How I Became My Mother

Chapters

Chapter 1: I Will Never Be My Mother
Chapter 2: A Meeting on the Way to Bridlewood
Chapter 3: Old Bridges and Lighthouses
Chapter 4: River Crossing
Chapter 5: Unicorn Games
Chapter 6: Return in Failure
Chapter 7: Living the Lies
Chapter 8: The Calm Before the Storm
Chapter 9: Chaos at the Royal Celebration
Chapter 11: The Seed
Chapter 12: Closure
Chapter 10: What a Mother Will Do For Her Daughters

Chapter 1: I Will Never Be My Mother

Princess Haven sat trying not to flatten her ears as her mother, Queen Prominence, laughed at the reporter's not-at-all funny joke. If she flattened her ears, somepony would take notice, and somepony would write up a story about how the queen and her daughter were having a falling out. Never mind that it was just her being a little annoyed at her mother's fake laugh; it would be blown out of proportion by the news. Her mother would end up having to smooth the whole thing over with the press, and Haven would be denied what little freedoms she had for the foreseeable future.

She just hated all the fakeness that came with being a royal. Fake flying, fake laugh, fake smile— what was ever honest with them?

The interview continued, and thankfully, most of the questions were directed at her mother. There weren't too many times Haven had to pretend to think of an answer before smiling and giving the answer her mother had her carefully rehearse. However, each time she did, she promised herself in her head that she would never— NEVER— make any of her future foals spend hours going over what answers to give to the press. They had enough lies they would have to live without having to parrot her. She was not going to raise clones of herself. She'd encourage their interests and let them shine on their own merits.

The reporter suddenly stopped smiling and laughing. "Queen Prominence, I know this question is out of left-field, but we have many followers who are deeply interested in knowing whether you ever intend to do a reparation strike against the earth ponies?"

Haven stiffened. That question was completely off-script and was on a subject her mother did everything in her power to avoid speaking about.

Her mother's smile dropped, and her expression went deadly neutral. That neutrality was just as fake as the smile that had preceded it. Haven wondered if she could slip away fast enough after the interview to avoid witnessing her mother's rage or become a target for it.

"Our resources are better spent seeing to our defenses against earth pony attacks. We have lost enough trying to overwhelm those brutes on their home turf. I will not sacrifice one more of my wonderful citizens on that fool's errand," Queen Prominence said, calmly annunciating every single word and glaring daggers at the reporter as if to dare them to follow up that question.

The reporter knew they had crossed the line and had no desire to cross the line into the dungeon. "Thank you, my queen. I think that is all for today."

Her mother nodded, smiling that scarily friendly smile that never reached her eyes. She immediately left her seat and marched out of the audience room, and Haven followed after her.

As soon as the thick door shut behind them, her mother exploded, screaming with fury as she overturned a table and tossed whatever she could lay her hooves on against the walls.

Haven took cover behind a chair and knew that she couldn't just leave without making some attempt to calm her. "Mom! It isn't the reporter's fault! Somepony told them to ask that."

Prominence turned her fiery gaze on her daughter. "They know! They know how I feel about that subject! They know I'm not going to do anything! Do they want to portray me as weak?! Haven't we lost enough to that foolishness?! Wasn't your father enough blood for them!? What else do they want from us?!"

Haven took a deep breath and decided to speak her mind for once and show that she was worthy of the crown she would one day inherit. "I know you would go avenge Dad if you could. The earth ponies are too strong, and none of us can fly. You are protecting our ponies. It isn't your fault the press is too blind to see that."

Her mother seemed to have all the fight go out of her suddenly. "Oh, my dear sweet Haven; your father and I never wanted a war with the earth ponies to begin with. I don't want a war with them now."

Haven blinked in shock. "But Dad died fighting them."

Prominence nodded. "Your father died fighting them, but they were defending their homes against an unprovoked invasion that should never have happened. I don't blame the earth ponies for your father's death. I blame all the media that pushed us into declaring that senseless war." Her teeth grit, and the rage returned to her continence. "And here they are again, pushing for more conflict! When will it ever be enough for them!"

"They can't force us to go to war," Haven asserted. "We're the royal family. We make the decisions."

Her mother let out an honest laugh, a sad laugh. "Only if we appear strong. Never let them see you weak, Haven. That was our failing; we let them think we were weak, and we were forced to do something we didn't want to do to appear strong, and your father was the one who ended up paying for it."

This was the first time she had ever heard her mother speak so candidly about what happened. She didn't know what to say. It went against everything she thought she knew.

Prominence gave her more of that honest smile, that smile that made her want to weep with how sorrowful it was. "It wasn't always like this; once upon a time, all the pony tribes got along with one another. This crown upon our heads was entrusted to us by a great pony that ruled all the tribes, one of three crowns. We were supposed to rule in harmony, but somewhere along the line, we got so caught up with just our own tribes." She looked down at the floor in shame. "Then your father and I went and put the final nail in the coffin by declaring war, and there is nothing we can do to fix it. How ashamed that great pony must be of us."

"That can't be right," Haven breathed. "My teachers never taught me anything about this. You never said anything about this."

"We like to bury our shame," Prominence said, looking defeated. "Go down to the lower levels, by yourself; there's a large air duct that doesn't have any breeze coming through. The screws on it are loose. You can pry it open without trouble. Go through that, and you can see what we've done our best to forget. When you are queen, you can share it with whoever will be your heir, so somepony can always remember what we truly lost, other than our flight. There's no fixing what was broken, especially not after what your father and I did, but we can remember our shame. Consider it part of your royal burden. Don't let anyone know about what you see."

Her mother walked off, deeper into the private chambers, leaving her to do what she willed.

Her mother had given her a direction. She wasn't sure if it was an order or not, but her mother's suggestions typically amounted to orders. This was not a standard order. She was being instructed to go off by herself to an abandoned part of the palace. She never got to go anywhere by herself. The opportunity to do that was incentive enough.

One more deep breath and she went to find what secrets were hidden away.

It had been easy enough to find the grate in question, although getting it open had been more challenging than her mother had implied. Of course, Haven wasn't a powerful pony, so it could have been easier for somepony a bit more athletic. There had been a short drop onto an old abandoned lift that thankfully still worked and didn't have cables that we're ready to snap. The next thing she knew, she was standing in a massive room.

There was dust and debris everywhere, discarded papers, and broken glass.

The entire room was well lit, thanks to a massive stained glass window that she guessed overlooked the side of the mountain somewhere. It seemed like it should be four panes, with the bottom center one being a door, but the bottom center pane was missing entirely, without even traces of the long-gone door. On one still complete pane, she saw a rough design that looked like a depiction of her great-great-great-great— she was unsure how many greats were involved— grandmare, Aurora, the progenitor of the royal line. Above her head sat the crystal from the royal crown.

On the opposite side of the window, a unicorn mare was depicted. There was damage to the pane, and where it seemed like there should be another crystal, there was only a gaping hole. High on the top pane, there was a star emblem that she did not recognize. She noted it and spent some time looking at the unicorn mare before moving on to look at the rest of the room.

She picked up one of the discarded scraps of paper and looked at it. A schedule for airships? Her eyes passed over the listings and saw Zephyr Heights, but also Bridlewood, Maretime Bay, and at least a dozen locations she had never heard of— the Crystal Empire? Ponyville? Manhattan? Canterlot? Trottingham? Most of these names were unfamiliar to her. There were even locations more exotic listed, like The Dragonlands. Dragons were a myth, weren't they?

Picking up another discarded paper, she saw an advertisement to see the Wonderbolts show in Cloudsdale, the best pegasus flyers in all of Equestria. Her eyes lingered on their image. Could these ponies fly? How old was this place? No pegasus had flown in ages. Where was Cloudsdale? Did they still have ponies that could fly there? As she glanced away from the paper, she saw a massive poster on the wall advertising them.

Her eyes drifted to the other posters on the walls after that, and that is when her jaw about dropped. Right in front of her was one advertising a trip to Bridlewood, and it had a picture of a pegasus, unicorn, and an earth pony happily enjoying the journey together. They all used to get along, and in a place she knew of. Her mom wasn't lying. Not that she truly doubted her mother, but there was a difference in hearing something and seeing evidence of it.

The next poster she looked at made her frown because it was yet another place she recognized, Maretime Bay, the place where her father had died. She bit her lip and remembered what her mother had said; the earth ponies had only been defending themselves; it wasn't their fault. It still pulled up bitter feelings as she looked at the dust covered depiction of the Maretime Bay lighthouse. It suddenly struck her as odd that they had a lighthouse. Weren't earth ponies supposed to be dumb as bricks and only won the war through their sheer brute force? What were primitives doing with a lighthouse? Furthermore, a lighthouse implied ships, and she wondered ships to where?

She looked around at the ruin all about her. What had happened here? It seemed like it had happened all at once, and then the place had been abandoned and forgotten. There was no sign of the looting she would expect for such a place having sat for centuries. It was just lost and forgotten. No, not lost, buried, and deliberately put out of mind.

She was no archaeologist or researcher, but she knew enough to know she could do more harm than good by disturbing this place. It wouldn't do a young any good if she inadvertently destroyed what was barely holding itself together or moved something from what was essentially a crime scene, and this place looked like a crime scene. She had seen what she needed to see—proof of their past. The question now was, what did this mean to her now that she knew, and what was she going to do with this newfound knowledge.

Well, the easy answer was to talk to her mother and ask why this was kept hidden and why no attempt to reconcile with the other pony tribes had taken place. Why had it turned to war instead?

She returned the way she came, ready to get some answers.

Author's Note

I plan to keep this story under ten chapters with some time skips.

Chapter 2: A Meeting on the Way to Bridlewood

Haven galloped down a long-unused road in the dead of night. She was sure that her mother had guards out looking for her, but she hoped they had no leads on where she was or how to find her. In truth, she didn't have much of a clue where she was, and if she didn't know, then hopefully, the guards didn't either.

Weeks of trying to reason with her mother to reach out in peace to the unicorns and earth ponies had been futile. According to her mother, such a thing had been near impossible before the war and completely impossible due to the war. Her mother kept stressing that all they could do was control the narrative in Zephyr Heights, saying that the royals could protect the citizens from attacks from the other two types of ponies. They were downplaying the fact that the only reason they should ever need to fear an attack was because they'd committed an unprovoked one first. No, never speak directly about that; the public didn't want to feel like the bad guys. It was only partially a lie that they were telling anyway since it was unlikely the earth ponies would be any more successful attacking them than they had been attacking the earth ponies. The royal family protecting its citizens was being truthful enough.

Haven didn't want to control the narrative; she wanted to write a new one. She wasn't so naive that she believed she could walk into the middle of Maretime Bay or Bridlewood and be welcomed with open hooves as a peace emissary, but she couldn't be the only pony to want to bring the tribes back together. She just had to find others like herself to show that it could be done. There had to be ponies living out in the wilderness somewhere, or perhaps ponies living on the outskirts of the other towns that she could test the waters with. She knew Bridlewood was somewhere in the direction she was headed, and the unicorns didn't have the same reasons to hate pegasi as earth ponies did.

She snorted. So she didn't have much of a plan. She did have some parts, parts about how to present herself, about what she wanted to accomplish, and a full awareness she still had to be careful about what she said that could be turned against the pegasi. Maybe she was being a little too hopeful she could accomplish something, but she was going to at least say she tried.

I'm not my mother. I'm not going to give up.

After cresting yet another hill, she ducked down. There was a campfire in the distance. That meant that somepony or someponies were out here. Her heart fluttered with excitement; this could be exactly what she was looking for— random uniforms or earth ponies that lived apart from their tribes, ponies she might possibly be able to safely talk to. Still, she had to be careful. There was no telling how they would react to her. There was also the possibility that these were her mother's guards who were out looking for her. She knew she wasn't following the fastest path to Bridlewood, and it was possible that the guards could have gotten ahead of her despite leaving afterward.

Deciding it was best to stay out of sight until she was sure of who she was dealing with, Haven practically crawled towards the campsite.

The camp was set on a low hill, under one of the few trees that bloomed in the area. It wasn't a little tree, as it had a massive trunk and spread its pink-leaved branches in a broad canopy that kept the smoke of the campfire from rising to where it could be seen at a greater distance. As she got closer, she could make out just two pony shapes; neither seemed to have horns, but only two ponies would rule out the royal guard who would come in more significant numbers. She had no way of knowing by just shadow if she was dealing with earth ponies or pegasi, not unless some pony flexed a wing wide enough she could see its shadow. Best to assume earth ponies.

When she finally reached the bottom of the hill, she paused. There was no cover at all on the approach. The only reason she hadn't been noticed as of yet was they weren't looking in her direction, seeming more concerned with tending their fire. That might seem not very smart of them at first, but then again, there was nothing of note for miles around. This tree was the only significant landmark she had seen, and hills obscured anything too far in the distance. The fire would keep any wild animals at bay anyway. They probably knew better what they were doing than she did, so there was no point in trying to be critical of their judgment. She was big enough to admit she was out of her depth traveling cross-country on her own.

Well, she couldn't just sit where she was, and she was on a mission to try to befriend ponies from other tribes. Earth ponies weren't the ideal first choice, but at worst, she could run away if they turned hostile. There were only two of them, which would make it difficult to corner her.

She crept closer, and one of the ponies' ears twitched, followed quickly by the pony spinning around.

"I heard something!" a mare yelled out. "Lucky, is that you?"

The other point walked over to the mare's side and looked down, straight at Haven. "Unless Lucky somehow turned into a lavender-colored mare, that's not Lucky."

"Oh, poo," the mare said in disappointment and turned her gaze down on Haven. "You there! What are you doing stalking around out here! No self-respecting earth pony should be skulking about in the dark!"

"Yet you seemed to think that's what Lucky would do," the second one said with mirth.

"Shut up, Argyle!" the mare snapped.

Haven blinked. They thought she was an earth pony? She supposed they might not be able to see her wings in the dark when she had them clasped to her sides. The immediate question was whether she should correct their misconception or let it continue and just talk with them from a distance. It took only a split-second's consideration to reject the second option. She'd accomplish nothing if she didn't present herself as a pegasus, and there was too much chance they'd end up noticing on their own and be even less receptive of her for trying to deceive them.

Taking a deep breath, she spread her wings.

"AHHH! A PEGASUS, FLYING IN TO STEAL ME AWAY INTO THE NIGHT!" the mare screamed, causing Haven's ears to flatten in pain.

"She's on the ground, not in the air, Phyllis," the Argyle said disparagingly.

"She could take off at any moment!" Phyllis counted, sounding frantic.

"I can't fly!" Haven called out to them. She almost corrected them to say that no pegasus could fly but stopped herself. She didn't dare give that information out. Her parents had gone out of their way to hide that fact during the war and had stressed it was important the other tribes not find out for the sake of the city's safety. "I'm...I'm disabled."

"You can't fly?" Phyllis asked, sounding skeptical. "How do we know you aren't lying?"

Haven narrowed her brow. "Do you think I would be hoofing my way across all these stupid hills if I could just fly over them? Please, let me join you at your fire. I'm cold, and I'm alone. You can keep a closer eye on me up there."

"She makes a good point," Argyle said encouragingly.

The mare considered her for several seconds. "You can't fly? Well, I suppose some cripple of a pegasus isn't that dangerous, and I don't trust you hiding out there in the dark. Come on up, but keep your distance!"

Haven's ears flattened again at being called a cripple. Still, she knew how to be diplomatic and keep her trap shut, rather than put this infuriating mare in her place for speaking to royalty in such a manner, not that Haven dared announce she was a princess.

She strolled up the hill, trying not to make any movements that would spook the mare. The stallion seemed less skittish, but that only made her warier of him. Being less nervous could be a sign he was simply more confident he could subdue her. This was probably even more nerve-wracking for her than either of them. There were two of them and just one of her, and they were earth ponies, the tribe that had killed her father. She knew she had a prejudice on account of that, but she was going to bury it.

The mare, Phyllis, backed away as far from her as she could as Haven reached the top of the hill. She could see them clearly now that she was sharing the light with them. Phyllis was a light peach pink with a long golden blonde mane and glasses. Her mane was a mess, and Haven got the impression that it typically received much better care. Perhaps this earth pony was not used to roughing it.

Argyle was blue on blue with his mane and fur and also wore glasses, although he kept his mane much shorter. Where Phyllis held suspicion in her gaze, Argyle seemed more curious than anything. Both looked around her age, or at most were only a few years older.

She went beside the fire and sat down, raising her forehooves to try to dry them in the heat after having spent hours walking in damp grass. As a royal, she had received extensive education on conducting diplomacy— even if she had always been unsure who she was supposed to be conducting that with. She decided to let them speak first. That allowed them to set the terms of the encounter and give them an extra sense of security. It had been only fifteen years before that they were fighting a war against a group of hostile invading pegasi, and it was best to do whatever was possible to put them more at ease.

Phyllis positioned herself almost completely opposite her at the fire, and Argyle took up a spot halfway between the two. The silence stretched on, and she could feel Phyllis's eyes boring into her.

"So, cripple, what are you doing out here by yourself and without any supplies?" Phyllis asked at last.

Her ears flattened involuntarily again. "Perhaps we should introduce ourselves before explaining ourselves. My name is Haven, not cripple. If I heard correctly, your names are Phyllis and Argyle, correct?"

"That's right," Argyle said with a smile. "You've never been out in the wilderness before, have you?"

She raised a brow at him. "How can you tell?"

He gestured to her raised hooves. "Those have recently been hooficured, and the damage I see is all fresh. You aren't used to walking on rough terrain. Also, as my companion has pointed out, you seem to lack supplies. Are you a runaway?"

"Great, some snobby filly that ran away because she's a cripple," Phyllis muttered. How dare this mare call her a filly! They were practically the same age!

She pulled her hooves back and set them down. "This is my first time away from Zephyr Heights, and I do come from a well-off family, but I'm not running away. I'm old enough to go where I choose." The last part was a blatant lie, but not because of her age. The guard would be hysterical if her mother tried the same thing. A royal never had the freedom to go where they chose.

"Then what are you doing out here?" Phyllis demanded.

"I wanted to meet earth ponies and unicorns," she said, deciding to tell the truth, even if only in part.

"Soil and branch save me! Another Argyle!" Phyllis moaned.

Argyle chuckled. "There is nothing wrong with wanting to expand your horizons. One day you may learn that, Phyllis."

"I have no desire to get killed!" Phyllis sneered.

Haven looked back and forth between the two. "Are you two friends, relatives?"

"Acquaintances," Phyllis said immediately.

"Distant relatives, very distant," Argyle said, still smiling.

"Once the number you put before the term cousin goes over the second, it isn't worth mentioning anymore," Phyllis corrected.

Argyle sighed. "I did say distant. All of ponykind are technically distant cousins."

Phyllis glared at him. "I share no lineage with pegasi or unicorns."

"If you want to believe that, you can tell yourself that," Argyle replied, looking disappointed.

It was easy for Haven to see who was the more amenable to peace between the tribes. Despite Phyllis's clear hostility, it was heartening to meet at least one pony so soon who might be on the same page.

"And what are you two doing out here?" she asked.

Argyle cleared his throat. "There's a bridge just over that next hill that predates the division of the tribes. I came out here to study it."

"And I came out here to make sure this blockhead doesn't get himself mind-controlled by a unicorn. This is way too close to Bridlewood," Phyllis said in a huff.

Argyle smiled at her. "I'm touched. I thought you were only out here because you and Lucky had a spiff, and you were trying to make him jealous and protective enough to come galloping to save you."

"He'll come; you'll see," Phyllis asserted.

Haven could care less about Phyllis's relationship status. Argyle, on the other hoof, had caught her interest.

She looked at him, trying to hide her eagerness. "You're a researcher, about the past?"

He nodded. "That I am. It is kind of a family tradition to try to bring the different tribes back together."

"Yeah…. when those other tribes aren't trying to burn our town down or enslave us," Phyllis spat. "Your family is going to be the death of us all."

Haven continued to be resolved not to respond to Phyllis. She instead drew in the dirt the star she had seen in the ruined station. "Have you ever seen this symbol?"

Argyle looked at it and then slowly raised his gaze to meet hers. "That's the mark of a very special unicorn that lived long ago. She helped spread the message of friendship to all the tribes. Where did you see this symbol?"

"An old abandoned part of Zephyr Heights," she replied. "Can you tell me about her?"

Argyle smiled wider. "I'd be happy to."

Chapter 3: Old Bridges and Lighthouses

The following day, Haven and Phyllis watched as Argyle sat on the bridge, taking notes in his notebook. Phyllis seemed bored, and for once, Haven found herself in agreement with the mare. The bridge was nothing of note. Oh, it did cross an impressive chasm that would be near impossible to get across otherwise, but it lacked any flair or decoration; it was just a plain stone bridge. Yet Argyle seemed positively tickled to be inspecting it.

There wasn't much to look at in the area either. There was an extremely tall husk of a tree that stood near the bridge that looked like it had died ages ago, and she wondered how the thing was still standing and hadn't given in to wood rot and collapsed under its own weight. The chasm had a river far below that she assumed carried out to sea eventually, but she was unsure where it originated from. Other than that, there were hills, grass, and a road of packed dirt that went off into the distance on either side of the bridge.

"Are you about done, Argyle? I want to head back home," Phyllis called out to the stallion, refusing to step on the bridge despite it looking sturdy enough to hold a parade.

Argyle didn't look up from making his notes. "I thought you were waiting on Lucky to come to find you."

Phyllis looked back over the hills; she didn't seem particularly burdened by the heavy-looking saddlebag she was carrying. "He probably thinks I'm avoiding him and is no doubt just moping about. He must not have found my note. I love him, but he isn't the most observant stallion."

"You're welcome to head back. All you have to do is follow the road," Argyle replied.

"I know that. Although I don't know why the road from town leads here of all places," Phyllis replied as she flicked her tail at the bridge.

Argyle looked up from his notebook. "I would assume that was obvious. This is the road ponies used to ship goods down from Maretime Bay to Bridlewood. It leads from the center of one and straight to the center of the other."

The mare humphed and flicked her tail. "I find that unlikely. What I believe is that the unicorns built it so they could more easily march an army to try to conquer us. I'm sure it was the method they used during the Unicorn-Mayonnaise War."

"Unicorn-Mayonnaise War?" Haven asked with a frown.

"You pegasi weren't the first to try to conquer us," Phyllis said with a smirk. "Luckily, we learned that if you covered the unicorn's horn with anything, they couldn't use it to mind-control us or fry our brains. We had an excess of mayonnaise sitting around at the time, and we sprayed them down with it. They were helpless, and it had them slipping and sliding all over the place as a bonus. They were forced to retreat with their tails tucked between their legs. You can take that information home with you. I'm not interested in a brainwashed pegasus army showing up at our doorstep because you failed to be prepared for a unicorn invasion."

"I'm sure our friend isn't interested in fighting with the unicorns," Argyle said.

Phyllis gave Haven a dirty look while answering him. "She's not our friend; she's a pegasus. I only tolerate her presence because she's a cripple that can't hurt anypony. She is still likely spying for them."

"I'm not a spy," Haven said, feeling exasperated. "Why don't you go home? You've lost faith that your stallion is coming, you don't seem to care about what Argyle is doing, and you clearly don't like being around me."

The mare glared back. "Somepony needs to make sure you don't do anything to Argyle. He might be a fool, even more a fool for trusting you, but I'm not some bloodthirsty savage that is going to let him get himself killed just because I strongly disagree with his beliefs."

Haven grit your teeth. "You're only bloodthirsty when dealing with pegasi, right? I lost one of my parents to earth ponies in the war."

Phyllis blinked and stepped back. "I'm sorry that happened, but I had nothing to do with that. I was only a tiny filly when the war happened. I can say this if you aren't just making it up for sympathy, it had to be an accident. Our goal was to repel and force you to abandon your attack. Unlike your kind, we aren't murderers. If I were a killer, it wouldn't hesitate to shove you off that cliff."

The side of the cliff suddenly felt much too close, and Haven took a few more steps away from its edge. Phyllis must have had a similar thought go through her head because she also put more distance between herself and the cliff.

"Neither of you is going to hurt the other, so stop looking cross-eyed at one another," Argyle said while still keeping his eyes focused on his notes.

Phyllis pointed a hoof at me while looking at him. "You just met this mare last night; you don't know what she's capable of! I'm surprised you aren't interrogating her. Haven't you always wanted to talk to a pegasus? One shows up, and you are still focused on your stupid old things."

Argyle looked over at us. "I'm hoping to do that, but I didn't want to ask her questions while you were around."

"What? Why?" Phyllis demanded in outrage.

Haven nodded, hating to be sharing the same confusion as the mare. "I don't understand either."

He sighed, put his notebook away, and walked over to us. "Because, Phyllis, you would turn it into an actual interrogation, and I don't want to put that kind of pressure on her. I can learn a lot more talking to her when you aren't making her nervous."

Phyllis scrunched up her muzzle, looked at the bridge, then looked back in the direction where their camp had been. "If you want to take her back to the tree to talk to her. That would be alright. I can hear from here if you yell, and she's got no cliff to push you off over there."

Argyle raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you sure? I thought you didn't want her out of sight."

"You're in audible distance, and it will get her out of here faster," Phyllis replied. "Hurry up! The quicker you get talking to a pegasus out of your system, the quicker we can go home."

He looked at Haven. "If that's alright with you. I'm sure you have plenty of questions too. We can learn so much about each other."

Haven did want to talk to him. He was more accommodating than she could have hoped. "Sure, let's go. I won't mind getting away from your friend—"

"Acquaintance!' Phyllis corrected.

" —I wouldn't mind not having to deal with her for a few minutes," Haven finished.

The two of them walked away, and she felt a wave of relief as they did.

"So, you have a lighthouse in Maretime Bay, right?" Haven asked as they sat under the tree. "Do you have ships that come in? If so, where do they come from?"

Argyle sighed. "We do have a lighthouse. Actually, my family has maintained it for generations, but no ships come, not anymore."

"Why not?" Haven asked.

He shook his head. "They stopped coming ages ago. I'm not even sure what happened or what became of those other ports. I have seen the old logs that listed incoming ships. The oldest ones had many ships, but the closer to the present you get the fewer and fewer ships came until none came at all. Still, my family kept the light on, years after the last ship arrived, just in case somepony needed it, but after the unicorns attacked, the town ordered my family never to light the beacon again."

Haven looked down. "I'm sorry to hear that. It sounds like it is a sore point."

"It is," he said with a nod. "I'm told it broke my great grandfather's heart to shut it off. My grandfather used to tell me stories about the beacon. It wasn't just a simple beam of light to guide the ships. In that light were images of ponies of all tribes, dancing together. That was what incoming ships first saw as they neared us. It wasn't just a beacon; it was us giving them a welcoming message of our friendship. Nopony has seen those ponies dancing in the night sky for generations now."

"It sounds like it was beautiful," Haven replied softly.

He nodded again and wiped a tear from his eye. "You said you saw Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark in Zephyr Heights, in an abandoned area?"

She was unsure how much she should say, but ultimately decided to be open about it. "In the lowest levels of the palace, there's an old station. I think it was for airships, and it had schedules for arrivals and departures to all kinds of places I have never heard of, but also Bridlewood and Maretime Bay. There were pictures of ponies of all tribes, spending time together."

He nodded. "Zephyr Heights is on a mountain, correct? It makes sense that it would have an extensive airship station. I would like to see this station."

She pursed her lips. "I'm not sure if that is possible. Getting you into Zephyr Heights would be hard enough, but to reach it, you have to go through the palace, and if my...my queen found out an earth pony had been caught breaking into the palace; she'd throw you in the dungeon for the rest of your life."

"I don't think I would enjoy that," Argyle said dryly.

"If dungeons were enjoyable, every pony would go out of their way to get locked up," Haven replied with a shrug. "Unless they're a royal. Royal's get held in special cells that are practically luxury suites. You can't mistreat royals."

"You seem to have inside information. Did you work at the palace?" Argyle asked.

That was getting into dangerous territory. She didn't want to lie, but she couldn't tell him she was the princess. What was she supposed to say?

BOOM!!!

They both jumped and looked in the direction of the noise, the bridge. They shared a brief glance at one another and galloped back towards it.

They found Phyllis standing well away from the bridge, coughing on dust and smoke. The opposite ends of the bridge were there, but the entire middle of the bridge was gone.

"What did you do?!" Argyle growled at Phyllis.

The mare gave him a flat look. "I would think that is obvious. You are usually much more observant, Argyle."

"Why did you do it?!" Argyle shouted.

She dusted herself off. "That should be obvious as well. You said it yourself; this is the most direct and easy-to-use route between our home and Bridlewood. It needed to be destroyed, to protect ourselves. We can't give those unicorns easy access to our town."

He stared at the remains of the bridge in fury. "You were never waiting for Lucky to come looking for you, were you? This was your reason for accompanying me the entire time."

"I'm sorry I had to deceive you, but this is for the best," Phyllis said. The way she sounded, Haven could believe she was legitimately sorry for the deception part.

Argyle kept staring at the bridge, tears running down his face. "Go home, Phyllis. You did what you came for, and I can't stand seeing your face right now."

Phyllis pointed at Haven. "But the pegasus—"

"I trust her far more than you right now! Go!" Argyle shouted.

Phyllis took off fast enough she was out of sight within seconds. Argyle sat down where he was and wept.

Haven carefully walked over beside him, making sure he could see her, and then laid a comforting wing over his back. She wasn't sure how the gesture would be received, but he didn't flinch away. After a few seconds, he turned and leaned into her shoulder to cry, and she wrapped her wing around him in embrace.

Chapter 4: River Crossing

The chasm had disappeared while they were walking and was now simply a river. They were well away from the road in a lightly forested area. Haven was glad to get away from the road. The search party her mother must have organized would have a more challenging time finding her here.

She looked at the pony at her side as she walked. "Thanks for coming. You didn't have to do this."

Argyle shook his head. "It's okay. I'm not in a hurry to return home. I'd love to call out Phyllis in front of the whole town, but sadly, I think they'd all take her side."

Her eyes went downcast. "How did things get this way? Why do we hate each other so much?"

"You and I don't hate each other, so there's hope," Argyle replied. "The others… I don't know. I know that after the wars, there has been so much fear back home. I try to speak up against it, but almost nopony listens."

She raised an eyebrow. "Almost nopony? Is there somepony?"

He chuckled. "My wife. At least, she believes that things used to be better. I think she is still pretty afraid of the pegasi and unicorns of the present. She humors me and never tries to stop me from reminding ponies about the past."

"Why wasn't she out here with you instead of Phyllis?" Haven asked.

He shook his head again. "When we were foals, she was always so sick. She couldn't do a lot of activity outside because it was too much for her heart and lungs. That's how we bonded. I was the outsider who spent his time in the library by choice, and she was the outsider who spent her time in the library because she didn't have a choice. We didn't have much for friends, but we had each other. However, Starry is still frail, not suited for treks out into the wilderness. She still encourages me to go because she knows it's important to me."

Haven paused. "Will she be worried when Phyllis returns and you don't?"

He stopped. "She might, a little, but then again, she probably expected Phyllis to head back first. What will worry her is whatever wild tales that Phyllis starts spinning about you. Starry is supportive of me but not completely above believing Phyllis's propaganda."

"You can head back," Haven suggested.

He looked back over his shoulder then motioned he wanted to continue. "This trip shouldn't take too long. The other crossing should be coming up soon if I remember my dad's geography lessons right. It's just a shallow part of the river. It isn't suitable for vehicles, but it should be fine for two ponies crossing on hoof. An extra day before my return won't worry her too much, and I need time to cool down before I see Phyllis again."

"Despicable mare," Haven muttered as they began walking again.

Argyle nodded. "What she did was despicable, but it is important to remind ourselves that she is a pony who is afraid. That doesn't make what she did okay, not at all, but it is important to remember what she did is a symptom of a bigger problem, one she isn't responsible for causing. I have to remind myself of that every day with the ponies back home. Otherwise, it would become easy to get angry with them."

Haven laid an ear back. "You're too good, Argyle."

Unfortunately, everything Argyle said only made Haven feel more hopeless about mending bonds with the earth ponies, and Phyllis's actions made her wary of any interaction with an earth pony other than Argyle. Tensions needed to thaw, and it might take generations for that to happen. In the meantime, the earth ponies were potentially dangerous due to the lengths they would go to keep other ponies away. It was best for pegasi and unicorns to keep their distance. Otherwise, somepony might get hurt. They'd already soundly defeated both unicorns and pegasi before when they weren't prepped to defend themselves, there was no telling what they could do now.

The unicorns were the best bet fir the time being. There hadn't been any fighting between the pegasi and the unicorns, and them seeing a pegasus and an earth pony reaching out to them might make them believe they could get along. Though, she was still a little wary. By Phyllis's account, they had tried to conquer the earth ponies, and there was the threat of them attempting mind control.

Argyle came to a stop and pointed. "Here we are, Brightwater Crossing."

It wasn't anything dramatic. The water here was clear and shallow, low enough that she could easily see the riverbed. It also was running much slower here. There were plenty of rocks jutting out of the river that would make trying to pull a wagon through this section near impossible, but a pony could easily wade through the water and reach the other side within a minute without hurrying. She wasn't thrilled about getting her hooves wet and soggy, but if this was the only way across now that the bridge was gone, she didn't have much choice.

Argyle started to cross without any further announcement. She took a deep breath and dipped her hoof in the water, immediately jerking it back while flapping her wings in fright as a fish swam by her hoof.

"It's safe, don't worry," Argyle assured her. He was already halfway across.

She grimaced and stuck her hoof back in, fully this time, but jerked it out again. The water was cold!

The stallion turned and looked at her. "I could tell by your well-tended hooves and feathers that you're not used to the outdoors. The water isn't going to get any cleaner or warmer, and the fish and waterbugs aren't going to go away. Hurry across and try not to think about it."

She hadn't been thinking about waterbugs or mud before he said that, but now she was. This was going to make her filthy. She stomped her hoof, angry at herself for showing how overly pampered she was. The royal guard was expected to put up with these things without complaint; Argyle was doing it without complaint. She might be a royal, and most royals might not be expected ever to do something like this, but she was a royal on a mission, and she wasn't going to let the great outdoors get the better of her!

One hoof went in the water, then another. She could feel the mud coating her hooves, and she winced.

"See, it's not that—" Argyle began.

She started flapping her wings while practically galloping across the riverbed. "It's cold and wet and disgusting, and I don't like this!"

Upon reaching the other side, she frantically began wiping her voices and fetlocks off on the grass. This only seemed to get them even muddier, which only served to make her wipe all the more forcefully.

Argyle finished crossing. "For a sheltered pony, you sure can move when you want to. It might be better to try rinsing your hooves off in the river rather than grinding more mud on them."

She glared at him. "I'm not putting my hooves back in that disgusting water!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You do realize you'll have to cross here again when we return, right?"

Her ears wilted as she looked back at the river, and she whimpered. Hooffeathers! Why did Phyllis have to destroy that perfectly dull but also perfectly dry and not covered in mud bridge? Maybe she could find a friendly unicorn who would levitate her back across.

She went over to the water and put one hoof in, swished it around to dislodge the mud, before moving on to the next. The temperature wasn't so bad now that her hooves were all sopping wet. It took a few minutes to get where she felt passably clean.

While she was doing that, Argyle pulled his notebook out as well as a compass and began looking around. She noted for the first time that the symbol on his notebook was Twilight Sparkle's.

"Where did you get that notebook?" she asked. "It looks professionally made, but I doubt anypony would know that mark."

He closed the notebook and gently ran a hoof over the cover. "Time capsule. There was one buried outside the lighthouse. My father and I dug it up when I was a foal. There was this, a few other journals like it, some with notes, some blank, along with some other memorabilia of the Guardians of Friendship. I think they left blank notebooks for us to record our own experiences to put back into the capsule."

"Guardians of Friendship?" she inquired as she walked over beside him.

Argyle smiled. "That's what we called Twilight and her friends, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy."

"They didn't do a great job of guarding it," Haven muttered.

"Everypony gets old and passes away," Argyle replied sadly. "I think a long time had passed after they were gone before things went the way they did. They left us reminders if we know where to look. There used to be a big village somewhere between the river and Bridlewood, at least according to some old maps. Maybe we can find another time capsule there."

She wasn't particularly interested in digging up relics. For one, digging was inherently dirty. Secondly, old relics wouldn't make everypony get along. At best, it might help prove that they used to get along. That was important, because it proved it was possible, but she'd rather prove it was possible by doing it. The fact she and Argyle were getting along should be proof enough. His old things and stories were interesting, but they weren't what she was out here for.

Looking back at the other bank of the river, she saw the impression in the dirt left by her hooves. It was most obvious there, but she didn't doubt there were plenty of others going back along the way. The royal guard would find them, and they would track her down. She needed to keep moving if she was going to see the unicorns before her mother's guards found her.

"Bridlewood is the goal; just remember that," she reminded Argyle. "We can stop and check if you see anything obvious, but I'd rather not sit in one place for too long."

He looked at her and frowned. "Are you in some sort of trouble?"

Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head rapidly. "No! Why would you think that?"

"You seem anxious to keep moving, and now you are spending time looking back. It's like you are trying to stay ahead of somepony," Argyle said slowly.

She didn't want to lie, but couldn't tell the whole truth. Her head hung as she explained. "The royal guard from Zephyr Heights is probably tracking me. My mother will be desperate to have me brought back home."

He looked across the river. "And they aren't able to see through these trees and need to be on the ground to follow your tracks."

Well, that was technically true, leaving out the fact they couldn't fly at all. That was another thing she didn't dare reveal. "Yeah, that's right."

He turned his gaze to her. "Are you sure you don't want to just go home? I don't want you to get in any trouble."

Haven laughed. "Oh! I am already going to be in trouble. I can't imagine being in more trouble than I already am. I need to try to talk to the unicorns. Otherwise, this would have been for nothing."

Argyle looked a little hurt. "You met me; that should count for something."

Her face softened, and she reached a wing out to touch him, and she was glad when he didn't flinch from it. "That does count for something, but you aren't representative of your tribe. According to you, I should expect that most earth ponies are more like Phyllis."

He sighed. "I can't contest that."

She nodded. "And while you're great in yourself. I want to try to reach out to a full tribe. I need to hope the unicorns will be more open than the earth ponies, and I would love to have you there with me when I meet them.m, to prove that the old days can come again."

He nodded and stood up. "I'll get you to Bridlewood, but you need to promise to return home after you've met the unicorns."

She felt relieved. "I promise."

Chapter 5: Unicorn Games

Haven had never been in the woods before or even seen the woods, and according to Argyle, she still hadn't. The scenery could have fooled her. This was precisely what she imagined the woods to be like.

There were trees and bushes everywhere. She couldn't walk more than a dozen ponylengths without coming up to another tree or bush. None of them were as big or tall as the big one they had camped under or the dead one by the now-destroyed bridge, but there were so many. The whole place smelled… she wasn't sure what it smelled like— musky, perhaps? All kinds of animals could be living in those things, and she was wary of them.

Argyle's eyes were glued to the ground, and she had no idea how he wasn't running into plant life.

"How much further is it to Bridlewood?" she asked, sidestepping a suspicious tuft of tall grass.

He looked up and looked around. "I'm not sure. Old maps aren't the most accurate."

Great, so they had no clue. "Why are you looking at the ground?"

He went back to his examination of the ground. "We are in the ruins of the town of Brightwater. I'm trying to see if I can find anything interesting."

She looked to her left— trees and bushes. She looked to her right— more trees and bushes. There were no buildings, or remains of walls, or anything that would denote this as where a town stood. Maybe she was wrong about Argyle, and perhaps all earth ponies were crazy.

"This is the middle of the woods; there's nothing here," she informed him.

He looked at her and shook his head. He then pointed at the grass and smiled. "I'm standing on the foundation of an old building. See how the grass doesn't grow as high here, and the area like that is rectangular in shape? That's because the roots can't reach as deep due to hitting stone. There are other spots like this all around us."

She looked around again. Now that he had pointed out what to look for, it was impossible not to see it. The foundations of buildings were all around them, some with trees growing out of them.

"It's not much to look at," she observed. "Why was this place abandoned?"

"I'm not sure. It was an old earth pony farming village," Argyle explained and dug at one of the foundations with his hoof.

Haven lowered her ears as she continued looking around at the town that had been gone so long not even a wall stood. "Earth pony cities, unicorn cities, pegasus cities… it seems like old Equestria was already divided before the tribes started fighting. Don't you think? It's like the symptoms were there long before it happened."

Argyle looked up, and his ears folded as he looked around. "You could have a point. I think that's the way it was settled, and the tribes' specializations led to enforce it further, but that could have been a foundation built on sand."

She thought about it. "It would need strong leadership to hold it together. Twilight Sparkle entrusting leadership to each of the tribal leaders may have been what brought about the fall in that case. All it would take is one of them working against the others, and the center wouldn't be able to hold, not when there were already problems under the surface that had never been resolved."

Argyle walked over to a bush and started digging through its branches. "That's a possible theory, but we don't know that for sure. That's part of why these old places need to be studied, so we can find out the truth of the matter instead of making assumptions that could be completely wrong, no matter how reasonable they may seem. I could propose equally plausible-sounding theories, but until we find evidence, there's no way of knowing for sure."

She smiled. She hadn't been wrong about Argyle. He had a level head and plenty of wisdom. Phyllis might be a fool, but Argyle proved that earth ponies weren't all dumb brutes. She wished she was half as wise as him. It was too bad he was an earth pony, and the court would have an uproar if he showed up at the palace. Argyle would have made a better advisor than any of the ponies advising her mother now.

"I found something! The pedestal a statue used to sit upon," Argyle said with an excited gasp as he uprooted the bush he had been digging through.

She walked over to him, dodging as bits of shrubbery were tossed her way. "That's nice, but the statue is gone. This isn't getting us to Bridlewood."

He kept uncovering the pedestal. "These are ideal locations for time capsules. Something might still be here."

"Oh, maybe I can…" she trailed off. What could she do? She wasn't going to dig in the dirt, and she didn't think she was strong enough to help pull the bush out. She briefly considered moving some of his debris out of the way, but what was it really in the way of?

Instead, she moved to where she was in no danger of being pelted with branches or dirt and waited for him to finish.

It took a few minutes, but the stallion dug up an iron box. She came close as he opened it, revealing relics not seen for untold centuries.

"Toys," she said flatly as he pulled out one of six dolls from the box. There were some books and other things, but the toys stood out the most.

Argyle held a purple pony with wings and horn up high. "Not merely toys. This is Twilight Sparkle and her friends, the best physical representations of them I have ever seen, and in perfect condition!"

"Uh-huh," she said absently and turned her eyes to the other toys. There were two pegasi, two earth ponies, and two unicorns. "I guess this is more evidence that the tribes used to get along. I can't imagine foals playing with smiling toys representing other tribes."

He nodded, carefully placing the Twilight Sparkle doll back down into the box. "This alone makes the entire trip worth it. There's even a hard-to-find depiction of Starlight Glimmer. This is great! I don't want to damage anything, so I'll leave them all in the box for now and bring it home with me."

"No, you won't. You'll be giving that to us. This is unicorn territory."

Haven and Argyle turned to see bulky three unicorn stallions wearing heavy-looking saddlebags advancing menacingly towards them. The two hastily backed away, and Argyle tucked the box into his saddlebag.

Haven flicked her tail. "I'm sorry, Mister Unicorns, sirs, but I believe this territory doesn't belong to any tribe. Argyle here is something of an archaeologist you see, and—"

The leader, a large brown stallion with a darker brown mane, stepped forward. "We are right outside of Bridlewood. This is unicorn territory, and your kinds aren't welcome here."

She narrowed her eyes. "We aren't doing anypony any harm. Actually, I was hoping to come see your lovely home and maybe get to know your—"

A slightly younger stallion with grey fur and a white mane, but just as bulky in size, stepped next to his buddy. "Big peaceful talk from somepony that we caught stealing from us."

She took a deep breath. "As I was saying, Argyle is an archaeologist, and most of these artifacts depict non-unicorns. However, if you contest his claim for them, despite not realizing they were here till now, perhaps we could work out some sort of diplomatic arrangement. That's what civilized ponies would do, wouldn't they? And you are civilized ponies, aren't you?"

The third, a dark green stallion with a dark blue mane, grimaced. "Are you implying we aren't as civilized as you? That we aren't as good as some pampered-looking priss?"

"Well, you do live in the woods," she muttered without thinking and instantly covered her mouth, regretting the utterance.

"She does! She thinks she's better than us!" the leader exclaimed.

She stepped back. "I beg your forgiveness. That was highly insensitive of me, and I'm ashamed those words left my mouth. Let's start over. We are willing to negotiate. Surely something can be worked out. These items would mean the world to my friend here, and I would very much like to visit your village. You see Argyle and me spending time together; that should show we are open to working with other tribes, right?"

The leader smirked. "I think we're being very diplomatic about this. You don't see us using our horns on you and forcing you to do what we want, do you?"

She gulped. That was something to be glad about. She had no desire to be mind-controlled.

"That shows we can all be diplomatic. Surely that also means there is something we can work out," she said with a smile, spreading her wings graciously and bowing slightly.

Their leader pulled his cohorts into a tight huddle, and they began whispering to get her, occasionally looking towards her and Argyle.

Argyle came close to her and whispered, "I think they are intimidated by us. See how they keep their distance?"

She frowned. "Perhaps not. I mean, why give up their advantage? They can strike at us from a distance, and we can't do anything about it. Getting close to us only serves to give us a chance the fight back if it comes to that."

"I guess," Argyle replied. He seemed doubtful.

The stallions finished their private meeting, and their leader turned towards her with a smile. "How about this, we play a friendly little game, and if you win, you get to come to Bridlewood. If we win, we take that box and all its contents."

"What kind of game?" Haven asked.

The stallions took their bags off, and each pulled out a large amphora, each a plain brown with a large opening on top covered with a massive cork plug, and each identical to the others.

The leader pointed to the one he had taken out. "It's simple. We'll put something in one of the jars and mix them up. You must determine which jar has the item— a shell game, only with jars. We'll play three rounds, and you only need to win one. Those are decent odds, don't you think?"

"We can use something from that box, just one item, something distinct," one of the other stallions suggested.

The grey stallion nodded. "Just to be clear, no matter what, we do get to keep whatever you choose to use. Consider it the price of playing the game."

Haven turned and reached into the box with her wings, pulling out one of the unicorn figurines.

Argyle put a hoof on her wing. "Wait! Let me get a good look at her mark first. I don't have any records of what Starlight Glimmer's mark was, and you're about to give her away."

She resisted rolling her eyes. That would be an entirely unfair gesture. Argyle could have rejected this whole idea and refused to give up the toy. He certainly had a right to, and she hadn't even consulted him before putting giving away his finding. That he wasn't objecting was a sign that he too wanted to make things work with the unicorns. If things went well, and they made it to Bridlewood, she would reveal her identity and try to open formal relations with the unicorns.

Argyle hurriedly drew the mark in his notebook as the unicorns looked on impatiently. Once it was done, she held it out to them. "Here you are."

"Walk it out to about halfway between us and set it on the ground," the unicorn leader instructed.

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Why don't you just levitate it to yourself?"

The three unicorns went silent and looked at one another.

The leader turned and smiled. "We're being diplomatic, remember? We don't use our horns; you don't steal our luminescence."

"I don't do what now?" she asked in confusion. "I'm sorry, I don't have any interest in taking your… whatever that word was or anything else."

"We'll see," their leader said in a grim tone. "Just do as instructed."

This seemed needless, but she wasn't going to argue. She walked halfway towards them, placed the figure on the ground, and backed away to where she'd been. Their leader came forward, picked up the figure, and carried it back to the jars. The three unicorns then rehuddled around the jars, blocking the view of what they were doing. After about a minute, they each took a jar and set them out in a row.

"Two guesses to figure out which one it is in. Whenever you're ready," their leader announced.

She considered each of the jars. There was no discernable difference between them, and she hadn't heard anything when they had moved the jars in place. The one in the middle had moved the least, so it had the least chance of making noise; she pointed at that one.

The unicorn leader turned it upside down and shook it. Nothing came out. He set it down, right side up. They went into a new hurdle and exchanged jars so rapidly she couldn't keep track of which jar she had just chosen by the time they put them back in a row.

"One guess down, two to go," the leader said with a smirk.

She grimaced and pointed to the one on the right. The silver unicorn lifted that jar and shook it in the same manner as the first. Nothing came out.

They didn't go through the same process again; instead, pulling the jar she had just chosen aside. "We'll give you a fifty-fifty chance for your last guess. Two jars left, which one is it in?" their leader asked.

She was still clueless about which one. She turned towards Argyle. "Which one do you think?"

Argyle shook his head. "I don't know."

Haven sighed. "Me either. You pick. I've had bad luck so far. Maybe you'll do better."

Argyle was dripping sweat as he looked back and forth between the two jars.

"Hurry up, earth pony; we don't have all day," the unicorn leader jeered.

Argyle closed his eyes and pointed. "That one, on the left."

The unicorn in front of it smiled a wicked grin, turned the jar upside down, and shook. Nothing came out.

"Aww, too bad," their leader said with false sympathy. "I was hoping you could pull it off, but it seems you weren't lucky today. Now, hoof over that box and get out of our territory!"

Argyle looked like somepony had just bucked him in the face and dejectedly reached for the box.

"Show us the figurine first," Haven said, staring at the last jar.

The three unicorns closed ranks again. "We don't need to. You lost, and you aren't getting it back. You wouldn't have gotten it back if you won. That was the agreement."

"I want proof everything was fair," Haven asserted.

The unicorn leader stiffened. "Are you calling us cheats?"

She narrowed her brow. "If you aren't willing to prove you ran an honest game."

"We don't have to prove anything to you," the unicorn snarled.

She didn't think; she picked up a rock and hurled it at the remaining jar. The throw was one of the most impressive she'd ever done because it struck the jar dead center with enough force that the jar shattered.

"That pegasus destroyed our property!" the silver unicorn shouted in outrage.

Her eyes were on the remains of the jar and the conspicuous absence of the figurine.

"Cheats! Don't give them anything, Argyle!" Haven commanded.

Their leader stepped forward menacingly and lowered his horn towards them. "Destroy our property? We'll get you for that!"

Argyle hastily put the box in his saddlebag then nudged her. "I think it is time for us to go."

Her eyes widened as the other two unicorns joined their leader and aimed their horns threateningly at her. "I think you're right."

The two took off, running towards the river, not looking back to see if they were being pursued.

Chapter 6: Return in Failure

The rain came down in heavy waves as Haven and Argyle huddled under the tree where she had first met him. He was taking the brunt of it since he had chosen to allow her to use his blanket to cover herself while he sat exposed. The tree barely protected them at all because of the wind and angle of the rain. They were getting less rain hitting them under the tree, but soaked through was soaked through one way or another. They couldn't even successfully start a campfire under these conditions.

"Are you sure you don't want to take turns with the blanket?!" Haven yelled over the storm, unsure if he could hear her over the intense weather.

"You take longer to dry off than me! You stay under the blanket!" Argyle answered at the top of his lungs.

"What?!" she called out.

"Wings! Feathers! Hold extra water! Delicate!" he answered in a broken explanation.

If she understood him right, he was saying that her wings could get damaged. She wasn't entirely sure if they were any more at risk than the rest of her. She had never been out in conditions like this before and didn't know anypony who didn't have the good sense to get indoors in weather like this. However, there was no better shelter anywhere near them. She decided not to argue the point. Argyle seemed the type who would refuse to back down, and they would only end up both just as soaked or worse if she tried to insist.

Yet again, she felt it a shame that Argyle would never be welcome in Zephyr Heights and a second shame that he was already married. He was such a gentlecolt and so intelligent. He would be an ideal advisor for the court and a strong candidate to be her suitor. Her mother was already pushing crown prince candidates on her back home. She could barely stand any of them, but her mother wouldn't give her objections much mind. 'You don't have to like them, dear. You just have to let them sire a foal and maybe a backup if you can manage it. You can dismiss them once that's done if it isn't going to work out in the long run. The royal blood is yours, not theirs.' That was what her mother told her. It felt hypocritical since Haven didn't have a little brother or sister as a backup.

She shook her head in disgust at herself for thinking that. She knew why she didn't, and she didn't blame her mother for not wanting to bed another stallion after her father.

"The wind seems to have stopped," Argyle announced, now much easier to hear.

She looked around and noticed that the rain was no longer coming down on them. There was still some making its way through the tree's branches, but it was very light, merely some stray droplets. It was still coming down hard outside the shelter of the tree, but without the wind, it was like an ill-defined wall had been placed between them and the storm.

Argyle stood up and started rifling through his pack. "I'm going to see if I can start a fire. I have some dry kindling in here. It won't be much, but it will be some warmth to try to help us dry off."

She pulled the blanket entirely off and looked around. "Maybe I can help find some wood."

He shook his head. "It will all be as soaked as we are and won't burn. We'll have to make do with this, but thank you for wanting to make an effort."

Feeling rather useless, she sat and watched as Argyle worked to start a fire. It took him several minutes, and in that time, more of the storm passed, now only doing a gentle drizzle beyond the tree's branches.

He got the fire going. It was a pathetic little fire that you had to be sitting very close to feel, but it was something. She got as close to it as she felt safe to do, and so did Argyle.

"I'm sorry I lost your unicorn toy," she said without looking him in the eye. "Starbright something?"

"Starlight Glimmer," Argyle corrected. "She was the first student of Twilight Sparkle. She was a very powerful unicorn, the most gifted of her era. I don't know many details about her life other than that; not as much seems to have been written about her or at least preserved about her life. I recognized the mark on her flank from descriptions elsewhere."

"Bet she wouldn't have tried to con us," Haven muttered.

"Doubtful," Argyle agreed, watching the tiny fire flicker. "I'm sorry things didn't go as you hoped. It was just three unicorns. You can't assume every unicorn will be that way."

She sighed. "I know, but if I go to Bridlewood now, those three will just make trouble for me, and it is their word versus the word of an outsider from a different pony type. It's an unwinnable situation."

"I can't say much for Maretime Bay as a whole, but if you wanted to visit my lighthouse, my wife and I would welcome you," Argyle offered. "We're on the outskirts, and it is easy to avoid being seen by the rest of the town if you visit us."

Haven smiled sadly. "That is very kind of you to offer, but it falls short of what I'm hoping for. I'm assuming the rest of the town is like Phyllis?"

"Worse, probably. There's a lot of fear," Argyle answered, seeming ashamed. "I wish it wasn't so. I promise the lighthouse is safe, and we would try to help you talk to the other earth ponies. I do want to help put an end to all this fighting."

Haven considered trying for a moment but remembered Phyllis's behavior all too well. If the other earth ponies were even worse, she had little hope for progress.

"I appreciate that, but I think I am out of my depth. I'm going to head home in the morning," she answered after a few seconds.

He nodded in understanding. "Very well. Just remember, you always have friends in Maretime Bay, and our door is always open to you if you want to visit."

She touched a hoof to his. "I don't think that is possible, but thank you for offering, and I won't forget."

Haven woke before Argyle and decided she didn't need to draw out the goodbyes anymore. They had said their goodbyes last night, and there wasn't anything else to say. Plus, if she spent more time, she would probably do something stupid like go off to Maretime Bay.

Now she was on the road home. If she was lucky, she could slip back into the city without causing any fuss and make up some excuse about where she had been for two days that most ponies would believe.

"Your royal highness!"

Or maybe she would be found by the guards before she had a chance to think of anything.

She managed to avoid saying anything to the guards, insisting she would only speak to her mother about matters of national security. It would cause rumors, but it was the best she could think of in the heat of the moment.

As soon as she was in the palace, she had been whisked away to her mother, who had been shrewd enough to make sure their meeting was completely private. The queen sat and listened as Haven told her everything that had happened.

"And that is when I came home, and the guards found me," Haven finished.

Her mother sat silent for several seconds, looking her over in a strange way she had never done before. Could someone look like they were embarrassed by you and proud of you in one look? Haven had never considered such a question before today.

Queen Prominence sighed. "Alright, this is how we'll spin the story. While flying along our borders, you discovered evidence the unicorns may have been trying to advance out of Bridlewood. You fought off a unicorn invasion with your excellent flying skills, and you also fooled the earth ponies into destroying the unicorns' best avenue to attack Zephyr Heights. I can send the guards out to take photos of the bridge."

Haven flared her wings. "That isn't even close to what happened."

Her mother flared her wings and advanced, making her step back. "Do you know what rumors are currently circulating? They are saying you had been foalnapped! There are elements in the media calling for war!"

"And how will saying the unicorns were prepping for an invasion quiet that?" Haven demanded to know.

"We'll say we can't confirm it, but you were quick to find a solution that did not involve bloodshed," Queen Prominence answered. "We need to turn this story around from one where you were a victim to one where you were a hero. You have to appear strong, not weak. The public needs confidence in us."

"We could tell them the truth, that I was trying to befriend—"

"No!" Queen Prominence hissed. "That makes it look like our enemies were using a princess as a pawn! That only serves to fuel the hawks' fire and make us look gullible. The story I just gave makes us look strong and intelligent. Image is everything, Haven."

"But—"

"Do you know who they will target first? They'll go after your earth pony friend, that's who," the queen said in a harsh whisper. "You aren't just protecting us and putting a damper on talks of war; you're protecting him. I know it is a lie, and I feel ashamed that we must lie— don't think for a second that I don't, but our integrity is damaged more if we allow another war to break out. Which is worse, lying and maintaining peace or telling the truth and seeing the blood of our citizens and theirs spilled? Which can you better handle on your conscience?"

Haven's mouth locked open, prepped to raise another objection, but she couldn't manage one. Shame forced her to avert her eyes as they started to water.

Her mother came beside her and wrapped a wing around her. "My dear sweet darling. Wearing this crown is a heavy burden. I never take it off because I always want the reminder that I'm carrying responsibility for far more lives than my own. One day, this crown will be yours, but your duty to your ponies has already come upon you. Stop being selfish by worrying about your integrity being damaged by dishonesty and start thinking of the big picture. Protect your ponies, protect your friend, even protect those earth ponies and unicorns that don't know the pain a wrong word from you can cause them. You won't maintain peace with the truth, and your duty is first and foremost to protect ponies."

She leaned into her mother, crying openly now. "This isn't fair."

"Foals worry about what is fair to them; adults worry about what is fair for those they're responsible for," her mother said gently as she hugged her. "You aren't a foal anymore, and you have a lot more ponies than us to be responsible for. I'm sorry you have to be in a position like this; that is the burden of the crown. On the day I pass it to you, never take it off, so you never forget all who depend on you, not until it is time for you to pass it on to your son or daughter."

Haven nodded against her mother's shoulder. "I'll remember. You win, I'll tell the lie."

The queen let off a sad laugh. "We never win, dear. We just ensure we do right by our ponies, no matter how much we lose doing it."

Haven gulped and nodded again.

"I'm tired of this burden," Queen Prominence said in a low voice. "Maybe it is time to begin the transition towards your rule. You're going to be a hero, after all, and that is the strength that we need to show."

Haven jerked back. "I'm not ready! I wouldn't know what to do!"

"I won't immediately turn over the crown, just let you take a more active role in governing, with me helping you get your footing. I said transition, not dumping it all on you at once. I would never do that to you. In a year or two, once you're better prepared to rule alone, I'll place the crown on your head and retire from the public eye. I've been so tired after your father died, and the press thinks they can push me around because of it. Our ponies need a strong queen," her mother said in a weary voice. "To be honest, I don't know how many years I have left in me. Something broke in me years ago, and the weight of rule has only made it worse. I'll probably live to see my grandfoals, but I'm confident I won't see them come of age. I don't have the strength in me."

Haven cried more. "Don't talk like that!"

Her mother looked her in the eyes and smiled. "We have to tell so many lies. Please don't ask me to tell you any more than I have to. Just promise me that you'll protect our ponies and keep us out of foolish wars."

Haven gulped. "I promise."

And so, even before it was placed on her head, she began to feel the burden of the crown.

Chapter 7: Living the Lies

"Your royal highness, you're urgently needed in the throne room!" the captain's voice said over the intercom.

She grimaced as she looked up from her schedule for the day. There was still so much to do in preparation for the royal celebration. Well, not really. Pipp needed to do some more rehearsing, and Cloodpuff needed a pedicure to look his best, but she still had to put on a show about being busy. She'd find some excuse about things she needed to do and then really busy herself triple-checking to make sure all the wires and lighting were working correctly. This would be her younger daughter's big night, and she wanted it to go off flawlessly for her. Zipp might be who would rule, but it was Pipp who held the people's hearts and helped maintain loyalty. She was as important as her elder sister and wasn't just a spare to be ignored.

"I'll be there," she replied. "Have you found Zipp? It is an important day, and I don't want to have to wonder where she's galavanting around."

"We have reports that she was seen coming up from lower levels just minutes ago, your highness."

Of course, Zipp was down in the ruins. Haven had figured as much. She wished she could have told the guards to check there first, but she didn't want the guards to know about the place. It wasn't just a precious piece of history that needed preserving; it was where her daughter could do experiments away from the public eye and get some peace from reporters. Since she had shown it to her daughters, it was nearly impossible to keep Zipp away. The filly was obsessed with restoring their magic. That was all well and good, and it was an admirable goal, but she wished Zipp could have chosen another day to be down there.

"Call Pipp and have her find her sister and meet me there in the throne room, pronto. Pipp seems to have an extra sense dedicated to finding Zipp. I'm trying to have them present during more of these things, so I want them both there. Stress to her that it is urgent and not to lollygag posting videos!."

"She's supposed to be meeting with the press about her performance tonight, your highness," the captain replied.

Haven rolled her eyes. "Okay, have her do one quick video— quick! She can promote herself and send it to the press for them to air. She does best with those short videos anyway. Once she's done that, have her get her sister and get over here."

"I'll inform her, highness!"

"And what is this urgent matter anyway?" Haven asked.

"I prefer not to say over the phone, highness. We felt it was something only you could deal with."

She hung up the call and looked in the mirror, adjusting her crown. She had to look perfect; image was everything.

Her daughters came into the scaffolding above the throne room, and she flapped her wings at them.

"Hurry up and get yourselves ready! The guards will be announcing us at any moment, and we'll look pretty foolish if they have to wait."

"Fashionably late isn't a bad thing, Mom," Pipp said as she started attaching the wires to herself.

"It is when officiating royal duties," Queen Haven clapped back as she put her sunglasses on. "Especially for Zipp, who needs to be the one to show strength."

"Well, tell her not to go wandering off then," Pipp grumbled.

Zipp glared at her little sister. "I was busy."

"Busy going outside the city again," Pipp said, then stuck her tongue out at her sister.

Haven jerked her gaze over to her eldest. "What?! This is not the day for that! I give you freedom, more than my mother ever gave me, but you need to be responsible about it. This is your sister's big day! You need to be here for her."

Zipp continued to get her wires in place. "I'm here right now, aren't I?"

"Bow before our queen!" somepony yelled out below them.

Haven looked frantically towards Zipp. "We're going to be late! Hurry with those wires!"

"I'm hurrying!" Zipp whispered back, now rushing as the trumpet sounded.

The fanfare ended, and Zipp still wasn't ready. They were supposed to go down with the fanfare. This was a major embarrassment!

"Your majesty," an unfamiliar pony said somewhere below, sounding like a puffed-up sycophant.

Haven frowned and looked down below. Who was the pony even addressing? They weren't in view. She didn't see anypony in the royal area, only Cloodpuff sitting in front of the throne. Was the pony addressing the dog? Okay, not just a sycophant, but a blithering idiot then. She didn't feel as bad about making a late entrance now. This was probably a complete waste of time that she needed to get over as quickly as possible.

"Ready!" Zipp said.

Queen Haven rolled her eyes as the worker lowered her and her daughters down by wires, each of them flapping their wings as they went. Somepony had the good sense to play a music track over the speakers to correspond with their late entry. This was an official meeting, so they should all look dignified upon entry. She was pleased Zipp had recovered quickly and was looking the part to perfection. Zipp might not be the most punctual of her daughters, but never let it be said she couldn't put on her game face in an instant.

Her eyes drifted to Pipp, and she was thankful her sunglasses obscured how much they widened. Pipp was playing on her phone again, and the further they descended, the more focused on her phone she became, and the more her face slipped.

I'm not my mother. I'm not going to control what my daughters do. Pipp isn't even the heir, so she can get away with more. She's probably just excited about her concert tonight. Still, couldn't she at least put some effort into this? I'll need to speak to her later, after the show; I don't want to rain on her mood too much before then." Haven thought to herself as she came in for a landing. Zipp was probably paying just as much attention and noting her sister's behavior too and wondering why Pipp wasn't getting fussed at. Both of them would need to be spoken to.

Oh well, time to move this along. "Guards, state your business, and please, make it quick. We're on a very tight schedule today. Before the celebration, Cloudpuff needs his pedicure, Pipp needs to rehearse, and I need to practice my laugh."

She laughed a few times and inwardly cringed. Maybe she really did need to practice her laugh. That sounded so fake! "Hmm. Still not right."

"Your highness, we found these intruders in our territory," the captain announced and stepped aside to reveal two ponies.

She lowered her sunglasses and took a better look at them. It was an earth pony and a unicorn! Her brain did a backflip as it tried to go into damage control mode.

She pulled the sunglasses completely off as she gasped. "An earth pony and a unicorn in Zephyr Heights!" She still had no clue what she was supposed to do. This could cause a panic.

"We have them under control, your highness," the captain said confidently.

Lieutenant Thunder practically pranced up next to them. "Oh! And we deployed the shield."

The unicorn pointed to the tennis ball on her head and nodded while smiling like an idiot. She was pretty sure she had picked out who had confused her with the dog. These two seemed harmless. She still needed to play her part, though.

She started pacing. "Is this an attack on the night of our royal celebration? Why are you here? Who sent you?" She gasped again. "Nopony must know they're here!"

That should be good enough to make the guards keep quiet while she thought of something.

"Check it out, PippSqueaks, live from the castle...it's a real unicorn and earth pony," Pipp announced with excitement.

Haven could only stare at her youngest daughter with disbelief and horror.

"I know, right? This is so not a filter," Pipp said as she pointed her camera right at the two interlopers. Chances were she was live streaming that to the whole city!

"Pipp!" she said firmly and pulled the camera away from her daughter so she could smile in it instead. "There's nothing to fear. Those nasty little ponies have been captured. Your queen will protect you." She glared back at Pipp. "Shut it off."

She sighed in exasperation as she tossed her daughter's phone back to her. Okay, the city knew about the ponies, but she had reassured the public. Getting the ponies out of town was now going to be that much harder than when nopony knew they were here, but she would figure something out. These two were clearly harmless idiots who didn't know any better than to wander into the city. She wanted to just lock them up for the day and have the guards dump them out on the road in the morning. The public would probably forget mostly about them after all the hype Pipp's concert brought. Hopefully, Pipp's current antics weren't going to sabotage it from being that easy.

"Excuse me, majesty?" the earth pony called out to her. "Um, we only want to ask you a few questions about magic."

Haven's eyes spotted the book the earth pony had for the first time. She knew that book. That was Argyle's book!

The earth pony was in the process of asking a question when Haven flared her wings. "Guards! Please escort these ponies to the dungeon until I can question them properly. And confiscate the book!"

She saw Zipp's face had dropped entirely and that her daughter looked extremely distressed. Was she concerned about these ponies? Zipp did go outside the city often. Had Zipp been speaking to ponies of other tribes and not saying anything? She wasn't so upset that Zipp might have done it since she was guilty of the same thing at that age. She was more upset Zipp hadn't said a word to her about it.

As the guards confiscated the book, she watched as Zipp's concern escalated to the point it would be impossible for anypony watching to miss it. That was not normal. Zipp usually had much better control, even when she had objections to what was happening. That all but confirmed she recognized these ponies.

They were done here, for now. This wasn't over. She did need to question that earth pony about Argyle's book and what she was trying to do by coming here. The unicorn was less critical, a harmless idiot. It was not lost on her that it was an earth pony and a unicorn getting along, and maybe it was a sign…. no, it was best not to get her hopes up.

The worker above started raising them back up, and three of them did their appropriate performance. The earth pony was calling something up to her, but she wasn't paying much attention. Her mind was on what steps to take next.

Horsefeathers! She had just ordered those ponies to the dungeons. The dungeons were unsafe and unsanitary. They were fools, not criminals; they didn't deserve that, and she wanted them to understand she wasn't out to hurt them once she talked to them. She needed to rectify the situation quickly.

As soon as they were back in the scaffolding, she turned to Pipp. "I need your phone, now. I need to make a call."

Pipp hoofed it over, and Haven rapidly pulled up the correct contact.

"Captain, when I said dungeons, I meant the royal holding cell," she said as soon as the line picked up.

"Your highness, are you sure? Why would we—"

"Because I said so!" she half-shouted. "They'll be more amenable to talk if we treat them with a little kindness. Plus, I don't want to have to go down to the dungeons to speak to them, not right after a pedicure."

"Of course, your highness!" the captain replied smartly. "That is very wise of you. I'm sure it will lead to a much better interrogation."

"Good, see that they have plenty of food, and everything is up to a high standard in the cell. I'll deal with them after the celebration," she said in her most dignified voice before hanging up and giving Pipp her phone back.

With that taken care of, she could find out what was going on with Zipp.

She turned to face Zipp. "Now, I think we need to have a little— where are you going?!"

Zipp had already freed herself from her wires and was almost out the door before she caught her. "I have something to do. I'll see you at the celebration!"

"Young mare! You get back here! You need to stay away from the prisoners until I've— and she's gone already," Haven said as her ears wilted. Zipp was far too fast for her.

Pipp eyeballed her. "Do you need me to bring her back?"

Haven considered it for a second before shaking her head. "No. You focus on rehearsing. Tonight is all about you. I'll deal with your sister later."

She bet the entire palace treasury that Zipp was already making her way down to the royal holding cell. There was a sneaky way of finding out without making a show she was trying to find out.

She smiled at her youngest. "Why don't you go down to the holding cell and take a nice selfie showing the prisoners behind bars. The sight of it will help reassure the public we have everything under control, and it will boost the excitement about your concert tonight."

Pipp's eyes widened with excitement. "That's a great idea, Mom! That content will blow ponies' minds!"

Haven resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She actually approved of Pipp's obsession with social media. It gave her positive public relations and those relations extended to the rest of the royal family. Pipp might seem to take it to excess, but there was no such thing as too much good PR and goodwill. Haven might play the part in public, almost on instinct now, but she knew she would wilt under such constant viewership. She needed her downtime where she didn't have to pretend. However, Pipp seemed to thrive from it, and it made her happy. Pipp was also the perfect foil for her sister and allowed Zipp to remain more aloof. That was good, because while Zipp would still be under a lot of media pressure when she was queen, she wouldn't have to dedicate as much of her energy to placating the press thanks to her sister's efforts. The two of them made a perfect team.

You would be proud of the young mares your granddaughters have grown into, Mother. I wish you were still here to see them. Haven thought sadly.

Pipp was already off as well, leaving Haven by herself. Maybe she could go track down where the guards had taken that book.

Chapter 8: The Calm Before the Storm

Haven stood in the scaffolding, looking in the mirror, applying her makeup, and doing her best to keep her thoughts from her face.

The search for the book had revealed somepony else had already taken it. Haven could easily guess who. Zephyrina was definitely up to something; whatever it was, it had to do with that earth pony and unicorn.

Haven didn't want to confront her daughter about it directly, but she was worried. Zephyrina was strong, intelligent, athletic, and was far more talented than Haven had been at that age. However, Haven still fretted because Zephyrina was other things too, things that she had also been at that age— inexperienced, idealistic, perhaps a little naive. There were good ponies out in the other tribes. Haven had first hoof experience dealing with one, but there were many bad ones too. This wasn't a slight against the other tribes. If she were completely unbiased in her assessment, she could admit that she expected that many, if not most, of her citizens would treat that earth pony and unicorn no better than the unicorns or Phyllis had treated her back in the day. It was shameful to admit, but it was the truth.

And I've only served to perpetuate that because making them feel safe keeps them from lashing out. she thought bitterly to herself. I'm not the idealistic filly I once was; I'm just trying to maintain the uneasy peace. I've become my mother. I keep the problem going the same way it has been going for centuries because I'm too afraid of it getting worse. I lost my father to it getting worse, and I could count my mother too, due to the toll everything took on her. I don't want to lose anymore.

She was terrified that her daughter would get hurt while out beyond their borders, and she was also afraid her daughter was getting ready to have her sweet idealism crushed. This needed to be headed off. After the celebration, she would go down to the prisoners and bring Zipp with her. Then she could talk to them all about the cold hard realities they faced. That might hurt their spirits, but she didn't want to see anypony get hurt, not that earth pony or unicorn, and not her daughter. Maybe something could be worked out to maintain communication somehow, give the other ponies cell phones or something, but they couldn't see one another again after today. It was too risky for all of them.

Although it would be nice to get a chance to hear how Argyle was doing. If that earth pony had his journal, then that earth pony must at least know him. For one night, she could be reminded that there were still ponies that dreamed of a better world without the fear, lies, and deceit. Maybe someday it would come, but not today. Hopefully, they would forgive her for maintaining the lies and understand why it was necessary, at least for now.

"Your highness, if I could have a word with you. There's a delicate matter that needs to be discussed," Pully, one of the family of wire operators, said as he came into view in her mirror.

She turned and faced him, concerned. "Yes? Is something wrong with the system?"

He shook his head. "No, highness. Everything will go well tonight. We have stress-tested the system repeatedly to make sure your daughter's movements are perfect. This is more a long-term concern, one that we don't want to be misconstrued."

She raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

Pully nervously shuffled his hooves. "We have been monitoring Pipp's progress as she has matured, and we have concerns. The wires are exactly that, wires, and can only maintain so much weight while still being able to maintain them being hidden. We are not implying your daughter is overweight, but it has become increasingly obvious that her natural body type is not as light as you or the crown princess. We should still be able to keep her moving well as she grows into her last few inches and can accommodate the extra weight that would bring, but if something were to happen where her weight increased outside those projections, then the system could become less stable."

She nodded. "You are saying that a wire could snap if she lets herself go. Is that correct?"

Pully looked down. "We do not mean to imply that she will. She is an excellent acrobat and gymnast, better than you and almost on par with her sister, but it has become clear that she has a different body type than the rest of the family, and though unfair, there is less room for unexpected weight increases in her case. The higher level of movement she does compared to you and the crown princess and the resulting extra strain on the system makes us need to monitor it more closely. We mean no disrespect to her."

Haven gave him a reassuring smile. "No disrespect is taken. You and your siblings continue to serve the royal family faithfully, as they have for generations, and I know your first concern is for my daughter's safety. I would be upset if there was a safety concern and you did not bring it to my attention. I'll speak to Pipp about it and see to it she understands it in the correct context. As long as she maintains her current level of activity and current diet, she should be fine, even if she does add a little weight as she finishes growing, correct?"

Pully nodded. "That is correct, highness. Thank you for understanding our concerns. We were afraid it would be taken the wrong way since we haven't had to address it since your father. The princess seems to have a similar frame and build to his."

Haven kept her smile in place, but her heart missed a beat. Her father had been a bigger pony, not fat, but very well-muscled, and when the wiring system attached to the airship had been put to the test during the war with the earth ponies, the wires had snapped. Pipp's performances might not be on a battlefield, but a fall from one of the higher elevations she reached could be just as deadly.

Even in maintaining the lie, there is danger. Haven thought ruefully.

The pony of the hour came up the stairs at that very moment.

"Hi, Mom!" Pipp chirped, prancing as she came in. "Tonight's the big night; I'm so excited!"

Her daughter's joy brought an honest smile to Haven's face. She would wait until tomorrow to discuss the safety concerns. She didn't want to risk dampening her daughter's spirit, and they were concerns involving the future, not for tonight. She also wanted to make sure she framed her discussion, so Pipp did not take it out of context and get a bad body image. Her daughter had a perfect body she should never feel ashamed of, and her confidence was one of her best traits.

"The whole kingdom is excited as well," Haven replied. "I saw your selfie. The prisoners seemed to have been in surprisingly upbeat moods for being behind bars in the picture."

Pipp blinked. "They seemed nice enough. The earth pony noticed that nopony was flying. I guess they aren't as stupid as everypony makes them out to be. I had to tell them that only royals could fly. I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do, and Zipp wasn't helping."

"It's alright. I already knew that earth ponies were brighter than everypony thinks," Haven reassured her. "So, your sister was there, despite my orders to stay away?"

Pipp nodded. "Yeah, and she gave them back that book you had confiscated. I saw them with it. I think she was questioning them about it, but they hushed up when I arrived."

Haven pursed her lips. "Well, Zipp has always flown her own course. I'm not angry. I was planning on returning it anyway. I had just hoped to look through it first. Maybe I'll still get a chance when I go to question them later."

"You're planning on letting them go, aren't you?" Pipp asked, smiling smugly that she had figured it out.

Haven blinked. "Yes, I am. How did you know?"

Pipp fluffed her mane and grinned. "You moved them to the nice cell. You didn't worry about my safety when you sent me down there, and you just said you were going to give them back their book. That makes me think you don't really think they are dangerous, and I don't think you want to keep them as prisoners. I don't think Zipp has figured it out yet."

Haven sighed. "Your sister doesn't have the same instincts for subterfuge that you and I have, so she is less inclined to see through it. Your sister thinks she is sneaky, but duplicity is not in her nature. I'm glad she will have you to support her when she is queen. She has her strengths, but she also has her weaknesses— you two complement each other well. That's why I don't worry about how things will go once I retire."

Pipp's smile dropped as her face went serious. "Are you considering that, retiring? You've been making us show up to more and more things."

Haven looked away. "Not yet. In a few years, maybe. I think it is time I start prepping your sister, and since you're her primary support, that means preparing you as well. Don't worry. I won't die young like your grandmare, but it is best to have a smooth transition of power rather than a rushed exchange where she feels unprepared. She needs to put aside her foolish notions that she can fix the world and focus on making sure it doesn't fall apart. We have a duty."

"I understand, Mom," Pipp replied. She then smiled and hurried to the prep area. "I need to get ready. Wish me luck!"

"You don't need any; you have this!" Haven said with a fond laugh. "Now, if only your sister would get here."

Pipp waved a wing absently as she walked away. "She said she was going to make a formal entrance on the red carpet. Let everypony see her arriving for my show."

"Aw, good for her. Maybe she is taking putting on a show for the public more seriously," Haven said thoughtfully. "Go do what you need to do. You're going to blow the crowd away tonight."

Chapter 9: Chaos at the Royal Celebration

Zipp had arrived and had gotten her wires attached without saying a word. She was now staring over the railing at the room below. Haven didn't comment on this, but she could tell that something other than Pipp's performance was preoccupying her daughter's mind. The question was how to broach the subject carefully.

"I hear you paid our guests a visit," Haven remarked as she continued to work with her makeup.

Zipp turned to her in surprise. "Pipp told you?"

Haven smiled. "Oh, you know she tells me everything. I wish you would tell me more. You're going to be queen one day. You'll wear this crown. And trust me, it is heavier than it looks."

"Actually, there is something I wanted to tell you. The unicorns don't have any magic. I think it's tied to why we can't fly…"

This again! When would she stop chasing after dreams of trying to fix their magic? That was an even more lost cause than trying to get along with the other tribes! It had to be that unicorn trying to pull a fast one over on her daughter. Zipp needed to be protected from herself.

"Zephyrina!" Haven scolded as she turned to face her daughter. "I don't know what silly ideas that unicorn put into your head, but we have a duty to protect our citizens. Pegasi are happy knowing that we royals can fly. Why would you want to disrupt things?"

"Because it's a lie," Zipp answered in a firm tone.

That felt like a slap to the face, but she would not be deterred. "It makes them feel safe. Oh, one day, you'll understand. Your sister does." She heard Pipp getting moved into position and turned to smile at her. "—Oh, and here she is now!"

"Me-me-me!" Pipp sang as she hung suspended in the air. It was a more complex set up of wires than either of them were wearing or had ever worn and didn't allow her much freedom to move about on her own. Zipp seemed taken aback at seeing her sister in that getup.

Haven only felt excitement. She could finish dealing with Zipp later, maybe being a little more gentle. Right now was Pipp's time, and she wasn't going to let a family argument erupt and ruin it.

"Showtime!" she exclaimed as she flared her wings.

"We are go for launch," the operator said over the intercom, and she and her daughters found themselves lifted into position.

The music began, and she and Zipp started their descent.

"Remember to smile!" she reminded Zipp, knowing Zipp was still in a sour mood.

Zipp seemed annoyed at the reminder, and she could only put her noble face on as they descended. Thankfully she seemed to recover relatively quickly once they were in their thrones and was smiling by the time they faced the audience. That was one of the slowest recoveries Zipp had done since she was a filly. Perhaps she had been too hard on Zipp just a moment ago. Zipp's daydreams about restoring flying were primarily just that, but she supposed she could take the time to hear her out. She was just not inclined to trust anything a unicorn said that influenced her daughter's judgment. Maybe it was unfair, but her previous encounter with unicorns still stuck with her all these years later.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Pipp began her performance, and her fake smile became an earnest one. There was never a need for phony pride and admiration for her daughters.

She bobbed her head along with the beat, watching her daughter seem to fly around the area gracefully. The operators and technicians had done a superb job with this wiring. The wires were as hidden as ever, but Pipp was covering a far greater area, using her acrobatic skills in tandem with the harness to create a perfect illusion. It was a beautiful thing to behold, and Pipp looked to be in her element. With how much work this must be on Pipp's behalf, there was no need to concern herself too much about Pipp ever getting overweight. This had to be a significant workout, and if this were to become a regular thing for her, she would be the fittest pegasus in the city.

The sound of Cloudpuff yapping caught her ear briefly, and she looked and noticed he had run off. Where had he gone off to? She heard an occasional yap, but he seemed to be on the outskirts of the crowd somewhere, and she couldn't spot him between the dim lighting and the throngs of ponies.

Oh well, he did run off at times, and he always came back. She'd have one of the guards look around for him later. She refocused her attention on Pipp.

Or at least she would have if Zipp hadn't left her seat. Haven did her best to make a show of not looking, but Zipp had gone down in front of the thrones where Cloudpuff seemed to have popped out of nowhere. Zipp was wrestling the dog for something...what was that? Whatever it was ended up breaking, and Cloudpuff took off into the crowd with Zipp hot on his trail.

Wait… was that her crown? She reached up and touched her head where the crown should be. It was there, but something seemed to be off about it. What was going on?!

Her attention got diverted again as the lights suddenly flickered, and the spotlight left Pipp and went on to a random stallion who Cloudpuff was standing next to. The pegasus crystal part of the crown was lying beside them.

What the buck was going on!!?

Events continued at a rapid pace, too fast for her to process correctly. The stallion started doing what she could only assume was a horribly written parody of Pipp's song while the entire crowd gawked at him. A quick glance showed that Pipp was now hanging in place and just as befuddled as she and the rest of the crowd. She turned her attention back to the stallion and— was Cloudpuff bobbing his head along with that horrible mockery? The little traitor! Cloudpuff began to howl-sing along, and Haven cringed in her seat.

Her mind flipped to impossible answers to this seemingly impossible situation. Was Zephyrina staging a coup to seize the throne? A royal taking the throne by force from the reigning monarch happened at least once before in their history, but she would never have imagined Zipp to try such a thing or even want to. Zipp would have demanded she step down before taking such action anyway— which Haven would have if only to avoid the instability a coup would bring. Had Zipp and Pipp had some sort of falling out, and now Zipp was staging all this as some sort of cruel prank on her little sister? No, she couldn't believe that either. Zipp would never be that cruel to Pipp. There didn't seem to be any reasonable answer to what was going on. The only thing she was sure of was Zephyrina was definitely involved, even if it was unclear how or for what motivation.

Unfortunately, things only got worse as the wiring holding Pipp suddenly went berserk, flailing her around the air like a helpless ragdoll. Haven's mouth dropped open in horror as she watched, terrified that a wire would snap and hurl her daughter into a wall or the amount of whipping around it was doing to her would seriously injure her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a small part worried about the fact the public was seeing all this and the repercussions of it, but terror for Pipp drowned that out.

"Freeze!" the stallion who had been mocking her daughter yelled. He went on point at something, and Haven and the whole crowd turned to see Zipp, the earth pony, and unicorn making for the exit together. Pegasi began to scream, and those screams were only heightened when Pipp went zooming by the stallion knocking his wings off. He was yet another earth pony! She hadn't believed it before, but was this an earth pony plot to destabilize the kingdom?!

A second later, Pipp's out-of-control swing on the wires came to an abrupt end, leaving her hanging, in the middle of the room, in the spotlight, upside down with her wires on full display. Haven began to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw that Pipp only appeared to be dazed and scared instead of hurt, but both her face and Pipp's quickly shifted to horror as they realized together that their secret was on full display. Pegasi began to shout in outrage at what they saw, and cameras started snapping. There was no way to spin this!

Haven spared a mere second glance at where Zipp had been and saw her looking up in despair at her little sister. It was a small consolation, but it was clear that whatever Zipp was doing, this had not been part of her plan. However, the betrayal still stood because Zipp did not stay to come to her sister's rescue.

She sat, gaping in disbelief and horror, for several seconds before her brain began to function again properly. The technicians hadn't pulled Pipp back up yet; either they were in on this, or they were missing. Their allegiance was a matter to worry about later; what was important right now was she needed to get Pipp out of the spotlight and away from the eyes of the crowd.

With a few quick movements, she unfastened her wires and took off on hoof towards the operating station for the wiring. The technician was hiding with his rump out behind a curtain, and the console itself was not being controlled by anypony. Thankfully, she knew enough about how it worked that she didn't need to waste time calming the technician down; she could operate the wires herself.

A few quick flips of switches and buttons and the wires started pulling Pipp back up to the scaffolding. Pipp would be able to free herself from the tangle once she got up there. That much was done. Now she needed to do something about the outraged mob beyond the curtain. What that might be, she had no idea, but the longer she waited, the worse it would get.

She left the booth with her most noble and dignified face on. "Ponies! I know you have a lot of questions, and I want to reassure you that—"

"Fake!"

"You can't fly!"

"Liars!"

"The royals are in league with the earth ponies!"

"No, they're in league with the unicorns!"

"In league with both!"

"Traitors!"

"Somepony, arrest them!"

She shook her head. "My ponies, there's an excellent explanation for all of this. If you would give me a chance to explain!"

The crowd quieted and stared at her, awaiting her explanation.

Her mind was completely blank. She couldn't come up with one. Not on the spot like this! She didn't even know what Zipp had been doing! She could incriminate Zipp as a traitor, but she didn't have clear evidence of that and still didn't believe it to be true. That kind of explanation wouldn't satisfy any of these ponies anyway.

The ponies read her silence as simply stalling, and their screams of outrage began again.

She spotted Pipp had made it down from the scaffolding to the thrones. The crowd had their backs to her and didn't notice the young princess. Pipp saw what was going on and seemed ready to try to come to her defense, but Haven met her eyes and shook her head. She then made a slight gesture with her neck and head, indicating Pipp needed to get out of there. Luckily, Pipp was observant and caught sight of it. With only a moment of hesitation, Pipp took off towards the front door, pausing only briefly to pick up the pegasus crystal that had been left forgotten on the floor in all the chaos and discord.

The guards pushed through the mob to stand before her. "Your criminal highness, you're under arrest for lying to the public and possible collusion with the earth ponies and unicorns! Please come along quietly."

Her ears sagged. There was no talking her way out of this at the moment. Maybe she could think of something while she waited in her cell. At least her daughters were safe for the moment.

Author's Note

I know I intended to go only ten chapters, but I think it may end up being around twelve or thirteen now. There's too much to cover in just one more chapter.

Chapter 11: The Seed

There were many things Haven had anticipated when she finally tracked down her daughters. What was happening right now was not one of those things.

The earth pony, Sunny, sat there, pitifully jamming the unicorn and pegasus crystals together over and over again. Why was she doing this? She had nothing to gain by giving pegasi and unicorns their magic back. Every advantage that the other pony types convinced the earth ponies they had over them had been revealed as lies. The earth ponies should feel happy.

Why was an earth pony crying over this?

Why were none of the unicorns mocking her?

Why was Haven ready to cry as well?

Haven knew this had been a hopeless endeavor when she agreed to let the earth pony try, but her daughters had both pleaded with her. If it had been just Zipp, she would have dismissed it as non-sense and said as much, but Pipp had also voiced her support. Pipp might be little more than a filly, still showing foalfat despite being much taller and physically mature than ponies her age, but Pipp was also mentally mature for her age and the pragmatic one of her daughters. If Pipp went along with this, there had to be something to it.

Now her daughters looked just as crushed as their earth pony friend. They were not alone; every pony present looked like their hearts were ready to break. There were no jeers at the stupid earth pony. There were no more angry accusations. Regardless of pony type, everypony was mournfully silent. For the first time in who knew how many ages, pony type didn't matter. They shared the same heartbreak and felt the same loss.

The earth pony walked over to her and the tall unicorn stallion, still looking downtrodden, and returned the crystals, mumbling an apology that Haven could barely hear. She wanted to say something to the young mare, a thank you for trying, perhaps saying she wished it had turned out differently, even a comforting word. Nothing came out. There was nothing she could say to make this better. At that moment, it was Haven who felt like she had failed. Like she owed this mare, and there was nothing she could do to fulfill her debt, despite the fact the mare in front of her was the one who had failed.

She watched Sunny depart, with the earth pony sheriff following. The question remained, what did this earth pony have to gain or lose? Why did she seem like she had lost the most?

"Um…your criminal highness. We still need to arrest you and your daughters."

She broke out of her trance and turned to face the captain, already readying her verbal defense. However, the grey unicorn stallion stepped in first.

"You don't have jurisdiction here," he said grimly.

The guards were all taken aback, as was everypony else present. What in the world…was he defending her?

The captain recovered and put on their most businesslike face. "We don't want to fight. I-I don't think anypony does, not now, but we have orders. Surely you don't want her to stay here?"

The unicorn looked back at her briefly and grimaced before looking back at the captain. "Personally, I don't care about your queen, but her daughters do, and I'm not letting you take them away to be arrested when they put their tails on the line for us. They put their tails on the line for you too. How can you even think of trying to arrest them? Those fillies have earned their welcome here, those two earth ponies too. I think they'd be upset if you arrested their mother, and I'm willing to defend her for their sake."

It was time to start spinning things. She stepped forward, wings down, head bowed. This was for her daughters. "Captain, I'm sorry for having lied to you and all the ponies of Zephyr Heights. I was trying to give you hope and make you feel safe. I was wrong, but Zipp always disagreed, and Pipp only went along with what I told her because I told her that it made ponies happy. Pipp always wanted to make everypony happy. If somepony must be punished, I accept that, but spare my daughters. Look at what they tried to do for us! They weren't interested in maintaining the lie; they wanted to give you back the birthright unicorns and pegasi should have always had. They aren't criminals; they're heroes!"

"Please don't take them away, guard ponies!"

They all turned to see a little unicorn filly staring at the captain with big eyes.

"They care about us! They care about you!" the filly continued to plead. A few other unicorns returned and stood defensively between the guard ponies and her daughters.

The guards looked around, seeing themselves outnumbered. The captain looked at the filly and sighed before looking back at Haven.

"Can we at least count on you to stay here while we bring this matter back to the ponies at home?" the captain asked. "We need further orders and a chance to report on what we've seen. Uh…I hate to ask this, but can we spend the night? It's going to be dark soon."

The grey unicorn rolled his eyes and turned away. "Whatever, sure, just don't cause any trouble."

Haven blinked. Was this how peace was achieved? Not through negotiation, but with ponies sharing in the same sorrow? Maybe that earth pony had accomplished more than she could have imagined.

She turned and went to her daughters, who were sitting with that unicorn, all three looking heartbroken.

"Well, Izzy, it looks like you'll be able to have some friends over for tea parties," Zipp said with false bravado. Her posture betrayed her actual mood.

"Not all our friends," Pipp said mournfully.

The unicorn, Izzy, pursed her lips and looked at the path the two earth ponies had departed down. She then stood up, shaking her head. "No! We need to find Sunny and Hitch! Friends don't leave friends feeling bad! So we failed! So what! My life was miserable before you ponies came into it, and I'm not giving up on my friends!"

Pipp and Zipp looked at one another before Zipp stood up and flared her wings. "Yeah, they're our friends. Sunny needs us more than ever! We need to be brave and stand beside her!"

Pipp jumped to her hooves. "I'm coming too! Sunny needs another confidence boost! Hitch too! He likes my music, and I could never disappoint a fan!"

Haven's eyes went wide. "Girls! My fillies, my darlings, I understand your enthusiasm, but maybe now is not the best-"

Zipp, Pipp, and Izzy were already on the move. She tried calling out but to no avail. They were going to get themselves captured or killed, or maybe worse!

She turned towards the unicorns and the pegasus guards. "We have to stop them! Help me!"

The grey unicorn gave her a dirty look. "They aren't prisoners, they can go where they want, and we don't take orders from you. Don't make me regret letting you stay."

She got in his face and stared him down. "You fool! They're going to Maretime Bay! Sunny and Hitch might be on our side, but those other earth ponies are going to raise a ruckus when they see two pegasi and a unicorn walk into their town. They weren't here. They didn't see. They're going to think they're under attack again. What do you think they're going to do? Zipp, Pipp, and Izzy are in mortal danger! They aren't thinking clearly, and they're going to bring the wrath of the earth ponies down on themselves and us! And guess what? We don't have any powers, and the lies are out in the open! They'll destroy us! Protect my daughters and Izzy and protect Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights in the process. Don't let their earlier efforts go to waste! We owe them, and we owe it to ourselves!"

The captain stepped forward. "We're with you, your maybe criminal highness! It will be an honor to serve!"

The other unicorns all looked at the big grey one. He looked around at them in dismay.

"Why are you looking at me? Nopony appointed me leader!" he shouted.

"You've been acting like one," one of the unicorn stallions pointed out. "So what now?"

The big stallion bit his lip and turned towards the path. "Follow me! I'm not going to let Izzy get herself or us jinxed! Not Zipp or Pipp either! And I'm not going to let the pegasi go off to save the day on their own while we sit here with our tails between our legs."

The unicorns took off, and she and the pegasi guards followed after, quickly making up ground.

It was strange, running alongside unicorns to save her daughters. Something bigger than the lies had started today, something she had abandoned in her youth in favor of the pragmatic falsehoods of her mother. She had forgotten herself for so long to become her mother's clone, but right here, right now, hope bloomed again.

As long as she could save her daughters.

Author's Note

One more chapter.

Apologies. I doing all my work by phone, and I recently cracked my screen, and have not had the money or time to replace it. It is slowing down my work tremendously, and making it harder for me to catch errors in my work. If anyone notices anything, feel free to point it out.

Chapter 12: Closure

It had been an ordeal, but magic had been restored. Her daughters, Sunny, Hitch, and Izzy, were safe, and ponies of all three types freely walked around Maretime Bay.

There was one pony absent from all this.

"Excuse me, Mister earth pony with the strange goggles. May I ask you a question?" Haven asked an earth pony walking by who had a strange contraption on his face.

The pony dipped his head and revealed his eye on the top of the gadget. "Hey! You're supposed to be up there. Why are you down on the ground?"

She smiled at the odd pony. "I've spent my whole life without flight, and walking around feels more natural to me. Besides, all the earth ponies and unicorns are on the ground; I think it is easier to talk to you when I'm down among you all."

The pony blinked. "I guess that makes sense. What was your question?"

She lost her smile. "I met an earth pony who was very kind to me years ago. I know he lived in the lighthouse, but I didn't see him there. His name is Argyle; I think he is Sunny's father. I would very much like to see him again. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

The pony took a few steps back and took the thing off his head, and then stared at the ground. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but Argyle's been dead for a while."

Her gut clenched, and her heart skipped a few beats. She put a hoof up to her barrel and tried taking a deep breath. "Oh… well… oh my… Do you mind telling me what happened?"

The pony looked out at the sea. "When Sunny was old enough to take care of herself, Argyle went off adventuring again. He had put it off for years while she was growing up, but everypony knew his hooves were itching to go back out there. He took a boat and went off looking for one of those other ports that he had records of. A storm came in the next day, and the day after, we found parts of his boat on the shore, along with some of his belongings. Sunny locked herself in that lighthouse for a solid two months before Sheriff Hitch finally pried her out."

"I see," she said, looking down. She looked over at Sunny, who was smiling as she watched foals of three different types play together. "What about her mother?"

"I was too young to remember, but I was told she died in foalbirth. She wasn't a very healthy pony. It was just Sunny and Argyle, then it was just Sunny."

"She's had a hard life, hasn't she?" Haven asked, eyes tearing up.

The other pony nodded. "Sunny pushed harder than ever to convince us that unicorns and pegasi weren't our enemies after her dad died. It went from just something she believed to something like an obsession. I think she wanted to prove her dad right after he died, like her way of honoring his memory. I don't know where Argyle got the idea he could get along with other pony types. He apparently got much more insistent about it not long before Sunny was born."

"About twenty years ago?" Haven asked.

"I guess, I was very little," the other pony said with a shrug.

She smiled again and nodded her thanks. "I appreciate the information…and the closure it brought me."

The pony didn't seem that happy. He bowed his head. "I'm sorry for your loss, and I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you."

She was going to start crying again. "Somepony had to. Thank you."

She turned her eyes back to Sunny. In another life, one where all three tribes got along, and Argyle hadn't been already married; this could have been her daughter too. Was it weird to feel motherly pride for somepony else's foal? Maybe, but Sunny had earned pride. And in a sense, Haven may have had some indirect impact on Sunny's upbringing. Her trip out as a princess had not been pointless. Big things could start with small steps, and it seemed Haven had as much impact on Argyle as he had on her. Sunny may never have had the determination to go out and do what she did if a certain naive princess hadn't wandered off and met a kind scholarly earth pony.

And Sunny may still have been sitting in the castle dungeon, the real one if Haven hadn't decided to put her in the royal holding cell because she had once met Argyle. Funny how the ripples came back.

"A queen, huh?"

She turned and faced Phyllis. This mare had let her son run psycho with that killing machine of his and shown so much hostility to her years ago… but she had also stood in front of that same son to stop him and had joined them in reassembling the picture. It was time to let go of old grudges.

"I may have downplayed my importance when we first met," Haven said with a smirk. "No hard feelings?"

Phyllis looked at her son, who was busy getting scowled at by a group of other ponies. "If you can forgive me for letting things escalate as much as they did with my Sprout. It's going to be a nightmare trying to get him an image makeover. Don't think too harshly of him. He was always a colt looking for approval, and I may have given him some poor guidance. I take the blame. I just want him to recover from this."

Haven nodded. "Spoken like a true mother. I empathize with you fully. My daughters and I have our own such battle to face when we return home, but Pipp will probably smooth it all over somehow. She's been taking endless photos of your lovely town and all the ponies getting along. Combine that with us getting our magic back, and we might be forgiven. My queenship might not survive it, but Zipp will make a fine queen if I'm forced to step down…don't mention that to anypony. I don't think Zipp has entertained the option she might have to take up the crown just yet, and I'm still going to try to plead my case."

"You have the full support of the ponies of Maretime Bay if you need character witnesses," Phyliss chuckled, but her face then grew serious. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior years ago and for stirring up paranoia for years afterward. It was how I was raised, but that's no excuse. You never showed me any hostility, and I showed you nothing but hostility. I'm deeply ashamed, and I'm sorry."

Haven pulled her old nemeses into a hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you back then and sorry I didn't try harder on my part to get along with you."

Phyllis leaned into the hug for a moment before jerking back at the sound of ponies jeering at her son. "We will talk later! I need to go save my son from the angry mob!"

Haven wasn't sure she wished Phyllis luck on that. Sprout was going to be on her poop list for some time. He nearly killed multiple ponies and had wrecked the lighthouse. She could feel for Phyllis, but not her brat.

A leg wrapped around her neck, and she was pulled into a tight embrace.

"Hey! Haven! Queenie! Some of these ponies and I will be doing a game of rummy tonight. I wanted to see if you wanted in," Alphabittle said jovially. "We could use another player, and you've moved way up my pal list after saving my little buddies and me."

"Well, your little buddies are cute," Haven said in a strained voice as she gasped for breath.

Alphabittle released her. "Here that! She's even got a sense of humor!" He turned and lowered his voice to a whisper. "You were trying to save me too, right?"

"Yes, I was trying to save you too, you big goof," Haven replied in a fonder voice.

"Are you single?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Mister Alphabittle! I am not on the market!"

He shrugged. "Worth a shot. How about that game? Light stakes. I promise it's a clean game, but I'm pretty good, so I can't promise I won't win. Ten-time, grand champion, right here."

"What is it with unicorns and games?" she asked.

He shrugged again, grinning. "It passes the time, and I like winning."

She smirked. "I'll just have to show you how skillful a royal can play. You just haven't had enough of a challenge."

"Oh, it's game on, Queenie," Alphabittle said coyly.

They spent minutes talking, exchanging pleasantries with passers-by, and watching as unicorns and members of her guard (who still hadn't gone home to report in) helped put Maretime Bay back in order. It was hearting, watching the friendships form between previously hostile ponies, and watching young foals play together. Speaking of which…

"Why are there unicorn and pegasus foals here?" she asked suddenly. She looked around. There were other pegasi here and unicorns that hadn't been among the ones that had followed them on their rescue mission.

"Oh, them," Alphabittle laughed. "Sunny's little light show drew a lot of attention. Ponies have been filtering in all day. They want to know who was responsible. You might not have to go back to your town in hoof cuffs. Your ponies have been coming in and hearing all about how you, me, and Phyllis brought back magic— BING! Um…sorry about that, a force of habit."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "How we saved magic? I think credit should be given where credit is due, and that is to those five young ponies— which includes my daughters."

"Sure, sure, but it was the three of us helping put together that picture frame with Sunny that finally sealed the deal. I think that makes us saviors too," Alphabittle said smugly.

"Perhaps," she conceded. It did help her image, and she desperately needed help with that after the debacle at the royal celebration. Image was still everything; it was just a new image for a new future, a brighter future. Plus, he wasn't entirely wrong, so she wasn't falling back on lies. It was fine as long as her daughters and their friends were first in the limelight.

A dehydrated-looking earth pony with a bunch of balloons on his back suddenly ran by, screaming like a mad pony, and Hitch went running after; a second later, Izzy followed, prancing casually down the road.

"It seems like not everypony got the message," she said sadly.

"They'll get it," Alphabittle assured her. "I'll catch you tonight, at the big building with the glasses. That's where we're all meeting up for the game. The head of the floor staff is going to let us in. Bring some bits!"

She rolled her eyes. She didn't have access to a single bit at the moment, but she'd figure something out. Some of her jewelry would do to start. She was sure she could win a few rounds and then pull her jewelry out of the betting pool. For right now, she wanted to talk to her daughters and Sunny, and with Hitch and Izzy occupied, it was an opportune time.

The three looked at her as she approached. "Hey, Mom, want to take a pic with Sunny? That content would blow up the likes!" Pipp asked excitedly.

Haven smiled gently. "As you wish, dear."

She stood beside Sunny and spread her wings wide, and Sunny spread her more ethereal wings likewise, giving them a good view. At Pipp's insistence, they joined hooves and smiled so wide it hurt to hold it while the filly took a picture. It was a relief to relax her posture when Pipp said she was done.

"Sunny…" Haven said hesitantly. "About your father… did he ever mention meeting me years ago?"

Sunny stepped back in shock. "No, he didn't. You knew my father?"

"You knew her dad? Why did you never say anything?" Zipp asked in equal astonishment.

Haven sat down. "Yes, I knew Argyle. I might have even had a slight crush on him, possibly. I had more feelings for him than any other stallion in my life, no offense to you or father, darlings— he was just a means to heirs, and he was more ambitious than loving. An upstart who thought he could seize power through marriage. He had to go."

Zipp nodded grimly. "I heard rumors about our dad, even though you never talked about him. I understand."

"But why did you never say anything about meeting earth ponies?" Pipp asked, sounding hurt.

Haven hung her head. "Honestly? I was trying too hard to follow the track my mother set for me. I felt if I let you two know, you might think the old days might be able to be resurrected, and you'd go off endangering yourselves instead of focusing on protecting our ponies with the lies about royals can fly. Plus, after telling lies for so long…it became second nature to hide the truth, even from you. I'm sorry."

"But when did you meet my father?" Sunny asked in a tone both eager and fearful.

A small crowd of earth ponies and pegasi had gathered near, having overheard the conversation. Unicorns started filtering in close to find out what the commotion was about.

Haven looked at them all and was unsure what to do about all the ponies listening expectantly. The cat was out of the bag. She had an audience, and it was time to appease that audience.

"I met him about twenty years ago when I was a young mare with big hopes and big dreams of uniting the tribes, much like Zipp had big dreams of restoring magic," Haven replied. "Let me tell you the story about who I used to be before I became a copy of my mother. How I met Argyle and Phyllis, and about the mare I want to be again."

Ponies gathered in closer and sat down to listen.

"When I was young, I did things my mother said were foalish, and after disappointment, I put them away to follow the example she set. Now that I'm older and wiser, I have learned the value of those foalish things and how important they are, and I no longer wish to be my mother. This is the story of a foalish dream of living in peace and harmony; how I became my mother, and how I learned to be me again…."

Chapter 10: What a Mother Will Do For Her Daughters

"While Queen Haven remains in custody, awaiting trial, both the princesses remain at large. They are believed to have fled the city in the company of an earth pony and unicorn. The captain of the guard is making preparations to search to find and apprehend the two but states guard safety comes first."

Haven listened further to the report for a few more seconds from the window of her cell before dismissing it as talking heads jabbering on about nonsense. It was essential to know what nonsense they were spewing, so she could counter it later, but what they were saying so far was predictable. None of that truly mattered to her right now beyond what she had already heard; Zipp and Pipp were still free.

She looked around her cell. Having that knowledge didn't do her a lot of good. Generations of lies had come crashing down in a mere moment, brought to an end by one panicked wire technician who believed another set of lies and had acted accordingly. Believed the lies that the other tribes were dangerous and out to get him and inadvertently revealed the lie that the royals couldn't fly and weren't protecting anypony from anypony. Well… that last part wasn't entirely a lie. They'd been guarding the pegasi against their own stupidity. All of that was gone now, and, for the moment, the talking heads rule would rule. May feathers save the pegasi; they were likely doomed.

At least they had put her in the royal cell, and they were still referring to her and her daughters by their royal titles. Those things meant that they still thought of them as their royal family, despite the deception. That was a small grip she still had on the public. This could be salvaged… she just wasn't sure how as of yet. Nearly forty generations of her family's rule would not come to an end with her. She could take the fall for the lies, talk up how Zephyrina had been opposed to the royal family's lies and had sabotaged the show to expose the lies. Pipp could be played as a victim as well, an innocent filly, forced to do what her mother had told her to do and only went along because she wanted to make ponies happy; the public would eat it up. The two of them could have their reputations restored. She'd lose her crown in favor of Zipp, but it would work.

She looked out the window again. Where were they? Were they safe? Pipp almost certainly had found Zipp; Pipp could always find Zipp when nopony else could. That would put both her daughters with that earth pony and unicorn— possibly two earth ponies. The one earth pony, the one with Argyle's book, that one might be safe, but the unicorn and the other earth pony? That was a more dubious question. She'd initially dismissed the unicorn as an idiot, but that unicorn had clearly whispered lies to Zipp about the state of the unicorns to gain her trust. The other earth pony had taken the time to mock Pipp, and any earth pony not directly connected to Argyle was suspect. Argyle had told her about the earth ponies of Maretime Bay, and she trusted Argyle.

Her daughters had to be saved, but how was she going to do that?

She sighed and walked over to the bars of her cell. Nopony was even bothering to guard her, which meant the guards weren't thinking. Two prisoners had just escaped this same cell no more than a few hours ago, and they just tossed her in it without a thought about how it might not be that secure. This is why the pegasi needed their royal family. They were stupid and lost without the royals.

Haven looked to the side and the button to open the cell door. It was bioprinted, so only authorized hooves could work it. How stupid were her guards? Did they toss her in here and not think to remove her permissions from the system? They couldn't be that stupid… could they?

The smart pony is always at the mercy of the dumb one. This is because the intelligent pony is limited by logic, while the dumb pony knows no bounds for their stupidity. Sometimes you have to forget about doing what makes sense to defeat the idiot. That was one of her mother's many lessons, one she never bothered to pass on as if yet because it seemed too cynical. Yet…

She reached through the bars, straining to reach the panel. Her hoof touched it, and she heard the beep, and she withdrew her leg just fast enough that it didn't get caught in the bars as they moved.

Her guards were that stupid. When and if she regained power, education reforms were in order.

The was an issue for another day. Right now, she needed to get down to the lower levels and get out of the city. Then she could find her daughters before the worst happened to them.

Haven reached the road with surprisingly little trouble, but now she was at an impasse. There were two directions her daughters could have gone, to Maretime Bay or to Bridlewood. Nothing she knew told her which way to go.

The crossroads was a rocky area, with an old weathered sign that pointed in three different directions. None of the labels on the sign were legible, far too old and faded for a pony like her to make out. She didn't need to read it; she knew which way led to which. This wasn't even her first time seeing this sign. However, it was her first time ever considering that somepony had taken the time to make it, once upon a time, just like many ponies had taken the time to make the roads between the towns, connecting them—more evidence of that lost time when there was no hostility between the different types of ponies. The lies about the royal family had fallen; why couldn't the lie that the different pony types had always been at each other's throats been the one that had dropped instead?

Being out here made her nostalgic, and she didn't have time for nostalgia. Her babies could be suffering at the hooves of bigoted earth ponies or tricky unicorns, or just fallen off a cliff and broken their legs and were now lying at the bottom of a ravine, helpless and crying for somepony to save them.

Get ahold of yourself, Haven. You know Zipp would never get into such a position, and Pipp is far more athletic than she looks. They won't get beaten by the wilderness. She scolded herself.

One ear sagged, then another. The wilderness might not beat her daughters, but it could destroy her. She was no better off alone out here than she was the last time. Rush to their rescue? Ha! It was more like they'd need to rush to hers. That was only if they were dealing with the wilderness, though. If they were dealing with ponies, she was the one who was more experienced.

And she still didn't know what ponies to deal with, unicorns or earth ponies. If she kept sitting long enough, she was going to be dealing with the pegasus guards.

She still didn't know which way to go.

"You've got friends in Maretime Bay," she said to herself, repeating what Argyle told her long ago. She hadn't forgotten. She'd go to Maretime Bay, to the lighthouse, and seek his help. If her daughters were there, all the better. If the earth ponies had captured her daughters, he could help her get them free. If they were in Bridlewood instead… well, he could help her figure out what to do if that was the case. Maretime Bay it would be. It was the only option that made sense.

Choice made, she stood up and started walking.

The terrain didn't stay rocky for long. In a relatively short time, she found herself out in the woods. It wasn't the woods like Bridlewood. Her first out this way had her wandering down the side of the mountain till she hit the grassy hills. She'd only seen these woods on the return trip after her mother's guards had caught her. Back then, she'd been too busy trying to figure out what she was going to say when she was hauled in front of her mother and hadn't taken the time to appreciate her surroundings. This time was different. She had all the plans she needed, or at least all the ones she could reasonably come up with given her situation, and she didn't need to focus on her thoughts as much. In fact, she very much didn't want to focus on her thoughts at the moment. It would give her an anxiety attack.

There were other reasons to pay more attention to her surroundings now as opposed to before. Zipp and Pipp could possibly be out here, and it would be terrible if she walked right by them without noticing. It had already been night when she left, and it was very dark out now. There could be wild animals out there that could attack, and she didn't have the pegasus guard surrounding her, ready to defend if need be. Speaking of the guard, they were probably aware that she had gotten free by now, and they may be pursuing her. She needed to keep her eyes out.

She stopped in her tracks, grimacing, and looked to the side of the road. If the guard were pursuing her, then she'd be easily found and captured casually walking along the route. She needed to get off it. That meant going into the woods. This was going to be miserable.

"I hate bushes. I hate trees. I hate dirt. I hate mud puddles. I hate brooks. I hate streams. I don't do nature," she muttered to herself as she made her way into the brush. She didn't intend to go too far in, just far enough so ponies going down the road wouldn't immediately spot her. If she went too far from the road, she would get lost, and she'd need saving. The road had to be kept in sight but not too close.

This method of travel slowed her down exponentially. She recalled they had passed through the woods in about an hour years before. After two hours of travel, wading through the undergrowth, she still wasn't clear of the woods. It wasn't as easy as walking in a straight line along the road. Things got in the way. The ground was uneven. Sometimes she had to detour wide around a bunch of bushes and then found herself unsure which direction the road was anymore and had to spend more time finding it again. How did prehistoric ponies manage this kind of travel?

After having to spend untold minutes trying to figure out how to get around a little ravine that just existed out in the middle of the trees for whatever reason, she had enough. She was getting back in the road, and she would just have to be ready to run if the guards appeared. If she never had to go in the woods again, she would die happy.

As she reached the road, her ears twitched at a sound in the distance.

Cloudpuff? Was that him? What was he doing out here? Wait… that earth pony stallion had enthralled him. She had no clue what had become of her dog after all the commotion. Maybe he had gone with Zipp and the others. That meant she just had to follow the sound of Cloudpuff's yapping and yowling.

That yapping and bowling was coming from the woods on the opposite side of the road. That meant she had to go into the woods...again. It didn't matter; her daughters could be out there.

The barking was getting more distant. Haven started running as soon as she realized it, nature be bucked! She was not going to lose the only lead she had!

The barking stopped, replaced with a mournful howl. Cloudpuff wasn't moving anymore. Her gut clenched up. Why did he sound like that? Did something happen? Every dreadful possibility passed through her mind as she pushed in, branches smacking her in the face, her almost tripping and falling more than once.

A clearing suddenly opened up in the trees, and within that clearing, the broken remains of a building. She couldn't tell what kind of building it had been, or even how many stories talk it had been; all she saw were broken brick walls and trees growing through the middle of it and along the sides. The only roof was the canopy provided by the trees that had made the building their planter. Cloudpuff's howling was coming from within.

"Girls? My precious darlings? Is anypony in there?" she called out as she approached an opening in the structure.

Cloudpuff stopped howling and gave an excited yap before racing out and tackling her, knocking her on her back, and licking her face excitedly.

She shoved him off angrily. "You little traitor! Get off of me! You do not have that right after what you did during Pipp's performance! Where are Zipp and Pipp?!"

The dog got off her and whined, looking hurt and ashamed. She got up and looked inside the structure. "Zipp! Pipp! Anypony!"

There was no reply. The only ones here were her, Cloudpuff, and crickets.

Cloudpuff walked over to her, holding something in his mouth. She took it from him. It was a badge, a sheriff's badge, and it had the name of the town of Maretime Bay spelled out on it.

She looked at her dog. "One of those earth ponies dropped this, didn't they? You were trying to track them."

Cloudpuff laid down, looking depressed. She looked around at her surroundings again.

"These woods are dense. There are too many smells for you to make things out, and if I am having trouble traversing them, I can only imagine what it must be like for you," she said thoughtfully.

Cloudpuff whined and gave her his biggest puppy dog eyes.

She frowned. "I'm still angry at you...but having you with me is better than no company. Do you think you can track that earth pony if we get out of these woods?"

Cloudpuff stood up and started bouncing excitedly.

Haven let herself smile as real hope if finding her daughters bloomed. "Okay then. I can get us out of the woods—" She looked around again, and her smile slipped. "—in the morning, when we can see. Then you won't have so many scents to sort through, and we can follow that earth pony and find Zipp and Pipp."

Cloudpuff took a few tentative steps towards her, then sat and begged.

She sighed and shook her head. "I don't have any food, and I don't know how to start a fire. I'd probably catch the whole woods ablaze if I somehow managed it. We are too pampered for this kind of stuff, but here we are."

Cloudpuff whined again.

Haven laid down and raised a wing. "Come on. You can cuddle up with me. It's warmer if we're close together, and it's cold out here. Come on."

Her, until today, faithful dog excitedly sprinted to close the distance and practically buried himself against her. She decided to stop being angry with him. He still loved her, and they were in this together. It wasn't like she had anypony else to turn to for help out here. She draped her wing over him and pulled him close to her, enjoying what little warmth he could provide. He was shivering and cold, but hopefully, they would warm up together.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow she would find her daughters, bring them hope, crown Zipp as the new queen, and then they would make this all right again.