BridgeWorld

[994AB Day 265]
"Thank you for trying to help Jackie, Princess Celestia," Big Joe said as they rode in the chariot on their way to his restaurant. Since the distance was so short, the pegasi Royal Guard pulled the chariot along the city streets. "I only hope that she'll remember she has friends here and come back to us. She's welcome, anytime."

"I hope so, too. It's good to know that she has friends who care about her," Celestia replied. "I'll have posters with her likeness and your comments put up to let her know she's welcome in Equestria."

"Oh, that might not work, Your Highness," Big Joe told her. "She doesn't know how to read Equestrian. She reads and writes in some other language."

"She doesn't read Equestrian?" Celestia asked, astonished.

"No, Your Highness," Big Joe replied. "She wrote several songs for our in-house band, but they had to work out how to translate her writings into Equestrian."

Celestia and Thomas looked at each other.

"I have more business to conduct with Tom," Celestia said, "but I would like to hear this music of hers at the earliest opportunity."

"The crystals can wait, if you wish, Your Highness," Thomas Mane said. "The matter of their content isn't going to improve or worsen with time, but I have to admit, I'm rather curious as to what your friend created that could get griffons to riot over a song they liked." His words made Celestia's eyes open wider in surprise.

Big Joe looked up at the position of the sun.

"They should be just about ready to start this afternoon's session by the time we arrive," he told them. "Of course, you're both welcome."

"I'm—rather curious about something," Thomas said. "Back at the Guardhouse, you said something about Jackie was—'a little quick'? That seemed a rather odd choice of words to say about her. What did you mean by that?"

Princess Celestia snorted her giggle.

"That's one way of putting it!" she said, laughing as she winked at Big Joe. "I tried to follow her and was able to catch up, but there were other factors in play at the time, such as the fact she was dodging everypony as we raced down the street. In a straight run, I dare say she could probably leave me in the dust. And her reaction time is far faster than mine!"

"You—were able to keep up with her!?" Big Joe exclaimed, so astonished that he completely neglected protocol when addressing the princess. She genuinely smiled at that.

"Almost," she stressed. "As I said, there were other factors at play that worked to slow her down a bit. But the mystery of Jackie's magic isn't a mystery anymore. She's not using magic like a unicorn does in order to teleport. Her magic is much like yours, Thomas. Your magic manifests in your body, as does hers. Only her magic makes her extremely fast."

"We're—we're here, Your Highness," Big Joe announced as they came up on the 'Griffon's Way Restaurant'. "Please, come on in."

"We'd be delighted," Celestia responded, as they stepped down from the chariot, and followed Big Joe inside.

Just as before at the start of their sessions, Gus provided an introductory commentary:

"Folks," he confidently bellowed out. "We know that many of you have heard these next few songs before, but there are still a number of you that this will be your first time at hearing this. This is not one of the numerous ballads we have sung of Equestria, the Griffon Empire, the Dragonlands, Yakyakistan, or any other of the known cultures, some from so far away they're almost mythical.

"This, like the one we did during lunch, is another song about—humans—" If Celestia's ears were any longer, the tips would likely have broken the sound barrier at how her attention snapped forward on hearing that word.

"Creatures who've not been seen in our world for thousands of years," Gus continued unaware of the laser-like attention now focused upon him by the figure still hidden in shadow. "We have never heard any of their music—never have heard any of their stories—never have heard of what gods they worshipped, what monsters they fought, or of what nations they had built—and all this time, we have never known why—until now. These songs were recently gifted to us by a good friend, who unfortunately, cannot be with us at the moment to help us tell it."

"That was most impressive," Celestia told Big Joe after the music session was over.

"Indeed," Thomas agreed.

She had seen how the griffons' attention throughout the performance was riveted on the band and their meals went untouched as the staff brought their orders out. Now, once the band took a break, she watched how the audience came alive again to dig into their cold meals and excitedly talk about their business, much of what she could overhear involved the story conveyed by the music.

"Would you and Thomas like to have a table yourselves?" Big Joe inquired. "We also serve pony food, if you wish."

"I've tried and enjoyed griffon fare before," Celestia told Thomas. "I have a few favorites, myself. I would be very interested in seeing how your establishment prepares them. Would you like to challenge this, Tom?" she asked him.

"I've never had griffon food, myself," Thomas replied, shrugging. "But I'm willing to give it a try. Yes, please, Big Joe," he told the restauranteur.

"Right this way, then," Big Joe gestured and led them to a secluded private booth.

"And from what I can see," Celestia spoke as they walked, "your customers really like their food, despite their dishes sitting untouched throughout the music. That also says a lot about how those songs affect your clientele, which indicates just how important it is that we find and retrieve your friend."

"Thank you so very much for taking an interest in this," Big Joe said. "I'll have somepony over right away to take your orders. And might I make a suggestion--be sure to have your orders in before the next set of music. I made that mistake of having the sequence reversed the first time one of Jackie's songs played. The repairs needed—were extensive," he finished before leaving them at their table.

"This next song," Griz spoke up addressing the audience about an hour later, "does speak of one of the human nations as it gives voice to their dreams, their hopes, and their aspirations, and—we're not sure—perhaps some significant event for which we have no reference to, but may have greatly impacted them."

When that song finished, Celestia had been moved to tears. Such poignancy! Such heartache it conveyed. And she wasn't the only moved, as many of the griffons also displayed great distress over it, even as they showed their approval.

Thomas wasn't moved to tears, but he did find the song intriguing and heartfelt.

"W—we have to find her!" Celestia hoarsely whispered to him. It was only when he looked up at her that he saw how if had affected her.

"Are you okay, Your Highness?" he instantly asked, concerned at how broken she suddenly looked.

"I—I will be—assuming I don't hear another like that one for a little time," she said, struggling to get her emotions back under control. "That—was a very powerful song! Big Joe, I'd like an opportunity to speak with the band members when they have a break," she said to the owner, who sat nearby.

"Of course, Your Highness," he replied.

"Their culture is a complete mystery to us," Griz spoke out to the crowd. "What little we do know, is contained within the five songs our friend provided. Whether the stories in their music are true or fanciful, we cannot say. We know nothing other than what has been written in them. But from what we do have, it is clear that humans knew of battle, knew of wars, knew when they needed to fight and when such wars were utter folly, for they tell us this much in them. This—is another such message—and perhaps—a warning," she said before beginning the song.

This time, even Thomas had been moved to tears, and when he looked at Celestia, he saw that this one had a strong impact upon her, too. Likewise, to the griffons.

"We know just how much those songs have affected you," Gus spoke out. "It affects us the same way, and we're the ones who have to play it to the quality that our good friend wrote them out to. Believe us, it hits us just as strong, every time. But just so that you don't depart in such emotional wreckage, we'll leave you this evening with this ever-popular and cheery griffon tune to reawaken your appetites and thirsts for all that it is to be—a griffon!"

"Thank you! Thank you all, and good night, everygriff and everypony!" Griz shouted out over the cheers as they finished up.

"Let's go," Celestia commanded, and Big Joe escorted them both backstage to meet the band.

"Princess Celestia!" Gus exclaimed when he saw who was coming to meet them. "Th-this is an honor! Have you heard the music?"

"Indeed, I have," she greeted them. "It was exceptionally moving. I understand that Jackie Valentine wrote some of those songs for you."

"Have you seen Jackie!? How is she doing!?" Griz eagerly asked. "Is she going to be released!?"

"There's been—a complication, I'm afraid," Celestia told them. "Can we talk in private?"

"Of course!" Gus exclaimed. "Right this way," he said, leading them to their dressing room.

"This—is going to sound distressing," Celestia began once everyone was inside and seated. "Big Joe and Thomas Mane came to me with news about how your friend was being treated while in custody." The griffons and ponies of the band all gaped at Thomas Mane sitting among them. Of course, Big Joe had informed them when he had approached the Guard the day before, and how he was going to go see the owner of Mane Industries that evening. However, they had no idea that things would escalate so high.

"When we arrived, I saw what condition she was being held in," Celestia explained. "Shortly after I got the chance to see her, I witnessed a distressing event involving Jackie that alerted me that something was seriously wrong with her. I understand, that while the Guard were interviewing you, that Jackie just suddenly and inexplicably started screaming?"

"Yes, that's true, Your Highness!" Gus exclaimed. "None of us could understand what was ailing her. Eventually, the Guard took her, and she was still struggling and screaming."

"The agony she was suffering was due to an odd curse that had infected her," Celestia told them. "It was just the barest sliver of Dark Magic, so small, I almost missed it even as I suspected it was what was ailing her. But I was able to finally locate it and pull it out of her and destroy it—but—the experience left her terrified—and she ran! And I've never seen any creature able to move that fast before! I'm sorry to say, but I lost her before I could explain, and she got away."

"Hopefully, she'll remember she is safe here," Gus quietly said.

"That's all we can hope for," Big Joe spoke up.

"But—there's the possibility that pulling that curse out of her may have damaged her," Celestia cut in. "She might not remember any of you. She might not remember she has friends or a home. I've left strict instructions with the Guard that they are to treat her kindly and gently, and to inform me immediately if they can't calm her down on their own."

"I see," Gus replied.

"But there's another matter that makes finding her all the more urgent," Celestia added. "I heard your performance tonight."

"I—I'm not sure I follow, Your Highness," Gus said, after sharing looks with his fellows.

"You mentioned to the audience that the songs you were playing were related to humans," she stated. "Am I correct in assuming that those songs came from Jackie?"

"Yes, that's correct," Gus replied, still not understanding the significance of her inquiry.

"It is true that humans have not been seen in our world for thousands of years," Celestia said. "Aside from me, no one has ever seen one. If Jackie Valentine knows of them, we need to find her, and quickly!"

"Is there a danger?" Thomas asked.

"No, but her knowledge of them must not be put at risk," Celestia said. "Speaking of which, I understand she does not write in Equestrian. Would it be possible to see her notes on the songs?"

"Oh, of course, Your Highness!" Gus said, getting up to gather up a stack of papers and handed them to her.

They waited as the princess looked through the sheets. For Celestia, the written notes which were not Equestrian were both surprisingly familiar and exotic. Many of the symbols used were the same as she recalled as being used in human writing, but quite a few were completely unrecognizable, as were the spelling and what sentence structure she could assume from her past knowledge. However, here and there, a word stood out that she knew.

"Thank you," she quietly said as she used her magic to pass the sheets back to the griffon.

Languages and writing styles can drift over time, she surmised. Especially when a culture lacks a stabilizing anchor like an immortal ruler. The griffons' writing styles drifted considerably over the past two thousand years and they're the closest of Equetria's neighbors. A fraudster wouldn't normally think of that. They would incorrectly assume that the language would never change or they would just make up a totally random new language, using the old symbols in ways that wouldn't match up with how they were used in the original language. I think—these—are genuine! So, how did this Jackie Valentine even know of humanity!? That Jackie had been exposed to human culture was now an absolute certainty in Celestia's mind.

"Thank you," she repeated, getting up. "I'll be sure to inform the Guard as to this new urgency in the need of locating Jackie as soon as possible. Come, Tom," she said to him. "It's time we looked into the other matters we had discussed."

"Of course, Your Highness," Thomas Mane said, standing up.

"Good evening to all of you," she said in parting.

"Good evening to you, Princess!" they all said in unison.

"How is your research coming along, Thomas?" she quietly asked as they traveled via her chariot flying to his home.

"We've been making some pretty good advancements, Your Highness," he replied.

"Have you!?" she challenged.

"Oh, yes! We have," he said. "As you'll see when you review our recordings. Functionally, the thermal and night vision goggles are better than we expected them to be, as are the audio enhancement systems. Those capabilities were what we were field testing the other night. Of course, the real trick will be to develop an interface that will tie the sensors directly into a pony's mind—"

"I'm not speaking of that research, Tom," she whispered conspiratorially to him. "I'm talking about your other research."

"O-other research!?" he asked, puzzled and surprised by her inquiry.

"You got over your dread of flying way too quickly," she slyly whispered to him. "You're testing out those prosthetic wings on your own—I'm guessing you're incorporating them into a few of your stronger chainmail suits to test them with, since falling from any height in them would still give you plenty of protection."

He stared at her in stunned amazement, numerous ideas running through his mind as to how she found out.

Did Alfalfa or Lucious tell her!? he fearfully wondered.

"Don't worry that you have a spy feeding me any information, Thomas," she chuckled at his expression. "Earth ponies like you don't just get over your discomforts so quickly. You had to show you still had such fear with Big Joe in the chariot, but now that it's just us, you dropped it. And don't try to tell me that it's just you have simply gotten used to flying with me. You still showed such dread when we last rode together only a few months ago."

Her comments forced him to finally grin. Yes, he'd been caught.

"Okay, I'll show you what we've accomplished," he promised her, "assuming what you see in the recording crystals won't make you so furious that you'll sun-blast my home."

"No promises, I'm afraid," she said, sighing as they began their decent toward his mansion.

"You were right to be worried about my temper, Thomas," Celestia grimly said after she saw the events play out that were overheard at the warehouse. She indeed had reacted badly when Equestria Guard ponies clearly ignored the sight of Jack Black walking by them with the restraining ring on his horn and ankle bracelet still quite visible despite the cloak he wore. The conversation Jack Black had with his accomplice only confirmed matters were far worse than she had initially thought when she first saw the incident.

"That they're mixing poison joke with magic mushrooms, and that there are Equestrian Guard evidently complicit with those two!?" she hissed. "But that they have enough of their own intel network to know which Guard they can trust and their patrol schedules!?"

"It gets even better, Your Highness," Alfalfa said. "Keep watching."

Celestia then watched the aerial fight that ensued when Thomas' pegasi were discovered. She gasped in horror at seeing the moves used their adversaries as the combat began in earnest.

"Those are Royal Guard moves!" she angrily exclaimed at seeing the maneuvers used by the criminal guards.

That one of the Mane Industries ponies was eventually injured wasn't at all surprising, given what she spotted at the beginning of the conflict. Furthermore, she nodded in satisfaction every time one of their enemy was knocked back or injured.

"How is your injured pony?" she inquired after the fight was finally concluded.

"The cut they gave him was serious, but I'm told Fred will recover," Thomas told her. "And it was right after they got back and we saw their recordings that I called the Royal Guard, myself. The rest, Your Highness, you know," he said with meaning. "The only question remaining is what happed between my call and bringing the original records to them and you getting the report this morning."

"Good on your team for taking them down, Tom!" Celestia finally spat. "That it should come to former Royal Guard fighting former Royal Guard is bad enough. That they're working with anypony crazy enough to mix those two substances—" She had to stop to consider what to say next.

"Is there any way they can trace your injured pony?" she asked.

"No. We're using our own internal clinic to treat Fred's injuries," Thomas told her. "And Alfalfa has folks quietly looking into the hospitals for signs of any pegasi coming in with broken wings. But so far, nothing. They're—either using their own resources—or—we can assume they're simply disposing of such failures."

Princess Celestia stood there, considering all the implications the recent revelations would be soon generating.

"This—will require considerable effort to root out corruption going this deep," she finally said, sighing. "Clearly, there are still some good ponies in both Guard, and I am loath to burn them along with those who have failed this nation. But there is too much at stake to seek either a slower long-term solution or a quick immediate fix. I need both! But each of them has too much risk to miss ponies in important positions who are so thoroughly corrupt."

"Is there anything that we can do to help, Your Highness?" Thomas asked, and she looked at him sharply.

"Why don't you show me some of what you've been working on, Tom?" she asked him sweetly.

I wonder which one is going to be more shocked, Thomas wondered, looking between the princess and his butler. He quickly decided, Let's find out!

"This way, Your Highness," he cheerfully said, getting up from the seat at his desk to walk over to the large collection of books on shelving lining the wall, and he had the satisfaction at seeing Alfalfa's face as he did so.

"This is new," Celestia said smiling as the section of shelving slid out to reveal the metal lined room behind it.

"Nice. I have two of my own at the Castle," she muttered as they rode it down. Thomas merely smirked as Alfalfa still looked to be shock.

Oh, we're playing that game, are we? he thought, grinning. Just wait, Princess. Your time is coming soon.

"Good evening Lucius!" Thomas greeted as they walked across the elevated bridge. "Be so kind as to prep the training arena for a full workout session. We have an interested party who would like to see the results of some experiments." He led the mares down to the monitoring station and began to put on his own chainmail outfit once they all arrived.

"Of course, sir! Right away!" the kitsune called back, grinning. "I was wondering when she was going to show up," he muttered as he began setting the controls.

"Batwings?" Celestia noted, her voice giving emphasis to her sense of irony.

"Well, I have to say I borrowed the idea from you, Your Highness," Thomas replied, zipping his armor closed. "You were the one to mention the Thestrals, for which we're doing the work on the night vision and hearing augmentations. It seemed appropriate, given how much you inspired this work with your support."

"Of course," she responded, smirking. Then her face showed her shock when she saw what Thomas picked up next. She stared at Alfalfa, Lucius, and Thomas in turn. Alfalfa was by now, more at ease to having her there; Lucius just gave her the briefest glance before continuing to focus on what he was doing with the controls—shooting her one of his ever-ready grins; and Thomas had an obscene-level smirk as he donned his helmet that now hid everything of his face save his mouth.

"Please tell me that that is only decorative—" she begged him, wide eyed.

"Now, where would the fun be in that if I did so, Your Highness?" he asked as he levitated a polearm and marched out into the training area….