The Cadenza Prophecies

by iisaw

10 Cultural Exchange Rate

Chapter Ten - Cultural Exchange Rate

Tempest was amazed when I paid her a standard quarter share and put her in the first group for shore leave. For a short voyage without any profit made, it wasn't much, but it was enough to get a few decent meals and buy some souvenirs. And if she got taken by some local sharps, it was little enough to lose. When I finally convinced her I was serious about letting her wander off, alone and unchaperoned, I think she was even more shocked.

"No magical tracking device?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I trust you," I said.

She stared at me, opened her mouth, shut it again, and then she and Grubber trotted off across the gantry and down the circular stairs of the tower. I would have loved to see her first encounters with the Twilight Folk, but I supposed I'd have to make do with a second-hoof report. I peered up at the clouds drifting up the valley from the ocean. I knew Ao was up there somewhere, even though I couldn't spot her.

Ralf was surprised by his pay, too. "Ralf thinks there is a mistake, Captain ma'am. Ralf's papers say full share," he protested.

"They also say, 'with advancements for merit,' Mr. Ralf," I told him. "Your pay is now a share and a half. It'll go to a double share after a year or when you seriously impress me again. You're in the second group for shore leave. Have fun."

He looked a bit stunned as he took his little bag of bits over to the rail near the number three engine base and sat down to count them over again.

Rarity and Ket approached together and asked for a letter of credit to acquire cargo for the next leg of the voyage. Yes, we were on a mission having nothing to do with trading, but a merchant airship not hauling goods was one of the most deeply suspicious things imaginable. We didn't want to spread any accurate rumors, did we?

The main problem is that we didn't know much about the southern cities and had little idea what would make for plausible trade goods. My plan was to inquire around among the few merchants in town who traded with the south. They wouldn't welcome the perceived competition, of course, and we would have to be clever and cagey in our inquiries, so a sharp business pony and a shapeshifter were ideal agents.

Spike was helping me pay off the crew, and I had him write out the letter of credit so that it would be clearly legible. I affixed my (Blackmane's) seal and was just floating it over to Ket when a cheery voice interrupted.

"Hey, are you two going shopping?" It was Lucky Charm, obviously not hungover despite the prodigious amount of cider she'd downed the night before. "Can I come along? I'm a pretty good haggler!" Lucky had been given permission to sleep aboard until Nebula left port or she found other arrangements. Not being crew, she could come and go as she pleased.

There was a rapid exchange of meaningful glances. For my part, I just didn't know enough about how Lucky's innate magic worked to know if it would be a hindrance or a help. We were on home ground and held quite an advantage, so I didn't think even a minor disaster would be much of a setback.

I shrugged, Rarity gave a casual roll of her eyes, and Ket twitched the corner of her mouth. It seemed nopony objected, so I nodded to Lucky.

"Well of course you can come, dear!" Rarity told her. "It may be a bit boring because we have some banking to do first, and we will be negotiating for bulk goods, not souvenirs, but you're more than welcome to come if you like."

A short while after they had departed, I finished paying off the crew and closed the money box. Spike scanned the ledger and nodded. "Everything's in order."

"Thank you, Mr. Lance," I said, using the name that went with his midshippony disguise. "I'm going to have a little chat with Mayor Buzzy, and then go up to Vagabond House to publicly and visibly meet with the Queen. You can take some shore leave if you want. I think Pinkie and AJ are going to the spice market for extra supplies."

"Thanks, Tw—uh, Captain, but I think I'll just tag along with you."

I nodded. "Well, good. You're always a help. Maybe we'll take in the town together later?"

"That would be great!"

= = =

Buzzy had cleared her schedule just in case I was the harbinger of bad and complicated news. I was sure it was just an overabundance of caution on her part and not because that was what she expected every time I came to town. Fairly sure.

In any case, my news was fairly dire and required a multi-pronged approach as a response. The Townies were a practical, tough bunch, but there was no way they would be able to directly fight off an invasion fleet if the Storm King arrived while I was elsewhere. So, the first order of business was to figure out an evacuation and underground resistance plan as an immediate response should the worst occur.

"I will get Vagabond House all set up for a possible looting spree," I told Buzzy. "The king's main motivation seems to be nabbing magical artifacts, and I can boobytrap the place top to bottom."

She slid her little half-moon glasses down her muzzle to peer over the top of them at me. "Won't that damage the palace?"

"Oh, it'll probably outright destroy a lot of it, but that's preferable to letting that overgrown baboon get his claws on some very dangerous weapons. I can always rebuild." I had a sudden inspiration and grinned. "In fact, if they occupy the town first, you should warn the Stormguard that the place is trapped! That'll convince them that you're motivated purely by self-interest, and I can layer in some deceptive false traps and time delays that'll make sure there's more of them deeper into the house before the real traps go off!"

Buzzy shoved her glasses back up her nose and turned to scribble a few notes. "I am certainly glad you're on our side, Twilight," she muttered around her quill.

= = =

I left Buzzy to distribute the plan (and a carefully worded version of the news about the Canterlot invasion) to the ward elders and other civic leaders, and strolled through the town toward the road that led up into the foothills where Vagabond House stood, overlooking the town. Spike (still disguised as Lance) walked by my side, smiling broadly.

"You seem cheerful, Spike. Any reason?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, I just like being here with you. There's always something cool going on."

"Hmn…" I pointed my horn at a colorful poster pinned to the side of a Neighsian take-away shop. "You mean something like that?"

He turned to look and then gasped. The poster prominently displayed a trio of young dragons performing acrobatics while breathing arabesques of multicolored flames. The poster was titled FIREDANCE: The Calligraphy of Flame and Motion, and it noted that performances would occur for three nights, starting an hour after sundown, in Bull's Head Plaza. Looking at the dates, I saw that the last performance would be that evening.

"That looks interesting," I said. "I don't think I've ever seen dragons cooperating like that, particularly in an artistic endeavor. We should go see it."

Spike nodded vigorously, not taking his eyes off the poster. "Yeah, that would be awesome!"

I let him stare at it for a little while longer and then gently nudged him onward.

Ensign Shrrbrgrth (everypony calls her Sherbet) had arrived at Vagabond House before us and had transformed into a convincing copy of my Captain Blackmane disguise. I undressed, and while she was putting on my clothes, I used a shapeshifting spell to become the Dark Queen of Twilight Town. It may seem like a silly bit of theatrical nonsense to most of my readers (and in truth, it seems that way to me sometimes), but it works well enough for my purposes.^[1]
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[1] Ponies tend to respond better to offices, roles, and symbols than to real individuals—even in an officially anarchic monarchy. Or is it a monarchical anarchy? Anarchy with specific exceptions? I'll have to think about that when I have time. No, Spike! Don't write that down; just put in the first bit.
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Blackmane, Midshippony Lance, and I had brunch together out on the eastern terrace, in full view of the town. It had been a while since I'd been able to sit and chat with my ensign about anything other than ship's business, and aside from being a necessary bit of subterfuge, it was a very enjoyable hour and a half.

After the meal we retired to the interior of the house. Sherbet resumed her normal shape and joined Spike in the guest lounge where Ajo (my majordomo, a nomadic ass from Equestria's southern deserts) had set out a wooden case containing all of the comic issues he had collected since Spike had last visited. Sherbet volunteered to enjoy them with Spike while I took care of a little business of my own.

I shed the Queen Twilight form and shrugged back into my aeronaut's coat before continuing deeper into the house to a secure workshop. I needed a little time to work some complex and delicate spells, and the coat had a lot of protections woven into it. Not that I had any doubts about my own competence, but the number of times I had been unfortunately interrupted at critical phases had made me extremely cautious, particularly with magics that might suck me into the void between universes if they went wrong.

And yes, I locked the door behind me.

I had finished working and was cleaning up my equipment and sorting the various amulets and power storage gems back into their hidden sleeves in my coat when there was a quiet knock at the door.

"Yes?" I called out.

"I don't want to bother you, Twi, but will you be done soon? It's getting kind of late."

I glanced at the little brass clock on the wall and saw that I had been at work for over six hours. I unbolted the door and swung it open.

"Sorry, Spike. I lost track of the time, but I've just about finished up here. Do you want to grab something to eat now or wait until we get back to Nebula?"

"Uh…" He glanced at the clock. "Well, the show is going to start soon…"

I had forgotten the performance I had promised to take him to! "Oh, right, right! Can you make do with snacks from the street vendors? I might have some rubies in one of these pockets."

"Sure, but these came for you while you were working, and you might want to deal with them?" He was holding several folded sheets of paper in his claws. "I could go on by myself, if—"

"Nonsense! I want to see the show with you. I'll look at the messages later." I hesitated. "Any of them marked urgent?"

He sighed. "All but two of them."

I gritted my teeth. "Doesn't matter. Just let me change…" I took off my coat and called up Petunia's Polymorph and resumed my Queenly form. "Sherbet!"

The changeling peered around the corner at the end of the hallway. "Yes, Captain?"

"Can you zip over to Nebula and let Ket know where we'll be? Tell her to deal with anything short of an actual invasion, will you? I'll glance over the messages at the performance."

"Yes ma'am!" She resumed my Blackmane disguise between one breath and the next, picked up my coat, and trotted off.

"Hop on, Spike!"

He hesitated. "Is that okay? I mean, you're being the Queen right now, and I'm…"

"Oh, right! Take off the disguise amulet. Nobody will blink if I show up with a dragon on my back."

It only took a minute or so for me to fly us down to Bull's Head Plaza. The sun had already set, but there was still enough light for the crowd below to clearly see me as I circled overhead. Several of them called out greetings and there were whistles and cheers as I swooped low overhead. It was a market night, so the square and connecting streets were crowded with booths and shoppers. I stooped, aiming for the bit of pavement in front of the big stage near the Aurocks column. Townies hurriedly pushed aside to clear space for me to land, and a wave of bowing swept outward as soon as my hooves hit the cobbles.

"Rise! Rise, my lovely subjects! No formalities tonight. We have come to enjoy the show along with you all."

There was more applause and cheering, then the crowd settled down to wait. A dark golden dragon snout peered out through a slit in the curtain, and then three kirin musicians carried their instruments out and began setting up along one side of the stage.

Moments later, Talon, the black griffin guard, landed at my side, and saluted. "Good evening, Your Majesty. May I be of assistance?"

"Hello... Talon, isn't it? On duty tonight?"

If he was surprised I knew his name, he didn't show it.

"Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am, I'm not on duty tonight, I just came to see the show again, but I am always at your service."

"'Again?'" Spike asked. "Is it that good?"

Talon's eyes flicked from mine to Spike's and back again.

"Speak freely, Talon," I told him. "Don't be nervous, or I'll order you to go drink pints of cider until you relax."

"That's a joke," Spike stage-whispered to him from behind an upraised palm. Then he held out his hand and curled it into a fist. "I'm Spike by the way. Equestrian Cultural Ambassador Plenipotentiary Emeritus to Twilight Town.^[2] Pleased to meet you!"
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[2] He was, of course, no such thing. The title didn't even make any sense. Not that many do. In fact, a good touchstone is to assume the longer the title, the less importance one should attach to it. At one point several years before, Spike had held the actual position of Sub Grand Worthy Administrative Minister of the Society for Appreciation of Illustrative Literature. In other words, he was the vice-president of a Canterlot comics club.
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"Pleased to meet you Ambassador Spike." Talon gave him a hoof-bump even though no actual hooves were involved.

"Just Spike is fine! So you've already seen the show?"

I looked through the notes while they chatted, and sorted them into order by importance. There was only one that really needed to be answered immediately and I scribbled my response on the back of the paper and teleported it to Nebula's quarterdeck. Ket would be on watch there and would sort out the situation for me.

Shortly afterward, the show began and it was unexpectedly wonderful. Simply describing it can't convey how enchanting it was, because it can be summed up as three young dragons performing aerial gymnastics in time to music while using their fire breath as both illumination and to make beautiful shapes in the air. That's ludicrously inadequate, but that was the heart of it. It's like describing an incredibly skillful painting as, "Some paint, smeared over a canvas."

Aside from how pretty it was, the most impressive thing about the dragons' performance was their precision. They wove around each other so closely that if their wingbeats hadn't been perfectly coordinated, they would have collided. Just their flying alone would have been impressive, but the addition of their fire breath made the display mesmerizing. Their gouts of flame often deliberately spattered off of each other, guided into fantastic sprays by the exact curve of a wing or tail. Think of fireworks as living, breathing creatures, and you might come close to getting an idea what it was like.

They did things with their fire that I didn't know were possible. I stole a couple of glances over at Spike after some of the most amazing bits, and he seemed just as surprised as I was. How three different colored streams of fire could mingle and come out again as completely different hues and shapes was beyond my understanding.

The finale involved a canopy of flammable ribbons and powder that was scattered in the air before being ignited, loops and streams of flame dropping around the necks and shoulders of the dragons as they landed in a cheerleader sort of pyramid downstage.

The crowd went wild, cheering, hoof-stomping, ululating, and loudly proclaiming their appreciation in various species-dependent ways. I glanced back at Spike and he was frantically beating his claws together and shouting, "Woo-hoo!" in between spouting gouts of his own flame. I'm sure he had appreciated the aesthetics of the show on its own merits, but I think it didn't hurt that the acrobats were all young females. Coins rained down into the basket that one of the kirin musicians had placed at the forward edge of the stage.

"Twi—" Spike caught and corrected himself as he urgently whispered into my ear. "Uh, I mean Your Majesty, can we give them some money? I don't have any with me."

"Oh, I'll do better than that," I told him, and stepped toward the stage.

Even in Twilight Town, dragons were rare, and the performers had taken note of Spike where he perched on my shoulder. If the presence of a huge, dark alicorn and one of their own kind had made them nervous, it didn't show at all during the performance. But as I approached them and the crowd went silent, they did exchange uncertain glances. The biggest one in the middle elbowed the others and they bowed as I loomed over them.

"I don't impress easily," I said to them, pitching my voice to carry across the plaza, "but you have certainly managed to achieve that tonight." I lit my horn and pumped a lot of wasteful and turbulent mana into the simple teleport spell to make it as showy as possible. "I like to encourage this sort of thing."

The spell activated with a loud bang and a brilliant flash of light, and the little basket on the stage nearly vanished under a heap of gold and jewels. I had 'ported it in a couple of hoofspans above the basket so that it clattered and rang as it fell. The dragons gawped, and after a moment, the leader of the troupe bowed to me again. "Thank you so much, Your Majesty!"

"It is well deserved. Thank you for bringing your wonderful show to my kingdom. Now please excuse me, I have important business to discuss with Ambassador Spike." I turned to my left and added, "With me, Talon."

I leaped into the air and Talon followed at a precise and unvarying distance behind and to the left of me. I was willing to bet that it was exactly the distance prescribed in the guard manual.^[3]
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[3] I didn't know for sure that there was a guard manual, but given the personality type that formed the Town Guard in the first place, its existence was another safe bet.
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"You called me Ambassador!" Spike chuckled. "You know that was just a joke, right?"

"Well it isn't any longer. I named you in front of witnesses, and that makes it official. Don't worry, the duties won't be onerous, and titles like that are sure to impress… Well, for example, pretty young acrobats, perhaps?"

Spike sputtered, started to say something, sputtered again, and finally managed something like, "Uhngh?"

"We'll be in town for another day or two. Maybe you can offer to show them around or treat them to a meal at that Percheron fusion restaurant you like so much? As an ambassador, getting to know foreign artists, for cultural exchange purposes of course, would be part of your job."

I swear, I could feel the heat of his blush when he hugged me around the neck. "You're the greatest, Twi!"

Well, who am I to argue with an official ambassadorial evaluation like that?

= = =

=

Author's Note:

Comments

[PrincePegacornV]

I hate to say this, but you have left me with a bit of a quandary.
Since this story is going to dribble in on a weekly time schedule, do I dare skip to the current Book Five, or should I wait to finish this before moving on. Each of your previous and current stories are so enmeshed together, I fear to go further

[Stahlseele]

a nomadic ass

That will never not be funny.

[iisaw]

11903863
I honestly think you can go ahead and read Skyla without concern. Aside from Twi and Ao, it's a completely different cast and setting. There is a slight spoiler for Cadenza in the first chapter, more of a foreshadowing, really, but I don't think it will detract at all.

[Spamotron]

I forget have Spike's wings grown in at this point in this continuity? Or will the performers be confused by what is a clearly a child by their standards having such influence?

[iisaw]

11903936
Yep, Spike has his wings at this time!

[A.P.O.N.I.]

I didn't know for sure that there was a guard manual, but given the personality type that formed the Town Guard in the first place, its existence was another safe bet.

Yeah, given that Twilight Town doesn't have laws, per se, anyone who chooses to be a guard, (effectively cosplaying) is absolutely going to draw up procedures to make sure that they do it RIGHT!

[Mitch H]

11903863

For one thing, most folks here read Skyla years ago, and it hasn't materially warped us.

I think.

Publication order is almost always safe, in my opinion.

[RomanCandle]

Oh I was NOT expecting firework dragons but HELL yeah. I've batted the idea around before but never seen anyone ever actually use anything close to it

[FanOfMostEverything]

Ah, pyrotechnics. And pretty pyrotechnicians. What more could a young dragon ask for? A shame that they likely won't be able to stay in port for terribly long going by all of those urgent missives, but it's better than nothing. (And hopefully Lucky tagging along on the cargo acquisition goes neutrally at worst.)

[Raging Mouse]

I have a hunch that Lucky can bestow a portion of her luck to others. And that being the target of her ire could be extremely unpleasant.