The badlands stretched almost infinitely in every direction, flat for miles, before cutting through the sky in sharp mountains that cut off the badlands from the rest of Equestria. A Gale flowed through the area, harsh and unstopped by the miles of flat land free from all plant life. The Gale stroked the sediment harshly, kicking up its weaker particles into the air and playing with it, creating a fog-like blanket of red miles high and miles long. The Gale was king here, doing what he pleased and going where he pleased, the only ‘living’ thing in this wretched wasteland.
It was very hard to see, here. Nearly impossible to hear, too. The Gale whistled an eerie tune, which folded into itself in waves, again unstopped by the lack of vegetation, and created a confusing symphony of sound that would drive many mad within minutes.
“Why would somepony live here?” Rainbow Dash growled, her voice hiding the hesitation one felt when faced with something like the badlands, in all their dead glory.
Her question went unanswered; no answer could possibly be a logical excuse for a pony to be faced with the badlands even for an hour, much less make them a home.
And so the six companions went on. The Gale bothered them not, for even he could not stand up to the magic of a certain purple unicorn, or rather, a small necklace she wore around her neck, which formed a bubble shield around her five friends and herself, effectively cutting off most of the maddening noise of the Gale, and even his swirling, sandy tentacles. Frustrated, he beat against the bubble of magic with vigor, whistling even louder to voice his displeasure.
Undeterred, the six friends trekked in utter silence, apart from the crunching of the red sediment under their hoofs.
“You know what they say about this place, right?” Rainbow Dash started again.
Of course, they all knew. It was detailed in every legend read to them as foals.
“The bloodiest battle of the Great War happened in the badlands.” Rainbow went on resolutely, almost excitedly. “And the blood of the fallen stained the land. ‘S why it’s red.”
Twilight huffed, rolled her eyes. “Please. That’s just an old legend. The sediment is mostly made up of red clay. That’s why it has a red color. The bloodiest battle of the Great War in fact took place about ninety kilometers northwest of here.”
“My version is cooler, though.” Rainbow shrugged, arguing with the unicorn in an easy voice that told her Rainbow’s only purpose for bringing forth the myth was to get one of them to talk.
And still they trekked through the badlands, moving slowly and covering not much ground. The Gale kicked up the sediment higher and fiercer, as though a display of his power, and the visibility all but disappeared. There was only red.
They had been in this place for hours, slowly trudging through the dead land. For being so flat, it was incredibly hard to navigate in a timely fashion. The sun was slowly sinking, not that they could really see it that clearly through the thickness of the Gale's red fog, but they could see it getting darker, and feel it getting colder.
An hour went by, and the sun continued to drop and slide out of the sky. They did not voice the panic that they felt, but each of them glanced up at the sky more and more. Spending a night in the badlands was suicide.
“I see somepony.” Rainbow hollered even though she was only hovering a few feet above them. The Gale's maddening whistle had rose to a screeching wail in celebration of the sun going down. The Gale was a stronger creature at night.
Their eyes searched in vain, but there was only red.
No, there!
A silhouette of somepony, standing statuesque as if completely unfazed by the Gale.
“Do you think that's our pony?” Rainbow asked.
“Who else would stand out in the middle of a sandstorm in the badlands?” Twilight retorted.
They made their way towards the figure, their progress lame. Every step found one hoof, sometimes even two, in thick, scratchy, loose sand, making them stumble and pull their way to the pony, who only stood about twenty feet in front of them.
Once they were within ten feet of each other, the pony suddenly turned and started walking away.
“I think they want us to follow them.” Twilight said to nopony in particular.
And so they did. In silence they trekked behind the figure, who accommodated his or her speed to stay only ten feet away—close enough that the six friends could see him or her, but not clearly enough to take in any sort of detail about the pony such as coat of mane color.
Finally, after what felt like hours of walking, their guide stopped and turned to face them again. They crept closer, unsure about the motivations of the stranger in the badlands.
Seven feet away, the pony—they still could not see much to determine anything about his or her appearance—bent their neck towards the ground and sharply tugged upwards, swinging open a square, wooden... was that a trapdoor of sort or something?
The pony gave them something like a meaningful glance, before disappearing below the surface.
They moved closer to the still-open door in the ground, and the ground transitioned from the ever-changing texture of the soil of the badlands to solid wood.
“A barabara!” Twilight exclaimed.
“A what?” Applejack drawled.
“A barabara is a house. It was used back during the ancient times by those who lived in the Frozen North. It's almost completely submerged underground and most of the house is excavated from the dirt so as to withstand the high forces of wind there.”
“...Right.” Applejack said slowly. She shook her head and looked back to the door, which was patiently waiting for them to go in. The Gale made it do an intricate jig, swinging it forward and then backwards, but never letting it close completely.
“Should we really trust this pony?” Rarity muttered, frowning at the door.
“If Princess Celestia does, I don't see why not.” Twilight reasoned, stepping towards the hole in the ground. “It's probably going to be a pretty significant drop downward.” she said, spreading her wings. “Fluttershy, Rainbow?”
She took hold of Pinkie's hoofs, and slowly lowered them both under the ground.
The change was nearly startling in its instance. Inside it was warmer and quieter though the Gale still thrashed above them. Twilight set Pinkie down gently, and then her own hoofs found firm, healthy clay—nothing like the dry, loose stuff outside. She looked around, nearly squealing at her surroundings. The ingenuity of the ponies in the days of old! A functional home completely underground, so as to protect from the wind.
It was built a lot like the replica she once went inside when she was a filly, in the Museum of Ancient Times in Canterlot. Except instead of being completely artificial, there was real wood and real dirt walls and everything.
The structure was miraculously well fortified, one could even call it handsome. The long logs of wood were in good condition and covered every possible inch of wall and ceiling space in a way that managed to be esthetically pleasing and clearly firm. On the main floor, where they were now, there sat a perfectly circular campfire roaring with life—it's smoke marching upwards to a small hole in the ceiling.
“Nice place.” Rainbow commented.
“Thank you. I worked hard on it.” A voice that most certainly did not belong to anypony she knew replied.
Rainbow squeaked, looked around wildly before her eyes settled on the source.
She was a mare, one quite unlike any Dash had seen before. Large, for one, standing at a full height that rivaled Big Macintosh. Her coloring was muted and dull, coat the lightest, palest shade of blue that existed but still recognized itself to be blue. Her mane was double-hued, a strange but appealing combination of cool grey and rich chestnut.
She sat on the ‘upper floor’, which consisted of a narrow landing wrapped around the perimeter of the inside. Her shadow was elongated on the wall behind her, giving her a strangely threatening aura even though the mare herself looked relaxed and innocuous.
“Uh, nice to meet you.” Rainbow said, her ears splaying on instinct. The mare nodded in return, and then opened her wings and glided down to their level.
Dash gulped, feeling a strange, simultaneous sensation of self-consciousness and acute arousal. This mare had the largest, most powerful wingspan of anypony she had ever seen, aside from like, the Princesses. Actually, Dash was pretty sure even Princess Luna didn't have a wingspan that large. Only Celestia had wings bigger than this mare's—but she was Celestia so it totally didn't count.
The mare folded her wings tight to her body and sat where she landed. Now on their level, but a ways away from them—detaching herself from the group as was customary of a complete stranger. Her posture was rigid and straight, almost at attention, though she towered over them even in her sitting position. Her gaze passed over them, almost like she was sizing them up, but doing so politely.
“May I have your names?” she asked. Her voice was monotone, speaking in a way that eluded to every word being carefully planned and thought out.
“I'm Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight laid a hoof on her own chest. “These are my friends, Pinkie Pie—”
“Hi!”
“—Rarity—”
“Pleasure, darling.”
“—Applejack—”
“Howdy.”
“—Rainbow Dash—”
“'Sup?”
“—and Fluttershy.”
“Hello.”
“I see.” The mare said easily. “My name is Jet Streak.” She added, almost as an afterthought.
There was a short lack of conversation, the crackling of the fire and the Gale howling above them keeping anypony from describing it as silence.
"Manners and doctrine would force me to ask why you six ladies were out wandering such a dangerous place as the badlands." Jet Streak began in a bored murmur, staring into the fire unseeingly, almost as if in a trance. "But I already know why you're here."
"Y-you do?" Twilight wheezed, startled.
"Indeed. I do." Jet Streak answered. "So the Sun Goddess has finally found me, has she?" Her voice slipped from a polite murmur to a restrained, dry cackle that did nothing to hide her apparent distaste. She also seemed to have stopped talking to the group, instead muttering to herself at a volume that was just loud enough for them to hear.
"Naturally, naturally. How could one hide from a Goddess?" she snorted bitterly. "Especially when I wear her mark... no, no, I was a fool to think there was anywhere I could hide from her."
"Wait. Wear her mark? What does that mean?"
Jet looked up at Twilight, seemingly snapped out of her introspection. She stared at Twilight for an elongated amount of time, brows furrowed, and then returned her gold-colored eyes to the fire.
"Seven generations ago, the ancestor of my father pledged his spear, and the spear of every first born of his line, to Celestia." she muttered eventually, nearly glaring into the fire now. "It was one of the only reasons that the ponies triumphed in the Great War, after such loss of numbers in it's bloodiest battle."
"I... don't see the problem." Applejack admitted.
Jet nodded. "Indeed, one would not. My family has had seven generations of legends, in whatever walk of life they chose." she agreed quietly, almost fondly. "But we've all lived to serve the Goddess. We must do what she says. We are nothing but slaves."
"That's preposterous!" Twilight shouted, rising to her hoofs before her mind caught up with the action, wings flared in an aggressive stance.
Jet Streak seemed unperturbed by the mare's sudden burst. Merely tilting her head almost curiously, regarding Twilight with a look of curiosity and some other expression that Twilight could not determine.
"Explain to me how it is preposterous."
"W-well..." Twilight stammered, caught off guard at being encouraged to speak her mind instead of... well, she wasn't even sure what she thought the other mare would have done, really. Yell back?
"Your spear was pledged to Celestia, correct?" Twilight began again, albeit in a much shakier voice. Jet nodded, a curt, professional thing that went against the genuinely curious look she was giving the alicorn. "Then, Celestia would only use you for your military prowess. You are not a slave. And, there hasn't even been a military conflict since the Great War."
Jet nodded slowly, as if taking the information to heart, but then her eyes turned dark. "I would have thought the Sun Goddess would have learned not to lie to those who are close to her."
"Hey, the Princess never lied to us!" Rainbow argued, getting up on her hoofs also.
"If there was not a military conflict for which she needed my spear, why would she send you six out here, to the dreaded badlands, in order to retrieve me?" Jet snapped, her perpetual, polite calm finally breaking as she jumped to her own hoofs. "Oh, nice necklace, by the way." Jet pointed at the small necklace hanging on Twilight's neck. "Did the Goddess give it to you?"
Twilight looked down, stroking the piece of jewelry defensively. "Yes. And it has been very useful to us."
Jet snorted. "You have absolutely no idea, do you?"
"ENOUGH!"
In a blinding blast of light Celestia appeared, popping into the room with all the glory and intensity of a meteor falling from the sky. The sheer force of her entrance sent all present onto the ground, as though her very power weakened their knees. All but one.
Jet Streak cowered not. Her posture remained rigid and hostile, and she sneered into white brilliance created by Celestia's entrance without a single fear of being blinded.
"Pleasure to see you again after all these years, milady." Jet jeered at the Sun Goddess, bowing deeply and extravagantly in jest.
Celestia frowned, almost scowled, at the pegasus. "Jet Streak, my most roguish of followers."
"How fitting," Jet Streak tutted, with a small smirk. "To have your most faithful student, and your most knavish of subjects in the same room. Tell me, how does that make you feel?"
"I said enough, Jet Streak!" Celestia growled.
"Princess Celestia," Twilight called out, rising from the floor to stand up. "I-I don't understand. Why are you here? Did you hear the conversation we were having?"
Celestia did not answer, looking aside at one of the walls.
"And yet another lie in the ever expanding web of lies Celestia tells you." Jet sighed dramatically, but this time it went unscolded by the Princess.
Celestia hung her head, still not looking at Twilight. "There have been many things that I have failed to tell you all, and explanations are owed to you, but for now something bigger than this is upon us, and I need you all to trust my decisions in the matter."
Celestia then turned her head and gazed straight at Jet Streak. "Your spear is needed for my service." she said in a voice that left absolutely no room for argument.
Jet's eyes darkened dangerously, and the muscle in her jaw moved as though she was chewing metal. Finally, she spoke.
"My spear is yours, Goddess. Direct it where you please, tell it who to kill..." She shut her eyes, speaking through clenched teeth. "...It will obey."
