Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cadance had a busy week, she noted as she looked at her daily planner. This evening was a ball involving all the royalty of Equestria and the lands beyond, along with, of course, Twilight’s friends. The next morning, she and the sisters would be storming the tower in the human realm to save the missing princess. And then, Varian would be reintroduced to other humans, seeing that he was finally ready. Or so he said, but he did seem more confident then he had before. He’d insisted to his family during the last birthday that he and Flurry, his fourteenth and her tenth, had that he felt ready. Discord seemed displeased to hear it. Cadance had to assume the draconequus was just worried, she was herself but she knew this was something that Varian wanted to at least try to do.

“All the preparations are just about done.” Sunburst said as he entered the palace, Cadance smiling at him.

“Thank you Sunburst.”

“Of course. I am a little concerned that Varian doesn’t know what day it is, though. He went to his lab first thing in the morning, and I don’t think he’s come down, not even for lunch.” Sunburst admitted.

“It sounds like he’s on the verge of a breakthrough then.” Cadance smiled a little. “I’ll go check on him.”

“And I’ll go pull Flurry from her practice.” Sunburst offered helpfully.

Cadance made her way up to the lab, putting on a pair of goggles that were hanging near the exit. For safety, she’d insisted if she, Shining or Flurry went into the lab to see Varian they had to follow lab rules. This was mostly to keep Flurry safe, but instilling the rule meant that she and Shining had to show they were doing it too. And she personally found lab safety to be important. The elevator made its way up to the top, Cadance stepping onto the staircase and knocking on the hatch.

“Varian? Sweetheart, are you in here?” Cadance called.

“Yeah mom, c’mon in!”

She entered slowly, the past years of explosions, mechanical parts flying by and other lab accidents had taught her to be cautious when entering. Though she could tell this time that whatever Varian was working on was going a lot more smoothly.

“What are you working on?” She asked as she neared.

“A new chemical that creates a lot of power in a small chemical reaction. It’s completely stable otherwise.” Varian explained, dropping a single drop of a green liquid into a barrel of red, a significantly large by comparison explosion shaking the room. “I’m still working on how big the other receptacle will need to be to make use of this, but I think it could revolutionize some of Equestria’s energy usage.”

“Impressive.” Cadance smiled. “Well, you’re going to have to come back to this later because-”

“The ball! Shoot, I almost forgot. Sorry mom.” Varian shot up from his seat, Cadance smiling a bit. “C’mon Ruddiger!”

The raccoon stretched and jumped down from its bed on top of one of the many shelves, climbing onto Varian’s shoulder.

Varian rushed out, Cadance using her magic to slow him down.

“Calm down Varian, we have time.” Cadance smiled, fixing his hair. “Rarity just wants to make sure the new clothes fit right.”

“Are they here?” Varian asked.

“Any minute now. It’s been a long time since we’ve all been able to meet in one place.” Cadance admitted, walking alongside him.“But we still have some time before Celestia and Luna, or any of the others, arrive.”

Varian didn’t have time to ask a follow up question as he was tackled by a familiar pink mare, laughing a bit once they stopped rolling on the floor.

“Hi aunt Pinkie.”

“Hi Varian! Oh, you’ve gotten sooo big.” Pinkie smiled, squeezing his torso in a hug.

“Growin’ like a healthy saplin. I think.” Applejack added.

“Not like we have a lot of idea how big humans are supposed to be at this age.” Rainbow admitted.

“Darling please, don’t knock the poor thing over like that.” Rarity chastised as Twilight levitated Pinkie off, holding her hoof out to help Varian stand.

“It’s alright aunt Rarity, she’s just excited.” Varian said, sharing a hug with the unicorn. “I haven’t seen most of you in months.”

“How are you and Ruddiger doing?” Fluttershy asked.

“Great, aunt Shy. He is getting a little chubby though.” Varian admitted, the raccoon chirping angrily.

“Oh well, he does have a point, Ruddiger.” Fluttershy said as she pet the raccoon. “I’ll try to come up with a healthy, but tasty, diet for him.”

“How have you been Varian?” Twilight smiled, hugging him.

“He invented a new chemical this morning.” Cadance said proudly, nuzzling against him, Varian blushing.

“Mooom.”

“Oooh, I’d love to hear about it.” Twilight smiled, clapping her front hooves together.

“After I make sure the clothes I made for him fit, Twilight.” Rarity insisted.

“I haven’t grown much since the last clothes you sent.” Varian shrugged, following Rarity regardless.

He wasn’t too surprised the new toga for the event was a shade of purple, though he did note it was far closer to blue then the true deep purple of the Crystal Empire. 

“Goodness, your alchemy apron has seen better days. I’ll have to get to work on a new one.” Rarity mentioned as he changed behind a partition.

“Yeah the uh, the new chemical is a bit explosive.” Varian admitted, fastening it with the crystal empire fibula he had, taking a deep breath and looking at himself unsure in the mirror.

“Everything alright darling?”

“Oh uh… just… the usual.” Varian admitted, stepping around the partition. “I don’t care that I’m the only human in… well anywhere on this side of the mirror. I just… I don’t know, I wasn’t a prince where you guys got me. I don’t…” 

“Oh darling, imposter syndrome gets the best of us. Even me, your aunt Twilight and Rainbow Dash.” Rarity comforted, using her magic to float over a laurel and placing it on him. “You are doing a wonderful job as a prince, just look at all the advances Equestria has made because of your alchemy and engineering. That’s more than some royalty has ever done.”

He smiled a bit, impressed that, despite not being a mother, Rarity had ignored the words but found the meaning of what was bothering him, “Thanks aunt Rarity. That helps.”

“This is a plain, quiet royal ball. Well, as quiet as they are when the dragons, griffons and yaks attend.” Rarity admitted, hopping up on one of the chairs in the room and putting an arm around his shoulder to give him a hug. “You’ll fit in as well as any creature else.”

He smiled a bit, hugging her back again, “Right.”

“Besides, Thorax adores you, so you could just avoid talking to any creatures that make you uncomfortable and talk to him all night.” Rarity added, Varian perking up.

He’d spent a brief period of time recently with Twilight in the Changeling Kingdom helping them set up running water, to aid in their crop growing and to drink. And Varian had managed to find a safe, albeit smelly, deterrent to keep maulworfs far away from the kingdom.

“That’s true. I did want to ask him how well everything we helped them build is holding up.” Varian admitted, before giving Rarity a sly look. “Will Capper be there?”

“Eh hem, I uh don’t know, why would I know?” Rarity asked nervously, a blush across her face, Varian laughing a bit. “Aaannyway, that looks perfect on you, as I expected.”

“It’s a little periwinkle.” Varian admitted. “I mean I like periwinkle just you know, not the official color.”

“Yes, well you look so lovely in blues, teals and turquoise, so a bluer purple felt appropriate.” Rarity smiled, walking out with him. “And technically the flag has many hues and periwinkle is one of them. Now, where is your sister?”

“I think she was practicing archery outside again, or with Mistmane.” Varian admitted, thinking. “She wasn’t super clear what she was doing today.”

“Well, I’ll find her. I’m sure some creature knows where she is.”

Varian smiled a bit and nodded, “Need any help getting her?”

“Oh no darling, you should go tell Twilight about your new chemical, she won’t be able to stand waiting much longer.” Rarity smiled, heading off.

The rest of the evening went about the way it always did, despite Varian’s trepidation. He always felt out of place at social events like this, despite his best efforts to learn the best ways to interact with every creature. Twilight had some tips that he had quickly written down before the ball began, and the ball was, thus far, as boring as usual. He and Thorax had a nice conversation, but after that Varian almost wished he was still little enough that, like Flurry, Sunburst would just take him to go do something more age appropriate after dinner. He knew he didn’t have to be there all evening, thankfully, and a quick glance at the time told him he would be relieved soon enough.

“You look bored.” Shining said as he walked over, Varian giving him an apologetic smile. “Hey, you’ve been doing great.”

“Well, I try to pay attention to what’s going on in Equestria. I mean, if I can help I want to.” Varian admitted. “Especially considering all this peace is relatively new.”

“Hey, you don’t need to worry about the past. That’s for us to worry about.” Shining put a hoof on Varian’s shoulder, and he gave the stallion a small smile. “That’s kind of our job as parents and rulers of the Empire.”

“I know dad.” Varian smiled a bit. 

“Well, I think you’ve done your time, just say goodnight to your mom before you head out.” Shining smiled, and Varian nodded.

“Sure thing dad.” Varian headed over where the princesses were, Cadance noticing him and immediately pulling him close with her wing. “Hey mom.”

“Heading out?”

“Yeah. We have a big day tomorrow so uh… I’m going to try to get enough sleep. It was nice seeing you again, Luna, Celestia.” Varian said, the two smiling at him.

“And you as well, Varian.” Celestia smiled. 

“Goodnight mom.” Varian hugged her back before leaving the hall.

He heard something and froze, looking around the empty crystal hallways before he spotted someone hiding down the hall. 

“... Flurry? Is that you?” He chanced, walking a bit closer, confused as he was not greeted by his younger sister but by an unfamiliar pegasus.

“Oh uh, a thousand pardons, highness.” The unfamiliar pony said, bowing her head.

He’d done his best, like his mother, to learn the names of as many crystal ponies as he could, but this pony appeared to be from another part of Equestria. The telltale signs of a crystal empire citizen weren’t there, but she was a seemingly normal pegasus with a caterpillar cutie mark, but Varian knew that the palace was currently closed to guests.

“How did you get inside the palace?” Varian backed up a bit.

“I flew into one of the windows. I mean no harm I promise I just… I need help.” She pleaded, Varian pausing. “Somepony I care about was turned to stone somehow and I-I don’t know how other then it wasn’t a cockatrice and-”

She started sobbing, Varian looking back at the party before he knelt down to be eye level with this stranger.

“Hey I… I don’t know much about magic but… I can try to help. I’ve made alchemical solutions that have worked for that.” Varian offered, the pony looking up at him with watery eyes.

“Thank you, Prince Varian.” She sniffled.

“Just Varian is fine.”

He led her to his lab, asking her questions along the way to try to figure out what the cause of the stone spell was. 

“Hmm…I think… well, I made a potion for cockatrice petrification once because of an accident. I think, with some slight modification it might work as a general anti-stone spell potion.” Varian admitted, more to himself than to the stranger, entering the lab and opening a filing cabinet and getting the potion recipe out along with the notes Nova had left for him about how modifying potions worked. “Okay so if I… yeah that should work.”

“Organized aren’t you?”

“Well usually only kind of but aunt Twili came by today and she put everything back where she thinks it should be.” Varian shrugged, going to one of the tables and gathering what he needed.

“You really found a potion to reverse stone spells? That’s amazing. You must put the pegasi to shame.” 

Varian paused after pulling his goggles down, looking at the pony. “Uh… you're a Pegasus?”

“Oh uh, I meant the alchemist pegasi. You know, always just making the weather.”

“I mean, we need the weather.” Varian said, beginning to mix. “So you're not from Cloudsdale huh?”

“Oh uh… is that obvious?”

“The weather factory is Cloudsdale’s pride and joy.” Varian shrugged, “so since you're so… blase about it, kind of clear you're not from there.”

“Oh, that makes sense…”

Varian paused for a moment, turning to look at the pegasus, “So how did this happen?”

“I don’t know. I was gone for… maybe a week? And when I got back, she was stone.”

“Huh… and you're sure it isn’t a cockatrice?”

“I had somepony try that.”

“... Alright…” Varian was almost sure something was off, but he couldn’t figure out what.

For all he knew, this pony and her friend were playing around with something they shouldn’t have been. But that didn’t mean he shouldn’t try to help, he just didn’t understand why she was being so dodgy. She also seemed young enough that ‘some creature’ should be her go to term of speech, not ‘somepony’, but he knew some families were still using the older terms, whether because they didn’t have a lot of other creatures in their home villages or out of stubborness.

“There we go, that should be done.” Varian turned, holding the vial up as the pegasus mare reached for it. “But just to be sure it doesn’t cause your friend any harm, I really should be the one to use it.”

“But… Alright.”

He wasn’t sure he liked the almost malicious look in the ponies eyes before she turned to lead him where her friend was, and he carefully grabbed his alchemy bag and staff, beginning to think this might not be the best idea. He’d kept the glorified walking stick at the behest of Flurry, who genuinely thought it was cool, and it had its uses in lighting the way for him. Moreso, Tempest thought it would make self defense easier and had taught him ways to use it as such. 

He looked around as they walked, unsure of where they were going but more confused that she clearly was leading him somewhere in the Empire. Why didn’t he recognize this pegasus? He knew most of the faces around the Empire, even as it got bigger and creatures of almost every kind called it home. 

“In here, your highness.” She said, entering a building Varian wasn’t sure he’d ever seen used.

Which, he realized now, was even more odd, why any building in the Empire would go unused for long enough for him to notice? The city had been undergoing development in the past few years, and any building that were empty had been quickly filled. Maybe the pegasus and her friend had just moved there recently, and this was just a house that hadn’t been bought for some time. 

“This is a uh… spooky place… but that’s fine.” Varian muttered as he reached around for a light switch.

The lights flickered, and for a moment he thought he saw the stone spelled pony that the pegasus might have been here for, but the lights refused to turn on for more than a second. He squinted, trying to let his eyes adjust to the flashing lights, when the pegasus tackled him. He did his best to remember the training he’d had with Tempest Shadow, and after some effort he managed to get free enough to swing and hit the pegasus with the end of his staff, scrambling back and reaching into his alchemy bag. His eyes widened as his back hit something, looking up and immediately recognizing what had been hidden in this building. He was lucky enough to have come to Equestria after their defeat, but he knew what Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow looked like.

“... You… you’re trying to free them ? Why?” He snapped, forcing himself to his feet.

“Not them, her. Because she’s my mother.” The ‘pegasus’ transformed into a changeling, though there was assuredly something different about it to the ones he’d seen before.

She looked like the pre-Thorax changelings more than the way he was used to seeing them now, but instead of the black chitinous form they’d had, she was white, and there was no shine on her shell. She, frankly, looked unhealthy.

“... What kind of changeling are you?” Varian asked, lowering his guard as he looked at her worriedly. 

“I see no reason to tell you that.” She snapped.

“Look I… I know you probably feel lost or abandoned, but you don’t have to turn to Chrysalis just because she made you.” Varian took a tentative step closer, opening his arms to show some vulnerability. “Thorax will welcome you, I know he will.”

“I don’t want to be welcomed by that wimpy little-” She hissed, leaping at him.

He swung his staff, managing to knock the changeling off course and away, making a break for the exit, sliding to a stop as she recovered and jumped in the way.

“I don’t think so.” She hissed and bore her fangs, Varian backing away. “Release her.”

“No. I know what she’s capable of. What they all are. I wasn’t around for it, but I’ve heard it all enough times to know.” Varian countered, looking around. 

“You’re just some squishy magicless creature, you can’t do anything to stop me. And no one knows you're here. Do as I say and maybe you’ll get to leave.” 

“Okay I’m not stupid enough to think you’ll just let me go.” Varian rolled his eyes, looking around as he tried to come up with a plan, pulling out a chemical bottle. “I won’t let you do this, if stopping this here is the last thing I’ll ever do.”

It was a gamble to hope this changeling didn’t remember what color the potion he had made earlier, but the gamble seemed to pay off when he tossed the bottle. She hurried to try to catch it, shocked as her leg was trapped to the ground as the bottle broke, the goo trap getting just her front foreleg, but that was enough.

“You tricked me.” She snapped.

“Well you tried to trick me first so.” Varian shrugged, turning to leave. 

He was a bit surprised as he was pulled back, the strange changeling yanking on his bag strap with magic, yanking it back himself.

“Just give up already.” He huffed, yanking as hard as he could. 

He froze as she began gnawing on her leg, the strange, discolored blood enough to make him nauseous and dizzy.

“H-Hey stop that’s-” He said, taking a few tentative steps forward after tearing his eyes from the liquid. “It’s not worth losing a limb over!”

She seemed to notice his unsteadiness and yanked on his bag again, the stone spell solution flying out at the yank and onto the statue, though to Varian’s relief it only landed on one of the captives. The smallest and most conniving one, and despite knowing very little about that particular villain, Varian knew better than to underestimate Cozy Glow. He hurried, tackling the pegasus filly before she could regain her senses and doing his best to hold her as she began to flap her wings in hurry.

“Wha- Who are you! Get off me!” She shrieked, struggling.

“Nope, I won’t be doing that. I know exactly who you are, Cozy Glow.” Varian countered, trying to reach into his alchemy bag for another goo trap vial or ball.

“Please, I’m not all bad, really! They- they tricked me!” She pleaded, pointing at Tirek and Chrysalis.

“Betrayer!” The changeling hissed, hissing again as Varian used another goo ball on it.

“I know what you're trying to do and it’s not going to work. You, just… stay put and don’t gnaw your legs off.” Varian huffed, leaving the place after only receiving a hiss in reply. “Okay, this is fine. Take Cozy Glow to mom, explain everything, we’ll be okay.”

“Are you so sure?” Cozy Glow asked. “You let me out.”

“I was tricked into making a potion and in the scuffle you got let out, there’s a difference.”

“Is there?” 

“There is. Mom… mom will understand.” Varian started, though between the changeling's blood still leaving him woozy and the doubts Cozy was purposefully spreading, he wasn’t so sure.

He knew how the people of his human village would have reacted, and now that those vague memories and feelings forced themselves to the surface, he couldn’t shake them. It had been years since he really thought about Old Corona, but every time he did it brought back sour feelings. It didn’t help that the last time he had thought about them, it was because he had a run in with the fear spreading obsidian Sombra used to hide things in the castle, tinting the memories to be even worse then they had been. Or he assumed they didn’t used to be that bad. 

He shook his head, trying to shake off the feeling, but he was hesitant as he walked back through the quiet, empty night streets of the empire. He hadn’t made a mistake this big before, he’d been able to learn and grow with someone by his side without someone telling him ‘it was too dangerous’ or worse, though he couldn’t remember everything Quirin had said, he remembered how it made him feel. Quirin loved him, but all Varian could remember was the visible disappointment.

“... I… I was trying to help… they’ll understand.” 

“You don’t sound so sure.”

“Shut up. You’re just trying to get in my head.” Varian snapped as they entered the palace, before sighing. “And it’s working.”

“... You were adopted by the princess? And you messed up this bad?” 

“Not listening.” Varian said, pausing. “... Huh, guess the party's still going on, the guards are kind of…”

His thoughts were disrupted as Cozy Glow suddenly bucked her back legs into him, causing him to collapse as he tried to regain his breath. He hadn’t considered that he wasn’t carrying her in a way that might be safe, his sister obviously had never bucked him. He forced himself up and took chase, hoping that perhaps she’d end up in one of the hallways the increased guard were guarding. She went into a room that Varian often ignored, his eyes widening knowing what was in there.

“Oh no wait isn’t it… oh don’t tell me…” He did quick math in his head, rushing into the room, starling the filly and seeing Cozy Glow back up and fall through the mirror. “... Okay uh… no this is fine. She’ll have to… to come back through here and…”

He sighed, knowing full well that she might not, that she might try, and knowing her, succeed to get some humans under her control, and use the two and a half years to prepare an attack on Equestria. He grabbed his backpack meant for the morning, putting it on as he mentally prepared himself to step through alone. He took a deep breath, stepping through and looking around, seeing Cozy Glow who stopped and looked at him.

“... This is where you’re from, isn’t it?” She smirked.

“Look, my old world isn’t nearly as safe or- or forgiving as Equestria, trust me when I say we should go back right now.” Varian said, taking a step toward her. “I was orphaned the same day mom found me.”

“Uh huh, whatever. I’m not going back just to be turned back to stone.” Cozy Glow countered, flying out of the old ruins.

He tried to keep up with her, but she was flying fast enough he could just barely keep an eye on her. He heard her talking to someone and he hurried to the spot, hoping he could convince whoever it was that the filly was a liar.

Hugo hated being in Corona. It was hotter than Ingvarr, it had thick forests that were hard to navigate, and the king had become intolerant of even petty crimes, let alone the crimes he could be associated with. Worse, he had no idea what they were doing there, why Donella had dragged just him and Cyrus to the kingdom of the sun. It had something to do with the witch hunters, but he had no idea what her issue was with them either. He certainly didn’t care that she was likely dismantling the group bit by bit, everyone in Ingvarr knew they were dangerous, but he wasn’t sure why. No one seemed to be paying her for this, it seemed personal. And he’d never seen Donella get personal.

“This is an abandoned town. What are we doing here?” Hugo asked.

“The witch hunters made an uncharacteristically risky move here, killing everyone. Or so I thought.” Donella explained. “They were after a child named Varian. He’d be about your age now, Hugo.”

“Okay… so we’re here to do…”

“They never managed to capture or kill him.” Donella continued, Hugo quickly silencing himself. “Meaning, he’s escaped up until now somehow, despite them returning every thirty moons to look for him.”

“Thirty moons?”

“Evidently, that’s the timeline they were given.”

“So… he’ll be back again soon. Okay. And we’re here to… find him first?”

“I have questions, he might have answers. That is all.”

He could tell her patience with questioning was over, so he just leaned against a wall.

“Weird that it happened here. They just found the missin’ princess too, right?”

“I do believe the phenomenon is related, somehow.” Donella admitted, sounding a little less cross.

She did tend to sound a little amused or perhaps proud of his thought processes, so at least she wasn’t completely upset with him. Before he could chance to ask why, there was a sudden explosion of light somewhere in the forest, a rainbow shooting into the sky and leaving a beautiful aurora in the sky.

“What was that?” Hugo looked at Donella, who tapped her face.

“Hugo, you and Cyrus go investigate that. If it turns out to be Varian, earn his trust. Learn what you can. Cyrus, you stay out of sight unless those witch hunters show up.”

“... Alright.” Hugo sighed, making his way through the thick forest.

It took some time to reach where the explosion had come from, by the time they were there the aurora had worn off, but once they arrived he saw a dazed and confused teenage boy. He was about Hugo’s age, he was wearing a very fancy looking toga with jewelry that made it clear he was some kind of prince from somewhere far away. But Hugo also noticed the goggles atop his head and the smaller of the two bags he had, little glass vials making it evident this was an alchemist. He was standing in a clearing looking around confused and scared, like he didn’t expect to be there.

“Hey there, you alright?” Hugo walked out into the clearing.

“Who are you?” The boy turned, holding a staff to keep distance between the two of them.

“Calm down, I just saw some kind of magical explosion and came to see what was goin’ on, your majesty. My name is Hugo.”

“... Varian.” He returned the courtesy, looking down at his clothes. “Where… Why am I here? I was just at the ball…”

Hugo was more confused about the boy then he’d expected, he was a farmer's son at best, but he was clearly royalty now from somewhere else. Still, he was who he was looking for, so he put on the charm.

“Ball huh? Those are fancy duds for travelin. Or gatherin’ ingredients for alchemy.” Hugo mentioned as he moved closer. “What do you remember last?”

“Uh… a strange…” Varian started, looking at Hugo wearily before continuing. “A stranger coming to me for help. I… oh, whoever it was who used that memory spell on mom must still be around here.”

“Memory spell?” Hugo’s eyebrows raised, he himself looking around wearily. “Strong enough you don’t remember how you got all the way to Corona?”

“... I don’t think they stuck around.” Varian offered, rubbing his face. “Okay, alright uh… Where…”

He was clearly trying to get his bearings, but before Hugo could offer any advice they heard a tree branch snap. Varian turned quickly and backed into Hugo, who would have tried to lay on the charm thick if it wasn't for a large witch hunter coming through the brush.

“There you are.”

“Oh not these guys again.” Hugo sighed, quickly looking around.

“You know them?”

“They got a reputation where I’m from.”

Hugo reached slowly into his pocket, stopping as the man aimed a crossbow at him.

“Hold it there, Ingvarrian.”

Varian realized then, for certain, this blonde had nothing to do with the men that had hunted him so long. And he was unwilling to see another person cut down in defense of him, so he stepped in front of Hugo.

“It’s me you're after, leave him alone.”

“We used to operate nice and quiet, before you. Now half the kingdoms arrest our order immediately. Because you just had to get away.”

“Yeah, razing a village to the ground, real quiet.” Hugo taunted.

“Why are you aggravating the guy with the crossbow?” Varian whispered.

“Because-” Hugo dragged Varian down to duck out of the way as Cyrus made his move.

The warhammer hit the witch hunter's chest hard, sending the man sprawling. If he got up afterwards, they didn’t see as Cyrus shoved them and told them to run. Varian was clearly more used to running in dense forest, but Hugo kept up alright, the two stopping and waiting a while, relieved as Cyrus rejoined them. 

“That was too close, Hugo.”

“Hey, I didn’t expect that guy, okay?” Hugo asked, turning to look at Varian. “You alright Goggles?”

“Yeah uh… I… Thank you. Both of you.”

Cyrus huffed before he gestured to a spot, “Sleep. No one is going anywhere until we can see more clearly.”

“But- my parents are going to be worried, they don’t even know I’m here.” Varian insisted.

“They’d be more worried if you were dead, or taken by those people.” Hugo countered. “It’ll be alright, nothin’ gets by Cyrus. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“I… alright…” Varian sighed, sitting down under a tree. “Uh… just… so you aren’t surprised by it, sometimes my hair glows when I sleep.”

“... okay- no, I need clarification, why?” Hugo asked after a moment.

“Magic. He has some inside him. Explains why they keep coming after him.” Cyrus answered. “How brightly?”

“Uh… bright enough to light up a room dimly.” Varian answered, digging in his backpack and pulling out a cloak. “It’s just the one strand.”

“Alright, cover your hair the best you can.” Cyrus ordered, though Varian was already doing so.

Hugo leaned up against the same tree, looking at Varian as Cyrus left the area after a moment.

“Sorry about him. He’s uh… he’s a hard ass but he means well.”

“It’s okay. He kind of reminds me of my aunt's girlfriend.” Varian admitted, trying to get comfortable. “... Hugo, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks again…”

“Don’t mention it. Now, things’ll hopefully be more clear in the mornin’ so get some sleep, alright?”

“Alright.” Varian yawned, trying to get comfortable.

He wasn’t sure he fully trusted the two, but he had to for the time being, and they were right. The best thing he could try to do now was sleep and solve the mystery in the morning.

Chapter Text

Hugo woke up hearing something, jumping up to his feet and only allowing himself to relax once it was clear it had been Cyrus.

“He’s a sound sleeper.” Cyrus gestured over to Varian. 

He was still sound asleep, surprisingly comfortable looking in the roots of the tree. Hugo could see, barely, that his hair was glowing under the cloak he’d used to cover it. He also noted just how comfortable and cute the fellow teen was, wondering momentarily with worry what Donella wanted with him.

“Wherever he’s been, he’s been safe.” Cyrus added.

“Yeah, I gathered that much myself. So, what do we do?”

“The city is safer than the woods, they can’t sneak up on us so easily there. I’m taking the two of you there, and then I will fill Donella in on what's going on. Plan stays, you get his trust, we’ll keep an eye on you from a distance.”

“Yeah, alright.” Hugo sighed, stretching. “I’ll get sleeping beauty up.”

“Sleeping beauty eh?” Cyrus teased. “Careful, Hugo. We still don’t know what Donella wants with him.”

Hugo wasn’t used to being teased by Cyrus, frankly, and he sputtered as he tried to find a retort. Before he could think of one, Cyrus’ usual stern face returned as he grabbed his weapons handle and turned. Hugo knew the man well enough to know it probably wasn’t a false alarm, so he shook Varian awake. Varian looked confused initially, but once he remembered where he was he got concerned seeing that Cyrus was aggravated. He stood up and quickly grabbed his bag, getting his things together and ready to move as fast as he could.

“Cy?” Hugo looked at the man.

“... They’re around. Let’s get moving.” Cyrus instructed.

“To where? I need to get home.” Varian insisted.

“No offense princey, but I feel like your home is pretty far away. I’ve never even seen a flag with that snowflake on it.” Hugo mentioned, before the likely answer occurred to him. “Wait, don't tell me… A portal?”

Varian hesitated but nodded in confirmation, Hugo and Cyrus both sighing.

“Well, we don’t want to lead them to it. So for now, we do this our way.” Cyrus insisted.

“I- alright.” Varian nodded. 

“You stick with me Goggles, and we-”

Hugo didn’t have time to finish that thought when a large man grabbed Varian from behind, Varian gasping and struggling to get free. He was a little surprised that Hugo jumped to his rescue, managing to knock the man off his feet with a targeted attack at his knee. Hugo grabbed his arm and began dragging him somewhere. Cyrus shouted at them to keep going, and Varian could tell a fight had broken out. He was hesitant to leave the man behind to fight alone, he seemed capable and strong, but so had Quirin. He didn’t really have the strength to pull himself free, his heart was racing, his brain was blank, and at this point he’d rather take his chances with this guy who was about his size and age than the massive man they’d left Cyrus to fight. 

That was until he spotted where Hugo was taking him, toward the kingdom of Corona, where hundreds of people would be. He started pulling against Hugo, but the blonde had a firm grip, and it was almost as though he couldn’t feel that Varian was trying to get loose.

“Ey! Ey, help, we were attacked by some kind of mercs. My friend stopped to fight them off while we ran.” Hugo said to the guards, who leapt to action, Hugo pulling Varian inside. “There we are, problem solved. Woah there, Goggles, are you okay?”

Hugo finally turned to look at Varian, who was looking around in a mild panic. This was too much too soon, with no creature he’d expected to be with him there. The city was yet to be busy, but there were still the telltale signs of people everywhere, and he flinched hearing a sword being removed from its sheath near them, running away from the sound.

“Ey, what is wrong with ya? People would think you… you're afraid of people.” Hugo said as he took chase, pausing once Varian ducked into an empty alleyway, covering his head with his cloak hood. “Oh…”

“I’m not afraid of people I just… I didn’t want to come here. I just want to go home… I have… today, and tomorrow to get home…” Varian muttered to himself, ignoring the strange blonde.

“... That’s kinda cryptic but okay.” Hugo tapped his foot, thinking.

“Why wouldn’t you let go of me when I was trying to stop you?” Varian snapped, Hugo momentarily taken aback.

“Oh uh… sorry bout that. Couldn’t feel you pulling away.” Hugo admitted, rolling up his sleeve.

Varian paused and perked up seeing what appeared to be a robotic prosthetic, standing up straight and moving closer to take a look. He almost grabbed Hugo’s wrist so he could look closer but stopped, Hugo blinking a bit. He was, frankly, used to people yanking on that arm to take a look, the fact Varian didn’t was more odd to him. He held it out closer for Varian to take a closer look, the blue eyed boy looking at it with curiosity.

“That’s… fascinating, from what I remember nothing here was this advanced…”

“Not here in Corona, no.” Hugo admitted. “I’m from Ingvarr, the industrial kingdom. Made this myself after uh… after a nasty incident left me one arm down, obviously.”

“Oh… uh… I’m sorry that happened.” Varian looked down. “And… I’m sorry for snapping like that… You uh… you were trying to help, I know I just…”

“What’s got you so spooked, Goggles? Not in good here? You didn't seem too afraid of me and Cyrus, and Cyrus’ ugly mug is something to be afraid of.”

Varian laughed a little, nervously rubbing his elbow, “Uh… I don’t think they would know I exist exactly, I just- I used to live in a village here in Corona a long time ago, and something really traumatic happened to me… I lost my family and… and I was lucky enough to get adopted by some- somebody who was passing though. So it’s not really I’m afraid of people I’m just… not comfortable around here” 

“Passing royalty, based on the fancy threads. And you know, the crown.” Hugo gestured, Varian touching the laurel he’d forgotten he was wearing in his hair. “Which is how I knew.”

He was dressed for a diplomatic meeting, of course he looked more like a prince than he usually would. 

“I was at a ball at home, actually. I was about to go to bed when some… someone, asked me for some help, they had a problem I could solve with alchemy, and then… then the next thing I remember is being here in Corona.” Varian explained. “The portal only opens once every two and a half years for three days. Midnight to midnight.”

“Sounds like it was some kind of trap for you. Either way, you said midnight to midnight, and it’s only been a few hours. So we have time, alright? Relax. But those guys are clearly after ya, and we can’t risk getting you to that portal just yet.” Hugo offered, Varian nodding after a moment. “So just stick with me, I’ll keep you safe and sound. The Corona guard will arrest those witch hunters once they see who it is, they have no tolerance toward them because of what happened to Old Corona. Cyrus will probably meet us in a few hours at most, and when he does, we’ll get you to the portal.”

“Yeah uh… okay. He does seem pretty tough. Is he like… your brother or…”

“Oh no. I mean, probably not. I’m an orphan.” Hugo shrugged, deflecting before Varian could react. “C’mon, hiding like this in an alleyway is suspicious.”

“But, I…”

“What, it’s not like your kind of magic hair glows unless you're asleep right?”

“Ssh! I don’t know if I can trust these people.” Varian hushed. “And there are… other signs.”

“Like what?”

“...” Varian looked around quickly before he removed his cloak hood, allowing the morning sunlight to hit his eyes.

“Woah. Your eyes are like sapphires.” The words left Hugo before he could stop them.

Varian blushed and pulled his hood up quickly, clearing his throat, “It’s a magical process called crystallization. Where I’m from, it’s a natural side effect of living in the very magical land the Crystal Empire was built on. Totally harmless, and it doesn’t really do anything but change someone’s appearance a little. Mostly in the eyes.”

“But it is clearly a side effect of magic. You know Corona isn’t the safest place for magic, that’s fair.”

“I actually wasn’t sure… I haven’t spent much time here, after I was adopted.” Varian admitted. “How bad is it?”

“Well, not as bad as it was before the princess returned.” Hugo admitted. “Any thieves and magic users who were arrested for any reason until then, though, they had a hard time. Death or exile, usually.”

Varian remembered Flynn and Lance, feeling himself hoping the two of them had avoided capture. He also was relieved for the girls’ sake that the princess had been returned home.

“I don’t use magic, I just… hold some.” Varian insisted, Hugo nodding.

“I can tell. I’m a bit of an artificer.” Hugo explained, gesturing to Varian’s hair. “Weird side effects for that though. The crystallization, as you called it, sounds like it's because the magic comes from crystal yeah?”

“That’s right. The hair… well that’s from something else. The thing that made those… thugs come after me all this time.”

“Keepin’ that secret huh? Fair enough.” Hugo noticed people beginning to move about, before he spotted a seamstress shop. “I’m going to go find some clothes for us to blend in better. I’m clearly from Ingvarr and you look like you're on the way to the princesses’ coronation.”

“I have some, I just need a place to change.” 

“Well for now, you wait here.” Hugo insisted. “Don’t wander off.”

“You don’t tell me what to do.” Varian crossed his arms.

“You’re not in charge around here, prince-y, so I kind of do.” Hugo countered. “Stay.”

Varian wasn’t sure why that annoyed him so much, but as soon as Hugo was inside the store he felt like leaving the area. He meandered the shops a little, jumping a bit as he thought he heard something similar to his name. He looked around before he spotted a familiar portly older man smiling at him.

“Varian, was that it?”

“Uh yeah… Monty?”

“I thought that was you kid, look how much you’ve grown! And look at those fancy clothes. Are you and your family visiting for the princesses’ coronation?”

“Uh, actually we didn't know that was happening.” Varian admitted. “I uh, ended up getting separated but since we were coming this way I came here to wait for them.”

That wasn’t completely a lie, and luckily it seemed that Monty believed him.

“You didn’t mention your family was some kind of royalty before.”

“I mean I was dressed for camping, I don’t think you’d believe me.”

“Well that’s fair.” Monty admitted, “Come in, it’s been years since you’ve had Coronan sweets. Let’s see… if I remember right, this was your favorite.”

The candy maker picked out a little amber colored lollipop, and Varian felt a small wave of nostalgia looking at it. He got into his bag, but Monty shook his head.

“I insist you take it for free, for all the help you gave me picking those bimberries.” 

“Well, thank you. So the missing princess was found? That’s good news.”

“Well, it’s mostly good. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for the king and queen. The girl is just a little… I dunno. I just don’t like her, personally.” 

Varian tilted his head to the side, “Oh?”

“Yeah I dunno, there’s just something about her.”

Before they could continue the conversation, people flooded into the sweet shoppe, so Varian ducked out the best he could after saying a farewell to Monty. The lollipop was as good as he remembered, though it was hardly a real breakfast. He kept meandering the market, hearing a few people whispering about him and all seemingly, and correctly, assuming he was a prince and also, incorrectly, assuming he was visiting for the coronation. He spotted someone selling produce and walked over, looking over the fruit.

“Oh hello, you must be here for the princesses coronation. Shouldn’t you go to the palace?”

“Oh uh… I’m… lost.” Varian lied, though the citizen seemed to believe him.

“Oh, well, Max can take you wherever you need to go. Hey, Max!”

Varian was about to ask who Max was when he heard hooves on the cobblestone streets, turning to see a horse in guard armor. On his chest was the sun that represented Corona, and on it ‘Maximus’ written on it.

“Hello. Max?” Varian asked, the horse seeming to smile.

“Max, this little prince got lost trying to get to the palace for the princesses’ coronation.”

“Please you can just call me Varian. The title thing is so… formal.”

“Princess Rapunzel is going to adore you. She insists the same.”

Varian was a little confused as Max moved to offer him his saddle, but he realized what Max wanted pretty quickly. Unfortunately, the horse was unlikely to leave without him, and that meant he was going to the palace whether he wanted to or not. He climbed up on the saddle with some effort, Max waiting until he seemed steady before trotting toward the castle. 

“So uh, Max, my family and I got separated. They might show up later so uh… do you uh think we can keep an eye out for them?”

Max only whickered in response, and Varian quickly remembered that horses couldn’t talk on this side of the mirror. He did have similar body language to his family, so he was fairly certain Max intended to help. They arrived at the castle grounds, Varian very unsure how to get down from the saddle.

“Who do you have there Max?” A gruff voice asked, the man, who appeared to be a guard captain, relaxing once he looked and saw the slightly stressed and very confused boy. “A boy?”

Varian couldn’t believe he was running into this guy again, but he did his best not to show that he vaguely remembered this guard. At the least, it helped him relax a little, the other time they’d encountered each other was pleasant enough.

“A prince!” A skinny man with a big nose gasped from the top of the stair.

Varian was at least a little impressed how quickly that man hurried down, Varian getting down from Max unsteadily, the captain of the guard helping him.

“A young prince arriving on his own without any sign of his envoy?” The captain asked.

“Oh uh, I got lost and-”

“Oh you poor boy, I’m sure your parents will be arriving shortly.” He had to assume this man was an advisor to the king by the way he was talking. “You must be here for Princess Rapunzel’s coronation.”

“Uh well-” 

“Kid his age probably wasn’t paying attention to the why of the visit.” The captain said, Varian sighing a bit as he and the advisor began to talk like he wasn’t there.

He wasn’t used to that, but he had a feeling he wasn’t going to be considered old enough to care about affairs of state here. He did glean that the adviser's name was Nigel, though, at least. He jumped to attention once Nigel turned to him, asking his name.

“Oh, Varian.” He answered. 

“Varian, can’t say I remember the name but from your garb I can tell you’re long traveled. Well, come along with me, I’m sure his majesty would like to know you’ve arrived safely.” The advisor said, looking closely at his fibula. “Is that made of crystal?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s uh, kind of a big deal where I’m from.” Varian didn’t like having to talk to this man, but he wasn’t sure what else he could do. 

He didn’t seem too bad, he certainly wasn’t a bloodthirsty murderer, so Varian did his best to be polite. He’d done things like this before, he’d met with aides, advisors, princesses. princes, kings and queens in all kinds of halls in the lands. He’d even met the dragonlord in the dragon lands, that was of course more terrifying than humans, right? So why did he feel more afraid then he did when he did meet Ember? Suddenly the fact that Monty, probably the nicest other Coronan he’d ever known, didn’t like the princess was making him become filled with dread. The advisor asked Varian to wait in a hall, and since he didn’t want to get lost in this unfamiliar castle, he waited despite his desire to run. 

He was a little intimidated as a man walked out, clearly a king, a stern look on his face. Beside him was a kind looking woman, the queen, who stopped and stared a while before hurrying over. She was looking at him intently, making him a little nervous, but the dim lighting in the castle was likely enough to hide the sparkle in his eyes. But it made him wonder just what she was looking at.

“... Varian?”

“... you know me?” Varian asked.

“You look so much like your mother, but I see some of your father in there too.” The queen smiled, Varian finally feeling like he could relax seeing the gentle look. “Ocellus mentioned you’d been adopted to a far off land, she didn’t mention it was by royalty.”

“Ocellus was probably worried about saying something she shouldn’t. I uh… I’m usually pretty nervous whenever anyone I know comes here or if we get anywhere close.”

“I can understand why.” The king stepped over, putting a heavy hand on Varian’s shoulder. “Considering what happened… I’m sorry. Your father was a good friend of mine. You probably don’t remember us, considering how little you were the last time I saw you. I’m Frederic, and this is Arianna.”

“I’m glad to meet both of you again.” Varian bowed politely.

“Are your uh, new parents here?” Frederic asked.

“We were supposed to come together but I uh, I got separated. Somehow. I don’t remember how for some reason, but…” Varian admitted, surprised that Frederic seemed to know immediately.

“Saporian magic. As if you being harassed by those mercenaries wasn’t bad enough…” Frederic frowned. “I’ll send out guards to look for your parents at once.”

“You’ll be safe here until then.” Arianna promised. “I’m sorry Corona hasn’t been safe for you.”

They walked with him through the castle, Frederic relaying the news to the captain of the guard who went to begin his search for Varian’s parents.

“When I met Ocellus all those years ago, I got curious about this Crystal Empire, but it seems we have very few records about it here.”

“I’m surprised you have any, honestly. Uh, well, just because the only person from any of the seven kingdoms we have a record of coming to it, before me, was Demanitus.” Varian nervously explained. “So it’s been a thousand years at least.”

“Demanitus isn’t just a legend?” Frederic asked, eyebrows raising. “Well, that’s fascinating.”

“The Empire is a thousand years old? You must have a rich history.” Arianna smiled.

“It’s pretty… intense sometimes.” Varian admitted. “There was the founding, the royal family being usurped, the short King Sombra tyrannical reign, and now my mothers reign which has been thankfully peaceful.”

“Your mothers reign?” Arianna asked.

“Oh uh, yeah. The Crystal Empire is run by my mom, Cadance.”

“Cadance, Ocellus mentioned her.” Arianna admitted. “She said she thought we’d get along.”

“I can see that. Mom is pretty studious herself, and usually really kind.” Varian put his hand on the necklace Cadance had given him, a little concerned that it almost felt like it was somehow cracked. 

Before he could look at it, Arianna seemed to notice it, looking at it a little closely.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, it was a gift mom gave me for my crystalling. Uh, it’s a tradition where I’m from, done when someone either moves into the Empire and decides to stay, when a child is adopted, or when a baby is born. The new citizen has a ceremony where they choose a crystal to be added to the Crystal Heart that sits at the center of the city. Mom and dad waited until I was old enough to understand what that was before I had one.” Varian did his best to keep certain magical elements out of the explanation, but Arianna seemed fascinated still.

“That’s a lovely tradition.” She smiled.

“And quite kind of them to wait for you to know what was going on.” Frederic admitted. “This crystal heart you mentioned-”

Varian was relieved that Frederic was distracted first by a guard bringing him news, and then by a girl walking in, a girl Varian immediately knew without knowing. The sundrop, the missing princess, and as he’d learned from a local, Rapunzel. He suddenly had the feeling he should try to keep himself and Rapunzel from touching, taking the distraction of the Coronan royals to put some of his gloves on. He knew the magic had reacted to Rapunzel before, and he wasn’t going to risk it happening again without Cadance around.

“Mom, dad I- oh, I didn’t know we had guests.” She admitted, smiling. “Hi! I’m Rapunzel.”

“I’m Varian.” He was hesitant to reach out a hand for a handshake, but Rapunzel instead gave him a tight bear hug.

It strangely put him at ease, it reminded him immediately of the hug he’d received the day before from Pinkie Pie. More importantly, there wasn’t a reaction, at least not a visible one. Rapunzel pulled away a little to look at him a little oddly, and he had to guess it was because she sensed something. Frederic cleared his throat, trying to explain to Rapunzel that wasn’t a way to greet someone she didn’t know and especially not fellow royalty.

“I don’t mind. She hugs like my aunt Pinkie.” Varian admitted, Rapunzel smiling at him.

“Pinkie?” Frederic raised an eyebrow.

“Oh uh, it’s a nickname.” Varian admitted.

“Oooh, that’s cute.” Rapunzel smiled. “She sounds fun.”

“Fun, yeah, that’s how I’d describe her.”

“He arrived early, though it seems it may be because he got separated from his group. I understand you were being chased by some brute when you entered the city.” Frederic, Varian a little surprised that the news of that had already reached him.

“Uh… yeah.” Varian rubbed his arm nervously.

“Don’t worry, he’s put away where he won’t be able to come after you again. Your parents must be worried sick about you.”

Varian hadn’t had time to think about it, but now that he did, he felt his heart sink. His mother was going to wake up and find him gone, his father was going to have the guard search high and low and find nothing. His little sister was going to be upset and confused. His aunts, many of his friends, Sunburst, were all there, they were all going to be trying to find him, they might even go into the Frozen North in a fruitless effort to find him if they didn’t realize where he was.

“Son? Are you alright?”

Varian rubbed his eyes quickly, “Uh, sorry I- I just uh… separation anxiety? I just… didn’t expect to be here without them, after all that happened.”

Frederic and Arianna seemed to understand and looked at him with sympathy.

“I’m sure if they handled those thugs before, they could do it again.” Arianna assured, looking at her daughter. “Why don’t you show Varian around, Rapunzel? Nigel will get him a room ready.”

“Of course!” Rapunzel smiled, grabbing Varian’s wrist and pulling him. “So you’re from far away?”

“Uh, yeah, it’s pretty far.” Varian confirmed, looking up nervously as Rapunzel accidentally pulled him into a woman with an annoyed look.

“Oh, Cass, this is Varian, he’s a prince from super far away.” Rapunzel explained.

“Oh yeah? Where?” She asked, clearly suspicious of him.

“Uh, the Crystal Empire.” Varian answered, Cass looking intrigued.

“I didn’t think that place was real.”

“Yeah uh, I guess first contact was made hundreds of years ago and it got broken pretty quickly.” Varian admitted. “I mean, it is hard to get to and from the Crystal Empire from here.”

“So you’re here for the coronation?” Cass asked.

“We didn’t actually know about the coronation, we just meant to come and actually greet the king and queen, among other things.” Varian admitted.

“Well, I think the fact you guys were coming and it happened to be that my coronation is happening is definitely some kind of destiny.” Rapunzel smiled.

“You think so?” Varian had to admit, her optimism was contagious.

“I know so. I feel like I already know so much about you.”

Varian knew why, he felt the same and it was because of whatever was left of the sundrops powers in her, and the moonstones in him. He considered explaining that much, before he reconsidered bringing up magic, and recalled Hugo.

“Oh uh, my uh, my bodyguard. I lost him in town, I need to find him.” Varian quickly thought of a believable lie.

“Well, you won’t find him with how many guards Rapunzel is required to go out with.” Cass admitted.

“I’ll have Eugene take you to get him and come back here.” Rapunzel offered.

“Eugene?”

“Her thief boyfriend.” Cass crossed her arms. “I could go.”

“Former thief, and technically you have to help me get ready for when all the other nobles arrive.” Rapunzel admitted, Cass nodding after a moment. 

They eventually found whoever this Eugene was, but Varian recognized him immediately.

“Flynn Rider?”

“No, I don’t know who you-” Eugene started to lie, before he stopped, looking at him more closely before smiling. “Kid! Oh, I am so relieved you’re okay.”

“You two know each other?” Cass asked, giving Varian a suspicious sideglance.

“I saw this kid a few years back being chased by those creepy murderous cult guys.” Eugene explained, rubbing his chin as he looked at Varian. “He wasn’t dressed so fancy though…”

“I was dressed for camping.” Varian explained. “We uh… mom was getting me used to the idea of meeting people around here. Last time I was also… uh…”

He remembered Quirin, now that he was standing in Corona proper for so long he was remembering visiting the town with his father. The lollipop Monty had given him was something Quirin would get him every time he dragged him to town with him.

“Hey, you okay?” Rapunzel asked.

“Sorry, just uh… I’m worried about my family.”

Cass put a hand on his shoulder after a moment, “Hey, it’ll be okay. My dads guards will find them.”

But that was what he was afraid of, he realized. What if they attacked his parents, or any creature he knew?

“Yeah uh… so, I guess Eugene is your real name?” Varian deflected, looking at Eugene.

“You knew Flynn Rider was a fake name?”

“I read all those books too. Well, I still read them, they’re my little sister's favorite.” Varian admitted. 

“Awww you have a little sister?” Rapunzel smiled. "What's her name? How old is she? When was she-"

“Raps, focus. Eugene, Varian here lost his bodyguard somewhere in town. Go find him and bring Varian and him back here before everyone else shows up. We need to get his toga cleaned up.” Cass insisted.

“I could change, if that would make it easier.” Varian admitted. “I brought casual clothes too.”

“Alright, change and give me that to clean it up.” Cass insisted, gesturing to a room.

Varian did as told, changing into his usual pants and top before putting his cloak back on, handing the toga to Cass.

“What’s with the cloak?” Cass asked.

“Well I uh, I have been attacked three times in ten years by the same people. In Corona.” Varian rubbed his arm nervously, but luckily Cass accepted that.

“If hiding in that cloak makes you feel safer, I get it.” She admitted. 

“Alright kid, let’s go find that body guard.” Eugene led him out. “I am honestly glad you're alright, when me and Lance came to we assumed the worst.”

“You didn’t find my note?”

“We did but, you know, you did disappear without much of a trace.” Eugene reminded. “And left us in a ghost town, Lance thought you were a ghost or something.

“Yeah uh… I had to go home with mom, and we didn’t want you guys to get arrested after you tried to help me.” Varian admitted. 

"Oh well... thank you. That's really sweet of you and your mom."

He walked out into the city with the man, nervous but unsure what else to do, who was chatting on, “Hey you’re a prince right, let’s say you were in love, your coronation would be the perfect time to propose right?”

“Sweet Celestia no, that would be such a stressful day for that. There’s already enough stress involved in entertaining other nobles without the prospect of everything else changing forever.” Varian couldn’t help the honesty before it came out, the man looking at him. “Uh, maybe it’s different here though? I haven’t been to a lot of coronations. Everyone I know is older than me so…”

“Good point, cultural differences. You got me there hair stripes.” Eugene admitted. “Sweet Celestia, huh that rolls off the tongue. That an expression where your from?”

“Uh yeah.” Varian nodded, spotting Hugo. “Oh, Hugo!”

The blonde looked visibly relieved and then annoyed as he stomped over.

“There you are, what part of ‘wait here’ didn’t translate, eh?” Hugo asked, Varian taken aback at the snappish tone before glaring a bit.

“Don’t talk to me like that when you dragged me here in the first place. I went to ask for directions.”

“And he got where he was going, so I think it’s alright.” Eugene said, stepping between the two. “Calm down, I know you were probably stressed with your job on the line-”

“Aren’t you Flynn Rider?” Hugo asked after a moment, grabbing Varian’s wrist and pulling him away from the man.

“No, I’m not, I’ve never seen you in my life and even if I had I’ve changed.” Eugene countered, crossing his arms before staring at Hugo. “Wait a second, I do know you! You stole from me!”

“I stole stolen property from you.” Hugo corrected, though Varian raised an eyebrow. “And I’ve changed.”

“Varian, are you sure about this guy?” Eugene asked.

Varian wasn’t, now, but he was hesitant to send Hugo away. Thus far, Hugo hadn’t really done anything to betray his trust, and if he needed someone to get him out of Corona, a thief who outsmarted Flynn Rider didn’t sound so bad.

“I am.” Varian nodded, Hugo smiling a little smugly at Eugene.

“Alright… let’s head back.” Eugene muttered.

Varian intended on finding a moment to spend with Hugo alone, though with how excited Rapunzel had been about his company he had a feeling that was going to be next to impossible.

Chapter Text

Thankfully, the moment to talk to Hugo alone came once it was time to get ready before the remaining royalty would arrive. Hugo was playing around with the items from Varian’s alchemy bag, but Varian tried not to get annoyed by that.

“So what did he mean by ‘my job?’” Hugo asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling an obnoxious smile.

“I lied and said you're my bodyguard. Consider yourself hired. Look, I need to get back to some old ruins in the forest. Have you seen some old crumbling stone buildings with unicorns and pegasi engraved in some of them? Statue of an alicorn out front?” Varian asked.

“Oh yeah. I have. I don’t remember exactly where, but I could find them again.” Hugo admitted, thinking. “Why do you need to get there?”

“Because that's where the portal is.” 

“Okay Goggles, fine. But you’ll have to play along with them, they won’t just let us leave the city, you’re a little lost prince showing up on the coronation of their princess who was lost until maybe six months ago. They’ll be overprotective. I’ll figure you a way out.” Hugo gestured out the window, where Varian could see the increased guard.

“Thank you. Uh… here.” Varian got into his other bag, handing Hugo a gemstone. “For all the trouble I’m causing you.”

“Do you pay for things with gemstones everywhere you go?” Hugo asked with raised eyebrows.

“Well no, but I don’t know if Coronan coins are the same as bits.” Varian admitted.

“Bits?”

Varian sighed, pacing a bit, “It’s what the currency I’m from is called. The time limit is firm, though. I need to get home by tomorrow when the moon reaches- uh, by midnight.”

“I know, Goggles, I know how magic works, even if it is rare around here.” Hugo interrupted. “Trust me.”

“I’m trying to. But hearing you're some kind of thief doesn’t make me feel much better.” Varian admitted.

“Hey, I come from Ingvarr. We do what we need to to survive.” Hugo mentioned. “I can’t work, not after uh…”

Varian noticed Hugo flex his robotic hand, and he tilted his head. Any feeling of annoyance with the blonde faded as he felt worried.

“Hugo?”

“Sorry, distracted myself. I’m too brilliant to waste away in some factory.”

“... Yeah alright… So, to reiterate, I need you to find me a way out of the city, past any of those thugs who want to take me, and back to the mirror, safely.”

“I will, I will. So, you got a look-see at my arm, can I look at that staff of yours?” Hugo asked, gesturing at the walking stick leaned against a cabinet.

“I guess. It’s just fluorescent dye in diphenyl oxalate mixed with hydrogen peroxide though.”

“That shouldn’t glow as long as this has been if that’s all you put in there.” Hugo countered, Varian perking up a bit. “I’m more of an inventor myself, but alchemy is in my set of skills. C’mon, tell me how you did it.”

“… well-“

Lady Caine was perplexed as Pocket brought her a new contact, one who wanted in on her new plan. She was suspicious, for many reasons but mostly because it was so close to the plan she’d been building for months. The plan that would finally give her a chance to avenge her father. This man didn’t appear to be a guard, and he almost assuredly wasn’t from Corona.

“I don’t recognize you. Why should I trust you?” She asked.

“A guest of Frederic’s from far away is who we want. We’ll help you however you want. We’ve been wrong by this person almost as much as you have Frederic.”

“... alright. You seem to mean it. We’ll accept the help. But if I see anything I don’t like, you're done for.” Lady Caine insisted. “Here’s the plan-”

Arianna brought the book she’d read about the Crystal Empire in over to Nigel and her husband, Nigel thanking her.

“There isn’t much about it, but it seems like a lovely kingdom.” Arianna admitted.

“It certainly must be the same place, look. The flag and symbol of the crystal empire.” Nigel said, showing it to Frederic. “Color shifting purple with a snowflake. That same symbol was on the pin on his toga.”

“I thought that book was all fairytales. I wonder how much of it is true.” Frederic admitted. “Buildings made of crystal sound too fantastical to be possible. But the biggest question I have is why they would reach out now.”

“They were trying to reach out ten years ago, I imagine they just wanted to ensure Varian was safe, and that he felt that way too.” Arianna reminded him. “Varian does seem to be doing his best not to be afraid here, despite all that has happened. But he is still afraid, I can tell.”

Frederic nodded, looking at Nigel, “Let’s make sure young Varian is safe and comfortable until his parents arrive. Queen Cadance and… ah, I never did get his new fathers name.”

“Of course sir.”

"For now we have guests to greet."

Varian felt bad for Rapunzel, he could tell that the six months she’d had to learn what was needed for something like this was not enough time the moment she hugged a noble. Sure, in Equestria that greeting would more likely be welcomed, he knew Celestia or Luna would find Rapunzel charming, Princess Skystar would love her, even Prince Rutherford would probably be accepting of the greeting. But the old, stuffy nobility of the seven kingdoms clearly did not. Hugo kept chuckling under his breath, clearly entertained by the princesses' failures, and Varian gave him a dirty look.

“What? Not everyday someone like me gets to see a royal mess.” Hugo whispered.

He rolled his eyes, waiting a moment to allow the other nobles to enter the palace before tapping Rapunzel on the shoulder.

“Uh… are you okay?” He asked, looking up at her sympathetically. “That duchess was pretty rude to you.”

She paused but smiled a little, “I’ll be alright. Thanks, Prince Varian.”

“Just Varian is fine.” He said, walking inside with her. “People like her are impossible to impress, so don’t stress yourself out trying to, trust me.”

“That sounds like it’s coming from experience.”

“Yeah, this one time I was helping one of my aunts, she’s a seamstress, with some work and-”

Frederic paused a little listening to Varian and Rapunzel chat, smiling a bit and relaxing a little. Arianna smiled, patting him on the arm as they followed the two.

“He’s a very sweet boy, isn’t he?” She smiled, leaning her head on her husband. 

“I’m just glad Rapunzel is getting along with someone. This hasn’t been going exactly perfectly.” He admitted. “Even if he wasn’t totally expected.”

Varian stared at the food on his plate and listlessly pushed it around. He was hungry, but he was starting to feel homesick, so he didn’t have the stomach to do more than pick at the fish and broccoli. Hugo was off trying to find a good, safe way to the mirror, so Varian was sitting alone at the table full of visiting nobles. Something about the Duchess of Quintonia had him suspicious, but he wasn’t sure if he knew whatever differences between human nobility and equestrian nobility would be. He did know she was consistently hiding a sneer at the king's direction, but he knew politics sometimes meant playing nice with people you didn’t like. 

He was distracted as Eugene stepped forward, feeling tense as he realized the man was going ahead with the proposal, though at first it seemed to be well received by Rapunzel. At first. He had to feel for the man as she turned him down, he could tell he really loved her, and the feelings seemed to be mutual. But clearly, like Varian had thought, the day was far too stressful to think about things like that. He was certain there was more missing context, but he wasn’t sure what it could be. Aside from the obvious, she’d only been home with her real family for a few months now, and she was still adjusting to everything, which was a fairly good reason.

He frowned a bit, the sinking feeling of imagining being separated from one's family for eighteen years was a lot, and one he was afraid he’d be facing soon enough. He shook it off, relieved that dinner was cut short by the failed proposal and followed Nigel to his accommodations, going inside and slipping against the door as the thoughts of being permanently separated from his family hit him. He tried not to think about it, really, but the longer he was there, the harder the reality of the time limit was. Cyrus hadn’t returned, and when he’d asked Hugo about it it was clear the blonde was concerned but trying to pretend everything was fine. Now Hugo was off alone trying to find a safe path to the mirror, potentially with more of those men there. As willing as the blonde had been to do this, now Varian was worried for his safety as well.

He moved away from the door and to the window, looking up at the moon, spotting the three stars he knew would be out of alignment by the next day at midnight. For two and a half years. He held the necklace tighter, pulling his knees up and finally letting all the fear and sadness he’d had wash over him. He didn’t hear the light knock or the door open, as Rapunzel poked her head in with a frown.

“Varian?” Rapunzel’s voice broke him from his thoughts. 

Evidently he’d been crying, hard, and he hadn't even really noticed. Rapunzel and Cass had heard him from the hallway, and they both looked concerned. He started rubbing his eyes quickly, he wasn’t embarrassed to cry in front of others, he just didn’t want to explain what had him upset. Especially because he couldn’t, not without talking about the magical portal, and he wasn’t willing to do that.

“Are you okay?” Cass asked, stepping inside the room with the princess.

“I-I just…” He sighed, almost wishing he wasn’t afraid of telling them the truth.

He liked Rapunzel, she reminded him of a lot of the friends and family he had at home, but he wasn’t able to tell her even though he wanted to. Cass reminded him a lot of some of the griffons and dragons he’d befriended, she seemed tough but clearly cared deep down, at least about Rapunzel.

“Separation anxiety? Is that what I think you told my dad before?” Rapunzel asked, Varian nodding a bit.

“I-I was adopted. I was born here, in Corona. Well, in Old Corona,” He figured he could explain some of it, vaguely. 

He did notice that Cass clearly recognized the name of his old village, the woman’s shoulders slowly slumping as she searched his face. She seemed empathetic as it occurred to her what that meant.

“... You were there when everyone was massacred.” Cass finally voiced her thoughts, Varian nodding in response.

Rapunzel looked shocked, she’d been locked in a tower when that had happened so he was not at all surprised that she didn’t know about it.

“It was when I was four. The reason my family never introduced themselves to your parents here sooner was because mom basically rushed me back to her kingdom to try and help me get over what happened.” Varian explained. “She tried to bring me back a few times, so I could maybe ask people about my dad and… learn about where I came from, because her parents abandoned her and she never found out where she was from.”

“That’s why you were camping when you met Eugene.” Cass seemed to be putting pieces of something together, but Varian wasn’t sure what.

“Yeah. Back when it happened, Mom found me after… after everything. She saved me, and she was always there for me and… I guess after that traumatic event, I just- I spent a long time always under uh… underfoot, and not leaving her side and even when I started to, I always knew I could go home and she’d be there. And dad, he barely slept he was so worried about me before he even met me once mom sent him a letter about me. He was always there to protect me, if I needed it. I know I’m probably biased but they’re the best parents I could have been adopted by. Now I… I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever see them again…”

Rapunzel and Cass looked at him sympathetically, Cass especially, the woman patting him on the head.

“... You know, we were about to sneak out to give Raps some fresh air. As long as you can keep a secret, you can come with. Maybe we’ll spot some sign of your mom out there.”

He knew they wouldn’t, not unless they’d realized where he’d gone, but he was almost hoping he’d spot the ruins while they were out, so he nodded after a moment, “Alright.”

Rapunzel smiled, pulling Varian up to his feet, the three sneaking out with relative ease. He was impressed that a lady in waiting would know so much about stealth, but then again he knew Sunburst, who essentially had a similar position, knew a lot about some things most aides, advisers or ladies in waiting wouldn’t. They made their way out of the city, Varian looking around for any sign of Hugo as they did, though he noticed they were heading to the border wall. He felt a little pang of concern, but he pushed it down, they had no reason to be going to his old village and that was more clear when they went to an older, crumbled section of the wall.

“So what is your mom like?” Rapunzel asked.

“She’s super nice, and supportive, really affectionate, she’s always jumping up to hug and kiss me whenever I come in from my lab.” He explained, putting a hand on the necklace. “She gave this to me when I was nine, she said it was so even when we were apart I’d know her love was with me.”

“What’s with the potion bottle on it?” Cass asked. “And on your bag, and some of your shirts.”

“Well uh… where I’m from, a lot of the people have a… tradition, of getting a mark that sort of symbolizes you. And that symbol is usually used to personalize some of your belongings, like bags. Mine is an alchemical solution in a conical flask.”

“... Alchemical?” Rapunzel tilted her head.

He explained as they walked, when they stopped at strange, black rocks. He felt a ringing in his ears as Cass explained something, he couldn’t hear what over the ringing. The rocks reminded him of Sombra’s dark crystals, and he took a few nervous steps back, worried as Rapunzel seemed compelled to get closer. In all honesty, he felt it too, but he knew what magical pull felt like and he knew how to fight it. He carefully grabbed her wrist, about to explain that he thought the rocks might be dangerous, but they suddenly shot forward toward them the moment his hand reached her. Varian somehow managed to scramble back, as did Rapunzel, but the two of them found themselves quickly being surrounded.

“Run!” Cass instructed.

Varian managed to get up to his feet, Rapunzel grabbing his hand and dragging him. He realized quickly that the rocks were reacting to him and Rapunzel touching and initially tried to pull his hand away, but her grip was too tight. Rapunzel’s arm brushed against one of the quickly growing rocks, and the reaction only grew stronger, the rocks glowing. He watched in confusion as her hair began to grow and glow, bright yellow like the sun, before he realized that the rocks had, somehow, pulled the sundrops power back to the forefront. He was more worried about what might happen if they touched him, especially if he was stuck in Corona.

He remembered how superstitious the people of his village were, they were Coronan, he was treated like some kind of omen because of his intelligence then, he didn’t want to imagine how they might react now. He knew too much about magic, and he wasn’t always good at keeping quiet even when he should. And he had no idea what might happen with what very little moonstone magic was in him if he touched them. He managed to slide his hand out of his glove, but before he could explain to Rapunzel why he did that she grabbed his hand firmly and began to pull him again.

“Rapunzel, let go! I think they’re reacting to-” He started, before he realized that the hair stripe had begun to glow.

“What?” Rapunzel clearly noticed, gasping and pulling him close as the spikes closed in on them.

Instinctively, Varian held his hand out, squeezing his eyes shut. He expected to feel the spiked rocks stabbing into him, but when no such feeling came he opened his eyes slowly. The spikes had stopped, almost in a wall like formation, but before he could relax he felt himself blacking out.

“Varian!” He felt Rapunzel catch him, but it was the last thing he was aware of as he fell unconcious.

Hugo took a few deep breaths, knowing this conversation was going to be difficult to say the least. He just had to convince Donella of his plan, it was already working as far as he could tell. The bright eyed long traveled adoptee was willing to divulge secrets to him he clearly wasn’t telling anyone else, even if it wasn’t much just yet. He just had to convince her that he had to follow Varian back to his home.

“There you are. You got Cyrus injured.” Donella’s matter of fact voice got him out of his thoughts, and he turned to look at her. “You better have a good reason.”

“I didn’t have anything to do with that, Cyrus told us to run." Hugo knew talking back might lead to problems, but he wasn't going to take heat for something that wasn't his fault. "That boy you asked us to find? Found him, and he’s a little afraid of being in Corona and its people, mostly how they feel about magic. Dunno if it’s just because he’s back here, after whatever happened to his village, but he does not wanna be here. I figured, if I played the hero, he might be more willing to chat.” 

“... Very well. And?”

“For some reason, he desperately wants back to those old ruins out in the woods, with the horses? He wouldn’t explain why, just that there was a time limit. It might have somethin to do with a portal, one that takes him wherever he’s been.” He was hiding information, but he was curious. 

Donella never did anything personal before, but he could tell this was personal. The hard part would be getting Donella to allow him to disappear for two years.

“...Very well. You are to stay with him, and try to find where he left an almanac his mother had.” Donella instructed.

“Uh, the portal has a time limit. If I follow him, it’ll be years before I can come back though.”

“Hm, unfortunate. That will take time, so I’ll leave you to it. For now. Just make sure you find that almanac Hugo. The knowledge it leads to… it can’t fall into the wrong hands. When you get it, once the portal opens again, come straight back to me in Ingvarr.” Donella warned lowly, Hugo nodding after a moment.

“Understood, Donella…”

She turned on her heel and left quickly. Hugo rubbed his face once he was sure she was gone, making his way to the ruins, looking around them with mild confusion as he tried to locate the portal. He noticed he hadn’t seen any sign of the witch hunters, but he had to assume the ones that were there got themselves arrested. He did feel bad that Cyrus had gotten injured, but he was doing what he was supposed to. He wasn’t great at it when it came to people he really knew, but he had been taught not to care about other people, first by his own background before Donella and she’d cemented it to the best of her ability. 

He walked into one of the less collapsed structures, seeing a huge mirror in the center of it, the frame shaped like a horseshoe. Other than that, it appeared to be completely empty, and he could tell no one had camped out in or near it recently.

“Loved the horse theme didn’t they?” He muttered to himself, kicking a pebble toward the mirror listlessly.

He watched as the pebble disappeared, the mirror's surface moving like ripples, blinking a few times before he walked closer.

“... Is that…” He carefully put his mechanical arm in, shocked as it entered the mirror, the ripples continuing. 

He took a deep breath and stepped in, looking around the empty cavernous room of what appeared to be a room made of crystal. He went over to the window carefully, gasping at the sprawling city, all made of crystal as far as he could tell, from the houses to the very street, all stretched out in streets he could tell by there were built in the shape of a snowflake out from what he was certain was a palace. He was in a palace, made of crystal, in a Crystal Empire.

“Look at that Liv…” He muttered, the robotic mouse moving to his shoulder. 

“Varian?” He heard a voice call from the hallway, and he looked around for a place to hide before hurriedly going back through the mirror.

He ducked into the crumbled hallway, hiding out of sight of anyone using the mirror, unsure if whoever had been speaking would think to look past the portal. They clearly did, because he heard sets of… strangely sounding footsteps.

“He must have come here, we’ve checked everywhere else… but why? Why now? Why alone?” A female voice asked worriedly.

“I don’t know Twilight, but I’m going to find him.” Another woman's voice. 

“Alone? Cadance, tomorrow…”

“I know. But I can’t leave him trapped on this side alone, Twilight. And Equestria needs you. I’ll find him. He can’t have gotten too far… I’ll check his old village first, and then… then the kingdom proper in the morning.” Cadance, apparently, said. “Tell Shining where I am.”

“... I will. Be careful. We still don’t know if… if they’re friendly.” Twilight, based on the names they used, said, before seemingly going back through the mirror.

“... I’ll find you sweetheart.” Cadance’s voice said as she headed toward the exit, and Hugo peaked out to try to get a glimpse, but all he saw was some long curly hair before he heard a noise.

It sounded like large wingbeats, but he told himself that was insane. Until he stepped out, and found a single pink and purple feather on the ground.

“... What the hell is your mother, Goggles?” He muttered, looking up toward the sky. 

He could just make out a large shadow against the night sky, too big to be a bird.

“Varian? Varian!” 

Varian started to awaken, confused about what had happened and sitting up slowly, realizing he was in Rapunzel’s room after a moment. He was about to ask what happened, before he saw the long blonde hair.

“Oh, that was real. Was kind of hoping it was a weird dream…”

“Your hair, that teal stripe, it was glowing, why?” Rapunzel asked, looking shockingly serious.

He glanced at Cass, who seemed to be out of her depth about the whole situation.

“Uh, well… I… if I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone.” Varian insisted.

“... Alright.” Rapunzel nodded.

“As long as you agree to promise not to tell anyone where we all were when this,” Cass gestured to Rapunzel’s long blonde hair. “Happened.”

“Trust me, I don't want anyone to know I was there. I promise.” Varian agreed.

“Alright.” Cass nodded. 

“So, my dad… uh, my first dad, he used to defend a magical item called the moonstone. The king where the moonstone was, he tried to destroy it, but it reacted violently when he did. All the brotherhood were in the room, and I guess the magic was passed on to me when I was born. The moonstone was related to the sundrop, in some way.” Varian explained.

“... The flower used to save my mom.” Rapunzel realized, Varian nodding. “So… we’re sort of connected? That explains why I felt like I knew you.” 

“I felt the same, honestly.” Varian admitted. “I just… I heard that Corona has some… fear about magic so I didn’t want anyone to know.”

“That’s fair.” Cass admitted. “We won’t say anything to anyone.”

“So those rocks, what were they?” Rapunzel asked.

“I don’t know.” Varian admitted. “My dads journals never mentioned anything about them.”

“So it’s a new phenomenon.” Cass finished, pausing and looking at Varian.

“... What?”

“... That’s why your village was attacked, wasn’t it? The… the same reason Rapunzel was kidnapped.”

Varian looked down and quietly confirmed it, even if he still didn't technically have confirmation. Rapunzel gently took his hands in hers before pulling him into another hug, though this one was gentle and comforting not like the strong joyful hugs she'd been giving him the day before. They both understood a lot about each other that some people might struggle to understand.

“Kid that’s…” Cass sighed, sitting on the bed. “Okay, well, we’ll keep that secret for you, as promised. But I think we all need to focus on solving our new problem, coming up with an excuse for this.”

“What does your hair do?” Rapunzel asked, Cass sighing as she was ignored.

“Uh, nothing but glow sometimes usually. In fact until last night, the magic never seemed to do anything besides a few very unclear dreams.” Varian admitted. “I think it’s because we were together that it did anything at all.”

“Dreams?” Rapunzel asked.

“Uh… a… about a tower.” Varian mentioned carefully, though Rapunzel’s eyes still widened. “I thought it was about you. See uh… my great aunt Luna, she’s sort of a magic expert. She told me that the moonstone was trying to tell me where to find the sundrop, for whatever reason.”

“That’s… intense.” Cass admitted. “Like even though you're what, four years younger than her you were supposed to do something?”

“I don’t think the moonstone cares about that.” Varian admitted. 

“Well, I’m glad you were far away from Corona then. Who knows what would have happened if you’d stumbled on my tower.” Rapunzel admitted.

“I uh… I have a good idea, honestly. I ran into the woman who took you, last time I was in Corona. And I have the very distinct feeling she was going to kill me to keep everything quiet.” 

“Yeah that… that sounds like her.” Rapunzel admitted, petting some of her hair nervously. “I’m glad she didn’t get a chance to.”

“This is very nice, guys, really, but we need to focus on thinking of an excuse for the hair being back.” Cass mentioned.

“Why not just cut it?” Varain asked.

“We tried that while you were unconscious.” Cass admitted. “We tried that a lot.”

Cass gestured behind her where several sharp weapons and tools were scattered, many of them broken. 

“Oh uh, okay. So it’s really hard… and it wasn’t before. I wish I understood what that meant.” Varian rubbed his chin as he thought, wishing his mother or aunt were there considering how better versed in magic they were.

She and Rapunzel both paused and stared at him, and Varian realized why, quickly pulling his hood up. Rapunzel’s room was a lot brighter than a lot of the castle, and the morning sun was shining into the room.

“Your eyes…” Rapunzel's tone was curious and warm as she reached for his hood.

He allowed her to move his hood, both her and Cass looking at him.

“Yeah I know, crystally. It’s uh… the Crystal Empire is built on a confluence of magic crystals. Over time, the people who live there get a little subtle crystal magic of their own. It just affects our appearance though.” Varian quickly and nervously explained, putting his hood back on. 

“Well, I understand you probably think we Coronan natives all hate magic, and I’m not going to say I don’t think hiding that is a good idea, it is.” Cass admitted. “But considering it’s just a magical side effect of being around magic, I think most people would let it go after a while.”

“I guess but uh… I didn’t want to risk it without mom or dad around I guess.” Varian admitted, before taking some of Rapunzel’s hair in his hands. “Anyway, I can at least try and make this a little more manageable.”

The stripe was glowing again, and Varian noted he was missing a glove that had likely gotten left behind in all the chaos. He decided to ignore that for the time being, electing to focus on what he could do. He looked around, before looking at Cass.

“Could you get a hairpin? A longer one.” 

“Yeah, alright.” Cass shrugged, going over to the vanity.

“This is… going to take a while.”

He took a few sections of hair and began braiding. Cass seemed impressed with his braiding skills, watching a while before sitting down on the bed next to Rapunzel, “Anything I can do to help?”

“Uh… find… a hat or something we can put over it once I’m done?” He said, tilting his head as he worked.

“What exactly are you doing?” Rapunzel asked.

“There’s a sort of… traditional hairstyle my mom has to do for special events that is famously hard to get right. Well, okay there’s a few honestly and I still don’t really know which ones are for what events. But all of them are meant for super long hair.” Varian explained, focused enough on his braiding that he was more relaxed chatting with them. “It makes her five, six feet of hair way more compact so hopefully, it can do the same for yours.”

“That’s not a bad idea. But just one hairpin?” Cass asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Trust me, I do this all the time. Mostly for my little sister, she’s not very good at braids.”

“I bet she’s adorable.” Rapunzel smiled. “I wish I had siblings.”

“You say that but my sister wakes me up at the crack of dawn every chance she gets.” Varian sighed, Rapunzel laughing a little.

“Not a morning person?”

“Not even a little.” Varian yawned, realizing he hadn’t slept at all the previous night, aside from passing out. 

He hardly felt rested from passing out like he had, though, so it was unlikely that counted as sleep. Luckily, he was used to long nights for his self imposed deadlines, and so he continued braiding. He heard what sounded like Hugo arguing with Eugene on the way into the room, though they heard the two long before they arrived.

“Look, I’m sure your prince is around here somewhere, I mean just because he wanders doesn’t mean-” Eugene started, freezing when he saw Rapunzel.

“Hiii Eugene.” She waved nervously, having tried to get up to hide but Varian had firmly made her sit still.

“What the- what happened?” He asked as he entered, Hugo following and seeing Varian braiding.

“Aw cute, they're having a little royal sleep over complete with braiding each other's hair.” He teased, Varian shooting him a glare. “A sleepover with no sleep, based on those eyebags.”

“Have you been crying?” Eugene asked, sounding concerned, Varian averting his gaze. 

“I only cried for a little bit, I’m fine. I just didn’t get a chance to rest.”

“He misses his family.” Rapunzel explained.

“Kid, I- Oh wait first, THE HAIR?” Eugene gestured. “When did that come back?”

“Back, what does he mean back?” Varian asked.

“Word on the streets was always that the king used some magic flower to save his dying wife, and the princess was born with this long, blonde hair as a result.” Hugo said, leaning against the doorframe. “Seems like that was true.”

“... Well as far as side effects go, that could have been worse.” Varian admitted.

“It was worse. My hair had… has? The ability to heal people, to extend their lives. I was kidnapped by a woman who… who tricked me into thinking she was my mother and no one else could be trusted. So she could live forever young.” Rapunzel explained, Varian pausing.

“... Oh… I- I’m sorry.”

Hugo shifted uncomfortably, “Well, uh… that’s… sorry.”

“It’s alright… I’m home now, thanks to Eugene but he almost… but he cut my hair, to save me. And now it’s back.” Rapunzel sighed.

“... but this time you aren’t some helpless baby to be stolen. You’re a grown woman who had the wherewithal to survive all that and be here now.” Hugo said after a pause, the group looking at him. “So chin up, no witches comin out the woodwork this time. Well, probably. Even if there is, you’re more prepared this time.”

“... Thanks, uh… Hugo right?” Rapunzel asked, smiling.

“Yeah. Hugo.” He shrugged, leaning again. “So, you were brunette yesterday, as well as the braiding is goin I think people will notice somethings up.”

“Not with… I’ll be back.” Cass said, hurrying out of the room.

Varian hummed a bit to himself, trying mostly to keep himself awake and not really intending any melodies, though a few he’d heard did come through, ‘winter wrap up’, ‘hush now, quiet now’, the Friendship Academies school song, and Rapunzel seemed content to listen. 

“Those sound catchy.” She said.

“Oh uh, just some songs from home. A school song, a lullaby and… a yearly holiday? Kind of.” He cleared his throat, taking the pin and putting it in place. “Alright well, it’s… kind of more compact.”

She got up and looked in the vanity mirror and did a spin, Varian remembering his sister doing much the same whenever she got him to braid her hair in a new way. He missed Flurry, feeling a pang in his heart. Would he be there to see his sister get her Cutie Mark?

“That looks professional kid.” Eugene complimented.

“Well the real version includes weaving gemstones into the hair but obviously that’s not necessary here, so I could skip some more steps.” He said, yawning.

“You should try to get a nap in before everything happens, and give me some time to talk to Rapunzel.” Eugene offered, Varian nodding and standing, walking with Hugo. 

“Did you find the ruins?” He asked quietly once they were far enough away.

“I did. And the portal, who knew magic mirrors were real huh? Only thing is, I’m a little suspicious. I didn’t see any of those witch hunters anywhere. And trust me, I was on edge makin’ sure I wasn’t being followed.”

“That’s… weird.” Varian admitted. “Maybe they think I left already? It wouldn’t be the first time I cut the visit short.”

“Maybe… but somethin’ stinks about it.” Hugo sighed. “So, remember anything about why you were here?”

“No.” Varian sighed. “I can’t remember anything else. I know I wouldn’t come here without a reason though… Not alone. I mean, we were going to come together, me and my family but…”

“... Hey, before I found you I saw some kind of rainbow shoot into the sky and make some aurora. Does that mean anything to you?”

“... It does but that should be impossible outside of home.” Varian admitted.

He was too tired to even begin to wonder what something reacting like the Crystal Heart could mean, entering the bedroom he’d been given and flopping onto the bed face first. He ignored Hugo chuckle, feeling tired enough that he was sure he was about to fall asleep. Hugo sat down in a chair, feeling tired himself and feeling relatively safe in the castle, before he remembered the feather.

 “Oh, Goggles-”

He was surprised that Varian was already asleep, based on the light breathing. He smiled a bit, sitting down in one of the chairs and looking at the feather.

“Well, I’ll ask him about that a little later then.”

Chapter Text

Cadance was exhausted. She’d searched Old Corona, she’d found the tower only to find that both the witch and the missing princess were gone, and some kind of scuffle had clearly happened. The seventy feet of hair were a strange find, but she didn’t have time to think about that. She couldn’t imagine Varian would willingly enter Corona alone, but she had nearly run out of places to look. She’d taken what she meant to be a brief nap inside Quirin’s old home, looking wistfully at the grave of the man. Right now, it felt like trusting her to care for the child had been a huge mistake.

“There you are.”

She jumped, looking up as Queen Novo and Princess Skystar landed near her.

“We didn’t want you to look for Varian alone.” Skystar mentioned.

“Find any sign of him?” Novo asked.

“No, but I know he was around. I can feel it. But so were those men, again.” Cadance admitted.

“If he’s in town, he’s probably safe from them. So we should double check the forest first.” Novo insisted, Cadance nodding.

“Alright. Let’s hurry.” She spread her wings, the three of them flying.

Varian woke up as he heard a knock, Cass sticking her head in, “Hey, sorry to wake you but we have about thirty minutes before the uh… the main event.”

“Right right.” Varian yawned, getting up and fixing his clothes. “We’ll be ready.”

She nodded and left, Varian surprised that Hugo was still asleep and going to wake him, pausing as he spotted what was in his hand, reaching and shaking the boy awake.

“Huh? What?” Hugo asked.

“Where did you get that feather?” Varian asked insistently, staring into Hugo’s face.

“You know, it’s a shame you're so uppity because those crystal eyes and the freckles make you so cute until you open your mouth and start making demands.” Hugo sighed, rubbing his face.

Varian sputtered a bit, before shaking his head, “Just tell me where you got this feather.”

“Near the mirror.” Hugo answered, stretching. “Why?”

“… She’s here.” Varian stood up, pacing the room. “I can’t leave without her, she’ll never leave without me.”

Hugo tacked that information away in his brain, but decided to play dumb, “Who?”

“My mom.” Varian answered.

“... your mom has feathers? Flight feathers?” Hugo raised an eyebrow.

“... Nevermind, just try to make yourself presentable for Rapunzel’s coronation.” Varian snapped, snatching the feather from his hand, looking at it as he headed out of the room. “Is she molting from stress? Oh… I am a terrible son.”

Hugo followed, listening as Varian murmured to himself about his guilt for worrying his mother, the two joining others waiting in the hall. Varian accidentally ran into the Duchess of Quintonia, taking a few nervous steps back as she glared over her fan at him.

“My apologies, my lady.” He bowed just his head, the girl glaring at him.

“Who exactly are you?” She asked.

“Prince Varian of the Crystal Empire.” Hugo answered smarmily back.

“Hmph, and they sent you in that?” She looked at his clothes, and Varian immediately felt a pang of anger.

He was always the angriest in his family, though he had gotten into enough spats with Applejack to know that in actuality it was just he had the shortest temper of his immediate family and he was perhaps a little stubborn. But in this case, he knew his anger was flaring up because this random woman he didn’t know insulted Rarity’s work. Rarity, who had always been there for him, even in his earliest memories of Equestria. Rarity who had made his clothes for as long as he’d lived in Equestria, who made him clothes that were resistant to the acids he’d used often as well as the finery he wore to royal events. Rarity, who let him gossip with her in the corner of stuffy ballrooms to make him feel more at ease in such situations, and had incidentally taught him everything he needed to know to take this duchess down a few pegs.

“That’s some big talk for someone who is improperly wearing a rococo design dress that was clearly made by a second rate seamstress. There are tears in the satin like they didn’t know how to sew satin, the layers are poorly done, and the bows are clearly barely holding on.” Varian snapped, Hugo’s eyebrows raising. “And the clumsily applied white to only your face? You are meant to blend that in down the neck. Your eyebrows are too visible, you didn’t add any fake moles to accentuate your personality traits although perhaps that’s just because you don’t have any, and you didn’t blend your face power into your lips. Arguably, your eye makeup is too dark as well, and you clearly don’t know what you're signalling with your fan, because you’ve been signaling that guy to follow you for the past five minutes and then getting annoyed that he’s flirting with you. It’s like you're not even a noble.”

She snapped her fan closed, glaring at him and looking almost like she was going to attack him before she took a breath and shoved past them. Hugo watched her with suspicion, but seeing that she appeared to be leaving he didn’t see a reason to question her. He was fairly certain the moment he saw her she was someone using a disguise, he’d done it himself before, and now he was sure.

“... Well, you told her off huh?” Hugo smiled over at Varian, who rubbed his elbow.

“... That might have been too far, I just… My aunt made these for me. And I’m still tired.” Varian sighed, considering going after the woman to apologize before deciding against it. “... We could probably sneak out now, while they’re doing… whatever it is they’re doing. Let’s go.”

“Really? Here I thought you’d want to support the princess some more.” Hugo said, Varian stopping and pausing.

In a way, Hugo was right, he wanted to stay, he felt like something was wrong. His mother was out there looking for them, and every hour they spent away from home was an hour closer to them being trapped. But he also knew his mom, his aunt Twilight would want him to stand by Rapunzel, because she’d been nothing but friendly toward them. Would he consider her a friend? He wasn’t sure, they just met but he could see being her friend, if the portal wasn’t going to close behind him. Maybe he’d like to visit every two and a half years to see her, he could kind of see that. The two of them did share a destiny, after all. 

His hesitation was long enough that the event began, and he blinked a few times seeing the massive powdered wig he realized she was hiding her hair under. She struggled to walk across the hall, Varian wincing a bit watching her.

“... That’s a choice.” Hugo chuckled, Varian elbowing him.

Varian could tell she was nervous, though luckily people would assume it was because the ceremony was important. She looked at the crowd a bit nervously, and Varian offered a small wave, which alongside Eugene’s comfort seemed to help her feel better and she seemed to be standing a bit more tall. He smiled a bit when suddenly there was a commotion nearby. He turned, freezing when he heard a sword taken from a sheath near him, panic stirring as he took a few steps backward. He felt someone grab his arm and pull him out of the room with other panicking guests, blinking as Hugo put his hands on his shoulders and shook him.

“Woah, hey, look at me. That freeze response is goin to get you killed.” Hugo said, Varian shrugging off his hands.

“I can’t help it, okay? It’s a trauma response. I wasn’t expecting swords-” Varian snapped back, before he realized what was happening. “Swords… oh no, Rapunzel’s in trouble.”

He reached for the door he and Hugo had slipped out from, Hugo stopping him, “Look, we need to go. The witch hunters came here looking for you, that’s a big move for them. The last time they were this public, your village got destroyed.”

“And leave them to- to whatever those thugs plan to do? Knowing what they did to my village?” He asked, shaking his head. “No, that isn’t right. I can do something to help.”

“I saw more of those guys who were after you in there. Way more. Cyrus, mountain of a man he is, couldn’t handle three without getting injured. What are you going to do?” Hugo grabbed his wrist again, this time though Varian paused.

He wasn’t sure if he was really ready to face those men, especially that many, but he knew what they would do in search of him to these people. He’d been there the last time it had happened.

“I can’t let this happen. Not again.” Varian pulled his arm free.

Hugo stared as Varian headed back inside, very not used to seeing anyone willingly risk their own life for others, but he shook off his shock. Donella would be more than a little annoyed if he failed to keep track of Varian, and that unfortunately meant helping himself. He took a deep breath and followed the prince into the room. Varian looked a little appreciative, at least, and Hugo was glad to see they were using stealth. Lady Caine was monologuing, and that gave them some time to prepare.

Varian heard Lady Caine’s reason and paused a bit but shook it off. Sure, he felt for her and he considered the crime and punishment her father had gone through to be far too harsh, but that didn’t mean all these people had to suffer. She didn’t seem to know who she was working with, at least, and they weren’t yet turning on the crowd. Varian reached into his bag, pulling out a small purple bag with yellow and blue stars on it. A gift from Trixie for his latest birthday, something to help him make an entrance or an exit, or in this case, to make it much harder for the enemy to track his movements. He was pretty sure it was actually Tempest’s idea, but he knew they both had a point about the element of surprise.

“Okay… time to use what Trixie and Tempest taught me…” He muttered, taking a small handful of the smoke bombs and tossing them in as Rapunzel took her wig off, revealing her hair.

The room became chaotic almost immediately, and Varian snuck in as the thugs began to fight against Rapunzel, Cassandra, and Eugene, Hugo whistling and following.

“Smoke bombs huh? Not bad.” Hugo jumped into action, helping as the smoke hid his movements. “Here I was worried you’d go in swinging.”

“Yeah uh that’s not my style.” Varian admitted.

Varian stopped as one of the thugs grabbed Rapunzel’s hair and glared, throwing an alchemical vial that shattered, the man shouting and covering his face.

“Don’t worry, that’s just an irritant, he’ll be fine.” Varian explained, Rapunzel nodding.

“Nice aim.” Rapunzel smiled.

“You know I don’t usually have to throw these things. I’m glad I used to help my aunt at the apple farm. Uh, different aunt from the seamstress.” Varian admitted, getting back to back with her. “So uh, is this a bad time to admit some of these are the guys who keep coming after me?”

“The ones who burnt down a village to find you?” Cass asked. “Kid, you need to get out of here.”

“I can’t keep running. That isn’t solving anything.” Varian countered. “And who knows if they’ll be willing to do what they did again.”

Hugo seemed to know what he was doing, Varian could tell that the blonde was very used to fighting men much larger than himself. Varian just had to hope he’d really learned what Tempest had tried to teach him. At first it was going well enough, but there was a keen difference in the skills between who appeared to be regular thieves and thugs from Corona and the witch hunters as Hugo had called them. 

“Where’d the big guy go?” Eugene called out.

Varian didn’t have much time to get concerned which big guy Eugene had meant before he felt the back of his clothes get grabbed and he himself pulled backward. He wasn’t sure what chemical he’d grabbed out of his bag but regardless he hurriedly splashed it into the man's face. He was dropped and he scrambled back to try to hurriedly get away from him, but the man slammed his weapon down where Varian was about to try to roll away to. The smoke had, until now, protected his own movements along with Hugo’s, but now it meant that despite hearing the others trying to figure out where he was, he and his attacker were hidden in the lingering smoke. He heard the others shouting trying to figure out where he was, but before he could try to shout the witch hunter covered his mouth with a hand.

“Fine then, if you’re going to make this impossible, I’ll just have to make sure no one else can use that magic inside of you.”

Varian was frozen in fear as the witch hunter lifted his sword up, swinging it down.

Novo, Skystar and Cadance stopped as they heard a familiar sound, looking as the sky over the castle town erupted into light, an aurora sparkling. They all recognized the look of the Crystal Heart activating, but Novo was confused seeing it.

“What in-” Novo started, but Cadance quickly began to fly toward it. “Cadance, what is it?”

“Varian is in danger!”

Skystar and her mother shared a worried glance before they followed after the alicorn.

The fight had completely stopped. Varian himself was still confused about what had happened. One moment, he thought he was about to die, the next, what he swore was the protective barrier of the Crystal Heart had suddenly erupted from him. The witch hunter was unconscious, having been knocked against the ceiling and fallen to the floor. The smoke had been forcibly cleared by the barrier magic, and as Varian looked down at his hand he saw, in fact, he had crystallized like the Heart had in fact activated.

“Uh… that’s new. I mean not new-new but it’s never happened outside of home before…” Varian nervously said.

Varian was more confused but got to his feet, backing up more nervously as the clear signs of magic had just happened in front of all present. Lady Caine took everyone’s bewilderment to attack again, this time grabbing him and holding a knife to his neck.

“You might have won for now, princess. But I think I’ll take your little magical friend here and go.” 

“Uh, I’m not magical, technically this is-” Varian attempted to correct her, freezing as she glared at him.

“First you almost break my cover, now you use some kind of magic to give the Coronans an edge. Do you know what they’d have done to you if they'd known this little detail earlier?” Lady Caine was whispering in his ear as she backed toward the exit.

“ You brought the guy who just tried to kill me.” Varian snapped back.

“Hm, fair point.”

“Let him go!” Rapunzel demanded.

“Oh I’ll let him go, I don’t have any problems with him or whoever his family is. But not until I’m out of here.” Lady Caine gestured with her head to the men she’d brought to follow, and they moved to do so.

They looked as the door suddenly flung off its hinges, landing on the floor near Lady Caine’s feet, a smoking singed mark in the center of the door. She took several steps back as Varian was relieved to see a familiar alicorn stepping forward with her head lowered, wings opened to make herself appear bigger, teeth bared, and horn glowing.

“Mom!” The relief and joy in his voice was a little contrary to how the alicorn likely looked to everyone in the moment, but he couldn’t think about that.

“Mom?” Eugene and Cass reiterated, looking at the creature with confusion.

“That explains the feather.” Hugo admitted, still bewildered.

Shortly after the two hippogriffs flanked her sides, Novo looking down her beak at the scene in front of her.

“Now what in Seaquestria was goin on in here?”

“Oh I think this was a party. Oh, sorry uh-” Skystar started nervously.

“Skystar, I don’t think we’re the ones who crashed it.” Novo glared at Lady Caine, unfurling her wings slowly.

Varian was relieved to see the two hippogriffs and his mother, even if he was sure he’d never seen Cadance so angry. He’d rarely seen her angry to begin with, truly. Hugo took the opportunity of all the attackers being fixated on the three winged creatures who had just entered to slowly move toward Lady Caine. He was sure that the creatures noticed him, but luckily they seemed to understand he was on their side.

“Let. My son. Go.” Cadance said, stepping forward.

“Who- what are you?” Lady Caine snapped, stepping back, forcing Varian to step back as well.

“She just said she was his mom. Hard of hearing or something?” Hugo said as he finally slipped behind the woman, hitting her square in the back, which caused her to release Varian.

He quickly scrambled behind the alicorn, who blasted a thug who attempted to rush her without a thought, him being knocked back into the wall.

“Drop your weapons and surrender. Now.” She demanded, the thugs listening seeing how easily she had done that, Lady Caine glaring at her. “You too.”

“... Fine then.” She sighed, dropping her weapons. “But I’m sure you’ll find the king isn’t going to thank you, magical beasts, for the help.”

The guards jumped as Novo looked at them, using her head to gesture inside, them going in and making arrests. Cadance took a deep breath before turning to look at Varian, who looked down nervously at his feet, unsure if her anger was just because of the danger or if she was angry at him for his disappearance. He relaxed almost immediately as her wings wrapped around him, her hooves smooshing his face as she looked at him frantically for any injuries on his face.

“Varian, sweetie are you okay? Did she hurt you?” She asked, moving her hooves and nuzzling her face against his. “I was so worried.”

“You better have a good reason for coming over here all on your own.” Novo added. “Giving your mother a heart attack, what were you thinking?”

Cadance had moved to checking him for any body injuries, making much more clear how worried she had been and making Varian feel even more guilty. The admonishments from Novo had as well, really, he knew she was just thinking of Cadance’s side as a mother.

“Sorry mom. Sorry Queen Novo, I uh… I don’t remember why I came here without you so I don’t really have an excuse.” Varian admitted. “King Frederic mentioned something about Saporian magic?”

Cadance finally stopped fussing over him, looking over at the other humans in the room. Rapunzel, once her initial confusion had worn off, was smiling widely seeing the mythological creatures. Eugene was still staring in confusion and bewilderment, as was Cass and Frederic. Arianna pulled herself together after the adrenaline, confusion and all the other emotions from the last hour finally calmed, clearing her throat.

“You must be Cadance, it’s lovely to finally meet you.”

“Your majesty, I am so sorry about the door.” Cadance bowed her head. “I saw the aurora and knew Varian needed me.”

“You know how it is, when your kids need you.” Novo added, smiling at Skystar who smiled back, before both hippogriffs bowed. “I am Queen Novo of Mount Aris, and this is my daughter princess Skystar.”

Arianna curtsied in return, as did Rapunzel, “It’s lovely to meet you as well, Queen Novo. I’m Queen Arianna of Corona, and this is my daughter Rapunzel.”

“Okay, see, I’m seeing two bird horses and that makes sense. Well as much sense as it can-” Eugene started.

“Those are hippogriffs.” Hugo rolled his eyes. “Bird horses, calling a chameleon a frog, your lack of education is bewildering.”

Eugene glared at the blonde before he returned to looking at Cadance and Varian, “But uh… respectfully-”

“Varian already told us he was adopted, Eugene.” Cass rolled her eyes. “You were too busy sulking.”

“I was not sulking!”

Frederic seemed to finally come to terms to everything that had happened, clearing his throat and walking down, bowing politely to the mythical royals.

“Queen Novo, Princess Skystar, and Empress Cadance, it is lovely to meet you.”

“Oh, well, while my home and throne is the Crystal Empire, I don’t use the title of Empress.” Cadance admitted. “Princess is fine, I don’t rule Equestria alone. Although you can just call me Cadance.”

“It seems we have a lot to learn about your uh, people.” Frederic admitted.

“I apologize for breaking in like I did, but clearly I stumbled into something dire.” Cadance admitted, putting the door back on its hinges and using her magic to fix it.

“... Yes, well, you and your son's help were much appreciated.” Frederic said. 

“When you told me you were adopted, you didn't mention your mom was a… uh…” Rapunzel tilted her head as she looked at the pink mare.

“Alicorn.” Varian answered. “I uh, I thought it would sound crazy without her being here to prove it.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” Cass nodded. “I wouldn’t believe it if I weren’t seeing her right now.”

“I still barely believe it.” Eugene admitted.

“Now then, I’ll go tell every creature we found him.” Novo said to Cadance. “Skystar, try to curb your enthusiasm a little, you are representing the hippogriffs. I’ll let you stay here as long as Cadance is with you. Be home on time. ”

“Oh I will mom, don’t worry so much.” The younger hippogriff had been barely holding her excitement inside, going over to Rapunzel. “Oooh, it’s soo exciting to finally get to meet other humans.” 

“It’s soo exciting to get to meet a real hippogriff.” Rapunzel returned the enthusiasm, jumping up and down a little. 

“So.. your mom is an alicorn… and one of the royal families is hippogriffs.” Eugene listed, clearly trying to keep up.

“My dads a unicorn and uh, the slew of aunts I mentioned are all pegasi, unicorns, other alicorns and earth ponies. And probably a griffon soon, if my uncle Spike ever gets the nerve to propose to Gabby. Oh, and my uncle Spike is a dragon.” Varian nervously rambled on, but Rapunzel just got more excited.

“A dragon? A griffon? Wait, so your little sister is also a little pony?” Rapunzel asked, turning to Varian.

“Yeah, she’s a filly.”

“And she’s a-dorable.” Skystar added. 

“So Goggles, next time you hire me to keep you safe I’m going to need a little more detail.” Hugo crossed his arms, but the smile on his face showed that he was being playful.

“Yeah uh, sorry. I just… I don’t know, I guess I was afraid. Afraid no one would believe me or afraid that people would be afraid of my family and friends and might do something drastic.” Varian admitted. “Thanks, for helping me even if I was a little… misleading.”

“Yeah well, I’m used to my bosses never being really honest so it’s fine.” Hugo admitted. “At least you were just keeping out information that technically didn’t matter.”

Rapunzel began to ask him more questions about his family, and Cadance watched the interaction happily.

“You look relieved.” Arianna mentioned.

“Oh, it’s just… Varian spent so long afraid, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get him to talk to another human willingly, let alone so many.” Cadance admitted. 

“Afraid? Well, after what happened, I suppose I’m not too surprised.” Frederic admitted. “I don’t suppose you know what those men want with him.”

Something about the way he asked put Cadance on edge, needling a small doubt in her heart. Despite her efforts not to let Novo’s distrust of humans or Discord’s disregard of them get to her for the past ten years, there was now a small voice worried if the Coronans could be trusted. But she told herself she could be cautious and still be friendly.

“I have theories, but no real proof. Varian is a normal boy, save for how smart he is, and he was an especially normal four year old. At least I think he was, obviously he was the only human I’d seen grown.” Cadance carefully chose her words, but luckily Frederic seemed to accept that.

“That must have been a learning curve, adopting a child from a whole other species.” Frederic seemed to regret it as he said it, but Cadance let out a small laugh to ease his tension.

“It wasn’t so bad, once I really understood the differences. My mother in law raised a baby dragon as one of her own, now that seemed tough.” Cadance added. “The… the hard part was the first year or so, honestly. He saw so much more than a child ever should.”

Frederic nodded, looked over where Varian, Skystar and Rapunzel were happily talking.

“Quirin was a friend of mine. I’m glad that his son survived. If I know Quirin, I know he gave his all to protect his son.”

Cadance nodded, “He did. And when he couldn’t give anymore, he trusted me to do what he no longer could. Whatever those men wanted, I don’t think he wanted to risk them being able to go after him a second time.”

“But you live somewhere it would be much harder for them to follow.” Frederic concluded, nodding. “I can see myself asking the same in Quirin’s position.”

Arianna nodded, “But, where is your kingdom? I can’t imagine you could hide as wondrous of a kingdom as the Crystal Empire was described in what little records we have.”

“Well, that’s a slightly complicated question.” Cadance admitted. “We use a portal to go between both worlds. The portal needs certain stars to be in alignment to open.”

The others had walked over in the interim, Rapunzel hearing that and looking at Varian with concern.

“How often are they in alignment?”

“Uh… only for three days every two and a half years.” Varian admitted, rubbing the back of his head. “So I have to be home by tomorrow and I won’t be able to return for a uh, a while.”

“Oh…” Rapunzel looked down, Varian feeling guilty despite not really having a choice in the matter.

He technically had a choice, but he certainly didn't feel comfortable in one of the options. Skystar looked between the two before she seemingly got an idea, pulling out Shelly and puppeteering it in a silly fashion near Rapunzel.

“ Hey now, don’t be sad. I know we cannot stay, but we’ve got a couple minutes and a little time to play .”

“And she’s singing.” Hugo crossed his arms.

“You’d be surprised how often ponies and other creatures break into song.” Varian admitted.

“This is a little life lesson Varian’s Aunt Pinkie Pie taught me.” Skystar nudged Varian playfully before she continued to sing.

“ One small thing, doesn’t seem like a lot. One small thing, work with the time you’ve got. Soon one small thing becomes two, after two perhaps another few. Then one small thing is not so small, one small thing can be the biggest thing of all.” 

Cadance watched fondly while Skystar got the group to go outside with her, looking at Arianna and Frederic.

“I’m sorry we don’t have more time to talk. I’ll try to tell you as much as I can before Varian and I have to head home.” Cadance walked over to one of the many now broken items in the castle, again using her magic to mend it. “And to fix what I can here. I learned this mend spell because Varian and Flurry can be little menaces, actually.”

Arianna giggled a little at that, though Frederic was watching the items mending somewhat wearily. He pushed it down, seeing the mare was doing him a favor.

“Well, as curious as I am about your home, I think I’d like to take the chance to get to know you.” Arianna admitted. 

Varian had been tense the whole time Skystar dragged him into the town, the hippogriff mare none the wiser about his concerns. He relaxed quite a bit as many of the townsfolk seemed endeared by Skystar and Rapunzel’s antics, but stayed as to the sidelines as he could. Neither Skystar or Rapunzel would let him do that too long, but eventually he slipped away enough while the two of them were making a chalk drawing to get a breather.

“She’s a lot, huh?” Hugo asked, bringing over something in a cup. “Here.”

“She’s just excited. Thanks.” Varian looked at the drink, then Hugo. “So uh… did you find that guy you were with?”

Hugo saw an opportunity and decided to roll with it as an idea formed, “Cyrus? No, but he probably went back to Ingvarr. It’s every man for himself. I'll run into him again.”

“That sounds pretty awful… you don’t have anyone you trust?”

“Not everyone gets adopted by candy colored creatures with nothin’ but love in their hearts.”

“Not every creature where I’m from is like that either, you know.” Varian mentioned, pausing. “Still… I’m sorry you’ve never had a real friend. I mean, until now.”

Hugo felt himself tense up a little hearing Varian say that, feeling guilty about Varian trusting him already. Varian dug something out of his backpack and put it into his hand, looking at it.

“What’s this then?”

“Glowpaz, that semi precious stone I told you I used to make the glow stay.” Varian explained. “Consider it a parting gift, since… I mean, I guess you don’t live around here.”

“I don’t but uh… I’ll make a concerted effort to be ‘round next time the portal opens.” Hugo smiled a little looking at the chunk of green stone.

“There’s a chance we could get it open sooner, actually. I just need the right artifact to do that.” Varian admitted, Hugo perking up a little as his mind raced.

“Really?” Rapunzel’s enthusiastic voice made them both jump.

They hadn’t seen her and Skystar approaching, but both of them looked very enthusiastic to hear it.

“Really, but I can’t guarantee that object even exists so don’t get too hopeful about it.” Varian insisted.

“If anyone can do it, Varian can.” Skystar pulled him into a sudden hug, Varian pulling a canary yellow feather out of his mouth. “Oh sorry, I’m molting.”

“I can see that.”

They returned to the castle, Varian happy to see Cadance and Arianna talking pretty happily. 

“Alright, tomorrow your coronation will be attempted again.” Frederic explained, gesturing around the now fixed throne room. “Thanks to Princess Cadance we’re practically ready. Now, Rapunzel, we need to talk. Alone.”

Cadance frowned, but she left along with everyone else to allow the two to talk.

“Oh she’s grounded. She’s so grounded. What happened?” Skystar asked, looking at Varian.

“Uh, I dunno.”

Cadance glanced at him, she could tell he was lying, but chose to let him and his new friends have secrets, it was fairly natural. Kids got into trouble, they kept secrets, the important part was to trust Varian would come to her for help if he needed it.

Hugo slipped into his room after a while, Varian clearly in a much better mood after being reunited with his mother.

“Hey, so uh… your new friend is basically being held under martial law.”

“Rapunzel? Seriously?”

“Yeah, her dad isn’t exactly known for being kind and forgiving when it comes to punishment. Seems like it extends to his family.”

“... I wish I could help but honestly… if he finds out I was there who knows what he’d do to me. Or Cass.” Varian admitted, Hugo nodding.

“See now you're getting it.”

“Getting what?”

“People can’t be trusted.”

Varian sighed and rolled his eyes, “You know, Eugene tried to help me once, not so long ago. When he was still Flynn Rider the thief. I think people are just complicated, and you happened to live somewhere where it was easier not to care. Maybe you should try staying somewhere a little nicer.”

“What, like here?”

“Well uh, no. I can tell they’re still nervous about magic, I think they only accepted Skystar so fast because Rapunzel was there. And I don’t think they know the difference between a motor and magic. But there’s so much world out there to learn about.”

“This is coming from the little prince who was too afraid to step into town.” Hugo crossed his arms. 

“Well, I also had a whole other world to learn about. Hey… I know it’d probably be hard to get used to, but you could come with us to Equestria.” Varian offered. “While not every creature is as friendly as my mom or Princess Skystar, there’s a lot more good than bad. And, they’re totally used to technology.”

Hugo froze, he’d fully intended on following them and going through the mirror without asking. He’d use curiosity or something as an excuse, and he couldn’t see them forcing him to go back. He didn’t expect an invitation, nor for Varian to have called him a friend earlier that very day. 

“I’ll uh… I’ll think about it. Goodnight, Goggles.”

Hugo left in a hurry, Varian watching worriedly before he shrugged it off and got as comfortable as he could to sleep.

The next day was mostly a lot of chit chat, but Varian didn’t mind that so much. Cadance and Arianna were hitting it off as well as Ocellus had guessed. The two seemed happy to talk about their common interests in history, at the very least, and share a few stories Varian was very sure his dad would be embarrassed to hear being talked about. Frederic certainly seemed to be. He had tried to offer Rapunzel comfort about her not being allowed to leave the kingdom, though he was still nervous about anyone finding out he was there. Cass clearly was too, Eugene kept trying to ask Varian if he knew what had happened and Cass kept distracting the man before he could technically ask. Hugo was oddly quiet, but Varian had a feeling he was the first person to make Hugo feel like he was wanted somewhere because it was his invitation to Equestria that had silenced the fellow teen. The coronation had gone on properly this time, at least, and it seemed to put them at ease.

“My mom grounded me once for using our magic transformation pearl to turn myself back to a hippogriff when we were supposed to be hiding underwater from the Storm King and going to help Twilight and her friends fight the Storm King.” Skystar offered, Rapunzel giving her a small smile. “He’ll come around, protective parents just… worry a little more aggressively than other parents.”

“What made your mom so protective?” Rapunzel asked.

“I don’t really know for sure, besides the Storm King’s attack.” Skystar admitted. 

“Storm King huh. There’s so many stories I wish you had time to tell me.” Rapunzel admitted. 

“I’ll do what I can to find a way to get the portal open sooner. I wish Gold Lily wrote her spell down, we could just use that to go back and forth, but honestly she was a terrible note taker.” Varian admitted.

“Varian, Skystar, we need to head back. It’ll be a lot harder to walk to the portal in the dark.” Cadance explained as she walked over. “Goodbye, Princess Rapunzel. I hope to see you again soon.”

“I hope so too.” Rapunzel threw her arms around Cadance, who smiled after a moment and hugged the girl back. 

They headed off after a few more goodbyes, Varian walking between Cadance and Skystar.

“Oh, mom, I meant to ask, the crystallization, I thought that could only happen in the Empire?”

“Well, that is usually true. I thought for certain you’d have looked in the locket I gave you.” Cadance admitted.

“Locket?” Varian pulled the little necklace from inside his shirt, looking at it. “Huh, I never noticed that.”

He opened it with a small struggle, it seemed to have been made with magic in mind not with hands, but once he did his eyes widened as he saw what was inside. He didn’t know what the little runes on the inside said, but he recognized what was floating at the very center of the locket, hovering over focusing crystals. 

“That’s… is that a Crystal Heart?” Varian asked.

“I had a very inspiring dream, or something like a dream.” Cadance admitted. “It took a lot of research, but I made a little Crystal Heart to protect you. I filled the locket with as much love from me and the rest of your friends and family as I could. It takes time to recharge, but it’ll protect you from stray magic like Sombra’s spell or from attacks, at least once a day or so.”

“And send up the aurora, letting you know if I need help and where…” Varian concluded, looking at the mare. 

“I know you won’t always need me there to protect you, but I can’t help but worry.” Cadance admitted. 

He smiled and shared a little side hug with her, rolling his eyes as Skystar cooed. They arrived at the ruins and walked through the mirror, Varian laughing as Flurry tackled him to the ground. He hugged the filly back, the filly looking at him with watery eyes.

“Whyyyy did you go like that? In the middle of the night alone? We promised we’d do things like that together.”

“I’m sorry sis, I just… had something I needed to do. I think, I don’t really remember. Something about a magic spell, the one that got you last time.” He explained, hugging her. 

Unsurprisingly, the room was practically full of his friends and family who all relaxed only once he was there, and he relaxed a little as Shining hugged him, clearly relieved himself.

“Sorry dad.” He hugged the stallion back. “I didn’t mean to worry everyone.”

“... How are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked, Varian looking at her. "Novo said you were in town. That's a big step for you."

He’d done more this visit then he’d managed ever before, he was dragged into town, he spoke to other people, he made friends, he fought back against the men who had taken his father from him. It was a lot, and he hadn’t done much to emotionally unpack it yet.

“Better, I think.” He admitted. 

“That’s great to hear Varian... So who's your friend?” Twilight asked, Cadance and Varian looking back at the mirror where Hugo stood.

“Uh... Hello.”

Chapter Text

The coronation had been a disaster, and the Captain of the Guard, Steiner Oftegard, was still reeling from all that had happened. The plan Lady Caine had made, the resurgence of the murderers of Old Corona, and the revelation of a magical otherworld had been a lot for everyone. He wasn’t as concerned about the magical creatures as Nigel, Princess Cadance had been absolutely lovely for the brief visit she’d had with Arianna and Frederic, and Princess Skystar was very much like Rapunzel. He was more concerned about the other two things, and the knowledge the murderous ‘witch hunters’ would willingly align with thugs and thieves to get their target did not bode well. 

He was trying to clear his head by walking about the city at dusk, pausing as he heard what sounded like a little girl crying. He looked around, trying to discern where the sound was coming from, narrowing down where it was coming from and walking over. It was a pile of crates in an alleyway, which he would be suspicious of ordinarily, but he was certain it was a child in need and he was more than willing to put himself on the line in that case. He had before.

“Hello? Are you alright little girl?” He asked, hearing the child sniffle and try to calm herself down before she could answer.

“I’m lost.” She choked out.

“It’s alright. I’m a royal guard, I can help you.” He took his helmet off, knowing that sometimes that could scare children.

“I don’t think you can.” She sniffled. 

“You don’t need to be scared. I promise I won’t let anything hurt you.”

“... You seem nice. Okay…”

He was surprised to see it was a pegasus filly, assuming quickly the reason she’d been upset was likely because she’d gotten trapped on this side of the mirror. She visibly relaxed seeing he wasn’t reacting negatively at the sight of her. She seemed young, based on the curls and bows in her mane and tail.

“What’s your name, little filly?” He asked, holding a hand out.

She tentatively placed a hoof in his hand, looking up at him, “Cozy Glow.”

At first, Varian thought Hugo coming was a last minute decision on the blonde inventor's part, he had invited him after all, but now he was just suspicious. He’d caught the teen snooping in plenty of rooms, and especially his own bedroom once he figured out which was Varian’s. Varian wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but a part of him was beginning to get suspicious that Hugo knew more about the attackers of his village then he thought. Which he knew was paranoid, Hugo was about his age, he’d have been a child too, and Hugo had helped fight them. Hugo and Cyrus even seemed to be exasperated by the witch hunters' very existence. Varian sighed and slammed his face into his work desk as Hugo entered, looking around.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding from me, eh?” Hugo asked.

“How did you get in here?”

“Your sister showed me.” Hugo admitted, walking around. “This is amazing…”

Hugo sounded genuinely impressed, which did make Varian feel a spike of pride. Varian relaxed a little, sitting up in his chair and turning to look at Hugo.

“I thought Ingvarr was super advanced in technology?”

“It is, but you have your own lab. In a tower where no one can easily bother you and all the time and resources in the world.” Hugo walked over to the crystal melter, looking at it. “What’s this for?”

“Well, around here crystal is more abundant up here than most metals so I use it where I can. That means getting it into shape, so that it melts and molds it into the shapes I need.” Varian explained.

“Ah okay, that makes sense.” Hugo nodded.

He had noticed, in fact, most things in the Empire were made of different kinds of crystals. Buildings, tableware, the bedframe for the bed he’d been sleeping in in the shockingly spacious room he’d also been given. With, seemingly, no strings attached, which put him on edge. They all seemed so nice, and he didn’t trust it.

~ The First Night ~

“So, who's your friend?”

Hugo regretted stepping through the mirror as soon as he’d done it, despite it being part of the plan. He hadn’t expected a room full of ponies to be waiting there. A purple mare looking up at him had a smile on her face, but her eyes, her freakishly huge front facing eyes, told him she was confused, concerned, or suspicious. He couldn’t figure out which, they had more similar faces to people then horses but they still weren’t humans and he didn’t know how to read them. Whichever emotion she was feeling, of course she was, they didn’t expect another human to be coming through. 

“Uh… Hello.”

“Hugo? You decided to come?” Varian asked.

“Well, you know how I mentioned I don’t really have anyone and that it’s everyone for themself in Ingvarr? I figured, no reason to go back if Cyrus already ditched me, and I don’t personally really care for Corona so I thought I’d come take a look at this Equestria after all. You seem to like it just fine. And maybe if you need an artificer to help you figure out an item with a spell we might be able to use to force open the portal, you know. ‘Sides, I felt a sort of connection to you Goggles, we have a lot in common.” Hugo explained, clearing his throat. “Uh, so, I’ll just leave your lovely home, your majesty.”

Hugo noticed the concerned glances from the ponies and hippogriffs in the room as he spoke about his home, taking note of it for later. It seemed that they were all bleeding hearts, which he could easily use to his advantage. He had plenty of true sob stories that he could weaponize to gain their trust.

“Oh you don’t have to leave. I would never forgive myself if I let you leave in the middle of the night.” Cadance insisted. “Besides, you helped Varian, even if you don’t decide to stay in the Empire long term, I’d like to help you now.”

“Well, I won’t say no to a place to sleep.” Hugo was exhausted, and even if they stuffed him into a stable or something he’d make due.

“Sunburst, do you mind showing Hugo to a room? I think we could all use some sleep.” Cadance asked.

“Of course, it’s no problem.” Sunburst yawned.

Hugo followed the unicorn stallion, looking around the dimmed hallways. Everything had a blue or purple hue to it, and as they stepped on the floor the click clack of Sunburst’s hooves against the flooring made it evident that the floor was made of the same material.

“Is this whole castle made of crystal?”

“Oh, yes. Every building in the Empire is.” Sunburst smiled up at him. “In the morning, some creature will have to show you around. It’s easy to get lost in here.”

“The castle or the city?” Hugo asked, peeking out a window at the crystalline city.

He didn’t usually give himself time to enjoy the sights on a job, but considering he could very well be there for two years he didn’t see a reason not to. And the city was quite a sight, now that he wasn’t skulking around he could stop and look out at the crystalline city and enjoy it.

“Well, both really. The city is easy to navigate when you know it but if you aren’t familiar it can be a lot.” Sunburst waited for Hugo to finish taking in the city.

“That’s fair.” Hugo admitted, following again. “So what do you do round here?”

“Well, I was Varian and Flurry’s Crystaller, uh… so godparent, and their teacher. Now I mostly just teach Flurry magic, Varian about his princely duties, and help keep Cadance organized. Not that she needs a lot of help in that regard, she is a very organized mare. I just have an eidetic memory and it helps me help her.”

“Eidetic memory? That’s handy, especially for your job.” Hugo could definitely see why someone like Sunburst worked at the castle, though hearing he was practically family to Varian was a whole other thing.

Hiring someone like that to be an advisor made sense, as did the private tutoring, but the godparent thing seemed deeply personal for a random palace staffer. The stallion was dressed like some kind of wizard, but that only seemed related to teaching Flurry magic. The bright colors of all the ponies in the previous room made it a lot harder to guess if any of them were related, so he supposed there was a chance Sunburst was but he didn’t say he was their uncle or cousin.

“It is.” Sunburst yawned. “Here we go, if you need anything feel free to let me or any of the maids know.”

Hugo was a little surprised to see it seemed he was in some kind of wing for guests, he noticed Skystar wave to him before she entered a room in the same hall. She was a princess, he fully expected to be put in some room far from anyone else. He wasn’t about to complain though, as he entered and saw the large, luxurious looking bed. He waited until he was sure he’d heard Sunburst leave the area before flopping onto the bed. It was probably the most comfortable bed he’d ever laid on in his life, and he sighed in contentment.

“Oh Donnie, a vacation? You shouldn’t have.” Hugo yawned. “Alright… we’ll figure out where the book is kept first thing, then we’ll just relax until the portal opens, right Liv?”

The robotic mouse climbed out, Hugo smiling a little and putting his glasses on the nightstand next to him. He woke up a little late the next day, but he was sure it was because it sounded like everyone in the castle had a late start. He got up and walked out, jumping a bit the filly he was fairly certain was Varian’s little sister flew up into his face.

“Uh… mornin.”

“Flurry, it's rude to stare.” Twilight chastised, pulling the filly away with her magic. “Good morning, Hugo.”

“Morning uh…”

“Oh, I’m Twilight Sparkle. I’m Varian and Flurry’s aunt.” Twilight held out a hoof, and Hugo put his hand on her hoof tentatively, relaxing a bit as she shook his hand. “And these are my friends who are Varian’s honorary other aunts, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.”

“He did strike me as a big family kind of guy.”

“Well shoot, we were already close as family before Varian was adopted, an’ we were all there when… when Cadance found him. I reckon we all just wanted to make sure he was alright.” Applejack explained.

Varian stumbled out looking exhausted and a little disheveled, Flurry flying over and nearly toppling him over with a hug. He rerouted her momentum but letting her wingbeats spin them around a little before he rolled his eyes and hugged her.

“Good morning Flurry.”

“He’s taller than you.” She pointed a hoof at Hugo, who chuckled a bit.

“Is that really how you’re going to greet me today?” Varian asked.

“Well he is! You’re short.”

“He could just be tall.”

“No, you were a lot smaller than every other human we saw over there that wasn’t a little kid.” Skystar added, Varian shooting her a look.

She just giggled, Hugo stretching, “Well Goggles, not to take a side here but I have lived around other humans my whole life so I can confirm you are kind of short for your age.”

Varian shot him a look, and Hugo tried to tell himself he did not find the way Varian looked when he was annoyed to be pretty cute. 

“Well, welcome to Equestria, Hugo.”

He turned, seeing two much taller ponies, one some off white color and one dark blue. He spotted crowns at the top of their heads, and he bowed quickly.

“Oh, that is not necessary.”

“This is my great aunt Celestia, and my great aunt Luna.” Varian introduced, hugging the two. “Sorry for worrying you.”

That confirmed to him that not all ponies who were related were the same color, at least, these two were different as could be.

“Well, uh, it’s nice to meet you two.” Hugo admitted as Luna looked at him.

Her gaze seemed piercing, she seemed the least welcoming of the bunch as she stared at him, but she smiled after a moment. He was relieved she didn’t seem suspicious of him, before he noticed that something about her was a little different about all the other ponies. Besides her coat color being quite a bit darker than any other pony around them. He just couldn’t place it initially.

“Apologies, I am not known for my resting face being a smile.” Luna admitted. 

“It’s fine, uh… are those constellations in your eyes?” Hugo finally realized what it was that he’d noticed.

“Luna has many night time specific duties that I cannot do.” Celestia answered with a smile, the sisters leaning on each other in what Hugo assumed was some kind of embrace. “The starlight in her eyes is in relation to her dream powers, actually.”

“Dream powers?”

“When some creature is having a nightmare that is a side effect of something in their life causing them undue stress and may harm their mental health, I do what I can from the dream realm to help them.”

That was far more than he’d heard any royalty doing anywhere, it seemed that Luna was very tired and it was early morning and it occurred to him that it was because she hadn’t yet slept. Luna excused herself, likely to go to bed, and Hugo turned to Varian and Flurry.

“Alright well, before I accidentally say anything insulting to anyone, what do I need to know about ponies?”

The crash course on Equestrian politics, the four types of ponies, and the types of creatures he was likely to meet had been quite a lot. But he’d been curious to learn, in many ways he could tell this world was like nothing he’d seen before. Yes, the magical creatures were the obvious difference, the fact that there were no humans beside him and Varian was another obvious one, but there was more. Culturally, despite some of the similarities in townships and kingdoms, there were clear differences in how they treated others. 

He’d also been trying to find where Varian kept the things from his old home, but the castle was huge and some doors were locked by magic of all things. His lockpicks were useless, he’d have to get someone to open the doors for him, and that meant again trying to win Varian’s full trust. Hence, finding his way into the room Varian kept disappearing into, which was easier then he anticipated. Flurry had been more than happy to use a key she had to allow him into the entryway. He hadn’t expected it to be a lab that Varian’s family had outfitted for him.

Hugo walked around the lab, looking at all the equipment, some clearly made by Varian while others were seemingly professional and usual and expected to be in the room.

“So your parents really just let you spend almost all day up here?” Hugo asked.

“Most of the time. I do have a day I spend with just Flurry every week, but that was my idea.” Varian admitted. “And we have dinner together. Sometimes lunch if I remember.”

“I’d kill for a lab like this, with no one breathin’ down my neck to make them something they want.” Hugo admitted to himself, but Varian heard and looked at him.

“... So uh, what’s Ingvarr like? I don’t think I’ll ever go as far as that even if we do get the portal open sooner.”

“Ah well, it’s uh… rough living. Especially for people who were dumped in an orphanage when they were born. Only well out of that hell is for girls, and it’s joining the military. A grim way out, but it seems preferable to all the hard labour in the factories to some. I don’t think I’d have done it.” Hugo didn’t get a lot of chances to get sympathy, and he figured it would probably help get this soft hearted pony boy on his side. “But I found a way to survive.”

“And that was stealing…” Varian surmised.

“Among other things. Like I said, I am an inventor. Just, you know, selling people weapons wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do.” Hugo admitted, walking over to the table Varian had the various samples from the Potion Ocean sitting on. “What’s this?”

“Oh, samples of the… well it's not water exactly, but samples from the Potion Ocean. It’s a naturally occurring large body of well, potion.” Varian explained. “My friend Nova is there studying it. She sends me samples sometimes, with notes.”

“Fascinating.” Hugo smiled, standing up straight. “This whole world is like it’s made of raw magic. I’ve never seen anything as magical as the dirt, or rather crystal, we are casually walking around on, let alone a whole ocean of water that is somehow magical.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it, honestly. I don’t remember much of my home realm.” Varian admitted with a shrug. “And I am very used to living here in the Crystal Empire, although I do know it’s one of the most inherently magical places in Equestria and the lands beyond it.”

Hugo leaned against the table Varian was working at, looking over his notes and blueprints, “So what’s this?”

“Well, we might not yet have anything to force the portal open, but I wanted to have some ideas down for a machine we can attach to the mirror to transfer the magic of the artifact, if we find one, to the mirror.” Varian explained. “Especially since Gold Lily never wrote down the spell she used to trick the natural portals.”

“Gold Lily?”

“That’s just a little history mystery I’ve been working on.” Varian explained. “She was an alicorn who found a portal to what would become Corona. She worked with Demanitus, fought alongside him, and so far that’s all I know. They were betrayed by some of his other students. She was an inventor, which is kind of a rare job here in Equestria, especially at the time.”

“So she made the mirror?”

“She and Demanitus, yeah.”

“Demanitus huh… So her stuff is our best bet for finding an artifact that might work.” Hugo stood up. “Alright, tell me everything you know about Gold Lily.”

Cadance and Flurry entered the lab, Cadance smiling seeing Varian sharing his corkboard of information on Gold Lily with Hugo, who seemed to be listening intently. 

“Fascinating… So we’re working with a few unknowns. How did that journal end up back in Equestria unless she came back? And if she came back, why and where did she go?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. There was no reason for her to hide her notes in Seaquestria unless she thought someone knew her secrets.” Varian added. “But she also left a clue to find it.”

Flurry tilted her head, thinking before an idea popped into her head, “Why don’t we go ask Daring Do? She does stuff like this all the time, she might have a lead.”

“... Flurry, that's a great idea, why didn’t I think about that?” Varian smiled, Flurry smiling up at him.

“Whose Daring Do?” Hugo stood up straight, looking at Cadance.

“Officially, she doesn’t exist, just a character in some adventure books. Unofficially, she’s an integral part of keeping the world safe and she sells her stories under a pen name.” Cadance explained. “She keeps magical artifacts out of the wrong hands, or hooves.”

“Makes sense, better that people think those artifacts don’t exist by making them part of a fictional story.” Hugo stretched. “So how do we reach her?”

“Well, Rainbow Dash has her address.” Varian mentioned. “So I guess we’re visiting Ponyville.”

“While you’re there, I’m sure your aunt Twilight can help you look into any other leads you can find.” Cadance offered.

“Aww, why does Varian get to go do adventure arc- uh… arc-”

“Archaeology. Say it with me Flurry, archaeology.” Varian offered, Hugo snickering at it.

Varian shot him a look, Flurry giggling a little.

“As long as Sunburst goes with you to continue your studies, you can go along.” Cadance said, Flurry perking up. “If your brother is okay with it.”

“Pleeaaasssee?” Flurry blinked her big blue eyes at Varian who smiled a little.

“I’d never say no to you sis. Besides, neither of us can use magic, and you can. If we run into one of those alicorn locks, it would be nice to have you there.” Varian admitted, Flurry fluttering her wings in excitement.

“Yes!”

“We better get packed and ready if we’re going to catch the overnight train.” Varian admitted, Cadance nodding.

“Train?” Hugo looked at Flurry, who just smiled.

Hugo looked around the train as they entered, clearly taking the machine in before looking at Varian.

“You travel by these often?”

“Fastest way out of the Empire, because of the snow. Airships struggle to get through the snow and wind.” Varian explained.

“Airships?” Hugo hated to admit it, but Equestria was sounding better and better. “Ships, that fly?”

“You two are such big nerds.” Flurry sighed, flopping down into one of the bunks.

“Your babysitter isn’t sleeping in here with us?” Hugo asked.

“First of all, he isn’t our babysitter. Second, Sunburst brings a suitcase full of books to read every time we come to Ponyville, minimum.” Varian explained. “He doesn’t want to keep us up so he usually sits on his own.”

“Besides, I’m old enough to be left with Vari.” Flurry insisted, standing up. “You should show your nerd boyfriend the engine room, Coalquette is the engineer.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Varian blushed, Flurry smiling smugly at him.

“Then why are you-”

“Engine room? Are we really allowed in there?” Hugo interrupted.

While he was entertained by the siblings bickering, he was much more interested in learning about the machine.

“Oh, yeah. Coalquette loves answering questions about trains.” Varian confirmed. “Follow me.”

Coalquette had been, unsurprisingly, very happy to tell all about Hugo all about trains. Varian tried hard not to stare, glancing up from Gold Lily’s journal every so often. Hugo seemed more at ease then Varian thought he’d seen him, he wasn’t tense and his eyes weren’t darting around the room, he was focused on either Coalquette or whatever she was showing him. Varian felt his gaze land on the robot arm, knowing full well that, like he himself, Hugo had likely had something happen in his childhood. Something that took his arm, and led him to be a thief for hire.

“It was nice to meet you, Coalquette was it?”

“That’s right. It’s always a delight to meet some creature else interested in trains, but I’m not surprised a friend of Varian’s is inquisitive.” Coalquette smiled at him, Varian smiling back. “Equestria could always use more inventors.”

Hugo followed Varian back to their private car, Flurry flying over from where she’d been sitting with Sunburst. They all got ready for bed, Varian closing the curtains to his bunk, Hugo seeing the dim blue light before too long. He heard Flurry sigh, looking up at the bunk above Varian’s.

“I wish that stupid rock would leave my brother alone.” She huffed, clearly not knowing Hugo was still awake.

Well, he’d already figured Flurry was probably his in to get Varian’s trust realistically, but he decided to try and sleep for the time being. The mechanical sounds of the train were a little too close and similar to something he’d tried to long since bury, and once he finally managed to fall asleep he found himself in an all too familiar nightmare. He tried to remind himself it was in the past, that he’d survived, that he was in an arguably better position then he was at the time… 

When he was awake, machinery was not nearly so scary looking as the way his memories had twisted the factory floor into a twisted mass of turning, crushing cogs. 

“Hugo?”

He spun around to face the only kind of familiar voice, confused to see Luna, who looked worriedly around them.

“Princess Luna? Right uh… you said you monitor dreams.” Hugo felt uncomfortable immediately, seeing that it was true.

He didn’t share anything that bothered him willingly, and seeing the mare in the setting of the nightmare version of what was still, despite everything, the worst day of his life had him on edge. He didn’t want her to know, and he didn’t want to talk about it. But he also somewhat did, to have someone, for once, maybe really show him some kind of empathy for it, to not treat it like it was just another day in Ingvarr.

“I imagine… this has something to do with what happened to your arm.” Luna mentioned gently.

“Uh… yeah.” Hugo put his hand over where his robotic arm started. “Most of the orphanages where I’m from make the kids work in factories… a lot of injuries happen. To put it lightly.”

“... I know that no words can completely console everything you’ve been through, but I am sorry for all you have been forced to bear at such a young age. You carry the weight of your pain well, but you needn’t carry it alone.” Luna unfurled a wing and put it around his shoulders, leading Hugo out of the nightmare factory. “I understand that you came from somewhere unkind, where you had to stand alone, but I think you’ll find you can lean on others here.”

He wasn’t sure why Luna spoke the way she did, he had noticed she spoke a bit archaically and she seemed to be the only one. She was strange, but he kind of liked that about her. He looked around, seeing a path of starlight ahead of them.

“This is how you go from dream to dream?” Hugo asked, hoping to get the subject away from him.

“It is.” Luna confirmed, walking alongside him. 

She almost certainly knew he was trying to get out of this, but he appreciated she was letting him. He paused seeing a little bubble dropping by that seemed to be Flurry and Varian on some kind of adventure.

“I like to play a little game with myself when I see their dreams, where I try to guess which of the siblings' dreams it is.” Luna mentioned, Hugo looking at her. “They both often have similar dreams.”

“No wonder she was so excited to go on this little archaeological adventure with us.” Hugo smiled a little.

He had to admit, it was a little endearing seeing the two interact over the past few days. At first he thought the filly was weird, but he’d come to realize she was, in fact, an average ten year old. She liked to tease her brother, she asked a lot of questions, she had boundless energy, and she got bored if something took too long. She did make him a little nervous about his job, though, he’d seen what the filly could do to targets during her magic practice. Still, he told himself he could nab the book and leave without anyone noticing. The castle was full of books, and it was clear wherever this almanac was it wasn’t something anyone read often.

“So uh… don’t suppose you can just drop me off in a nice no dream sleep?” Hugo chanced.

“Well, you are currently still asleep.” Luna explained. “As for a dreamless sleep, I can do that if that’s really what you want.”

“It’s better than the alternative, trust me. Besides it’s uh… it’s just because of the train sounds that I was thinking about it.” Hugo insisted.

“Alright.” Luna nodded, her horn glowing briefly.

Hugo woke up the next day as Flurry flew down to force Varian to wake up, chuckling a bit to himself as the messy haired freckled boy slipped out of his bunk. It was pretty clear that Varian hadn’t slept well, Hugo had learned that the boy was apparently consistently hit by visions, more so then he’d had before meeting Rapunzel. 

“Mornin’ Goggles. Mornin’ Blizzard.”

Varian glared over at Hugo, confusing the blonde, but Flurry just tilted her head. 

“My name is Flurry.”

“And my name is ‘Varian’ not ‘Goggles’ not ‘Hair Stripes’ or whatever astute observation you’ll start using next. Not using my name implies an attempt to keep some level of separation from me, which would tell me you're not really here because you feel some ‘connection’ or want to be friends or whatever the next excuse you’ll use in front of someone else will be. How would you like it if I called you uh… Pretty boy instead of Hugo?” Varian had been proud of himself for the call out until the end there, and he was absolutely embarrassed that he couldn’t have come up with literally anything else.

Flurry gasped, looking between the two with excitement, and Hugo could chance a guess why. Varian slipped up in a way he could use. Varian just confirmed he had some level of attraction to him.

Chapter Text

Varian was quiet the rest of the way to Ponyville, despite Hugo trying to start a conversation a few times. He really wasn’t sure what about calling Flurry ‘Blizzard’ had set the fellow inventor, especially since it didn’t seem to bother her. And even he knew flirting when someone was angry was a bad idea, so despite knowing that Varian was attracted he couldn’t start trying. He also knew that it didn’t seem like Varian much minded being called Goggles at any point, so it was for certain the impromptu nickname he’d given Flurry.

They arrived at Ponyville, what Hugo thought would be a small town, instead finding a bustling town that was verging on becoming a city. He looked around, taking in a totally different kind of Equestrian township. The Empire was old, all the buildings were made of Crystal, the street plan was clear in that it was snowflake shaped. Even the paths that lead to the farms were a part of the snowflake city plan. This town had a lot more of a loose city plan, built around the train station, which made sense to Hugo in a sense. It was likely the first permanent structure in the city, and everything else came later, leading to the town hall being in the former center when it was just a small town, but with expansion it was no longer so. The houses looked more similar to the houses in Corona save for the hay tops, and the creatures all lacked the crystalline look. Equestria was a massive kingdom in comparison to Corona, but it was still strange to Hugo how different it all looked.

“Aunt Tempest!” Flurry shouted happily, though Hugo had no idea who she was talking to at first.

The station was pretty busy, it seemed that it was just generally a time a lot of creatures were traveling. Creatures were getting off the train and getting on, meeting those waiting for them, almost everywhere Hugo looked he could see smiles. He hadn’t spent much time out of the castle in the Empire, but when he had he’d noticed how nice the city appeared to be. He’d been suspicious and tried to find anything, but it seemed that Cadance was incredibly proactive when it came to ensuring her citizens always had a roof over their head and food on their tables. He begrudgingly respected her and her small corner of Equestria, but he was still suspicious of the remaining alicorn princesses.

Eventually, the station cleared up enough that he could tell who Flurry was waving at frantically, and he felt his heart drop.

“There you are.” Tempest walked over, Hugo immediately nervous seeing the unicorn.

She was clearly a lot less immediately friendly than any of the others he’d met, she paused and looked him up and down with a frown when she saw him. Her broken horn and scar told him that, like Donella, this mare was likely dangerous, as did her militant stance. He shifted a little nervously and avoided eye contact momentarily, but was unwilling not to try to keep an eye on her. Hugo didn’t notice that, under her scrutinizing gaze, he’d ended up standing at attention as though Donella had entered a room. She seemed to recognize his discomfort, shifting her stance a little to be less militant and looking at Varian. Varian was still clearly mad at him because he didn’t say anything and wasn’t looking at him, but Flurry luckily was willing to make introductions.

“That’s Hugo! Vari is mad for some reason, I dunno. He’s the one who called Hugo pretty.” Flurry explained, Varian getting immediately flustered.

“Aww, okay, so that’s what all this is.” Tempest smiled just a little. “Okay. Well, Varian, Rarity wants to see you immediately, so if you need a break from your little sister and new friend, I’ll take them to Twilight’s.”

“Thank you Tempest.” Varian sighed, stomping off.

“What did I do?” Hugo asked, looking at Flurry.

“I dunno.”

“He seemed to take it real personal that I called you Blizzard.” 

Tempest raised an eyebrow, “Say Flurry, I think Scootaloo was practicing flying over Sweet Apple Acres, why don’t you go see her? I’ll get your stuff to your aunts.”

Flurry gasped excitedly before flying off quickly, Hugo feeling uncomfortable being alone with the mare.

"At ease, I don't bite. Anymore." Tempest joked, hoping it would help the boy relax.

“Uh… nice to meet you, Tempest was it?” Hugo did relax a little, though the joke had made him more nervous because it meant she read him like a book.

“Tempest Shadow, but just Tempest if fine.” She confirmed. “And you, you’ve been trained like a soldier.”

He felt an immediate sense of dread, but since she already clocked it he didn’t see any reason to hide it.

“I did what I had to to survive Ingvarr.”

He felt a little relieved that she again looked at him sympathetically, the mare getting Varian and Flurry’s bags on her back before she gestured to him to follow.

“I know that accepting empathy doesn’t come easy once you’ve been through something like that, obviously. It took me a lot to really feel comfortable around Twilight and her friends.” Tempest admitted. “My only advice is to just… relax. Accept it at face value. They really are just like that. Kind and friendly.”

“Uh… I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“And as for why Varian is mad, besides outing himself as having a small crush on you apparently…” Tempest took a breath, trying to think of the best way to explain. “He’s protective of his sister.”

“Yeah, sure but I saw that filly annihilate a target during her magic practice, and apparently she was holding back. She doesn’t need protecting.”

“Hence why you called her Blizzard, I take it. Because she’s powerful, unlike a flurry.” Tempest guessed, Hugo nodding. “And I’m sure if you explained it to him like that, he’d relax. But she used to get bullied, because a few days after she was born, on her crystalling, she destroyed the Crystal Heart just by crying. It could have destroyed the Empire. And some children bullied her about it. And it was nearly destroyed by the near constant snowstorm that surrounds the city. By a blizzard. She doesn’t need much protection, physically, that is true, but she is emotionally vulnerable and Varian is sensitive to that.”

“... Oh.” Hugo had to figure out how to walk that back at this juncture, especially now that Varian had injured his own pride. “I didn’t know that.”

“And I’m sure once Varian calms down from letting out some inner thoughts, he’ll be receptive. He’s a sweet kid. And he’s in the right place to vent his frustration, if you never need to trust me, Rarity is the mare to go to. Or Trixie, if she isn’t with a student.”

He'd met Rarity, at least, but he wasn't sure he knew who this Trixie was. Either way he wasn't really feeling like letting anyone else know anything about him, but feigning some level of familiarity with them might not be a bad idea.

“You’re his aunt's girlfriend, yeah?” Hugo asked, Tempest nodding. “So… what’s your story?”

“If it will make you feel more at ease to tell your own story someday… A long time ago, when I was younger than Flurry, I was playing with two foals I thought were my friends. The ball went way off course and into a cave, and they insisted I go in. I did… and I ran awry of an Ursa Minor. A huge magical bear, practically made of star magic. I’m lucky to have survived, but my horn…” She sighed. “After I recovered, after I thought I might at least find solace in my friends, they abandoned me. My magic, no longer focused by a horn, scared them. My scar, my horn, it was too much for them. So I went out to try to find a way to restore my horn.” 

They arrived at a castle that seemed to be in the shape of a crystal tree, Tempest dropping the bags off at the front entrance.

“I found the Storm King's lands, and unfortunately I got his attention. I learned a lot about fighting as I traveled, he needed someone like me, and I saw an opportunity. I joined his army, trained as hard as I could, and I rose through the ranks until I was pretty much in charge. All so I could get the staff of Sacanas to take the alicorn princesses magic. I thought that everypony was using their magic so frivolously, that they didn’t deserve it. I was wrong, but I was hurt. My so-called friends never stood by me, so I didn’t believe what Twilight stood for. Until she saved me. There came a moment where the Storm King was distracted, where she could have grabbed the staff and ended it all, but she chose to save me from being sucked into the tornado he’d made. Because that’s what friends do, that’s what she said.”

“And your horn? You're really happy with it like that?”

“Well, as it turns out, it’s pretty powerful. I just never saw its merits until Twilight pointed it out to me.” Tempest admitted. “I don’t know who you worked for, or what they wanted. But, in case you are here on some kind of job, let me offer some advice: as beat down as your empathy might be, as hard as it might be to trust… try to listen to your heart on this. You don’t owe anything to anyone, no matter what they say. This is a clean slate for you. So treat it like one. Relax. Enjoy it here, learn to enjoy, really enjoy, your life. Maybe find yourself, the you that whoever you worked for probably tried to beat down.”

Hugo had expected accusations, maybe even for the mare to attack him. He was almost more taken aback by the empathetic look she was giving him. 

“Uh… right well, I’m going to go uh… find Varian and clear the air. Rarity would be?”

“Carousel Boutique, it’s a shop shaped like a carousel, you can’t miss it.” Tempest pointed in a direction, Hugo hurrying off.

He hadn’t at all anticipated Tempest, he vaguely remembered Varian comparing ‘his aunt's girlfriend’ to Cyrus but he’d disregarded that once he saw what his aunt looked like. He had considered that this girlfriend might just be some more intimidating creature, like a dragon or something. But Tempest had seen through him, she even alluded to him being on a job. She didn’t seem to be accusatory, she didn’t seem like she was going to do anything about it, but she seemingly knew. He had no idea what to think about it, at all, but it made some part of him feel strangely… better. He eventually spotted the boutique, walking over, pausing as he heard Varian’s voice through it.

“Sometimes it’s great having him here, we do have a lot in common, it’s nice having someone around to talk to about my interest. But then he starts doing suspicious stuff again and being all… smarmy. And sneaking around like he thinks I haven’t noticed him doing that. It’s like he’s trying to steal something but he hasn’t found it yet or something.”

Hugo peeked into the boutique, a small opening in the curtains allowing him to peer in. Varian was moving some green clothes into a parcel, and it was evident that he and Rarity were gossiping while she worked. About him, which Hugo didn’t particularly care for.

“Oh darling, it’s a little more complicated than that.” Rarity chimed in. “He’s been through things that are hard to even imagine. Scarcity and fear wear on a creature in ways that last a while. Capper took a little time to relax himself, but look at him now, the picture of generosity.”

“Yeah, I know he’s acting the way he is because of his past. I just wish he’d listen, I guess? I’m being as friendly as I can. I'm just so frustrated by how he acts and talks.”

“I understand Varian, but he couldn’t know about the Crystal Heart and Flurry. And I think perhaps you might be projecting just a little bit.” Rarity admitted.

“Projecting? Projecting what?”

“Well, I think maybe you just don’t know how to act around someone you feel a… certain way about.” Rarity mentioned carefully, before quickly changing the subject. “Regardless, just be patient with him. He is just as confused about how things are here as you are in Corona, and it stresses him out. Which makes him stress you out by using his coping mechanisms. He’ll realize there is no angle, no tricks, just earnest, honest, kindness eventually. He just needs a little time, and patience, and kindness. I know you can get through to him, I think you've already made progress whether you know it or not. He did choose to come here, far from everything he's ever known.”

“Yeah, alright. I’ll… apologize for being mad about something he couldn’t know about. And try to be patient with him.” Varian sighed. “I just hope he takes this at face value.”

“A little generosity can go a long way.” Rarity insisted. “There we are, all ready.”

Hugo found himself touched at Rarity’s defense of him, but he pulled himself together as he went to the door, opening it and looking around. A female yak smiled and happily greeted him.

“You must be Hugo! Yona is glad to meet you!” She grabbed his hand, shaking him a bit roughly.

“You too. Yona, was it?” Hugo asked, flexing his hand. "I think Varian told me about you and your boyfriend."

"Sandbar out right now, but Sandbar excited to meet you too." Yona smiled again, and Hugo smiled back after a moment.

“Ah Hugo, excellent timing, come over here darling.” Rarity insisted, leading Hugo over to a table covered in sewing materials and tools. “I just want to be sure that these will fit.”

“Fit?” Hugo raised an eyebrow, standing still as Rarity took his measurements.

“Your clothes are very slimming, so I thought my eye measurements were about right and it seems I was right.” Rarity smiled up at him. “Since you only had that backpack and whatever was inside with you, it occurred to me that you might need some other clothes.”

“Oh uh, I don’t-”

“I paid for them, don’t worry about it.” Varian mentioned, walking in with the parcel and shoving it a little into Hugo’s hands. “Here.”

Based on the hostility, Varian was still upset with him a little despite what he and Rarity had been talking about. Or perhaps he was struggling to apologize because Rarity and Yona were there.

“... Uh… Thanks, Goggles.” Hugo managed out after a while. “I uh… can we talk?”

Varian walked with him out of the boutique, the boy waving to some passersby who seemed to know him before turning.

“I’m sorry.” Varian spat out, interrupting Hugo as he prepared to lay on the charm.

“What?”

“I’m sorry. I know you don’t know why calling Flurry ‘Blizzard’ set me off, and she clearly didn’t think about it that way. I’m sorry I got mad, a little at you a little at… other things, and took it out on you, you didn’t deserve it.”

“Oh.” Hugo had never been apologized to.

Not by anyone in his life, especially not by Donella, and he had no idea how to respond. 

“It’s… it’s fine. I uh…”

“... Have you never been apologized to? Ever?” Varian asked, looking at him with concern. 

“... Uh, no not really.” Hugo admitted.

“... How about… we make an agreement? I promise I’ll be patient with you because you haven’t really had a lot of kindness in your life. And you promise to be patient with me not understanding things that other humans do.” Varian held out a hand for a handshake.

“I think I can do that.” Hugo shook it. “So you asked your seamstress aunt to make me clothes?”

“The outfit you… hopefully bought in Corona and the stuff you had from Ingvarr, it’s not a lot. And we might need to swim, or climb, or go through jungle brush to find what we’re looking for.”

“Jungle?” Hugo already hated the idea. “The hot, humid, thick kind?”

“Is there any other?” Varian chuckled. “I figured where you were from was cold, I noticed your outfit had insulation built in.”

“Yeah, Ingvarr can get frigid at certain times of year.” Hugo confirmed. “For the record, when I called your sister Blizzard, it’s not ‘cause of that whole mess when she was born, I didn’t know. It’s because she flies like a falcon and has magic blasts strong enough that I feel them several feet away, and that’s with her holding back.”

“I’m sure if she heard you explain it like that she’d think it was cool.” Varian admitted.

“And letting it hurt her is only gonna make it worse. Sometimes you gotta bite back. Sometimes you gotta bite first.” Hugo added. “Or let the insults roll off at least, take it back for yourself. Trust me, I've had more then my share of unflattering nicknames.”

“I guess you would know better than me.” Varian admitted. “I got used to someone else standing up for us.”

“Then I’ll have ta teach ya two to bite back a little. Because if we get back to Corona you're gonna meet some terrible people.” Hugo admitted, opening the parcel.

He could tell the fabric inside was a lot more expensive than anything he’d ever worn before, he even spotted some ridiculously expensive looking gold fastenings and an occasional emerald.

“This is…”

“I know, I know. Rarity makes everything a little more fancy than it needs to be. It took me forever to convince her to just make me some normal shirts to work in since I tend to get covered in chemicals or you know… the occasional explosions.” Varian nervously admitted. “But hey, it’s nice to have nice clothes too.”

“Well uh.” Hugo coughed, trying to regain his composure. “Thank you.”

“That was a little robotic, but we’ll work on it.” Varian teased gently, Hugo giving him a little smile.

Hugo was beginning to feel a little unprepared for this job, between Tempest and being expected to settle in nicely with these ponies. He was aware that there were likely no angles, but he couldn’t shake being suspicious of the gesture.

“There you guys are!” Flurry called, sliding to a stop next to them. “You missed all the action!”

“Action?” Varian asked.

“Yeah! The girls need to see you. Ooh, I can’t wait for them to meet your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Varian’s voice cracked, the boy clearing his throat. “Wait, the girls?”

“Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, duh.” Flurry explained, though Varian did know who she had meant.

He was just immediately worried about what Flurry told them about Hugo, and what they might be under the impression was going on.

“Flurry, what did you tell them?”

“I told them a boy came back with you. That’s all, honest. Why? Are you afraid they’ll ask him anything? Or should I just tell them?” Flurry asked, looking up at him smugly.

Hugo was amused, honestly, Flurry really knew how to get under her brother's skin.

“Who’re they?” Hugo asked.

“They’re like… cousins to us. Friends close to my age I’ve known most of my life.” Varian explained. 

“They had to go because of the confluence.” Flurry admitted. “But they’ll meet Hugo sooner or later.”

“Confluence?” Hugo asked.

“It’s when all the apple trees are ready to harvest at the same time.” Varian explained. “I’m surprised aunt AJ didn’t mention it…”

“Well, with Soarin’, Rainbow Dash and Sugar Belle work around the farm got a lot easier.” Rarity admitted as she walked out of the shop. “Flurry, darling, I made you such a cute dress in preparation for when, not if, your brother finds a way to open the portal.”

“Ooh!” Flurry smiled, rushing inside of the boutique.

“Cute. You wouldn’t know she could vaporize someone with a sneeze.” Hugo chuckled, looking at Varian. “So then…”

“I think I want to double check that aunt AJ isn’t going to need help with the confluence. Besides Aunt Dash is there too, and she’s the one with Daring Do’s address.” Varian admitted. “I won’t make you come help, I know farm work isn’t for everyone.”

“Farm work isn’t in my set of skills. But uh, if I’m going to be here a while, it might help if I learned a little about the place. Where could I do that?”

“Well, you could go find Aunt Twili and ask her some questions. I know she was very, uh, excited about having a chance to see how well her diplomatic review of the history of Equestria reads. And she made a translation key between Coronan and ponish.” Varian mentioned. 

“Good enough for me. I’d like to be able to read the street signs.” Hugo admitted. “Try not to hurt your scrawny arms.”

Varian rolled his eyes before heading off without another word, so Hugo made his way back to Twilight’s castle. He did find it somewhat interesting that, while they likely knew Varian had been the only human in this realm for a long time, no one did more than glance at him curiously. But he could guess why he'd seen far more creatures in this town than even the Empire, hippogriffs, the three types of ponies from all kinds of different cultures, zebra, griffons; it seemed that Ponyville, despite its name, was a cultural melting pot. He did get quite a few friendly waves, which he wasn’t used to, but he did his best to return them. He had to try to blend in, after all.

He was relieved that Tempest didn’t seem to be there, but he knew she could be in any of the rooms. He opened a room, looking around for Twilight and spotting what looked like seven thrones around a round table. The iconography wasn’t lost on him as he entered, walking around it and spotting the Cutie Marks of Twilight and her friends, Varian’s plethora of aunts. He could tell this room, more than the rest of the castle, was swimming in magic, the table itself was some kind of magic artifact connected to the thrones.

“What is this…” He wondered, carefully putting his metal hand against it.

It reacted suddenly, a large map of Equestria and the lands around it appearing suddenly.

“Woah.”

“Oh Hugo, I didn’t know you got back already.” Twilight entered the room with a smile, carrying what seemed to be a lot of books magically. “I thought you’d be looking around Ponyville or hanging around Varian.”

“He went to help AJ with a confluence?”

“Ah, that explains it. He and Applejack are pretty close, I think Sweet Apple Acres is practically a second home to him.” Twilight admitted. “Well, all of Ponyville, but he does really feel at ease there.”

“So, what’s this room for? War room?”

“War room?” Twilight frowned, Hugo immediately regretting the words. “Ah well, Equestria doesn’t tend to worry about things like that unless we have to. No, this is where the map tells me, and my friends, where we’re needed.”

“The map… tells you?” 

“See, when the map senses a problem in a relationship, a friendship, that needs outside help, it sends some creature who can solve it.” Twilight explained. “It calls them to action to try and help by using a mark to hover over a location. It used to only call me and my friends, but it can call almost any creature now.”

“And it sends them somewhere they can help… so… what powers the map?”

“Well, it’s connected to the Tree of Harmony, I think.” Twilight explained. “The Tree wants to spread Harmony, and to protect it.”

“Tree of Harmony… I imagine that’s sort of like the Crystal Heart in the center of the Empire then?”

Twilight smiled, “That’s right. We don’t know how much, if at all, the two living magical artifacts are connected, but they want similar things. To protect life, harmony, love… I’m sure if they can reach each other, they work together.”

Hugo nodded a little, looking at the map and thrones again. It almost seemed that the Tree had identified Twilight and her friends as defenders of ‘harmony’, knights in its round table. And the way Twilight spoke about the Tree, and the way Varian and his family spoke about the Heart, it seemed like they truly believed these artifacts were alive. He had no reason not to himself, he’d seen magical artifacts and locations with minds of their own before, especially once Donella went on the offensive against the witch hunters. But why a map made by a tree would choose a princess over someone who seemed as competent as Tempest was beyond him.

“Oh, uh, so I can’t read the uh… language you all write in so, Varian mentioned you had some kind of diplomatic… lesson plan?”

“Oh! I’d love to see if it’s as easy to follow as I tried to make it. Follow me.”

Twilight had a bounce to her step as they walked, and Hugo had to admit it was pretty cute she was so excited about sharing knowledge. The library was huge, but at a glance he could tell all of the books had been read, some multiple times over. There wasn’t a single spine that wasn’t worn at least a little. Twilight pulled out some books, papers and what looked to be something on cardstock. Hugo sat down on the comfortable looking cushions he’d spotted as they entered, looking around and pausing as he spotted family photos.

More importantly, he spotted something that didn’t make sense in one of the older photos.

“Why don’t you have wings here?”

“Hm? Oh! Right, that wasn’t even really common knowledge here in Equestria really until more recently.” Twilight admitted. “When somepony does something that proves themselves to… well, I guess to the inherent magic in our home, the magic transforms them into an alicorn.”

“... So… you weren’t born one?”

“Nope, Flurry is the first alicorn born in Equestria, and we’re under the impression it’s because the Crystal Heart already knows she’ll do something great.” Twilight admitted.

“... You weren’t born royalty?”

“Me? Oh no, my family was just members of the royal guard or the magic school or astronomy tower for generations.” Twilight admitted. “I understand that many of the kingdoms in the human world believe in the right to rule handed down by bloodline, so I can see how that's a little shocking.”

“What about the uh, bigger two? Luna and Celestia?”

“Well, they were born in a place called Skyros, it was the only place alicorns used to be born before it disappeared, it was a highly magical floating island. But the Tree of Harmony has… had their cutie marks on it as well, so I assume they were given such tremendous power to ensure Equestria would be safe.”

“So most alicorns born in Skyros weren’t as strong as them… huh…” Hugo was a little shaken to think that the princesses of Equestria all were chosen by some magical forces.

He’d become accustomed to royalty that believed they had the right to rule without really accepting they just happened to be born into families who were wealthy. That it was all luck, and the least a king or queen or princess could do was not make things worse, but most of the time he’d seen them always making it worse. Seeing how Equestria ran was making more and more sense as he realized that Cadance, that Twilight, had earned the power they had. That Luna and Celestia were genuinely predestined to rule, chosen by some magical force it seemed not even the creatures of Equestria fully understood.

“If you’d like to read it, me and my friends wrote down an account of everything from when we first met to the last big threat we had to deal with.” Twilight offered, floating a heavy book over to him. “I translated it to practice my reading comprehension of the Coronan language.”

He could tell by her tone she’d apparently found the tedious job of translating a huge book as fun, and he had to admit he was finding this scholarly princess more and more endearing. She was just a scholar of magic, not unlike Varian in many senses other then her focus was on magic and not alchemy or science.

“I’ll give it a read. For now, let’s get this learning uh… ponish? Thing over with.”

Captain Oftegard waited a night before taking her to the throne room, both to allow Cozy Glow to relax and to try to ascertain anything he could about the filly himself, so that he could answer any questions in case she was intimidated by King Frederic. Luckily, both Arianna and Frederic were surprised to see her, but not upset as he brought the filly in. Rapunzel rushed over to the filly excitedly, though Cozy didn’t seem to mind. 

“Oh look, Cap found a cute little girl pony so he could have one that’s all doom and gloom and one that’s sugar and spice.” Eugene joked, Cass glaring at him.

“Hello little one, what is your name?” Frederic asked.

“Cozy Glow, your majesty.” She bowed politely.

“Cozy Glow? That is such a cute name.” Rapunzel cooed.

“She must have been with Varian when the Saporian memory spell was used.” Arianna mentioned.

“I think so too, I tried asking her what she was here for but she doesn’t remember.” Oftegard admitted, Cozy nodding.

“The last thing I remember was the mare in charge of the Canterlot foal center considering having me moved to a different one because she was worried no Canterlot ponies would adopt a pegasus.” Cozy explained.

“Foal center?” Frederic thought for a moment.

“Orphanage.” Eugene stated bluntly, Cass elbowing him. “What? It’s what it is!”

“You must have been moved to the Crystal Empire foal center.” Arianna mentioned. 

“I guess so. I really don’t remember.” 

“With the portal closed… you won’t be able to go back for some time.” Frederic was trying to break the news gently, though knowing this filly was an orphan made it a little less upsetting.

At the very least, she didn’t have a family to be devastated for almost three years at her disappearance, and he could take solace in that.

“We’ll just have to let her stay here in town until the portal opens again.” Arianna offered. 

“I can care for her, your highness.” Oftegard offered, Arianna smiling a bit to herself. 

It seemed that empty nest syndrome had hit their captain a bit harder than she or Frederic could have imagined once Cass had reached adulthood, and a glance at Frederic told her he was thinking more or less the same.

“Of course, Captain. I can’t imagine anyone better for the task.” Frederic nodded. “Cozy Glow, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh golly I don’t mind.” She smiled up at them. “You all seem super nice.”

Cass crossed her arms watching Rapunzel fawn over the filly, feeling a concern deep in her. Varian had mentioned something about magical marks that represented the person, his being some kind of alchemy bottle because of his interest and talent in the subject. She wasn’t sure if it was a good sign that a filly so young had a red rook as her mark. A chess piece might be unsuspicious on its own, it might just show that the pony liked chess like Varian liked alchemy. But a rook seemed so specific, a rook was a piece that could move all the way across the board under the right circumstances, a rook could strike with the right opening. The rook is a piece that almost no novice at chess could utilize properly, and she had a feeling she wasn’t just looking at a totally innocent filly. 

She tried to shake it off, she didn’t know enough about this mark thing to really make any declarations on it, especially because she didn’t want to look like she was picking on a little lost girl.

Chapter Text

Hugo was a little bored around town, he hadn’t realized just how much farm work Varian would be doing for the confluence. Varian left every morning bright and early and would come back totally exhausted, but in high spirits, late in the day. He clearly did enjoy spending time with Applejack and Rainbow Dash on the farm, despite the physical toll it took on him, which Hugo did not understand. Flurry was distracting herself by playing with her friends the Cake twins, and while Hugo did find himself enjoying the lessons with Twilight, she did have duties as a princess that kept her too busy from time to time. 

Twilight had shown him the little lab she had for herself and Varian and told him to make himself at home, though, so he had no problem doing so. He’d gotten into a strangely comfortable rhythm in Ponyville, he’d walk with Varian to Sweet Apple Acres, he’d go back to the castle and spend time with Twilight when she was available or to the lab when she wasn’t, sometimes he’d spend a little time with Tempest just for the little bit of familiarity it offered, he’d spend evenings after dinner reading the translated Friendship Journal. He was enjoying the book more than he’d expected, really, and it was fascinating to see the down to Earth mare Twilight was despite all the things she and her friends had gone through. He understood why she didn’t act much like the royalty he’d known in the past. She was just a scholar who was chosen by some magic force, and earned some magical power up because she was doing a good job.

“Hugo? What are you working on in here?” Varian asked, walking over, Flurry at his heels.

“A prototype of that blueprint you made, of the uh… mirror battery.” Hugo explained. “I just want to be as sure as we can it’ll work, since we’re putting a lot on the line you know?”

“Oh, how is that going?”

“I had to have your aunt try to make a portal for me, along with the would-be artifact, but it’s been working.” Hugo admitted, stretching. “Finally done wasting time picking apples?”

“Oh it’s only been a week, calm down. And Sweet Apple Acres produces most of the fruit and a good portion of the vegetables in Equestria, it’s pretty important. But yes, we finished up all the harvesting and I know better to get underhoof when Applejack is doing all the packing up and shipping.” Varian admitted. “But don’t worry, I did have Rainbow send a letter to Daring Do. It’s just hard to know when we’ll hear from her.”

“Fair enough. Any ideas where we could look until then?”

“Well-” Varian started.

“Varian, the girls are here to see you.” Twilight’s voice called.

“Ooh, finally, they get to meet Hugo.” Flurry smiled up at Varian smugly, the boy getting flustered immediately.

“Don’t you dare tell them that-”

“VARIAN!” A familiar high pitched screech shook the room as the door slammed open, Hugo catching his model before it could fall onto the ground.

“Girls.” Varian forced a clearly somewhat nervous smile, looking at the doorway where the Cutie Mark Crusaders stood with wide smiles. "I thought you'd be busy at the farm Apple Bloom."

"Sugar Belle is workin on the jams and jellies now, ain't enough room in the kitchen fer two full grown mares." Apple Bloom admitted. "And Braeburn has the apple sauce handled. But it sounds like you were bankin' on me bein' busy."

“You can’t get out of telling us how the last visit went, we know you were trying to.” Sweetie Belle mentioned.

“What noooo, I was just focused on the confluence.”

“Sure ya were. We heard you went to the city in the human world this time, how was it? Did you meet anyone?” Apple Bloom asked as she walked over.

“Well-” Varian was a little astounded that she’d walked right by Hugo without noticing. “I did but-”

“And you weren’t afraid? That’s great!” Sweetie Belle’s voice squeaked still, despite her voice being deeper now that she was a grown mare. “Were they nice? Did you make friends?”

“I think I did, but we only had maybe a day to get to know each other so...” Varian blinked, more confused that Sweetie Belle had walked by Hugo without noticing him.

“Hey you know what Pinkie says, sometimes it just takes one small little thing.” Scootaloo said, pausing and looking up at Hugo. “... Whose this?”

The other two quickly did a double take, looking at Hugo.

“Hello there, I’m Hugo.” He did that smile that Varian was beginning to see through, with his eyes half lidded in some fake attempt to be suave or something.

Varian wasn’t sure who was acting for, but he wasn’t going to call him out in front of the girls, he strangely didn’t want them to have a bad first impression of Hugo.

“Hugo huh? Flurry mentioned you.” Apple Bloom had a tone to her voice that Varian had been worried would be there.

He knew what the look she and Sweetie Belle gave each other meant they were thinking, and he was immediately stressed about trying to negate what they were thinking. He did not want the girls to campaign to get him and Hugo together, he knew the kind of messes they made when they were trying to help someone romantically.

“And you ladies are?” Hugo asked.

“Oh, I’m Scootaloo.” 

“I’m Sweetie Belle.”

“And I’m Apple Bloom.”

“And your his cousins?” Hugo asked.

“Well, no, but we’re all like family.” Sweetie Belle smiled, Varian giving her a smile back. 

“So, girls, is there a reason for the visit besides wanting to hear about the human side of the mirror?” Varian asked.

He didn’t mind if Hugo chatted with them, but he needed to try to avoid the girls asking anything too leading.

“Oh! Right! Uh… don’t be mad.” Scootaloo smiled nervously, turning her side and struggling to open her wing, Varian shocked at the damage to the synthetic wing extenders he’d built.

“What did you do? ” He asked worriedly, looking at Scootaloo. “Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine.” Scootaloo confirmed, Varian sighing in relief. “And good old Lightning Dust was engaging in dangerous flying again.”

“Of course she was.” Varian sighed. “What did she do now?”

“She snuck into the weather factory to make extra dangerous storm clouds and released them. It took every pegasus from Cloudsdale and Ponyville to wrangle them because she obviously couldn’t control them for her stupid stunt show.” Scootaloo explained after taking the wing belt off and handing it to Varian. 

“And that included you.” Varian paused, giving her a little smile. “Working as a cloud buster like Rainbow Dash huh?”

He looked at the wings, on one side the mechanisms that made the long thin feather shaped crystals move like the feathers were fried, the crystals singed, and the belt itself even seemed to have taken the brunt of a lightning bolt. The crystals themselves were shattered, he’d stress tested the crystal for regular lightning but clearly they weren’t prepared for extra powerful magical weather blasts.

“Hey, it’s good practice.” Scootaloo smiled. “Well, one of those clouds had some insane kind of cold lightning, and it nearly hit a foal that was too focused on watching us to notice he was in danger. I don’t think I’ve ever flown so fast. The lightning hit me, well the wings, but at least the kid is okay.”

“Maybe I should add something to diffuse lightning strikes, just in case. Or something to negate magic blasts...” Varian muttered more to himself than the others, before looking at Scootaloo. “I could hardly be mad at you for doing the right thing Scoot.”

He tussled her mane and she laughed a little, Hugo smiling a bit to himself before he leaned closer to look at the wings.

“What’s this then?”

“Artificial wing extenders, because Scootaloo’s wings never grew big enough for her to fly. With these, she can.” Varian explained.

“Oh. Guess we kinda match eh?” Hugo rolled up his sleeve to show Scootaloo his arm. “Granted I wasn’t born like this but…”

“What happened to you?” Sweetie Belle asked, Hugo pausing a bit.

“It’s uh, not worth mentionin.” He muttered.

Varian still didn’t know what had happened, but he felt himself look at Hugo as he tried to force the concern from his mind. Hugo had his reasons to keep it secret, and he didn’t want to push it from him. Of course the sympathetic glance was noticed by the CMC who shared a look, and Varian cleared his throat.

“Well, luckily, I do have some extra crystal feathers around for things like this, so I should be able to repair this, but I think we should try to find a way to make it a little more lightning proof.” Varian admitted, leaning back in his chair. “I think I’ll go ask Zecora what she thinks.”

“Anything I can do to help?” Hugo asked.

“If you could start shaping…” Varian stood up and went over to some metals, grabbing something light weight and bringing it over to the table. “This metal into the same kind of shapes and parts as this wing that didn’t get annihilated. I’d like to get Scootaloo sky worthy again ASAP.”

“Thanks V.” Scootaloo smiled.

“Sure thing. You need both sides or just one?” Hugo asked.

“Let’s go with both, just to be safe. I’ll be back. Flurry, coming?”

“Oooh, yes!” Flurry smiled, following Varian out.

The girls waited a while before they made a very excited ‘eee’ sound, huddling together.

“... Omigosh guys, did you see that?” Sweetie Belle asked with a smile.

“Varian has a crush .” Apple Bloom smiled, tippy tapping her hooves in excitement.

“Finally.” Scootaloo smiled, Hugo clearing his throat. “Oh uh…”

“I think I see why he seemed to be avoiding us meeting.” Hugo chuckled, getting to work. 

“You really think he was avoidin’ us meetin?” Apple Bloom asked, walking over and watching Hugo work.

She’d worked alongside or around Varian several times in the past, and it was pretty interesting to see someone, a human like Varian, working a bit differently. He had that robot arm to form the metal without extra tools, it was strong enough to do it on his own, at least with the metal Varian picked out. He looked from what Varian had given him to replicate to what he was doing, like he was used to being handed a completed product and being told to make it himself. It wasn’t necessarily that he didn’t notice the tools at the table, it was just clear he was used to working without all the tools Varian usually had.

“Well, he never said as much but I got the feeling he was dreadin’ you girls finding out about me.” Hugo explained.

“I guess we have a little… reputation about how we react to relationships blooming.” Sweetie Belle admitted sheepishly.

“That so?” Hugo asked, checking the mechanisms on the broken wing to understand how they were meant to work.

He listened in amusement about a few times the girls had gotten themselves involved in others relationships, chuckling as he looked up.

“You girls are trouble huh? I like trouble.”

“We don’t try to be, we just get a little… excited.” Scootaloo insisted. “And we’re happy that Varian made such a big move, going into a town was something he was really struggling to do.”

“Yeah? I can’t blame him, from what I heard.” Hugo admitted, looking at the broken wings again. “I gotta hand it to him, these are impressive. How well do they move?”

“I’d say naturally, I mean when I go to move my feathers like this-” Scootaloo flexed her wings out and moved a few feathers. “The crystal feathers move the same way.” 

Hugo hummed in appreciation, leaning back to enjoy the mechanism in front of him. He usually built weapons, whether he wanted to or not, Olivia was the last thing he built that was only for himself and because he wanted to build her. She had uses, but he hadn't been focusing on that at the time. Donella had told him it was a waste of time and parts, and he'd been too afraid to do anything like that again. Scootaloo didn't need to fly, it was clear there were other options for employment, but Varian had made her working wings anyway. Because it's what she wanted, and by extension what Varian wanted for her.

“So what do you think about Varian?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Hugo could admit he thought Varian was too nice, too naive and liable to get himself hurt, but he decided to go with what would hopefully give him more to work with as far as getting Varian's trust.

“Well, I mean, he’s cute. I have told him that but he always just blushes and storms off.”

Hugo winced a little as the trio again squealed in unison, surprised they all could reach such high notes. 

“Sorry, we’re just excited for him.” Scootaloo apologized.

“I’m sure he likes ya jus’ fine, I jus’ dunno if he knows how to react ta those feelin’s.” Apple Bloom admitted. 

“Well hopefully he figures it out.” Hugo looked as the door opened, Varian entering with a zebra he didn’t recognize.

He assumed it was Zecora, and Varian confirmed it when he introduced the mare.

“I am glad to meet another human after all this time. I shall tell you now that I only speak in rhyme.”

“Uh… any reason?”

“I want to ensure I speak with meaning. To choose my words with a lot of screening.”

Hugo thought it was a little strange, but he understood the reason well enough that he just nodded. Zecora had a set of strange little gemstones, likely magical by the glance Hugo got of them. Varian looked at the mechanisms Hugo had made on his behalf, smiling to himself.

“Nice work.”

“Well, you make solid work to follow.” Hugo admitted.

“Thanks. Scoot’s wings are probably the thing I’m proudest of, even if it only makes one friend's life better.” Varian and Scootaloo shared a warm smile.

“I take it that it’s a rare medical condition then.” Hugo mentioned, Scootaloo nodding. “Still, I’m sure someone down the line will be glad these blueprints exist.”

“I mean I'd rather hope that it doesn't happen to any creature else.” Varian admitted. “But even if Scootaloo is the only pony who ever uses them, it’s worth it.”

Hugo could understand what Varian meant, for once. It was clear he and Scootaloo were close friends, practically family. Hugo watched the three mares talk with Varian as he got the remaining items together, and it was clear that despite the distance in land and the few years in age they were as close as close could be.

“Oh, Hugo, here.” Varian handed him a crystal feather, and Hugo took a look at it.

He was impressed again, a simple string mechanism made sense for the movements, it let the natural movements Scootaloo did with her real wings move the mechanism. Varian put one wing together before he started trying to decide where the strange magic rock should go, looking at Hugo.

“Do you think you could get the next one put together while I try to do this?”

Hugo had a feeling Varian was allowing him to help so much for some unknown reason, but he did so, finding the connection of each feather intuitive. It made sense to him, really, it was clear that Varian had to make these several times over the years, from Scootaloo growing or her needs changing. Of course Varian had plenty of time to iron out finer details to make them better. 

“Here we go… That should protect you from lightning or other weather magic.” Varian mentioned, Zecora nodding.

“A stone from the Everfree forest cliffs. When dealing with weather, there should be no ‘ifs’.”

“Yeah, I know I was lucky I didn’t get hurt.” Scootaloo admitted.

“So what do you mean about cloud busting and ‘weather factory’?” Hugo asked.

“Oh right, weather just happens in the other realm. Uh, well, here in Equestria, the weather is run by pegasi like Scootaloo. Cloud buster is just kind of the short term for ponies who handle the weather in towns, usually it involves breaking up clouds when say a scheduled rainstorm is done.” Varian explained.

“So moving clouds and busting them are most of the job.” Hugo nodded to himself. “Makes sense. But why doesn’t the water cycle… well cycle?”

“I never really stopped to think about it I guess.” Varian admitted, thinking. “Maybe… maybe our realms are connected because they are two sides of something? One world with only a little magic and one so rich in magic that there’s no room for… something.”

“... Strange... Stasis, without the pegasi to handle the weather at least.” Hugo thought for a moment. “At least orbit seems to work.”

“Orbit? Uh… well, actually, unicorns used ta raise the sun and moon.” Apple Bloom mentioned. “Celestia and Luna took that duty when they got their Cutie Marks doin’ it.”

“... What?”

Hugo had thought that the mention of Nightmare Moon bringing nighttime eternal was meant to be the mare casting some kind of spell, not that she simply intended to trap Celestia and refuse to move the moon. He was personally skeptical that they really had anything to do with moving the celestial bodies, but he wasn’t about to pick another fight with Varian. They all seemed to believe wholeheartedly that the royal sisters moved the sun and moon, and he wasn’t about to call the two alicorns frauds. He hardly saw it getting in the way of what he needed to do, but it did remind him of his usual suspicions of royalty. He didn’t doubt the two were powerful, Luna did seem to have the dream powers he’d been told about, but he was sure the sun and moon thing were exaggerated to make them seem more important. 

He did see Scootaloo and other pegasi controlling the weather, though, so he knew there were some things he could tell truly were as Varian said. They were still waiting for a response from Daring Do, and while Varian was doing his best to try to figure out places to look it was clear that Gold Lily had been all over the world. Hugo was content to look out the window, hence his watching the weather team doing their job.

“How do they make the weather?” Hugo asked as the thought came to him, looking at Varian.

“A lot of pegasus alchemy, a few machines to speed up the process. Lightning they have to gather from somewhere else, but they keep it bottled for when they need it.” Varian explained. “Maybe we can visit the weather factory sometime.”

“What uh… kind of factory is it?”

“Well it’s a weather factory. They have a machine that makes clouds by making water into clouds, they have a room where ponies make snowflakes by hoof, and a rainbow water refinement room so they can make rainbows. A lot of stuff, it’s an interesting place.” Varian explained, Hugo relaxing.

It didn’t sound like it was full of dangerous heavy machinery, and he was admittedly curious. Besides, he wasn’t going to be expected to be anywhere near any machinery there was.

“It’s just in Cloudsdale which isn’t the most visitable city for most creatures so we’d have to prepare for a trip.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, pegasi can walk on clouds because of magic they are born with. We need someone to use a spell to help us do the same. There aren’t a lot of settlements that have remained all of one type of pony, but Cloudsdale is kind of a special case.”

Hugo had noticed that pegasi had a tendency to lounge on and stand on clouds, so that wasn’t too surprising in hindsight. It also meant there was no heavy machinery, if it was in the clouds.

“I’ll look forward to it.” Hugo smiled a little. 

They heard a loud tapping, Varian going over to a window and opening it. A pegasus he didn’t recognize flew in, but the mail bag implied to him that she was likely just a long traveled mail carrier. But with Daring Do involved, he elected for caution. After all, Ditzy Do was still Ponyville’s main mail carrier, and mail meant for the royal family was meant to go through specific channels. He should know this mail carrier and he knew it, and luckily Hugo seemed to clue on to the fact that Varian was suspicious of this pony.

“Oh hello.” Varian greeted.

“Letter and parcel for you from A.K. Yearling, your highness.”

“Thank you.” Varian took the letter, handing the carrier some bits and putting the letter down.

“I hate to be a bother, but A.K. Yearling is my favorite author. Are you two friends?” The mail carrier asked.

“Well, she’s friends with my aunt Rainbow. Sometimes she sends special stuff for me and my sister.” Varian lied.

Hugo picked up the letter and opened it, Varian looking at him incredulously.

“I want to see if my ponish is up to snuff, relax.” Hugo smiled the smile he could tell annoyed Varian before clearing his throat. “Dear Varian, it is lovely to hear from you. I haven’t seen you since you were three, you must be so big now. You turn sixteen soon, if I remember right. I am delighted to find you’ve taken an interest in… code breaking? I’ve enclosed in the parcel my go to guide to cryptology, may it find you well. Your friend, A.K. Yearling.”

Varian noticed the pegasus deflate a bit hearing it was so mundane, and Varian opened the parcel to see the mentioned book.

“Code breaking?” Hugo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“In case Gold Lily and Demanitus might have somehow hid something in her terrible notes.” Varian was lying, but luckily Hugo could tell the ‘mail carrier’ couldn’t tell. “She does a lot of research to write her books so I trusted her judgement on what resources to use.”

“Well, enjoy your cryptology.” The ‘mail carrier’ said, leaving.

Hugo and Varian waited a while before Varian looked at the spine, spinning three gold rings on it.

“A false book? What, do you guys have a code picked out already?” Hugo asked.

“Nope. She saw me more recently than when I was three, I was nine the last time I saw her, and I turn fifteen next.” Varian explained.

“Ah, so the code is 316 or 915. Clever.”

The book clicked open, a second letter and a smaller pocket journal inside. Hugo was curious, but he knew he’d annoyed Varian greatly by snagging the first letter. Varian handed him the small journal, Hugo flipping through it and spotting a few small diagrams and maps.

“Dear Varian, I apologize that I had to hide this considering it has nothing to do with any treasure that any of my enemies might want. They certainly don’t believe that though, and I want to ensure it gets to you. I have, in fact, found mentions of this Gold Lily before, and I have seen her Cutie Mark in a few places. I’ve written down all I could recall from my notes, good hunting. Daring Do.” Varian read aloud.

“She highlighted a few she thought we’d have the best luck at.” Hugo mentioned. “Somewhere near Griffonstone, in the middle of a desert and the… peaks of peril?”

“The Kirin lands. I’ve never personally been there but don’t worry, the cliffs can be a little dangerous but the Kirin are friendly.”

“Kirin?”

“They’re… similar to a unicorn. They have scales though, and their horns are thicker and usually longer.” Varian explained. “They do have a habit of bursting into flames when they’re angry, but they’re careful about it.”

“Oh well I’ll just be on my best behavior there. So, I’d reckon we should go ahead and go to Griffonstone then the Peaks of Peril first since they’re so close.”

“And leave the Bone Dry desert as a last resort.” Varian nodded. “Alright, we have a heading. I just need to gather what we’ll need. I have a friend in Griffonstone who should be able to help us, and Rain Shine, the leader of the Kirin that I know, she’ll probably help us out.”

Hugo knew it was unlikely that he, Varian and Flurry would be allowed to go on their own to go look for any artifact that might be plugged into the mirror. He didn’t even mind that Twilight was going with them, he’d grown to like the princess more than he’d expected to after reading the story of how she became a princess and all the ways she’d protected Equestria since. He was just nervous that Tempest was going along with them, even as relaxed as she seemed now. The train to Griffonstone had only taken a few hours, but he spent all of them feeling like she was about to bark orders at him at any moment. Thus far, she hadn’t, in fact she was mostly distracted chatting idly with Twilight about her own recent travels.

It seemed that Tempest had chosen to become Twilight’s biggest aid, and that meant that there were times Tempest was sent to the corners of Equestria for weeks. Hugo could strangely understand it, he knew what Twilight had done for the mare and that Tempest had later fallen in love with the princess. Still, being near them was strange, it was like seeing a strange alternate universe where Donella healed and chose to be a good person at a pivotal moment. The train arrived at a station, and the group got off, though Hugo noted they were some of the only ones who did. It seemed that most of the creatures were there to go to the next stop, wherever that was.

“Hugo, are you alright? You’re so quiet today.” Twilight mentioned, looking at him worriedly.

“Oh just a bit under the weather, I’ll be alright.” Hugo could tell Tempest knew he was lying and regretted it almost immediately.

“Hm, seems like the path is a little narrow. We should use caution. Well, those of us who need to walk up.” Tempest mentioned, smiling at Twilight. “How about you and Flurry go on ahead and let Gilda know we’re here?”

“Alright. Be careful Varian, tripping around here could be a little dangerous.” Twilight mentioned.

“Aunt Twili, I'm not that clumsy.” Varian cleared his throat nervously.

“Yes you are.” Flurry teased, flying upwards. “Come on aunt Twili, let's gooooo.”

Tempest chuckled a little before the three started walking up, stopping and gesturing at something a bit off the path.

“Isn’t that a material you’ve been using a lot lately?” She asked, Varian perking up and going to dig out some kind of soft minerals. 

Hugo could tell it was an excuse to talk to him alone and felt himself get more nervous, trying to look over at her casually.

“Hugo, I can tell you’re nervous around me. I assume it’s not just because of the way I carry myself. Do you want to talk about it?”

He didn’t really, but he had to appreciate how directly she was handling the issue. And he knew that this wasn’t going to go away, his nerves around here had two reasons and he needed to at least give her one as an excuse so she didn’t become suspicious of him.

“... The uh… the lady I worked for the most, you remind me a lot of her. She has a scar too, but on the other side of her face. But you’re a lot nicer, I just need some… time to get used to not being snapped at by you or anything.” 

Tempest looked at him worriedly but nodded, “I understand how that can feel. If there’s anything I can do to make you more comfortable, let me know. Alright?”

“Yeah, alright. If I think of anything I’ll let you know Tempest.”

Varian rejoined them and they continued the hike up, Hugo stopping to take in the city. It made a lot of sense, strangely, to have a city of griffons look like a lot of roosts, though they were far more grand than any ratty bird nests he’d seen before. He had seen griffons before, in both the Empire and in Ponyville, but not this many in one place.

“Hey kid, your aunt is already with Gilda in the library.” A random griffon greeted them, though Varian clearly recognized her.

“Hey Greta.” Varian greeted, shaking the griffon's claw. “How has everything been?”

“The ramclops' are back to their old ways, unfortunately.” Greta admitted. “But Gilda has been managing that no problem, along with everything else. Thanks for your help, by the way, Tempest.”

“It wasn’t a problem.”

“Ramclops?” Hugo blinked a few times in confusion.

“Yeah, no one knows why anymore but they hate the griffons.” Varian explained. “When the griffons were miserable for a couple hundred years, the ramclops' disappeared and we all thought they were gone.”

“But once the griffons began to rebuild and thrive, they came back.” Tempest added. “Last time I was in Griffonstone, a ramclops actually attacked in broad daylight. I’ve fought things my whole life so I was more prepared than most but still… it was brazen, for a single creature.”

“And attacking their home is brazen too. We’re on top of a mountain surrounded by sheer cliffs on all sides, and I take it ramclops’ aren’t flyers.” Hugo mentioned, walking over to one of the edges and looking down. “I can’t imagine most things could survive that fall…”

“When you put it that way… it is weird that they are so willing to risk their lives to attack us.” Greta admitted, thinking. “Well, I better let you guys get to Gilda.”

Varian, Tempest and Hugo lingered a moment longer as they all contemplated the ramclops' seemingly self-destructive attacks, heading into the palace. They weren’t going to find answers just standing around the cliffside, either to the ramclops or to Gold Lily.

Chapter Text

Gilda smiled as she spotted Varian and Tempest before becoming immediately confused seeing Hugo. She and Twilight were sitting at a table, one Hugo noted was truly a war table though clearly the only beings Gilda was concerned about was ramclops' and she was unsure of where they were based on what he could glean from the map. Flurry was distracted looking through a few books Gilda had brought, though the little pony seemed to be using a spell to do it.

“Another human? Huh, I didn’t know you managed to talk to anyone else.” 

“Yeah the uh, the most recent visit was very successful.” Varian admitted. 

“Well hey, congrats. Twilight told me what you wanted to ask me about, and I have great news. I know exactly what you’re looking for.”

“You do?” Varian smiled.

“Yeah, I’ve seen this symbol before. I was pretty sure there was an old book mentioning it too, so I pulled it out.” Gilda pointed at an open book page that was laying on the table. “There’s a door, in a cavern in a  gorge I used to play in as a cub. During some times of the year it’s totally unreachable, because the winds from Ghastly Gorge swell into that gorge too. But sometimes it's just the normal amount of wind you expect around here, and you can reach it just fine.”

Flurry heard that and excitedly ran over, the books she’d been looking through falling until Twilight caught them and put them back.

“We’re going down into a gorge?” Flurry flew over to Gilda.

“It’s where I’ve seen that Cutie Mark before, and I can’t think of a better way to get to that cavern.”

“And it’s not Ghastly Gorge wind level time?” Varian asked hopefully.

“It’s a little windier than usual, but nothing that should be too dangerous.” Gilda nodded. “I’ll take you there myself, I wanted to look down there for something.”

“You’re trying to figure out where the ramclops are hidin’.” Hugo mentioned, Gilda nodding. “Think they could be in there?”

“I don’t know, but I have to look. They don’t seem to live near us, so they must have somewhere they hide before they make their moves against us. Or they’ve been living in the gorge caverns this whole time, and I was just lucky I never ran into them before.” Gilda explained.

“Well, if there are ramclops' down there, we’ll have to be ready.” Twilight admitted. “Maybe we can try to understand why they keep attacking.”

“Hey if you can get them to say anything, be my guest.” Gilda sighed. 

“They won’t even talk to you?” Varian asked.

“No. Not even a ‘griffons must pay’ or anything. It’s been so long since any griff has even seen a ramclops, but I couldn't find any records of them saying anything.”

“That’s weird.” Hugo admitted.

Even when he worked for Donella, he had a tendency to tease and taunt, despite Cyrus usually telling him not to. And he had no personal stakes in what he and Cyrus were sent to do most of the time, unlike the ramclops'. He had to assume, if there was a reason at least one of them would have spat it at a griffon by now. 

“Alright well, we need some climbing gear for those of us without wings.” Tempest mentioned. “I’ll go get it.”

“Oh I’ll come too!” Flurry flew after Tempest.

“I’m going to the library to see if anything survived about the ramclops'.” Varian offered, Twilight nodding.

“That’s a great idea Varian.”

“I’ll go with him. Have you ever been climbing, Goggles?” Hugo asked.

“All the time. It’s pretty normal here and in Mount Aris.” Varian admitted. 

“It’s one of the biggest draws to visiting Griffonstone, we have great climbing and guides that can fly so if something goes wrong you have a safety net.” Gilda mentioned, stretching her wings out. 

“Alright, so I won’t be babysitting you at least.” Hugo teased, Varian rolling his eyes.

“Oh please, I don’t need you to protect me.”

“Oh really? Last time I checked, you-”

Gilda tilted her head as the two left the room still bickering, looking at Twilight.

“Woah, it’s like seeing Dash and AJ when they were younger all over again.” Gilda muttered, Twilight giggling a little.

“It’s been a bit of a shock, seeing something like that start all over again.” Twilight admitted. “Although Hugo is a little more forward with flirting then I remember those two being.”

“Wild. Guess they aren’t a one of a kind couple.” Gilda chuckled. “I do hope we can find a way to coexist with the ramclops. Both sides have lost enough already. I just don’t know if they’ll listen to a griffon.”

“Well, with any luck they’ll listen to me.” Twilight nodded. “I wish you would have came to me for help sooner.”

“Hey, we might have worked on it a lot, but we’re still griffons.” Gilda admitted sheepishly. “Pride isn’t easily set aside even when it's someone you consider a friend.”

Twilight smiled a little, “Then I appreciate you’re willing to set aside your pride to accept my help now. I hope Varian finds something for us to work with.”

“You and me both.”

Hugo could tell that Griffonstone was mostly new, it had been clear when they entered, but he could tell why once he saw what remained of the old records. Almost all of the books there were only partial, and while they had been rebound in small volumes based on what the few surviving pages of the original books had been about. It was clear that the griffon kingdom had essentially been rebuilt in the past few years, which led Hugo to assume Gilda was the first griffon to take any responsibility as a ruler in some time.

“Queen Gilda must be the first good ruler they’ve had in a while eh?”

“They uh, they didn’t have one. For a long time. They just kind of let themselves be a vassal of Equestria without its own representative.” Varian explained, carefully picking up one of the records and skimming it.

“They chose not to have representation? Why? I mean, no offense to the princesses they all seem pretty nice, but it’s usually harder to get representation in any kind of court.”

“Pride. It’s a griffon's greatest strength and greatest weakness. It was impossible for them to ask for help, so it was easier to just… not let anyone know.” Varian explained. “Griffons and ponies had a lot of history together, Equestria still forms grotesqueries in the shape of griffons when they want to convey protection and pride. But while ponies always considered griffons great allies, it wasn’t easy for griffons to realize how much they could lean on ponies in turn.”

“So when they lost their royal family, they gave up?”

“Well it was a little more complicated than that. They’re last king lost an artifact called the idol of Boreas that the griffons staked a lot of their cultural pride in. Without it, they felt they lost who they were.”

“So they just let everything fall to the wayside… damn.” Hugo frowned at a weather worn page. “A depression that doomed generations of griffons…”

They both were startled as Varian’s bag strap gave up suddenly, the contents within scattering. Varian was relieved that none of the chemical bottles broke, at least.

“I guess I have put this bag through a lot.” Varian admitted, gathering up some chemicals. “I’ve had it for maybe eight years now.”

“If you climb as often as you claim, among other things, I’m surprised it lasted as long as it has.” Hugo added, picking up some pages. “What’s this?”

He read over them quickly, a little charmed about how much confusion Varian had about the subject. It was conjecture, at best, but he could see why Varian had been scribbling about it. Hugo had seen the crystal heart activate, meaning Varian should have been protected from the memory spell. It seemed Varian came to the conclusion the user of the spell had simply cast it a second time, that they had shielded themselves from the protective blast.

“That blast was pretty strong when I saw it.” Hugo mentioned.

“I know. I don’t know a lot about magic in terms of application, despite living here, but I am a little concerned. Whoever used that spell, they weren’t just a regular human using a wand like King Frederic thought.”

“They were either some kind of experienced spellcaster or…” Hugo paused. “Is there any chance it was a pony?”

“Maybe. I know the mirror used to be in Canterlot, where Celestia’s magic school is, and we know Gold Lily used to go between both worlds so there’s a chance she’s still in the seven kingdoms somewhere.” Varian admitted. “I just don’t know why a pony would use a memory spell on me and leave me in Corona.”

Hugo tapping his fingers against the bookcase, he himself didn’t like loose ends after all his time working for Donella and this situation was incredibly loose. Varian’s last memory before they met was leaving a ball and running into a pegasus who needed help, sometime between that and Hugo meeting him Varian was left alone and memory wiped in Corona. What happened to the pegasus? Who was it that cast the spell?

“... You know, if anyone else was with you there’s a chance that memory spell reflected hard into them.” Hugo mentioned as it dawned on him. “I’ve been studying with your aunt, barrier spells sometimes just reflect whatever they’re protecting from. How does the Crystal Heart work?”

Varian paused and thought for a moment, “I’d say the Heart does a kind of amplification and reflection… It uses the magic of love and joy in the crystal ponies' hearts to create its barrier and to push away enemies. How hard do you think it would have hit?”

“Potentially hard enough to erase years…” Hugo mentioned. “I’ve seen something similar happen, a barrier like that reflecting a spell I mean.”

“While you were on a job?” Varian asked, Hugo nodding. “Were they okay?”

Hugo had no idea, he didn’t even know that guy's name, and he could tell by his silence that Varian was only more concerned.

“I just mention it because, maybe that’s what happened to the pegasus that was with you. She might be flying around lost and confused.” Hugo mentioned. “Since we don’t know what happened between you meeting her and meeting me.”

“I hope not… I’d feel awful about that.”

Cozy Glow had made herself at home, to Cass’ annoyance. The filly made her uncomfortable, but she knew that she had a tendency to be overly distrustful. Cozy did seem to have attached herself as much as possible to Captain Oftegard, though, and that had Cass more worried. Her father clearly was attached already, despite it having only been a couple of weeks. Likewise, practically every person in town adored the filly, even Eugene and Rapunzel seemed to adore her. And she was sure the filly was laying on the charm to get as many townsfolk and palace staff to like her as she could. She rolled over prepared to fight as her door opened, relaxing as she saw Cozy hovering there.

“Good morning Cassie!” Cozy greeted, the filly evidently made breakfast and brought it to Cass’ room. “I made you pancakes!”

“Don’t call me Cassie.” Cass sighed, rubbing her face. “Where’s my dad?”

“He said he had some mandatory drills to run early today. I wanted to make sure you had a hearty breakfast.” 

Cass had no clue what it was that made Cozy zero in on her, but the filly had been determined to get something from her. Cass looked at the pancakes, before taking the plate, “... Thanks. So, Cozy, are you sure you don’t know Prince Varian?”

“Nope. I know Princess Cadance was pregnant, so I guess he’s the baby?”

“... Not quite. He was adopted.” Cass sighed. “And he said his sister was ten, so… you should know that the princess was born. Why would you not have aged for ten years…”

“Maybe I got turned to stone? I know that stops creatures from aging.” Cozy mentioned. “Or maybe I was displaced in one of the small pocket dimensions, time doesn’t pass there.”

“Okay, let’s roll with those theories. Why would that have happened?”

“Well, if I was turned to stone for ten years I guess maybe it was a cockatrice accident and nopony found me for a while.” Cozy mentioned.

“... Wait, Varian mentioned he was trying to help a pegasus.” Cass relaxed, looking at Cozy. “That must have been you. And when you two were jumped by whoever used the Saporian wand, it deleted your memories of the meeting.”

“That makes sense. I think. But why did we come here?”

“That’s what I want to know.” Cass sighed. “But if you don’t remember and Varian doesn’t remember, we might never know.”

She looked at the pancakes again, then at the expectant filly, sighing again and taking a bite. It was probably the best pancakes she’d ever had, but she was still unsure of her theory. Varian hadn’t said the pegasus was a filly, and if Cozy was an orphan there was a chance no one even noticed her missing so Varian would have had to stumble on the issue himself. Cozy seemed to be willing to accept the theory just because it fit.

“So, Cozy Glow, you keep trying to ask me questions to get to know me better. Let me ask you a couple.”

“Okay!” Cozy’s wings fluttered, something Cass had learned seemed to be an involuntary action caused by excitement.

“How did you get that?” Cass asked, pointing at Cozy’s flank.

“My Cutie Mark? Oh, well, me and some of the other foals didn’t have a lot of things to play with that weren’t also considered educational.” Cozy admitted. “I got really good at chess because it was the only thing I really liked. One day I was playing against one of the teachers from Celestia’s school for unicorns and I managed to trick them into thinking I didn’t know what I was doing so they’d drop their guard. I beat them with a rook play, and I got my Cutie Mark.”

Cass was even less sure what to make of that, the story seemed true but was her Cutie Mark in chess, or was it because she manipulated the pony she was playing against? Was that why Cozy did anything around town, to manipulate the villagers, the guard into liking her? To what end?

Checkmate?

“Cass, why don’t they let you join the guard? You’re a lot smarter then some of them, I mean Stan and Pete are nice but they aren’t exactly great at the job.”

“That’s… it’s complicated.”

“I don’t see why it’s complicated. I mean, your friend is the princess. Does her dad not listen to what she thinks is best?”

“His majesty doesn’t need to listen to anyone’s council. I don’t know how things work in Equestria but it’s… it's not so simple here.”

“Oh. Well that’s not fair, I think the best person for the job should have the job. That’s how it works in Equestria.”

“...” Cass sighed and got up. “I have work to go. You should go play or something.”

“Okay Cassie bye!” Cozy waved as Cass left, the filly smiling to herself. “And thank you. Now I know something I didn’t before.”

Varian held out his staff as he and Hugo entered the cavern, it was dark inside and he was personally surprised Gilda could see anything in it. He and Hugo hadn’t found anything useful in the records, just more confirmation of many skirmishes between the two creatures tribes for centuries. The climb itself was only a little harder then Varian was used to in Griffonstone, and Hugo had hardly seemed bothered. Varian smiled as Twilight’s horn glow illuminated the rest of the room much better than his glowpaz compound, the group all looking around.

“I don’t think this cavern was natural.” Hugo mentioned.

“You're right, there’s telltale signs that someone used magic to bore into the walls here.” Twilight agreed. “It’s just had time to look more natural.”

“Gold Lily.” Varian smiled a bit, walking over to the mark on the wall. “In another hard to notice location.”

“With a note left with the creatures who lived near it.” Twilight mentioned, looking at Gilda. “The hippogriffs had a topographical map.”

“And we had whatever that book used to be with the doorway pictured. If it wasn’t so worn down it might have even had clues to it’s location. So she wanted someone to come.” Gilda relaxed a little. “That’s a relief. So there shouldn’t be any traps in here.”

“There wasn’t any in the other one.” Flurry mentioned, looking around. “But there was a lock and a door. I don’t see any alicorn locks and there isn’t any door either.”

“Maybe this one is a bit different.” Varian mentioned, before getting an idea.

He pulled out a tool from his bag and began tapping on the wall, listening to the taps.

“What are you doing?” Flurry asked in a loud whisper.

“Tapping.” Varian answered. “It’s something I picked up hanging out with Maud.”

“Ooh.” Flurry smiled, following suit at a different wall.

Hugo shrugged but began tapping against the walls with his robotic arm in the same way Varian was. He perked up as he heard a different tone, looking at Varian.

“I think I found something. So what would this Maud do next?”

“Oh I know!” Flurry flew over, bucking into the wall before anyone could tell her to wait.

A thin layer of rocks fell from the wall, revealing a room inside, and thankfully the rest of the cavern seemed undisturbed.

“Nice one Blizzard, remind me not to put myself in a situation where you want to kick me.” Hugo took a tentative step into the room, the others joining him.

He was drawn to a prototype of some kind of machine sitting on a table, looking at a note next to it.

‘One of the most interesting things Lord Demanitus has ever built. It repels Zhan Tiri’s dark magic, preventing the spell meant to destroy our beloved city, for the time being. Zhan Tiri gets more bold, and despite us managing to defeat two of her followers, we know we need to end this. I have an idea, as does Demanitus. If nothing else, Zhan Tiri will never be able to hurt anyone ever again.’

“I found something here.” Hugo mentioned, Twilight and Varian coming to look.

“Hm...” Twilight span the model carefully. “Fascinating… If this was used to repel magic I wonder how exactly it worked… This model leaves almost everything to the imagination.”

“Hey, uh, look at this.” Gilda called them over.

Hugo and Varian did so, leaving Twilight to continue to postulate how the device worked, Tempest going to Twilight. Gilda and Flurry were at another table, Varian seeing the remains of something very similar, fabric having nearly completely decayed. 

“A false wing?” Varian thought for a moment, before he looked over at another object on the table. “And a back leg.”

“Gold Lily got messed up by those battles.” Hugo admitted, thinking.

“Gold Lily mentioned that she and Demanitus got injured fighting Zhan Tiri and her minions.” Twilight admitted. “Though she only mentioned losing one limb, the wing must have happened later.”

“Seems like she made herself some new ones here in Equestria before she went back to Corona. The question is where the portal she was using here is. There was one in Mount Aris, but not one here… And it was broken despite being somewhere safe.” Tempest mentioned.

“I wonder if she smashed them herself.” Hugo admitted. “Maybe they were worried this Zhan Tiri would find one of the mirrors if there were too many.”

“It would make sense for her to tie up any loose ends to keep creatures safe.” Tempest admitted.

“Gothel didn’t know where the mirror was on the human side, otherwise she would have destroyed it long ago, that’s for sure.” Varian surmised. “Mom said she expected Gold Lily.”

“So maybe they kept one mirror only they knew the location of?” Gilda asked, thinking. “Do you think the one you use was always in Canterlot? Or like how you guys moved it to the Crystal Empire, do you think it used to be somewhere else?”

“Oh! That’s a great question, we’ll have to ask Celestia.” Twilight smiled. “If it was from somewhere else, records of where it was from might exist.”

“And if there is no mirror here and it’s where she seemed to have visited last, it might be the very same mirror we use now!” Flurry smiled, wings fluttering.

“Makes sense to me. I don’t see anything more magical than the average thing here in Equestria.” Hugo mentioned, Varian tilting his head to see he had his goggles on.

“... Can your goggles detect magic?”

“Yeah. For example, if I try to look over at Twilight and Flurry they’re damn near blinding.” Hugo admitted, hesitating a moment before handing the goggles to Varian. “You’re pretty luminescent yourself, Goggles.”

Varian blushed but hid it by putting on the goggles and looking around. Like Hugo had said, the two alicorns were very bright, though Flurry was absolutely blinding. Gilda let off a dull glow, which made sense if he considered she likely had the same latent magic pegasi did to affect clouds. And like Hugo said, the note, the prototype model and the objects in the room were practically magicless. Varian looked down at his own hand out of curiosity, surprised to see a stronger glow than Gilda, but he wondered if it was just the crystal magic. 

“Huh, interesting.” Varian admitted, pausing as he noticed something magical coming toward them. “Guys-”

Tempest turned to see what he was warning them off, gasping and rushing forward, horn flickering as she prepared to fight. She was knocked into a wall by a club, fighting to stay conscious. Hugo stepped back, looking up at the creature he quickly realized was a ramclops.

“Alright so you're big.” Hugo taunted, preparing himself. “Goggles, what do you have on you?”

“Uh… oh! Poison joke extract, if I can get a bit of time, I can mix it to have a specific reaction!” Varian explained quickly.

“That means practically nothing to me, Goggles.” Hugo admitted. 

“Poison Joke is a wildly unpredictable plant that casts a… well a joke spell on any creatures that step through the flowers.” Twilight explained, getting in front of the boys. “Including shrinking creatures.”

“Ah, I gotcha. Handy. Alright Goggles, get that made and we’ll keep ‘im busy.” 

Varian took a few steps back, getting a few flasks out and beginning to mix. Hugo tossed one of his own smoke bombs up into the ramclops’ face, dodging as a club was swung toward him. The ramclops sputtered and coughed, Twilight covering her nose and side eyeing Hugo.

“A stink bomb?”

“Hey it works.” Hugo shrugged.

She lifted a barrier to protect him as the ramclops swung again, the single eye focusing on her. Twilight prepared herself for a fight, flying upwards and fluttering around the ramclops. 

“Twilight wait!” Gilda called. “You need to be careful! Some of the other ramclopses have been using something to-”

Before she could finish her warning, the ramclops turned its attention to Twilight, taking something from a pouch and slapping what looked like sand at her. Twilight rubbed her eyes, before she crashed onto the ground, the pony looking up confused. Hugo moved quickly, tackling the alicorn out of the way as the ramclops attacked once more, the two rolling a bit away from the ramclops.

“What’s going on?” He asked.

“I can’t use my magic. Any of it, not even the ingrained magic that allows me to fly.”

“That’s what I was trying to warn you about.” Gilda mentioned flying around the ramclops and landing near them. “They have some kind of magic blocking powder they use to keep us stuck on the ground. Tempest knocked the last one off the cliffs before it could use it. It wears off on its own but it takes time.”

“Of course.” Hugo sighed, looking up as the ramclops turned to them. 

The group scattered as the ramclops attacked once again. Hugo reached into his pack, struggling as he was grabbed by the huge hands of the creature. 

“Hey! Let him go!” Gilda demanded, flying up at the ramclops and scratching at its single eye with her claws.

The ramclops threw Hugo as it tried to get ahold of Gilda, the boy slamming hard against a cave wall. He heard another thump nearby, which he had to assume was Gilda. He tried to get his bearings, forcing himself to a prone position as he looked up as the ramclops lumbered toward him. His vision was blurry, but he’d been in similar physical positions before, he just had to wait for the right moment to move. Granted, the massive size of his opponent made the margin for error extremely narrow. He could tell the ramclops was lifting its club, and he tried to prepare himself to roll to a side, hoping he could make it far enough.

“No!” Tempest rushed over suddenly, blasting the ramclops with several unstable magic blasts and getting its attention.

Hugo felt completely lost, no one had willingly taken heat off to protect him. Cyrus would sometimes grab him and drag him off from situations, but Hugo could recall plenty of times he’d been hurt because he was cornered and no one, not even Cyrus, would or could help. Tempest was soon hit by the same powder as Twilight, the unicorn mare trying to shake it off and glaring up at the ramclops. Hugo threw electric caltrops in front of the ramclops’ path, the creature screaming in a mixture of pain and anger. It turned toward him, and Hugo tried to force himself onto his feet. He was surprised as Tempest hurried in front of him, glaring up at the ramclops.

“Hugo, when I say run you run.” Tempest’s voice was so quiet Hugo only barely heard it.

He could tell from the way her hooves were planted she was fully prepared to make this a final stand off if she had to. He would have struggled to understand why she was doing this for him, but he had something more important to get across.

“Uh… I don’t know if I can. I’ve been trying to get up for a while now.”

Tempest’s stance changed subtly and he had to assume she was preparing to get them both out of the way, despite her injuries. They both felt a wave of relief hearing a glass break, the ramclops shrieking and turning, Varian and Flurry glaring up at it. It turned and screamed in their faces before it began rolling on the ground in some kind of effort to get the poison joke mixture off. They all watched in confusion as the monster writhed around, eventually coming to a stop, before Flurry seemed to recall something.

“I think… it’s made of magic. Uh… um… there was a book that Sunburst was teaching me from… uh… Magical… manifestations in the… Pre-Celestial era?” Flurry mentioned, Twilight tilting her head before she seemed to understand.

“Oh! The reason they can’t be reasoned with, they aren’t sapient. They might not even be sentient.” Twilight added. “It’s living magic, formed into a monster. A monster… that was probably made by Grogar.”

“So Goggles’ mixture is reacting weird to the raw magic?” Hugo asked, Twilight nodding.

“The unpredictable nature of poison joke on a being made of pure magic might react that way. We can find out for sure with a spell…” Twilight explained, picking up a fallen stalactite and writing something in the dirt. “Flurry?”

Flurry looked at the spell before she attempted to focus, closing her eyes and hitting the ramclops with the spell. The monster faded into what Hugo assumed was its parts, pieces of gold, a strange goat eye looking artifact, a skeleton formed out of carved stone.

“Spooky.” Hugo admitted.

“So… they aren’t alive. We’re just… under attack by Grogar?” Gilda asked.

Twilight paced a little as she attempted to think, before she looked back into Gold Lily’s chamber and entered it once again. They returned to searching it, Hugo finding another small journal.

“Here’s another book.”

He handed it over to Twilight who cast some kind of spell onto it before she lifted it, skimming over its contents.

“Aha! ‘I suspect that the ramclops is not a creature, not the same way we ponies or the griffons are. I spoke with King Grolof and he has confirmed for me that the griffons once held back some dark forces I believe to have belonged to Zhan Tiri. She clearly took it personally, and has created a curse to try and stomp out the griffons altogether. I have begun work on a counter to stop this.’” Twilight read aloud.

“So Zhan Tiri did follow her to Equestria.” Hugo noted.

“No, it sounds like Zhan Tiri already knew about Equestria. King Grolof was part of the Pre-Celestial era, meaning before Celestia took the throne.” Varian mentioned. “... What if she was from Equestria?”

“There is a chance…” Twilight admitted, thinking, flipping a few more pages. “She set up something to protect Griffonstone from the ramclops, if we can find that I should be able to reactive the spell. It must have worn out, considering no one has seen Gold Lily in centuries… well even alicorn magic wears off with the right circumstances.”

Varian took the book as Twilight began looking around for the artifact, looking at it.

“... This is strange. It sounds like she spoke to Demanitus a few times between some of these entries, but the dates are so close to each other…” Varian mentioned. “Too close to be running to and from the two worlds. There are times in here where she trails off and comes back with a new idea given to her by Demanitus. But she isn’t talking like he was here with her.”

“... Oh! I think I know what we’re looking for.” Twilight smiled. “There’s a spell Celestia taught me, you cast it on two books and you can use them to write to each other immediately.”

“So she had a book that let her communicate with Demanitus directly when they had to work apart. Smart.” Hugo rubbed the back of his neck, looking at Tempest as she approached.

“You should sit down. You might have a concussion.” She insisted, nudging him over to a cushion.

“Okay okay.” He relented, sitting down a little dizzily.

“Here, look me in the eyes.” She insisted, staring at him a long while before she relaxed a little. “I think you’re alright, but take it easy. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable for now?”

Hugo recalled the first time the mare had asked him that earlier that very day. It was strange to realize just how much more he trusted her in a few short hours just because of how clear she’d made the differences between her and Donella, despite the similarities.

“You already have. I’ll uh, I’ll be alright. Just need a moment to collect myself.”

“Alright. Sit tight for now, we’ll handle the rest.” Tempest stood up a little shakily before she returned to the group.

Hugo wasn’t sure he could remember a time anyone had seemed so worried about him, it was a strange feeling. Especially someone who he’d assumed was cold, while it was clear Tempest was of a calm temperament she did seem far warmer than Donella. He watched as Twilight looked worriedly at Tempest, the taller mare offering what he assumed was a comforting nuzzle. He couldn’t imagine Donella letting anyone in as much as Tempest had Twilight, maybe if she ever had she’d be as happy as Tempest seemed to be.

“Hugo? How are you feeling?” Varian walked over.

“I am developing a wicked headache, but honestly I’ve been in worse shape after scrapes.” 

“I’m so sorry you got hurt because of me.”

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault. That thing was gunnin for us because we’re griffon friends, most likely. I just wasn’t fast enough.”

The words stung, despite it being himself having said it. He’d heard it a lot from Donella and Cyrus, usually when he was hurt after something on a job had gone wrong.

“Hugo, it was a giant monster. I’m just relieved you aren’t… hurt worse.” 

Hugo could tell Varian was avoiding thinking of the worst case scenario, and he pat the him on the shoulder.

“Yeah I’m alright, don’t worry. We might have to put off the Peaks of Peril a while though.”

“I can definitely agree to that.” Varian nodded. “Besides, having another couple of Gold Lily’s journals and notes to go over will have me distracted, even if the answers we were looking for aren’t here.”

“Hey, we know some things we didn’t before. Zhan Tiri wasn’t from Corona and wasn’t just some person who trained under Demanitus.” Flurry mentioned. “That’s news to us.”

“And that lets us know that this Zhan Tiri is a real threat.” Twilight admitted. “We’ll have to be careful, until we know if their plan to defeat her was successful.”

“And we know there is an artifact that should work.” Hugo mentioned, rolling his shoulder in an effort to stretch the sore muscles. “We just gotta hope we can find it.”

“And it’s a book.” Flurry sighed.

“Oh sorry it’s not some magic spear or broach.” Varian teased. “You knew Gold Lily was a ‘nerd’ as you love to call me. If I left behind a bunch of clues would you expect some kind of weapon and not a book or tool or alchemical solution?” 

Hugo smiled a little listening to Flurry continue to lament about the artifact not being something more ‘awesome’, allowing himself to relax as Twilight and the others packed up the relevant items. For now, they’re exploration was successful, even if some of the information only complicated matters further.

Chapter Text

Hugo should have been a little annoyed they were relaxing in Ponyville, since he was certain the almanac was in the Crystal Empire. But he didn’t find himself too worried about getting it, and the Peaks of Peril were technically closer to them this way still. He was still curious why Donella wanted the almanac so badly, but for now he was more curious about Gold Lily. Besides, he liked Ponyville himself, and he had time, Donella didn’t know they had a way to force open the portal prepared. 

Tempest had dragged him to a hospital, which had been pretty fascinating because he’d never seen such machines and seeing so many machines used for healthcare and healthcare alone had been a very pleasant surprise. Nurse Redheart, a pony he’d been introduced to who worked there, had even been just about as enthusiastic to explain to them what the machines were for as Coalquette had been about the train. The pony doctor he’d seen had concluded he did not have a concussion, but should still take it easy for a few days. So he’d basically been in the guest room in Twilight’s castle he was given since that, due to some serious fussing from the newest member of Varian’s absurdly large family he’d met, Spike.

He was not at all what Hugo had expected of a dragon, despite there being dragons in the seven kingdoms he’d expected something different from Equestrian dragons. Spike was apparently a young dragon, and he’d been adopted by ponies immediately after hatching, so Hugo had to assume that was why the dragon was so friendly. Then again, based on what he’d learned ponies and dragons were now allied, so maybe dragons were friendly themselves.

“Hugo?” Varian poked his head into the room, Hugo looking up from the book he was reading. “How are you feeling today?”

“Headache is gone, neck isn’t so stiff. I’m practically back to normal. Why?”

“I wanted to see if you were up to visiting Cloudsdale.”

“Anything to get out of this castle for a while. I appreciate how worried your family is about me Goggles, really, but your uncle Spike has been fussing over me too much.” Hugo got up and followed Varian out of the room. “But isn’t your aunt busy? How’s that spell going to be used? No offense to your sister but I don’t think she has the focus for a maintained spell.”

“Aunt Twili’s not the only super powerful magic user in Equestria. But you are right about Flurry’s focus, they’re working on it.” Varian admitted. 

They went outside where a unicorn Hugo had yet to meet was waiting, Varian going over to her.

“Hugo, this is Starlight Glimmer. Starlight, this is Hugo.”

“Hello, it’s great to meet you.” Starlight greeted. 

“Another friend?” Hugo asked, raising an eyebrow.

He’d come to understand that Varian had a lot of friends and acquaintances all over Equestria, so he was no longer surprised when he was introduced to yet another one. Varian had more ‘friends’ then Donella had contacts, which was saying something.

“Starlight was my aunt Twilight’s first student.” Varian explained. “And a pretty good friend of the family now. I mean she still lives in the castle, since the school she runs is right over there.”

Hugo had noticed the massive school, but he hadn’t thought much of it. Now that he looked over at it, he realized Twilight’s Cutie Mark was visible up on a plaque. 

“Fancy school. Must be hard to get it.”

“Not at all! We want to allow as many students as possible to come study here.” Starlight’s tone almost immediately took some kind of customer service tone, and Varian looked visibly annoyed. “Our motto is ‘the more creatures understand friendship, the safer we’ll all be.’ Which doesn’t make a lot of sense without context but-”

“I’ve been readin’ the book on Twilight and her friend’s adventures, I think I get the meanin.” Hugo admitted. “So you teach creatures lessons on… friendship?”

“The school is here to help creatures learn how to understand each other. The reason we all were apart for so long was because we all didn’t want to understand each other's differences.” Starlight explained. “But it’s our differences that make us stronger together.”

She went on for the entirety of their walk to a hot air balloon, and eventually it was clear to Hugo that she was likely trying to convince him to enroll. Hugo let her talk, he was curious about the school despite not wanting to go himself. It seemed that the goal was simply to teach the Elements of Harmony, loyalty, kindness, generosity, honesty and laughter, so as to keep the ‘magic’ of friendship strong. Which would in turn allow the Tree of Harmony to protect more of the world, hence the other trees growing in other parts of the world, and those who were connected to the Elements. 

“Hello Cherry Berry.” Varian loudly interrupted, handing bits to a mare, “Three to Cloudsdale please.”

Hugo noted the cutie mark of the pony who began to prepare the hot air balloon, it was a pair of cherries on a stem. He couldn’t begin to think what that had to do with flying an air balloon, but Varian clearly knew her as the pilot. 

“She uses ballooning to pick cherries.” Varian seemed to notice him staring. “And when it’s not cherry season, which is a pretty short season, she makes money offering rides to Canterlot and Cloudsdale.”

“Ah. I guess bucking the trees isn’t as effective if the fruit isn’t heavy enough to remove itself from the stem.” Hugo mentioned, Varian nodding with a small smile. 

“Cherry trees aren’t as strong as apple trees, so bucking them can damage them too. You could shake the tree until they fall, but I think Cherry’s way is still a little faster.” Varian admitted, the group getting into the air balloon. 

The trip was shorter than Hugo expected, but he’d spent most of it enjoying the view and the gentle wind. It was also clear Varian loved balloon travel because he spent a lot of the trip just leaning on the edge of the basket or gathering clouds in vials. Hugo found himself staring a bit, Varian was so at ease, and when the boy turned to chat with Cherry Berry with a big smile Hugo felt a tug at his heart. He pushed it down, well aware that falling for the little prince was not a part of the plan, even if he wasn’t sure he wanted to return to Ingvarr. Even if he really did understand why Varian had wanted to get home so desperately and a part of him knew he’d miss Equestria almost as much as he’d miss Varian.

“There it is.” Starlight called, gesturing to the city.

Hugo found himself again impressed, the entire city was made of cloud, which he’d expected, but it was beautiful. The cloud buildings reminded him of those he’d seen in Bayangor, columns of the buildings in what he assumed was the older portion of the city especially. The newer buildings still matched the aesthetic, though they had little modern flares to them. He noticed that even this city was not completely occupied by just pegasi ponies, there were griffons and hippogriffs too. They arrived at a hot air balloon landing, Starlight turning to Hugo.

“Alright you shouldn’t feel a thing.” Her horn began to glow, but once it stopped it didn’t seem that anything had happened.

Before he could ask if it was safe for them to step onto the landing, Varian hopped out of the basket. He didn’t fall through the clouds, so Hugo followed suit, Starlight cantering beside them. 

“This place is huge.” Hugo looked around, pausing occasionally to take in the city. 

Starlight and Varian clearly didn’t mind him taking in the city, while the weather factory was the main reason for the visit it made sense Hugo was also taking in the floating city.

“It’s probably the oldest consistently occupied city in all of Equestria.” Starlight mentioned. 

“It’s older than Equestria.” Varian added. “See, back before the ponies lived together, Cloudsdale was where the pegasi have always lived and made the weather.”

“Your aunt taught me a bit about all that. I guess I thought all those old capitals were gone, but Cloudsdale can just be moved huh?” 

“They also move it during peak weather times to make it easier to deliver some of the more… we’ll say difficult weather.” Starlight added.

“Makes sense, wouldn’t want to move a storm cloud more distance than you had to.” Hugo nodded. 

“Exactly.” Starlight smiled. “Here we are.”

The factory was huge, and he was a little endeared to see a very large visible spout on top and another occasionally releasing fully formed clouds. Much of Equestria’s technology was more on the whimsical side to what he’d been used to, and he enjoyed it thoroughly. They went inside, and Hugo wasn’t too surprised to see Scootaloo waiting to show them around, the mare smiling at him warmly.

“Glad you guys could make it! First things first, safety gear.”

Hugo looked at the helmet he was handed with a little disdain knowing it was going to mess up his hair but put it on, along with the white coat he was handed. He followed Scootaloo as she led them into the factory, which was so different from what he’d seen before. It was shockingly clean, he spotted a lot of safety precautions, and every creature working there was wearing the same protective gear that Scootaloo had handed them.

“This is where we hoof make snowflakes.” Scootaloo said quietly as they entered a room. “Snow used to fall all at once in larger snow portions, but something inspired somepony to start carving the snow.”

“It still does outside the barrier in the Empire. Wherever that blizzard comes from, it never seems to run out of snow.” Varian admitted. “I wonder if it’s a curse…”

“Maybe. Snow does usually happen naturally in my world, but I’ve heard legends about unnatural blizzards. Course in my world snowflakes happen naturally, when water freezes it usually crystalizes.” Hugo admitted, carefully leaning over to look at a pony's work. “But they aren’t as unique as these. I don’t think I could cut out one perfect star or heart shape let alone six.”

The pegasus beamed at the compliment, as unintentional as it seemed since Hugo seemed a little embarrassed. Varian smiled a little, clearing his throat and looking away when Scootaloo nudged him with her elbow with a knowing smile. They moved from room to room before they arrived at a huge pool of rainbow water, Hugo leaning over to look at it closer.

“So that’s why the rainbows look different… it’s a liquid itself. So I spose there’s a refinement process.”

“It’s also not very tasty so I know it’s tempting but I wouldn’t try it.” Scootaloo admitted. 

“No problem from me, I don’t make a habit of trying out random liquids. Don’t you have some of this in your lab?” Hugo asked. 

“Yeah, rainbow water has unique properties. It’s weirdly… heat building. Without needing fire.” Varian explained. “And it’s otherwise so similar to water that it can be used to create heat reactions without changing much of the solution.”

“That’s handy.”

They continued around the factory until they’d seen everything to be seen, the group arriving at back at the entrance.

“Thanks again Scoot.” Varian and Scootaloo shared a fistbump.

“Hey, anything for you, Varian.” Scootaloo smiled. “I just hope you enjoyed the tour, Hugo.”

“It was great. Equestria is full of surprises.” Hugo admitted. 

“Hey, maybe someday we’ll go visit Nova at the Potion Ocean.” Varian mentioned. “It’s all magic but it could be interesting. I wonder if it’s maybe like the Tree of Harmony or the Crystal Heart.”

“A living pool of liquid magic… could be. Hard to say.” Starlight admitted, thinking. “Sunburst might be able to give you a more detailed hypothesis.”

They got back to the balloon station, waiting a while before Cherry showed up, dropping off more ponies and allowing them back in.

“How was the trip?” Cherry asked, specifically looking at Hugo.

“Great. I’ve never seen a factory like that.”

“Really? Even in Ingvarr?” Starlight asked.

“The factories there only cared about making as much as quickly as possible, safety be damned.” Hugo crossed his arms and sighed, Starlight catching a small glimpse of the metal under his sleeve.

“Oh. That’s… awful. People must get hurt a lot.” Starlight carefully mentioned.

“Yeah well… that’s business. I mean, in Ingvarr. Clearly you all care a lot more about other people… uh… creatures, then profit.” Hugo mentioned.

“Well most of us, at least.” Cherry admitted. “Those Flim Flam brothers would probably do that.”

“Flim Flam brothers… They were in that book your aunt lent me. Guess they never learned a lesson then.” Hugo mentioned, Varian sighing.

“I don’t think they ever will. You’ve been reading the friendship journal?”

“Yeah well, it’s a pretty interesting read.” Hugo admitted. 

They arrived back in Ponyville, Varian clearly remembering something as they landed.

“Oh, I meant to warn you, aunt Pinkie and uncle Cheese were putting together a party in the castle which is another reason I wanted to get out of the castle for a while. They wouldn’t tell me what it was for but they seemed excited.” 

Hugo had interacted very little with Pinkie Pie, but the mare was incredibly jubilant when he had a brief chat with her. She was clearly nice, but he wasn’t used to people like her. He hadn’t yet met Cheese Sandwich but he knew enough about Pinkie’s husband to know he was just as jubilant and silly as Pinkie. He decided to just politely leave the party when he could, he had a pretty good excuse with his not quite a concussion head and neck injury. They went inside to find the party in its early stages, Scootaloo joined after a short while and Varian went to see if she and the girls knew what was going on. Hugo looked around the decorated room, a little unsure if he really should be there for whatever was going on. Eventually Flurry dragged him over to where Varian and the girls were. Varian clearly knew every creature in the room, he was greeting many of them like they were at least acquaintances, if not friends. 

“Hi Varian!” Two voices chimed, Varian smiling and kneeling down to hug two foals.

“Hey Pumpkin, hey Pound.”

“The kids tell us you and Flurry have been on quite the adventure.” Mrs. Cake mentioned.

“We’ve had an uh, an exciting week. But we’ve been fine, really. Oh, this is Hugo. Hugo, this is the Cake family. Pretty good friends of the family.”

“Nice to meet you.” Hugo nodded, shaking Mr. Cake’s hoof.

“Flurry’s right, you are way taller than Varian.” Pumpkin said, Varian sighing.

“He’s not that much taller. He just looks taller because you're so small.” 

The twins laughed a little before the three foals ran off to play together. Hugo was able to mingle a little as Varian introduced him to some of the creatures there, Smolder, Yona and Sandbar, Soarin’ and Braeburn, Big Mac and Sugar Belle, all who seemed delighted to meet him. He knew that Equestria was different then Ingvarr, but it was really settling in now. Tempest had willingly risked her life to protect him, every creature was so nice to him. Rarity’s generosity and plea to Varian to be patient with him, Twilight taking so much time to educate him and enjoying his company. The weather factory being so safe and the staff being so friendly and happy. He looked up as a unicorn he’d been introduced to as Sugar Belle tapped a spoon against a glass.

“Hello every creature, I’m super excited to let you all know that this get together was planned by Pinkie and Cheese so I could tell you some very exciting news. Big Mac and I are having a baby!”

Hugo immediately felt like he was not meant to be there as many of the creatures in the room began to celebrate the couple. The door out of the room was too far away, so he opted for a different way out. He managed to slip by Applejack who had started crying in excitement about being an aunt, getting out to a balcony and taking a deep breath. He was alone for only a short time before he heard hoof steps approaching him cautiously.

“Hugo?”

He was a little surprised to see it was Sugar Belle of all ponies, he somewhat expected another friendship speech from Twilight, but he turned to greet the mare.

“Sorry just uh, needed some air.” Hugo lied.

“Well that’s good. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that I did include you in the invitations.” Sugar Belle mentioned, Hugo not hiding his surprise. “In case you felt out of place or anything.”

“How did you…”

“I like to think it’s my mothers intuition kicking in already.” Sugar Belle came over, looking over the balcony with him. “I didn’t know your name for a while, but the first time I saw you, I saw a little of myself I hadn’t seen in a while. Even before I learned a bit about you from Rainbow and Applejack.”

Hugo was still not used to every creature being so open about their past, but he was really confused what Sugar Belle meant in this moment.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, before I met Big Mac, when I was younger… I had no one. It was terrible. I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere, my family wanted nothing to do with me when I realized I loved baking and I didn’t want to focus on magic.” Sugar Belle explained. “So I joined Starlight’s town. I don’t know if you know about all that but… it was just a whole town of hurt ponies who wanted to belong somewhere. Including Starlight. We gave up our cutie marks to fit in, to be equal so we’d never feel like we were different again."

Hugo felt uncomfortable, so he looked away from Sugar Belle and out to the city.

“Eventually we realized that we didn’t want to change who we were to fit in somewhere. And we could find others who accepted us no matter how much we liked to party, who would wait for us if our talents took us far, who believed or didn’t believe in our talents. We made new friends, all of us. And I found Big Mac. I love him so much, but when I first got to know the Apple family, the whole of it, it was so overwhelming. So I know how you feel, surrounded by so many others who seem so different from what you grew up with. From the first place you made to fit in that just… wasn’t really the right fit.”

“... How long did it take you to get used to it?” He wasn’t sure why he was asking, he just felt like he needed to.

“I’m not really sure. I just know one day, I woke up and got up to help Applejack make breakfast. She went over her latest little challenge against Rainbow, and Soarin’ and Braeburn showed up a little late like usual, and Apple Bloom and her friends all barreled through the house and it just… felt like home. I was finally home. And I know someday, you’ll find that feeling too. It’s a huge relief, I know I ended up crying and worrying every creature when I realized it.” 

Hugo was a little surprised how relieved he was to hear she was sure he’d someday have that feeling, but he just leaned against the railing in silence to enjoy her company a little longer.

“So, have any names figured out yet?”

“We’ve honestly had a little trouble with that. We had to make sure we didn’t accidentally use any living relatives' names, for one. There are so many Apples. Apple Fritter, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious… sometimes I’m not sure I even know all their names.”

Varian didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the moment he realized that Sugar Belle was having a moment with Hugo he’d frozen in place near the balcony door. He could tell at a glance that the words shared had resonated, even if Hugo wasn’t facing him and clearly refused to face Sugar Belle. Tempest had pulled him aside and reinforced that Rarity was right about giving Hugo time, though Tempest didn’t give any reasons why she was clearly concerned about the Ingvarrian. 

Varian noticed the two of them seemed to finish their conversation and he quickly went back inside to the refreshment table to act casual. Hugo and Sugar Belle eventually reentered the room, Hugo looking like he was feeling better about the party overall. Hugo rejoined him, the Ingvarrian smiling a little as he watched Sugar Belle walk back over to Big Mac and his family. He looked at Varian, noticing he was eating another cupcake, which at this point he was pretty sure his fifth one.

“How many cupcakes are you going to eat, Goggles?”

“What, no sweet tooth?” Varian rolled his eyes with a smile.

Pinkie Pie seemed to appear out of nowhere with a new tray of cupcakes, offering them to Hugo.

“Varian helped me bake these. If that changes your mind for any reason.” Pinkie fluttered her eyes at Hugo, who chuckled nervously. 

“Alright alright, I’ll have one.” Hugo took one off the serving tray, taking a bite. 

Varian didn’t know why he was nervous about Hugo trying the cupcakes he’d helped make, he was never nervous about his baking before. Based on how quickly Hugo ate the remaining cupcake portion, Varian was pretty sure he liked it.

“You know, this might be the first pastry I’ve ever had.” Hugo admitted, wiping the crumbs off his hands. 

“Really?” Pinkie frowned. “I guess you couldn’t afford sweets and stealing them wasn’t worth the risk.”

“Bingo. But uh… thanks. That was really good.”

“Of course! Now that you’re here, I’m going to make it my personal mission to help you figure out your favorite treat! It’s what I do! Oh, and your birthday, and your favorite color, and-”

Hugo wasn’t sure how long Pinkie had spoken to him about things he liked or hadn’t tried or any little thing that came to her mind, but he did remember when he asked her why it mattered what she’d said. Because he was her friend and it's what friends do. Everyone here kept asserting that they considered him a friend, and he did believe them strangely, he just wasn’t sure what to make of it. Ingvarrians didn’t make permanent connections like that, not in his line of work. But it was clear Varian, and every creature he considered friends, they did, and they considered those connections important. Varian clearly knew most ponies in the Empire and in Ponyville, he knew some of them well enough to recall things that they were looking forward to to ask them how it went since they last met. He wasn’t sure he’d recognize anyone he’d met before, aside from Donella and Cyrus. Well, and Eugene, but that was more because Hugo had been perhaps too proud of himself for outsmarting Rider. 

He had the friendship journal in his hand, looking at the little pictures of the Elements and their friends. He hadn’t been reading this time, just flipping through the book looking at the photos. It was strange, knowing the mares were still so close, close enough that they were family. That the photos of the young fillies that were Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom weren’t something of the past only, they were still as close as close could be. That Starlight had gone from an enemy to a trusted friend. That Discord, who he had yet to meet somehow, had gone from malevolent creature of chaos and disharmony to a guy who loved his wife and truly embraced friendship.

“Hugo? Are you still awake?” Varian knocked on the door lightly.

“Yeah c’mon in Goggles.”

Varian entered, Hugo noticing how different the shirt he was wearing was. It was clearly tailored to fit because it was likely made for a pony, but what caught his eye was the symbol on the front of it. He also wasn’t sure he’d seen a shirt like it.

“What’s that?”

“What? Oh, uh… I got this shirt at a Starsong Melody concert. I sleep in it sometimes.” Varian admitted nervously, rubbing the back of his head. “Uh… I think it’s just a regular graphic tee, I guess they probably don’t have those on the other side.”

“Maybe ‘concert’ means something different here… uh, what does this Starsong do?”

“Punk pop? I think?” Varian explained after a moment.

“What are the words you are saying right now?”

“Uh… wait here.” Varian left and came back with some kind of device.

Hugo was curious about it and watched as Varian put a disk into the top and pressed a button, music like he’d never heard before coming out of the speakers. It was catchy, a little angry, and had instruments he’d never heard before. 

“I guess music in the seven kingdoms is different huh?”

“Very. Did you come in here to chat about something?”

“Oh right, uh first I wanted to make sure you were okay, I know aunt Pinkie has a big personality and she was talking to you for a while there.” 

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. She’s nice, just high energy. Second?”

“I guess I just wanted to talk. I was so focused on getting home when I met you, I don’t know much about you.” Varian admitted.

“I think everything I learned about you has been from your massive family.” Hugo added. “So you don’t have to feel too bad.”

“I mean I kind of do. I was the one who said we were friends and then started acting suspicious of you.” Varian admitted. 

“Well I haven’t been helping. I know I act a little suspicious at the best of times I just… in Ingvarr, not knowing your way around can be a death sentence. Not looking out for signs of danger or some other thief, it all kind of becomes second nature. And here I am in a place where I can’t read anyone's body language and most of the population is low to the ground so it’s not easy to keep an eye on them.” Hugo wasn’t meaning to be so honest, but it did strangely feel good to get it out. “And another good portion of the population can fly .”

“I know words aren’t going to be enough to convince you but… Equestria is really safe. And if there’s anything I can do to help you feel better I will.” Varian mentioned. “If the locked doors back home are making you nervous, I can show you what’s in them. I mean one of them is my uh… it’s where we put all the stuff from my old house. It’s not exactly exciting but I have the key to that one. One is mom’s office. It's uh… pretty boring in there, it’s just where she goes over correspondence.”

“Ah, that's where she disappears to. I noticed she’s always gone in the morning and looks pretty weary by lunch, guess that’s all the princess duties.”

“She likes to get it over with early so she can spend the rest of the day with us.” Varian admitted. “With how peaceful it’s been it’s mostly been trade, people moving in and out of the Empire, farming. But I don’t think mom would exactly be happy if it was all as bad as it was a little over ten years ago.”

“Yeah, I don’t know how your aunts did all that…”

“It was the right thing to do.”

Hugo chuckled a little at the repeated usage of the phrase, understanding why Varian was so adamant about it.

“You know, I think I’m starting to get why you believe that. As for the extended castle tour, yeah I think that might help. For now, honestly, bein’ on this job is helping. It’s like what I did before but… safer. I’m starting to get that you guys actually have my back.” Hugo sat back with his hands behind his head, listening a while longer. “So Starsong Melody eh? What other kinds of music do you lot have?”

“Well there’s DJ pon-3 or Vinyl Scratch, aunt Twili listens to her music a lot, it’s dubstep. And Octavia Melody, she’s a cellist but she sometimes collaborates with Vinyl.” Varian started to ramble on about the different types of music, but Hugo didn’t mind.

His genuine happiness and passion was perhaps a little contagious.

The good news for Cozy, she’d realized, is no one in Corona could read ponish, so her journal couldn’t be read. She’d spent the last few weeks trying to piece together what had happened, and she’d disguised her attempts with overly cutesy drawings of herself and the residents of the Corona castle. It let her leave her journal out without worrying about the words being read, though she had found that Captain Oftegard never seemed to try to read it. He did seem to appreciate the drawings though, so she made efforts to give him a new drawing at least once a week. Anything to gain his unfiltered trust.

She’d come to realize a few things, one, her plan to steal all the magic in Equestria had failed, and she’d been caught. Apparently she’d been turned to stone after that, because the baby she’d heard about was now ten. She’d fibbed a little to Cass, to ascertain the baby’s age and gender, but she hadn’t expected to find out it had been ten years or so. Two, there was a human boy who now lived in Equestria and was the prince of the Crystal Empire despite him not being able to use magic at all, which hardly seemed fair but she wasn’t going to dwell on it. Three, that boy was going to try to find a way to get back to Corona before the two year sixth month wait for the stars to be aligned.

If he was as smart as Rapunzel seemed to think he was, then he could reappear at any time, and he’d likely have his family with him. And his family included the princesses who had likely turned Cozy to stone in the first place. Luckily, she was very sure she could trick them into thinking she’d forgotten everything, including her attempts to steal magic and the event that turned her down that path. She just had to act like a sweet little filly with no place in the world, which she had plenty of practice at. Cozy dropped her pen before she wandered into the halls of the palace, looking around with a content smile. She made her way around the halls, rushing over to help Nigel roll a scroll back up after it fell to the ground.

“Golly Nigel, you seem awful busy lately. I hope everything is okay.” 

“Ah, well, Cozy Glow, there are just a few more things on the King's mind lately.” Nigel admitted, patting her on the head. “Thank you.”

“Of course! I just wanna be as helpful as you are, since you were all nice enough to let me stay.”

“You are just the sweetest thing.”

Cozy watched as Nigel joined Frederic in his office, before she frowned to herself. The downside of them not being able to read what she wrote was that she also couldn’t read what they wrote. She’d been trying to learn, but it was very different to the language she’d grown up with. It was so incredibly frustrating to be inside a castle, with access to knowledge she might be able to use if she could only read it. She quickly forced a smile hearing someone coming, hurrying over as she saw it was Captain.

“There you are Cozy. What did you do today?”

“Well after breakfast I spent some time with Cassie and princess Rapunzel and Eugene, then I helped the maids tidy up a few of the rooms, and then I played some chess with Pascal. And then I just hung around a little.”

“Sounds like you kept yourself busy today.” Captain Oftegard chuckled warmly. “It’s about time for dinner, come along now.”

“Oki doki.”

She followed him back through the halls, having gotten used to the routine of breakfast and usually dinner with him and Cass. Cozy could tell Cass was suspicious of her, though hilariously Cozy had yet to really do anything to warrant it. She could tell the woman was just a suspicious woman, so she wasn’t letting it get to her too much. There wasn’t necessarily anything in Corona useful to her, at least so far it didn’t seem so, but she had a plan at least. If she played this smart, she was sure she could get out of being turned back into stone or taken back to Equestria to continue another punishment. 

And if Cozy was anything, it was smart.

Chapter Text

Hugo looked around as they stepped off the train, he’d been warned ahead of time the train had to stop short of their final destination because of the harshness of the land they were going through. What every creature had neglected to tell him was that they were going through the Dragonlands . They were currently in a forest, but ahead of them was a huge sprawl of a huge volcanic, mountainous region.

“Are you sure you feel totally and completely better?” Spike asked.

“Yes, Spike, I’m fine. Trust me, I’ve had worse.” Hugo insisted, though he was finding himself more fond of the fussy dragon then he’d expected. 

Twilight had something she needed to do with the other princesses, and so Spike and Gabby were going with them. Sunburst had joined them in Ponyville and had been doing research himself, though about what he wasn’t yet sharing. Spike, Hugo was well familiar with at this point. He’d only met Gabby shortly before they all departed together, but she seemed just as friendly as every creature else Varian and his family introduced him to. Flurry bolted off into the sky, squinting in the direction they were supposed to head. 

“You're looking for a forest with lots of rivers past all the volcanoes!” Sunburst called.

“Aw that’s soooo far!”

“Yeah, that’s why we took an early train.” Varian yawned. “So we’ll hopefully be in a kirin village before dark.” 

“I don’t think any of us would be comfortable sleeping in the Dragonlands, for one reason or another.” Sunburst admitted.

Based on what Hugo had learned about it, he wasn’t sure if Sunburst was talking about the magma, the rocks, or the dragons themselves.

“Don’t worry Flurry, some friends are going to help us get there a little faster.” Spike called up to the flying filly.

“... The Dragonlands haven’t moved, yeah? What’s the chance that Gold Lily hid another base round here?” Hugo asked.

“See I did think about that, but dragons and ponies had a… colorful history.” Varian admitted. “I don’t think she could tell a dragon any clues to where it would be for any future people to look at because dragons and ponies didn’t get along until recently. But so far there’s been two things that she’s relied on. There was a map in Mount Aris that led to her underwater base, and there was a book in Griffonstone that led to her gorge base. And there would probably be a dragon who would remember her, they can live a really long time. Especially with everything being so peaceful.”

“Dragons do have written history but it’s all carved in stone walls, so it’s not like they’d have lost it, and then there’s the fact there’s no way they’d have kept a pony thing around.” Spike added.

“How bad was it?”

“War, uh… infanticide, famine…” Varian listed, looking around. “I thought Smolder and Garble were meeting us at the station?”

“They were supposed to…” Sunburst confirmed, looking around and going a bit ahead of the boys and closer to Flurry. “Flurry, get back down here! I have a bad feeling about this…”

“That’s a lot. I mean ponies are forgiving I know but-”

“The ponies were the aggressors. Most of the time.” Varian admitted, Hugo stopping.

“What?”

“Yeah uh, eventually what was happening got around to the other tribes, but there were a lot of really greedy unicorns who wanted the gemstones available here in the Dragonlands. Dragons eat gemstones. Unicorns did everything they could to take as many gemstones as possible, and there was one very well noted instance of them destroying dragon eggs. That was just the time they got caught, we don’t know if it happened other times but someone doesn’t just jump to smashing eggs. Celestia and Luna found out and stepped in at that time. Luna trapped those unicorns in the caverns they once dug under Canterlot in search for gems. Kind of a uh grim punishment, which is why some ponies are a little more afraid of Celestia and Luna then they really need to be. I mean, they killed infant dragons, it might have been a harsh punishment but it’s not like it wasn’t deserved.” Varian explained. “Dragons live a lot longer than most ponies, so the older dragons considered ponies a threat for a while. Eventually the younger dragons just started considering ponies harmless cutesy little things that weren’t a big deal, and I guess in the effort to just let things go the elder dragons don’t talk about it. They didn’t want the cycle of vengeance to continue. But it’s important to remember the past to avoid anything as bad as that happening again.”

“How long ago was that?” Hugo asked.

“Well the sisters were still young and not as tempered in their judgements, and it was when unicorns still had some of their worse tendencies. I guess shortly after Canterlot was built but before the Pillars disappeared when they fought the Pony of Shadows, I’d have to actually ask Celestia or Luna to know exactly when and I know they don’t like talking about it.” Varian admitted. “They know there had to be consequences, but Celestia wasn’t sure if that was as just of a punishment as they felt like it was at the time. The dragons didn’t get input, even if it wasn’t exactly easy to approach them at the time.”

“Well I mean, I guess it’s a good thing they’re retrospective. I dunno, what I assume was a death sentence for what was a very serious crime is probably one of the most understandable punishments I’ve ever heard.” Hugo admitted. “Corona has done worse for less.”

“It was life imprisonment. I mean, they fed them. It wasn’t like they threw them down there and forgot about them.”

“Still. Ingvarr’s justice system is almost a joke, I mean citizens just have armies of their own in some places. Corona’s is too strict, you heard Lady Caine, people are being imprisoned or exiled for minor crimes. Even when they were young and impetuous, it sounds like your princesses made better choices than any king or queen in the seven kingdoms.”

Varian looked down as he considered the woman again for the first time since Rapunzel’s coronation, looking over at Hugo.

“Do you really think Lady Caine’s dad only committed petit theft?” Varian asked.

“Unfortunetely, yeah I do think that’s all it was. King Frederic isn’t known to be a forgiving king.”

Varian wanted to ask more, but he paused hearing something that sounded like large wingbeats.

“Duck!” A larger red dragon shoved Hugo and Varian down onto the ground, covering them with his wings and glaring up at the sky.

Smolder had snatched Flurry out of the sky and did the same to her and Sunburst.

“Garble, what’s wrong?” Varian asked.

“Rocs. Way more than usual this year.” Garble answered, relaxing as several adult dragons chased off the predatory birds. 

“We were trying to lead them away from the train station.” Smolder admitted. “But some of them clearly stayed around it hoping for an easier meal than a young dragon…”

“Have you told any creature about this?” Spike asked.

“We thought it was just rotten luck.” Garble admitted. “But this many Roc making it to adulthood is pretty weird. Especially all of a sudden…”

“And now we can’t get any letters out of the Dragonlands. The elder dragons don’t feel comfortable leaving because they need to chase off the Rocs.” Smolder explained. “And us smaller dragons aren’t safe from them.”

“Gabby, maybe you should go back and tell the princesses?” Spike mentioned, the griffon nodding.

“On her own?” Hugo asked. “But those things are huge.”

“Hey I’m a griffon. And Flurry should stay to help chase off the Rocs from the hatching grounds.” Gabby smiled, stretching her wings. “I’ll be back as soon as I can with help.”

“We’ll stay until the princesses arrive.” Varian was speaking more to Garble and Smolder than Hugo, but Hugo didn’t find himself too surprised.

Tempest was right, overall, these ponies, and by extension Varian, were just like that. The dragons were their friends, and they’d do anything for their friends, and that apparently included scaring off large birds of prey. The group began walking toward what looked like a volcano top, with many of the larger adult dragons around the rim.

“Those things go after young dragons?” Hugo asked, keeping an eye out for the large eagles.

“Always have.” Garble nodded. “But usually there’s only a few Roc around at a time.”

“So it’s almost like something caused a population boom…” Hugo paused. “... Say, Goggles, remember the ramclops and what we found out?”

“I was thinking the same thing…” Varian admitted. “Roc are a natural creature, I think…”

“It should be impossible for them to have a population boom, they fight each other for food and are known to smash other Roc eggs if they find a nest that isn’t their own. It takes extremely perfect circumstances for Roc to nest. Not to mention that it takes the egg ages to hatch.” Sunburst added.

“So someone hatched a bunch at the same time and raised them to adulthood and released them to cause problems. On purpose.” Flurry huffed. “That’s so… that makes me so mad. They’re putting so many creatures in danger, not the least of all the baby dragons.”

“Don’t worry Blizzard, if anyone can scare off those overgrown vultures it’s you.”

“Magic will only scare them off as long as they think there’s an alicorn around though. Me and Twilight only managed to scare one off from the Ponyville area working together… And even then that was just one Roc who wasn’t raised somewhere where it might be less afraid.” Spike mentioned. “And they’re desperate enough to stay near even with adult dragons around and attacking.”

“Then we need another deterrent, something they can’t ignore so easily. Something either instinctual or…” Varian mentioned, trailing off as he looked around. 

“They usually go after molting young dragons, they tend to uh… smell.” Sunburst explained as gently as he could, though Garble’s proud nod about it seemed to make him feel better.

“So they have a strong sense of smell.” Hugo tapped his foot. “But a stink bomb probably wouldn’t work, this place reeks of sulfur. So stink doesn’t bother them.”

“Yeah, a dragon about to molt smells terrible, so smells we think are terrible won’t scare them off. Sulfur especially. There has to be a smell that would work though.” Varian nodded. “We just need to figure it out.”

“... Maybe we already have. Hey, the only reason that Roc got so close to Ponyville was because it was your first molt, right?” Smolder asked Spike, who nodded. “So, maybe, Rocs can’t stand the smell of things ponies usually have around.”

“Apples or flowers?” Flurry offered.

Garble paused, thinking a moment before he spoke. “Come to think about it, certain parts of migration are always safe. Over Equestria especially.”

“Migration?” Hugo looked at Varian.

“Dragons migrate to private caves sometimes.”

“We don’t do it so much anymore, because every dragon is getting used to actually being nice to each other.” Smolder explained. 

“For the past few years now, most dragons stick together here in the Dragonlands, since it’s gotten easier to tolerate each other.” Garble added. 

“Living in harmony…” Varian thought for a moment, before he shook it off. “I need to send aunt Twili a letter to bring as much flowery, apple scented perfume as she can with her.”

“But Gabby already left.” Hugo mentioned.

Flurry and Varian both looked at Spike, who smiled nervously.

“Oh right, it’s been so long I almost forgot.” Spike admitted sheepishly.

Varian pulled out paper and wrote down what they hypothesised before handing the letter to Spike, who took a deep breath in before breathing out the magic fire. Hugo was confused, until he saw the smoke flying off toward Ponyville. 

“A dragon spell?” Hugo asked.

“Yeah, technically. I mean it’s a fire spell mostly, but ponies with fire magic are pretty rare.” Garble admitted. “Spike is the first dragon born with it in a long time.”

“Ember has the device you made for her somewhere, but I think she’s been so busy trying to keep the Roc away she didn’t think about writing to anyone.” Smolder admitted.

“Well that renders it almost useless if she doesn’t think to use it.” Varian sighed, before turning to Hugo. “Hugo, I’m going to need your help to make something we can use to only spray the perfume when needed.” 

Hugo thought about it for a moment, before he was fairly certain they could just make a giant, normal perfume bottle. The doodle Varian was quickly scribbling down proved they were of the same mind on that.

“We’re gonna need a lot of metal.”

“Around here, that’s not a problem.” Garble nodded. 

“Shouldn’t we make sure this is okay with Dragonlord Ember?” Smolder asked, the group ducking onto the ground as another Roc swooped. “Okay, maybe time is of the essence.” 

Flurry blasted the Roc with her magic, the large bird of prey shrieking and flying away. She moved as though to take chase but Varian snatched her out of the air. He was pretty sure his sister could handle a few wild animals, but he wasn’t going to let her rush head first into danger alone. He put her down next to Sunburst, before looking at the two dragons.

“I’ll fill Ember in while we get the thing blueprinted.” Varian mentioned. “Let’s get inside that crater before one of them gets desperate enough to try to grab one of us.”

Flurry asserted she could handle it, but Varian wasn’t about to risk it. They hurried into the crater, another Roc taking another dive at them but getting chased off by one of the adult dragons.

“Thanks Razer!” Varian shouted.

“Seriously, you know him too?” Hugo asked. “I’m beginning to think you have every creature’s name memorized.”

“I don’t know that many dragons. You’ve pretty much met every dragon I know.” Varian rolled his eyes. “Let’s find Ember and let her know we have an idea.”

“No need to find me.” A blue female dragon landed near them, a sceptre in her hand. “But I am glad you were coming through to the Peaks of Peril. I was gonna say ‘tell me you have an idea’ but it sounds like you do.”

Varian explained quickly, drawing up some official blueprints and showing them to Ember, “We don’t have time to grow an apple orchard immediately, but I think if we used some kind of towers to spray the smells usually found around Equestria, the Roc would back off. They never get too close to pony settlements, and I think this must be why.”

“I’d try anything at this point. We’ll get you that metal.” Ember stated, flying off to begin ordering dragons to do so.

“How’re you going to make sheets of metal out here?” Flurry asked.

“Easy, same way we made that ice path for the Bolter. Which is why I need you here on the ground.” Varian mentioned, Flurry smiling.

“What’s a Bolter?” Hugo asked.

“Big whale-like thing that causes avalanches. It used to… attack the yaks.” Varian mentioned, pausing. “Another creature that seems to only attack one of the non pony races…” 

“... I don’t like the pattern we’re seeing.” Hugo admitted, thinking. 

There had to be another part to this pattern, one he was on the cusp of understanding. Dragons, yaks and griffons were all allied at different times, technically speaking, but they only really accepted friendship around the same time, which was recent. Why were they being targeted? Were some of the other creatures targeted at any point, but they overcame the monsters sent their way? Was something there to protect them now? Was it something more recent, something that had been old but was perhaps back?

“Remind me, how many Trees of Harmony are there?”

“There’s… the one near Ponyville, the one near Zecora’s old home in Farasi…” Varian started.

“The one in Abyssinia, the one in Ornithea.” Flurry added.

“And then the one on the island of Cunabula and the one in the underground kingdom of Canina.” Varian finished. “The Crystal Heart might be the equivalent in the Crystal Empire.”

“And those are the only ones you know of… so why don’t the yaks, dragons, and griffons have one if they’ve also accepted harmony?” Hugo asked.

“... Maybe something is keeping it from spreading…” Varian mentioned, thinking. “But… whatever it is would have to be stronger than the Tree of Harmony… even now that it’s stronger than ever.”

“And that something would have wanted to keep creatures in bad situations. Maybe to keep them weaker?” Hugo added. “Or to keep them from being as open to others by making them on edge…”

Flurry frowned and looked worriedly up at Varian, who tussled her mane.

“Hey, we already know everything will be okay as long as we stick together. For now, let’s just focus on helping our dragon friends.” Varian mentioned, the little filly nodding. “Now, it needs to activate on its own. It won’t bother the dragons much, so I think if we found a way to make it react to changes in the air around it that might work the best.” 

Hugo nodded, “Easy enough, the spray trigger can just be connected to a pinwheel fan.”

Flurry listened as the two began to work together, occasionally bickering about details but coming to a conclusion that they agreed on. Hugo was more concerned as the dragons brought forth a lot of completely unrefined metal ores, but Varian clearly anticipated that. 

“Alright Flurry, ready?”

“Ready.” Flurry nodded, her horn glowing.

Hugo watched as Flurry created what essentially appeared to be a mold of the shape they needed before Varian put in some of the metal ore, looking at the dragons present.

“Can you heat it to melt?”

“Of course we can, we’re dragons!” Smolder smiled, taking in a deep breath and breathing over the metal ore.

The dragons took turns doing the same until it was melted, Flurry then closing off the top of the barrier spell to mold it properly.

“So now we just wait for it to cool?” Hugo asked, looking at Flurry. “Well, doesn’t seem like it bothers you any to hold that spell.”

“I’m great at barrier magic.” Flurry smiled proudly. “But will it be okay to cool slowly? Isn’t there a reason you usually quickly cool metal?”

“I don’t know how we’d cool it quickly. The Dragonlands aren’t exactly known for cool water. Or water in general.” Varian admitted.

Flurry thought for a moment before she closed her eyes, focusing hard on something before a second spell seemed to activate from her horn, a shockingly cold wind hitting Varian and Hugo. She peeked open an eye and smiled, putting down the shaped metal to the side.

“When did you learn that?” Varian blinked, smiling a little.

“The winter chill spell? It was in one of the old books at Aunt Twili’s. Sunburst taught me.” Flurry said, smiling at the stallion who smiled back.

“No, not the spell, casting two spells at once, Flurry. I’ve never seen you do that before.” Varian corrected.

“Oh! While you were helping aunt AJ at the farm, I spent a little time with Starlight learning more about magic.” Flurry explained. “She taught me how to use two spells at once. She did tell me to be careful what spells to combine, though.”

“Well that’ll make this a little faster. But only a little.” Hugo mentioned, stretching. “Alright, let’s do this.”

Flurry struggled to get the tower up, but once it stood up with the chamber atop it ready for the perfume without tipping, she looked at the others. 

“Is that a good spot?”

“Yeah, that should work.” Varian nodded. “And the fans will spread the perfume between these towers.”

“Covering enough of the dragonlands to at least give us a break.” Ember smiled. “What if the smell isn’t enough?”

“Well good news, perfume is usually flammable. So you could just fry them.” Hugo mentioned, Spike looking at him worriedly.

“I like this guy.” Ember smiled, gesturing to Hugo.

“I think we have more help than we expected.” Garble admitted, pointing.

Hugo was a little surprised that Twilight, Luna and Celestia were all arriving, all the alicorns carrying plenty of the perfume with magic, Gabby nearby and helping keep Roc away from the princesses. They landed, Celestia looking around the constructed pillars with a small smile.

“You two work so fast.” Celestia smiled at the two. “It is good to see you again, Hugo.”

“Princess.” Hugo nodded. “Let’s just hope the theory that they can’t stand the smells ‘round Equestria is right.”

Celestia nodded, the princesses quickly adding the perfume to the devices. They all waited with baited breath, and eventually a Roc took a dive toward a young dragon, perfume spraying out from several of the devices. The Roc squawked and quickly flew upward, the other Roc smelling the perfume and moving further away from the volcano. 

“... I have never seen so many adult Roc.” Luna looked worriedly at her sister, who likewise shared her concerned expression.

“Neither have I sister…” Celestia admitted, looking at Ember. 

“Trust me, we know it’s weird. I’m taking a few elder dragons with me to handle it.” Ember said.

“I’ll accompany you.” Luna insisted.

“I know I can’t stop you.” Ember admitted.

They took off, Varian looking at Twilight who was looking up at the towers.

“I think, just for safety’s sake, we should try to find some flowers that’ll grow out here. And maybe Applejack can direct us to some sturdy enough apple trees.” Twilight mentioned to Sunburst. 

“We might have to make one using magic, but Applejack knows apple trees the best, she can at least give us the best tree to start with.” Sunburst nodded, thinking.

“So I guess we aren’t making it to the Peaks of Peril before dark now, eh?” Hugo asked.

“We can still get you there in time.” Garble insisted, grabbing Hugo from under his armpits. “Smolder, you get V.”

“Oh good we’re flying…” Hugo muttered as the dragons took flight.

“I’ll catch up with you kids in the Kirin village! Stay together!” Sunburst called to them.

Spike, Gabby and Flurry joined them in the sky, Flurry having plenty of fun flitting around quickly. Hugo was completely stiff, due to nerves, but he could tell Varian wasn’t completely comfortable with it either which made him feel a bit better. Clearly, being carried by a dragon to some other location was not usually a part of life in Equestria. They arrived in a village, where there were many kirin who had clearly been expecting them and relaxed once they arrived.

“Prince Varian, I was beginning to fear something had happened to you and your envoy.” Rain Shine walked over, Varian and the tall kirin sharing a bow.

“I’m sorry that we worried you. We had to stop and help the dragons with an issue.” Varian explained.

“What happened?” Rain Shine asked, looking at Smolder and Garble.

“There were, like, thirty Roc that wouldn’t leave the hatching grounds.” Smolder explained.

“What? They should not hatch in that great of number.” Rain Shine looked at Varian.

“We know. Luna went with Ember to try to… handle the numbers, and if I had to guess, Aunt Twilight and Celestia are going to look into where they came from.” Varian explained.

Rain Shine nodded, “Well, for now, you all need rest, and it is not safe to go looking for the thing you seek while it is so dimly lit.”

“Right. Thank you again for accommodating us, Rain Shine.” 

“Of course. It is always a delight to see you and your darling sister.” Rain Shine smiled, Flurry going up to her. “My, look how much you’ve grown, and you as well Spike. Gabby, always a pleasure. And this is?”

She had turned to look at Hugo, who bowed as politely as he could.

“Just a friend of Varian’s, your… majesty?”

Rain Shine smiled, “Ah, well, that might be too formal. I may be the leader of the kirin, but I am no queen nor princess. But I was hoping for your name.”

“Oh uh… it’s Hugo. Nice to meet you.”

“You as well. Come, I’ll take you to your accommodations.” She gestured.

“See you guys on your way back through the Dragonlands.” Smolder waved, she and Garble leaving.

The group walked some time in the jungle, Hugo muttering in annoyance to himself about the humidity, though Varian heard and chuckled to himself.

“Autumn Blaze is most familiar with the forest, in her time in solitude she traveled much of the area. She’s offered to show you to the area you seek. Kirin tales speak of a mysterious stranger disappearing into the jungle, I imagine that must be this ‘Gold Lily’.” Rain Shine explained, the group arriving at some huts.

“Ooooh I love Autumn Blaze!” Flurry’s wings flapped in excitement.

“She’s an old friend of Applejack’s.” Varian explained to Hugo, who nodded.

“She shall meet you first thing in the morning. Try to get some good rest.” Rain Shine said before she left.

“Well for now, I’m looking forward to a nice sleep.” Hugo admitted, laying on a hammock in the hut. “G’night.”

“Goodnight Hugo.” Flurry smiled, laying down in a smaller hammock. “Goodnight Varian.”

Varian struggled to get in the hammock but eventually got comfortably lounged inside it, trying to get some sleep.

Cozy Glow found herself absolutely hating Corona the more she got to know it. If she wanted a bath, she had to ask someone in advance to heat water in what was a slow heating process. Her hair was messy because she didn’t have access to anything she used to create her tight ringlets, let alone care for her hair the way she’d become accustomed to. She still couldn’t read despite her attempts to teach herself, and she couldn't bring herself to ask anyone for help learning to read. Then, there was the King. She was beginning to think she was perhaps too harsh on how she judged Princess Celestia, at least the mare hadn’t been so… whatever was wrong with the man.

She didn’t need to be a genius to know he was working on something, she just wasn’t sure what. It was behind Rapunzel’s back, based on his behavior, but it was unclear what it was he was trying to hide. Or maybe if she could read she’d already know what it was. She gave up trying to brush her hair and went to tie the usual white ribbon she had around her hair, jumping as the satin ribbon snapped. 

“Oh come on!” Cozy flopped into her bed, shrieking into the pillow in frustration.

“Cozy Glow? Is everything alright?” Rapunzel poked her head in, evidently having been outside the room.

“Oh uh, yeah. Everything’s fine princess Rapunzel. My hair ribbon just broke…”

“Please, just call me Rapunzel.”

Rapunzel smiled at her before the young woman looked around the room, seeing the abandoned hair brush, the snapped ribbon, and a book. 

“Were you trying to brush your hair? That must be hard with hooves.” Rapunzel mentioned, picking up the brush.

“I can hold things just fine.” Cozy sighed. “I just don’t have the stuff I had back in Equestria to keep my hair from getting all tangled. Or the curlers I usually sleep in. Or… anything.”

Rapunzel looked around the room, seeing how barren it was, save for a few hand me down toys Captain Oftegard had given Cozy that were likely Cass’ at some point. The filly had been there for some time, she’d become another regular face Rapunzel saw at the castle, but it was occurring to her now she didn’t know a lot about the filly’s likes and dislikes.

“Oh… Well… how about we go shopping?”

“With what bits do you expect me to go shopping?” Cozy huffed, looking at Rapunzel as she quickly tried to backpedal the attitude. “Sorry, I’m just having a really hard time adjusting I guess.”

“Aw, that’s alright Cozy. Let me try to help you untangle this and then we’ll go look around town a little. It might cheer you up.”

“Alright…” Cozy sighed, sitting still as Rapunzel began brushing.

They heard bickering in the hallway that could only be Eugene and Cass, and sure enough the two entered.

“There you are, Raps.” Cass crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

“Woah, Cozy Glow, that’s some bed head.” Eugene added, the filly looking up at him. “You know I did notice your hair was getting a little frizzy.”

“I didn’t used to live next to an ocean.” Cozy admitted. 

“How do you usually get those ringlets so tight?” Eugene asked.

“Hair products that don’t exist here. Well, and curlers I would sleep in.”

“Wait, Equestria… has other hair products?”

“Yeah. Super nice shampoos, conditioner, hair masks, hair oil…” Cozy listed. “And hot running water. And plumbing. I miss plumbing.”

Something about plumbing almost stirred some kind of memories, involving some creature, but she couldn’t quite recall what it was.

“Man, Varian better find some kind of magic artifact to pry open that portal.”

“Seriously? The hair products are what you care about? Varian might be the only way we’ll figure out what’s going on with Rapunzel’s hair, and you’re worried about shampoo?” Cass asked.

“Well maybe if you told me what happened to cause her hair to come back in the first place-”

“I don’t trust you! You can’t keep a secret!”

“Sure I can. Pete the guard is afraid of mimes.”

“Hey!” Pete had been patrolling by the room, sputtering a little before he evidently felt the need to explain himself. “They see things that aren’t there!”

Cozy watched the interaction with mild bemusement a while longer before she looked up at Rapunzel, “What is going on with your hair? It’s long but it looks normal to me.”

“Right, you wouldn’t know. Well…”

Cozy listened as Rapunzel explained to her about the flower that had been used to save her mother, how it had given her magic hair, how she had been kidnapped for that magic, everything up to how her hair came up, where she clammed up.

“Well, it’s back now.”

“Out of nowhere?”

“Not… exactly. But it doesn’t matter where I was or what I was doing-”

“Yes it does!” Cozy insisted, standing up. “Magic doesn’t just react for no reason. Who you were with, what you were doing and where you were are super important.”

Her outburst had gotten Eugene and Cass to stop bickering, the two looking at them.

“Why does who she was with matter?” Cass asked.

“Because the person or people might have been part of the reaction.”

“...” Cass thought for a moment.

“Well, even if the person or persons I was with was part of a reaction, it wasn’t their fault.” Rapunzel insisted. “And… I somehow get the feeling it would have happened no matter what.”

“Well yeah, the magic didn’t leave you. It just wasn’t capable of being used.” Cozy mentioned.

“How do you know so much about magic?” Eugene asked.

“Uh, the world I came from is mostly magic. Magic has properties, it has rules, even if it doesn’t always make complete sense.” Cozy explained. “Also, I was raised in Canterlot, as far as I remember. It’s like… magic central. It’s baked into the curriculum, even if I wasn’t a unicorn I was bound to pick up magic theory at least.”

“Okay, point taken.” Eugene relented.

“There we go, all untangled.” Rapunzel put the hairbrush down, Cozy going over to the vanity.

Her curls were a lot looser, but at least her hair wasn’t a mess anymore.

“Thank you so very much.”

“Of course Cozy. Now come on, I think we could all use a day out of the castle.”

Cozy didn’t really have any reason to stay inside, other than she’d been hoping to get Rapunzel to admit more about what she was doing when her hair came back. She could tell that Rapunzel was keeping that secret for someone, though, so she had to earn her trust. And that meant playing nice, which she was pretty good at.

“What do you think of these, Cozy?”

Cozy stopped her fake perusing of some wares to look at what Rapunzel was indicating at, some art supplies of some kind.

“Gee Rapunzel, I thought you had all these paints already. But with how much you like to paint it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get more.”

“No, for you silly.”

“Oh. I don’t really… paint or draw much.” Cozy trailed off, genuinely unsure the last time she actually drew a picture just to draw.

Sure, she’d done little doodles to give to Captain Oftegard because it seemed to be enough to manipulate the man into trusting and liking her more. 

“You draw plenty, dad has your little doodles all over the place.” Cass countered.

“He does?”

“I know it doesn’t look like it, but he’s a sentimental guy. I think you remind him of when I was younger.” Cass admitted. “Why do you think he had a box of toys ready? He couldn’t stand throwing them out when I outgrew them.”

“Well that can’t be true. There’s no way you were half as cute or sweet as Cozy Glow.” Eugene teased, Cass turning to glare at him. “See that’s exactly what I mean.”

“Ah, I’m sure Cassie was a cute kid, she just takes her job super seriously.” Cozy wasn’t sure why she was jumping to defend Cass, the woman still clearly didn’t trust her and was constantly hovering over her.

They didn’t seem to hear her as the two began bickering again, though Rapunzel’s reaction told Cozy this was normal for them. She hadn’t spent a lot of time with the three, she’d been busy trying to learn to read and snooping around the castle. 

“Golly Rapunzel, you sure are patient.”

Rapunzel gave her a small smile, before going over to another table of goods, “I know you like chess, do you like other board games?”

Playing board games wouldn’t necessarily help her cause, but she was a little touched that Rapunzel was so clearly trying to find something she’d like. Besides that, she had a feeling they wouldn’t be going back to the castle unless they found something she liked and wanted, and she didn’t want to be out in town all day.

“We didn’t have a lot of other board games at the foal center, it might be fun. But you guys have things to do besides play board games with me.”

“Like what, Eugene is unemployed.” Cass taunted. 

“And I’m sure we can find some time to play with you, Cozy.” Rapunzel interrupted before the two could begin to argue again. “After all, we don’t know exactly when the portal to Equestria will open again, and I want you to feel welcome here.”

Cozy smiled up at Rapunzel, and while the smile looked warm and genuine to Rapunzel and Eugene, Cozy only had one thought.

They were making this too easy.

They got back to the castle before dark, and she did notice Captain brighten seeing her and Cass.

“What happened to your ribbon?” Captain asked, leaning down to look at her.

Sometimes, Eugene or Nigel or Rapunzel would treat her somewhat like a cute pet. She didn’t think they intended to, to reach down and scratch her ear was likely not intended to feel as demeaning as it did to her. Captain though, he never did, he at worst treated her like she was a younger child then she was, which to be fair she assumed he couldn’t actually tell how old she was. Captain picked her up under her arms, the filly letting him do so.

“It broke.”

“Well I’ll have to find you a new one.” He smiled, looking at Cass. “Come on, it’s time for dinner.”

Chapter Text

Varian had dressed light, he knew how hot and humid the forest the kirin lived in could be, especially for the time of year they were visiting. The Peaks of Peril had a lot of unique plants he and Nova had made use of over the years, and it was just a nice place to visit during summer months. Unfortunately, despite him trying to warn Hugo about the heat when they packed, clearly Hugo hadn’t listened. They’d left bright and early in the morning, once Sunburst arrived, going deeper and deeper into the forest.

At first it had been a little chilly, but Varian knew that was deceptive. By noon it was incredibly hot, and Varian was glad to be in shorts and a light, breathable top. He’d been listening to Hugo complain about the heat for the past hour as they walked, only interrupted by Autumn Blaze’s usually peppy attitude or Sunburst’s observations. They didn’t seem to notice Hugo’s predicament, though Varian was genuinely concerned about his fellow teenage boy. He was mostly annoyed, though, because he’d tried to tell Hugo several times that morning to dress light and yet each time Hugo had shrugged him off. Hugo almost never wore the clothes he’d had Rarity make his fellow human being, only when he needed to clean his jumpsuit. Another thing he’d been surprisingly delighted by, the laundry machines. Regardless of that, Hugo still stuck to his jumpsuits, despite how it often seemed that the temperature of much of Equestria outside of the Empire was too warm for the insulated suits.

They were deep in the thickest part of the forest, it was unclear where they were going, and Flurry kept stopping to enjoy looking at some little hermit crabs that were living in the rivers around them. It was cute, but Hugo was clearly annoyed that it was slowing them down. Worse yet was the pollen, Varian didn’t have a pollen allergy but it seemed pretty clear Hugo did based on how many times he’d sneezed. Sunburst had been forced to go back because of his terrible pollen allergies, and Varian had to promise to the stallion many times that they’d be careful. Varian almost wished he’d convinced Hugo to go back to the Kirin village with Sunburst after a while longer on the path. Hugo was clearly in a bad mood, every time Varian paused to check on him he looked some level of miserable. The pollen was clinging to the fabric of their clothes, and to Flurry, Autumn and Gabby’s fur. It seemed unable to stick to Spike’s scales, he was shaking it off periodically, which only made Hugo sneeze more. Hugo’s mood only got worse when they came to a portion of the river that they had to go over. Flurry dived into the cool water happily, splashing Spike playfully, Gabby joining her in the water.

“Great…” Hugo muttered, stopping by the edge of the river.

“... Can you swim? Is it your arm?” Varian asked once he waded out to his knees. “It doesn’t look like it’s too deep, so you could-”

“Of course I can swim. And of course I made sure it was water proof, what do you take me for, an idiot?” Hugo snapped, following Varian out.

“Well maybe not an idiot but a jerk.” Varian muttered under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Hey, come on you two. The heat is just getting to you.” Spike attempted to calm them.

“Maybe the coolness of the river will make you feel better.” Flurry offered. 

“It is nice.” Gabby mentioned, fluffing up her feathers.

Varian glared a bit as Hugo pushed past him, taking a deep breath to calm himself down before crossing the river. Luckily the brief swim did seem to relax Hugo, the group began hiking again, though Spike, Gabby and Flurry took to the sky to begin searching for the final area. Autumn and Sunburst headed off in another direction, leaving Varian and Hugo to look around the current area.

“Sorry about snapping earlier.” Hugo mentioned, scratching off moss from a rockwall to look behind it.

“It’s alright. I’m sure you were getting too hot. I shouldn’t have called you a jerk either.”

“Yeah well… if I listened to you about dressing light maybe I wouldn’t be too hot.” Hugo admitted, Varian smiling just a little. “Too bad Daring Do’s map is so vague.”

“I’m sure she was avoiding any creature she didn’t want finding it instead of us. Not that it makes it any easier to understand.” Varian mentioned, looking into a large upturned tree stump. “And Gold Lily was careful about hiding them. It’s almost weird that this one is in an inhabited forest without specifically talking to any one of them.”

“Maybe she didn’t know about the kirin? Sounds like you all didn’t know they existed for a while there.” Hugo offered. 

“That is a possibility. I don’t know when any creature first saw a kirin let alone first wrote down that they were here.” Varian admitted. “But if she was hanging around here you’d think she’d run into them.”

“That’s true. Sounds like they saw her.” Hugo admitted, leaning to look down a cliffside. “Peaks of Peril is makin’ more and more sense as a name for this place.”

Varian came and looked over as well, but the cliff gave out under their weight, the two tumbling down the cliff. Hugo had barely managed to attempt to grab Varian, but he was too slow to move them away from the cliff before the fall. Their fall was luckily broken by the very soft foliage, which prevented any major harm. Hugo felt the air knocked out of him as his back hit the ground and Varian crashed onto his chest. Varian sat up carefully, blushing as he realized where he was and trying to scramble up.

“Sorry uh- are you okay?”

“I’m great, Freckles. There’s worse things than being close to you.” It took more effort than usual to falsely flirt, but Hugo wasn’t about to admit to himself that he was falling harder for Varian then vice versa.

Varian cleared his throat and held out a hand to help Hugo up, “You’re impossible.”

“Says the boy full of moon magic with a magical connection to a magic artifact, adopted by magical creatures that live in a separate magic reality. I’m so normal compared to you.”

Varian rolled his eyes with a small smile, looking around, “This looks a little more like what Daring Do described.”

“A little spooky, isn’t it?” Hugo mentioned, keeping close to Varian. “Shouldn’t we try and get the others' attention? Last place had a giant monster waiting for us.”

“Yeah, uh, good point.”

Varian looked around and started trying to climb up a nearby tree, Hugo chuckling.

“What?” Varian looked at him. “It’s covered in moss okay? It’s not the easiest thing to climb. Give me a boost.”

“Fine, fine.” Hugo walked over, helping boost Varian to a branch.

It took some time, but eventually he got their attention, and Spike gathered Autumn before they all rejoined down in the area. They were going over the notes Daring Do had sent, Autumn looking at it from a few different angles. Varian and Hugo were sitting under the shade of some trees, Varian reapplying sunscreen since Spike had insisted. Hugo was fanning himself with a large leaf he’d plucked, giving a small thankful smile as Flurry used one of her winter wind spells at him.

“It might help if I could fly, this is clearly a map made by some creature who can fly.” Autumn lamented.

“We could give you a boost up.” Gabby offered.

Spike picked up Autumn Blaze carefully before he took off, the beats of his wings knocking more of the pollen down on top of Hugo and Varian. Hugo huffed in frustration and sneezed a few times, trying to brush off the pollen that clung onto his clothes. 

“Here, you need to stay hydrated.” Varian offered Hugo a glass bottle of water, but he felt a strange desire to add a pointed sentence. “I told you to dress light. If you get sick it’s on you.”

Hugo chugged the water, before looking at Varian, “Look, I know you don’t have a personal sense of style and you let the ponies dress you up however they want like a doll but-”

“Excuse you? I dress appropriately for the situation. I'm sorry that you have never been invited to anything that requires you to dress nice, that’s very sad for you. Must be nice to have no obligations to anyone but yourself and not to have to live up to a family with history so insanely impressive that you feel like you’ll never live up to the legacy they’ve left.”

“Woah there, let’s calm down. This isn’t like you, Vari.” Flurry interrupted, but Hugo stepped around her.

“Good news, we found- is everything okay?” Gabby asked, but Hugo and Varian didn’t seem to notice them arrive.

“Oh please, you're adopted, the only one anyone expects anything out of is your ‘sister’. You get to just sit back and do whatever you want like a spoiled little prince.”

“I think maybe we-” Spike started, but Varian shoved past him.

“I get that you’ve never had a family, really it shows, but believe it or not my family does look at me as one of them regardless of where I came from. Sorry that no one has loved you like that before, must be hard.”

“Varian!” Spike hadn’t seen Varian act like this before, despite knowing the boy did have a slight temper.

“Guys-” Autumn tried to cut in.

“At least I’m not so completely naive to how the real world works because I’ve been coddled by some candy colored-” Hugo started.

“BOYS!” Autumn shouted, transforming into her nirik form, both teenage boys quickly quieting down. 

Her fiery form had caught all the pollen in the air on fire however briefly, including the pollen that had been stuck to the boys which sparked up, but luckily they were both still damp so the only thing burnt was the pollen. Autumn Blaze took a deep breath, calming down and returning to her usual self.

“Much better. I don’t understand why you two started fighting so bad so suddenly. Aren’t you friends?”

“I… yeah I don’t know why I started that.” Hugo admitted, pushing his glasses up as he reached for his goggles. “Sorry Goggles. I don’t know where any of that came from.”

“No it’s… it’s alright, I shouldn’t have gotten that angry so fast.” Varian admitted, looking around. “I think… I think something might be around to heighten negative emotions. Me and Hugo have been getting angrier and angrier all day… but most of you seem unaffected.”

“They’ve been mostly flying over the canopy.” Hugo added, looking around.

“Something making you angry? Maybe… to keep kirin away from accidentally stumbling on something?” Gabby asked.

“That might make sense…” Varian admitted.

Hugo pulled his goggles on and looked around, stopping as he looked at the trees.

Flurry looked around but didn’t spot anything odd, looking up at Hugo. “Do you see anything?”

“Those plants up there, the flowers growing in these trees, they’re a little more magical than the average plant. The pollen from those plants has been falling on us all day. Think you could bring us one?” He gestured to a tree flower, and Flurry carefully approached one after putting a few hermit crabs down that she’d apparently been holding.

She pulled the flower free from its branch cautiously before she brought it to Hugo and Varian, who took a sample of the pollen carefully. Hugo looked at the items Varian pulled out to test it, noting some of it was vials of potion he’d seen in the lab.

“So how do using these to test magic plants work?” Hugo asked.

“Oh well, this color or portion of the Potion Ocean can isolate the inert magic found in magic plants.” Varian explained. “From there we can mix it into this one and the color will give us a vague idea of the magic inside. It’s most likely a mood shifting magic, but… it’s strange. This isn’t like anything Gold Lily used before.”

“Yeah, she never tried to keep the local creatures out, and Rain Shine didn’t have any idea this was out here either.” Flurry added.

“It could be natural, if it used fire to spread seeds it would make sense it wanted to make kirin angry to spread. But the fire totally destroyed the pollen so that doesn’t seem likely.” Varian mentioned. “So it seems more likely some creature put it here to deter kirin from looking around.”

“But Gold Lily wanted her bases to be found.” Flurry mentioned.

“And it doesn’t seem like Grogar would have put that here, he made monsters not plants yeah?” Hugo asked, Varian nodding.

“We need more information. It could be natural to the area, but I do think its location is suspicious. Let’s stay out of the pollen. Uh. Somehow.” Varian looked at the path ahead.

“I have a better idea.” Spike admitted, taking a deep breath in before he released some dragon fire. 

The pollen caught fire down the path, allowing them to walk down it unimpeded. Varian was working on analyzing the pollen as they walked, muttering to himself about how strange it was.

“I’ve never seen plant magic like this. I think these plants were made by someone, but I don’t know if it was Grogar. Like you said, he didn’t really seem to work with plants.” Varian mentioned to Hugo. “And it’s not the same kind of magic. It looks more like pony magic. Really strong pony magic.”

“Strong pony magic… like an alicorn? But it doesn’t fit Gold Lily’s usual M.O. either. She uses little locks or hidden passages to keep it hidden, not nasty tricks.” Hugo looked up at the now disarmed plants. “They look a lot like normal orchids… A hard plant to cultivate, but those flower pony friends of yours have managed that much. But I ‘spose if someone who was a pony wanted to create a brand new magical plant out of nowhere, it’d have to be an alicorn right?”

“Another alicorn… plants. Oh! Celestia told me about one she knew once. Sterling.” Varian snapped his fingers with the recollection. “I was falling asleep when she mentioned it, but Sterling made flowers, she had plant magic. And she was the one who convinced the other alicorns to let Celestia and Luna leave.”

“So maybe Sterling found one of Gold Lily’s bases and set up ways to protect it?” Flurry asked.

“That might explain this.” Autumn walked over to a wall of vines, using her magic to move them aside and show another metal door.

“That’s a lot more like the first one. Flurry?” Varian looked at his sister, who eventually found the lock and opened it.

They entered the room carefully, Flurry illuminating the room with her horn. Hugo looked around before he found a lantern of some kind, and he picked it up to hand it to Spike.

“Mind giving us a light?”

Spike lit the lantern before putting it back on its sconce, everyone watching as the fire spread to other lanterns in the room. 

“She was quite the engineer.” Hugo admitted, looking around.

“This one is a lot more technical than the others… it might be one of the more permanent bases she used.” Varian admitted.

“It’s far enough from most creatures she could have been working up here unknown to any others.” Gabby mentioned, looking around.

Varian looked at Hugo who put his goggles on, looking around the room. There were a lot more random magical objects and items in the room than the last, but he was scanning for anything book shaped, eventually noticing a thicker book shaped item in a desk. He walked over to the desk and opened it, taking his goggles off to look at the book. It looked to be another normal journal, with a small red stone at the center.

“I think I found it.” Hugo flipped open a page, smiling a bit seeing two different hand writings going back and forth as though in a conversation. “Yeah, that looks about right.”

“I found a note.” Flurry mentioned.

“There’s notes all over in here.” Autumn mentioned, squinting as she attempted to read one. “Of course I can’t read ancient ponish but…”

“Gather more water from the stream of silence carefully. Huh.” Varian read the note Autumn had been looking at. “I wonder why she needed that.”

“What’s this one say?” Flurry asked.

“That’s weird… that doesn’t look like Demanitus or Gold Lily’s writing…” Varian admitted, picking it up. “My dearest Gold Lily, I can only hope that you will return to this base as it is the only one I have found. Skyros is in danger, and it is my fault. I have something I must tell you, but it must be face to face. I know you have likely gone back to the human world with your friend. I do not know when or if you shall return, or if you’ll ever read this, but if you do, I am deeply sorry for what I said and did last we spoke. Sincerely… I’m not sure whose name this is. It uses the symbol for metal though, so it must be Sterling.” Varian explained, looking at Spike. “This must have been written before Skyros disappeared…”

“She was hoping Gold Lily would be back, but by then Gold Lily was probably already missing in both worlds.” Hugo mentioned, thinking. “And Skyros is gone as far as you all know, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Gabby nodded.

“Curiouser and curiouser.” Hugo muttered, thinking. “I know we came here for this so we could get back to Corona, but maybe we should do some more research on the Pre-Celestial Era… The monsters, Gold Lily and Demanitus, Grogar… It all has to be connected somehow.”

“Aww research.” Flurry flopped onto the ground, noticing something laying on the ground and tilting her head.

“There is still the last place Daring Do told you to look, in the Bone Dry Desert.” Spike admitted. “That place would be even more isolated then here.”

“So it might have even more secrets we’ll want to know.” Hugo noted. “I mean, no one puts a base out in the middle of a desert for no reason.”

Flurry began trying to carefully remove it from under the table, listening to Varian and Hugo continue to talk.

“I agree. There’s too much lining up that up until now I considered completely unrelated.” Varian admitted, pacing. “Grogar was defeated by a unicorn named Gusty, according to the stories. And most of the stories are at least partially true, we just need to do more research on Gusty to find out just what she did. And how.”

Flurry smiled as she reached the scroll, unrolling it to look at was inside. She still couldn’t read ancient ponish, but the pictures drawn on she did recognize well enough.

A ramclops, a ram skull staff, Grogar, a separate ram headed monster. There was some kind of picture she was sure represented blizzards, she’d seen it in the books about the frozen wastes outside the Empire. Some gnarled tree… Imagines that built both nervous excitement for an adventure in the future, and anxiety about what her brother was getting into.

“Twilight will be the best pony to turn to for that, she’s loved the story of Gusty the Great since she was a filly.” Spike added.

There was a word circled in the middle, the whole thing looked hastily scrawled down. She frowned and stood up, nudging Varian’s leg with her hoof.

“Hey big brother, what’s this say?” 

He took the paper gently, looking over it. Hugo wasn’t sure he liked how big Varian’s eyes got as he took in the information on the page.

“Goggles, what is it?”

“... Gold Lily believed Zhan Tiri and Grogar were the same being.”

Hugo could practically feel the chill in the air as the implication hit all of them, himself included.

“That’s… that means that Grogar wasn’t defeated. He just… went to the human realm?”

“And caused even more issues… Issues related to the sundrop and moonstone. Related to me.” Varian finished, thinking.

“I mean, the moonstone is only kind of related to you.” Hugo mentioned. “But I see what you mean… this is getting deeper and deeper…”

Flurry frowned and looked more worried, leaning against Varian’s leg. Hugo understood her concerns, Zhan Tiri was just a story to him until lately, one he’d never cared much about because it was Corona folklore that even they didn’t seem to put much stock in. Few people even knew anything about it, he only did because Donella had a few bits and bobs detailing some of those stories. Now, Zhan Tiri was somehow related to the Father of Monsters, and while he didn’t know how much about Zhan Tiri was true, he’d seen first hand how much about Grogar was true. 

“We need to get this stuff to Twilight and contact the princesses… this just got a lot worse.” Spike mentioned, carefully packing some of the scrolls into his bag.

As worried as Spike was, as worried as Flurry was, as worried as Hugo found himself about what this meant for all of them, especially Varian, they couldn't do anything there in the dense forests of the Peaks of Peril. So they did what they came to do, packed up the items left behind by Gold Lily and quietly considered what it all meant. 

Cozy Glow was bored, it was a pretty quiet day in the palace and she didn’t know what to do with herself when Cass was busy helping Rapunzel with princess duties. Captain was doing his job too, and while she’d ordinarily love being able to spy on a king's business, today Frederic was dealing with all the most boring possible issues. He’d even been very successfully distracting Rapunzel with what equated to Cozy Glow to the man jingling keys in front of her face. Maybe that was too harsh, but Cozy was a little annoyed how easily Rapunzel was letting herself be manipulated. Pascal had long gotten tired of always losing chess against her that day, so Cozy found herself just walking around town. Unfortunately, it was apparently a completely boring day in Corona.

“Looks like you're bored too, huh?” Eugene asked, walking over where the filly was.

“I’ve never seen it so quiet here.” Cozy admitted, looking around. “I know quiet is supposed to be a good thing, but golly if it isn’t boring.”

“I think there’s a difference between peaceful and quiet.” Eugene admitted, thinking. “Well hey, the two of us will find something to do. In fact, I came out here to pick something up for Blondie, for you.”

“For me? Is it a new board game?”

“Surprisingly no.” Eugene gestured for her to follow him, so she did. “So Cozy, we don’t get a lot of time to talk. Since you know, Cass and the Captain hate me.”

“I don’t see why, you’re really nice.”

“Well I was a thief and I did make a bit of a fool of the royal guard. But it’s good to know you're a good judge of character at least.” Eugene admitted.

“Then why doesn’t he ask you for help on how to make the guard better now that you aren’t a thief anymore?”

“Well some people have too big of an ego to let them do something like that.” Eugene stated, Cozy rolling her eyes with a small smile.

If she’d learned anything about the people she’d been living with the fast few weeks, it’s that Eugene had quite the ego on himself. As stubborn and prideful as Captain Oftegard could be, Eugene was almost equally as stubborn and prideful. Which was probably why they didn’t get along at all.

“Well golly Eugene, I know mister Captain Oftegard takes his job really seriously. Maybe he just doesn’t like how silly you can be.”

“Maybe, but we don’t all need to be serious frowny guys, we have enough of those at the castle.” Eugene joked.

Cozy forced herself to giggle a little, though she did generally agree with Eugene. King Frederic, Nigel, Captain Oftegard, Cass, there were so many stern figures in the castle. Worse, it wasn’t the same kind of calming, almost maternal sternness that Celestia had. Frederic was more stubborn than a yak, more prideful than a griffon, and more possessive of Rapunzel than a dragon was of a treasure, and with none of the positive traits of those creatures as far as she could tell.

“Here we are!”

“This is your barber.” Cozy sighed, having been hoping for something interesting to do.

She’d already seen how much time Eugene put into his appearance, she really didn’t feel like seeing how long he spent getting his hair trimmed to look exactly the same as it always did. 

“Well yes but my barber knows a lot about a lot of hair styles, including princess hair. And by that I mean the hair you wore when we first met. The ringlets.” Eugene explained as they walked in.

Cozy was even less inclined to allow unfettered access to her mane to Eugene’s barber, but she relaxed when the barber simply handed him a box. She smiled up at the barber before she followed Eugene out of the shop, flying up to curiously look into the box.

“Oh hair curlers.” She smiled.

“Rapunzel could tell it was bothering you more than you were admitting that you couldn’t get your hair the way you like it.” Eugene explained. “And ringlets are popular styles in other kingdoms, so we did a little research and ordered them.”

“All that for me?”

“Hey we don’t know how long you’re going to be here with us, but we like having you around little filly, and we want you to enjoy your time here.” Eugene tousled her mane. “And I know how it feels… to uh, sit in an orphanage and watch other kids get picked and wonder what it is about you that no one seems to want.”

Cozy blinked up at him in surprise, despite what she had learned she’d not heard Eugene outright admit to being an orphan. She had a feeling, based on a few of his stories, but she wasn’t about to ask. It was a sore spot for her, and she assumed it was for him too. She landed from flying, walking alongside him in silence for a bit before she felt compelled to speak.

“... I thought I knew. I thought I wasn’t smart enough. Canterlot has some of the biggest, most well known schools in all of Equestria and having a student in Princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns is a status thing. So I studied and I studied and I became a chess master. But still no one wanted me. Because I couldn’t be a unicorn. And I focused so hard on being smart that I wasn’t a great flier so even if I’d been transferred to Cloudsdale, I’m still not sure I’d be adopted… Along with a few other things that didn’t exactly make me a model pegasus. And I’m not strong enough to be of any help on any earth pony farms…” Cozy wasn’t sure why she was telling Eugene that, but it felt good to say it out loud to the first person she knew had felt the sting of constant rejection. “Not many ponies are looking to adopt anyways.”

Someone who had completely aged out and never got a family at all, the things she’d been afraid were coming for her if she didn’t take matters into her own hooves. Eugene turned out alright, in the end though, so maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad.

“Well, I don’t know much about Camelot-”

“Canterlot.”

“Whatever, or Clydesdale-”

“Cloudsdale.”

“My point is, Cozy, is that despite how it feels… it’s not your fault no one saw the good parts of you.” Eugene knelt down to be closer to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “And I know you probably have a chip on your shoulder that you’ve been hiding really well for a while, I know I did. I guess I just… want to encourage you. I wouldn’t want the life I lived for a sweet little filly like you.”

“I think the travel and adventure parts sound pretty nice. But I guess the thieving and hiding from the law and being wanted in almost all the seven kingdoms doesn’t.” Cozy admitted. “But uh, I wasn’t in the same kind of bad place as you Eugene. See, in Equestria it’s normal to send a pony when they get their Cutie Mark to somepony who can teach them more about the job that goes best with it. I was probably going to be sent to meet some chess grandmaster sooner or later. I just wanted… well, I guess a family.”

Eugene took in what she said, and Cozy wasn’t sure what the look on his face was. Jealousy, perhaps, or maybe relief for the orphans of Equestria, but his face did soften.

“Well Cozy, sometimes family isn’t a pair of parents. And sometimes home isn’t what you’d ever expect. Just keep your options open, I mean if Varian can live happily ever after in Equestria why can’t you live here? And I think Cap really does love having you around. He’s at work a lot and he’s a stern frowny guy but hey, I do know he loves Cass. And I think he’s pretty fond of you too.”

She usually only heard Eugene use this gentler tone when talking to Rapunzel. She wasn’t unfamiliar with pep talks like this, she got a lot during the years in the Canterlot Foal Center, but it felt a lot more personal coming from Eugene. Initially, she almost let his words get to her before she remembered what she had done and the punishment she had been given for it. She did manage to hide her upturning her nose at the thought of staying in the underdeveloped country, and she managed to hold off rolling her eyes about Captain until Eugene’s attention was drawn elsewhere. She didn’t want to stay in this country, she didn’t want to be a part of the Oftegard family, and she frankly didn’t care about Corona or its problems.

“Varian really seemed happy in Equestria?” Cozy asked after Eugene’s attention returned to her.

“I mean he clearly loves his mom at least.” Eugene admitted. “And she was going all mama bear to protect him so I can tell she’s a loving parent. Kid was really lucky.”

“Yeah I guess so. But… Being adopted by a princess has a lot of responsibility too.” Cozy admitted.

Responsibility, and power. Power that Cozy Glow had never known. Rapunzel and Cass joined them as they entered the castle, though Eugene didn’t drop their topic of conversation.

“Well yeah, being a prince is a big deal but it’s not like they’re going to put an adopted kid on the throne over the biological daughter.” Eugene mentioned. “He’s going to live the high life.”

“Uh… true bloodline rule isn’t a thing in Equestria. They are going to put him on the throne.” Cozy mentioned, causing Eugene freezing mid step. “You all mentioned Varian was perfectly polite and knew what he was doing at the coronation, it’s probably because they’ve already been teaching him all that stuff.”

“... They’re really going to put a non-pony on the throne?” Cass asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Yeah? I mean, the royal pony sisters weren’t from Equestria, they were from Skyros, and they were put on the throne.” Cozy shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time. And if he was raised by ponies since he was four, he’s probably more of a pony then he is a human.”

“I guess that’s a good point… but he was eating fish. I’ve never seen you eat fish.” Rapunzel mentioned.

“Well no, but griffons and hippogriffs eat fish. He’s not the only omnivore in all our world.” Cozy mentioned, noticing how strangely upset Rapunzel seemed by the insinuation that Varian wasn’t one of them.

It was a weakness Cozy might find use for, if she could figure out what about Varian being raised elsewhere was bothering Rapunzel so. Or perhaps it was the implication that Varian was different from them now because he was raised by ponies. She wasn’t sure what it was that had struck a nerve with Rapunzel, but she was going to figure it out. After all, driving a wedge between others was something she was good at, and she didn’t need Varian, someone who likely knew who she was and what she had done, to spill her secrets in Corona. She’d seen how harsh the punishments the king had dolled out were for far lesser crimes to the ones she’d committed. 

“Ah Cass, Cozy, there you are.” Captain walked over, seeing the box full of curlers in Eugene’s hands.

“I wanted Cozy to have something at least a little familiar while she’s here.” Rapunzel explained. 

“These are pretty much the same as the ones I used at the foal center.” Cozy confirmed, switching to her usual cute act. “Thank you Rapunzel.”

“Well it’s not as familiar as your little satin ribbon but I did get you something for your hair.” He mentioned, kneeling down.

She’d seen a few women around town wearing cute little kerchiefs around their hair, so when he put it on her and gently tied it under her chin she did recognize what it was. It was a simple, slightly mauve colored kerchief, and he had a matching ribbon for her tail which she replaced the peachy white colored one with.

“Oh. Thank you.” Cozy smiled up at him.

She felt something deep inside, something she wasn’t sure she’d really ever felt before. It was warm, and comforting. It was nice.

“It makes you look a little more mature too. Which, I know you were probably playing up the adorable little filly thing to try to get adopted, but you’re smarter than that.” Cass mentioned. “How old are you anyway?”

“I’m eleven.” Cozy felt a little silly admitting it, mostly because she had been acting perhaps a little too cutesy for her age on occasion.

They didn’t seem like they were too surprised, thankfully, as everyone chatted idly before separating for their evenings. Cozy was comfortable there, despite her initial internal reaction to what Eugene had said, other than some of the differences in technology that she found annoying. Apparently this Varian was happy and comfortable in Equestria, where he’d be totally different at least shape wise. Could she be really happy staying out of trouble, staying in Corona with the only family she’d ever seen that seemed to at least somewhat want her?

“Cozy Glow, do you mind helping your sister clean up before bed? The king wants to talk to me before I retire for the night.” Captain asked, Cozy freezing at the slip he’d done.

Your sister.

“Uh… sure thing mister Oftegard, I’ll help Cass.” Cozy hurriedly moved away before any corrections could be made.

She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want him to have time to take it back. She didn’t consider him and Cass her family, or maybe she just wasn’t willing to accept a family after all she’d done. She put it behind her, she had accepted she’d never have a family and chose to find a way to take power, to take magic away so that she was on top. She had given up on the idea of family.

So why did Captain slipping up like that feel so… cozy?

Chapter Text

Varian could tell how on edge the news made Spike, and when it was told to Sunburst he could tell it had him worried too. Flurry was almost despondent most of the walk back to the Kirin village and she was still sitting alone deep in thought.

“You’d think they were told you were going to war with the way they’re acting.” Hugo came in, rubbing the back of his head. “So uh… how are you taking it?”

“I mean, I know it’s scary that Grogar wasn’t defeated. That Grogar apparently is a shape shifter who just used the form of Grogar as part of what might be a larger plan. I know why everyone is worried, that after a decade of peace we’re seeing the early signs of a huge issue… but I guess I always knew my destiny wasn’t going to be as simple as going and grabbing a magic rock.” Varian admitted. 

Hugo nodded, “That’d be too easy, yeah.”

“And… I guess I’ve chosen to just focus on what I can do. I can prepare, I can learn what I can about Grogar. I can try to figure out how Gusty at least temporarily threw Grogar off from the path he was taking and caused him to then become Zhan Tiri. I can try to look more into what Zhan Tiri did. I can make sure I’m ready to fight by keeping up my training with Tempest.”

“You could just… not go after the rock.” Hugo mentioned, Varian looking at him. “I mean, it’s theoretically safe for you to take it. Theoretically. But what if you're wrong about that?”

“What if the moonstone is what Zhan Tiri is after?” Varian asked, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t have been born with this magic if it wasn’t a part of my destiny. I can’t ignore it. Personally. People might be in danger, people were being hurt by the stone. If I can do something to help, I want to.”

Hugo sighed, “You’re too noble, V. But okay, we’ll do this.”

“We?” Varian looked up from the bag he was packing.

“I’ve come too far to back up now, I’m invested in this mystery. And I’m your bodyguard, right?” Hugo asked, teasing Varian with the last sentence.

Varian laughed a little, “I guess so, but more importantly you're my friend.”

Hugo realized that, perhaps for the first time, he really believed it, or maybe he was letting himself believe it. He tried not to think about how Varian would hate him when the truth came out.

“And that’s why I can’t let you wander off into a world you barely know to do on some grand adventure against a force we can’t even begin to comprehend on your own.” Hugo sighed. “You’re liable to get yourself kidnapped.”

“Oh my hero.” Varian rolled his eyes with a small smile, before he looked out and saw Flurry. “... I knew she was worried about her destiny, I didn’t realize how worried she was about mine.” 

“Hey, she loves you. You're her big brother, best friend forever. At least that’s what she told me.” Hugo shrugged. “And compared to her and what she’s capable of, I feel like a tiny little mouse. Maybe she’s our body guard.”

“You like mice huh? I noticed your little automaton.”

Hugo was pretty careful with Olivia being spotted, always afraid someone might break her to get to him or to take her parts, so he initially felt that quick tinge of fear. As he looked over at Varian though, he remembered who he was speaking to and felt immediately relaxed. He was even sure that Varian had seen Olivia plenty of times before, it made sense they were nearly constantly together the past few weeks. He held out his hand, the robotic rodent climbing out of his clothes and onto his hand. Varian looked fascinated, it made sense he hadn’t really gotten a close look at her until now.

“Her name’s Olivia. She was the uh, first thing I built for myself.” Hugo admitted. “I saved little scraps I thought no one would miss until I could make her.”

“That’s amazing Hugo.” Varian moved closer, looking more amazed as Olivia stood up like a real mouse to ‘sniff’ him. “She acts like a real mouse.”

“Yeah I just… wanted a friend I guess.”

Hugo could have kicked himself for how that came out of his mouth before he could stop himself, but the sympathetic look Varian gave him didn’t hurt like it might have before. He understood he wasn’t being pitied, at least. 

“Well, now you have a few friends.” Varian stood up.

“Yeah. Guess I do. Still weird to get used to.” Hugo let Olivia climb up to his shoulder. “But it’s a good weird.”

“I guess the reason you haven’t worn the clothes I had you made is that that jumpsuit has a pocket for Olivia to hide in.” Varian surmised.

“Yeah but… I am feeling like I’m going to pass out from heatstroke. I guess I should have listened to you when you said this forest is hot.”

“Well from now on, I hope you’ll trust me to know things about Equestria and the lands around it.” 

“As long as you trust me about what I know about people on the other side.”

“I’ll do my best, I can be a little stubborn. I mean, you’ve seen my family. It’s kind of in my nature to give people a chance, regardless of how they might be. It’s the way I was taught to be and I wouldn’t be the prince of the Crystal Empire and a member of my family if I didn’t.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” Hugo felt a little short of breath as he picked up a box to put in the wagon they had, but he hoped it was just the heat. 

They got everything packed up, Varian scooping Flurry up.

“C’mon sis, you look like a sad cat like this.”

She gave him a small smile, “I just… I’m worried. I don’t remember when things were bad before, but we know the stories.”

“We do. And we know that mom and dad made it because they had each other, and because Aunt Twili had her friends. As long as we stick together, everything will be fine.”

“I know. I’m just worried… you shouldn’t have so much to deal with on your own.”

“Hey, it won't be on his own. You have my word, Blizzard, I’ll be there with him through thick and thin, even if you can’t for any reason.” Hugo promised, holding his hand out. “Deal?”

“... Deal.” Flurry smiled, putting her hoof in his hand and shaking.

Hugo usually didn’t mean promises. He wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to offer Flurry one. But he knew that it was more a promise to himself to the filly. To try to force himself to stick with the boy, no matter how much the idea of crossing Donella scared him. He just wasn’t sure it would be enough, when it came down to it.

Hugo only felt worse as they walked through the Dragonlands to the train, he had changed into the shorts and shirt Varian had insisted he pack and it had helped but he still felt terrible. The train at least had some kind of cool air machine in it, which he idly talked to Varian about as the train chugged along. They had a few hours before they got back to Ponyville where they’d be filling Twilight in on their findings. Varian was reading the back and forth between Demanitus and Gold Lily, which he admitted was mostly only interesting because of their dynamic, it was a look into their friendship. Hugo was relaxing the best he could, he could tell that they all knew he wasn’t feeling well because they insisted on him taking an entire seat to himself to lounge in a semi sitting position.

“Hugo? Hey, are you feeling okay?” Flurry came over to him, looking worriedly at him.

“I’m fine, Flurry, I think I just… got too hot too long.”

“I’ll go get you some cool water.” Flurry was off before he could tell her not to.

He wasn’t sure he could hold down even water, really, he was feeling more and more nauseous.

“You look terrible.” Varian admitted, looking up from the book.

“You should really leave the flirting to me Goggles, you don’t tell someone they look bad.” Hugo was glad the tease was met with the usual blush, though this time Varian didn’t storm off.

“Can I get you anything?” Varian asked.

“Nah, I’m not even sure I can handle the water your sister is getting.” Hugo admitted. 

Sunburst looked up from his book, reaching over to place his foreleg against Hugo’s forehead.

“Hm… you do seem a little warm. If Varian’s usual temperature is normal at least.”

“If I got myself sick not listenin to you, Goggles, you better not rub it in.”

“I’ll try not to.” Varian gave Hugo a sympathetic smile. “But I did try to warn you about the heat sooo…”

Hugo rolled his eyes, looking as Flurry brought over a chilled bottle of water. The crystal clear, clean and chilled water was yet another reason he liked Equestria. Potable water was available anywhere there was a creature, except the Dragonlands for obvious reasons. He sipped it carefully, looking out the window. He also liked train travel, something he wasn’t sure without someone like Coalquette to help with the construction could exist in the Seven Kingdoms. Ingvarr could do it, if there was profit in it, but he didn’t like the idea of them having control of it.

They arrived before noon, and Hugo felt a little better so he was hoping whatever had happened had passed. Twilight and Tempest were waiting for them at the station, and evidently he still didn’t look like he felt well because both mares looked at him worriedly. 

“I’m alright.”

Tempest put a leg out to prevent Twilight from rushing over to him. Hugo was glad that Tempest understood him so well, she knew that he wasn’t really ready to consider that he was sick and he wasn’t used to someone caring or fussing. He was denying it because it was safer to act like everything was fine, any sign of weakness would only make things worse. Cyrus would, if he noticed he was sick, sometimes treat him a bit more considerately, but that was it. 

“Well, let’s get you back to the castle so you can take it easy.” Tempest took his bag and put it on her back. “Spike’s very vague letter made it seem like you discovered something big.”

“That’s one way of putting it…” Varian admitted nervously. “We uh, we might want mom and the sisters to hear it too.”

Twilight looked more concerned, but nodded, “I’ll get letters to them immediately. We’ll meet them in Canterlot as soon as every creature is able to meet there.”

They went back to the castle, and Hugo noticed again now that his ill feelings were wearing down that Flurry was in a dour mood. He’d gotten used to how exuberant the filly often was, but despite her age she clearly understood how serious everyone was taking the news they had. Hugo found it a little disquieting, but he wasn’t sure if he had any way to try to cheer the filly up. It would be at least a day before Cadance could get away from her duties and to Canterlot, and he assumed something similar for the sisters. 

“For now, Flurry, how about we do some magic practice?” Sunburst offered, clearly hoping to cheer up the filly.

“Yeah okay.” She wasn’t nearly as enthused as any of them hoped, but she went with Sunburst outside.

“I’m going to try to get us as ahead of the research we need to do as we can.” Varian mentioned, looking at Twilight. “I need to learn everything I can about Grogar.”

Twilight clearly recognized the name and frowned, but she nodded, “I’m happy to help.”

They were off to Twilight’s library to look for anything on Grogar, but Hugo wasn’t sure he’d be much help with that between his occasionally churning stomach and his lack of knowledge of how Twilight’s library was organized. He instead decided to try to find a way to cheer Flurry up, though he wasn’t sure what he could say to put her at ease. He did have an idea of what he might be able to do, though, and based on how he’d learned these ponies felt, it seemed like the attempt would probably be well received.

“Hey uh Twilight, do you mind if I use the lab?” Hugo asked.

“Not at all.” Twilight smiled at him. “If you need anything, please feel free to ask me.”

The lab was in the library, so he was privy to Twilight and Varian’s chat about a unicorn named Gusty who had defeated Grogar in the past. He listened as he gathered some metal, looking at the crystals nearby.

“Hey Goggles, these crystals important?”

“You can use them, just be careful. Look at the reference guide.” Varian didn’t look away from the books he was scanning, but Hugo was happy enough with the answer.

He went through the guide, mostly trying to avoid anything with any effects he expected to potentially impede what he wanted to make. After deciding on the types of crystal that would be ideal for what he wanted to do, he looked around. It didn’t seem like the same machine for molding the crystals existed here, which made sense, from his understanding Varian had built it. So he’d have to find another way, or ask Varian if there was a blueprint by some chance of that machine here in Twilight’s castle. Then again, Twilight was a doting aunt who clearly adored Varian’s inventions, so if anyone was going to have a copy of the blueprint it would be here.

“Hey uh, if I wanted to form this into a shape-” Hugo started.

“Oh! Here.” Twilight used her magic to dig into a desk, handing a blueprint to Hugo. 

Varian looked a little sheepish that Twilight had a copy of the blueprint, but he cleared his throat, “The superheating chemical is made with materials you should have down there too.”

“Alright, thanks.”

Hugo forced himself to focus on what he was working on instead of his nausea or slight headache. Following what was clearly a copy of an older blueprint of Varian’s was interesting, in a way, he had a feeling this machine wasn’t as safe as it could be if Varian had made it more recently. Varian seemed like the kind of inventor to update his tools, but clearly he didn’t think about updating the tools he had made. Hugo just needed this to work, so he wasn’t about to change too much about the design, aside from making it smaller since he didn’t need to make full sized wings. The chemical itself used a lot of rainbow water, and Hugo recalled what Varian had said about it being spicy and capable of warming without other effects. He got both the machine and the chemical made before he reached another small hurdle.

This time, though, he had an idea who he could bother about what he needed without distracting Varian and Twilight from their reading. He stepped out of the library, looking at Spike as he was walking in with some lemonade.

“Oh Hugo, are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah I just need a word with uh… Fluttershy. Where would I find her?”

“Fluttershy? She’s probably at her animal sanctuary.” Spike admitted. “It’s a little ways from her cottage.”

“I’ve uh, never been to her house.” Hugo reminded.

“I’ll take you.” Tempest walked over, wiping her muzzle with a towel. “I want to talk to her husband about something.”

He could tell she’d been exercising, which he had to assume was usually normal for her but he couldn’t help but wonder if she was pushing herself because of the idea of a new threat. Hugo was also surprised to hear Fluttershy was married, he wasn’t done reading the journal yet and it was strange to think the mare had settled down when she was still a shy homebody as far as he could tell. Tempest was clearly keeping an eye on him as they walked, and he sighed.

“I’m fine. Just a little under the weather.”

“I know. But I also know I pushed myself when I was just a little under the weather and it usually only made it worse until I got rest.” Tempest mentioned.

“I’m not pushing myself. If I was pushing myself, I’d be back helping them research Grogar.” 

She thought a moment and then nodded to herself, looking up at him, “So what are you doing?”

“I want to cheer up Flurry. She’s takin’ this too seriously, considerin we don’t have a full picture yet.” Hugo mentioned. “Varian’s got the right of it, learning what we can just in case, but gettin’ all stressed about the what ifs is only going to get us in a worse position.”

Tempest smiled a little knowingly, maybe a little proudly, before she simply moved her attention to their path. Hugo wanted to question what the look was for, but they arrived at the sanctuary.

“Oh hello Tempest, it’s rare to see you out here. Hello again Hugo.” Fluttershy smiled up at him, and Hugo couldn’t help but smile back.

He hadn’t been around the pegasus mare long, but her gentle tone and big, kind eyes were evident even to him then. Now that he’d read a bit about her, and was standing in the crown of her personal endeavors, it was even more clear.

“Hey. Good to see you-” Hugo started, jumping as an unfamiliar claw took his hand as he started to stretch it out to shake her hoof.

“Oh! So you're the other little human who followed our little Varian through the portal.” The miss matched creature he’d known was around but had yet to meet was now face-to-face to him as he pulled him up by his arm to look him in the face.

Discord, the lord of chaos, the draconequus, ‘reformed’ according to Hugo’s reading. Hugo didn’t like that he was being held up to the strange creatures face, or the look he was getting from him.

“Discord, you put him down right now !” Fluttershy demanded. 

“Oh yes, of course.” Discord put him down, changing his behavior quickly, putting Hugo back down on his feet. “My apologies, we obviously don’t see many humans here.”

“Discord, I need to ask you some questions.” Tempest stepped forward, and Hugo quickly put together the clues he had.

Fluttershy’s husband was Discord, of all creatures. Hugo had no idea what to think about all that, and as Tempest left him with just Fluttershy he chose to just that go for the time being.

“I just came to ask if you had some spare hermit crab shells. I need one to make a mold for something I’m working on.” Hugo explained.

“Oh of course.” Fluttershy smiled, leading him toward a shack. “How are you feeling? You look a little rough.”

“I’ll be alright.” Hugo looked around the sanctuary as they walked.

There were many critters in various states of recovery, and notably another pony who smiled and waved to them before she frowned and came over.

“Hello Dr. Fauna. Is everything alright?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

“Oh, I’m just worried about him.” Dr. Fauna answered, looking up at Hugo. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“Why do teenagers always have to try to act tough? Tell me the truth, how are you feeling?”

“... A little nauseous.” Hugo shrugged. “That’s all, I got too hot for a few days.”

“Alright.” Dr. Fauna didn’t seem like she fully believed him. “Well you better-”

“I’m taking it easy.” Hugo sighed, perking up as Fluttershy showed him the shells she had available. “I’ll be bringing it right back.” 

“What are you making a mold of a hermit crab shell for?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head to one side.

“Just a little uh… something. To try to cheer up Flurry Heart. We ran into some information that has her reeling in stress.” Hugo mentioned.

“That must be what Twilight wants us to gather in Canterlot to hear…” Fluttershy mentioned worriedly. “How bad is it?”

“I’m gonna be honest, I dunno if I know enough about everything to really have a chance to answer that.” Hugo picked up one of the larger shells. 

“Ooh, maybe I should go see if I can help Twilight out.” Fluttershy mentioned, looking at Dr. Fauna.

“I can handle things here.” The mare confirmed. “Just try to make this one get some rest.”

Hugo sighed a bit to himself, but followed alongside Fluttershy as they started to leave. Discord and Tempest joined them, Discord looking contemplative. When they got back to the castle, Hugo was a little surprised to see Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were all arriving at the same time.

“You wanted to help Twi look into whatever this is about too?” Applejack asked, the other nodding. 

“This is so exciting! It’s just like old times!” Pinkie bounced a few times in place.

“What about your jobs?” Hugo asked.

“The family can handle the farm for a little bit on their own, and we just finished a big harvest, it’s going to be pretty calm for a while.” Rainbow answered. “As for my other job, I’m currently on rest so I won’t be called to any Wonderbolts things any time soon.”

“Technically reading a bunch of books is way more rest then buckin’ trees.” Applejack admitted.

“Cheese can handle any parties that need planned for a few days, and the Cakes have always handled most of the baking.” Pinkie added.

“Yona and Sandbar are quite capable of managing the boutique in my absence.” Rarity explained, looking at Hugo and clearly brightening up seeing he was wearing one of the outfits she’d made for him. 

“And Dr. Fauna can handle the day to day in my sanctuary.” Fluttershy finished, smiling up at Discord as he opened the door for her.

“Friends have friends that want to help out too.” Tempest explained to Hugo as she headed inside.

Hugo smiled a bit to himself as they went inside, getting his mold ready. As it finished, he began working on the actual automata he’d had in mind. He knew how much space it would need and he had plenty of tools he usually didn’t to make it easier to make the smaller components. The shell was made relatively quickly once the mold was ready, and Hugo noticed Varian come over, rubbing his eyes.

“Taking a break from the books?” Hugo asked, pulling his goggles down around his neck.

“Yeah. Unfortunately, the whole thing is so old that anything we have is basically a fairytale.” Varian sighed. “The story of Gusty the Great, I know that pretty well, Aunt Twili used to read it to me when I was little. What are you working on?”

Varian leaned over to take a closer look, Hugo rolling his eyes and holding it up.

“An automaton.” Hugo answered. “To cheer your sister up. I’m not great with words of encouragement so… I’m trying something I am good at.”

Varian took it in and smiled a little, “That’s really sweet of you Hugo. I’m sure she’ll love it. She loves small shelled critters.”

“I noticed. The snail stuff, her getting distracted by the hermit crabs.” Hugo listed. “And I know that those things don’t live all that long, so I reckon that’s why she doesn’t have a pet like you.”

“She’s never really asked for one, I think she kind of considers Ruddiger to be ours. I’m pretty sure she’s the reason his diet isn’t going as well as it could be.” Varian admitted. “But I think she’ll love this.”

Hugo pulled the crystal shell out once the machine indicated it was done, “Gotta say Goggles, this thing is probably one of the best inventions I’ve seen in a long time. Making use of such a huge resource in your home in so many ways, without having to take the time to carve it down yourself.”

Varian seemed, possibly for the first time, truly flattered as he blushed lightly and rubbed the back of his head. Hugo wasn’t sure he’d been so honest about a compliment before in his life, but he did mean it. And something about Varian receiving a compliment from him so well and not getting flustered and storming off like usual made him happy.

Uh oh.

Hugo cleared his throat before he turned and quietly finished the machine, “There we go. Now we just wind it up. Well, Flurry does anyway.”

“What am I doing?” Flurry asked as she came in.

She did seem to be feeling better, at least, though not as excited or happy as she usually did after learning a new spell. 

“I made you a little something.” Hugo explained, cupping the automata in his hands with the key sticking out. “Turn that until it feels loose, then pull it out.”

She tilted her head with a smile and did so, hearing the clicking and getting more curious and excited until the key came loose, Hugo uncovering the small automata. Flurry gasped excitedly as the little hermit crab sprung to life, Hugo putting it on the ground in front of her.

“It’s so cute.” Flurry smiled, laying down on the ground to watch it with wide, excited eyes. “This is for me? Why?”

“I guess I just wanted you to cheer up a little. I know it seems scary right now, but we can’t change the facts of the past. We don’t know if Grogar or Zhan Tiri or whatever they are will be back for sure, so let’s not stress about it. We might just be cleaning up a mess they left behind.”

She smiled up at him and suddenly leapt to hug him, Hugo freezing up a little before he hugged her back.

“Thank you so much! I’m going to call him Karkinos.” Flurry went back to the little crab.

“Karkinos?” Hugo tilted his head.

“It’s an ancient Crystal Empire dialect of ponish word for crab.” Twilight explained.

“We were taught ancient crystal ponish as part of our lessons with Sunburst.” Varian explained. “It’s mostly for a few little events, and so we can read some of the older Crystal Empire records.”

Varian then said something in a language Hugo could not understand, but did click to him as strangely familiar.

“That sounds a lot like the language they speak in Bayangor.” Hugo admitted. “And the fact that our common languages sound the same… I get the feeling the worlds are very connected.”

They started theorizing about it, Flurry interrupted unhelpfully but comedically every so often. Tempest smiled as she looked down from the layer of the library she was on down at the kids, looking as Twilight nudged into her.

“Looks like you’re happy to see the magic of friendship at work.” Twilight teased.

“Maybe a little. Hugo is a good kid, under all those walls he hid himself behind. I want better for him than I had.”

“Awww. Tempest that’s so sweet.” Pinkie sniffled. “Sorry, all this reminds me of the old times and seeing the kids going on spreading even more friendship is-”

“Hugging now?” Rainbow asked with a small smile, Pinkie nodding and dragging the girls into a hug.

Tempest rolled her eyes with a smile, looking down at the kids who were chatting again. She could tell Hugo was letting creatures in, more than even he likely knew, and that would make all the difference when he made his decision, for whatever it was that had been bothering him. 

Cozy Glow had to admit, watching Rapunzel try to force friendship on Monty was a little funny. She never thought the princess could be so bad at friendship, or in this case understanding that not everyone was going to like her. She could have intervened, but she really didn’t see a reason to. She hadn’t seen a reason to help Eugene out when Captain was being too harsh on him during guard training either, though she was surprised that Cass did. Clearly, Cass liked Eugene more then she was willing to admit even to herself. She was aware she knew things about friendship that she assumed she’d learned in Twilight's school, because she did find herself knowing what she could say or do despite choosing not to. 

She looked at the pages she’d written about the last few weeks and frowned. She hadn’t come up with any plans, she’d just been living day by day with the people in the palace. All her entries were regular diary entries about the day to day. It was… fun, but it wasn’t productive to any plans, not that she had any. These humans couldn’t do anything that mattered to Equestria, she wasn’t even convinced they could handle fighting any regular pony let alone an alicorn. So an army of Coronans was out of the question. And she found herself worried about them getting hurt. She looked over at Cass as the woman threw herself on a chair in the room, flittering over and getting a mug full of water for the woman.

“Gee Cassie, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Coze. Just another long day of Fitzherbert and my job.”

Cozy nearly dropped the mug as she brought it over, blinking a little as she took in the interaction.

No one had ever given her a nickname before. The mares and stallions who worked in the Foal Center were careful not to allow any of the foals to get too attached, and with Cozy having been there so long they’d really backed away from her once she got her Cutie Mark, leaving her even more alone then she had been before. They were still nice, but it was like, unlike her, they didn't want to face the fact that she wasn't going to have a family. At least not at that time.

“Coze? Are you okay?”

“Oh uh, just a little tired today.” Cozy tried to shake it off, landing on one of the nearby chairs.

Over time, Cass had stopped correcting her from calling her Cassie which had made it less fun to do but at this point she was just used to it. Over time, Cozy had found herself helping Cass with her duties just because she really did hate how Cass never got to do what she wanted to do because she was just a handmaiden. Over time, she spent more time with all of them than she’d ever spent with anyone before, she hadn’t even noticed that she did look forward to their little adventures.

She had been so focused on the annoyances, the way some people treated her, her lack of hair care, not being able to read… that she only now was thinking about how much she was starting to like some of them. 

Which she couldn’t, she didn’t want to make connections to these people. She wanted to find a way back to Equestria, she wanted to get revenge even if she didn’t remember what had happened.

“I think I’m going to go and fly around town a little to try to wake up.” Cozy said, hurrying out.

“... Okay?” Cass sighed, picking up the diary of the filly. “Well her drawings are getting better at least.”

She closed it, putting it back on Cozy’s nightstand. Cass still found the filly a little suspicious, but the foal was growing on her, as was the idea of having a little sister. Well, another little sister since Rapunzel sometimes felt that way. Even if the filly was a little strange sometimes.

Chapter Text

Canterlot was clearly old, as Hugo stepped out of the train and looked around it. Flurry was happily chasing Karkinos around his feet as he waited for every creature to get off the train and join them. All of Twilight and her friends had come along, along with Discord who seemed uncharacteristically focused. Two foals stopped and stared, as did their parents, looking at Flurry it seemed.

“That’s such a cool toy, where did you get it?” One of the foals asked.

“Huh? Oh, Hugo made Karkinos for me.” Flurry pointed up at him, Hugo waving awkwardly at the family.

“You made that?” The mother asked. “That’s amazing. Are you a toy maker?”

“Uh well, I wouldn’t say I’m that specifically but…” Hugo looked at Olivia, who was perched comfortably on his shoulder.

He felt more comfortable with her being visible, now that Varian had called out she had existed in the first place. Twilight had been fascinated by both Olivia and Karkinos, it was most of what the conversation on the train had been. It felt strangely good, to have someone not demeaning what he’d done as a waste of time or materials. Donella had only seen Olivia once, but it was enough to make Hugo never try to make anything behind her back ever again. He was just glad that she didn’t destroy Olivia, that he’d convinced her Olivia was a useful tool for him even if he hadn’t intended her to be.

“He’s quite an inventor, but I do think his automata are a unique feature in his own talents.” Rarity added, smiling up at him.

The ponies clearly recognized Rarity, because they seemed even more starstruck. He'd learned that Rarity was now a famous designer, so that wasn't too surprising.

“I know as a friend of the prince you’re likely very busy, but do you plan on making more of those anytime?” The father asked.

“Well I hadn’t really considered it before but… I do like making them. I mean, this is only the second one I’ve made but uh, yeah I might make more sometime.” Hugo admitted, his gaze turning to Flurry.

He’d made Olivia all those years ago to be his only friend, someone he could vent to. She had uses to, as far as stealing things, but he always just appreciated her company. He’d made Karkinos because it was all he could think of to make Flurry happy, at least that was in his wheelhouse. Being a toymaker sounded so silly, in Ingvarr, but it was something that did make him… happy. 

“I uh, I guess if I decide to, you’ll be the first to know. But we have some business to get to today.” Hugo said after a moment. 

“We can take your address, so if he does decide to, he can let you know.” Twilight offered, the two foals smiling happily.

Hugo was still a little distracted by the thought as they made it to the castle, though once Celestia and Luna greeted them he got himself out of his thoughts. Both mares shared quick hugs with Varian and Flurry, before they turned to look at him.

“It is good to see you again, Hugo.” Luna smiled as she greeted him.

“You two too.” Hugo nodded.

“Cadance and Shining Armor will arrive soon.” Celestia mentioned. “But there is time for sight seeing if you so desire, Hugo.”

“Huh? Oh no thanks. It’s a lovely city but I’m a bit too tired for that. But uh, if you don’t mind, the friendship journal mentioned a room-” Hugo started.

He felt strangely wrong asking for permission to enter somewhere, but the gentle smile Celestia gave put him at ease. 

“Ah, the Hall of the Elements? Of course. Varian, why don’t you show him?” Celestia asked.

“Sure.” 

Flurry tapped Sunburst’s leg and whispered something in his ear, the stallion smiling a bit and nodding, “Flurry and I are going to go shopping, we’ll be back soon.”

Varian led Hugo down a hallway, clearly trying to think of something to say.

“Uh, as an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader, I wanted to uh… offer you someone to talk to. About the conversation earlier.”

Hugo chuckled, “Even without a Cutie Mark?”

“Even without the magic that a Cutie Mark is. I do have a Cutie Mark, Rarity made it for me remember?” Varian gestured to a patch on his clothes. “But, whenever I looked over while you were working on Karkinos, you looked pretty happy.”

Hugo couldn’t help but smile a bit hearing that Varian was peeking over at him, and decided to make it known, “Oh? You like watching me work Goggles?”

Varian blushed and cleared his throat, “I’m not dignifying that with a response. But my point is, maybe… you’ve found what you really want to do. And if there’s anything I can do to help with that, I’d be glad to.”

“... I’ll think about it.” Hugo nodded, mostly to himself.

Varian smiled at him, walking up to a door and nodding to the guards, who opened the door for him. Hugo looked up at the first window as they approached, seeing Twilight and her friends defeating Nightmare Moon. They’re defeat of Discord, Cadance and Shining defeat of Chrysalis, Starlight saving Equestria from the Changelings, stories he’d yet to read all recounted in the stained glass. He stopped at one that appeared a bit newer than the rest, looking up at it.

“That’s you.” 

“Huh?” Varian looked over from where he was standing, in front of the glass of his parents wedding, getting clearly uncomfortable when he spotted what Hugo was looking at. “Oh uh yeah that, that was no big deal.”

“... Goggles, look where we’re standing. This is a big deal. What did you do?” Hugo asked. “That’s the Crystal Heart, right? Why haven’t I heard anything about this?”

“I think the Crystal ponies know it makes me uncomfortable if they gush about me too much.” Varian admitted. “Well… There was a problem, suddenly in the middle of the night. Someone attacked the Heart, weakened it so much it couldn’t use it’s barrier spell…”

Varian seemed torn as he spoke, before he looked at Hugo, who looked at him nervously, “What?”

“I’ve… never told anyone the whole truth of what happened that night.” Varian admitted. “I usually can hide behind how uncomfortable being treated like a hero makes me… but there’s something I’ve been hiding. But… well, if I want you to really trust me, I should trust you.”

“You? Hiding something from your family?” Hugo could scarcely believe it.

“I have my reasons. See, when it happened there felt like there was nothing we could do. Mom had to keep the barrier up, and dad had to be there to help her. We gathered every creature into the castle so we could try to keep everyone safe and warm, but we didn’t have a lot of time to come up with a plan. Aunt Twilight and Starlight teleported in to try to help but we needed a solution… and… and the Crystal Heart asked Flurry to get me a message. It was instructions about what could be done… and I was the only one who could do it.”

“The Heart can talk?”

“So can the Tree, they just don’t very often.” Varian admitted. “I basically just needed to gather materials from where the Heart came from, but that chamber isn’t exactly close to the Empire itself. So, I got as ready as I could, told only Starlight after explaining everything because I knew everyone would try to stop me, and went out into the blizzard. It was probably the hardest hike out in the snow I’ve ever had to do, but it’s not like I had another choice. My people were in danger.”

Hugo would have interjected that a lot of royals would probably leave on the train and leave behind any subjects who couldn’t make it, but he didn’t feel like it was a good time.

“It took a long time to even get close, but it was way harder to find the way down with all the snow. I mean, it’s usually snowing out there but that blizzard felt… worse than usual. Anyway, as I came to a climb I couldn’t climb down that had the clearest look at the way I needed to go, something… unexpected happened. The reason why the Heart thought I was the only one I could get there. Some dark crystals made it possible for me to climb down.”

“... Dark crystals?”

“Yeah. And I got what I needed, thanks to that creature. And I almost fell down a chasm, and that same creature saved me. And there’s only one creature that could have been out there with those powers.”

“You're saying… that King Sombra saved you? Helped you save the Empire?” Hugo asked, looking at the stained glass of Sombra’s defeat years prior. “But… why?”

“I think… he remembers better times when he sees me. He grew up… pretty similarly to me. He was ostracized for being different even though there was nothing wrong with him, just like me. His powers, they let him see my past so… so he knows I know how it feels.” 

Hugo rubbed his face, “Goggles, I know forgiveness is a big thing here… but that creature is uh… he’s a little dangerous isn’t he?”

“So is Discord.” Varian countered. “The Heart believes in him, and so do I. He wasn’t always the evil creature he was the last time everyone really saw him. And the fact I know he’s been out there for almost ten years and hasn’t done anything… He’s ran into me before. But he hasn’t attacked me or tried to kidnap me to use me against my family or anything. So… I’m hoping that the Heart is right. Besides, I have a family reputation to maintain, and I don’t mean the prince thing.”

“Spreadin’ the magic of friendship… alright, I won’t say anything.” Hugo shrugged, looking around again. “I mean, if the magic artifact that protects your home thinks it’ll work, who am I to argue?”

“I mean, you're my friend. That’s enough of a reason for me to listen to you, you know.”

“I’m uh, still getting used to the friendship mutual trust thing.” Hugo shrugged, looking at the glass again. “And I imagine you know more about Sombra than I do.”

“Only a little. I wanted to ask Chestnut Falls, the pony who raised him, more but well… A lot of her memories are still missing. It’s like he won’t let her remember.” Varian admitted.

“I reckon he doesn’t want her to miss him, or be ostracized for raisin’ him.”

“Huh?”

“Well, in Ingvarr I’ve seen some people act like they’ve never had a family to protect them if they happen to get caught.” Hugo explained. “Only in this case he had magic that also let him take the memories he existed from her, so she didn’t have to suffer. I figure most people would, if they could. I never had a family to worry about, so I never had to think about it myself but… If I had a mom who loved me, I think I’d rather her not remember then go on with all that mess of feelings.”

“Maybe but… Chestnut always seems so sad now. She might not know what’s missing, but her heart knows.”

Hugo blinked as he looked over at Varian, initially thinking to tease him about the wording but the look on Varian’s face made him stop. Varian’s brow was furrowed and he was looking down at the ground.

“... You know how she feels too, huh?”

“Not exactly the same but… I do miss my first dad. I barely remember him, but…” Varian sighed. 

Hugo was completely unsure what to say, or do, so he just put a hand on Varian’s shoulder. 

“I guess that’s probably another reason the Heart thinks you’ll be the one to do this.”

“Mom has the magical ability to sort of… sense other creatures' emotional states, at least when it comes to creatures they love. I don’t know why she can’t sense Sombra’s, but I guess… because I can sympathize with him and Chestnut, it might be enough.”

“ That’s what her magic does?” Hugo asked, blinking. 

“Yeah. When I was little once, she let me feel how much my first dad loved me. It helped a lot since… well he wasn’t as present as mom and dad.” 

“Huh. That’s a little more direct than your aunt's magic of friendship seems to be.” Hugo muttered, before Varian turned. “Are… are you going to be alright?”

“Yeah. It… hurts to talk about him, but… it hurts worse not to, every once in a while.”

“That makes sense to me.” Hugo nodded, thinking. 

Varian was about to ask Hugo if there was anything bothering him, but they were interrupted as Flurry bursted into the room excitedly, sliding to a stop in front of them holding a too large book in her forelegs.

“What’s the rush Blizzard?” Hugo asked, kneeling down.

“I got us a journal! For our arch… archeology adventure!” Flurry explained, holding it up. “This way you guys can write down all the notes about all the information we got and stuff.”

“A journal?” Varian smiled a little as he took from Flurry.

It was a blue hardcover book, with silver lined pages and a purple velvet bookmark, and the snowflake of the Crystal Empire set into the center. 

“Yeah! Gold Lily had journals, and Celestia and Luna had a journal, and aunt Twili and the others had a journal, so we should have one too!” Flurry smiled as she stood up. “I asked aunt Twili where she had hers made, and asked Sunburst to take me to pick it up.”

“This is great Flurry.” 

“Having a way to write down what we know will be handy. I don’t think we can keep chugging along with every scrap of paper she’s ever written on.” Hugo admitted.

“Not to mention she’s a terrible note taker.” Varian sighed. “Seriously, of all the things Demanitus taught her, apparently one thing they never went over was proper note taking.”

“You sound just like aunt Twili.”

“I do not”

“Do too”

“Do not.”

“Do to! Hey, if we meet Gold Lily you can lecture her about it.” Flurry teased.

“That better be playful teasing in there.” Shining’s voice got their attention, his tone jovial as he came in.

“Dad!” Flurry flew at him, nearly topping him over in a hug.

“Hey dad.” Varian walked over and hugged him as well, laughing a little as Shining tussled his hair.

“Guess it’s time to share our findings then.” Hugo mentioned, Shining nodding. 

Varian could tell that Shining was worried, despite how cool and collected he was acting to be. They joined the others in the throne room, Cadance perking up as she spotted them and going over to lovingly smother her kids in hugs and kisses. Hugo noticed Varian trying not to laugh, realizing that Varian was ticklish and that the pony’s fur was soft enough to nearly cause him to start laughing. He hated how cute he immediately thought that was.

“Mooooom come on we have adventure stuff to talk about.” Flurry whined.

“Alright alright.” Cadance smiled. “What did you find?”

Varian took the lead of explaining, so Hugo took it upon himself to watch how every creature reacted. Most of them were worried or concerned, Discord seemed to take in the information like it was a surprise before he seemed to just accept it. That was suspicious. Celestia and Luna seemed to be contemplative, but it didn’t seem like they knew before this moment. 

“If Grogar and Zhan Tiri are the same being… whose to say either was even their real form?” Luna asked.

“We might never be able to tell which world they were from, but it seems clear they have machinations in both.” Celestia added.

“Discord might be able to help us with a little more information.” Tempest added, looking at him. “Considering he knew Grogar well enough to fool Sombra and Tirek.”

“Right, Discord is the only creature here who might have been around when Grogar was.” Hugo surmised. 

“So what do you remember?” Twilight asked.

“Well, besides the usual for evil despot tyrants here in Equestria, Grogar was… a little enigmatic. I never could figure out just what his plan was. I mean, maybe it was just cruelty for cruelty’s sake, placing monsters in all sorts of places to harass every creature he could but… it’s not like he showed any interest in having a reign of terror anywhere other than what would become Equestria.” Discord mentioned. 

“Why waste all that energy if he wasn’t going to take over more of the world?” Hugo asked. “Especially if Equestria wasn’t here yet, it sounds like taking over and harassing all the pony tribes would have taken a lot of thought and energy on its own. Why keep the yaks and dragons and griffons under his hoof if he had no interest in them?”

“Excellent questions Hugo… we’ll have to go over what little we know.” Celestia mentioned, thinking. “First, we have the story of Gusty the Great. It’s been written and rewritten many times over the centuries, but certain aspects have always stayed. Gusty, a powerful unicorn, decided to stand against Grogar.”

“She realized she could not defeat him on her own, so she convinced the unicorn warriors to join her in an attempt to get help from the pegasi and earth ponies.” Twilight added.

“The pegasus general didn’t want to help, at first. Grogar had yet to make a monster that could fly, so the pegasi were hoping to avoid getting his attention by not bothering him. But Gusty, using magic never seen before, walked on the air up to Cloudsdale to speak to the pegasus general herself. Impressed by her magic, the pegasi joined her.” Cadance added.

“She then went to the Earth ponies, who had been beaten down the most by Grogar’s monsters. They were unsure about joining the battle alongside ‘snooty’ unicorns and ‘brutish’ pegasi, but when Gusty leapt into action to protect something precious to the earth ponies, they too were moved.” Luna added.

“They gathered together to stand against Grogar, but they had one thing left to worry about. His bell.” Discord mentioned. “As we uh, all know, Gusty did manage to steal the bell and hide it where Grogar would never get to it. The question is how… As powerful as she was, that bell is strong enough to steal the magic from even me. Gusty either had to be very sneaky, or she had to have a trick up her sleeve.”

“Gold Lily was trying to figure that out.” Varian mentioned, flipping to a page of the magic journal. “She and Demanitus hoped to figure it out, in case it might still be useful to halt Zhan Tiri.”

“Did they have any promising theories?” Twilight asked.

“A few, but none that were perfect. One was that, as a pony who clearly had weather magic, which is rare, Gusty might have turned into wind to sneak up on him. But it would be almost impossible for her to turn back into a pony afterwards.” Varian mentioned.

“If others chose to keep her story alive in her stead, that may be our answer. The winds around Mount Everhoof, however, must have been put in place by Gusty.” Luna tapped her face.

“I don’t think they ever found the location of the bell, so they didn’t know about that. I also think Gusty might have been the only creature there who could have used the bell to banish Grogar.” Varian added.

“Most likely. The other theories?” Celestia asked.

“Well, Demanitus wonders if maybe the reason Gusty needed all the ponies there was because she might have had an artifact with her. They were referring to something, something I think Demanitus had last, it sounded like it was a memoir from somepony who was actually there.” Varian explained. “Something about a rainbow of light.”

“A rainbow of light? Like the Elements of Harmony? Or the rainbow the tree gave us to defeat Tirek?” Twilight asked.

“Of course. That’s why Gusty needed all those ponies to work together. She needed the magic of harmony.” Discord snapped his fingers as the realization hit him. “I wonder why I never thought of it before. Or how she knew…”

“But the Tree wasn’t even planted yet.” Twilight mentioned, thinking.

“Oh come on Twilight, do you really think the magic of harmony only exists because of some trees?” Discord asked. “Starswirl planted what effectively became a… oh how would I put it-”

“A conduit.” Hugo interrupted. “Something the magic of harmony could finally act through, instead of just being ambient magic.”

“Yes, that’s about right.” Discord nodded. 

“That means Gusty must have had her own conduit for it.” Varian mentioned. “Something no one paid attention to… but maybe someone did. At least enough to note it down. It must have been something no one thought much about.”

“I’ll gather any information on Gusty I can.” Twilight mentioned.

“I’ll join you.” Celestia nodded.

“We still have the Bone Dry Desert to go to, right?” Flurry asked.

“We do. And with any luck, maybe that base has some more answers.” Varian nodded, looking at the book. “Hopefully, Corona is safe…”

“There is one other thing that worries me.” Luna admitted. “That pollen you mentioned.”

“I thought it made sense that it was to keep kirin from running into the place?” Hugo asked.

“No, if fire undid the spell so easily then it was likely made with the defenses kirin have against it in mind.” Luna explained.

“I believe it was made to keep other alicorn from finding what Gold Lily was up to.” Celestia admitted. “As beautiful as Skyros was, they had strict rules about leaving. Gold Lily disappearing likely only made it worse, I remember how hard Starswirl and Sterling fought to allow our leaving.”

“What do you think happened to Skyros?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not sure. The land itself was incredibly magical.” Celestia admitted. “Magic like that doesn’t disappear, it has to go somewhere. And that’s to say nothing of the inhabitants. We who are born alicorns live extraordinarily long, if the island was rendered uninhabitable, then the others should have made an appearance by now. Unless they could not.”

“We’ll only know if we can find out what happened on Skyros.” Varian admitted. “Sterling left an apology for the last time she and Gold Lily saw each other. Something must have happened.”

“I don’t wanna assume it’s related too but, if Grogar tried to stop all possible opposition from every creature he could, if he tried to stop the magic of harmony from ever being found, if he went to become Zhan Tiri and try to get her grubby hands on the magic of the sundrop and moonstone, there ain’t no way that the goat thing didn’t do something to Skyros.” Hugo leaned back against the wall, feeling a little more nauseous then he had the past day. “Especially since it would have been after Gold Lily helped Demanitus defeat Zhan Tiri in Corona. Maybe it was just to get back at one of the dynamic duo, maybe it was to try to make sure no other alicorns would stand in their way away.”

“You are most likely correct.” Celestia nodded. “Which is more of an answer than we’ve had in centuries.”

“Hopefully, we can find the answer.” Varian sighed. “I don’t like the uncertainty.”

“For now, we need to make a plan. I’ll start going through everything we have and make flash cards, so you two can summarize it for your own reference.” Twilight mentioned.

“We’ll get set up to go to the Bone Dry Desert, it’s the last place we know for sure to look here in Equestria.” Varian added, looking at Hugo. “Hugo, are you okay? You look pale.”

“I’m… I’m fine.” Hugo swayed a bit as he tried to stand up.

He was surprised just how many creatures moved to try to catch him, but Fluttershy somehow made it to him first, putting a foreleg against his head.

“You’re burning up.”

“I’m fine-”

“No you certainly are not. Now you will march to your guest room, change into some cooler clothes, and lay down, young man.”

“I-” Hugo was ready to argue, until Fluttershy looked at him sternly.

“Right now!” Fluttershy stared into his eyes, unsettling him and causing him to feel compelled to do as instructed.

“Alright, alright.” He put his hands up defensively before he retreated to his guest room.

He would usually feel anxious about being sick and actually accepting it, but something about how worried everyone had been once they realized it put him at ease. He felt… safe.

Cozy Glow stopped and looked around, tilting her head to the side.

“What is it, Coze?” 

“I don’t know. I thought I heard someone blinking, but that doesn’t make sense.”

“Heard someone blinking?” Eugene asked. “That’s a uh, a weird thing to say, Cozy.”

“Oh, blinking is a spell. I don’t think everypony called it that, but it's uh… a teleportation spell. You ‘blink’ out of one place and into another.” Cozy explained.

“A teleportation spell?” Cass asked, eyebrows raising.

“Oh, it’s a super duper hard spell to pull off. Most unicorns can’t do it. I don’t even think all the princesses can.” Cozy explained. “And you kind of have to know where you want to be going, otherwise you might teleport somewhere dangerous.”

“Magic is so… well magical.” Rapunzel smiled. “What else can unicorns do?”

“Well it depends on the unicorn. It’s a little easy to just explain what the really famous magic users can do.” Cozy thought for a moment. “Celestia raises the sun, and Luna raises the moon. Twilight is really powerful, being the element of magic itself. Cadance I guess can sense emotions, at least the ones around love. She talked down a grieving dragon from inflicting the same hurt in her heart onto others, according to the story anyway.”

“I guess that explains how, even after what he’d seen, Varian seems so… well happy and healthy.” Eugene mentioned.

“What do you mean?” Cozy asked. 

“Well, ten years back Old Corona, a town close to the borderwall, was attacked.” Cass explained, pointing in a direction. “Everyone was killed, or so we all thought until Varian showed up. Apparently, his mom, Princess Cadance, was exploring our world because a portal opened, and saved Varian from the men attacking the village.”

“Oh. So… he saw everything he’d ever known burn down around him…” Cozy muttered. “Yeah, I guess it’s a good thing he was taken in by Princess Cadance. He might not be so well adjusted.”

“Do you know the princesses well?” Rapunzel asked.

“No, not really. Celestia would come into the foal center sometimes to tell us a story or something but it wasn’t like it was one on one time. I just know about them, Canterlot is all about talking about the royalty. And obviously, stories like how Cadance talked down a dragon or how Twilight defeated Lord Tirek are popular.”

“Lord Tirek?” Cass raised an eyebrow.

“He’s a big evil centaur who steals magic using a vampiric spell that leaves the creature he took it from weakened.” Cozy explained. “I guess the princesses all gave their magic to Twilight to hide it from him, but he found out about her and hunted her down. They had a big fight just outside of Ponyville that was pretty visible from Canterlot before he revealed he’d captured her friends, and forced her to hand over all the magic for her friends. She chose her friends.”

“Oooh I hope I get to meet this Twilight someday.”

“You should, I think she’d be Varian’s aunt.” Cozy admitted, thinking. “Cadance is married to Twilight’s brother, the captain of the guard Shining Armor.”

“How did she beat Tirek?” Cass asked.

“Oh, well, I guess the Tree of Harmony, a magical tree that Twilight has a connection to, it rewarded her for choosing friendship over magic. I guess it had been testing all the Elements for a while and Twilight had just passed her test. They were powered up with some kind of rainbow magic, and that allowed them to not only defeat Tirek but to return all the magic back to the creatures it came from.” Cozy explained.

“Sounds like Equestria isn’t all that safe.” Eugene muttered. “Evil centaurs with weird magic, weird magic trees granting powers.”

“Well, that was ten years ago. It might have calmed down.” Cozy admitted, thinking. 

“Varian certainly didn’t bring up anything like that.” Cass admitted. “Neither did Skystar.”

“They all seemed pretty happy.” Rapunzel thought for a moment. “I bet Equestria is beautiful…”

“Well parts of it. It’s a huge country, not all of it is as pretty as the Crystal Empire or Canterlot.” Cozy admitted. 

“How big?” Cass asked.

Cozy thought for a moment, walking over to a piece of chalk and picking it up tentatively with her mouth and drawing a map. Cass perked up a little realizing what Cozy was doing, looking as Cozy grew in regions and stepped back, spitting the remaining chalk out.

“Ugh. Okay, so, this is all of Equestria. This little island here is where Griffonstone and Trottingham. It’s about as big as Corona seems to be.” Cozy explained.

“Wha… you’re serious?” Eugene asked.

“Well, yeah. See, Equestria was founded by three separate kingdoms that came together over a thousand years ago. So all the land between them created what is now the center of Equestria.” Cozy explained, pointing. “That’s where Canterlot is, where Celestia and Luna’s thrones are. Twilight’s castle is in nearby Ponyville, but that’s where the Tree of Harmony put it so it’s not like it was carefully planned out or anything. Then there’s the Crystal Empire, up here at the northernmost point of Equestria, where Cadance and her family rule.”

“But… How do they manage all that land? All the citizens?”

“Well, besides the fact there are four of them, they have other rulers. The griffons have a monarch, even if we never see them. There are mayors or chancellors in every town, even in Canterlot and Ponyville, who run the local day to day.” Cozy explained. “It’s a lot of teamwork, but it’s worked pretty well for a long time.”

“Still that’s… I’ve never seen a single kingdom so big.” Eugene admitted.

“I never thought it was weird until I realized how small Corona seems to be.” Cozy admitted.

“Well, as educational as this was, we do need to head home.” Cass mentioned. 

The group began walking back to the castle, only one of them at all aware that their conversation had been listened to. Cozy wasn’t even sure it mattered if some guards knew how big Equestria was, and she knew it was pretty normal that Rapunzel was being followed by guards, just a little more subtly than she had apparently been in the past. Cozy was pretty sure Cass was suspicious, but Cass didn’t seem to see the guard as a threat so it probably made her less aware of their presence. Cozy thought that was a mistake, but she wasn’t about to tell Cass that anyone could turn on her for any reason. After all, she didn’t need Cass to continue to be suspicious of her now that they were making some kind of progress.

“So Cozy, when Varian does figure out how to open the portal, what are you going to do?” Rapunzel asked.

Oh. Oh no. She hadn’t even begun to think of a strategy for when another Equestrian came back, especially since Varian’s family would recognize her. She had to come up with a way to keep her past secret, and to convince them she wasn’t a threat.

“I… guess I didn’t think about that.” 

“Well, I hope you’ll stay. I know Corona doesn’t have everything you're used to, but I think we’d all really miss you. Especially Captain.” Rapunzel mentioned.

“Well, I think I have to at least talk to… someone about it.” Cozy tried to dance around the issue. “And I think I’m technically supposed to go to flight camp and uh, other things.”

“Flight camp?” Eugene raised an eyebrow. “You seem to fly just fine.”

“It’s just a summer course where they teach you a lot of important flight tips.” Cozy explained. “It’s supposed to ensure flight safety so there’s not a lot of crashes or any big issues, more for the creatures who are really into flying fast. And probably so ponies who have flying cutie marks have a chance to get them. At least that's what I think it’s really about.”

“Oh, I wish I could see Equestria, it all sounds so magical.” Rapunzel mentioned.

“You might someday.” Cozy offered.

“There’s no way dad would allow it.”

“... You are… eighteen years old?” Cozy mentioned, tilting her head. “I don’t know if you need his permission.”

“It’s not so simple, Coze. Just try asking dad for… I don’t know, permission to go to the Snuggly Duckling alone or something.” Cass mentioned.

“You mean your dad.” Cozy corrected, before she hurried forward. “Oh look Stand and Pete need help with something, I’ll see you guys later!”

“... Does she or does she not want to be adopted?” Cass sighed.

“Hey, give her time. I think she’s just afraid of getting her hopes up.” Eugene admitted. “It uh, it stings when you think it’s going well and it might finally happen but then it doesn’t.”

Cass’s gaze softened, “Yeah… uh… right. Right…”

Cass hadn’t really taken it upon herself to think about how Eugene was affected by his childhood before, or how it related to Cozy Glow. But now that it was on her mind, she wondered just how much more like Eugene or Cozy she might have been, had Captain not taken her in.

Chapter Text

Hugo had been annoyed the first day that Fluttershy had put him on bedrest. The next day, however, he’d been more grateful, because once he woke up that morning, it was clear that he had caught something. He groaned and squinted, to try to make out who it was walking into the room once he heard the door open. He'd be unable to make out what pony had entered if it wasn’t for the pink and yellow color blobs he could see making it clear it was Fluttershy. She’d checked on him periodically the day before, so it wasn’t surprising she was back now.

“Oh, I knew you were sick. How do you feel?”

“Crumby.” Hugo admitted.

She had what he assumed was a thermometer, so he opened his mouth to let her take his temperature.

“I think you got a little flu. You should be better before we get everything together for the trip to the desert.” Fluttershy mentioned. “Is there anything I can get for you? Maybe a little music?”

“Yeah, music might be nice. Uh, just not the upbeat stuff that Varian listens to.”

“Nice calm music, got it.” Fluttershy pulled the blanket over him more before he heard her flutter out of the room.

He could see why she was the element of kindness, and he started to doze off before he sensed someone else in the room. He sat up too quickly, feeling first an aggressive wave of nausea but then a strange sensation that made it seem to pass.

“Calm down there, it’s just me.” Discord’s familiar voice reached him before he could ask what was going on.

“Discord? What are you doing in here?”

“I just wanted to talk.”

“About?”

“Well, I fully support Varian looking into this mystery, but I have concerns about humans. Not you, you seem fine, a little jumpy but I’m sure that’s because humans have remained as awful as they were.” Discord pressed something into his hand, along with what felt like a glass of water. “That’s something to settle your stomach more permanently, for the record. Magic can only do so much. Well, my magic, I’m no healer.”

“... Well… I’m not gonna say some places don’t have… some pretty glaring problems.” Hugo admitted, taking the tablet. “Thanks.”

“Glaring problems like?” Discord asked, clearly leaning closer.

“Depends on the kingdom? A lot of orphanages are trash, for one. Practically everywhere. Ingvarr is a special kind of hell.” Hugo admitted, leaning back. “But Corona I only know a bit about… but none of that bit is exactly nice.”

“Do tell.” In a bright light, Discord changed to having a small machine Hugo had learned was called a typewriter, and wearing a suit with glasses.

“Keep in mind Ingvarr tends to try to make every other kingdom sound bad.”

Discord tapped away at the typewriter, “Noted.”

Hugo sighed, but sat back comfortably in the bed after putting his glasses on as he told Discord about what he’d heard about King Frederic. His policies, the people executed and exiled, families torn apart by small crimes. Discord was quiet, but Hugo had a feeling he was just being contemplative. The door opened as Fluttershy pushed in a record player, pulling in some kind of food tray on a trolley cart. As soon as the door had opened, Discord sent away his little outfit and type writer, sitting up straight and whistling unconvincingly. 

“Discord? You’re not bothering poor Hugo are you?” Fluttershy asked.

“Nah, he was just keeping me company.” Hugo lied, not necessarily for Discord.

He and Discord were clearly of one mind about Varian not necessarily being safe in Corona, not completely. Hugo wasn’t as suspicious as he felt like the draconequus was, but he had plenty of reason to let the chaos master know they were on the same side. That he had concerns about King Frederic and that he, too, wanted Varian to be safe. It was bad enough he was currently on the path to betraying Varian for some book, he didn’t want him in danger as well. Discord seemed surprised Hugo lied for him, but the small smile he gave insinuated that he appreciated it.

“Oh, good. Thank you, Disie.” Fluttershy’s tone was a lot lighter.

She kissed Discord on the cheek, the creature clearly enamored by her as she set up the record player. Hugo knew that Fluttershy was, apparently, considered very beautiful by pony standards, but he doubted that’s what drew the chaotic creature to her. It was some cello music, nice and calming, and Hugo relaxed a bit.

“I know your stomach has been upset, but I made some soup for you that I hope will help you feel better.” Fluttershy explained, setting up a small bed table.

Hugo sat up to eat, glad that the movement didn’t make him as nauseous as before. The soup was pretty gentle on flavors, which made him feel a little more confident eating it as he sat there, idly chatting with the married odd couple.

“Cadance is taking you back to the Empire on an overnight train, she wants Varian’s doctor to make sure it’s nothing more serious.” Fluttershy explained.

Hugo hadn’t really thought much about who, if anyone, had helped keep Varian healthy. 

“Well I’m sure Cadance isn’t taking ‘no thanks’ as an answer, so I guess I have to be alright with it.” Hugo admitted. 

And back in the Empire, he’d have access to the room Varian kept all his human family's things. Varian said she’d show him, and with the portal soon to be finished, so too would Hugo’s time in Equestria. If he did as Donella said, anyway.

“Are you alright?” It was Discord asking, not Fluttershy, but his tone was just as concerned as hers would be.

It was a little strange, knowing what he knew about Discord from the journal and seeing the creature before him now. Ten years and wedded bliss clearly had changed him significantly, but it did seem for the better. 

“Yeah I’ll be fine. Just nervous about a doctor visit. Last time I had one of those didn’t… go well for me, is all.” Hugo admitted, putting a hand over where his robotic arm started.

Discord’s eyes followed the movement before he frowned more, “Ah… well uh…”

“I’m sure if you let Cadance know that, she’ll let someone be with you. Varian is used to Dr. Pepper Bark, I’m sure he’d be willing to.” Fluttershy offered.

Hugo knew that she was right, and that almost made it worse. Varian considered him a friend, and he’d seen first hand how far Varian would go for his friends. He forced himself to finish the soup a little fast, in an effort to get them to leave him alone. He needed time to think about his options, without the swaying presence of the creatures around him. Though, when he thought about it, did he really have to be afraid of Donella coming? What could she do against the Lord of Chaos? Against Celestia or Luna? Against the Guardians of Harmony?

“I’ll think about it. Thanks again. Both of you. But I think I need to lay down for a while.”

“Of course. Get some rest, hopefully the train ride won’t be too hard on you.” Fluttershy pat his hands gently before she ushered Discord out of the room.

Hugo laid back, sighing as he tried to figure out just what he was going to do.

Cass walked into the room, about to tell Cozy to vacate it so she could clean, when she took pause. Cozy was completely engrossed in whatever she was doing, but it was what she was doing that caught Cass’ eye. She was staring down into a children's book, clearly frustrated. Cass didn’t understand what it could be that was so frustrating about a book, until it dawned on her. In the time that Cozy had been there, none of them had been able to decipher the language she wrote in. Because it was a similar sounding, but differently written language.

“Coze?”

She jumped up onto her hooves, quickly slamming the book closed and looking up at Cass. It made sense, now that Cass was aware of it, that Cozy was embarrassed she couldn’t read their language. The filly was smart, and she’d been smart with a purpose. Not being able to read was assuredly a sore spot, and she was embarrassed to ask for help.

“Oh golly Cassie, is it time to clean? I must have lost track of time. I’ll get out of your hair.” Cozy quickly stumbled over her words, hurrying out of the room.

Cass considered going after her, but as much as she wanted to help, she felt that she had a better idea. There was someone she knew who would jump at the chance for quality time with the filly.

Hugo had slept through the trip, too sick and tired to do much else. It was a fitful, dreamless sleep, which he was almost thankful for because he wasn’t sure he could lie to Luna. He’d heard Sunburst check in on him a few times, which was nice, but the stallion had been quiet and careful. Anyone else likely wouldn’t have woken up, Hugo was just a light sleeper. Another wonderful trait he’d gained living in Ingvarr. Once they’d arrived, Sunburst and Cadance had come to help him off the train, and he found he was quite a bit dizzier than he’d been before. Varian was visibly worried, which only hurt more. Hugo had never had a friend before, and now that he had one, he had to leave him. Worse, he had to betray him, betray his friends welcoming family.

Flurry hurried off without them, to where he wasn’t sure but the filly was often just a little odd. They got him back to the castle slowly, and he’d noticed so many worried glances from the Crystal creatures. He’d spent very little time outside of the palace, but even the population were just worried seeing him sick. Dr. Pepper Bark was waiting for them once they got to the castle, it seemed that some creature had run off to tell her even before Cadance could order it. 

“Come on, let’s get him into a bed.” She insisted.

They got into the castle and to Hugo’s room, where he did his best to sit up and not wobble as the kirin checked on him. She seemed satisfied after a while, turning to Varian and Cadance, since they’d been hovering near the door worriedly.

“It is just a bad flu, he’ll be alright in a few days. And once you are, I’m going to have to insist we update you on your shots.” Dr. Pepper Bark said to Hugo.

“My what?”

“Your vaccinations?” She asked, that was a term he wasn’t sure he’d heard before. “Oh dear. Well, it will help prevent you from getting sick in the future.”

“Oh it’s like inoculation. I’ve heard of it before.” Hugo admitted.

“It’s a little more sophisticated than inoculation was in the past, though it will leave you feeling a little tired.” Dr. Pepper Bark explained. “Now relax, you need to allow yourself to heal.”

“Sure thing.” Hugo laid back carefully after placing his glasses on the nightstand.

“Is there anything we can get you Hugo?” Cadance asked.

Before he could answer, Flurry came in with a chair and some books, getting into the chair and opening one of the books after clearing her throat.

“Flurry, what are you doing?” Varian asked.

“Reading to Hugo.”

“I mean clearly but-”

“Mom and dad read to you when you were sick, you read to me when I was sick, so I’m gonna read to Hugo now that he’s sick.” Flurry explained it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Hugo was touched, he knew Flurry was a good kid but because she tended to rush head first into danger he thought she was perhaps less considerate than her brother. Clearly, she was just as considerate in different ways.

“Flurry, he…” Varian started, trying to find a way to let the filly down gently.

“It’s alright Goggles. I don’t think I could sleep just yet. Read away, Flurry.”

The filly gave her brother a smug smile before she cleared her throat again, “Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone.”

Cozy hoped that Cass hadn’t put together what she’d been doing, but she knew if anyone could it was Cass. Somehow, this was the most embarrassing thing someone could find out about her. Sure, she wasn’t looking forward to them finding out about her criminal past, and she was going to do what she could to avoid it, but this was a matter of personal pride. Cass hadn’t said anything that afternoon, once their paths had crossed, and it didn’t seem like Eugene or Rapunzel knew because they didn’t bring it up. And if anyone would, it would be Eugene. 

She thought the coast was clear once she arrived back in the evening for dinner, since Cass didn’t mention it over dinner. Of course once Cass left to her own room, that’s when something different happened. Captain picked up a children's book, sitting down and patting the bed next to him. Cozy was annoyed but tried to do her best to hide it, hopping up next to him.

“What is it, Captain?”

“I’m just reminiscing, is all. When I adopted Cassandra, she was still very little. Whoever her parents were, they never even taught her how to read.” Captain explained.

Cozy knew Cass was adopted, the young woman made it clear how thankful she was about it. She practically worshipped Captain, which Cozy found to be ridiculous. He was a decent father figure, but he was hardly perfect. But she hadn’t really learned much else about the circumstances that put Cass under his care.

“How old was she?” Cozy asked, tilting her head.

“She was only four, but she should have at least been learning to read.” Captain sighed, before putting an arm around Cozy so he could hold the book where she could see. “And I’m sorry that none of us thought about how you might not be able to read the books here.”

“It’s… fine. I just… I guess I’m not used to asking for help anymore.” Cozy admitted. 

The last time she’d asked any creature for any assistance was Tirek, and even then she’d framed it as a hypothetical. 

“It’s alright. I’ve had my fair share of… stubborn moments.” Captain admitted. “But Cassandra can tell it’s really bothering you, that you can’t read. And while she didn’t think she’d have the patience to teach you, she did want you to know she’s rooting for you.”

Cozy smiled a bit to herself, looking up at him, “I promise I’m a fast learner. I just didn’t know where to begin.”

“Well, luckily I’ve had a little practice. Do you think you're ready?”

“Yep!”

Cozy stared intently at the page as Captain read aloud, it was a book far below her age range but it was meant to help kids learn to read. It would take time, but it was already starting to make sense as she slowly put together what letters were what sounds.

Hugo couldn’t rest. He wanted to, but now that he was left alone with his own thoughts, it became impossible to ignore the turmoil in his heart. He owed Donella his life, but did she deserve his loyalty? He wished he felt comfortable talking about it at all, Rainbow Dash would probably have some kind of advice about it. He still didn’t even know what was in the almanac that she wanted so badly. 

He got up and opened the window for some cool air, looking out at the sprawling city, the aurora that reminded him of Celestia’s strange flowing mane, Luna’s moon, the stars that reminded him of Twilight’s Cutie Mark. The Empire, a place so fantastical he hadn’t really believed his eyes the first time he saw it. Not too far away, in the same palace he was in, was the first person he’d ever actually had any semblance of romantic feelings for. His first friend, aside from Olivia. Somewhere in the castle, Flurry was passed out in a pile of stuffed snails and crabs and whatever other mollusk toys she’d gathered in her years. The adorable menace of a princess that had spent hours reading to him to try to make feel better. Cadance and Shining Armor, who had been nothing but kind to him. Rarity who had vouched for him, even trying to explain why his behavior was the way it was to Varian. Tempest and Twilight, both who had endeavored to teach him little things that made life in Equestria make more sense. 

Sure, he’d seen a few side glances from a few creatures that were far from friendly, but it all seemed so much nicer than Ingvarr. Everyone in the Empire at least had been nice to him, they clearly had no inclination against humans. Varian’s friends, the ones he’d met so far, they all welcomed him so warmly. He wanted to meet Potion Nova, Gallus, and Silverstream. He wanted to get to know Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Yona, Sandbar and Smolder better. 

He wanted to reach out to that family in Canterlot and make more automata, he wanted to see more children react with delight like Flurry had when given Karkinos. He wanted to stick with Varian, to solve the mystery of Grogar, of Gusty the Great. Not just because he himself was curious, though that did have some impact on his decision, but because he’d enjoyed the adventure thus far and wanted to see it to its conclusion. He wanted to see Varian’s next invention, whatever it happened to be. He couldn’t explain all the reasons it would hurt to leave, aside from the feelings for Varian, but it would. He leaned forward on the windowframe with a sigh, as the answer to why suddenly hit him.

“it just… felt like home. I was finally home. And I know someday, you’ll find that feeling too.”

He clutched hard onto the window frame, taking a breath as he tried to calm himself down as he felt devastation wrack him. It was some kind of cruel irony. Sugar Belle was right, he knew. He knew that this felt right, but he couldn’t stay. No matter how much he wanted to, Donella would never let him go that easily. He sighed, storming back across the room and flopped back into the bed, trying hard not to allow himself to cry. He wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but he eventually did.

He was confused as he found himself on a familiar street in Ingvarr, but he wasn’t sure what to make of it. It looked like Ingvarr, but it seemed colder and darker. Or maybe he was really understanding how cold it really was.

“Hugo?” 

He froze, hurrying over to a ledge to see Varian looking around, scared and confused.

“V-” Hugo started, feeling a large hand cover his mouth.

He looked up, confused to see Cyrus, Donella walking to their side. He wanted to question what was going on, but then he heard Varian shout. He looked, eyes widening to see Varian surrounded by witch hunters. He struggled, trying to get free of Cyrus’s grasp. He felt helpless watching the group slowly close in on his friend, struggling hard but unable to shake Cyrus off.

“Enough!” A voice called.

Hugo was relieved as a streetlamp fire exploded into a ball of light, Luna appearing. She blasted away the images in the nightmare, Hugo taking a deep breath as he tried to calm himself. He knew she was approaching him carefully, but he didn’t mind. He felt like he could use the incoming pep talk, even if he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to tell her the truth.

“Hugo, are you alright?”

“I… I don’t know. I… I’ve never had anyone I cared about before. It’s not how Ingvarr works.” Hugo rambled it out. “And now I just… I don’t know what to do.”

“What has you so torn?” Luna put a wing around his shoulder, which was comforting to Hugo as he relaxed a little.

He wasn’t comfortable explaining the whole truth to her, but he knew Luna was unlikely to leave until he said something. And he really felt like he could use some advice.

“... I have this boss, in Ingvarr. It’s… unfortunately normal, to have to join a crime syndicate just to survive. I don’t know if she’d… well if she’d let me go. People don’t just walk away from that.”

Luna listened with a worried expression, “And yet?”

“I guess… I’m more afraid of what could happen if I’m not there, to help Varian. And I… I don’t want to go back. I’ve never felt safe, or secure, or… really, truly happy, like I have pretty much since I got here and realized you all really are just… like that.” Hugo mentioned, remembering what Tempest had said. “Just like Tempest said. You all are just… nice, and welcoming and… and this is the first time I’ve ever really felt like I belonged somewhere, not that I just fit somewhere.”

Luna nodded, thinking for a while before speaking, “Well, I know I cannot speak for any creature but myself, but I would never allow this former boss of yours to harm you. And I don’t think Varian would either. He’s more capable than he appears.”

“But… I don’t know if I want him involved in that.”

“Only you can decide that much. But I promise you Hugo, as a friend, I will be there for you.” Luna promised. 

“Thanks, Luna. That… does make me feel better.”

“And I think you know that Tempest Shadow understands you better than most. If you ever need to talk to someone about this, I know she would like to be there for you.”

“She’s done a lot for me already.”

“Yes, and I know she’d like to do more, if you’d let her. She knows you have to let your heart thaw at your own pace, that’s why she’s been supportive from a distance.”

Hugo thought for a moment, before nodding, “Yeah that… makes sense. I’ll talk to her.”

“Good. And, I think you should try to trust Varian with more of your pain. He cares about you.”

“I know. I’ll… try. I promise.”

“That is all I can ask for.” Luna smiled at him. “Now, I believe it is time for you to wake up.”

Hugo was, at least for the time being, looking forward to another day in Equestria. 

Cozy Glow focused on learning when she could, now that Captain knew it was easier, somehow, to let others know. Rapunzel was incredibly helpful, spending a lot of time helping Cozy learn to read and write. Queen Arianna seemed enthusiastic to help as well, though Cozy could guess it was either because the queen had very little to do most days, or because she missed doing it with Rapunzel. Maybe both. Cozy hadn’t really stopped to think about the pain that Frederic and Arianna had gone through before, but now that she’d spent hours with Arianna, it was hard not to. The time with Arianna was also usually nice and quiet and bereft of some of her annoyances in the castle.

She was trying not to make it clear she had favorites in the castle, but she was pretty sure it was. She didn’t like or dislike the king, per se, he wasn’t her main issue. The maids, some of the guards, especially Stan and Pete, Nigel on more than one occasion, they all seemed to struggle to understand that she wasn’t a critter. As smart as she could tell Max was, she was smarter, she was her world's equivalent to a human. She did her best to avoid those annoyances, because she could feel herself losing her patience with them. And today, after some of her struggles with writing the Coronan language, she was not in the mood to play nice with them.

She was hoping to find Pascal to play some board games to try to relax before dinner, but it seemed he might be out with Rapunzel. She started toward the exit of the castle, deciding instead to maybe just fly about or see if Monty was feeling generous. Before she could make it, Stan and Pete walked around a corner arguing. She forced a smile, hoping to pass them without a word. Her being so short made it easier to sometimes go unseen, but unfortunately they noticed her.

“Oh hey Cozy!” Pete greeted.

“Hi Pete, hi Stan.” Cozy forced.

“Are you feeling okay?” Stan asked. “You sound a little down.”

“Well-”

“I know what’ll cheer you up.” Pete interrupted, pulling an apple out.

She felt a pit of dread in her stomach that almost immediately turned to rage as Pete offered her the apple whole in a flattened open palm. She’d seen that hand before, it was how they gave food and treats to Max and the other palace horses. Before she could compose herself, she felt Stan or Pete petting her ear and she saw red. She wasn’t sure what she screamed about, she was so angry it was just spilling out. She reared up and stomped her hooves down, still screaming at the two guards, before she heard someone saying her name. She looked over, seeing Cass with a surprised expression and Captain with a stern but concerned expression. Rapunzel and Eugene were also there, and Nigel, and evidently it was close enough to dinner that this hallway was busy with practically everyone she knew. She felt embarrassment building up and quickly turned tail to rush away, leaving the group of bewildered humans behind her.

“What was that about?” Rapunzel asked.

“I think she made that pretty clear Raps, it was about some people here treating her like a pet not like a kid.” Cass said, hurrying after her. “I’ll find Cozy, dad.”

“Good. It seems I need to have a chat with some of you.” Captain said, crossing his arms.

Cass found herself in the garden, unsurprisingly, but she didn’t immediately spot Cozy. On the one hand that was good, the filly wasn’t a fast flyer so if she’d been airborne she’d have been visible. So she didn’t fly off to avoid them, at least. On the other, when Cozy didn’t want to be found she was very good at hiding.

“Coze? C’mon Coze, come out it’s me.” Cass called, looking around. “It’s hard to find you when you hide, you're so small.”

She heard a small sniffle, following it to a bush, getting down on her hands and knees to look in it. Cozy was laying in it with her back to Cass, her face buried in her forelegs.

“Getting those sticks out of your mane is going to be annoying, you know.” Cass attempted to joke, smiling a little when she heard a small scoff from Cozy. “C’mon, you can come out. It’s just me out here.”

Cozy hesitated but climbed out, holding her head down and refusing to meet Cass’s eyes.

“You didn’t need to run off embarrassed you know, if I were you I would have done a lot worse to them for treating me like that.” Cass admitted, standing up and brushing herself off. “I respect that you told them off.”

Cozy turned her eyes up at her, though her head was still lowered, “You do?”

“Yeah. You were way more patient with them then you should have been.” Cass admitted. “Besides, it was nice to finally see you lose your cool. You’ve been pretending to be a cute, perfect little girl for too long, Coze. You don’t have to impress anyone here. We already like you.”

Cozy stared up at Cass, feeling tears welling up in her eyes, digging her face into Cass’s legs. Cass surprised Cozy by kneeling down and hugging her, but Cozy melted into the embrace. She didn’t realize just how much she needed a hug.

“I know I’m not always the most approachable. I know I was a little guarded around you. But… I do think you’re a good kid, Cozy. You just try too hard. And I get why, hearing about the Canterlot foal center. But you shouldn’t have to be perfect to belong somewhere.”

Cozy nodded, sniffling and rubbing her eyes. “Thanks Cassie.”

“Now come on. I think someone owes you an apology.” Cass mentioned, putting Cozy onto her hooves. “And you are getting it. Even if I have to force it out of them.”

Cass punched a fist into a palm, Cozy smiling and rolling her eyes a little.

“Do you always have to resort to violence?” Cozy asked with a taunting tone.

She was a little worried as Cass’ eyebrows raised, before Cass chuckled a little.

“See, that’s more like it.” Cass teased. “Come on.” 

They went inside, Cozy picking out the leaves and twigs from her curls as they walked.

“Did I get them all?”

“I think so.” Cass mentioned looking her over. “Nope, there’s one in your tail.”

“Oh come on.” Cozy sighed, trying to reach her tail.

“I got it.” Cass knelt down and grabbed the twig, tossing it to the side as they turned a corner. 

Cozy was a little surprised to see the maids and Stan and Pete looking embarrassed, and she glanced at Captain as he cleared his throat. She couldn’t quite make out all the words, but she could tell they were apologies.

“... I’m sorry too, for not saying anything sooner and letting it build up. I know I don’t look like anyone else here, and I know that you guys don’t really have other creatures that are sapient that you need to talk to. I’m not a critter or a pet, I’m an eleven year old girl.” 

They looked more ashamed of themselves, which Cozy didn’t think they could.

“I’m glad that’s settled.” Captain said, kneeling down. “Are you alright Cozy?”

“I’m okay. Cassie did a good job cheering me up.” Cozy admitted, smiling up at him. “Now then, it’s dinner time.”

Cozy followed him, unsure if she could really count on any meaningful change from everyone. But she almost hoped she did, if she could be treated normally, it would make staying more pleasant. And it was getting hard to imagine leaving.

Hugo hadn’t felt truly rested so long, not as totally as he had been. The flu was over in just a few days, once he finally forced himself to really rest. In hindsight, he had a feeling that Tempest knew he’d get sick enough he couldn’t ignore it and that was what she was counting on, but he couldn’t bring himself to be mad about it. Once he’d gotten better, Dr. Pepper Bark came and gave him some vaccinations, which had him groggy, but he didn’t mind the downtime. It gave him an excuse to spend time with Varian, which he was worried he’d miss. It was morning, and he’d only been up a while. He was at least changed for the day, but he hadn’t left his room just yet, opting to read and relax.

“Hugo? Are you awake?” Varian’s voice called from the door.

“Yeah, I am. Anything going on, Goggles?”

“I just wanted to show you something.” 

Hugo got up from his lounging position, putting the friendship journal down. He’d finally finished reading it, though now he found himself rereading parts in some effort to convince himself he’d changed like one of the other creatures. He felt different, but try as he might he couldn’t shake feeling like it was wrong to betray Donella. She wasn’t kind to him, but she could have been worse. She saved his life, she didn’t have to, but she hung it over his head. He shook the thoughts for the time being, meeting Varian in the hallway. Varian led him through the castle to a door, one he knew to be magically locked, and he felt his stomach dropped. He wanted to tell Varian not to, that he was fine with secrets, but he couldn’t.

“It’s not all that exciting, it’s just the stuff from my old home in Old Corona.” Varian admitted nervously. “I don’t spend a lot of time in here.”

He followed Varian into the room, looking around the room and spotting a painting.

“That’s…”

“Yeah uh… that’s my dad. And Ulla.” Varian’s voice went from soft when talking about his father, to having a clear bitterness to it.

“... You don’t talk about her much.” Hugo admitted.

“Yeah well… she left when I was three. I don’t even remember her. But I remember how much her just- just walking out in the middle of the night to go on an adventure hurt dad.” Varian admitted bitterly. “I try not to mention it in front of my family, I know they’d want me to move on and not be bitter but… I don’t know. I don’t want to let go of the bitterness. That's all I have left of her.”

Hugo understood that, strangely enough, so he just nodded and looked around the room more. There were a few books, most of which seemed normal.

“It only got worse once I finally looked at this.” Varian sighed, pulling out a book.

Hugo knew it was what he was sent for, but he was a little surprised that Varian was just handing it to him. He took it, feeling concerned that Varian was actually bitter because he knew what he was there for. However, upon looking at the little notes left in the margin it became clear why. It didn’t take much to skim them to realize that, despite being away from her family for about a year, Ulla never mentioned them. She was just delighted to be out on an adventure with her research partner and best friend. And as Hugo read, he felt himself becoming bitter. Because it became clear just who this friend was, and what he was really there to do. He was tying up an embarrassing loose end, proof that once, Donella was a softer person. 

“What happened anyway?” Hugo asked.

“I remember… Some lady came, to tell dad that Ulla died. She left that book with us. Dad was devastated… and it wasn’t long after that that I lost him too.” Varian admitted.

So that was it then. Donella either killed her best friend, took whatever this almanac led to and left the book to try to stop Ulla’s husband from looking for answers… or Ulla died from some unforeseen danger, and Donella retreated and hid her involvement to save face in Ingvarr. Donella, who tried to teach him not to make connections and had been the reason he’d been so alone so long. 

“Hugo? Are you okay?”

“Oh sorry. I guess I’m just… mad for you.” Hugo lied, handing the almanac back.

Well, maybe he wasn’t lying. He was mad for Varian, he was just also mad for his own reason. His choice was made. He was choosing to have something Donella gave up or lost, and he was going to do it right. He was going to stand by Varian, solve the mystery they’d been on the road on. He was choosing his happiness over her petty reputation. As it settled finally in his mind, he felt lighter somehow. He didn’t realize just how much the decision was wearing on him.

“Well enough about her then… What about your dad? Quirin, right?”

Varian smiled a little, telling Hugo what he remembered about Quirin, what he’d learned from the thing from their house. And Hugo listened, enjoying the company of the first friend he’d ever had.

Chapter Text

They were to leave for the Bone Dry Desert in the morning, but Varian had a citizen he wanted to visit first. Hugo was curious and tagged along, stopping and back tracking as he spotted something.

“Is that a statue of you?”

“What?” Varian doubled back himself, sighing. “Of course they put that up when I was away…”

Hugo chuckled, “Come on, Goggles. You are a hero, it’s normal.”

“I’m not a hero, I just did what anyone would do…”

“Some people aren’t strong enough to do the right thing.” Hugo shrugged. “You inspire others, is that so bad?”

“I guess not…” Varian sighed, looking at the statue. “It just feels… I don’t know. I guess I feel like they’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

“You could have died out in the cold, you know. I mean, I know you had a secret uh… guardian angel, we’ll say, out there with you but you didn’t know that at first. They certainly don’t know that.” Hugo mentioned. 

“I guess… I hope someday I can tell them.” Varian sighed. “This uh, this visit is kind of in relation to that.”

Hugo was confused but followed without asking any questions as they arrived at a house. Varian knocked, a mare answered after a moment and smiled.

“Varian! Good to see you again, I hear you’ve been busy lately. And you must be Hugo.” She greeted.

“Uh, nice to meet you.” He offered a hand to shake, which she took.

“Oh, I’m Chestnut Falls.” She shook with him. “Please, come in. I’ll make some tea.”

They did as asked, Hugo looking at some pictures on the wall. The name almost rang a bell, but he wasn’t sure when Varian told him about her. Until he spotted a familiar building in one of the photos on the wall.

“Oh you work at the foal center.” Hugo mentioned.

“Well I did I… For some reason, after the Empire returned it just… it was too hard to.” She sighed.

Hugo was confused what she meant, but when she went to the kitchen Varian came over and pointed at a foal in one of the pictures.

“That’s Sombra… she doesn’t remember, he won’t let her, but she raised him.” Varian whispered. “And… she misses him, still.”

“The heart remembers…” Hugo recalled what Varian had said, sighing. “Now I remember, you told me about her when you told me ‘bout him saving you.”

“I try to visit her when I can. I know she must be lonely.”

“And she doesn’t even know why…” Hugo felt worse for the mare the more he thought about it. 

She raised that foal to adulthood, only to forget it all. The milestones, both the good and bad times, of course it couldn’t all be erased. Of course it would cause her pain, even if she didn’t know why. 

“... I know you haven’t talked to him, but maybe, once you do, you should try bringing her up. I mean… he’s hiding her memories still for a reason. He must be trying to protect her, to save her feelings. But maybe if he heard that even still, she misses him…” 

They heard Chestnut coming so they moved away from the portraits and sat down, the mare joining them and putting a tea tray down on the table. The tea visit was pleasant, she was a very kind mare, and they walked back toward the palace together after a few hours chatting about little things happening in the Empire.

“You know… I asked the Heart if I should talk to him, once. It said to give him time… but not how much, time. It’s been around a year.” Varian admitted. “But he never comes up close, at least not in front of me. I think I backed into him once…”

“Well, it might be worth a try, if you ever notice him nearby again. He’s had a year to think about why he helped you save the Empire he says he hates so much.” Hugo offered. “He must understand at least deep inside there’s a reason he did.”

“I’ll give it a try.” Varian nodded. “I mean… he must be lonely too.”

Hugo followed Varian’s gaze to outside the barrier, though he didn’t notice anything. He didn’t think Varian did either, but it was where the shadowy creature would likely be. The two went back to the palace to rest before their journey before long. 

Hugo was even more excited by the bullet train than he’d been the usual trains. They’d traveled so far, so fast in comparison, arriving at the Appaloosa station in a few short hours. Twilight had hung back to continue organizing the information they had, but this time Rarity was joining them along with Fluttershy.

“I know it needs more power to use, but that thing is great.” 

“If you like that, wait until you see how we’re getting to Klugetown.” Flurry smiled.

“I did notice we’re at the end of the tracks. What’s the reason for that?” Hugo asked.

“Well, it’s not the best conditions to send creatures to build in, and with the uh, other way, there’s not a huge reason to.” Varian mentioned.

Hugo was curious why the two of them were hiding, but he was willing to wait to find out. This time, he’d done as he was told and brought appropriate clothing. Rarity had given him more desert appropriate clothes, and he felt a little better not being in his old uniform. Maybe he’d been so dead set on wearing it because it was a physical representation of what he thought he was and who he had to be. Now that he didn’t feel like he had to wear it, though, he had to admit Rarity made great clothes. It was some light, breathable material that covered more of his skin, to prevent any sunburn, without releasing any heat. His shirt was a shade of light green, a relatively simple button up with an undershirt and matching dark green pants, along with what might have been the nicest boots he’d ever owned. 

Flurry and Varian were likewise more equipped for the hot weather, Varian in similar clothes to those he himself was wearing. Varian just didn’t bother buttoning up the top shirt and was wearing a bandana, one with a familiar little embroidered symbol on it. Hugo was pretty sure it was a Cutie Mark Crusader bandana, but the way it was a little frayed around the edges made him think it was recycled from something else. Flurry had on a light blue pith helmet with false flowers on it, along with a saddlebag. Fluttershy just had her hair tied up with some teal and turquoise flowers and some sunglasses, while Rarity had a big floppy hat and sunglasses, both with customized saddle bags with their cutie marks as the buckle. Now that he was looking at it, Varian’s backpack was also buckled with his Cutie Mark, so Hugo assumed that was just normal and Flurry’s was nondescript because she had no Cutie Mark yet.

Appaloosa was small, but since it seemed to just be the end of the tracks it somewhat made sense. There was a saloon, the sheriff's office, some kind of arena, and a trading post, which seemed to be the only bustling area in the small town. Buffalo, ponies and some creatures Hugo hadn’t seen before but could describe as land sharks were all trading goods there. Hugo stopped and stared at a handful of strange structures, all seeming to be staircases that led nowhere. He was about to ask what they were for, seeing as Apploosa didn’t seem like the kind of place to have art installations, when Flurry got his attention.

“There it is.” Flurry called, pointing up into the sky.

Hugo looked up and watched in amazement as a ship docked at one of the staircases. It was far more sophisticated than any hot air balloon, he could tell that from a glance.

“What is that?”

“That’s the Prism Wing.” Varian explained, smiling a little. “And our ride to Klugetown.”

Hugo followed them up to the ship, a little surprised as a human sized parrot-like creature grabbed Varian and pulled him into a hug.

“Well look how big you’ve gotten!”

“Oh princess Ocypete, it’s been a while.” Varian greeted, hugging her back. “Hugo, this is Princess Ocypete of Ornithia.”

“Your highness.” Hugo bowed.

“Oh no need for that, any friend of Celaeno’s friends is a friend of mine.”

“I don’t know if that’s the saying, Ocypete. And this is the first time I’ve met Hugo here.” Celaeno laughed. “Hey V, and hello Hugo.”

“Huh. I’ve never seen anything like you before.” Hugo admitted.

“Yeah, Ornithians don’t tend to wander much. We like it warm.” Celaeno admitted. “And you know, the desert is in the way. That’s slowed a lot of creatures from the southern hemisphere in visiting up there. But we’re building more and more ships like the Prism Wing, so someday maybe we’ll be a little more of a common sight.” 

“This ship is amazing.” Hugo put his fingers on the side railing.

“Ah, you're like Varian. Well, hey, he can show you the engine.” Celaeno offered.

Varian smiled and led Hugo down, noticing he was a bit tense until he saw the engine. He didn’t mean to look at Hugo’s robotic arm, but once it was clear Hugo noticed he quickly looked away.

“Sorry, uh…”

“No it’s uh… yeah. I lost it the way you’re probably thinking. I can’t hate machinery though, even after everything. I just hate the kind I was around. Built to make profit, not for any love of technology, and with no care who got hurt in the process…” Hugo sighed.

Varian wanted to ask more, but he could tell Hugo wasn’t up to talking about it. Really, he was just glad Hugo had opened up enough to tell him at all, so the two instead focused on talking about how the airships worked. They arrived in Klugetown after some time, Varian smiling a little seeing a familiar Cat Lord waiting at the dock. Before he could tease Rarity about it, Flurry shook Rarity in excitement.

“Look Auntie Rarity, it’s Capper!” Flurry exclaimed.

Rarity quickly began fussing about her hair and make up, and Hugo smiled a bit. He had been curious how, of all of Twilight’s friends, Rarity seemed to be single. She seemed to be attractive by pony standards, he’d seen ponies swoon over her. Now he could see she seemed to be holding a candle for someone who happened to live far away. And based on how this Capper was adjusting his coat and hair prior to their disembarking the airship, Hugo had a feeling the pining was mutual.

“Miss Rarity, always a pleasure.” Capper greeted as he helped her down before turning to look at Varian and Flurry. “And look at you two, so much bigger than the last time you were in Klugetown. And who’s this?”

Hugo noticed the semi suspicious glance from the bipedal cat creature, but he also noticed his gaze soften after just a moment. Hugo could tell, like Tempest, Capper understood him at a glance. He was fairly certain this was the creature Rarity had been referring to when she was talking to Varian about being patient with him.

“Hugo Rottewange.” Hugo held out a hand. 

“Hugo huh? Well I’m Capper, Capper Dapperpaws. A pleasure to meet you.” Capper shook his hand.

“He’s Varian’s boy-” Flurry started, though she was stopped as Varian tackled her to the ground.

Hugo chuckled, everyone content to watch the siblings rough house a while before they flopped over and laughed. 

“I wish I still had that much energy.” Capper sighed.

“Oh you're not that old Capper.” Varian rolled his eyes, sitting up. 

Hugo held out a hand to help Varian get up, which the prince took without hesitation. Hugo did feel his heart flutter holding Varian’s hand, but he mostly accepted his own feelings for Varian at this point. He wasn’t willing to mention them, yet, but he acknowledged them. He was still taking all of this one step at a time.

“Welcome to Klugetown.” Capper gestured, Hugo looking over at the city.

It was certainly different then any town in Equestria had been, but it was clear it was a little port town in what was essentially the middle of nowhere. The airship and actual ship docks were, presumably, the only thing that kept the town afloat. 

“I do have some concerns about you all wandering out into the desert.” Capper mentioned, walking with them.

“Oh don’t worry Capper, it’s hardly the first time we’ve gone to some unknown locale in search of answers.” Rarity reminded. 

“And I think a friend intended to meet us here, if she could make it.” Fluttershy explained.

Hugo hadn’t been told anyone was meeting them, and clearly Varian was surprised to hear it too.

“We didn’t want to get your hopes up.” Fluttershy started. “But-”

“Oh good, I didn’t miss you.”

Varian and Flurry got notably excited and turned toward the unfamiliar voice, Hugo looking around them to see a pegasus mare he didn’t know personally but had seen on the cover of the books Flurry had read to him. 

“Daring Do!” Flurry was clearly excited, rushing over to the mare.

“Looks like you're getting that adventure after all.” Daring smiled, adjusting the hat Rarity had put on Flurry to protect her from the sun. 

“Here I thought you were basically retired.” Varian mentioned.

“Oh please, I don’t want to retire, I just have more quiet moments. And I was curious. I don’t usually get to enjoy relaxed exploration, and this Gold Lily mystery has me curious.” Daring Do admitted. 

“Well hey, we’d be glad to have the expert with us for this one. We don’t really want to spend too much time out in the desert, and… well so far every time something has gone sideways.” Varian admitted.

Daring Do laughed a little, “Well that’s just the way this job is most of the time.”

They waited until it was dim, taking the time to eat and gather supplies, before they headed into the desert. Hugo hated it, he wasn’t a fan of heat and he really didn’t care for sand, but he was looking forward to having another part of the mystery. He had a good feeling about this base, it was far away from any notable historic settlements, as Klugetown seemed recent, and it was bigger, according to Daring Do’s notes. They seemed to be walking forever as the cold chill of the night slowly came around them, Flurry and Rarity using their horns to help light the way.

“Alright, here we are.” Daring Do stopped.

Hugo looked around, confused that there didn’t seem to be anything around them.

“So uh… are we digging?” Hugo asked. “I don’t think we brought enough shovels for that.”

“We shouldn’t need to. Here in a while, it’ll appear.” Daring Do mentioned. “She put an enchantment on it.”

“An enchantment?” Rarity asked. 

“Well, at least I think so. It appears whenever someone stands here long enough.” Daring Do explained. “I ran into it by accident when I was on the path of something else.”

“Good luck for us though.” Hugo admitted.

Hugo listened as Varian told Daring Do what they knew about Gold Lily so far. Eventually, an entryway did make an appearance, rising up out of the sand silently, the gear and heart Cutie Mark clear on the door. It seemed to be a small room, the door had sconces on either side, the door was completely flush to the wall.

“It kind of looks like a tomb…” Hugo mentioned.

“Appearences can be deceiving.” Daring Do warned. 

“Yeah, how could it be a tomb? Alicorn from Skyros are super duper long lived.” Flurry mentioned, looking around. “I don’t see a lock…”

“Well Flurry, she might not um… have survived some of the harder battles with Zhan Tiri.” Fluttershy tried to explain gently.

“She did lose a leg and a wing, based on what we’ve found.” Rarity reminded. “And considering the people of Corona didn’t seem to recognize what we were-”

“I don’t think she’d want to be buried in Equestria or anywhere around it. All her best memories were in Corona.” Varian mentioned.

“I agree with V, if she is dead she’d have died in Corona and I don’t think Demanitus would drag her out here for a burial. Especially since Sterling’s apology makes me think she left Skyros for good. She’d be entombed in Corona for sure. Maybe this one doesn’t use an alicorn lock… since she might have already been dodging Skyros authorities.” Hugo mentioned, circling the entrance himself.

They all jumped as the two sconces burst into flame once Flurry and Hugo were both at opposite sides of the structure.

“... Oh. Oh! This one must be defended with a spell that would only open for a human and a pony.” Varian said excitedly.

“Meaning, it looks like a tomb to throw off the alicorns of Skyros.” Capper thought for a moment. “Clever.”

“That’s a good sign for us finding something in there, if this is the first one she actually hid.” Daring Do admitted. “Alright, the door is still closed, so you two, do you see anything?”

Varian walked over with a lantern to Hugo’s side, seeing as Flurry had her horn to illuminate her side. Hugo and Varian scanned the wall, before Varian stopped, “Oh, oh wait here, that’s the Crystal Empire’s symbol.”

“I think I kind of recognize some of the others… I should have paid more attention to Sunburst’s history lessons.” Flurry sighed. 

“I think that’s the old flag of Equestria, the one from before Celestia and Luna.” Varian mentioned. “And that’s Griffonstone heraldry, really old Griffonstone heraldry.”

“That’s not what's over here.” Flurry mentioned. “It looks like Celestia’s cutie mark, kind of? And… something else.”

Varian tilted his head and handed the lantern to Hugo before he hurried to the other side, looking up at it.

“Oh, that’s… that might be the old flag of Corona. Considering they called it Corona even in the book, I don’t know if it’s changed much as far as flags.” Varian admitted, thinking. “So that might be… Saporia? I think it was a kingdom mentioned as being near Corona. And that there, I recognize as a symbol in my human dads things, that has something to do with the Dark Kingdom.”

“It must be a puzzle… Or a key that she thought only she and Demanitus would know the answer to.” Daring Do mentioned. “Maybe where they were from?”

“So you try the Corona tile, and I’ll uh… which one of these is Skyros?” Hugo called.

“It’s sort of a minimalist pair of wings with what looks like a star creating a sort of horn peeking through them.” Varian explained.

Hugo looked around until he spotted it and pushed on it. He heard something click into place, before he heard what he was sure was the door opening. Flurry and Varian met him and the others at the open entrance.

“She’s never left a trap before so it should be safe.” Varian mentioned, clearly speaking to Daring Do more than anyone else there.

“We’ll be cautious just in case, I don’t think there’ll be traps but if it sat a thousand years it might be a little dangerous in there.” Daring Do mentioned. “Crumbling is just as dangerous as traps.” 

Hugo knew that was true, he’d seen arguably more of Donella’s guys lost to crumbling infrastructure then he’d seen lost to actual traps. Granted, he was more worried once he saw they were going down a staircase where he couldn’t see anything ahead very far, even with the lantern and two horns illuminating their path. 

“Why is it always a winding staircase?” Hugo sighed.

“It’s either a staircase or a trap room.” Daring Do said with a chuckle. “Here, I’ll take Flurry Heart and look ahead.”

“Just be careful.” Varian instructed Flurry, who happily went ahead with Daring Do.

They watched the light of Flurry’s horn disappear around a corner somewhere below them, before both Daring Do and Flurry returned. 

“There’s a chamber, it seems pretty big.” Daring Do explained.

“And dark. I think there’s some kind of spell stopping light from spreading normal in here. Sunburst told me about magic like that before but I don’t remember how to counter it.” Flurry admitted. “I don’t know how we’re going to find anything in there.”

“There must be a way to get light in there…” Varian muttered, thinking as they made their way to the room. “Oh! I know, everyone turn down your lights. Capper, could you look around for anything we might be able to use as a light?”

Hugo was a little surprised how brightly Capper’s green eyes seemed to glow once the lights were dimmed almost completely. Capper looked around slowly before he walked over to something.

“There’s something here that might be a lamp of some kind. I’m gonna turn the little nob here. So just be ready, who knows what’ll happen.” Capper explained.

Small crystals embedded in the walls all began to glow as he turned it, and once they all could comfortably see he stopped adjusting the knob. The room didn’t seem to have as many objects that were left behind, there weren’t many models or experiments laying around. It did have some notes, which Varian immediately started scanning through before he picked one up.

“That looks like… it is.” 

“What is it?” Flurry asked, flying up to look at the paper in his hand.

“It’s a transformation pearl, it seems like when they met whichever king or queen of the hippogriffs they met told them about the pearl they used to transform from hippogriffs to hippocampuses. But it looks like… they made one themselves.” Varian explained. “Huh apparently the pearl comes from the mucus of some giant, hard to find magical oyster thought extinct. They found one in…”

Varian trailed off, and Hugo looked over worriedly. Luckily Varian just seemed to have realized something that clicked a small part of the mystery, because he had a small smile on his face.

“... In?” Flurry urged.

“The Potion Ocean.” Varian smiled a bit more as he thought about it. “Of course… they went there while looking for uncharted magical waters. Waters they might find one of these oysters in.”

“With Nova focused on what properties the shifting waters of the Potion Ocean can do, it’s not surprising she wouldn’t have noticed any critters that might call the area home. Especially deep water ones, I’m sure she’s not just diving into the pure magic there.” Fluttershy mentioned.

“You don’t know Potion Nova very well, do you?” Varian joked.

“She drank a full muzzle of salty potion ocean water the minute she got there.” Flurry giggled, Varian nodding.

Fluttershy and Rarity shared a worried glance as Varian kept reading.

“It seems like the reason they wanted a transformation pearl was to disguise Gold Lily as a human.”

“Would that even work? I mean, the pearl can’t turn someone into anything can it?” Hugo asked.

“I’m afraid I’m not well versed in magic enough to tell you.” Rarity admitted.

“Queen Novo explained how it worked to me once… it can’t turn you into anything , but like if you needed to live underwater and usually couldn’t, it would turn you into something similar that could. A human into a mermaid, a hippogriff into a hippocampus, stuff like that.” Varian explained.

“So… what is the human equivalent to an alicorn?” Rarity asked Hugo, but he simply shrugged.

“I don’t know. We don’t have an immortal or long lived human-like race, as far as I know. Maybe an elf, if they were real? Then again, if you asked me if I’d be having a conversation with a unicorn just a bit ago I’d laugh so…” Hugo thought for a moment, walking as he looked at the few items.

He’d learned to read ponish fairly well, but ancient ponish he still didn’t really understand. But he knew blueprints and he knew artifacts, so he pulled his goggles over his eyes to look around.

“But… What about the trading post?” Flurry asked. “I thought ponies and Corona were working together?”

“It might have been after whatever caused them to back off from each other. That way, no one knew a pony was still around Corona, and likewise no one would know a human was traveling around in Equestria.” Hugo surmised. 

“The question then is why.” Varian sighed. “We get a lot of questions and not a lot of answers…”

“That’s just part of solving a mystery.” Daring Do assured. “We know one thing for sure, no matter what happened, Demanitus and Gold Lily did what they could to stick together. To stop Zhan Tiri, no matter the cost to themselves.”

“Gold Lily even left Skyros with so much animosity between her and Sterling for Sterling to try to find her to apologize.” Varian recalled, sighing.

“I found something.” Hugo called. “Looks like a normal crystal, but the magic seems too dense for it to be normal.”

Varian walked over, looking at the notes around the crystal before he lifted it up. 

“It looks… kind of like the crystals on aunt Twili’s chandelier.”

Rarity came over and took a look, “Ah, because it is the same kind of crystal. I’ve just never seen one so refined. Perhaps grown purposefully? There’s something strange about it, I can’t place it.” 

“Hm… Hey, Flurry, can you maybe project a light through this?” Varian asked, handing the crystal to the filly.

She focused and did so, everyone surprised as a projection of Gold Lily appeared from the crystal. Her eyes were closed as though she were focusing heavily on the spell she appeared to be casting. The room they were in seemed to have another place projected on top of it,. 

“What are you up to now?” A male voice made them all jump, the group looking around.

There wasn’t a sign of a person anywhere, though Gold Lily opened one eye to look at whoever spoke. Varian followed her gaze, feeling a strange sad sensation as a projection of Demanitus walked closer. He looked so much like Quirin…

“I was inspired by our visit to the Crystal Empire, to record my thoughts via crystal. I’m magical inscribing right now.”

“Fascinating. But I don’t know if that will make your notes any more complete.”

She blushed and looked over at him with a pout, “Well, the better to keep some creatures out of my business.”

“And if someone might need to make use of your knowledge in the future?”

“I’m sure anyone clever enough to find their way into any of my secret bases will figure it out.”

“Mhm, it’s not because you're stubborn.”

“I am not.”

“Are you serious?” Varian sighed.

 Hugo chuckled at his reaction, “So she really did just not care if anyone could read those notes huh?”

Before Varian could at all complain about it further, Demanitus came over and sat beside her.

“You were out for a while. Did something happen?”

“Ah no, well I think I saw the tail of one of those cockatrice you warned me about, but I overheard something and I wanted to ask you about it.”

“What was it?”

“I heard a unicorn call another unicorn ‘my little pony’. They looked close in age, though perhaps I’m still not good at telling the difference between young adult and adult ponies.”

Gold Lily took a moment to consider how to explain, “It’s a… a term of endearment. Parents might call their children my little pony, or teachers to their pupils. Age has very little to do with it.”

“So then I could say you're my little pony.” Demanitus sounded happy at the revelation.

“I’d say so.” She admitted. “Even if you are a very silly teacher. Oh, my inspricti-”

The projection ended, though Varian couldn’t be too disappointed. He hadn’t expected the projection at all. He hadn’t expected to see them so clearly, to get a glimpse of who they were, of their friendship. 

“My, he looked like…” Rarity started, before she stopped herself.

Daring Do was clearly confused, and Varian didn’t want to hide it from her. It made him feel strange, but not bad, and he didn’t want to skirt around it.

“He looked a lot like my human dad…” Varian explained. “There were differences but…”

“But nothing a few generations might not cause…” Hugo paused. “I know you all believe in destiny way more than I ever have, but that makes me wonder…”

“Are you alright Varian?” Fluttershy asked, putting a hoof on his hand.

“Yeah. That was… I mean, I never thought I’d get to see them like that.” Varian admitted. “They were pretty good friends, I think. They reminded me of me and Nova.”

“They seemed so relaxed. I suppose that must have been before the betrayal from the others, they didn’t seem visibly worse for wear.” Hugo mentioned, thinking.

“It might help explain their levity about it all, nothing super serious had happened yet.” Varian admitted, thinking.

“But this base was made to hide her secrets from Equestria…” Hugo muttered, walking over. “Aha. Another journal here.”

“Did she ever actually fill a book?” Varian sighed, walking over. “Well, we have a lot of notes to go over…”

“Sunburst and Twilight can at least help you read some of these.” Fluttershy smiled. “So it won’t be days and days of reading, at least.”

“I don’t mind all the reading, she just refused to write anything down completely. And when she did it was sparse.”

They packed up the items and notes, Hugo noting the pearl was nowhere to be seen. It made sense, they likely had it with them, meaning it was somewhere in Corona assuredly. For now, they’d pack up and take everything back to Twilight to help them decipher it all, and then it would be on to Corona. Hugo wasn’t sure he was looking forward to that, really, but he knew that Varian wouldn’t want to judge anyone for no reason. And Hugo’s ‘rumors’ from Ingvarr wouldn’t be enough to sway him, not when Rapunzel had seemed so friendly. Perhaps Hugo was too harsh, really, he was jaded and he’d only recently learned how jaded he was. If he was right, the best thing he could do was just be there to try to help Varian if anything went wrong, and hope that nothing did. Like Gold Lily, Varian could be stubborn, so without knowing for sure what the people of Corona were like, he was unlikely to help.

Cozy sat up groggily and annoyed, she wasn’t sure what all the noise was but she only had one way to find out. She sat up and looked over, unsurprised to find Captain had already left for the day. 

“Coze? Are you awake?” Cass asked as she walked in. “Good. There’s a… I don’t know, a weird snowflake? You said pegasi are good with weather right?”

“A weird snowflake?” Cozy tilted her head.

She quickly removed her curlers and put the kerchief over her hair, following Cass out of the room.

“I haven’t gotten a look at it, so I have no idea what everyone is talking about.” Cass admitted. “I really don’t know why a single snowflake would even get this much attention from them.”

Cozy was surprised just how many guards were fumbling around, and gave a sympathetic look to Cass as the woman sighed. 

“There it is!” Pete called, pointing.

Cozy looked, flittering up to the snowflake and carefully catching it, bringing it down. She felt a pit in her stomach once she realized what it was, but she pushed that feeling down.

“Oh, it’s a magic snowflake. They use these to send special messages from the Crystal Empire.” Cozy explained. “It won’t open until it makes it to the recipient. That’s probably why it was so hard to get a hold of.”

“The Crystal Empire? It must be Varian. Who is it for?” Rapunzel asked excitedly.

“It won’t open until it gets to who it was meant for.” Cozy explained. “So we just…” 

She threw it up into the air and fluttered her wings to give it a boost, the snowflake returning on its path. They followed it as it made the way to where Arianna and Frederic were preparing for breakfast, the snowflake falling gently into Arianna’s hand. The snowflake unfurled, showing the letter within.

“What’s this?” Arianna asked with a smile.

“A letter from the Crystal Empire.” Cozy explained.

Frederic was clearly surprised to hear that, but he forced a smile as Rapunzel started excitedly urging him to open the letter. Cozy knew what a forced smile looked like, even if it was a convincing smile. But she had more to worry about. If there was a letter from the Crystal Empire, then…

“Let’s see… Dear royal family of Corona, we are pleased to tell you that Varian has, in fact, found an artifact to power the portal. We’ve sent this letter ahead so as to inquire for a date at a future time that would be good for an official envoy from Equestria. Sincerely, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire. P.S. I’ve enclosed a return snowflake.” Arianna read aloud. 

“I knew he could do it.” Rapunzel smiled, hopping in place. “We can see them soon, right?”

“Well, we should give them time to put together whatever they intend to come with.” Arianna explained.

“Usually, when kingdoms first meet, there is a lot more protocol than any future meetings.” Frederic added. “An exchange of gifts, signing of documents…”

“Assuming that ponies even do it the same way.” Eugene mentioned.

“We do.” Cozy confirmed. “Equestria was having a lot of royal summits around the time I got turned to stone.”

“Well then, Cozy Glow, I shall require your input on what we should expect.” Nigel acknowledged.

“Well golly, I’ll do my best!” Cozy faked a smile up at him.

She didn’t have time to try to unpack why Frederic was so concerned about the Equestrians. Things just got complicated. She had to figure out a plan, a way to trick whoever showed up before they could explain anything to anyone about what she’d done. And she had limited time to do it.

Chapter Text

Varian wasn’t as nervous as he thought he’d be, as the date they’d set for the envoy encroached. He had a mystery to solve, friends back in the city, and he had a feeling he needed pieces of this puzzle that were in Corona. The machine that transferred the magic from the journal to the mirror worked perfectly, so he’d been spending his time pouring over Gold Lily’s notes. Hugo, he’d been spending time going over their own journal, he was clearly used to summarizing details because he’d done so. Varian appreciated it, as much as it was for writing their adventures, it was also to help them keep their information clear. So, he’d spent what little remaining time before the day in his lab, had written to Potion Nova about the pearl, and was essentially just waiting.

“Varian, darling, are you in there?” Rarity’s voice came through a speaker he’d installed to allow others to talk to him from outside the lab.

He picked up the microphone to his side, “Yeah aunt Rarity, I’ll be right down.”

Varian hopped up and into the elevator, meeting Rarity outside the entrance to his lab. 

“I need to fit you for the outfit I’ve been making for the meeting with King Frederic and Queen Arianna.” Rarity explained.

“Alright, but I don’t think my measurements have changed in… what, two months?” Varian asked.

“Perhaps not, but this meeting is vital.” Rarity explained, walking with him. “And you should always look your best when addressing royalty.”

“I know. It’s just not technically my first time meeting them.” Varian reminded.

“Well, while I get this fitted you can tell me all about what those notes said.” Rarity offered. “I may not be as knowledgeable about the pre-Celestial era as Twilight and Sunburst, or about technology as you and Hugo, but I have an eye for detail.”

They arrived in the room that Rarity was working in, a little surprised to see a much bluer, fancier toga then he was used to. He wasn’t about to complain about the color, but he could tell the shape would be a little restricting. He had to hope that nothing would happen, but even if they did with his parents there it should be fine. 

“Now then, what have you found out from all those papers?” Rarity asked as she draped the fabric on him.

“Well, the pearl thing might be the most interesting part.” Varian admitted. “A few notes about some of her machines, like her flying machine, were in there. It seems like it was her workshop, here on this side of the mirror. The journal there was some of the… well, the missing entries from the first one I found. Little adventures in Corona with Demanitus. She was helping figure out the magic in the moonstone and sundrop, but I don’t know how far they got.”

“Well, there is a chance Demanitus wrote down whatever they figured out so she didn’t feel the need to.” Rarity offered as she circled and adjusted something.

“She also mentioned a map she was struggling to make up, because she’s ‘no cartographer’.” Varian mentioned. “But I haven’t seen a map anywhere.”

“It might also be somewhere in Corona. Cartographers usually leave a signature somewhere, so you’ll know.” Rarity offered. “You seem more upset about this map than you would usually be.”

“I just… it probably has the Dark Kingdom on it. Or maybe an idea of where it is. They promised to keep it secret, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t note down where it was once they realized how deep it went.” Varian explained, holding an arm up to let her see the seams underneath.

“Ah I see, you mean to find the moonstone.” Rarity climbed up onto step stool.

“I just think it’s important. Zhan Tiri, Grogar, whatever they are, they can’t get their hands or hooves on it.” Varian insisted.

“I know, darling. And they won’t. We’re all right there beside you.” Rarity insisted, putting a hoof under his chin. “And look at you, you aren’t even all that nervous to be going back to Corona.”

He smiled a little, “Well, after last time I think there’s just about nothing that could surprise me.”

“That’s the spirit. But just remember, there is time for fun and games. You’ve made some new friends there and you should try to get to know them.” Rarity reminded. “Especially since, if this mystery does involve the sundrop and moonstone, you’ll need Rapunzel’s help to really stop whatever plan Zhan Tiri plotted. And you’ll work together if you give yourselves time to really become friends.”

“That’s true… but I’m worried. A lot of places Gold Lily traveled to have had monsters or disasters lately. They might go after Corona.” Varian explained.

“And if they do, we’ll be ready to help. We’ve got this. Together.” Twilight’s voice got his attention as he looked over his shoulder.

Twilight was coming in with Hugo, who seemed to freeze and stare at Varian in the outfit. It was probably the nicest thing Rarity had made for him in some time, he knew that much. It was an ever so light blue base toga that was full length, ending just over his ankles, with a blue silk sash and hems, and a crystal fibula helping hold it in place. Rarity had been cycling accessories onto him, but at the moment he had on a sapphire drop earcuff and some silver choker.. Hugo seemed to have a light blush, which made a strange warmth build up in mind. Varian was sure he was also blushing, but he tried to ignore it rather than ruminate on it.

“Right, thanks aunt Twili.” Varian smiled a little.

“Here he is Rarity.” Twilight mentioned, gesturing to Hugo.

“Ah thank you Twilight, Hugo I’ve made you an absolutely dashing suit for you for the visit.” Rarity smiled as she explained. 

“For me?”

“Of course darling. We all must look our best.” Rarity gestured him closer. “I’m just about done making sure this is perfect.”

Rarity fussed over the small details a while longer before she was content, which gave Varian a chance to go behind the partition in the room to change. He heard Rarity and Twilight chatting back near the door, but it sounded like Rarity was just talking to Twilight about getting Tempest to wear something other than ‘stuffy old armor’. He knew Tempest well enough to know that she was assuredly not going to wear a dress, and it sounded like Twilight was trying to convey the same.

“Gotta say, you clean up good, Goggles.” Hugo’s voice was on the other side of the partition.

“It’s not the first time you’ve seen me dressed up nice.” 

“Yeah but, I don’t know… blue is definitely your color.”

Varian knew that Hugo was flirting, the blonde did it fairly often, but this time felt different. Hugo had felt a bit different lately, but in a good way, and Varian was hoping the ease Hugo seemed to be in would last.

“Well uh, thanks. I just don’t know if showing up dripping in sapphires feels like… me I guess.”

“Maybe not, but from the way I hear it, the first meeting between kingdoms never is super… personal. I mean, I usually don’t dress so fancy, but I’m not about to argue with Rarity about how I should look for this.”

“So you don’t hate the idea of a pony dressing you up huh?”

“Hey, Rarity makes quality work. I can admit that.” Hugo admitted. “And that pollen anger wasn’t really me. I mean, I was frustrated, sure, but not at all this. I guess in a way… at myself, for not believing any creature could be so nice.”

“... And you believe it now?” Varian asked, finally dressed in his usual casual clothes and stepping around the partition.

“Yeah. I think I do. Which is why… look, Goggles, I know you have to try. I get it, it’s in your nature… I just need you to be careful, alright? I haven’t made up a thing that I’ve heard about King Frederic. And while getting his daughter back might have calmed him down, there’s just as much of a chance having her back is going to make him even worse.” 

“... I’ll be careful. I promise.” Varian assured. “I’m not exactly the most trusting around other humans, usually, anyway…”

Hugo smiled a bit, “Well, I’ll do my best to let you know if I notice anything suspicious. I’ve got plenty of experience in that regard.”

Varian returned his smile, but before he could say anything Rarity came over, the outfit floating into Hugo’s hands. 

“I better let you and Rarity figure this out, I want to check in with mom and see how everything is coming along.”

“Don’t stress too much about it, Goggles. I’m sure that the Coronans already are.”

“You think so?”

“Corona hasn’t had to entertain a new kingdom in decades.” Hugo explained. “And this is the first time they’d have to entertain a kingdom of things other than humans.” 

“Oh. I guess that would make them nervous.” Varian thought to himself. “I hadn’t thought about that…”

Varian left Hugo with Rarity, unsure of what to do with himself outside of just checking with his mother if there was anything he could help with. He found her in her office, and could tell at a glance she was doing a final check of her documents.

“Hey mom.”

Cadance smiled as she put her documents down, “Hey sweetheart. Feeling ready?”

“Mostly. I guess I’m just getting anxious.” Varian admitted.

“That’s normal for a visit like this.” Cadance assured, gesturing to another chair. “I’m just about done checking this document, if you want to wait.”

Varian sat in it, not having to wait long before Cadance seemed happy enough with the document and put it down.

“That seems ready. I was about to check on our gifts, and I imagine you were thinking the same.” Cadance mentioned, nuzzling her face against his.

“Yeah. I guess I’m just anxious about this going well.” Varian admitted.

“I understand, this was your old home. It’s where all the answers we’ve been waiting for are, at least in theory.”

“And… well, my first dad, he was friends with King Frederic and Queen Arianna. I guess…” Varian wasn’t sure how to vocalize what he wanted, but luckily Cadance seemed to know.

“I’m certain you’ll find time to talk to them about him. And I’m sure they have stories they’d like to tell.” Cadance pulled him into a closer hug. “I wish I knew more about him too.”

He smiled a bit, the two of them making their way to the mirror chamber. Apples from Sweet Apple Acres, fabric and accessories Rarity prepared, some books Twilight had translated ahead of time, a lecture about the realm and the slide show presentation she prepared for it. Everything seemed in order, and aside from Starlight and Trixie, everyone had arrived already. Trixie and Starlight would arrive relatively soon, so long as they got on the train they intended to.

“What guards were coming?”

“Just Tempest, your father technically, and Flash Sentry. With the Guardians of Harmony with us, we’ll be safe. And while it’s technically traditional, according to the books we have from Corona, to bring some kind of military presence… I just don’t like the idea. It’s not us.” Cadance admitted. “Tempest is going because she’s worried about you and Twilight, and Flash Sentry is going because your father is worried about those men showing up again.”

Varian hadn’t thought much about that, but he strangely found he wasn’t as nervous. He wasn’t sure if it was because his dad would be there, or because his entire entourage of aunts would be there, or even just because of Hugo, but he wasn’t as afraid. He felt prepared for them, for the first time in his life. 

“You smile a lot with Hugo around.” Cadance mentioned, a knowing smile on her face.

“It’s not like that mom.” Varian blushed, looking away. 

“Alright sweetheart.” Cadance still was being a bit coy about it, but Varian knew he couldn’t technically lie to her about his feelings, she could sense feelings like that.

If it was like that, he wasn’t really fully sure how he felt about Hugo, but he was aware he had a bit of a crush on him, despite trying to fight it. Hugo was charming, in his own way, and cute, and now that he was relaxed he was so easy to talk to. But Varian wasn’t sure what his life was going to be, and he couldn’t drag someone else into it. Especially when Hugo only seemed to finally find what he wanted to do, Varian didn’t want to interrupt that. He knew that he couldn’t stop Hugo, as a friend, from wanting to help, and he could tell Hugo was as invested in the mystery as he was. But whatever was developing between them could wait, he knew his mom and dad had spent years in school mutually pining before they ever actually had a chance to date.

“I uh, I think I’m going to go have tea with Chestnut Falls.”

“You’ve been visiting her a lot lately. Is she alright?”

“Well, she’s been really sad lately. She doesn’t really know why, but I know she seems distracted from it when I go to visit.” Varian hated lying to his mom, but he had to for the time being.

Varian knew why his visits helped, he easily surmised that having him around was like having Sombra back in some small way, even if she didn’t remember him and how she missed him so.

Cadance smiled a small smile, “It’s very sweet of you to check in on her.”

He could tell from her tone that Cadance was proud of him, which made him feel both better and worse about lying about the reason for his visits.

He wasn’t out for long, just a few hours where he and Chestnut chatted, but everyone seemed to be settled in at home when he was walking home. It wasn’t that late, it was twilight hours at worst, but it was strangely quiet. He wondered if the citizens were anxious about the visit, Chestnut certainly seemed worried about it, but it wasn’t exactly a secret how often his visits to the human world had gone poorly until this point. He stopped, he swore he was being watched, a feeling he was used to but not so much while inside the barrier. 

“Varian?”

Varian jumped in surprise and turned to see a familiar purple pony he hadn’t seen in some time.

“Radiant Hope, hey! It’s been a long time.”

“It has. Look how tall you’re getting.” Radiant smiled. “How have you been?”

“Good. I’ve just been a little busy lately.” Varian admitted.

“Oh? Is something going on?”

“Well, yes and no. I don’t know.” Varian sighed. “Let’s talk about it in the garden, Mistmane is usually done working by this point in the day. It should be nice and quiet.” 

Radiant followed him to the garden, where the two of them sat in a gazebo at a table. She looked around with a smile, and Varian let her take in the way the garden looked.

“I’ve never seen it look so nice. This Mistmane must be amazing.”

“... Right, the Empire sort of disappeared around the time the pillars were around.” Varian remembered. 

“Pillars? Well, I’ll have to learn about her later. For now, tell me about what’s kept you so busy.”

Varian explained everything to Radiant about Gold Lily, Corona, the monster attacks. She was easy to talk to, in a lot of ways she reminded him of Nova and Flurry. She was a bit silly, but kind.

“That is concerning… no wonder you're so busy…” She thought for a moment. “So were you asking some expert about something?”

“Huh? Today? No, I was visiting Chestnut Falls.” Varian admitted.

“Chestnut Falls?” Radiant blinked in surprise.

Varian knew Radiant didn’t know he knew about her past, or who her friend was, so it made sense she didn’t expect him to be chatting with their matron. 

“She’s been really sad lately. I can’t do a lot as a prince but I can at least keep one of our residents company when she’s having a hard time.” Varian explained, before he thought for a moment. “Uh, Radiant… I know you used to be in her care. I had a conversation with the Heart, and… well, I guess if you see your friend before I do, I was wondering if you could ask him to return some of Chestnut’s memories. I understand he wanted to protect her, but… I think it’s hurting her more that she doesn’t remember what’s missing. I know my mom would be devastated if me or Flurry were missing and she didn’t even remember us. No one else has to remember he used to live here in her care, if he’s still worried how they’ll react.”

Radiant was staring at him with wide eyes, which he understood. She hadn’t expected him to know her story or that her friend was Sombra, how could she? He only knew because the Heart told him as much, and it wasn’t known for chatting.

“I… The Heart spoke to you?”

“Yeah. I think it only got the ability when Flurry had her crystalling. Or maybe it’s because I’m in the royal family? Anyway uh, it uh… it showed me a little memory of you two as kids. I don’t exactly know what happened that made him so angry, but I do know the Heart feels bad. I don’t know all of what happened, but I guess the Heart feels like it made a mistake when it tried to reach out to Sombra before. And it wants to make it right, someday.”

Radiant stared at him a moment before she smiled a little, “Well, you are full of surprises, Varian. I’ll pass the message along, if I run into him again.”

“Thanks. I better go, it’s almost dinner time. See you around.” Varian waved, rushing off. 

Radiant waved with a small smile before she hurried to the barrier and out into the snow a ways, watching as her shadow moved and formed itself into Sombra. His back was to her, which she knew was him trying to hide his feelings from her.

“... Sombra?” She took a step closer. 

“This changes nothing.”

“That’s not true, and we both know it. Why won’t you tell me what happened? I want to help. That boy wants to help.” Radiant took another step. “You asked me to talk to him, so you could learn what was happening. Why he was running around so much suddenly. Now you know, and you know he does know you’ve been watching over him. He believes in you. I never stopped believing in you. Miss Chestnut misses you, even without her memories. You can still make amends, Sombra. And I think you want to.”

Sombra grumbled or growled and started walking away from her, but it was progress at least. He didn’t shout at her like he had been for some time, he seemed to be calming down finally after all that time. Between her attempts, and Varian, the Heart, all they’d just learned, she was sure Sombra would come around with just a bit more time.

Varian got as comfortable as he could once it was bed time, feeling a bit anxious about the upcoming day. Ruddiger climbed up onto the bed and curled up on the pillow next to him, Varian petting the raccoon as he slowly started to drift off to sleep. 

He knew he was having another vision, but this one was different. It wasn’t the tower, but it also wasn’t Corona castle like he might have expected since Rapunzel was now home. It was a land completely desolate, covered in more of those rocks that had chased him and Rapunzel. The Dark Kingdom, he was sure of that even without having ever seen it himself before. 

“Uh… hello?” He called, looking around.

There was no answer, so he started walking toward the castle, looking around. It was less fuzzy as his visions often were, which he had to assume was because the portal was now forced open. It was strange, though, he hadn’t been as drawn to the moonstone in visions before. 

“This is weird…”

“Varian?” Luna’s voice called.

“Luna?” Varian shouted.

It took some time, but eventually Luna appeared on the horizon. She landed next to him, giving him a quick nuzzle before she looked around.

“This… this vision is vast.” Luna admitted as she looked around. “And strange…”

“I think it might be the moonstone trying to reach me or show me where it is. The problem is… I still don’t know where this is.” Varian admitted, looking around. “I can guess this is the Dark Kingdom, that the moonstone absolutely destroyed the land but…”

“If it looks so dire in person, I am sure someone will know where it is.” Luna assured, though Varian could tell she was concerned as she looked around.

It was a lot harder to actually see what the moonstone had done in person, to see the decimated land that had to be abandoned for safety. 

“... It… will stop when I grab it right?” Varian asked, looking up at Luna.

“... I’m not sure. At the least, its power will be neutralized. It might not handle not being reunited with the sundrop well, but until we know how we can do so without harming you or Rapunzel, it might be the safest for everyone.” Luna explained.

“Right… the magic is inside Rapunzel…” Varian felt an immediate wave of concern, and he looked at Luna. “What can we do?”

“I’m not yet sure. But I promise you, we will find a solution.” Luna promised, wrapping her wing around his shoulders. “We would never allow anything to harm you, or your new friends.”

“I know Luna.” Varian leaned on her a little. 

“Now then, let’s get you to a restful sleep, you have something to do in the morning after all.”

“Right.” Varian smiled a little, following Luna out of the vision.

Cozy Glow was beyond stressed as she paced the floor, knowing that the next day was the day. And her best idea of a plan was to act like she remembered absolutely nothing, which was somewhat true. She had been too busy helping Nigel prepare and going over the royalty of Equestria to Frederic, Arianna and Rapunzel and what to expect. They’d eventually learned who was coming, and that only made Cozy more concerned. Princess Twilight Sparkle was the pony who she was sure had stopped her plan, and she would certainly bring her friends.

“Cozy, you’re going to wear a hole in the floor.” Cass was lounging nearby, clearly not nearly as concerned. 

“You aren’t nervous? At all?”

“I’m just a lady in waiting, besides Varian seemed pretty relaxed and easy to get along with. You said yourself that they're pretty nice.”

“I know what I said but that doesn’t mean nothing can go wrong. King Frederic isn’t the easiest guy to get along with, and I don’t know how much… posturing that Princess Cadance is going to be willing to do for the sake of politeness. Especially with her kids coming.”

“Yeah?” Cass thought for a moment, before she sat up. “What do you think of Princess Cadance and Princess Twilight?”

“Well, both of them were crowned during the time I lived in Canterlot. Cadance’s wedding was a pretty big deal, and some changelings attacked during it, I remember that well. Everypony who met her said Cadance was nice. Princess Twilight, she was already kind of a big deal before her coronation. She and her friends saved Equestria over and over again, before and after she was crowned. Twilight was just a magic student before all that, but I’m sure Celestia saw her potential.”

“Yeah? Sounds like my kind of princess.”

“I thought you liked Rapunzel.”

“I do, she’s sweet. She just… doesn’t really get it, her job I mean.”

“Yeah, that’s fair. I noticed that too.”

“It’s not her fault, I know that, it just gets frustrating sometimes you know?”

“Yeah. I mean, I know she wasn’t raised to think for herself because it made her easier to control, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating. You really are super patient with her. I wish I was as patient as you.”

“I’d say you're more patient. Or at least you’re better at hiding when you're annoyed. Kind of wish I could do that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, if I could fake a smile like you I’d probably have an easier time with dad at least.”

“You know, I think Captain is just afraid of you getting hurt.” Cozy admitted. “I know you're tough, and he does too. But I think parents just worry like that. Not that I’d know or anything.”

“Really? You haven’t noticed?”

“Notice what?”

“Dad’s been freaking out about the visit because he thinks they’ll be taking you back with them.”

Cozy felt a wave of panic, wondering if somehow Captain had deciphered her diary and knew her crimes. She stood up, looking up at Cass and trying to avoid looking too worried.

“He does? Why?” 

“Uh… because he doesn’t want you to go?”

Cozy blinked, sitting back down and looking down at her hooves.

“Oh…”

“Coze, look… I know it’s probably not what you always imagined your family might look like… but is it really so bad?”

“It’s not that. I just… I don’t know. I guess… I gave up on getting a family.”

“Yeah, Eugene said as much.” Cass admitted, sitting on the floor with Cozy. “And I understand you’ve been through a lot of disappointment, really I do. But dad, I know he’s already really attached to you.”

“You… really think he wants me?”

“I know he does. And I’m not too opposed to having a little sister, even if she’s saccharine sweet most of the time.”

Cozy smiled up at her, before looking down in thought.

“I don’t think they’d make me leave if I’m happy here.”

“That’s a relief to hear.” Cass admitted. “Let’s just hope they don’t mind that dad leaves you alone a lot during the day. I don’t know if that’s normal in Equestria.”

“I think it depends on the parents, honestly.” Cozy admitted. “I mean, I was left alone a lot in the orphanage. And I’m not left alone, I’m usually with you Cassie.”

“Eh, that's fair. We better try to get some sleep.” Cass admitted.

“Right. Goodnight Cassie.” Cozy called, trotting off to her and Captain’s room.

Several others greeted her and bid her goodnight as she made her way through the castle halls. She hadn’t noticed until that moment how she really was just another expected face in the castle.

“There you are. What have you been up to?” Captain asked.

“Oh, I was just with Cassie. I was a little worried about tomorrow going well and I needed to talk to someone about it.” Cozy admitted, sitting down at the vanity in the room to brush out her hair.

She didn’t think Captain ever used it, and now that she was thinking about it she was pretty sure he only got the furniture item when she started living with him. Meaning, it seemed like he got it for her, which she realized was very kind of the man. She sat brushing her hair, trying to focus on what she could do or say to the princesses to get them to let her stay.

“You know when you let your hair relax a little, it reminds me a lot of Cassandra’s.” Captain mentioned, Cozy looking over at him.

Cozy tilted her head before she looked in the mirror, “Huh, I guess we do have similar hair.”

He walked over and held out his hand, and after a moment Cozy handed him the hair brush and relaxed as he started gently brushing her hair. 

“Cassandra started cutting her hair when she was about your age, running around with toy swords and practicing with the guard. I’m honestly relieved you seem more interested in a government position.”

“Well Nigel needed help planning for the princesses… but I do really like helping like that.” Cozy admitted it more to herself then Captain, but he seemed pleased regardless.

“I know he appreciated it.” Captain admitted. “You really know your way around a planned event.”

“Oh well, ponies love parties.” Cozy admitted. “They had just started a new holiday, for Princess Twilight. The Festival of Friendship. And another reason to throw a party.”

“Well that's good to know. Equestria must be very peaceful.”

“Eh, not so much. I can remember… three? Maybe four times, Canterlot was invaded. But maybe it’s changed, I was in stone for ten years.” Cozy admitted, quickly changing tracks as Captain looked concerned. 

“I hope so… what is in Equestria that causes it to be attacked so much?”

“Magic, usually. Even in our world, Equestria is more magical than other lands. I mean, I’m just a pegasus but I’m still full of magic.” 

“Ah… well, Varian seemed happy and healthy so I assume things have calmed down.”

“I sure hope so.” Cozy yawned, letting Captain pick her up and take her to her bed.

“Now we both need to get some sleep.” Captain tucked her in, patting her head. “Goodnight Cozy.”

“Goodnight.”

She laid there thinking as she tried to recall if he’d gotten her ready for bed in that way before, but she couldn’t recall him doing so. He’d tuck her in almost every night, but he hadn’t brushed her hair out or put her in bed like he had. She recalled what Cass had said and wondered if it was because he was afraid he’d never have the chance to do it again. She rolled over, trying to focus on getting some sleep rather than her fear that everything was about to crumble around her. She hadn’t even realized how much she liked it there, but here she was fretting about if she would get to stay or if the Coronans would even want her to stay if they knew.

She forced herself to sleep, though it was hardly a restful sleep. She woke up later than intended, jumping up and quickly getting ready for the day.

“It’ll be fine. It’ll be great. All the preparations are already done. They were idiot proof. There’s no way it could have gone wrong.” She took a deep breath, smiling as cutely as she could to herself in the mirror before she left the room. “I wonder why Captain didn’t wake me up.”

She walked into the room they’d cleaned and prepared, stopping in her tracks as she saw the state of the room. The tables were overturned, the decorations were destroyed, everything was broken or wrecked. Standing guiltily at the center of the room was Max and Pascal, and frozen on the other end of the room looking as shaken as her was Rapunzel, Cass and Eugene.

“W-What happened?! Max, what did you do?!” She flew over to look Max in the eye, the horse avoiding her eye contact.

“Cozy, let’s not blame Max-” Rapunzel started.

“Oh I’m sorry, do you think the tiny chameleon threw the tables?” Cozy snapped, taking a deep breath. “Okay, this is… this is fine. It’s still early. We can fix this. How long do we have until they arrive?”

“Well, they said around noon so… three hours?” Cass admitted, Cozy feeling another wave of panic.

“Alright. Okay. We can do this.” Cozy stopped, looking around as a plan slowly formed. “Alright, Cass, you and Eugene start cleaning up. Rapunzel, you’re going to have to make new decorations, we don’t have time to wait for anyone else to. I’ll go to the kitchen and get them cooking and then I’ll come help clean up.”

“Right.” Rapunzel smiled.

“Fine.” Cass nodded with a smile. 

Cozy hurried to the kitchen, filling the staff inside on the situation.

“Luckily, ponies mostly eat roast vegetables. That wouldn’t take too long. But the baked goods… Well, worry about the meal first. Dessert coming out after isn’t as big of a deal.” Cozy instructed. 

The staff got to work, so Cozy hurried back to the room to help clean. She tried not to focus on how much time was passing as they cleaned.

“I wonder what made Max even come in here. I mean, he’s usually careful, he wouldn’t just destroy everything for no reason.” Eugene mentioned.

“Less thinking, more sweeping.” Cozy insisted.

“I don’t think we have much more time.” Cass admitted, as a guard hurried in.

“The guests were spotted on the road, they’ll arrive within forty minutes if they keep up their current pace.”

“Okay, we need to distract them.” Rapunzel thought for a moment. “C’mon Cozy, I have an idea.”

“Me? Uh…. okay.” Cozy put her broom down, following the princess out.

‘What am I doing? When they see me, it’s all over. I have to think of an excuse to split off from Rapunzel. Think Cozy Glow, think.’

Her mind was drawing blank, until she heard what she thought was Captain calling to her and Rapunzel, Cozy failing to stop quickly as she dug her hooves into the dirt. She slid a while before she finally came to a stop, seeing a pair of purple hooves in front of her. She looked up slowly, coming face to face with who she knew was princess Twilight Sparkle. Her friends, the Guardians of Harmony, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, all staring with wide eyes and agape mouths.

“Cozy Glow?!”

Chapter Text

Varian woke up bright and early, getting up and getting ready a bit nervously. He heard his door open and sighed a little with a small smile. He heard someone jump into his bed, startling Ruddiger who chattered angrily. He heard some hushed apologies to the raccoon and chuckled to himself.

“Flurry Heart, shouldn’t you be getting ready?”

“How’d you know it was me?”

“Because everyone else knocks, and because I heard you jump into my bed.” Varian teased.

“It won’t take that long to get ready.” Flurry whined.

“Flurry? Are you in here?” Sunburst asked from outside the door, knocking.

“She is!” Varian answered.

Sunburst came in, smiling over at Varian, “You’re already up and getting ready?”

“It’s a big day. And… I guess I feel nervous.”

“That’s normal, I think. I mean, especially given the circumstances.” Sunburst assured.

“Are you gonna be okay running things while we’re out?” Flurry asked, hopping down from Varian’s bed.

“Of course. We’ve made sure everything should be running nice and smooth, and I doubt there will be any emergencies in the hours you're gone.” Sunburst insisted. “Try to have fun with your new friends, alright?”

“I can’t wait to meet them.” Flurry smiled.

“First you need to get ready.” Sunburst insisted. “Come along Flurry.”

“Fiiinnnee.”

Varian chuckled to himself as he got the outfit on, looking at himself in the mirror. He certainly looked like a prince, even if he wasn’t sure he really felt like one. He headed out of his room, walking toward the throne room when he heard footsteps behind him. 

“Morning Goggles. How do I look?” Hugo asked.

Varian turned to look at him and felt an immediate blush reach his cheeks. Hugo was in an olive green suit, with gold buttons and an emerald tie pin on a brown satin tie. It fit him perfectly, which was to be expected with Rarity’s work. He also seemed to be wearing new earrings, though Varian wasn’t totally sure.

“Uh good, you look good.” Varian stammered.

“Good to hear. I’m not used to being dressed this nice.”

“It suits you.”

“I hope so. I have a feeling Rarity isn’t going to let me just wear anything.”

“She does prefer us to look our best, but she’ll make you work clothes too.” 

The first few hours were calm, everyone was getting food and others were waking up a little later. Varian knew he’d woken up early, but this was one of the most complicated outfits Rarity had ever made for him. Eventually it got close to the right time, so he found Hugo and  they went to the throne room, Varian greeting his family.

“Mornin’ Varian. Look at ya, all bushy tailed an’ ready fer the day.” Applejack smiled. “Unlike some of us.”

She nudged Rainbow, who laughed as they looked over at Trixie, who glared over her cup of coffee.

“Ah don’t mind them, Trixie, not every pony needs to rise with the sun.” Twilight mentioned. 

“I usually don’t.” Varian added, Trixie smiling at him.

“He’s just too young for coffee.” Starlight added. “Although I think you’re starting to drink too much yourself.”

“Oh I’m fine.” Trixie insisted. 

After a bit longer, Sunburst and Rarity came in with Flurry Heart. Flurry was dressed up as well, in a short stola that was light teal. Flurry did a little spin to show off her new dress, beaming as Hugo clapped.

“You look amazing Flurry.” Shining smiled, nuzzling the foal.

“Alright, let’s see.” Cadance looked over the group. “Someone is missing.”

“Isn’t Discord coming?” Starlight asked, looking at Fluttershy.

“He said he’d meet us there, that he remembered something important he meant to do at the last minute?” Fluttershy explained.

“So he’s up to something.” Twilight sighed. “Well, I’m sure it won’t be that bad. Is every creature ready?”

“Ready as I can be.” Varian nodded.

They all went through the mirror, getting the wagons through with some cautious effort and walking toward town. Varian noticed Hugo going out of his way to cover the wagon tracks and rolled his eyes, slowing down to walk with him.

“So what are you doing?”

“I don’t want anyone stumbling on the mirror.” Hugo explained, Varian thinking. “I mean, we dunno that those guys haven’t been poking around for the portal. And mirrors are breakable.”

The others had stopped to hear him out, and all glanced at each other worriedly.

“... That’s a good point.” Starlight admitted.

“I’d prefer we use caution.” Tempest nodded. “We know it hasn’t always been safe out here.”

“Well you're getting all dusty doing it yourself.” Rainbow mentioned. “Here, let me worry about that.”

With a quick blitz of her wings, the wagon tracks were completely gone.

“Maybe I can use a spell on the cart to make it so light it won’t leave tracks.” Twilight mentioned, thinking. 

After a quick moment, Twilight came up with something and used the spell, Applejack pulling the wagon ahead a bit and smiling.

“Well shucks Twilight, we gotta use that there spell ta mess with Braeburn an’ Soarin’ one of these days.” Applejack smiled.

“It might teach Brae a lesson about how hard he’s pushing himself to move things like carts.” Rainbow added.

Everyone kept chatting as they made their way to Corona, though they heard a shout and looked toward the city. They were all shocked as the familiar filly slid to a stop, nearly crashing into Twilight. 

“Cozy Glow?!” 

Hugo wasn’t sure he’d heard so many voices shout in unison, but as that name hit him he immediately understood why. This was the tiny terror that had nearly drained Equestria of magic. Who had teamed up with Tirek and Chrysalis and nearly destroyed Equestria.

“What are you doing here?” Starlight asked, stepping forward.

Cozy Glow looked nervous, but looked at Starlight a bit confused, “uh… do I know you?”

Hugo gasped as he remembered his theory, sharing a glance with Varian who clearly likewise recalled what he’d said. 

“Uh aunt Twilight can we talk… in private?” Varian mentioned. “The uh… bubble of silence?”

“Alright.” Twilight nodded, using the spell.

The bubble had all of them, aside from Cozy Glow, inside of it. Cozy tilted her head looking at the bubble, but she didn’t attempt to touch the bubble.

“I don’t think she remembers… well, maybe anything.” Varian admitted. “Hugo had a theory that if anyone was with me, when the person used the memory spell on me, it might have been magnified and reflected by the pendant heart. They had to have used it twice to hit me at all, so the first blast couldn’t have hit the person using the spell.”

Twilight and Cadance both thought for a moment before they shared a worried glance to each other.

“I take it that means Hugo’s theory is correct then. How much might she have forgotten?” Rarity asked.

“It’s hard to say. She could have forgotten everything, or she could have forgotten months. But considering how… brief the time her villainy lasted, she almost assuredly forgot all of that.” Cadance admitted.

“Well then we can’t turn her back to stone. We can’t punish her for something she doesn’t remember doing.” Shining added, everyone nodding.

“I sense a change in Cozy.” Cadance added. “Maybe being here and vulnerable gave her a chance to really make some connections.”

“We’ll have to look at this as a second chance for Cozy, we’ll keep an eye on her.” Twilight insisted, everyone nodding again.

“But if she escaped, we might have a bigger problem on our hooves. Flash Sentry, return to the Empire and check to see if Chrysalis or Tirek escaped.” Shining ordered, the pegasus saluting and flying off.

The bubble popped as he flew away, the group turning to look where Cozy was waiting, now joined by Rapunzel and Captain Oftegard. 

“What was that?” Rapunzel asked excitedly.

“Oh, it’s just a uh, privacy spell. A bubble of silence.” Twilight explained.

“Where did that guard speed off to?” Captain asked.

“Flash Sentry is just returning to the palace seeing as you’re here to meet us.” Shining lied.

Captain seemed to accept it, or if he had wanted to question further he didn’t get a chance as Rapunzel, no longer able to hold in her excitement, rushed over to hug Varian. He hugged her back, giving Hugo a look as he rolled his eyes. He noticed a feeling he had to assume was the moonstone’s magic making him feel even better about the reunion with her. He knew he’d missed her, but now he was starting to wonder how much of it was he himself. Flurry was happily watching the reunion until a nagging feeling hit her, along with the memory of Discord’s concern that humans might try to take Varian away. She could sense that Rapunzel was happy to see them, but there was something else, something that really only seemed happy to see Varian. 

“It’s so good to see you again.” Rapunzel smiled, before looking at all the ponies there.

“Oh, well you remember my mom, Cadance. This is my dad, Shining Armor. This is my aunt Twilight Sparkle, and her friends and my other aunts, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Tempest Shadow. And this is Trixie and Starlight. And this is my little sister, Flurry Heart.”

Rapunzel smiled and kneeled down to look at the filly, who glanced up at Rapunzel suspiciously.

“Awww she’s so cute.”

“I’m ten, not a baby. Don’t coo at me like that.” 

“Oh uh, sorry. Cozy never seemed to mind-”

“Well I’m not Cozy, not all ponies are the same, you know.”

“Flurry.” Cadance and Varian chastised, the filly sighing.

“Sorry.” Flurry huffed.

Cadance gave an apologetic look to Rapunzel, before she tried to change the subject.

“I’m surprised you came to meet us.”

“Oh well, I thought it might be nice for me to show you around Corona before we’re all in that stuffy meeting room. So you can see our subjects.” Rapunzel lied. “Right Cozy?”

“Uh, right! There’s so many things to see outside the castle walls, and you should get a chance to see it.”

Twilight shared a knowing glance with her friends, before turning to Rapunzel, “That sounds great. Lead the way.”

They all began the walk to the town, though Hugo noticed that Shining Armor seemed to be moving more cautiously than he’d seen before. He could guess why, Varian had been attacked in the area plenty of times before and it wasn’t like there were any notable changes in the amount of guards in the area. Not that Corona wasn’t swimming in guards, Hugo knew that much about the city.

“So, Varian tells me one of you is a seamstress?” Rapunzel mentioned, turning to look the ponies.

“Ah that would be me, pleasure to meet you.” Rarity smiled. “I make all the Varian’s clothes. Hugo’s now too.”

Hugo looked to the side as Rapunzel looked at him.

“Oh, you went with Varian?”

“Yeah well, I didn’t have anything else goin’ on.”

“You must have seen at least some of Equestria, I mean you guys were looking for a magical artifact right?” Rapunzel mentioned, clearly excited.

“Actually we spent most of it out of Equestria.” Hugo countered.

“Even more amazing!”

Hugo smiled just a little, trying to convince himself to be nice for Varian’s sake. Rapunzel certainly didn’t strike him as a dangerous tyrant like her father seemed to be. 

“I brought something that I think you’re going to like.” Twilight admitted, cantering with a little more excitement.

“It’s a slide presentation isn’t it? Princess Twilight Sparkle, princess of lectures.” Trixie asked exasperatedly, Starlight giggling a little.

Twilight shot Trixie a look, but laughed after a moment along with them. Rapunzel smiled and relaxed once she saw it seemed like the jab was something Twilight was comfortable with.

“Trixie and Twilight have an interesting friendship.” Varian explained. “And a complicated history.”

“Pinkie, are you alright? You’ve been weirdly quiet considering… well considering you.” Fluttershy mentioned. “I thought you’d want to give princess Rapunzel a special greeting or something by now.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I’ve just been a little fuzzy brained lately.” Pinkie admitted, bouncing forward. “Hiya Princess Rapunzel, I’m Pinkie Pie!”

“I’m so glad to meet you.” Rapunzel smiled.

“Can I call you Punzie?”

“I would love that!”

“You certainly are pink.” Captain muttered.

“Oooh and what's your name?” Pinkie asked, bouncing backwards to look at Captain while speaking to him.

“Oh uh… Steiner Oftegard.” 

“Nice to meet you, mister Oftegard.” Pinkie Pie smiled.

“So uh, how long has Cozy Glow been here?” Starlight asked, walking alongside Captain.

“Oh, I found her shortly after Princess Cadance and Varian left.” Captain answered. “She was lost and confused, and considering Varian doesn’t even remember what brought him here I guessed why.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Varian asked.

“The mare in charge of the Canterlot foal center talking about transferring me to a different foal center.” Cozy answered.

Twilight blinked in surprise, looking at Starlight. Neither of them had known that Cozy was an orphan, Cozy had never needed a guardian to come to the school about anything because she was a pony. 

“Do you know Cozy?” Rapunzel asked.

“Oh well, she attended my school for a while.” Twilight explained vaguely.

“You run a school, as a princess?” Captain asked.

“Well no, I teach there sometimes but I leave running it to Starlight and Trixie.” Twilight gestured at the two. “Starlight was my first student and learned faster than I ever could have hoped, and Trixie… well, it takes a special kind of pony to stand up to griffons and dragons for the students whose guardians are a little more… stubborn.”

“I’m the only pony Great and Powerful enough to match their energy.” Trixie added.

“She’s the only one who can shout back at a griffon without being scared.” Tempest explained bluntly. “There are some creatures who tend to listen better when you are willing to raise your voice over their own.”

They arrived at the town, Pinkie happily bouncing from building to building to look inside. Many of the townsfolk stopped to look, Twilight smiling and waving. Varian felt uncomfortable with so many eyes on him, more so because they were human and despite everything he still found himself a little weary near them. Hugo put a hand on his shoulder as Varian nearly backed into him as a large stranger approached.

“Relax, Goggles.” Hugo assured, moving Varian away from the man and back closer to his family.

“Oooh a sweet shop!” Pinkie smiled, looking in the window. 

Rapunzel’s mood surprisingly clearly dropped, but Varian didn't have a chance to ask before the door opened.

“Well, that was a different pony in the window. I’ve gotten used ta little Cozy around here. Figures that Rapunzel didn’t tell me we were expecting more guests.”

“Oh, hey Monty.” Varian greeted, Rapunzel looking at him with a shocked expression, but Varian didn’t notice. 

“Varian! Good to see ya.” Monty greeted, going over to him. “I heard from around about what’s been going on with you, and your family.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry I lied back then uh, my family were actually nearby just… invisible. This is my mom, Cadance, my dad, Shining Armor, and my little sister Flurry Heart.”

“So you're the parents huh? You raised a very polite young man, and so helpful. You musta felt overwhelmed with him being so different, but you did a great job if you don’t mind my saying.”

“Thank you.” Cadance smiled.

Flurry stopped and stared at the man before she smiled a bit, Rapunzel feeling even more upset seeing the filly accept the man immediately after her snap.

“What a cute little filly! And how old are you missy?”

“I’m ten.”

“Ten, just about Cozy’s age.” Monty smiled. 

“Those confections look amazing. You make them all by yourself?” Rarity asked as she looked in the window. “You sir are an artist.”

“Well thank you little lady, and what’s your name?”

“Rarity, my good man, lovely to meet you.” Rarity smiled. “I’m a fashion designer, so I know an expert of their craft when I see one.”

“That is some expertly spun sugar.” Pinkie complimented. “I’m a part time baker, part time party planner, and full time Pie family member. And we Pies make traditional rock candy, so I know candy and you make amazing looking candy.”

“Well just wait until you try it.” Monty smiled, going in and bringing an arm full of candy to pass to the ponies. “I insist.”

“Well thank you.” Rarity smiled, sharing a look with Twilight. 

Flurry beamed as she took a sucker, thanking Monty and looking up at Varian. Pinkie chomped the entire confection she was handed at once, beaming.

“That’s gooood.”

“Well shucks, at least take a couple Sweet Apple Acres apples in exchange. And a jar of Zap apple jam, ya might find a unique use fer it.” Applejack insisted, looking at Rainbow.

Rainbow got into the wagon and brought Monty a handful of apples and the jam, handing it to the man.

“Is that jam rainbow?” Rapunzel asked, smiling.

“Zap Apples are a magic apple from Equestria.” Varian explained. “They just use a lot of magic to grow, they don’t really have any magic effects. But they taste great.”

“We brought plenty of jam to share, don’t you worry none Rapunzel.” Applejack smiled.

She smiled at Applejack before she spotted Eugene come over to the group. 

“Hey Blondie.”

“And who is this dashing gentleman?” Rarity asked.

“Oh, this is Eugene. He’s my boyfriend.” Rapunzel introduced.

There was another round of introductions before the group made their way up to the castle. They arrived after some time, King Frederic and Queen Arianna waiting for them.

“Hello again, Princess Cadance.” King Frederic greeted, bowing his head. 

“Hello King Frederic.” Princess Cadance bowed. 

Varian was distracted by a noise nearby as introductions went around again, Varian going to see what it was. He was very confused by the sight of Max stomping the ground. Cozy had been drawn to the sound as well and let out an aggravated ‘ugh’ before she stomped over to the horse.

“Max! You’ve caused enough problems today!” Cozy snapped, the horse looking at her sheepishly. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but today is really important. Just… go wait in your stable or something!”

“Woah hey now, don’t yell at him.” Varian walked over, petting Max a bit. “If this isn’t normal for him, you should try to figure out what’s wrong.”

Cozy looked nervous that her outburst had been seen by Varian, but thought for a moment. 

“I guess it is weird that Max would cause any problems…” Cozy admitted. “But he’s a critter, I can’t talk to him.”

“Aunt Fluttershy could.” Varian mentioned, thinking. “But that’ll have to wait until after lunch. Can you calm down until then Max?”

The horse nodded, Varian and Cozy returning to the group who had sat for lunch. Varian was doing his best to pay attention as Twilight and Frederic spoke, but he didn’t particularly like how Frederic reacted to some of the things Twilight mentioned. He had a nervous twitch whenever magic was mentioned or happened, and Varian began to remember what Discord had said about humans. He got distracted as he saw Pinkie ravenously gnawing on some flowers that were meant to be decoration.

“Aunt Pinkie, are you okay?” He whispered, nudging the pink pony.

“I don’t know. I smelt the flowers and it sounded amazing to my tummy.” Pinkie admitted.

“You’ve been eating a lot more uh… varied lately.” Applejack mentioned. 

Varian thought for a moment before a thought occurred to him, and he went to whisper in Pinkie’s ear when a familiar teleportation noise got his attention. Frederic seemed absolutely frozen as the draconequus appeared, the creature wrapping his long body around the head of the table.

“Sooo sorry for my tardiness, I just had something I needed to do.” Discord explained. “Discord, Lord of Chaos, nice to meet you.”

“Oh uh… hello. Good to meet you as well.” Frederic greeted.

“Oh there you are Discord.” Twilight greeted, smirking with a raised eyebrow. “What exactly were you up to?”

“Why is that an accusing tone? I’m reformed Twilight, really now. I would never do anything to upset my dear sweet Fluttershy.” Discord insisted, pressing his face against the mares.

“His dear sweet… Those two are a thing?” Eugene asked, Cass elbowing him. “Ow! I mean, you are a lovely couple.”

“Aunt Fluttershy and Uncle Discord got married years ago.” Flurry mentioned, smiling up at the creature as he patted her on the head.

“And Flurry was the cutest little flower filly.” Discord cooed. “Even if she ate most of the daisies before they could be thrown.”

“Awww.” Rapunzel smiled.

“Mmmm daisies…” Pinkie muttered, leaning forward.

“She’ll get a chance to do it right soon. I mean, if Tempest ever ponies up and proposes.” Discord teased the filly, before turning his attention to the stalwart mare.

Varian wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Tempest blush before, but the mare cleared her throat and glanced at Discord with furrowed eyebrows.

“This isn’t the time or place for your shenanigans, Discord.”

“Oh Tempest, always so serious.” Discord sighed, flopping down like a limp noodle. “Fine, fine, Twilight do continue.”

“Thank you.” Twilight said, smiling at Tempest.

Varian leaned over to Pinkie once Twilight’s lecture continued, cupping his hand to prevent anyone else from hearing.

“Aunt Pinkie, do you think you’re pregnant? You’re eating habits changing and cravings and brain fog-”

“...” Pinkie blinked, gasping loudly and getting everyone’s attention. “Oh uh, sorry. Just uh, need to… um…”

“Sugarcube, you can tell us anything.” Applejack assured. “Specially me, cousins and all.”

“... You two are related?” Eugene asked, glaring as Cass elbowed him again.

“Pony genetics are wild, I dunno if any of them share more than a couple traits.” Hugo shrugged. “Nothing to get so bent out of shape about, Rider.”

“It’s Eugene.”

Eugene glared over at the blonde teenager. He did not trust him, firstly because he had stolen from him before and he knew that meant Hugo was a thief. Moreso, because he had been in a uniform, meaning he worked for one of the crime families in Ingvarr. His attitude was surely a front, much like Eugene’s was when he was Flynn Rider. He had noticed that Hugo seemed different after coming back from Equestria, he was relaxed, he was clearly happier. But Eugene couldn’t shake the worry that that was just another act, that he was there for a reason.

Pinkie whispered in Applejack’s ear, the mare blinking and smiling, “well actually, that does make sense.”

“What makes sense?” Twilight asked, walking over. 

“Oh one moment before you say anything, I have a feeling someone should be here for this.” Discord snapped, Cheese Sandwich being teleported in and looking around confused.

“Who- What?” Cass muttered.

“That’s Cheese Sandwich, Pinkie’s husband.” Hugo answered.

“Well hello there!” Cheese greeted. 

“Why is he taking this so well?” Eugene asked.

“I theorize party ponies like Pinkie and Cheese are somewhat chaos magic infused so the things Discord can do don’t phase them.” Varian admitted. 

“Cheese, you know how I’ve been kind of scatter brained lately which is super weird because I’m usually a lot more attentive to at least certain things and focus on that one thing and don’t always notice other problems until it becomes totally impossible to ignore?”

“Yeah?”

“And how I’ve been eating like a loooot of flowers lately? Like, going and buying flowers from Rose and the girls way more than ever before?”

“Yeah, Daisy asked me about that actually.” Cheese admitted, thinking.

“And how-”

“Oh!” Twilight caught on, wings fluttering. “Pinkie, are you trying to say what I think you’re saying?”

“What is she saying?” Rapunzel asked.

Arianna leaned over, about to answer her daughter quietly, but Pinkie jumped over the table and closer to Cheese, “A baby Cheese! I think we’re having a baby!”

Cheese took a split second to react before he smiled and hugged her.

“Congradulations.” Arianna smiled.

“Who would have thought it would be Pinkie out of the six of you to have a foal first.” Shining mentioned to Twilight, jumping up as the door slammed open.

Pete and Stan looked sheepish seeing Shining jump to attention, before they cleared their throats. 

“There’s some kind of… situation.” Stan mentioned.

“Situation? Wait, where’s Cozy Glow?” Cass asked, looking around.

“Uh, trying to handle the situation.” Pete added.

The group went down to the kitchen, surprised to see Cozy trying to fight a monster made of cake with a wooden spoon. Captain immediately felt a wave of panic and rushed into the room, grabbing the filly and backing away from the thing.

“What?” Frederic asked, sounding completely confused.

“I think I know.” Cadance side eyed Discord, who looked up in faux innocence.

“I got it!” Flurry smiled, levitating a cake knife from the table and springing to action.

“Oh, little girl don’t-” Captain started.

“Flurry’s got this.” Varian insisted.

The filly flew around avoiding the cakes attacks, slicing it down with every dive bomb until it finally collapsed, cake spattering on the group. Pinkie licked it off her foreleg, smiling.

“Oooh tasty.”

“I am so sorry, I don’t know-” Rapunzel started, before relaxing as the ponies all began to laugh.

“You’re not angry?” Frederic asked, confused.

“Oh, trust me, every party we’ve tried to have usually goes wrong somehow. In fact, Celestia invites guests she knows will cause problems to the Grand Galloping Gala just to keep it interesting.” Twilight explained, laughing a little. “Besides, we’re pretty sure that-”

Before she could finish her thought, they heard a noise from the courtyard. Twilight glanced up at Discord who just smiled, before she sighed and flew off toward the outside to handle it. Cozy paused and looked as Varian sighed, the boy looking at her and thinking a moment before shrugging. 

“This is going to take a while, and I don’t think there’s anything I can do to really help so do you want to go play chess or something?”

“Uh… sure. I’ll get the board.” Cozy wasn’t sure what was going on, or what Varian was up to, but she relented.

She could tell Captain had been stressed enough with Cozy having been fighting that cake thing, so she didn’t want him to be any more stressed. Hugo raised an eyebrow and looked at Varian as Cozy flew off.

“What are you up to?”

“Just playing chess.” Varian assured. 

Cozy Glow returned with the chessboard, and they went back to the room, sitting and setting up the board. Hugo sat down nearby, content to watch since he could tell Varian was up to something.

“I should warn you, I haven’t been beaten in a long time.” Cozy admitted a little smugly.

“Well I should warn you the same.”

Cozy smiled a little, and the two began to play. She could tell he was a lot better at the game then some of the others she’d played against, so she found herself focusing hard on the game. The first few moves they took, Varian was trying to determine how she played, but once he got an idea of that he decided to speak.

“So Cozy Glow, how are you liking Corona?”

“Well, it’s better than the orphanage.”

“Okay but that’s a low bar, most kids don’t want to live in an orphanage. Isn’t there anything notable about Corona you can tell me about?”

“Wouldn’t you know?”

“Well, no. I was adopted when I was four. I don’t really remember anything from over here.”

“Oh. Right. Golly, you sure are lucky that Princess Cadance adopted you.”

“I mean, luck would have been if they got there in time to save more people from my village I think. I’m grateful for all I have, but I can’t be happy about all the people who died because those men were after me.”

Cozy paused and looked up at him, “Oh I… I didn’t think about that.”

“I guess Rapunzel didn’t tell you much about it, which I appreciate. Yeah uh… the reason mom took me in is all the people in my village were slaughtered by some men who were after me.”

“Oh… Why?”

“I don’t really want to talk about that. So you grew up in a foal center?”

“Yeah but… I guess it could have been worse.” Cozy didn’t remember her parents, and she didn’t know why she was in a foal center.

“We’re both lucky in a way, I mean look at Eugene. Foal centers in Equestria all do their best to prepare the foals for life the same way a parent or mentor would. Eugene aged out and had to fend for himself.”

“Yeah… Corona does have a lot of problems I never thought a ‘good’ kingdom could have. But I like it here. Mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“I don’t know… I mean, Captain is really nice to me and Cassie has been like a big sister… But I don’t… fit.”

“Because you're a pony?”

She nodded, moving a piece lacklusterly. 

“I don’t think that’s true. I think you’ve just let yourself think you can’t belong here. If you couldn’t fit in here, I couldn’t fit in back in Equestria right?” Varian asked, moving his piece. “But I do. I have my family, and my friends, and I pretty much never think about how different I look. It was easier for me, since I was so little when I got adopted, but you’re not too old to find your place. It’s never too late.”

Cozy thought for a moment, moving her piece. “Maybe you're right…”

“And if things in Corona could be better, you could be the change it needs. I mean, you’re friends with the princess right? Rapunzel is nice, but she wasn’t trained for the job she has as long as she should have. She’ll need someone who can think ahead like you to help her.” 

“You… really think I’d be good at that?”

“That’s what chess is right?”

“I guess so.” 

“And if maybe you remembered more then you were letting on, whose to say you couldn’t still use this as a second chance?”

Cozy looked up at him, missing his move as he made it, Varian smiling a big smugly. She pulled herself together, making a move.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Maybe you do, maybe you don’t. That doesn’t really matter to me.” Varian shrugged, sitting back. “What matters is what you’ll do now.”

“Gee, you seem pretty confident. I guess being a prince doesn’t care you any?”

“Not really. I mean, I’ve been raised to understand what the job is my whole life.” Varian admitted. “My family’s reputation for spreading love and friendship is more intimidating to me than any throne.”

“I guess that’s one advantage to not having a family. Nothing to live up to.”

“I don’t know about that. I mean, you have a family. Your dad moves about as fast as my dad whenever he thinks me or Flurry are in danger, to snatch you from that cake monster.”

Cozy blinked as she looked up at Varian, recalling how nice Captain had been to her since finding her. He snuck her into the castle so she could rest and relax before anyone else knew about her, he took care of her, he taught her how to read Coronan, he tucked her in every night…

He clearly wanted to be her dad, and she’d avoided thinking of him that way. She was trying to protect herself from disappointment, but it only now hit her she didn’t need to. He wanted her. Someone finally wanted her.

“Check.” Varian said as he moved his piece.

Chapter Text

“Huh?” Cozy looked down at the board, thinking of the past few moves and looking up at Varian, first in bewilderment before smiling. “You are good.”

“Well so are you, if I hadn’t been distracting you on purpose I might not have won.” Varian admitted.

Hugo smiled a bit, standing up and stretching. “Well this has been great all around but I think we should check in on everyone else.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Discord is just up to something.” Varian mentioned.

“What makes you say that?” Cozy asked, tilting her head as she got up and followed them out.

“You’ll see soon, I think.” Varian shrugged, the group going outside where it was clear Twilight and the others had been helping wrangle some various things that were animated by chaos magic. “Oh that’s worse than I expected.”

“What the-” Hugo started, jumping to the side as he was nearly run into by a table galloping like a horse. 

He’d read what Discord was capable of, but it was different seeing it in person.

“Uh oh, the old banquet stuff is here. And it looks angry.” Rapunzel mentioned, backing up. 

Cozy looked and backed away from the mashed up food and broken tables that was formed into a monster coming toward them.

“I got it!” Flurry smiled, using her magic to snatch one of the guards swords and rushing forward.

“I like her.” Cass smiled, joining Flurry in deflecting the monster's blows.

“Flurry, be careful sweet pea.” Shining said over his shoulder as he shielded Frederic and Arianna from the animated furniture. “And watch your stance.”

“Okay dad!” Flurry adjusted her legs.

Varian sighed and looked around, Hugo noting his dilemma.

“Can’t move a lot in that outfit huh?”

“Not fast enough to be of any help.” Varian admitted.

“Sure you can, use that noggin.” Hugo mentioned.

“Right… okay.” Varian looked around, getting an idea. “Dad, I need you to push those things back, closer to the one Flurry and Cass are fighting. Mom, aunt Twilight, you guys too, toward the center.”

Cozy tilted her head, before she looked out and realized the plan.

“Oh! I get it.” She smiled, flying over and getting the attention of some of the things. “Over here you ugly chair!”

They eventually got the group of things trapped in the center.

“Flurry, make a barrier around them all.” Varian called.

“Okay Vari.” Flurry smiled, focusing and trapping the things in the magical orb. 

“Now, reduce the size of the barrier until all that stuff is broken.” Varian said, Flurry nodding.

She shrank it slowly, until she could drop a ball of broken furniture and smashed food onto the ground.

“That was some quick thinking. Nice job Varian.” Rapunzel smiled. 

“Thanks.” Varian smiled a bit and closed an eye as Cadance nuzzled him proudly, “Mooom.”

They turned as the items got up once more, forming into a large monster.

“Okay Discord, that’s enough.” Twilight snapped.

“Moi? Now Twilight, what makes you think-”

Max came around the corner and whickered angrily, stomping his hooves and staring up at Discord. Another one of the possessed objects was being dragged by Max’s reigns, evidently in an effort to slow the horse down. Fluttershy listened to Max for a while and gasped, looking at Discord.

“Did you harass this poor critter this morning to cause him to destroy the banquet?”

“Well, I couldn’t very well not have someone take the blame temporarily.” Discord shrugged, before he smiled maliciously at Frederic. “I didn’t want some poor baker or maid to be thrown in the stockade…”

Frederic froze up at the mention, as did Cozy, Twilight looking uncomfortable and looking at the man.

“The what?”

“Oh, my dear sweet Twilight, you didn’t have all the research you could have about humans. The stockade-”

“I know what a stockade is Discord.”

“Oh well then I don’t see why we’re humoring this farce.” Discord snapped, Varian looking down confused at suitcases that were now in his hands. “Let’s go then.”

“Discord.” Fluttershy crossed her arms. 

He sighed, snapping his fingers, everything being put right back where it had been, repaired and like new.

“Discord, I’m not entirely surprised you would do something at this party. I mean, I kind of expected it truth be told. But this was a lot, you don’t usually act like this anymore.” Twilight mentioned.

“Well I intended just to test them a little bit, but I was hardly impressed, or surprised, that they needed a pony to solve their problems for them.” Discord mentioned, gesturing to Cozy Glow.

“Huh? I didn’t-” She took a few nervous steps back.

“Oh don’t be modest, Cozy Glow, it doesn’t suit you. You took charge to solve the problem. And I know you also warned them what topics to avoid like, say, the amount of criminals exiled for crimes that Equestria usually would wave off. This poor little filly worked so hard to make this place… palatable.”

“Discord, our job here isn’t to try to change any minds, it’s just to meet them.” Cadance insisted. “Not everyone is going to agree on everything.”

He sighed, crossing his arms and glaring in Frederic’s direction.

“Well I don’t trust them.”

“Discord, you aren’t being fair.” Fluttershy flew up to get in his gaze. “I know you’re worried that Varian might get hurt, and you aren’t alone in that worry.”

Discord grumbled a little, melting a little as Fluttershy hugged him around his long neck. Rapunzel smiled a bit, thinking about how it reminded her of her parents in a way.

“If there’s another reason you're so worried, we’d love to hear it.” Fluttershy added.

“... A thousand or so years ago, I heard stories. Stories of the other world connected to our own. But I also heard how they were shut off suddenly. Because humans started seeing other creatures as beneath them, they just wanted the magic in horns, to kill the unfamiliar and different. And they didn’t just do it to unicorns and dragons, they did it to each other. Any humans who had learned any little smidgen of magic, any human was a little bit different, they killed them too. And look at how uncomfortable he is at the mere mention of magic, despite resorting to magic to save his wife.” Discord pointed at Frederic again, the man shifting from foot to foot.

Varian realized just why Discord had been so adamant about distrusting humans, the creature had likely lied about never seeing them before or at least not knowing much about them. Discord did know things, he just never told them. Except him, just in his usual Discord way.

“I thought you said humans never interested you before?” Twilight asked. “The reason Cadance and I asked you about the mirror is because you're the oldest creature we know.”

“Oh I’m not that old. And they didn’t, at least not until Cadance brought Varian home. It doesn’t change what I’ve heard or what I found when I did a little digging.” Discord insisted. “And I have no reason to think Varian would be safe with… them .”

He spat his final word in Frederic’s general direction, but before Rapunzel could counter in defense of her father and before Frederic could speak, Arianna stepped forward.

“Lord Discord, was it?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, I understand that the myths and legends we have were likely truly creatures from your world, and that they were not always treated well. And I am sincerely sorry for anything that happened within Corona's borders. I understand that you are weary about trusting us, especially since the nephew you clearly care about so much has been put in danger here. And I cannot deny the persecution of magic in the past.”

“Aha! So you admit it.”

“I do. But I can also say that things can, and should, change. We haven’t really seen magic to this degree in centuries, save for the flower used to save my life. Even then, that wasn’t a sapient being.”

Varian shifted a little, knowing that wasn’t completely accurate but not really wanting to give Discord ammunition if he didn’t know.

“I can tell you care very much for your wife, your friends and your nephew and I understand why you did what you did. My husband has had similar staunch opinions about certain things to try to protect our family.” Arianna continued. “And I think, as a show of military strength, this was possibly the most entertaining one I’ve ever seen.”

Discord raised a single eyebrow, but Arianna just turned to her husband.

“We are now fully aware of what a single creature in Equestria is capable of without so much as seeming winded, aren’t we?”

Frederic seemed to take in the tone of the words she spoke before he cleared his throat, “Yes, I suppose we are.”

“Yes, well, good.” Discord crossed his arms, looking away from the group. 

“And I appreciate you reversing everything you did.” Arianna added. “Now then, let’s get back to our talks.”

Discord was definitely pouting, he had clearly hoped that someone would lose their temper and that the talks would cease. He did seem to perk up as Fluttershy nuzzled her cheek against his, though he was still looking wearily at Frederic as they all returned to the room. 

“So uh… what… are you?” Eugene asked, dodging Cass’s attempt to elbow him once more.

“Me? I am the one, the only draconequus, lord of chaos, Discord.”

“Dragon horse?” Arianna thought for a moment. “Or I suppose dragon pony?”

“Discord, as far as we know, just sort of popped into existence. Chaos magic does things like that.” Twilight explained. “There are other beings made of chaos magic, but none of them look the same.”

“Fascinating.” Arianna smiled. “So the culmination of this chaos magic along with unknown factors creates beings?”

“As far as we can tell.” Twilight nodded with a smile. “And Discord is the friendliest of them all.”

“He’s considered friendly?” Cass asked.

“Well, he’s come a long way from when we first met him.” Fluttershy said, smiling up at him.

“Basic story is that Celestia realized Discord’s magic could be useful if they could get him on the side of good, and released him from his statue prison in the care of Fluttershy there to learn the magic of friendship. It worked, he fell in love with her, now they’re married.” Hugo summarized. “He used to just spread chaos without caring what happened to any other creature.”

“I don’t think Celestia could have predicted Discord falling in love, but she did guess that kindness was the key to getting him to care about others.” Cadance added. “And Fluttershy, as a Guardian of Harmony and the Element of Kindness, was the right pony to do it.”

“Guardian of Harmony?” Cass sat up.

“Element of Kindness?” Rapunzel asked with a smile.

“In Equestria there are numerous magical forces at work. Celestial magic, like the magic Celestia and Luna are attuned to along with most unicorns who specialize in magic. It’s basically pure raw magic power.” Twilight explained. “Then there’s the Tree of Harmony, the magic I’m attuned to. Harmony is the magic of friendship, of peace, of… well harmony. And it needs certain Elements to manifest. These Elements are different, but similar, everywhere. My friends and I represent the Elements of Harmony in Equestria. Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, and the Magic of Friendship.”

“So Equestria finds peace to be important.” Frederic surmised after a moment.

“Well yes, but more important than peace is understanding. The more you understand other creatures, other cultures, the easier it is to make new friends. And those friends will go and make new friends. That way, if anything happens, we’re all safe because friends will stand up to help.”

Frederic didn’t seem to believe what Twilight was saying, which Hugo wasn’t surprised about, but he kept his mouth shut and just took a bite of his food. 

“Twili and her friends saved Equestria so many times, it was hard for me to realize just how much my baby sister grew.” Shining mentioned, messing up Twilight’s hair.

“And all the friends we made along the way, they saved us back when we needed them most.” Twilight added. 

“What do you mean?” Arianna asked.

“Well, a few of the villains we’d bested in the past all came together to try to destroy us. With their combined cunning, subterfuge and strength, they managed to steal the magic from Discord, Celestia and Luna, making them dangerously strong. We thought we would fall facing them… but our friends came to help us. The yaks of Yak Yakistan, the dragons of the Dragonlands, the hippogriffs from Mount Aris, the griffons of Griffonstone, the changelings of the changeling kingdom, and every pony who could make it from all over Equestria all came to our aid. And all that Harmony in one place allowed us to snatch victory from defeat.” Twilight explained.

“Did you say dragons?” Nigel asked.

“Yes? My little brother Spike is a dragon.” Twilight explained. “I left him in charge of the castle in Ponyville in case there were any important letters for me.”

Nigel relaxed only when he heard Spike wasn’t there, but Varian noticed and frowned a bit, as did Flurry. Varian tried not to judge as Cadance and Twilight spoke to Frederic, but it was hard. He could tell the man wasn’t really taking them seriously, or that he was judging them. He still twitched a little whenever magic was used to levitate anything, despite it being clear that that’s just how unicorns moved things around them. Arianna at least seemed to be enjoying the talk, though once Celestia and Luna came up again Frederic seemed to think of something and perked up.

“Princess Twilight, Princess Cadance you mentioned you were magic students?”

“Yes, I was one of Princess Celesta’s private pupils actually.” Twilight explained.

“Do you think you might be able to explain why my daughter's hair returned?” 

“You know I thought her hair was a little… long.” Discord admitted as he appeared behind Rapunzel, holding up the braided hair. “And magical.”

“We tried to cut it, like Eugene did before, but it’s unbreakable.” Rapunzel explained.

“So it didn’t used to be unbreakable? Its abilities have adapted?” Cadance asked. 

“Is that strange?” Arianna asked.

“Not necessarily. Some types of magic do adapt.” Twilight admitted. “It is possible when it returned it made sure it couldn’t be cut the same. What happened when it came back?”

Varian, Rapunzel and Cass shared a nervous glance, though luckily no one seemed to notice.

“Oh, nothing.” Rapunzel lied. “It was just the night before my coronation, I went to bed and then bam. Hair. I asked Varian and Cass to try to help me cut it but that didn’t work.”

Twilight seemed suspicious of that, but thought, “I suppose the stress could have caused it. It’s hard to actually disperse magic, so cutting it might not have actually made the magic go anywhere.”

“That would explain how I was still able to save Eugene.” Rapunzel admitted.

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

“... When Eugene cut my hair? It was a last ditch effort to save me from the woman who kidnapped me, as a baby. Without my hair, she wouldn’t have a use for me. But she withered away almost instantly, without access to the magic. I don’t think either of us could have guessed that.” Rapunzel explained. “Eugene had been stabbed so… he was dying. He died trying to save me and there was nothing I could do without my hair to save him. But… my tears healed him.”

“It sounds like the healing magic just went dormant when your hair was cut.” Cadance admitted. “And the reason your tears worked was because you reached deep inside yourself to reach it. Love can do amazing things.”

“It likely took the magic time to gain strength. Maybe it just happened to regain it the night of your coronation or…” Twilight glanced at Varian, but he shook his head ‘no’ as subtly as possible. “... Well, since it is some kind of Celestial, and specifically Solar, magic, it might be best to wait until Celestia has a chance to take a look.”

“Do you think you could arrange a time for us with her?” Arianna asked.

“I’m sure Celestia and Luna would want to meet you themselves, we just try not to have all four alicorn princesses leave at the same time.” Cadance explained.

“Understandable. Well, we’ll leave that mystery for when we can see this Princess Celestia.” Frederic nodded. “Thank you.”

“Now, is there anything else we haven’t gone over?” Arianna asked.

Flurry nudged Varian, gesturing at the two before Varian cleared his throat, “uh… it’s nothing super important or anything but… I wanted to maybe ask you two about my father?”

Frederic’s usual stern expression softened, and the man cleared his throat.

“Well, I didn’t know him as long as I’d have liked to… but I’d be glad to share some of the stories I do have.”

“We’ll let you talk.” Applejack stood up. “C’mon ya’ll, that’s a family matter. Discord, I mean you too.”

Discord sighed but stood up, going with the majority of the ponies out of the room. Rapunzel hesitated but the gently nudging from Cozy made it clear that this was something that needed some privacy. Twilight stepped out with them, looking worried as she looked at the others.

“What’s wrong Twilight?” Applejack asked.

“I think Rapunzel is hiding something about how her hair came back. And I think Varian might know and is hiding it too.” Twilight explained quietly.

“Varian? Keeping secrets? That doesn’t sound like him.” Rainbow mentioned.

“I know, that’s why I’m worried.” Twilight admitted.

“If, perhaps, Varian was there when the hair returned, maybe he’s worried that he would be blamed even if he had nothing to do with it.” Rarity mentioned. “Discord isn’t the only one afraid of how humans react to such things.”

“Would the little bit of moonstone magic even have an effect on the dormant sundrop magic?” Fluttershy asked.

“Most likely, at least a little. The magic wants to be reunited.” Twilight explained quietly. “Then there’s Varian’s bangle, the one with some of Celestia’s magic. He never takes it off, so there’s a chance that might have done something too.”

“So there’s not enough information and too many variables at the same time.” Starlight sighed. “I thought you were being vague on purpose, Twilight.”

“I was. I don’t know what’s going on, or why Varian is being so secretive. But I do know he’s probably hiding it from them for a good reason. It’s him not telling us that has me worried…”

“Well, he is a teenager.” Trixie added.

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Pinkie asked.

Trixie paused to stare at Pinkie, since she was eating another flower arrangement, before she shook her head to get her thoughts back together.

“Teenagers usually start hiding things from their parents. They start sort of pulling away from family toward friends. That’s true for pretty much every creature I’ve seen.” Trixie mentioned. “I should know, I have sat through enough family fights about it to see it. The good news is that Varian isn’t pulling away from his family, he’s just making new friends. But that does come with secrets, I mean what friendship doesn’t. Like the time Starlight was teaching me to teleport things and-”

Starlight quickly nudged Trixie who stopped talking, smiling nervously.

“I guess that’s true.” Twilight admitted, thinking. “But if we’re going to help with what’s happening, we need to know.”

“I’m sure Varian knows that, Twilight.” Tempest assured. “But, for the first time in a long time, Varian has new friends that come with complications. Discord has a few points about humans, right? Well, Varian knows that too. So if he wants us to keep the moonstone quiet for now, we should.”

“Right.” Twilight smiled a little. “... Did you all notice how that adviser reacted to hearing about dragons?”

“Oh I am so glad you noticed.” Discord smiled gleefully. “I certainly would hate for dear Spike to get-”

They all looked at him and he sighed.

“Look, I do mean it. I’m worried. I’m worried about all of you. Not just Varian, though I am very concerned about him.” Discord admitted. “I didn’t make up what I’ve heard. I didn’t see any of it, I was young and uninvolved in most matters, but it made its rounds to a lot of creatures and monsters.”

“And Gold Lily did disguise herself as a human, after a time.” Rarity mentioned, Twilight sighing. “Darling I’m not saying we back away completely, we can’t, not with Varian in our care. But I am saying we should perhaps be cautious.”

“You’re right.” Twilight admitted, sighing, everyone changing the conversation as Rapunzel, Eugene, Cass and Cozy neared. “I mean, this could have gone a lot worse.”

“Really?” Eugene asked, glaring as Cass elbowed him again. “Will you stop doing that?”

“I wasn’t kidding when I said pretty much every big party goes wrong in some way in Equestria.” Twilight smiled. “Making peace with the yaks almost led to war because things went so poorly.”

“Opening the school almost led to a big international incident because a bunch of the students ran off together when it almost got closed.” Starlight added.

“Into the Everfree forest of all places.” Trixie sighed.

“You mentioned Coze went to that school, you all know her?” Cass mentioned, the filly looking up at her nervously.

“Coze? Oh, well we did. She didn’t recognize me, so she clearly doesn’t remember her time there.” Starlight mentioned. “She helped me and Twilight around the school a lot, so she’d know me if her memories weren’t so thoroughly wiped.”

“That does sound like Cozy.” Eugene admitted.

“So you don’t know what happened to her?” Cass asked.

“Well we certainly didn’t know she was here, I don’t think Cadance would have left her here.” Twilight tried to avoid the question Cass was actually asking, but she could tell Cass was going to correct.

“No, I mean, for her to be turned to stone.”

Twilight thought for a moment, weighing her options. Honesty was usually the best policy, but this Cozy didn’t remember doing those things. She didn’t know she’d nearly destroyed Equestria, and just like how it didn’t feel right to punish her for something she didn’t remember doing, it also didn’t feel right to tell it to her new friends and family. It was Cozy’s secret to tell, and Twilight wanted to wait before she told Cozy everything. She wanted the new roots of friendship and love to take a firm hold, so that Cozy Glow could move forward.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened to cause Cozy to be turned to stone.” Twilight was choosing to lie by being truthful.

She didn’t know what had caused Cozy to seek power and control, she didn’t know much about Cozy at all. She didn’t know what led Cozy down the path she took.

“Cozy didn’t even tell us she was from a foal center.” 

Cozy looked up at Twilight, confused that the mare was lying for her, though she did feel grateful for it.

“I remember when you were finally big enough for Quirin to bring you into town.” Arianna added. “He was so happy to show the whole town his son.”

“He brought you to town whenever he had business. I think he just wanted to get you out of the house.” Frederic admitted. “Though you had quite a talent for disappearing without a word.”

“That explains why Monty recognized me so easily.” Varian admitted. “I guess I wandered off to the Sweet Shoppe at least once.”

“Well that and your hair stripe. The teal one, you’ve had that since you were a baby. Quirin had no explanation for it.” Arianna admitted. “The blue one is new.”

“Oh uh, that’s just from living in Equestria, we think.” Varian admitted. “Along with the sparkles.”

“So Vari’s other dad was a farmer?” Flurry asked, thinking. “But what about his chest full of stuff?”

Frederic paused as he heard about the chest, but waited to see what would be said about it.

“Well, Flurry, that chest full of stuff was from when he was younger.” Cadance explained. “When he lived somewhere else, he lived as a knight. When he moved, he chose a different life, and to have a family. I was a farmer's daughter before I was a princess.”

Frederic wanted to ask more about the chest, and what was in it, but he somehow doubted Cadance would answer. They were hiding something, just like Quirin had. Something about that teal hair stripe, which Quirin had always waved off as a side effect of Ulla’s alchemist background or ‘something’. Quirin was always unwilling to speak about it, Frederic hadn’t pressed much but he knew Quirin knew more about it then he was letting on. Quirin had been the one to know more about the sundrop flower then anyone else, even Xavier with his strange knowledge. Quirin and the entirety of Old Corona had been slaughtered, and the interrogation of the men involved led to more confusion. They were after Varian, though they refused to talk about why, and they’d apparently been attacked by unicorns. 

And now, the boy had returned the same day, hours before Rapunzel’s hair returned. Rapunzel refused to admit to what had happened, but he had a feeling there was more to it then ‘it simply came back.’ And Varian had, in fact, returned with unicorns and other magical creatures from some other world, where he’d been living for a decade. The boy didn’t seem dangerous, he was polite and well mannered and clearly taught very well how royalty should behave, but he couldn’t shake the feeling there was more to it. Something Quirin hadn’t wanted him to know, for some reason. But what the teal hair stripe had to do with it, he wasn’t sure. 

Flurry Heart noticed Frederic looking at Varian, sensing something she wasn’t sure she liked. She glared over the table at the man, who eventually noticed her staring at him.

“Uh… yes little filly?”

“Sorry about her, Flurry gets weird and stares, sometimes.” Varian said, grabbing Flurry before whispering loudly at her. “Sis, knock it off.” 

“Finnneee.”

“I think Flurry’s alicorn powers are developing. Hence her staring sometimes.” Cadance explained. “And if they’re similar to mine, it means she can sense… well I’m not sure what. I sense love, or heartbreak, and can help people remember how someone loved them.”

“Princess of love, well that makes sense.” Arianna smiled. “And love is also magic? Like friendship?”

“That’s right.” Cadance nodded. “Love and light is what keeps the Crystal Empire safe. That pendant I gave Varian, it has a smaller version of the same artifact we use to keep the Empire safe. The Crystal Heart, it uses love and joy to protect the Empire.”

“It must be a lovely place.” Arianna smiled.

“It is. I’d love to have you visit some time.” Cadance agreed.

“Now that the portal is open whenever Varian wants, we’re hoping that Varian can try to unravel a few things involving the things his parents left behind, and a mystery left behind by an alicorn named Gold Lily.” Shining mentioned.

“Gold Lily? That name rings a bell, but I’ve read so many books about Corona I’m not sure from where.” Arianna admitted. “I’ll look into it, of course.”

“And Varian is welcome to come visit whenever he’d like. We might need your help just as much to figure out why Rapunzel’s hair returned and what we can do about it.” Frederic added. “Though, this portal, would it not be safer to move it closer?”

Hugo stood up a bit from his leaning position, not liking the king asking about it, but relaxed as Varian began to speak.

“I’m… not comfortable with that.” Varian admitted. “I mean, maybe it would be safer but… if I do move it, I don’t want anyone from Corona to know where. Sorry. I don’t know who I can trust after… after what happened.”

“... I understand that feeling.” Frederic admitted. “If you ever change your mind, just let me know.”

“Thank you sir. And thank you for telling me about my father.”

“Of course. It was nice to reminisce about him.” Frederic admitted. “We should say our goodbyes, I’m sure you’d like to get back before dark.”

“We should get Pinkie back and see if Dr. Pepper Bark can confirm the pregnancy.” Cadance admitted. 

“Thank you for your hospitality.” Varian said, elbowing his sister.

“Thanks.”

Hugo raised an eyebrow, deciding he was going to talk to Flurry Heart once they got back to the Empire. He was curious what her problem was, and he needed to know if she was sensing what he was picking up with his intuition. They found the others all still happily chatting with Rapunzel, Eugene and Cass.

“How are you feelin’ sugarcube?” Applejack asked, walking up to Varian.

“I’m alright. It was really nice to hear about him.” Varian assured, still sharing a hug with the mare when she offered.

“I know how that feels.” Applejack reminded, giving him a nuzzle. 

“Come on every creature, we should get Pinkie and Cheese to a doctor just to confirm.” Cadance called.

Cozy watched them for a while, noticing they didn’t seem to be talking to her, and spoke before she could stop herself, “You’re not making me go with you?”

They stopped and looked at her, Cadance smiling gently.

“It would be very hypocritical of me to take you away from a family who loves you, don’t you think?”

Cozy looked at her and Varian, before relaxing a little, “I guess that’s true.”

“It might take some time to dig out Cozy’s papers from whichever foal center has them, and then to translate them, but I’ll do my best to have them found so Varian can bring them to you, Captain.” Twilight mentioned.

“Oh uh, thank you.” He nodded.

“Do you need anything Cozy?” Flurry asked. 

“I’d hate to impose.” Cozy muttered.

“She’s been having some trouble with her hair.” Cass explained.

“Don’t you worry Cozy Glow, I’ll make sure some of the best hair products for curly hair are sent your way.” Rarity promised. “Taking proper care of your mane is important.”

“Well uh, thank you.” Cozy smiled a little. “Oh, Varian?”

“Yeah?”

“Next time you come over, we should play chess again. No offense to anyone here but, you might be the only person I’ve played against that is a real challenge.” Cozy admitted. “And Flurry, maybe I can show you around it next time.”

“Sure thing, I had fun.” Varian smiled.

“I’d be glad to have a new flying buddy.” Flurry smiled, waving. “Bye!”

Discord snapped, teleporting the entire group away in a flash. Frederic had hoped to send someone to follow their tracks, but he realized it wasn’t going to be so simple. Cozy smiled, looking as the Captain stepped closer to her.

“You uh, you really want to stay?”

“As long as you want me to, still.” Cozy admitted nervously. “I’m… sorry that I was being stubborn. I just… didn’t want to risk feeling hurt again, after all the disappointment I had in the foal center.”

“It’s alright Cozy, I understand.” He insisted, kneeling down. “And I understand if you don’t really want to stay but-”

“Are you kidding? Sure, Corona doesn’t have all the modern conveniences of Equestria, but I never had a family in Equestria.” Cozy added, hugging him. “I don’t know why me and Varian were out here, but I’m glad we were.”

Cass smiled a bit, pulling the kerchief over Cozy’s eyes and making the filly laugh, “Took you long enough.”

“Let’s try to relax now that that’s over. That Discord guy, what a jerk.” Eugene sighed. “I cannot believe a pony as sweet as Fluttershy is married to that thing.”

“I think that’s probably why she likes him.” Rapunzel mentioned.

“Sort of like how I can’t see what Raps sees in you.” Cass added, Eugene glaring at her. 

“Oh, wait, before we go inside.” Cozy flew over to Max. “I’m sorry for yelling at you, Max. I should have realized you’d never do something like that on your own for no reason. Can you forgive me?”

Max smiled and nodded, and Cozy smiled and patted him on the nose before going with the others inside. This castle was her home, and she was hopeful for the future.

Varian looked around as he realized Discord had dumped them into the castle, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

“Oh nothing.”

“C’mon Cheese, we need to go to the doctor!” Pinkie smiled and bounced, the two hurrying out.

“Should she be galloping like that?” Hugo asked.

“Well if she is pregnant, it’s still early. It should be fine.” Twilight mentioned, sighing. “I think I could use a nice relaxing book before dinner.”

“I’m going to go tinker with something. After I change.” Varian stretched, looking at Hugo. “What about you?”

“I dunno yet.” Hugo admitted. “Maybe I’ll meet you up in the lab.”

Hugo waited until Varian left for his room before he knelt down, “So, Flurry, what was it about Frederic you didn’t like? I haven’t seen you glare like that before.”

“I don’t know. He just… felt off. He had bad vibes.”

Hugo thought for a moment but sighed, not sure if that was enough to go off, even with Flurry Heart’s developing alicorn abilities being similar to her mothers. Anyone could see that Frederic was protective to the point of being dangerous, as far as Rapunzel was involved. At least, anyone like Hugo who knew what to look for. Donella’s training had some uses, after all. He couldn’t deny that, he just hoped he was just being a bit paranoid.

Chapter Text

They’d spent a bit of time celebrating once Pinkie and Cheese came back with the news that she was in fact pregnant. Varian wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Hugo laugh so much, but Pinkie and Cheese were being exceptionally silly and seemed happy that they got a laugh out of him. Hugo was generally just clearly happier, and Varian was more and more glad to see it.

“You’re staring at him again.” Flurry teased, Varian blushing and shoving the fillies face away from him. “You have a cruuuussshhh.”

“Ssh!”

“You dooo.”

Varian was about to grab his sister as she giggled and began to canter away, but he stopped as he spotted Flash Sentry come in. He walked over where his parents were, nervous about what Flash would have to say.

“Chrysalis and Tirek are still trapped.” Flash Sentry assured, Cadance sighing in relief. “There were signs of a struggle, and some broken glass.”

“Broken glass… someone must have tricked Varian into making more of that potion he made to reverse stone spells.” Cadance mentioned, looking at Varian. “And you tried to stop them.”

“And Cozy got freed… so I guess I chased her into the mirror.” Varian surmised. “Which is when we both ran into whoever took our memories.”

Shining nodded, “Luckily, your alchemy isn’t so easily replicated by those who don’t know what they’re doing, so they couldn’t try again on their own.”

“We’ll have to be careful, someone wants at least one of those two freed. I sincerely doubt they wanted Cozy freed.” Twilight mentioned, tapping her hoof against her chin. “But why free either of them?”

“It can’t be good. I’m proud you managed to stop them.” Shining messed up Varian’s hair, the boy smiling. “It’s just too bad you and Cozy ran into whoever it was who took your memories.”

“Yeah…” Varian sighed, still upset he couldn’t remember more. “A pegasus… what would a pegasus want with either Tirek or Chrysalis?”

The whitewood changeling slammed the page down, “We need to make more of this.”

“I can’t believe you let the boy get away.” Another changeling like the first spoke, though this one was lavender in color.

“He had some kind of sticky trap!” The whitewood changeling huffed, licking the wound on her leg. “It was your idea for one of us to go alone. You’re the self proclaimed smart one, you make it.”

“You’d have been useless missing a leg, that was a stupid move.” Yet another changeling, pink in tone, snapped.

They began to snap and hiss at each other, the purple one sighing, “Silence! We have work to do. Get our sisters, we need a new plan.”

The two glared at each other before they left the room, leaving the lavenderwood changeling to look over the page. She understood it, the little bit of Twilight Sparkle infused with her being had made her intelligent. Intelligent enough, at least, to understand what she was reading and the steps they’d have to take. The ingredients were all things they could find in nature, but none of them were all that close to each other. The pinkwood and whitewood changelings returned with three others, an orange one, a yellow one, and a blue one. Lavenderwood snapped at them what they were to gather, before she turned herself to prepare a cauldron. 

The only good thing about the old swamp home of the long gone Grogar was that there were supplies around they could make some use of. Not everything they would need exactly, but she could make due. Yellowwood paused near the doorway and gently pawed at the wound on Whitewood, who hissed at her and moved her leg away.

“I just wanted to-”

“Stay back!”

“Did I not give you two a job to do?” Lavenderwood snapped.

They hurried away, Lavenderwood sighing as she paced the floor, plotting. Now that one of them had been seen, they needed to ensure that they could free Chrysalis quietly, and like usual it came down to her. Or at least, they’d seen one of them. One who was injured and would just slow down the others anyway. Lavenderwood didn’t like it, there were only six of them and losing any of them would make things that much harder, but she had one idea of what they could do.

Things returned to normal, for a time, and Hugo appreciated it. A week or so of just Equestria back to normal, business as usual, nice and quiet. Hugo had even contacted the family in Canterlot and made them some automata for their kids. Unfortunately, Varian was still adamant on visiting Corona again, and there was apparently some local event happening that Arianna had invited Cadance to attend with her. Something Frederic had no interest in, apparently, but that Arianna wanted to attend. Arianna and Cadance were pretty consistently using the magic snowflake letters to write back and forth to each other. Hugo didn’t mind Arianna, she seemed friendly, even tempered and she clearly liked the Equestrians. He still didn’t trust Frederic, so despite not wanting to go, he got himself ready.

“So what’s going on?”

“The Challenge of the Brave.” Flurry answered, clearly excited.

“I think it’s just a brawl and obstacle course, for the strongest warriors.” Cadance admitted. “Arianna thought it might be nice to chat over, and I thought Tempest might like a chance to get out any… pent up aggression.”

Hugo could understand that, Tempest seemed very calm but he did see her quietly roll her eyes or twitch a little in annoyance from time to time, though it was mostly around Frederic. He hadn’t had time to talk to her about it, but he was hoping he might now. And with Equestria so peaceful, he didn’t imagine she got a lot of time to use her fighting prowess. 

“And we’re going because?” Hugo asked, looking at Varian.

“I want to see my friends.” Varian shrugged.

Flurry rolled her eyes a little, something Hugo decided to ask her about once they could get a moment apart from the group.

“Sorry we’re late. I was up a little later then I should have been translating some books for Arianna.” Twilight admitted, trotting in with a very full saddle bag. “And uh… making a new version of the Friendship Journal with some redactions.”

Tempest likewise had a bag of what appeared to be even more books as she entered, “I tried to get her to bed on time.”

“Ah, making sure Cozy’s rampage isn’t mentioned?” Hugo asked.

“I want her to really have a chance.” Twilight admitted. 

“No, I get it. I don’t think Frederic would let her stay if he knew.” Hugo shrugged, leaning against the wall.

“I understand Discord being wary of him, but why are you?” Cadance asked.

“Well, I’m from a different kingdom so I can admit maybe it’s just a rumor mill but… one thing that is for sure, Corona has a tendency to send its criminals off on a barge to who knows where.” Hugo explained. “And the variety of crimes made it sound a bit… harsh. I mean, sending away murderers is one thing. Sending away petty thieves who were stealing stuff like food…”

Varian frowned a little, remembering what Lady Caine had said, shifting a bit as the uncomfortable reality hit him.

“... I can see your point.” Twilight admitted. “Which is just another reason why we’re not going to tell them about Cozy Glow, at least not yet.”

“Alright. Now that we’re all here.” Cadance gestured, the group going through the portal.

“I think Twilight should just teleport us to the town, if she can.” Hugo mentioned.

“You’re really worried about them knowing where the mirror is.” Twilight mentioned.

“Yeah well… if this was Ingvarr, someone would hold it hostage, or try to reverse engineer it or… or who knows what.” Hugo crossed his arms.

“I don’t want anyone to know yet either, aunt Twili.” Varian admitted. “I don’t distrust them that much but… well, I don’t want those witch hunters to find it, and being more cautious about hoof and foot prints isn’t that bad.”

Twilight sighed, “Alright, I see your point. Hugo, you’ve never been blinked before so just try not to be too tense.”

Hugo was about to ask what she meant, but before he could they were standing in the Corona castle courtyard, several guards jumping.

“Oh, sorry everyone.” Twilight apologized.

They relaxed after a moment with a few nervous glances, though once Captain and Cozy came over they all relaxed.

“Here I thought we should expect you by the front gate, that’s going to take some getting used to.”

“Hi guys.” Cozy greeted.

“Hello Cozy.” Twilight smiled.

“We were running a little late because Twilight spent so long on these.” Tempest explained, gesturing to the bag.

“My, I didn’t expect so many books at once.” Arianna stepped out of the castle with Rapunzel and Eugene. “Thank you Twilight.”

“Of course. I’m happy to share what I can, and I did my best to make sure there were a variety of subjects.” Twilight explained.

Rapunzel rushed over to hug Varian, which he returned, Flurry huffing quietly to herself before she looked around. 

“Where’s Cass?”

“Oh she’s sulking somewhere, probably.” Eugene shrugged.

“She’s preparing for the Challenge of the Brave.” Rapunzel answered, smiling and rolling her eyes a little. “Tempest, you were competing too right? I’m a little surprised.”

“Really? Look at her. She’s practically a war horse.” Eugene mentioned, gesturing to the mare. “Have you ever seen her out of armor?”

“Don’t worry princess, I don’t use my magic very often. I plan on doing this hoof to hand.” Tempest promised.

“I’ll help Arianna get these books inside, you kids can go to the field.” Cadance said, nuzzling Varian and Flurry. “Behave yourselves.”

“We will mom.” Varian assured.

“I’ll help Arianna and Cadance, Tempest, you should get down there and get ready.” Twilight insisted.

“I am ready.” Tempest assured, but nuzzled her cheek against Twilight’s before she and the others left.

“So, you and princess Twilight, what’s the story?” Eugene asked.

“I ran a campaign for the Storm King, nearly took over all of Equestria, captured Twilight, she tried to talk sense into me but I didn’t want to hear it. The Storm King went back on his word, I nearly got swept up into a tornado, she saved me. Her friends helped her get the staff of Sarcanas from the Storm King, she stopped his storm. I realized he was about to use petrifying bombs on them, and I jumped in the way. We both turned into stone and fell off the balcony, and Twilight saved me. She released me from stone, I helped them fix everything. She asked me to stay, I did. Well, I did a little soul searching and a few missions for the princesses since it’s what I’m good at, but I stayed in Equestria for the most part at least. I started staying in Twilight’s castle, since it was less populated than Canterlot and… well, slowly things between us changed.”

“... That is… not what I was expecting but strangely makes sense.” Eugene admitted.

“You asked specifically about me and Twilight.”

“You left out the part where you showed aunt Twilight what your magic really does and you made fireworks and made the Songbird Serenade concert more special which aunt Twilight wanted because she was freaking out because it was the very first ever Festival of Friendship and you two had a little moment under the fireworks.” Flurry whined.

“Is that how your mom tells it?” Tempest asked, blushing a little.

“Well mom does sense those feelings.” Varian reminded Tempest.

They arrived at the camp, where Rapunzel excitedly went to greet Cass, dragging Varian along with her. Tempest rolled her eyes but went to talk to someone who was in charge of the event. Hugo tensed up watching Rapunzel dragging Varian toward a group of thuggish men, sighing and rubbing his face.

“This is not going to go well.”

“I don’t see why she thinks she can just drag my brother around to do whatever she wants.” Flurry huffed.

“Woah there little filly, don’t you think that’s a little possessive?” Eugene asked. “I mean, Rapunzel is just excited to see him.”

Flurry stared at him for a minute before giving a quiet ‘hmph’ and looking away.

“She’s in a mood today. Don’t you have a seat to grab?” Hugo shrugged, picking Flurry up and hurrying to go after Rapunzel and Varian. “I know I don’t like Rider, what’s your problem with him?”

“I don’t know. I usually like Eugene, but something about how he… I don’t know, felt, about me being upset with Rapunzel made me angry.” Flurry tried to explain, but she was clearly frustrated that she didn’t have the words to get it across.

“Hey, it’s okay Blizzard, I get it. He did jump to defend her really fast. And your brother is not going to be okay around these… uh… upstanding gentlemen.” Hugo corrected as he nearly ran into one of the men there.

“... Do I know you?” The man asked, getting closer.

“Back off!” Flurry demanded, squirming out of Hugo’s arms and allowing magic to flicker out of her horn.

“I’d do what she said if I were you. Alicorn magic is nothing to sniff at, and that little pony has taken out walls. On accident. Imagine what she could do on purpose.” Tempest said as she walked over.

“And you must be this Shadow Tempest.”

“So close, I know reading must be hard for you so I’ll give that a pass.” Tempest blinked slowly, walking past them. “Come on you two, I don’t want Flurry getting fleas from one of them.”

“Fleas? I don’t have fleas!”

“You do look itchy.” Flurry teased as she cantered by, Hugo shrugging and following them.

“Thanks Tempest.”

“Well, I’m not about to watch you get attacked by some barely bathed individual just because you stole pocket change or something five years ago.” Tempest scanned, frowning as she spotted Rapunzel still dragging a clearly uncomfortable Varian.

“I got this.” Hugo insisted, putting Flurry on Tempest’s back. “Stay put for now.”

“Aww fine.”

“Hey, princess, pretty sure this is for competitors only.” Hugo as he walked over. 

“Thank you.” Cass sounded exasperated, crossing her arms.

“I just wanted to wish Cass good luck.”

“Fine. Break a leg.”

“Hugo!” Rapunzel gasped.

“I was literally wishing her good luck, don’t you know you don’t actually say good luck?”

“It’s bad luck!” Flurry shouted from where Tempest stood.

Rapunzel paused, looking at Varian, “Uh… t-they’re right.”

“Oh. Well uh, okay break a leg then.”

“Oh I intend to.” Cass smiled, before she looked at Varian. “Are you okay?” 

“Considering his past he is not exactly fond of a certain… type of individual.” Hugo mentioned, gesturing around them.

“Oh, oh right. Raps, you should go to the stands so Varian can be more comfortable.” Cass caught on to what Hugo was getting at.

“Oh, these guys aren’t like those guys.” Rapunzel assured, looking at Varian. “Some of my friends are here.”

“Besides Cass?” Tempest asked, walking over. “Look, princess, how would you like it if Varian dragged you into a locked tower isolated from the world because he wanted to go in there, despite how you felt?”

“... Point taken…” Rapunzel sighed, letting Varian’s hand go. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think…”

“It’s fine. I’m just going to go find a place to sit.” Varian backed into Hugo, who put a hand on his shoulder.

“C’mon Blizzard, let’s go find your mom!” Hugo called.

Flurry smiled smugly at Rapunzel before looking up at Cass, “I hope you beat up those guys who think you can’t because you're a lady.”

“Well thank you Flurry.” Cass smiled a bit watching the filly run after the other two. “Sweet kid.”

“She just told you to beat guys up.” Rapunzel countered.

“I think you’re just upset because the kid doesn’t like you.” Cass shrugged. 

“Flurry does too like me. Right, Tempest?”

“... I’m going to have to say negative on that, based on how she acts and how she only ever talks about wanting to come here to see Cozy and Cass.” Tempest admitted, shrugging off her armor.

Rapunzel paused, looking at the shield mark on her flank, “Huh, that looks a lot like Shining’s cutie mark.”

“Yeah, a lot of ponies who guard have shields as part of their Cutie Marks.” Tempest stretched her neck back and forth. “Or spears or swords. Guard things.”

“So you’ve always been a guard?” Cass asked.

“No. I led an army. I am talking about this way more today than I have in years.” Tempest sighed. 

“You were a general?” Cass asked again, smiling a little.

“Commander, actually. But yes.”

“Why aren’t you wearing your armor for this?” Rapunzel asked.

“Because that armor is only for when I’m personally guarding Twilight. This competition is outside of that, I just thought it might be… illuminating.” 

“What do we have here? A little lost pony?” A man asked.

“I don’t get lost. I go where I mean to go.” Tempest said, standing and looking at the man. “But why don’t you go ahead and get lost? You look like you're good at it.”

Rapunzel gasped, “Tempest that’s mean.”

“Yes, Raps, that’s why she said it. It’s trash talk.” Cass sighed, rubbing her face.

“Trash talk?”

“Getting in the competition’s head.” Cass tried to explain.

“But why not just… disarm them with kindness instead?” Rapunzel offered.

“Sometimes, princess, being nice isn’t an option. The sooner you learn that, the better.” Tempest slipped on black armor. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter how nice you are, you won’t reach the other person. So instead of wasting energy trying, you should focus either on beating them if they're a threat, or ignoring them if they aren’t. Or polite base level conversation, in the case of politics.”

“Oh, well I-” Rapunzel started.

“I need to warm up Raps, so maybe you should go find Eugene in the stands.” Cass rushed to get Rapunzel to leave.

She didn’t particularly care much about most of the princesses or ponies from Equestria, but she had been curious when she’d seen Tempest before. Having whatever kind of government system had four princesses ruling together was one thing, but Tempest had what Cass wanted. And maybe the mare might have some advice.

“So the scar, uh… how’d that happen?” Cass asked, immediately hating that it was the first thing that came to her mind.

“It’s not a battle scar, sorry. I got it when I was a filly. I ran into an Ursa Minor, a type of celestial magical bear. It broke my horn and scarred me.”

“Oh… uh…”

“It’s fine. I’ve learned to realize that it doesn’t define who I am. After all, I didn’t get that Cutie Mark until after I met Twilight.”

“... As an adult? Cozy made it sound like those usually happen in childhood.”

“They do.”

“Oh… that’s… uh…”

“It took me a long time to find who I wanted to be, even once I realized who I didn’t want to be.” Tempest explained. “But I think you know who you want to be.”

“Yeah. I mean, I know what I want to do, at least. I just… can’t get anyone to listen to me.”

“Maybe it’s because you're shouting.”

“What?”

“There are times when you don’t need to be nice, like I told Rapunzel. But there are also times when being nice gets you what you want a lot easier than pushing your weight around. When you shout like a petulant child, people treat you like one.”

“I am not a-” Cass started, stopping as Tempest turned and gave her a stern look. “... You know for a little purple unicorn you are very intimidating.” 

Tempest smiled a little, “It’s a matter of practice. You don’t need to say anything to let others know that you mean business. Body language says a lot. Here, stand straight. Square your shoulders. Don’t glare, unfurrow that brow. Nothing stings more than indifference. They don’t matter to you, and you don’t need to let them know it. They’ll feel it.”

Cass did as she was told, looking at her reflection in one of the swords nearby. Something about the indifference struck her uncomfortably, but when someone taunted her about only being there because she was the princesses hand maiden and she turned and simply slowly blinked at them, it had the desired effect. They stammer out some more insults, and Cass raised an eyebrow.

“You done?”

They sputtered some more before they stomped off, Cass smiling a little and looking at Tempest.

“See? Save your energy for the actual battle. Shouting is for when someone who actually matters needs to hear you.”

“So what, you’d only actually shout at Twilight?”

“Or one of our friends. None of them have really given me a reason to, but if they needed to hear a harsh truth and they weren’t listening otherwise, I would.” Tempest admitted. “Now your bickering with Eugene, that can stay the same, since I know you don’t hate him as much as you act like you do.”

“Huh, you Equestrians really are insightful… I don’t hate him I just, I don’t know he gets under my skin.”

“Want to vent about that while we get ready? It might make you feel better, since I’m sure Rapunzel didn’t want to hear any of it.”

“That… sounds nice actually. I mean, I can vent about my job to Cozy but she does have a good relationship with Eugene and I don’t want her to feel like she can’t. He understands some of the pain she’s gone through better than I ever could.”

Tempest smiled to herself, feeling pretty accomplished at reaching Cass so handily. She wasn’t as friendly or good at friendship as her girlfriend or her friends, so she was never as sure if she was saying the right things. Luckily, Cass was more like her, and that made it easier to know what a younger Tempest might like to hear, and would need to hear.

“You alright, Goggles?” Hugo asked as they found themselves at the seating prepared for Arianna and her guests.

“Yeah I’m fine. Do I not look fine?” Varian asked, stopping and looking around nervously.

“You look scared.” Flurry answered.

“She’s right.” Hugo confirmed. “Relax, me and Flurry aren’t going to let anything near you. To say nothing of your mom and aunts.”

“Just… if the witch hunters wanted to sneak in, now would be the time.” Varian mentioned, looking around.

“Yeah, I know. I thought of that.” Hugo admitted casually, shrugging. “But Tempest is here, so we have nothing to worry about.”

Varian relaxed a bit, looking as Eugene walked around looking annoyed, “Oh, Eugene, what’s up?”

“They don’t know how to have fun around here, that's what.” Eugene sighed. “Kicking me out of my seat, I-”

“Oh Eugene, are you joining us?” Cadance asked as she, Arianna, Cozy and Twilight arrived.

“Queen Arianna? I didn’t think you were coming. I mean, it’s not really a secret that the king doesn’t really… like this event.” Eugene admitted.

“Well, I saw it as a nice excuse to spend time with Cadance.” Arianna admitted, leading them into the seating area. “And while it’s true Fred doesn’t like this event much, I always have. And we’d love to have you sit with us Eugene.”

“Alright Queen Arianna, see I knew you were the fun one.” Eugene smiled. “Twilight, I cannot wait to see what your girlfriend can do.”

“Well, I don’t want to brag but, she did actually defeat three out of four alicorns in less than a minute.” Twilight admitted.

“She did?” Eugene asked, looking at Cadance.

“Don’t look at me, she was smart enough to go for the one with shield magic first. I didn’t see her go after Celestia and Luna, I just know she did.” Cadance admitted, sitting down. “She’s very capable, we’re lucky to have her on our side now.”

“The only reason I escaped was because a friend from Ponyville tried to help by being a decoy. Ditzy Do, a mail carrier in Ponyville, put on a party hat to look like a horn in all the smoke and ran into the crossfire.”

“Is she okay?” Arianna asked.

“Oh yeah, she returned to carrying mail like it was nothing once she was unpetrified. She didn’t even know why she was given a medal of honor, despite being the reason I had a chance to escape in the first place.” Twilight admitted. “Ditzy Do is a pretty good friend of Varian’s actually.”

“Well her brother helped teach me about science.” Varian admitted, with a small smile. “Oh Hugo, next time we’re in Ponyville I’ll have to introduce you to Doc. He’s a little scatterbrained but he’s one of the best ponies I know.”

“Yeah? I’ll look forward to it.” Hugo smiled a bit, leaning back in the stand. 

Cozy sat down next to Flurry, both fillies smiling up at Cadance as she put down some popcorn between them. Rapunzel joined them, sitting down looking troubled.

“What’s wrong Blondie?”

“Oh, I just feel like Cass was trying to get rid of me.”

“Ugh, Cassandra. What about her?”

“Well, she worked really hard to be invited to this and-”

“Invited? Blondie, this event is for anyone stupid enough to sign up. And Tempest.” Eugene explained.

“Really?” Rapunzel smiled, getting back up. “That’s great! We can compete together!”

“Oh, Rapunzel-” Arianna started, Rapunzel turning to look at her. “... Have fun.”

“Will do mom.” Rapunzel smiled, hurrying off.

“... Are you alright Arianna?” Cadance asked, placing a hoof on the woman's arm.

“Well… I guess I just… I don’t know, I know her father won’t like this.”

“So?” Flurry asked. “Isn’t she old enough to do what she wants within reason? That’s what Sunburst says about Vari.”

“That’s what I thought!” Cozy admitted.

“I don’t disagree, I just…. I hate to see him get upset or worried.” Arianna explained to Cadance.

The crowd began cheering loudly, and the two fillies, teenage boys and Twilight were thoroughly distracted as the contestants were being announced.

“Sometimes, you have to take your kids' side over the other parents if you think your child might be harmed by what that other parent wants. I’m lucky that Shining and I agree as much as we do, but our mutual trust in each other also means if I was overstepping and crushing one of our kids' spirits, Shining would stand up to me, and vice versa.” Cadance explained. “You mentioned you like this event, would you let Frederic keep you from it?”

“... well… I suppose I have, for the past few years…”

“... Few years, or for a lot of years?” Cadance asked.

“Well…” Arianna sighed. “He needed support, after Rapunzel was taken from us-”

“So did you. She’s your daughter too. And taking yourself from what you like for someone else does not make a healthy relationship.”

Arianna thought for a moment, looking down where Varian lifted Flurry up onto his shoulders.

“... What do you like to do, Cadance?”

“Me? Well, I’ve honestly always liked teaching and being around children, it’s why I was Twilight’s foal sitter.” Cadance admitted. “I thought I’d be a teacher, before I got my Cutie Mark. So I guess I like being a mom, but I do teach some lessons at the local school. And I like seeing my people’s faces and helping them however I can. I was born to be the ruler of the Crystal Empire, even though I didn’t know that for a while. Now as far as hobbies, I like to try to keep up my flying. I really enjoyed all the lessons I had with the guard when Celestia was trying to prepare me to rule the Empire. What about you?”

Arianna smiled a little, “Well…”

Tempest rolled her eyes and sighed as the field was being reset for another event, watching Cass and Rapunzel argue. The first event was easy enough, dodging giant mallets wasn’t practical, but she’d had a chance to show off a little, entertaining Flurry at least. Rapunzel had waltzed through it, which Tempest could tell had annoyed Cass. She cleared her throat, walking over.

“Okay ladies, stop arguing. Clearly, something was miscommunicated here.” 

“Nothing was miscommunicated here.” Cass huffed, pushing past Rapunzel who furrowed her brow.

“... Clearly.” Tempest sighed, looking at Rapunzel. “You want to explain your side?”

“I don’t see why Cass is so angry.” Rapunzel huffed, walking with Tempest. “I thought it would be fun to compete together.”

“Perhaps the problem is that Cass isn’t in this for ‘fun’.” Tempest gently explained.

“What? Not in it for fun? Then why?” Rapunzel asked.

“Because this is something she clearly thinks is important.” Tempest explained. “And you just waltzed in. Literally.”

“I- well why didn’t she say anything?”

“I don’t know her well enough to know.” Tempest shrugged, looking up and smiling a little and waving at Twilight. “Maybe you have a history of not taking things seriously, or maybe she just wanted this one thing for herself and didn’t know how to explain that. How long have you been friends?”

“Seven or eight months…” Rapunzel admitted.

“That’s not a lot of time to learn how to talk to someone, especially for someone who never had anyone to talk to.”

“I had Pascal.”

“The… lizard…”

“... I… see your point. But we’re friends, why wouldn’t she feel comfortable telling me something is bothering her?”