Making choices

Twilight was awoken by the sound of spoons hitting tin cans. Not the most pleasant way, but it was still rather effective.

Their Runcinian hosts were standing on the doorstep, emitting this horrible noise. The purple alicorn could only see Forge, since the door step wasn't big enough for all to be there, but the sound indicated, that at least three ponies were making this horrible noise. The smith had a tin can hanging bellow his neck as a medallion and hit it with a wooden spoon he held in his mouth.

The second pony to wake up was Pinkie Pie. She jumped up, as if she wasn't sleeping before that as well. She neared Forge, took the spoon away from him and told him:

" Stop for a second! You're doing it wrong! "

Confused, the smith made a sign to the others and finally, the horrific noise stopped.

" There needs to be more rhytm! " Pinkie said, and than got the spoon and started beating the can again, leaving a half- second interval between hits. The two ponies behind Forge followed her example, and when they were synchronised, she gave the spoon back to Forge. Than she stuck one of her hooves in her curly mane, apparently searching for something, untill she got out an harmonica. She waited until the smith got to pace with the rest, sat on the floor, held the instrument with her two forehooves, neared it to her mouth and began playing.

She was skilled, Twilight had to admit it, but her blues didn't seem to wake anypony. Seeing, that everypony except Twilight and Spike were lying on the floor (since there weren't enough beds), Pinkie Pie stopped and ordered:

" Twice as fast! "

The Runcinians, starting to like her style of waking ponies up, sped up, while Pinkie Pie began performing a country music piece. Twilight could see a smirk growing on Rainbow's muzzle, although her eyes were still closed. Finally, she opened them, flew up in the air, so that she could hold her belly with her forehooves while laughing, and spoke:

" Alright, Pinkie, we're all up! "

As if to confirm this, the group, who were only waiting to hear how far Pinkie's harmonica skills go, got up on their hooves. Satisfied, Pinkie put the harmonica back in her mane and told Forge:

" And that's how it's done! "

In less than half an hour the group was ready to go. They got out just in time to see the sunset, as Arcane Bliss assured them, but there was a thick fog, that didn't allow them to see further than 6 feet in front of their own hooves. This was a major dissappointment, but a lucky turn of events as well. The dragon Formidon was too big to be hidden. They wondered how nopony had seen him when they arrived in Graywood. Forge assured them, that they were going to find some disguise for him in the industrial town Smith's Keep they were going to reach this night, but from Graywood to there was a one day trip, during which any traveler, in a clear day, could see the dragon from a mile ahead.

" Thick as milk. " Applejack commented upon leavng the house. her friends agreed with her.

Rainbow Dash groaned:

" Almost no visibility! If we get up in the sky in that fog, mere 10 feet in the air we won't be able to see the ground at all. " she looked back to see Hase's opinion on that. He just snorted and spoke:

" You expect me to get off the ground in the first day? "

" You've got a point there. " the cyan pegasus noted, somewhat cheered by his comment.

" But anyways, how could the weather ponies just leave such a fog just? " she turned to Midnight Bell.

" What do you mean, " the weather ponies" ? " the bronze brown unicorn replied with a question of her own.

One could not astound Dash more than that.

" You don't have weather ponies?! " she sounded as if somepony had told her there wasn't flowing water in their house.

" Yes, why are we supposed to have such? " the other mare wondered.

" Well, who controlls the weather? Who bucks off the thunderclouds when the land needs no more rain? Who blows away thick fogs as this one? " Rainbow sounded desperate.

" Nopony. " Arcane Bliss replied, just as she left the house and shut the door behind her. She carried the Equestrian group's common saddlebag, which they had forgotten. Applejack volunteered to carry it, so she got it. The group was ready to go.

" Nopony? How so? " the cyan mare still couldn't cope with this fact.

" The rain rains itself dry. It's so simple. Fogs go away when they go away. Why should somepony change that? " the village healer spoke as if that was something normal.

It was first than that the pegasus remembered what Twilight had told them about her first trip into an alternate world. In it there wasn't any magic, technology had advanced far beyond Equestrian level, and ponies (or people, according to Twilight) walked on two legs, were all earth ponies and didn't have tails.

' New world, new rules. ' Rainbow Dash thought, as she finally came to terms with the unsupervised Runcinian weather.

Midnight Bell had described the road from Graywood to Smith's Keep as a very picturesque one, with the river flowing on the right side of it and seemingly endless grass plains spreading in both directions. Neither of those two was visible. The only thing Twilight could actually see was the muddy dirt road, so she moved her gaze back to the much more interesting map of Runcinia, the only thing currently of any interest to her in this thick fog.

Since Forge hadn't shown them any books back in his house (since he probably didn't have any), Twilight couldn't really know the history of this country before the events their hosts had spoken of. So now she was trying to guess it, a small game, that made the otherwise monotonous walking more bearable.

Having already memorized the map in general, Twilight slowed down, so that she'd walk with Applejack's speed, curled it up and slid it in the saddlebag. Than she could finally sink in her thoughts.

' This river, the Stream, passes through the whole country, facilitating agriculture. The country could have been established after the tribal chiefs along the river conquered eachother's territories, untill there was only one left- just like in ancient Neighgypt. '

' Or... ' the alicorn mare quickly came up with an absolutely different theory.

' ... those ponies could have been nomads, who came from the north, but eventually settled down here. '

Why not both actually? Nomads might have come to the north and blended with the local agriculture- based civilisation along the river. The combination of those nomads, which were probably masters of the bow, and the locals, who probably had good swordsponies, must have resulted in perfect warriors. Fighters good enough to expand the kingdom way beyond the river bed of the Stream, occupying minotaur territories and causing this century- long grudge between those two kingdoms.

Having sunk deep in her thoughts, something not uncommon for Twilight when she tried to explain something to herself, the alicorn was looking at the road without actually seeing anything. So it was no wonder she didn't notice what Applejack did.

" Careful, Twi. ". The farmer mare warned her.

The Element of Honesty than spread her right forehoof, so that the purple mare would bump into it, forcing her to halt.  Suddenly being brought back to reality confused Celestia's former pupil, so she glared at her friend with questioning eyes.

" Ah don't know wha' got yah so carried away, but ah'm sure yah don't want ta spend the rest of the trip with a sprained ankle. " Applejack moved her hoof to point at something. The alicorn moved her gaze and spothed a bump on the road, small enough to remain unnoticed by her in her musing state, but big enough to actually cause some trouble.

" Thank you, Applejack. " Twilight replied with gratitude. She took a mental note to herself to be more careful when walking in this world. Apparently the roads here weren't remotely as smooth as Equestria's well- maintained ones.

" Well, that was kind of you. " Arcane Bliss noted, as she got up to pace with the two girls.

" Oh, ah just did what anypony would do. " the farmer noted with a warm smile.

" Back in your world, maybe. Here in Runcinia ponies are always too busy, or even too afraid, to help somepony else, even if it will take only a minute. Most of the time it's everypony for themselves. "

Twilight was dumbfounded.

" How... is that even possible? Nobody's that selfish. " Spike, who untill a moment ago was sleeping on Twilight's back, had woken up just in time to hear these words.

The healer mare frowned.

" Well, back in the days of the rightful rulers, we would help other ponies, really. " she carried on.

" Now nothing's certain. As I said, most of the times we have tasks to do, ones that concern our families. And even if we don't, we can't be sure who we're helping. Even if it's somepony we know, he might have comitted some crime, and therefore the pony helping him in literally any way would be marked as their accomplice. "

" Isn't this law a bit too... harsh? " the small dragon asked. He found this whole situation the unicorn had just described so absurd, that he barely believed it.

" Just what you would expect from a military government. " instead of the green mare, Twilight was the one, who answered him. Arcane nodded.

" And it also might be some kind of scam. " the healer continued.

" The guards are only after criminals, whose crimes inhibit the government in its doings. Any criminals, who don't mess with government business in any way, are left alone, and those, who help it, are actually rewarded. You can imagine the crime level yourselves.

So, we don't help others, unless we have complete trust in them. Otherwise we might end up in prison or with a slit throat in a wood near the road. "

The last words of Arcane shocked the three equestrians. To end up in prison or even worse just beacause you wanted to help somepony?

" Sooo... " Twilight decided to change the subject.

" You trust eachother in this group, right? "

" Not really. The only ponies I trust are my brother and Midnight. She's like a daughter to us. " the healer replied.

" Her father was one of our closest friends, and one of the best members of the Rebellion. He sent his daughter to study magic in Mouthguard. He fought alongside us and what was left from the Rebellion last year. We were lucky enough to stay alive. He wasn't.

When Midnight interrupted her studies to come back to her home village, the only family she had left was us. She never returned to Mouthguard. She continued her studies with what the village's library could provide, which wasn't much. Midnight became the best... in our village. This mare, who will always remain the filly I helped first get out in the open world for me, ruined her carrier just to help us with an initiative, that until yesterday was hopeless. I prise her as my daughter. " the feelings of the healer could easily be felt from those emotional words.

" An' what about the others? Wha' were their names... Dagger. An' Metal Chord? " Applejack got more interested.

The green- coated mare chuckled.

" You want to know what I think about them? " she asked.

The farmer mare nodded in response.

" Dagger used to be a high- paid assassin in Mouthguard, she's well- known throughout the whole country. Nopony except us knows her true face. Nopony alive. She's merciless, unforgiving and cold- hearted. Sometimes she makes me think she's not even a pony. " Arcane said that whispering into AJ's ear. After she turned around to whisper it to Twilight as well, she turned back to the Element of Honesty.

" She simply appeared in Graywood a few weeks after the last battle. We only knew that when she told it to us, one month later. Back at the time, nopony even noticed her. She's a master of disguise and can mimick anypony's behaviour. You can think her for the florist mare, for a daredevil, for a coward; for anything she wishes you to believe she is.

On the first month anniversary after the Rebellion's last battle she broke into our house.  She threw one of her daggers at me, scratching my cheek, but from the glance she threw at me I realized, that she could have easily stuck it right in the midle of my forehead, if she wanted to. Before Forge could react, he was already pressed against the wall with her holding the other dagger right next to his throat.

" Any last words? " she asked with a cold tone I'll never forget.

" Death for the dictator! " my brother said, and didn't twitch even a little bit, even though he knew he'd probably die the very second he said that.

Apparently she liked those words, since she put her dagger back in her sheath and went across the room to pick up the other one. Forge headed for the door to the next room, so that he'd get his sledgehammer, the weapon he used during the battle as well. Just as he reached to push the handle down, a dagger stuck into the door frame.

" I wouldn't do that, if I were you. " when Forge turned around, he saw the assassin hold her second dagger against my throat.

" Now... would you be kind enough to repeat your last words? "

" Death for the dictator. " my brother spoke, wondering what game Dagger was playing.

" Why do you want him to die? " the pegasus than pulled her knife off my throat, put it back in the sheath and took a seat on one of our chairs.

" What do you mean? He is a bane to our country! " Forge is very fond of our old rulers, so the question the assassin asked him made him angry.

" Yes. But you aren't the country, are you? " I still remember the irony in her voice.

" He made our lives miserable! " I protested. She simply glared at me, surprised.

" Not really. You chose to make your lives miserable. The Rebellion attacked first, if I'm not mistaken? " the assasin laughed.

" He brought down our king and queen, only because of fake rumours, without even trying to prove them! " Forge was getting angrier and angrier.

" Why should you care about them? They never helped you directly in any way. " Dagger maintained her cold and calculating look.

" INNOCENT PONIES WERE FORCED TO KILL MY BEST FRIEND BECAUSE OF HIM! " as my brother yelled at her, I feared she'd finally stop playing with us and outright murder us, as she was probably paid to do. Instead, she just leaned back on her chair. That was all I could see, since I was behind her, but Forge later told me a grin had appeared on her face in the same moment.

" Now that's something I can relate to. " she said. Than Dagger went on explaining how she was paid by the mayor of Smith's Keep, since we were suspected in being part of the Rebellion. However, she said the blood of her friends was also spilt because of Bladewaltz, and she found vengeance a much better price than 500 bits - the combined price for our heads.

Now you understand why I don't thrust her. " Arcane Bliss whispered in Applejack's ear.

" She's only driven by revenge. She can kill us all anytime. "

Than she again turned to Twilight to whisper the whole story in her ear as well, leaving the farmer mare with plenty of time to think about this Dagger. Now her weird behaviour and her almost total ignorance to the rest of the group was clear to her. She only cared about her revenge. This group was just a tool, helping her to achieve that. It also explained why she walked aside from everypony else, even outside of the road. She couldn't see her in the fog, but Princess Luna had earlier said, that she walked 3 feet away from the road, on the left side.

Apparently, Twilight had asked for Metal Chord's story. That, however, apparently wasn't such a big secret, since the healer now spoke with her normal voice.

" Oh, about him. " she spoke, somehow annoyed.

" He's Bladewaltz' son and heir. "

" WHAT? " Twilight, Applejack and Spike expressed their shock at the exact same time.

" But than... why would he join your group? " the small dragon asked.

" I'm not quite acquainted with the case. " Arcane shrugged her shoulders.

" All I know is that he fought on his father's side in the last battle of the Rebellion, his first real battle ever. He decided to make the battle more fair by killing some tactically irreplaceable sorcerers in his father's army. Furious, Bladewaltz publically disclaimed him and refused him the right to be his heir. I guess it's daddy issues, that brought him to us.

Before the day of the fight, he had only fought in fencing halls or on the castle yard. He claims to be the second best swordspony in Equestria, after his father, and according to Forge, he's not lying for that at least. "

" For tha' ? " being the Element of Honesty, it wasn't very pleasant for Applejack when she heard somepony lie or speak about lying.

" Oh, he lies all the time, about all the different kinds of things. Especially when he thinks it'd get him babes. "

" Babes? " this term being used in the way Arcane used it was new to Spike, so she had to explain.

" Mares. He's just your regular arrogant young noble, that thinks, that just because he's handsome and rich, mares stick to him like nails to a magnet. " the red- maned unicorn said.

" Just try to hang out with him for a minute and you'll find out what I'm talking about. " a devious grin appeared on the healer's muzzle.

" He's checking out on all of you. Even on your Princesses. " she giggled as she saw the disgusted Twilight.

" Well, on all except on... the unicorn, what was her name? "

" Yah mean Rarity? "

" Yes. He knows she's occupied already, and besides that he has respect for stallions, who had already managed to score, so he'd at least leave her alone. "

Hearing somepony refer to Hase as " having scored " made Applejack snort.

" The fact, that he's a royalty and for his whole life everypony has been forced to kiss his hooves has only made that worse. " Arcane finally finished speaking about the spoilt royalty.

Twilight had no problems picturing this Metal Chord. The only thing she had to imagine was a tad more boastful, less gentle, less fearful, a lot more perverted and a million times better with the sword Prince Blueblood.

Meanwhile, way ahead, almost in the beggining of the group, Hase, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were having a conversation concerning wings basic hygiene and maintenance.

" You have to preen your feathers every morning. " the yellow pegasus noted.

" Every morning? How much time does it take? " the inventor asked.

" No more than 5 minutes really. " Fluttershy assured him.

" With time it becomes just like brushing your teeth. "

" They seem in good shape. " Dash lifted one of the scientist's wings and took a look at it.

" Apparently the spell, that your father used to hide them, also nourished them and strengthened them somehow, so they wouldn't end up like Bulk Bizeps's. After some training you should have no trouble flying! " Equestria's best flier assured him.

" In fact, why don't you try right now? You don't have anything importrant to do anyway. " she suggested.

" Right, except that... " Hase blushed a little.

" ... I really have no idea how to flap. "

If this wasn't her friend, who got his wings the day before, Rainbow would have laughed. Even if some pegasi like Bulk Bizeps had problems flying, all pegasi could flap their wings. It was something pegasi started doing when they were still babies. To Dash that statement, coming from any other pegasus, would sound like " I don't know how to spread my hoof. "

But Hase was born an earth pony. Even though the spell developed his wings, it couldn't give him the experience. So it was understandable.

" Alright, now look. " Fluttershy took it upon her to teach their friend how to flap. She slowly spread her wings and started flapping so slow, that it looked like she was trying to swim in honey. After she did so for a good one minute, the pink maned mare looked at the stallion with a gentle smile and spoke:

" Now you. "

Reaching for muscles he'd never used before felt weird as hay for Hase. He slowly tried to move each one of the different muscles of his wings separetely, to understand what each does. As he was certain he knew what they do, Hase slowly tried to repeat the folding out Fluttershy had shown first. Slowly his wings moved upwards, untill they stopped at a certain point. Than he began to fold out his wings. The whole prozess took him about two minutes, but finally, he was proudly walking with his two wings spread. He than repeated the same motion backwards. This time it only took him one minute. He repeated it at least one hundred times, untill finally Fluttershy stopped him, assuring him, that he'd reached the normal folding in and folding out speed for any pegasus.

" Now you can try the flapping part... if you are certain of yourself, of course. " the yellow pegasus told him.

Having gained perhaps a bit too much confidence after he could already fold his wings in and out, Hase quickly raised his wings and slashed downwards, as if the wings were the axe of an executioner. That had two negative effects. Firstly, Hase had his first dual wing muscle cramp; secondly, his flap took him off the ground, only to throw him right into the pony walking behind him.

" Arghh! " at first Hase could only think about the  pain in his wings, but as he saw he'd landed on somepony, he quickly got up and apologised.

" I'm really sorry. " the inventor said.

" Oh, it's no huge deal, pal. " it turned out Hase had landed on the blonde swordspony. The gray unicorn helped him get back on his hooves.

" After all, it's your first flight. " he noted with a cheerful tone. After seeing Hase's frown, caused by the pain from his cramps, he whistled, loud and sharp, so that everypony would hear it.

" Miss Doctor! Miss Doctor! We've got a patient over here! " he yelled out loud.

Not even a minute passed before Arcane Bliss showed up and threw the swordspony an annoyed glare.

" What is it now, Metal Chord? " she asked, reminding the pegasus trio the stallion's name.

" My friend here hurt his wings while trying to get off. "

" Is that true? " the healer turned to Hase. He nodded.

" Hold on for a second. " she replied and headed back. Soon she returned, levitating a small jar of brown gel and a brush. She asked Hase where it hurt, and than his two pegasus friends how he injured himself, in order to understand where to put the gel. Eventually she spread some of it in the bases of his wings, told him not to move them for 10 minutes and returned to the group.

Since Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had stayed behind with Hase, the three pegasi were now on the end of the group. Only Formidon was behind him, but he was moving off the road, so that ponies, coming from Graywood, wouldn't spot him. The two mares had informed the others what had happenned with Hase, and after they had told them wing cramps usually go away for minutes, so that they wouldn't worry, their friends had continued walking, since Smith's Keep was still far away.

" You feeling alright already? " the cyan mare asked, after the 10 minutes had passed.

" Yes. This seems to be a very effective remedy. " Hase noted.

" I feel as if nothing happenned. "

" Alright than. Try once more! " Dash encouraged him.

" But be more careful! " Fluttershy spoke.

This time Hase began slowly. Flapping wasn't such a complex thing as unfurling, so a minute later the black pegasus was flapping as if he'd had wings his whole life. He expressed his satisfaction by jumping in the air. Still flapping, the stallion managed to stay in the air for about a second, before he fell down.

" Frequency is the key. " Rainbow told her friend, after she saw him making his first attempt to fly.

" We'll start slowly, so you'll need to flap your wings in a moderate frequency. " Fluttershy smiled warmly. Since she taught little birds how to fly back in her cottage, Dash had decided, that she'd be a better teacher for Hase's first flying lesson. She was going to take him on when he knew the basics and teach him the more complex things about flying.

The Element of Kindness than proceeded by demonstrating what she ment. She spread her wings and flapped with them, the very first flap getting her airborne. She than flapped as slow as possible, mere 2 feet above the ground, moving with the speed of a walking pony. Hase tried to repeat what she did, but didn't remain in the air. He tried it several times. Each time he took off succesfully, but didn't manage to stay airborne. No matter how hard he tried and how fast he flapped, he always fell. Fluttershy was just about to stop him, when he took off again. This time, instead of trying to flap faster, Hase maintained a slow tempo, and as a result he managed to stay airborne. Rainbow cheered. The inventor smiled back, untill he noticed the two mares were getting away. His try to fly forward resulted in another fall.

" Well done, Hase. " Fluttershy greeted him, as he caught up with them.

The inventor repeated his success. Than he did it three more times. Dash knew what he wanted to do.He was trying to memorize the feeling. She understood him. Her first flight was the second best feeling in her whole life, next to when she did a sonic rainboom as a filly.

After a few more tries Hase also figured out how to move while flying, so he could now follow the group while flying.

" There you go. " Dash told him when he landed next to her.

" It's... it's simply amazing! Unlike any flying machine I've ever invented! " the stallion expressed his excitement.

" You're a true pegasus now. " the cyan mare congratulated him.