In these conditions, I would say being quick matters most. Unless you want to leave your friend inside here for the night." He took another step forward, and stopped to look back. "So? Are you coming?"

Sassy considered her options for a moment. Then, shaking her head, she headed towards the prince. "Who's going to talk to Fluttershy otherwise?"

Silver smiled. Without warning, he grabbed Sassy and stepped forward. The doors locked shut behind them, and a gate slid up further in front of them, at the bottom of the staircase. "Pressure plates," he explained. "As I said, only one adult minotaur can pass through. Or a minotaur and a pony, in this case. There are two levers to unlock that, one in the central room and one at the main exit. But for now, no one else can come in."

"If only your guards hadn't shot her!" Sassy whined, getting back to her hooves.

"If only she hadn't closed the roof behind herself. No point in worrying now though." He began to trek down in the darkness, fetching something from the ground just a few steps up ahead.

"If only Twilight was here. We should have waited for her help." Sassy followed him without really seeing anything, and tried to light her horn.

"And leave your friend here alone, scared and maybe hurt?" he asked. "Same reason why we didn't go call more guards. Finding her quickly to make sure she's alright is the most important thing now, the time lost by waiting for help would be more than that gained by covering more ground. Besides, it would have hardly mattered if your princess had been here too." There was a click, and the torch in his hand ignited, spreading a cone of warm orange light. "You've probably noticed already, but magic doesn't work here. Anti-magic rocks in the walls."

The unicorn stopped trying to use her horn. Instead she just started to follow behind the minotaur. After a while, she asked, "So, huh, why do you have anti-magic rocks here?"

"To prevent cheating." Silver looked around a corner, and took a left turn. "We minotaurs can't use magic, but artefacts and amulets get here through trading. Can't let someone cheat on this, it's a matter of honour." He stopped a second to consider another turn. "And at any point, someone eligible to one day enter the Council can challenge a current member to replace them, which makes it doubly important that the competition is fair."

Sassy followed behind. "How did you even get an anti-magic mineral when you're not a magic species?"

"Mining." Another turn. "There happened to be a rather large vein of it in one of our mountains, we never exhausted it actually. And we had other uses for it besides this. And ways to figure out its properties, which I assume is what you were asking. Equestria isn't the only country with magic users among its inhabitants."

Sassy moved a little closer to remain in the light. "What else is out there?"

"Oh, lots of things. Changelings used to be a problem, though it is my understanding that your kind is to thank for their relatively recent turnaround. Moose are still out there further north, they're a reserved kind and they don't enjoy being bothered. Fungiforms live south. Enjoyable creatures, certainly, but some of them are rather prone to mischief. Gotta make sure they didn't use transmutation on the merch they're trying to trade to fake it." Silver stopped for a moment, studying the next intersection.

"Interesting." The unicorn came to a stop right at his side, looking left and right as well. "So, where are we going?"

"I'm trying to spot any signs of your friend. I think we can walk our way to the central chamber pretty easily, the Labyrinth is designed for that, but we need to find her first." He tried to illuminate further with his torch on both sides of the corridor. "Any idea where she might be? It doesn't seem like there are any traces here. Left or right?"

Just as the mare was about to open her mouth, a sound came from down the hallway to their right. A thumping, followed by scratching, moving closer then becoming more distant. "Well, I think that answers our question."

The two shared a look, then began to run down the corridor. At the next intersection, they waited for a moment, and then heard sounds again on the left. At the one after though, everything had gone silent.

They both stopped for a moment to catch their breath. "Where do we go now?" Sassy asked.

"Not sure. But she can't be too far." Silver scratched his chin, thinking. "What should we do once we get to her, anyway? I can try to subdue her but I wouldn't wanna hu-" He stopped. "What's so funny?" he asked, looking at the pony.

Sassy managed to stifle her chuckling. "Sorry, sorry. If half of what Rarity has told me about Fluttershy is true then I doubt you would be able to deal with her so easily."

"Oh, you think I can't handle a pony?" Silver leaned against the wall, amused. "What is she gonna do, cuddle me into submission?"

Sassy chuckled again. "You shouldn't underestimate her. I've heard of her tossing bears around, I'm sure she could give you some thread to weave, as we say. You shouldn't judge us ponies just on appearance."

It was the minotaur's turn to chuckle. "Oh, believe me, we know." He sighed, his eyes distant for a second. "Your kind moves the Sun and Moon for all of us- Earth, a single one of you does it now. And I've seen her. She's small enough I could pick her up and throw her around, and yet she gives night and day to the whole world. We minotaurs aren't like that. You get what you see. It's hard for some of us, knowing there's a world out there so different from our own. It's why you don't see many of us around."

There was a pause, then the unicorn spoke again. "I think I get it, yes. It's never really stuck out to me, but I can see it." Another pause. "Though she may or may not have found a way to set those things on automatic." Sassy moved a bit closer to him. "Well, you'll get to see a lot more of this now. Better get used to it." She sat back, then another chuckle came to her lips.

"What is it this time?" Silver raised an eyebrow, curious.

"Nothing, it's just..." She shook her head. "Princess Twilight was really impressed with your technology. And I mean really, really impressed. Practically bouncing up and down while we were on the boat. And I must admit I'm quite impressed as well. That you managed to do all of this without magic, well- We don't really have anything quite like this in Equestria. We've never seen anything like it. It's fascinating."

Silver smiled. "Well, I'm glad you feel that way." He looked down at his hands, and counted his fingers.

"What is that?"

"What?"

"The..." Sassy waved a hoof around. "The counting thing. Is that a hands creatures thing? You're the only one I've seen do that."

"Oh, that." Silver looked at his hands again. "It's a reality check. We don't get a magic princess taking care of our dreams, so I personally find it enjoyable to-"

Before he could finish the sentence, a cry came from down the hallway to their left. They briefly gave a nod to each other, then dashed towards the sound. Left, then right, then left again. Finally they spotted a pink patch of tail disappearing at the end of a corridor.

"Fluttershy!" Sassy called. "Oh, dear. I hope she's alright. I can't begin to imagine what Miss Rarity will do to me if something happens to her and it's my fault."

They turned and faced a dead end. Fluttershy was there in front of them. Her wings had gotten caught up in the projectile, and she drew back against the wall, hissing at them.

"Fluttershy, it's me!" Sassy tried.

Fluttershy hissed again in response. She stepped forward, then back, seemingly studying them. Her fangs bared, her pupils vertical slits, she tried to shake the rope off her leathery wings. She seemed nervous, unsure of what to do.

"Try lowering the torch," Sassy suggested, and Silver did.

The bat pony seemed to calm down just a little, but she still remained on edge. It was like seeing a stray cat that doesn't trust ponies, Sassy thought to herself. There wasn't malice in the mutated pegasus' eyes, so much as confusion. Probably what had caused her to run away in the first place. She suddenly didn't understand where she was.

The minotaur leaned closer, studying the creature. "What happened to her, exactly? You said this wasn't the first time, right?"

Sassy nodded, tentatively moving closer. "I wasn't there, but Rarity told me about it. It was apparently the side-effect of a spell by Princess Twilight. Something to do with rewriting bats' instincts. It seems like maybe it never really left her." She took another careful step forward. "I'm really not sure how to fix it though. Not without Twilight's help. That thing in the library must have triggered her transformation."

"I wouldn't be too surprised. It was probably magical all along, it's not like we ever had a way to check or find out. Nothing we tried ever had any results, at least." The prince took a step closer himself. "It might only work on ponies, for all we know. That's the problem with magic items. You can only ever be sure something is one, never the contrary."

Sassy nodded in understanding. "We'll have to ask Twilight to investigate, once we're out of here." She tried to extend a leg forward towards Fluttershy, gauging her reactions. "Assuming it doesn't affect her just as well."

"Magic creatures are weird," Silver replied. "You move things with your horn and your friend there flies with wings too small to carry her weight. Yet her changing shape like that is somehow weird to you, and something you find hard to explain. It all seems the same grade of impossible to me."

"Well, it may be just a matter of what you're used to." Biting her lower lip, Sassy touched Fluttershy's back.

The bat-pony drew back a moment, her breath speeding up a bit, then became a bit calmer and let the unicorn run her hoof over her body. Just like a cat, there was something there, not quite trust but a lack of annoyance. They weren't hurting her, so she would afford to see what more they were trying to do.

Sassy hesitated. Her hoof moved to the rope binding Fluttershy's bat-like wings, and her eyes searched for Silver Hooves's. "Should I...?"

The prince looked between her and the other pony. "What if she flies away?"

"It's the only way to get her to trust us, unless you're keeping food with you."

He chewed his lower lip for a second. "I know. You're right. And it's not like I can carry her." He pushed Sassy slightly back. "Let me do it though. Knots are easier to deal with when you have hands."

Fluttershy hissed at first, but remained still enough. In a few moments, Silver's fingers untangled the coils binding her wings. As she realised she was finally free, her expression shifted to one of mild surprise. A moment later, she took flight and disappeared down the corridor.

Before either of the two had time to complain, however, she came back, and nuzzled to Silver Hooves's hand.

Sassy tilted her head to the side. "I think she likes you." She leaned closer to the other pony. "And she doesn't seem to be hurt." She smiled, standing straighter. "Very well. To the central hall now, I suppose."

Silver seemed to ponder the idea for a moment. "Well, we need Twilight's help with this, and she won't be out for the whole night. Plus if we open the roof there's always the chance she gets shot at again. We could just try to go for the main exit." He glanced at the sceptical unicorn. "Of course, if you think you couldn't do it..."

Sassy suddenly jerked upright. "Is this a challenge, Silver?"

Resolution

Silver bit his lower lip to stop a chuckle. "A giant cupcake? Really?"

Sassy nodded. "It was a really tasty one too." She paused for a moment. "I may have eaten some of what was left on the ground."

The other raised an eyebrow.

"Only a little!" She turned another corner. "How do your legs not hurt when you've got just two of them?"

"Told you. Sturdy stuff." Silver counted his fingers again. The torch in his hand was still bright, and gave no signs of fading. Sassy had originally assumed it to be a simple wooden torch, but it was actually more akin to a lantern, with an ignition mechanism built in. It burned rope and some sort of oil, both of which the metallic handle was filled with.

The mare slumped against a wall. "You're a nice pony, Silver. No. Not a pony." She brought a hoof to her head. "I never function too well after a sleepless night. One time I got orders mixed up at the Boutique and Princess Celestia almost ended up in a duck costume."

"Hah! Now that would have been something worth putting on a window." Silver looked behind a corner. "Speaking of which. There may or may not be a commemorative incision about the time King Bronzeye accidentally gave a speech to the wall after he refused to admit his other eye had a problem that day, if you search deep enough inside the castle. Just don't tell dad I told you that."

"Oh dear." Despite her attempt at showing worry, Sassy couldn't help but giggle at the idea. "Was he alright?"

"Yeah, it wasn't anything serious after a doctor looked at it. But he was a stubborn one. Refused to open the gates once because he thought the guards outside had blown the horn wrong."

The mare sighed with a smile, leaning against the wall. After a moment, she said, "Where's Fluttershy gone to?"

Silver stood straighter. "You're right, it has been a while since we last saw her. Please tell me we don't have to go looking for her a third time."

As if on cue, the bat-pegasus reappeared from behind a corner.

"There you are!" Sassy said. "Still not sure of how we'll fix you though."

Fluttershy didn't seem to care about that. Instead, she waved her tail from side to side, and turned towards the direction she'd come from. She took a step forward, then looked back at the others.

"I think she wants us to follow her," said Sassy.

"Do you think..." Silver shook his head. "Well, nothing better to do either way."

The two followed the bat-pony down twists and turns and corridors. Sometimes she went a little too far ahead, but then stopped to wait for them. They'd found she didn't need a torch to navigate the darkness around them.

Finally, after one last turn and a flight of downward stairs, a long and narrow corridor appeared before them. And from the end of it came the unmistakable sound of water rhythmically crashing against stone, and the salty breeze that blew above the sea.

Sassy and Silver exchanged a look, then ran forward down the hallway. There at the end of it was a gate, a lever at its side, and the minotaur pulled down on it with his free hand. The slate of metal slid down, and they saw the sky for the first time in hours. The two stepped onto the balcony in front of them, while Fluttershy immediately took flight. A whisper of wonder escaped the unicorn's lips as she walked up to the edge of it.

Sassy stared wide-eyed at the ocean before her, as the Sun dawned bright over the waves. The Labyrinth's exit was behind her, carved straight into the side of the promontory. Just as the prince had described it to her. Beside it was the elevator that would take them back to the city, but for the moment she was content with simply sitting with her hooves resting on the railroad, enjoying the view. The grey-green of the early morning gave way to burning orange, almost like a forest catching fire. Yeah, she could make a dress idea out of that.

"Well. Congratulations, Sassy." Silver placed a hand over her shoulder. "I guess that makes you an honorary potential Council member." He gave a laugh. "Mind kicking me out? I wouldn't mind getting some free time. It's hard to see the world when you're bound to a city."

Sassy joined in his laughter, her eyelids heavy after her sleepless night. "Well, you'll get a chance to see it. A second diplomatic trip will be in order after this one, I'm sure you'll make a great ambassador when you come to Equestria."

"I'm not sure father will let me."

The unicorn turned towards him. "I will force you to come with us and start a war if that's what it takes for you to get to see Canterlot." She gave another hollowed but meaningful fragment of laugh. "Good luck getting through magic shields with your cannons!"

Silver replied with an equally tired, equally joyful sound. "I hope your shields are wide, Sassy. Because Canterlot sits on a mountain, and it wouldn't be the first one we tore down."

The two looked at each other in the eyes, and a moment later burst into roaring laughter anew.

Not too distant from them, Fluttershy landed back onto the balcony, folding her leathery wings. Then the first ray of sunlight hit her, and her body began to glow. The two had to shield their weary eyes, and when they could open them again they saw a particularly tired yellow pegasus standing there, clearly confused.

"How did I-" Fluttershy loudly yawned "-get here?"

Silver and Sassy exchanged a look. "Well, guess that takes care of that," the former said, while Fluttershy curled up and fell asleep immediately. They couldn't help but laugh again after that.

A few moments went by in silence, punctuated only by the unicorn's sighs as she watched the ocean.

Then shaking his head, the minotaur walked mostly straight to the elevator, and turned to address Sassy. "So, would-be councillor. Are you coming back in town or what?"

The click of a lock being opened echoed in the empty library, and Twilight stepped out. "Girls, you wouldn't believe the kind of books they have in here! There's three entire volumes about different shapes of gears and... Girls?"

The Minotaur King stepped out behind her. "Must have gone to bed." Then he glanced at the window on the far end of the room. "Or breakfast, at this point."

Twilight had wandered a little further. "Hey, what's this?" She curved down, and picked up a metallic object from the ground, decorated with gems. "Weird," she said, turning it in her hooves. "It almost feels like..."

Greetings

Three guards were waiting for them, or at least Sassy assumed they were guards. She didn't precisely know if the capital had a Royal Guard like Canterlot's. Either way, there were three armour-clad minotaurs on the shore as they stepped onto it. They silently greeted the ship's captain with nods, then turned to look at the ponies. "Come with us," the one in the middle said, then he turned and began to walk.

Nervously looking to each other, the three ponies followed behind. The three led them to a set of metal tracks in the ground, one end riding up the promontory while the other disappeared into the distance. A train passed by on its way away from the city, and more than a few curious glances darted from its windows towards the mares. Sassy swore she saw Twilight bite down on her lips to stop a squee of excitement.

Their own train arrived just a little later. It rode down empty from the city, and stopped right in front of them, opening its doors. The ride was just as exciting as Sassy had assumed it would be. It was interesting to actually feel the inclination, she had to admit, the train to Canterlot always made it feel like it was travelling on a flat surface. But aside from that and the slower pace, nothing too relevant.

That gave her some time to focus on something else though, something they'd seen before the train. The guards' armours. She sketched them down as they climbed to the capital. Simple and functional, very different from Equestria's, but they had their own elegance. A shame Rarity couldn't be there, but if the Dragon Lord's sceptre was cracking then she was the pony for that. Sassy would try her best as her delegate.

The train stopped. As they stepped out, Sassy reasoned it must have switched to a different set of tracks from the normal one at some point. It had reached a dead end, and they were outside the city. But any thought about the exact path they'd followed was swept away the moment she actually took in the scenery. She'd heard about it, but she didn't think that had been nearly enough to prepare her.

The gates of Klayss stood high in front of them, gleaming in the reflected sunlight, and they were a spectacle to behold. Taller than every building in Canterlot but the highest spires of its castle, the entire history of the minotaurs was inscribed on it, chiselled in the gilded iron. Tales of heroes and monsters, of kings and warriors. Distantly, the mare considered how it was admittedly a safer way to preserve history than glass windows.

The rest of the walls was just as impressive. While the part facing the sea still bore the reddish colour of the bricks it had been first built with, the inside had been rebuilt out of metal entirely. Shiny black, polished like a mirror, thicker than any wall in Equestria if the legend was true. Impossible to climb and impossible to tear down. One could fly, but something gave Sassy the feeling the top wasn't unguarded.

The guards hadn't spoken much besides short commands. Not even their names. One of them, the one who appeared to be the captain, stepped forward, and pulled a decorated horn out of his belt. It was encircled with gold at two points along the length, runes carved in the metal. He brought it to his mouth, and blew into it. The sound was deep and loud like the howl of wind blowing through a valley between two mountains. They'd distantly heard it while on the boat, but it was something else being next to it.

A moment passed after the guard placed the horn back into the strap it hung from, then the ground began to shake. With a slow but steady motion, smoother than what their size hinted at being possible, the gates began to open. There was no creature pushing them, not that any creature other than a dragon would have been able to, but hints of the gears turning them could be seen where they joined the walls.

The gates finally came to a stop. Along with their turning, they'd slid backwards, and now they lay flat against the walls' section, confirming what Sassy had heard about their size. There was just a little space left on the sides, so the decorations didn't actually touch the wall. The city was visible now, the main road leading from the entrance to the royal palace large and mostly empty.

"Do you have to open the gates like this every time someone comes to visit?" Fluttershy wondered aloud, inadvertently promoting the nervous darting of Twilight's eyes.

"Minotaurs do not get many visits," the captain flatly replied as he stepped forward and began to lead the way inside. Then he stopped and added, in a softer tone, "But no. There are other entrances to the city, we just felt you might enjoy seeing this."

Twilight sighed in relief, perhaps a little too loudly. The other two minotaurs looked at her, then at each other. Finally, they broke into chuckles. The alicorn joined them after a second, and then the group resumed its walk into the capital.

If Sassy had to describe Klayss in one word, it would be colourful. But that alone didn't quite get the point across. Pony cities were colourful, too. The capital of the minotaurs' lands was different. It was warmer. Drapes of orange and red and yellow hanging from every window and every stall built of dry wood selling fruit and spices of every kind.

Music came from the smaller streets around them. Strings and flutes, dozens of different songs, all playing in harmony. All following the same rhythm, the one dictated by the ever-present ring of metal being hammered and forged. Minotaurs didn't sing like ponies did, but they seemed to have quite the passion for music nonetheless.

The roads weren't paved, but they weren't uncomfortable to walk on. Outside the walls, the ground was just naked rock, but inside it was dry yellow dirt and dust. Once the gates had closed behind them, it became impossible to tell that they were anywhere near the sea, even with a couple of merchants selling salt and algae and dried corals or seashells.

The Royal Palace stood in front of them, at the opposite end of the city. As they walked through the large road connecting it to the gates, many curious minotaurs looked at them, most smiling and some waving. Their destination stood as the tallest building within the walls, a staircase leading up to its entrance. Its architecture bore the same squared structure as the houses around town, but where those were painted and colourful, the palace was pristine white.

The group ascended to its open gates, a smaller version of the city's with only a few of the scenes, still carved in gold. Inside their hoofsteps over the polished granite echoed in the hallways, the sound broken and dimmed by the many flowerpots lining the corridors and by the strange plants inside them. It was no easy task for Equestria's only princess to stop herself from studying them right that moment.

Finally they reached their destination, the bronze doors of the Council's room standing closed before them. They'd heard about the Council from Steel Bolt, the ship's captain, but he'd seemed intentionally vague about it. Bronze Knuckles, his assistant, hadn't offered much more insight. The guards' leader stepped forward, and once more took out his horn.

He blew into it. A moment later, just like at the gates, the doors began to slide open. This time, however, their movement was accompanied by a fanfare of other horns answering back from inside. As the tall metal slabs turned through mechanisms hidden in the walls and floor, the Council's room revealed itself to them.

They had a chance to observe it fully as they stepped inside, led by the grey-furred minotaur holding the horn. A total of seventeen seats occupied the three remaining walls, six on each side of the ponies as they entered and five in front of them. In the centre of the room, a metal platform with three steps leading up to it. Of the five seats on the far end, three were higher than the rest, the one in the centre higher than all others.

On that seat sat a somewhat old looking, black-furred minotaur, a golden crown resting between his worn out horns. He wore an emerald green robe, with a crest woven into it in scarlet red. To his right was a female minotaur, wearing a silver crown herself, dressed the same way as him over her light brown fur. The rest of the lower seats were filled with a number of other minotaurs, both male and female, except the one to the old one's right, which was empty.

The captain stepped onto the podium and knelt, remaining silent for a few seconds before looking up, while the other two guards signalled to the ponies to remain back for the moment. "King Golden Horn, Queen Cobalt Arrow. Here with me is Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, alongside her friends, Sassy Saddles and Fluttershy.

"They come in peace, as announced during their previous communications. They wish to study our history and culture, bring news of it to their land, and establish trade routes between our countries. They also wish to share their knowledge, so that both of our nations may benefit from it."

The guards gave a nod, and the three ponies stepped onto the platform, walking to the captain's side. Like they'd been instructed to before leaving Equestria, they bowed silently for a moment, then looked up and waited for the King's reaction.

The black minotaur ran his gaze over them. "Very well," he spoke, his voice sounding even older than his body would have suggested, but still deep and strong. "You are welcome in our lands, and I look forward to what our encounter will bring." He clicked his tongue. "I would gladly introduce the rest of the Council to you, but it seems my dear son is missing from his seat. He sneaked out to go see the ponies before everyone else, you see."

All non-pony eyes in the room turned to the armour-clad captain, and the ponies' followed as they noticed. He gave a small cough, a very sheepish smile, and rubbed a hand behind one of his horns. "Sorry, dad," he finally let out.

The King smiled at him. "Prince Silver Hooves," he said, pointing towards the grey minotaur. "Now, tell us about yourselves, our little pony friends."